Personalize Windows 8 home screen - the best tips
The newly introduced start screen under Windows 8 should be easier to personalize than the classic start menu and thus make it easier to use. Even if this initially caused a lot of excitement and skepticism among users, the interface actually offers you completely new possibilities. This practical tip shows you how best to stage your Windows 8 start screen and which tools and settings you need for it.
Adjust the color and pattern of the Windows 8 start screen
Color is of course important for the appearance of the start screen. Microsoft has prepared some combinations for this, which you can call up via the settings:
- Open the Charm Bar by moving the mouse pointer to the top right corner of the screen. Select "Change PC settings" at the bottom.
- There you should go directly to the "Customize" menu. Select "Home" in the middle. There you can determine the pattern and color of your home screen.
System shortcuts on the home screen
Even the options for standby, logging out or restarting the computer are quite hidden in Windows 8. The small and practical tool "Win8 System Power Shortcuts" brings ready-made tiles to the home screen. Such shortcuts can make your work much easier.
Combine tiles in a group
A small and little-noticed option that turns out to be very useful is the grouping of tiles on the home screen. Simply leave some space between the tiles of the different groups, which contributes a lot to the overview:
- The home screen is already divided into groups. If you click and hold a tile, you can move it across the entire screen.
- If you position an app so that it is in the free space between two groups, a bright bar is shown there. If you now let go of the tile, a new group is formed.
- If you remove or move all the tiles in a group, it will be closed automatically.
- By pressing "Ctrl" on the start screen and scrolling out with the mouse, you get an overview of your entire screen. Here you can also click, hold and then move whole groups.
Freely adjustable metro tiles for individual files
A particularly recommendable tool for personalization is "OblyTile". With the free program you can effortlessly bring up directories or individual files as tiles on the surface while changing the color and labeling. This is usually not possible under Windows 8.
This practical tip shows you how to access your recently opened documents from the start screen.
The instructions refer to Windows 8 Pro 64bit. In other practical tips, we will show you, for example, where to find icons for Windows 8, how to restore apps or how to skip the start screen when the system starts.