Windows® 8A L L - I N - O N E

FOR

DUMmIES‰

by Woody Leonhard

Windows® 8A L L - I N - O N E

FOR

DUMmIES‰

Windows® 8 All-in-One For Dummies®

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit-ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITH-OUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FUR-THER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFOR-MATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012949004

ISBN 978-1-118-11920-4 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-22461-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-23799-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-26270-2 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

About the AuthorCurmudgeon, critic, and fiercely independent “Windows victim,” Woody Leonhard has dished up the truth about Microsoft products since his first Windows book two decades ago. Windows 8 All-In-One For Dummies, his 40th and most ambitious computer book, takes on both sides of the Windows 8 interface, then branches out to cover the ways Windows interacts with all sorts of products — iPads to Google Apps, Facebook to Mac networks, VPNs to Android. Woody’s unique reader-first approach ensures that you get the best advice about solving your problems — whether Microsoft likes it or not.

Woody is best known online as a Senior Contributing Editor for Infoworld, and Contributing Editor of Windows Secrets Newsletter. He also runs AskWoody.com, the web’s leading source of news about Microsoft updates. He tweets frequently on tech topics from @woodyleonhard.

He’s a Microsoft MVP, one of the first Microsoft Consulting Partners, and a charter member of the Microsoft Solutions Provider organization. He delights in being a constant thorn in Microsoft’s side. Along with several coauthors and editors, Woody has won an unprecedented six Computer Press Association awards and two American Business Press awards.

Woody moved to Phuket, Thailand, in 2000, with his teenage son. His dad joined them in 2006. Woody married a southern Thai lady — yes, they met in Starbucks — and now have a toddler who keeps life running a mile a minute.

DedicationTo George L. Leonard, Jr., 1924-2012

And to Add and Andy and Justin, the lights of my life.

Author’s AcknowledgmentsI’m very lucky to have an outstanding editorial dream team at Wiley, with Becky Huehls in the thick of it, once again. This book is by far the thickest book I’ve ever written, covering a topic that’s enormously complex, and Becky and crew led the charge to keep it accurate, timely, and directed squarely at the features Windows users need most.

Thanks, also, to Claudette Moore and Ann Jaroncyk at Moore Literary Agency, the best agents in the biz.

My thanks to Rob Oppenheim for his research on Windows search. As you can see in Book VI, Chapter 8, Windows search is a complex topic that’s barely documented elsewhere — and much of the published documentation is wrong. Rob’s show-me attitude brought many oddities to light.

I also want to thank the people at TechSmith for keeping their screen-capture program, Snagit, working through the Windows 8 versions. I’ve use Snagit for all the screen shots in all my books, going back as far as I can remember. Snagit is a workhorse — one of the most reliable pieces of software I’ve ever encountered.

Publisher’s AcknowledgmentsWe’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions and EditorialSr. Project Editor: Rebecca Huehls

Acquisitions Editor: Amy Fandrei

Copy Editors: Jen Riggs, Debbye Butler

Technical Editor: Ryan Williams

Sr. Editorial Manager: Leah Michael

Editorial Assistant: Leslie Saxman

Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cover Photo: © Veer/Blend Images Photography

Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

Composition ServicesProject Coordinator: Katherine Crocker

Layout and Graphics: Carrie A. Cesavice, Jennifer Creasey, Corrie Niehaus

Proofreaders: John Greenough, Evelyn Wellborn

Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services

Special Help: Jean Nelson

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Kathleen Nebenhaus, Vice President and Executive Publisher

Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents at a GlanceIntroduction ................................................................ 1Book I: Starting Windows 8 .......................................... 9Chapter 1: Windows 8 4 N00bs....................................................................................... 11Chapter 2: Windows 8 for the Experienced .................................................................. 41Chapter 3: Which Version? ............................................................................................. 55Chapter 4: Upgrades and Clean Installs ........................................................................ 63

Book II: Personalizing Windows .................................. 79Chapter 1: Getting around Windows ............................................................................. 81Chapter 2: Changing the Lock and Logon Screens .................................................... 101Chapter 3: Working with Charms and Notifications .................................................. 113Chapter 4: Controlling Users ........................................................................................ 125Chapter 5: Microsoft Account: To Sync or Not to Sync? .......................................... 141Chapter 6: Privacy Control ........................................................................................... 153

Book III: Navigating the Start Screen ........................ 163Chapter 1: Controlling the Start Screen ...................................................................... 165Chapter 2: Searching in and with the Start screen .................................................... 187Chapter 3: Sharing Among Tiled Apps ........................................................................ 199Chapter 4: Settings, Settings, More Settings, and Devices ....................................... 207Chapter 5: Taking Control of the Windows Store ...................................................... 217Chapter 6: How Do I Turn Off This Thing? .................................................................. 227

Book IV: Maximizing Tiled Windows 8 Apps ............... 233Chapter 1: The Tiled Internet Explorer ....................................................................... 235Chapter 2: Windows 8 Mail, People, and Calendar Apps .......................................... 255Chapter 3: The Windows 8 Photos App ...................................................................... 283Chapter 4: Using SkyDrive in Windows 8 .................................................................... 299Chapter 5: The Windows 8 Messaging App ................................................................ 317Chapter 6: Xbox Music and Video ............................................................................... 329

Book V: Connecting Online with Tiled Apps ................ 341Chapter 1: Getting Started with Facebook .................................................................. 343Chapter 2: Getting Started with Twitter ...................................................................... 367Chapter 3: Getting Started with Flickr and Pinterest ................................................ 379Chapter 4: Getting Started with LinkedIn ................................................................... 393Chapter 5: Bing News, Finance, Travel, and Sports ................................................... 403Chapter 6: Games, Games, and Games! ....................................................................... 423

Book VI: Working on the Desktop .............................. 433Chapter 1: Running the Desktop from Start to Finish ............................................... 435Chapter 2: Personalizing the Desktop ......................................................................... 467Chapter 3: Start Screen Mods for Desktop Users ...................................................... 493Chapter 4: Maintaining Your System ........................................................................... 507Chapter 5: Using Windows (Live) Essentials .............................................................. 525Chapter 6: Choosing and Using a Desktop Web Browser ......................................... 551Chapter 7: Music on the Desktop................................................................................. 595Chapter 8: Searching on the Desktop .......................................................................... 633

Book VII: Controlling Your System ............................ 645Chapter 1: Controlling Control Panel .......................................................................... 647Chapter 2: Troubleshooting and Getting Help ........................................................... 669Chapter 3: Working with Libraries .............................................................................. 693Chapter 4: Storing in Storage Spaces .......................................................................... 701Chapter 5: Getting the Most from HomeGroups ........................................................ 711Chapter 6: Running the Built-In Desktop Applications ............................................. 731Chapter 7: Working with Printers ................................................................................ 743

Book VIII: Maintaining Windows 8 ........................... 757Chapter 1: File History, Backup, Data Restore, and Sync ......................................... 759Chapter 2: A Fresh Start: Restore and Reset .............................................................. 775Chapter 3: Using and Avoiding Windows Update ...................................................... 791Chapter 4: Monitoring Windows .................................................................................. 811Chapter 5: Using System Tools .................................................................................... 835

Book IX: Securing Windows 8 ................................... 853Chapter 1: Spies, Spams, Scams — They’re Out to Get You .................................... 855Chapter 2: Fighting Viri and Scum ............................................................................... 887Chapter 3: Running Built-In Security Programs ......................................................... 901Chapter 4: Top Security Helpers .................................................................................. 925

Book X: Enhancing Windows 8 .................................. 939Chapter 1: Using Your iPad and iPhone with Windows ............................................ 941Chapter 2: Kindle, Nook, Android, and Windows 8 ................................................... 961Chapter 3: Getting Started with Gmail, Google Apps, and Drive ............................. 975Chapter 4: Using Hotmail and Outlook.com ............................................................... 991Chapter 5: Windows’ Best Free Add-Ons .................................................................. 1003

Index .................................................................... 1015

Table of ContentsIntroduction ................................................................. 1

About This Book .............................................................................................. 1Foolish Assumptions ....................................................................................... 3What You Don’t Have to Read ........................................................................ 3How This Book Is Organized .......................................................................... 4Conventions ..................................................................................................... 5Icons .................................................................................................................. 6Where to Go from Here ................................................................................... 7

Book I: Starting Windows 8 ........................................... 9

Chapter 1: Windows 8 4 N00bs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11Hardware and Software ................................................................................ 13Why Do PCs Have to Run Windows? ........................................................... 14A Terminology Survival Kit .......................................................................... 16What, Exactly, Is the Web? ........................................................................... 19

Getting inside the Internet .................................................................. 21What is the World Wide Web? ............................................................ 22Who pays for all this stuff? ................................................................. 24

Buying a Windows 8 Computer .................................................................... 25Inside the big box................................................................................. 27Inside a touch-sensitive tablet ........................................................... 30Screening............................................................................................... 31Managing disks and drives ................................................................. 32Making PC connections ....................................................................... 35Futzing with video, sound, and multitudinous media ..................... 38Netbooks and Ultrabooks ................................................................... 39

Chapter 2: Windows 8 for the Experienced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41What’s New for the XP Crowd ...................................................................... 44

Improved performance ....................................................................... 45Better video .......................................................................................... 45Sizing up other improvements ........................................................... 46

What’s New for Windows 7 and Vista Victims ........................................... 47Getting the hang of the tiled Start screen ......................................... 48What’s new in the old-fashioned desktop ......................................... 48

What’s New for All of Windows ................................................................... 50Security improvements ....................................................................... 51What’s new in the cloud ...................................................................... 52What you lose ....................................................................................... 52

Do You Need Windows 8? ............................................................................. 54

Windows 8 All-in-One For Dummiesxii

Chapter 3: Which Version? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Roll an 8 — Any 8 ........................................................................................... 56

Buying the right version the first time .............................................. 57Narrowing the choices ........................................................................ 58

Choosing 32-Bit versus 64-Bit ....................................................................... 60

Chapter 4: Upgrades and Clean Installs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63Deciding Whether to Upgrade Your Old PC ............................................... 64Choosing Your Upgrade Path ....................................................................... 65

Upgrading to Windows 8 online ......................................................... 66Installing Win8 from a DVD or USB drive .......................................... 72

Cleaning the Gunk Off New PCs ................................................................... 76What If the Wheels Fall Off? ......................................................................... 77

Book II: Personalizing Windows ................................... 79

Chapter 1: Getting around Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81Windows’ Jekyll and Hyde Personality ....................................................... 82

A tale of two homes ............................................................................. 82Switching from the Start screen to the

old-fashioned desktop and back .................................................... 85Navigating around a Touchscreen .............................................................. 86Navigating with a Mouse and Keyboard ..................................................... 94Keying Keyboard Shortcuts ......................................................................... 96Working with the App Bar ............................................................................ 98Shutting Down Apps ..................................................................................... 98How Do You Turn This Thing Off? ............................................................... 98

Chapter 2: Changing the Lock and Logon Screens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101Working with the Lock Screen ................................................................... 101

Using your own picture ..................................................................... 103Adding and removing apps on the lock screen.............................. 104

Logging In Uniquely ..................................................................................... 106Using a picture password ................................................................. 106Creating a PIN ..................................................................................... 110Bypassing passwords and logon ...................................................... 110

Chapter 3: Working with Charms and Notifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113Bringing on the Charms .............................................................................. 113

Search charm...................................................................................... 115Share charm........................................................................................ 118Start charm ......................................................................................... 118Devices charm .................................................................................... 119Settings charm.................................................................................... 120

Setting and Responding to Notifications .................................................. 121

Table of Contents xiii

Chapter 4: Controlling Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125Why You Need Separate User Accounts ................................................... 126Choosing Account Types ............................................................................ 127

What’s a standard account? ............................................................. 127What’s an administrator account?................................................... 128Choosing between standard or administrator accounts .............. 128

What’s Good and Bad about Microsoft Accounts ................................... 130Adding Users ................................................................................................ 131Enabling the Guest Account ....................................................................... 134Changing Accounts ...................................................................................... 136

Changing other users’ settings......................................................... 136Changing your own settings ............................................................. 140

Switching Users ........................................................................................... 140

Chapter 5: Microsoft Account: To Sync or Not to Sync? . . . . . . . . . . .141What, Exactly, Is a Microsoft Account? .................................................... 142Deciding Whether You Want a Microsoft Account ................................. 143Setting Up a Microsoft Account ................................................................. 144

Setting up a Hotmail/Outlook.com account ................................... 146Making any e-mail address a Microsoft account ........................... 148

Taking Care of Your Microsoft Account ................................................... 149Controlling Sync .......................................................................................... 150

Chapter 6: Privacy Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153Why You Should Be Concerned ................................................................. 154Knowing What Connections Windows Prefers ........................................ 155Controlling Location Tracking ................................................................... 156

Blocking all location tracking ........................................................... 159Blocking location tracking in an app ............................................... 160

Minimizing Privacy Intrusion ..................................................................... 161

Book III: Navigating the Start Screen ........................ 163

Chapter 1: Controlling the Start Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165Touring the Start Screen ............................................................................. 166Changing Tiles on the Start Screen ........................................................... 172Changing the Start screen Background .................................................... 174Organizing Your Start Screen ..................................................................... 175

Changing your picture ....................................................................... 175Adding apps to the Start screen ...................................................... 178Organizing with Semantic Zoom ...................................................... 180

Working with Tiled Snap ............................................................................. 182

Windows 8 All-in-One For Dummiesxiv

Chapter 2: Searching in and with the Start Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187General Approaches to Searching ............................................................. 188Searching for Programs/Apps .................................................................... 190Searching for Settings ................................................................................. 193Searching for Files ....................................................................................... 194Searching for Other Tiled Things .............................................................. 196Removing Apps from the Search List ........................................................ 197

Chapter 3: Sharing Among Tiled Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199Sharing the Easy Way .................................................................................. 200Stepping Through a Photo Share ............................................................... 203What Can You Share? .................................................................................. 204Controlling Share ......................................................................................... 205

Chapter 4: Settings, Settings, More Settings, and Devices . . . . . . . .207Using the Settings Charm ........................................................................... 207Changing PC Settings .................................................................................. 209Touring the Start Screen Settings .............................................................. 212Doing the Devices Charm ........................................................................... 213

Chapter 5: Taking Control of the Windows Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217Checking Out What a Tiled App Can Do ................................................... 217Browsing the Windows Store ..................................................................... 220Searching the Windows Store .................................................................... 222Adjusting Your Store Accounts and Preferences .................................... 223

Chapter 6: How Do I Turn Off This Thing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227Turning Off Your PC .................................................................................... 227

Understanding the new windows sleep state ................................. 229Adjusting sleep settings .................................................................... 230

Turning Off Individual Apps ....................................................................... 231

Book IV: Maximizing Tiled Windows 8 Apps ................ 233

Chapter 1: The Tiled Internet Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235Introducing the Two Faces of IE ................................................................ 236Navigating the Tiled Internet Explorer ..................................................... 239

Surfing with the address bar and navigation buttons ................... 240Tapping Tiled IE’s recently visited sites ......................................... 242Navigating with Flip Ahead ............................................................... 243Flipping to the desktop IE ................................................................. 243

Sharing and Printing Web Pages ................................................................ 244Sorting Out Your Settings ........................................................................... 245

Charming tiled IE settings ................................................................. 245Changing your default search engine .............................................. 246

Table of Contents xv

Settings and whitelists for Adobe/Flash ......................................... 246Managing passwords ......................................................................... 247

Choosing and Setting a Default Browser .................................................. 247Setting the default Windows browser ............................................. 248Setting the default IE browser .......................................................... 249

Exploring IE under the Hood: Flash and HTML5 .................................... 250

Chapter 2: Windows 8 Mail, People, and Calendar Apps . . . . . . . . . .255Choosing a Mail/Contacts/Calendar app .................................................. 256

Comparing e-mail programs ............................................................. 256Comparing calendar apps ................................................................ 258Checking out contact apps ............................................................... 259Choosing the right package .............................................................. 259

Drilling Down on Windows 8 Mail .............................................................. 260Navigating the Windows 8 Mail screen ........................................... 261Adding a new account ....................................................................... 262Creating a new message .................................................................... 264Searching for e-mail in Windows 8 Mail .......................................... 267MIA in Windows 8 Mail ...................................................................... 267

Putting All Your Contacts in the Win8 People App ................................. 268Adding accounts to Win8 People ..................................................... 268Navigating the Windows 8 People app ............................................ 270Editing a contact ................................................................................ 274Adding people in Windows 8 People ............................................... 275

Avoiding Windows 8 Calendar App Collisions ......................................... 277Adding Calendar Items ...................................................................... 280Struggling with Calendar shortcomings .......................................... 281

Chapter 3: The Windows 8 Photos App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283Discovering What Windows 8’s Photos App Can Do .............................. 283Touring Photos ............................................................................................ 284Adding Photos .............................................................................................. 288

Connecting Photos to SkyDrive ....................................................... 289Connecting to Facebook or Flickr .................................................... 289Importing pictures from a camera or external drive..................... 294

Pinning Photos within the Photos App ..................................................... 298

Chapter 4: Using SkyDrive in Windows 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299What Is SkyDrive? ........................................................................................ 300Using the Windows 8 Tiled SkyDrive ........................................................ 302Running SkyDrive on Your Desktop .......................................................... 305

Installing SkyDrive: The legacy program ........................................ 305Using the SkyDrive program on the desktop ................................. 308

Running SkyDrive on the Web ................................................................... 309Fetching ........................................................................................................ 312

Windows 8 All-in-One For Dummiesxvi

Chapter 5: The Windows 8 Messaging App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .317Getting Started with the Windows 8 Messaging App .............................. 318

The differences between MS Messaging and SMS ......................... 318The differences between MS Messaging and Skype ...................... 319Whom you can message.................................................................... 319How Messaging works ....................................................................... 320

Fishing for Messaging Friends ................................................................... 321Running a Windows 8 Messaging Chat ..................................................... 324Using Messaging Effectively ....................................................................... 326

Chapter 6: Xbox Music and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .329Why You Might Want Xbox Music or Video ............................................. 330Playing Your Music with Xbox Music ....................................................... 331Viewing Your Videos with Xbox Video ..................................................... 335Managing Playlists ....................................................................................... 337Turning Off the Tiled Apps as Default Media Players ............................. 339

Book V: Connecting Online with Tiled Apps ................ 341

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Facebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .343Signing Up for a Facebook Account .......................................................... 344

Choosing basic Facebook settings................................................... 348Interpreting the Facebook interface lingo ...................................... 352Choosing basic Facebook security settings ................................... 353

Building a Great Timeline ........................................................................... 355Locking Down Your Facebook Info ............................................................ 360Connecting to Windows .............................................................................. 364

Chapter 2: Getting Started with Twitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .367Understanding Twitter ................................................................................ 368Setting Up a Twitter account ..................................................................... 371Tweeting for Beginners ............................................................................... 374

Beware hacking .................................................................................. 374Using the @ sign and Reply ............................................................... 375Re-tweeting for fun and profit .......................................................... 376

Hooking Twitter into Windows .................................................................. 377

Chapter 3: Getting Started with Flickr and Pinterest . . . . . . . . . . . . . .379Using Flickr with Windows 8 ...................................................................... 381

Signing up for Flickr ........................................................................... 381Getting around Flickr ......................................................................... 383Sharing and licensing your photos .................................................. 385

Pinning with Pinterest ................................................................................. 387Signing up for Pinterest ..................................................................... 387Getting around Pinterest................................................................... 388

Table of Contents xvii

Chapter 4: Getting Started with LinkedIn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .393Signing Up for LinkedIn ............................................................................... 393Hooking LinkedIn into Windows ................................................................ 398Using LinkedIn for Fun and Profit .............................................................. 400

Chapter 5: Bing News, Finance, Travel, and Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . .403Recognizing the Bing in Everyone ............................................................. 404Reading the News with Bing ....................................................................... 404

Getting around Bing News ................................................................ 404Customizing Bing News ..................................................................... 409

Pinning Finance for Fun and Profit ............................................................ 413Traveling with Your Tablet ........................................................................ 417Sports Fans Everywhere, Take Note ......................................................... 420

Chapter 6: Games, Games, and Games! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .423Searching the Store for Games .................................................................. 424Cutting the Rope with Style ........................................................................ 426Tapping Pirates Love Daisies ..................................................................... 428Starting with Sudoku ................................................................................... 429Beating Birzzle ............................................................................................. 431

Book VI: Working on the Desktop ............................... 433

Chapter 1: Running the Desktop from Start to Finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . .435Getting Around ............................................................................................. 436

Knowing the desktop’s hot spots .................................................... 436Snapping windows into place ........................................................... 439Changing the mouse .......................................................................... 441

Exploring Files and Folders ........................................................................ 442Nailing the basic terminology .......................................................... 443Navigating ........................................................................................... 445Viewing and filename extensions ..................................................... 447Previewing .......................................................................................... 448Creating files and folders .................................................................. 449Copying, moving, and modifying files and folders......................... 451

Sharing Folders in the Public Folder ......................................................... 456Touching on the Taskbar ........................................................................... 459Recycling ...................................................................................................... 460Creating Shortcuts ....................................................................................... 461Sleep: Perchance to Dream ........................................................................ 464

Chapter 2: Personalizing the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .467Recognizing Desktop Levels ....................................................................... 467Setting Color Schemes on the Desktop ..................................................... 469Picking a Background .................................................................................. 470

Windows 8 All-in-One For Dummiesxviii

Controlling Icons ......................................................................................... 473Selecting Screen Savers .............................................................................. 475Using Desktop Themes ............................................................................... 477Seeing Your Desktop Clearly ...................................................................... 478

Setting the screen resolution ........................................................... 478Activating and adjusting ClearType ................................................ 480Showing larger fonts .......................................................................... 481Using magnification ........................................................................... 482

Tricking Out the Taskbar ............................................................................ 482Anatomy of the taskbar ..................................................................... 483Jumping ............................................................................................... 484Changing the taskbar......................................................................... 486Making your own little toolbars ....................................................... 487Working with the taskbar ................................................................. 489

Controlling the Notification Area .............................................................. 489

Chapter 3: Start Screen Mods for Desktop Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .493Installing New Programs and Dealing with Their Tiles ........................... 495Finding and Adding Programs to the Start Screen .................................. 497Sorting through the Default Tiles .............................................................. 500Organizing the Start Screen for a Lean, Mean Desktop .......................... 503

Chapter 4: Maintaining Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507What’s the Difference Between Restore, System Repair,

Recovery Mode, Refresh, and Restart? ................................................. 507Using a Password Reset Disk ..................................................................... 508

Creating a Password Reset Disk ....................................................... 510Resetting your password .................................................................. 511

Maintaining Drives ....................................................................................... 513What is formatting? ........................................................................... 514Introducing hard-drive–maintenance tools .................................... 514Running an error check ..................................................................... 515Defragmenting a drive ....................................................................... 516

Maintaining Solid State Drives ................................................................... 517Zipping and Compressing ........................................................................... 518

Compressing with NTFS .................................................................... 521Zipping the easy way with Compressed (zipped) Folders ........... 522

Chapter 5: Using Windows (Live) Essentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .525Introducing the Applications and How They’ve Changed ...................... 526Getting the Windows Essentials Apps ...................................................... 528Using Windows Live Mail ............................................................................ 530

Choosing an e-mail program............................................................. 530Running Windows Live Mail ............................................................. 532Adding e-mail accounts ..................................................................... 534Creating a message ............................................................................ 536

Table of Contents xix

Managing Windows Photo Gallery ............................................................ 537Leafing through the Gallery .............................................................. 538Adding photos to Photo Gallery ...................................................... 541Tagging pictures ................................................................................ 542Finding a tagged picture ................................................................... 544Touching up pictures ........................................................................ 545Planning panoramas and fuses ........................................................ 547

Panning Windows Movie Maker ................................................................. 549

Chapter 6: Choosing and Using a Desktop Web Browser . . . . . . . . .551Which Browser’s Best? ............................................................................... 552

Considering security ......................................................................... 552Looking at privacy ............................................................................. 553Picking a browser .............................................................................. 554Setting a browser as your default .................................................... 556

Using Internet Explorer on the Desktop ................................................... 557Setting a default Internet Explorer .................................................. 558Navigating in desktop IE ................................................................... 560Dealing with cookies .......................................................................... 565Changing the home page................................................................... 567Turning on key features .................................................................... 569Searching with alacrity . . . and Google ........................................... 570

Customizing Firefox ..................................................................................... 572Installing Firefox ................................................................................. 573Browsing privately in Firefox ........................................................... 574Bookmarking with the Fox ................................................................ 575Adding Firefox’s best add-ons .......................................................... 577

Optimizing Google Chrome ........................................................................ 579Installing Chrome ............................................................................... 579Navigating in Chrome ........................................................................ 580

Searching on the Web ................................................................................. 583Finding what you’re looking for ....................................................... 584Using Advanced Search..................................................................... 585Pulling out Google parlor tricks ....................................................... 587

Working with RSS Feeds ............................................................................. 588Referring to Internet Reference Tools ...................................................... 592

Internet speed test ............................................................................. 592DNSStuff .............................................................................................. 5923d Traceroute ..................................................................................... 593Down for everyone or just me? ........................................................ 594The Wayback Machine ...................................................................... 594

Chapter 7: Music on the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .595Getting Started with Windows Media Player ........................................... 595

Pinning WMP to the Start menu or taskbar .................................... 596Setting WMP right the first time ....................................................... 597Tweaking privacy options after installation ................................... 600

Windows 8 All-in-One For Dummiesxx

Playing with Now Playing ........................................................................... 601Controlling the playback buttons .................................................... 603Playing a CD ........................................................................................ 604

Copying from a CD (Also Known As Ripping) .......................................... 606Understanding music file formats .................................................... 606Adjusting the WMP ripping settings ................................................ 607

Organizing Your Media Library ................................................................. 611Leafing through the library ............................................................... 611Changing album and song data ........................................................ 613Rating songs ....................................................................................... 613Sorting songs ...................................................................................... 614Searching ............................................................................................ 614

Managing Playlists ....................................................................................... 615Creating a new playlist ...................................................................... 616Renaming and deleting playlists ...................................................... 617

Burning CDs and DVDs ............................................................................... 618Burning an audio CD .......................................................................... 619Burning data CDs and DVDs with Media Player ............................. 623

Sharing Your Windows Media Player Media ............................................ 624Customizing WMP ........................................................................................ 626Where to Find and Buy Good Music .......................................................... 627

Buying music and videos online ...................................................... 628Using the Amazon music store......................................................... 629Finding new music you’ll like ........................................................... 631

Chapter 8: Searching on the Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .633Indexing to Speed Up Searches .................................................................. 634Using Search Wisely and Sparingly ........................................................... 634Knowing Search’s Idiosyncrasies .............................................................. 635Limiting and Expanding Searches through the Ribbon .......................... 636Introducing AQS ........................................................................................... 638

Searching for a filename .................................................................... 639Using wildcards in ways that make sense ...................................... 639

Making Windows Index Where You Search .............................................. 641

Book VII: Controlling Your System ............................. 645

Chapter 1: Controlling Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .647Exploring the Real Control Panel ............................................................... 647

Bringing up the Control Panel .......................................................... 648Scouting out the Control Panel ........................................................ 649

Relying on Device Manager ........................................................................ 651Stuffing AutoPlay ......................................................................................... 654Uninstalling/Changing Programs ............................................................... 656Turning Windows Features On and Off ..................................................... 659

Table of Contents xxi

Setting Default Programs ............................................................................ 660Changing the default for a filename extension ............................... 660Changing the default browser or e-mail program .......................... 662

Adding and Switching Clocks ..................................................................... 664Changing Languages .................................................................................... 665Enabling Ease of Access Features ............................................................. 667

Chapter 2: Troubleshooting and Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .669Troubleshooting in the Action Center ...................................................... 670System Stability and the Reliability Monitor ........................................... 671Tricks to Using Windows Help ................................................................... 673

The problem(s) with Windows Help ............................................... 674Using different kinds of help ............................................................ 674Staying online ..................................................................................... 675Choosing the index versus search ................................................... 676

How to Really Get Help ............................................................................... 676Snapping and Recording Your Problems ................................................. 678

Taking snaps that snap ..................................................................... 679Recording live..................................................................................... 680

Connecting to Remote Assistance ............................................................. 683Understanding the interaction ......................................................... 683Making the connection ...................................................................... 684Limiting an invitation ........................................................................ 689Troubleshooting Remote Assistance .............................................. 690

Getting Help Online ..................................................................................... 690

Chapter 3: Working with Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .693Understanding Libraries ............................................................................. 693Working with Your Default Libraries ........................................................ 694Customizing Libraries ................................................................................. 696

Adding a folder to a library .............................................................. 696Changing a library’s default save location ..................................... 698

Creating Your Own Library ........................................................................ 699

Chapter 4: Storing in Storage Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .701Understanding the “Virtualization” of Storage ........................................ 701Setting Up Storage Spaces .......................................................................... 704Working with Storage Spaces ..................................................................... 708

Chapter 5: Getting the Most from HomeGroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .711Preparing a PC for a HomeGroup .............................................................. 711Connecting to a HomeGroup ...................................................................... 713

Setting up a new HomeGroup ........................................................... 715Joining an existing HomeGroup ....................................................... 717

Sharing Files and Printers in a HomeGroup ............................................. 717Navigating to a HomeGroup Folder ........................................................... 719

Windows 8 All-in-One For Dummiesxxii

Caring for Your HomeGroup ...................................................................... 720Using the tiled HomeGroup interface .............................................. 720Changing the HomeGroup password .............................................. 721Adding or blocking folders in the HomeGroup .............................. 723

Venturing beyond HomeGroups ................................................................ 724Sharing and granting permissions ................................................... 725Sharing on mixed HomeGroup, workgroup,

and Apple networks ....................................................................... 727

Chapter 6: Running the Built-In Desktop Applications . . . . . . . . . . . .731Getting Free Word Processing ................................................................... 731

Running Notepad ............................................................................... 733Writing with WordPad ....................................................................... 735

Taming the Character Map ......................................................................... 738Calculating — Free ...................................................................................... 739Painting ......................................................................................................... 740Sticking Sticky Notes ................................................................................... 741

Chapter 7: Working with Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .743Installing a Printer ....................................................................................... 744

Attaching a local printer ................................................................... 744Connecting a network printer .......................................................... 746

Using the Print Queue ................................................................................. 749Displaying a print queue ................................................................... 749Pausing and resuming a print queue ............................................... 750Pausing, restarting, and resuming a document ............................. 751Canceling a document ....................................................................... 752

Troubleshooting Printing ........................................................................... 752Catching a Runaway Printer ....................................................................... 754

Book VIII: Maintaining Windows 8 ............................ 757

Chapter 1: File History, Backup, Data Restore, and Sync . . . . . . . . . .759What Happened to the Windows 7 Backup? ............................................ 760Backing Up and Restoring Files with File History .................................... 761

Setting up File History ....................................................................... 761Restoring data from File History ...................................................... 765Changing File History settings.......................................................... 767

Storing To and Through the Cloud ........................................................... 768Considering cloud storage privacy concerns ................................ 769Reaping the benefits of backup and storage in the cloud ............ 771Choosing an online backup and sharing service ........................... 771

Chapter 2: A Fresh Start: Restore and Reset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .775The Three R’s — and a Fourth RE ............................................................. 775Refreshing Your PC ..................................................................................... 778

Table of Contents xxiii

Resetting Your PC ........................................................................................ 780Restoring to an Earlier Point ...................................................................... 782

Creating a restore point .................................................................... 783Rolling back to a restore point ......................................................... 784

Entering the Windows Recovery Environment ........................................ 787

Chapter 3: Using and Avoiding Windows Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .791Patching Woes ............................................................................................. 792Choosing an Update Level .......................................................................... 795Selectively Patching: A Panacea for Those Woes .................................... 799

Patching Windows manually ............................................................ 801Checking for updates manually........................................................ 805

Getting What You Need from a Security Bulletin .................................... 807Decoding a security bulletin ............................................................. 808Getting patches through a security bulletin .................................. 809

Checking and Uninstalling Updates .......................................................... 809

Chapter 4: Monitoring Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .811Obeying the Action Center ......................................................................... 811Entering the Action Center ......................................................................... 812Working with the Action Center ................................................................ 814

Watching Security settings ............................................................... 814Checking Maintenance settings ....................................................... 816

Running Your Windows Experience Index ............................................... 818Checking your Windows Experience score .................................... 819Interpreting the numbers.................................................................. 820Turning the numbers into real improvement ................................ 821

Reviewing Your Network Status ................................................................ 823Turning sharing on or off .................................................................. 824Troubleshooting network adapters ................................................. 825Setting up a virtual private network ................................................ 827

Viewing Events ............................................................................................. 828Using Event Viewer ............................................................................ 828Events worthy — and not worthy — of viewing ........................... 830

Gauging System Reliability ......................................................................... 830

Chapter 5: Using System Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .835Tasking Task Manager ................................................................................ 835

Task Manager Processes................................................................... 838Task Manager Performance .............................................................. 838Task Manager App History ............................................................... 839Task Manager Startup and Autoruns .............................................. 840Task Manager Users ......................................................................... 842Task Manager Details and Services ................................................. 843

Installing a Second Hard Drive ................................................................... 843Running a Virtual Machine ......................................................................... 846

Windows 8 All-in-One For Dummiesxxiv

Book IX: Securing Windows 8 .................................... 853

Chapter 1: Spies, Spams, Scams — They’re Out to Get You . . . . . . .855Understanding the Hazards — and the Hoaxes ....................................... 856

The primary infection vectors ......................................................... 857Zombies and botnets ......................................................................... 858Phishing............................................................................................... 860419 scams ............................................................................................ 865I’m from Microsoft and I’m here to help ......................................... 8680day exploits ...................................................................................... 869

Staying Informed .......................................................................................... 870Relying on reliable sources .............................................................. 871Ditching the hoaxes ........................................................................... 872

Am I Infected? ............................................................................................... 873Evaluating telltale signs .................................................................... 874Where did that message come from? .............................................. 874What to do next .................................................................................. 876Shunning scareware .......................................................................... 877

Getting Protected ........................................................................................ 879Protecting against malware .............................................................. 880Disabling Java and Flash ................................................................... 881Using your credit card safely online ............................................... 881Defending your privacy ..................................................................... 883Reducing spam ................................................................................... 884

Chapter 2: Fighting Viri and Scum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .887Basic Windows Security Do’s and Don’ts ................................................. 887Making Sense of Malware ........................................................................... 891Scanning for Rootkits with Windows Defender Offline ........................... 893Deciphering Browsers’ Inscrutable Warnings ......................................... 896

Chrome ................................................................................................ 897Firefox .................................................................................................. 898Internet Explorer 10 ........................................................................... 899

Chapter 3: Running Built-In Security Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .901Working with Windows Defender .............................................................. 901

Adjusting Windows Defender ........................................................... 903Running Windows Defender manually ............................................ 904

Judging SmartScreen ................................................................................... 906Booting Securely with UEFI ........................................................................ 909

A brief history of BIOS ....................................................................... 909How UEFI is different from/better than BIOS ................................ 910How Windows 8 uses UEFI ............................................................... 912

Controlling User Account Control ............................................................. 913

Table of Contents xxv

Poking at Windows Firewall ....................................................................... 916Understanding Firewall basic features ............................................ 917Speaking your firewall’s lingo ........................................................... 918Peeking into your firewall ................................................................. 919Making inbound exceptions ............................................................. 920

Chapter 4: Top Security Helpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .925Deciding about BitLocker ........................................................................... 926Managing Your Passwords ......................................................................... 929

Using password managers ................................................................ 929Which is better: Online or inhand? .................................................. 929Rockin’ RoboForm ............................................................................. 930Liking LastPass ................................................................................... 931

Keeping Your Other Programs Up to Date ............................................... 932Blocking Java and Flash in Your Browser ................................................ 934Fighting Back at Tough Scumware ............................................................ 937

Book X: Enhancing Windows 8 .................................. 939

Chapter 1: Using Your iPad and iPhone with Windows . . . . . . . . . . .941Running iTunes on Windows, Or Maybe Not ........................................... 942

Why you may need or want iTunes for Windows .......................... 943Installing iTunes ................................................................................. 944Setting up iTunes ............................................................................... 946Pulling Internet videos onto your iPad ........................................... 949Creating a movie playlist .................................................................. 950

Great iPad Apps to Use with Windows ..................................................... 953Controlling Windows from your iPad .............................................. 953Delivering PowerPoint presentations with your iPad ................... 955Extending your Windows display with iDisplay ............................ 955Move files between your PC and the iPad ...................................... 956Working with Windows documents on the iPad ............................ 956

Playing with Kids on Your iPad or iPhones .............................................. 957

Chapter 2: Kindle, Nook, Android, and Windows 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .961Wrangling E-Book Files ............................................................................... 962

Introucing popular e-book formats.................................................. 963Reading e-book files on your PC ...................................................... 963Organizing your e-book files with calibre ....................................... 964

Getting Media from Your PC to Your Kindle ............................................ 967E-mailing books from your PC to your Kindle ................................ 967Receiving e-mailed books from a friend .......................................... 969Adding music to your Kindle ............................................................ 970

Windows 8 All-in-One For Dummiesxxvi

Using the Tiled Kindle App ......................................................................... 972Syncing Contacts and Calendars ............................................................... 973

Syncing Outlook contacts with Android devices ........................... 973Syncing calendars .............................................................................. 973

Chapter 3: Getting Started with Gmail, Google Apps, and Drive . . . .975Finding Alternatives to Windows with Google ......................................... 976Setting Up Gmail .......................................................................................... 978Using Google Docs/Drive ............................................................................ 982Moving Your Domain to Google ................................................................. 986

Chapter 4: Using Hotmail and Outlook .com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .991Getting Started with Outlook.com ............................................................. 991Bringing Some Sanity to Outlook.com Organization ............................... 996Handling Outlook.com Failures ................................................................. 996Importing Outlook.com Messages into Gmail .......................................... 998Weighing the Alternatives ........................................................................ 1000

Chapter 5: Windows’ Best Free Add-Ons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1003Windows Apps You Absolutely Must Have ............................................ 1003

File History ........................................................................................ 1003VLC Media Player ............................................................................. 1004PSI Inspector .................................................................................... 1006Recuva ............................................................................................... 1006

The Best of the Rest — All Free ............................................................... 1007Revo Uninstaller ............................................................................... 1008Paint.net ............................................................................................ 10087Zip .................................................................................................... 1008Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, or . . ........................................ 1009You may not need to buy Microsoft Office ................................... 1010

Don’t Pay for Software You Don’t Need! ................................................. 1010Windows 8 has all the antivirus software you need .................... 1011Windows 8 doesn’t need a disk defragger ................................... 1011Windows 8 doesn’t need a disk partitioner .................................. 1012Windows 8 doesn’t need a Registry cleaner ................................. 1012Windows 8 doesn’t need a backup program ................................ 1012Don’t turn off services or hack your Registry .............................. 1013

Index ..................................................................... 1014

Introduction

W indows 8 shows two completely different personas: the traditional desktop and the tiled Start screen interface. The traditional Windows

desktop resembles every Windows desktop you’ve seen over the past decade, give or take a bit. More than a billion people have used it. The tiled “immer-sive” persona, which Microsoft calls the Start screen (and in this book, I do, too), represents the future of Windows.

I think of the desktop as the staid, dependable, conservative Dr. Jekyll and the tiled Start screen as the dashing, new, outlandish, and occasionally inexplicable Mr. Hyde.

You may prefer Jekyll. You may prefer Hyde. You’ll certainly find yourself, from time to time, jumping between the two, sometimes at the moment you least expect. But, armed with this book, you can make both places work the way you want.

Prefer the desktop? I show you how to change the Start screen so it’ll help you get more out of the desktop. Prefer the showy tiles? I show you how to get a lot done — quite possibly almost everything you want a computer to do — without leaving the tiles behind.

This isn’t the manual Microsoft forgot. This is the manual Microsoft wouldn’t dare print. I won’t feed you the Microsoft Party Line, or make excuses for pieces of Windows 8 that just don’t work. My job is to take you through the most important parts of Windows, give you tips that may or may not involve Microsoft products, point out the rough spots, and guide you around the disasters. Frankly, there are some biggies.

I also look at using non-Microsoft products in a Windows way: iPads, Androids, Kindles, Gmail and Google Apps, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Dropbox, Firefox, Google Chrome, and iCloud. Even though Microsoft competes with just about every one of those products, each has a place in your computing arsenal and ties into Windows in important ways.

I’ll save you more than enough money to pay for the book several times over, keep you from pulling out a whole shock of hair, lead you to dozens if not hundreds of “Aha!” moments, and keep you awake in the process. Guaranteed.

About This BookWindows 8 All-in-One For Dummies takes you through the Land of the Dummies — with introductory material and stuff your grandmother could

About This Book2

(and should!) understand — and then continues the journey into more advanced areas, where you can truly put Windows to work every day.

I start with the tiled Start screen, and for many of you, that’s all you’ll ever need. The Start screen coverage here is the best you’ll find anywhere, because I don’t assume that you know Windows, and I step you through everything you need to know both with a touch screen and a mouse.

Then I dig into the desktop and take you through all the important pieces.

I don’t dwell on technical mumbo jumbo, and I keep the baffling jargon to a minimum. At the same time, though, I tackle the tough problems you’re likely to encounter, show you the major road signs, and give you a lot of help where you need it the most.

Whether you want to get two or more e-mail accounts set up to work simul-taneously, hook into your Facebook page, or publish photos of your Boykin Spaniel on the web, this is your book. Er, I should say ten books. I’ve broken out the topics into ten different minibooks, so you’ll find it easy to hop around to a topic — and a level of coverage — that feels comfortable.

I didn’t design this book to be read from front to back. It’s a reference. Each chapter, and each of its sections, is meant to focus on solving a particular problem or describing a specific technique.

Windows 8 All-in-One For Dummies should be your reference of first resort, even before you consult Windows Help and Support. There’s a big reason why: Windows Help was written by hundreds of people over the course of many, many years. Some of the material was written ages ago, and it’s con-fusing as all get-out, but it’s still in Windows Help for folks who are tackling tough “legacy” problems. Some of the Help file terminology is inconsistent and downright misleading, largely because the technology has changed so much since some of the articles were written. Finding help in Help frequently boggles my mind: If I don’t already know the answer to a question, it’s hard to figure out how to coax Help to help. Besides, if you’re looking for help on connecting your iPad to your PC or downloading pictures from your Galaxy phone, Microsoft would rather sell you something different. The proverbial bottom line: I don’t duplicate the material in Windows 8 Help and Support, but I point to it if I figure it can help you.

A word about Windows 8 versions. As we went to press, Microsoft was pre-paring a completely different kind of Windows, made for small, light, highly portable tablets known as “ARM architecture,” because the computers innards are designed by a company called ARM. This book doesn’t cover ARM computers, or the version of Windows called Windows RT (code-named WOA “Windows on ARM,” get it?). While many of the interactions with the tiled Mr. Hyde side of Windows 8 are basically identical to those on Windows RT, there are many, many differences. Don’t try to psych out Windows RT using the nostrums in this book.