A quick tip that makes Windows 8 much easier…

By | June 29, 2015
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I must admit I’ve never much liked Windows 8 – I thought it was a brave approach from Microsoft but I always thought it didn’t really seem properly finished. But one tiny little tip has made it quite a bit easier to use…

A quick tip that makes Windows 8 easier
I’ve said before that Windows 8 and 8.1 are very different from earlier versions of Windows – so if you’ve used an older version and then switch to Windows 8 it can be hard to adjust.

One thing that’s really fiddly is that a lot of the important options are in the “charms bar” – and to get at that you have to point the mouse at the top right of the screen. It’s fiddly to do and then as you move the mouse down to click on the bit you want, it has a tendency to disappear because you’re no longer pointing the mouse in the right place.

There’s a useful trick though. Instead of using the mouse to make it appear, hold down the ctrl key and press C. It makes it appear straight away, without fiddling about with the mouse. Then you can easily click on whichever bit of it you like.

I’ve found it makes using Windows 8 much easier – you might too!

More on things I mentioned last time
Last time I mentioned about the Bletchley Park computers that were developed during the Second World War, to decode the German’s Enigma code, and said I’d have loved to see one working.

What I hadn’t realised was that at the museum at Bletchley about it all (which I want to visit anyway), they have a working reproduction of one of the machines. So I can get my wish! I’m told the place is really worth a visit, so if you happen to be near Milton Keynes with a day to spare, you might want to put it on your list.

I also mentioned about Lightbot – an app that’s a sort of game that helps kids learn the basics of programming. You can run it on an iPad or an Android tablet (just search for “lightbot” in the stores – there’s a short free version called “An hour of code” or the full version is a couple of pounds).
Well, I’ve given it a try – or more to the point, Alastair has. To be fair, he had a bit of help from me (mainly because he couldn’t read the instructions very well – he can read a bit, but they seem aimed at older children really) but once he got into it he loved it and has straight away asked if we can get the full version. I was quite impressed – it makes it easy for even fairly young children (he’s not quite 5) to learn the idea of a program as a series of instructions, loops, separate procedures and calling them from the main part of the program or from within another procedure… not bad for an hour or so!
And he had fun doing it. If you have a child/grandchild who likes playing on a tablet and you think might enjoy something like that, give it a try!

That’s about all for this week.

It’s been a busy (but interesting) couple of weeks for me. Georgia, who runs my Inner Circle Clubroom day to day, answering all the questions on there and helping people out, has been on holiday, so I’ve been covering for her. It’s been fun “talking” with the people on there and of course it’s interesting to see what different problems people have with their computers or tablets. She’s back now, though, so Inner Circle members will have her there to call on again!

If you’re not an Inner Circle member or don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s a service where people can get extra help with problems on their PCs or tablets and access extra articles, videos and even ebooks about topics they might find helpful. (But right at the moment we’re not taking any new members on.)

6 thoughts on “A quick tip that makes Windows 8 much easier…

  1. Ian Dunbar

    Thanks Tim for all your Helpful Emails .WE appreciate all your efforts.Keep up all your and your teams good work.

    Reply
  2. Heather

    Thank you, Tim. I just tried the ‘control+c’ without success. Maybe I should have been on the starting screen for that?
    Also, Bletchley Park is a wonderful place! Went there on a coach tour a couple of years ago- amazing 😉

    Reply
    1. Tim Post author

      Apologies – I made a silly typing mistake and it should have been the Windows key and C, rather than control and C. I’ve sent out another email so hopefully everyone who was confused by it now has the right version!
      Tim

      Reply
  3. robin

    AHEM indeed, are you fully aware that children can take parents to court for cruelty now? ( please read second E mail of the day to clarify reason for this comment ). Poor children, limited ice cream indeed?
    Further I can remember a 5/6 year old asking how do you add letters together dad ? ( perhaps thinking Mum’s not up to this one, although he had been shown once before and by her).
    Deprivation was NOT applied in this instance so with black board and chalk the gap in the educational standard was fully rectified.
    So be careful your news letters are read by some and inaccuracies, noted and recorded although no longer rectified.

    Reply
    1. Tim Post author

      I have to limit the ice-cream, Dad, or Tesco would run out given how much that pair would eat! (same goes for mashed potatoes, pie, risotto and so on…)
      Yeah, they haven’t asked about adding letters together yet.. but I wouldn’t bet against it (his latest thing was last night deciding to count backwards from 50 to 1 – he managed it with only one mistake, which I thought was pretty good!)
      Tim

      Reply
  4. John Welch

    Thanks for the tips; much appreciated
    Charms tip is time saving
    Good luck to all
    Hope you all manage to get your holidays at the same time as the good weather.

    Reply

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