Windows 8 Tips and Tricks

If you downloaded the "Pre-Release or Beta Version" of Windows 8, then these tips and tricks may not work for you. When you first get your new system and you're trying to register it, SKIP the question to make a Microsoft email account and password. It's ok if you enter your Live, MSN, HOTMAIL account info but no other one such as gmail, yahoo, google etc.

No longer can you push the "F8" button at start up and get into "Safe Mode." So that's what a lot of people tried to do, and that's how they discovered that the F8 boot menu functionality has been removed. Oops. Welcome to Windows 8; it's a brave new world. Unless you "turned on safe mode in windows 8 first.

Why, oh why would they take away this trusty troubleshooting technique that we've relied upon for so long? Well, there's actually a good reason for that - the bootup process on Windows 8 computers is so blazing fast that there's not time to press a key and invoke a hardware interrupt. Okay, that makes sense. Windows 8 replaced the F8 boot menu with a new, graphical Advanced Options menu styled to match the TIFKAM (The Interface Formerly Known As Metro) look.

1.Hold down the SHIFT key while starting the computer.

2. Click on Troubleshoot.

3. Click on Advanced Options.

This is where you can format the hard drive and bring it back to factory, use System Restore, Run the Automatic Repair and if you click on Start-up Settings, you MIGHT get to select #4 Safe Mode but MIGHT is the key word. Safe Mode has to be "turned on" inside windows first. Check out Microsoft Windows 8 help site here. Here's some info and videos, click here.

Make Windows 8 more like Windows XP and 7. Click here. or this one, click here. Stardock probably has the best one, buy it for $4.99 here.

Try Windows 8 for free - without giving up your current OS

http://www.opentechguides.com/how-to/article/windows-8/7/windows-8-safe-mode-f8.html