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Tips for navigating Windows 8 with your mouse

Getting used to navigating in Windows 8 with a mouse and keyboard can be a tricky. As you use Windows 8 more are you feeling more comfortable with the Metro interface?

For a desktop user the new UI is less efficient than the Windows 7 start menu. Unless this is corrected for launch then I fear we are seeing another Vista on its way. I have nearly 2000 users to think about and support - I cannot see the new UI as being anything positive when compared to the amount of frustration, training and support calls my team will have to field.

Windows 8 looks slick for touchscreen devices, but unless we move the workplace away from desktops and laptops then the new UI is a possible show-stopper and I am likely to keep the enterprise on Windows 7 for a few more years.

There is a simple way around this, download a program called vistart, once downloaded simply put it in your startup folder. Then the next time you start Windows 8, the desktop will have the traditional start button, and STILL have the new Metro UI.

If you have to show various techniques on how to move around the Metro interface [for those without a touch screewn], that isn't a good sign. Too me it's more work/complex than the old Start menu.
As Mr Kaelin says, it's more tricky.
Unsure why Microsoft doesn't give the person the option to use the Metro interface or the Start menu. Already you can see there are indications that people arent' happy with the Metro interface with the utilities Stardock and [the buggy and possibly crapware infested] VizStart.
Here's a question: If you find it difficult, how will a novice user [your parents? seniors?] find the Metro interface? There are many computer novices who aren't switching away from Windows XP until the OS dies in 2014 or even wait until after that.

@Mark W. Kaelin and @Gisabun
Using Metro is a baffling ordeal.

Playing "Whack-a-mole" with the Metro tiles (when trying to organise them) sure is fun.
"Ramming" the mouse pointer from one corner of the screen to another, doesn't fill me with joy either.
I still haven't figured out how to split-screen apps yet.

Businesses are going to "run screaming" from W8, once they realise how much time and money they are going to have to spend, retraining their staff.

This won't work in a job environment, I'm wondering if Microsoft will have a Professional version? Businesses are about productivity. I can't imagine using this interface in a business
setting. It is to complicated for the average office worker to be efficient on a day to day basis.
And HERE'S a SURPRISE Microsoft - Businesses will NOT upgrade their perfectly fine monitors to touch screen monitors, nor will they pay for their employees to take classes
to become productive in Windows 8, if THAT would EVER be possible in the Metro Interface.

Before I read the rest of this article, I just have to comment on this. I could understand this approach from an inventory clerk or a CIO, but from an IT pro? Seriously, Greg? If you don't have OneNote or any of the open source equivalents, at least use Notepad or Outlook's Notes feature.

Geez, Post-Its. Is there one under your keyboard with your last half-dozen passwords (usually based on grandchildren's names, in order of birth)?

They should rename this to CROCK. It looks like something for a 5 year old, yet an IT pro like yourself must use post-its to navigate? I predict massive FAIL, unless there will be an option to revert to a Windows 7 type screen. This is worse than the idiotic ribbon interface.

I agree with your comment..to a point. The problem is that not everyone is a computer tech nor has the desire to be one. If this was just being sold to computer techs, then fine...we're all foolish for commenting without using it first. But not everyone who needs to use a computer on a regular basis is tech savvy or finds joy in learning to navigate a new product like some do. That's why an epic fail is predicted here. Not because it is bad on its own, but because it may very well be only techies who are willing to give it a try.

a form factor W8 is well-suited for. Tried it on a desktop or conventional laptop yet?

works fine on laptop no tuch

How is that an improvement over programs (not apps) pinned to the Taskbar or "Start Menu"?

What IS the difference between programs and apps? Sorry if this question has little bearing on the W8 "experience," (which I found confusing on my laptop to say the least,) but seriously.

Metro uses full screen Apps.
They seem to be crippled versions of real programs (e.g. Metro IE10 vs desktop IE10).
Maybe MS has fixed this in W8RP.

Programs are what you use on the desktop.
Program windows are normally resizeable and you can have as many as you like open and displayed at the same time.

On a touchscreen computer it is undoubtedly better - but most monitors are not touchscreens.

I would guess that 99.5% of current Windows 7 systems are NOT touchscreen. Nor do I see a big rush to them, in fact almost NONE of the monitors ( or laptops for that matter ) currently advertised for sale today on Tigerdiret are touch screens. So exactly what is MS smoking?

Windows 8 is a real laugh-----only the majority aren't chuckling. Microsoft has finally gone off the deep end. They've actually designed a version of Windows that is worse than Windows ME and Windows Vista combined. Like many, many of you I too have been through all the MS OSs beginning with the early days of MS-DOS. Microsoft has traditionally built their empire on the principle of productivity, not play toys. As another writer commented, corporate America is going to run away from this screaming at the top of their lungs. Software costs, training expense, and hardware upgrades are simply going to be overwhelming for business and the "bean counters" just aren't going to go there. Then there is the morale of the worker bees that will have to be addressed, which is a whole separate matter. All those in the SOHO market, who comprise the majority of my clients, are going to stick with XP till it dies or beyond or Windows 7 if I can get them upgraded in time. This is, in my opinion, the worst operating system that they have ever created. They found a new "low" in the bottom of the barrel. I have read quite a few of Deb Shinder's columns on Windows 8 and she is clearly an advocate for Windows 8. While I truly have the greatest respect for Deb, in my opinion she's wrong on this one. I know that this won't happen, but Microsoft needs to cut their loses while they can, admit they made a massive error, and go back to the drawing board. Their "one size fits all devices" policy just isn't going to work.

Couldn't agree more! This downward spiral of productivity started some time ago, with M$ removing the ability to easily operate multiple windows of the same program (ie Excel) at the same time. For some reason they have decided that corporate users only view one wondow of anything at a time ... which simply could not be farther fromt he truth!! Now they're trying to build it in to the OS as well!! If you are working with numbers, like many many corporate users are, you frequently need to have two or more documents open side by side to compare numbers, or copy data. It is simply not convenient or productive to be constantly flipping between full screen apps. I think perhaps that M$ has now got so big and bloated that they don't actually have any people in their organisation who actually use their own product ... and they certainly don't seem to give a rip about what the large masses of corporate users have been trying to tell them for years! They seem to be caught up in some weird race with their "competitors" to produce the most "visual" OS ... yet ironically, their competitor has managed to do this while still maintaining productivity, while M$ has not...

A small annoyance, but you can start another copy of Excel, then open the second spreadsheet, in order to have two completely independent windows. Otherwise there are various options in the View ribbon section, including synchronized scrolling.

But nothing. Applications are for my productivity. If it's a hassle, it means that to the CUSTOMER (me), it's a bad idea. Thank goodness Open Office hasn't subscribed to either this nonsense or the Ribbon.

I can't remember specifically, but you can find it online. It is probably harder to do in Windows 7, I suspect you have to go through the registry to do it.

Simply open Excel without opening a file, any number of times each time you do you start a new instance of Excel, then open each individual file. I typically run 3 separate Excel sessions when I am doing my monthly summary reports. This is not as easy as just selecting files and opening them but it does allow you to run independent Excel sessions.

Close one and they all still close, they also all show under the same taskbar icon.

NT

Not sure why all the negative votes on your post here, because this absolutely works with Office 2010 on XP and 7. As for Slayer's comment, that is typical of taskbar item grouping, which really can only be effectively disabled with Windows XP. And also, I have *never* encountered the issue you described where you close one and all of the rest close. Here's how I do it, I open one document, and if I want another instance I just hit the Run from the start menu and type "excel" to open a new instance, separate window. Operator error?

I've been trying to embrace W8. I installed on a laptop that I've been using as my home computer, but after 4 weeks of using I'm still having problems navigating. I appreciate this article as it has helped fill in the gaps that I'm not able to figure out on my own.

I'm an IT professional with an aptitude for figuring out software, and feel extremely frustrated that I can't figure out this OS without tutorials. I have no idea how an end-user is going to be able to bridge the gap.

I'm not ready to throw in the towel on it yet, but I can't help but wonder if Windows 8 will be a transition version that prepares us for a truly great Windows 9.

I'm waiting for you to mention that if you cross your eyes and click 3 times in the center of the screen you'll see the list of Microsofties who are laughing their way to the bank.

I'm a power user and very adept at learning new technologies. I'm also a staunch keyboard user, finding that many of the mouse commands are inefficient compared to the keyboard as it is. It sounds like W8 has made mouse usage much more cumbersome and non-intuitive. It's bad enough how M$ lets other companies do the innovations and then steals their thunder, but now they are forcing regular computer users to go through a painful re-education to support a relatively new and still evolving technology. With a more cumbersome interface. Really?
There is no one-size-fits-all solution here and I doubt there will be one any time soon. The fundamental physicality of each type of device alone *requires* different interface designs , as does how each type of device is used. Smaller devices and touchpad technology innovation will create enhancements to the desktop and laptop markets, but it should be in addition to and an option and not in place of, at least at this point.

Oh dear, you all seem to have forgotten that us techie types are not supposed to be using the UI anymore, we're all supposed to be typing in powershell commands to do everything on Windows. In fact we're not even supposed to install the UI anymore, we're supposed to be using the "core" version.

The reason it looks like a child's toy is because only the people stupid enough to not be able to memorize hundreds of powershell commands are supposed to use it.

... there is absolutely no reason to use Windows 8 without a touchscreen tablet. Nice to have that cleared up for us at this point. The article makes it seem as if Windows were always a tablet OS, and some first year recruit was being tasked with adding rudimentary mouse support, just in case, as one might with iOS or Android. Only thing, Android actually works much better than this with a mouse. This someone seems totally unfamiliar with, say, a pop-up mouse menu -- the sort that's been used in various OSs even longer than Windows has existed... and might be just, oh I dunno -- a whole lot more efficient than constantly having to mouse off-screen. Have these new MS designers actually done any real work on a PC, other than the relatively mundane job of programming?

come on cant you folks play around with the program on your own.I do with every O.S. i have had to find out what work what does not. never had to have some one to show me how to walk around any of them.Now with free O.S.'s i try every thing i know that i have pick up in plus 40 years of working with computers .It's like it's free try to push it till it breaks . Then i reinstall it have done this for years .i Guess a lot of you folks are just to leary of breaking your computers well it is hard to do .if you have the full O.S. not some cut up version that comes loaded from the manufacture.

Had it running in a VM since the Consumer Preview (eg Alpha) release. So far, I have installed some real programs, tried to understand if there really is a point to it. In my experience, it just gets worse with use.

gee must have piss off a lot of fanboys to get bash like this ? dont cair your nothing more than a buch of groupes with a dead leader aka jobs.go back to your cult.An quit patting your selfs on the back

I have not tried Win 8 and so cannot comment as to its faults or strengths, however, it seems that MS will be trying to get a wide adoption of the Metro interface on the desktop so that over time, it's familiarity will then help persuade users to choose a tablet or phone with a similar interface, hence universal adoption of MS across all devices. Given that 90% of desktops use Windows it could be a good strategy...assuming everyone does not get a fright and avoids it like the plague ?? la ME and Vista!

The last time I checked, I thought I was on Techrepublic. But to listen to the moaning and groaning going on here, you'd think this was a bunch of elementary kids during recess complaining about the pop quiz they were not prepared for. It's just a OS! If you poke around just a little bit, you'll have it figued out long before it actually goes on sale. Then again, you can just keep on using Windows 7 just like the millions of people that are still using Windows XP. Trust me, no one is forcing you to upgrade and no one is going to lose any sleep if you don't. Life goes on folks. Either learn to use the program or get over it. It's not a life threatening event. That is unless the newbies learn to love it, start demanding it in the workplace and you find yourself fighting to hang on to your job because you spent this time complaining! Just sayin'

Amen

The point is that for the " average " user this is going to be a nightmare, not for us techies...

the younger generation will if you price the device right and i dont want to get into the enterprize part of win 8 in the feild.peace dude