Thanks Greg - a few follow-on steps can also be useful IMO
I implemented this in mid-November when it was widely covered in tech blogs and now run my system >99% from the desktop using a few easy "tricks". I used four of the five in W7 and have written them across to 8, where they work well.
1. Pin all key program launchers on the taskbar, also Shutdown and Restart buttons. Pin key data files to the program icons
2. Add a new toolbar to the taskbar linking to the desktop, then remove unwanted programs and reorganize it (I use alphabetic) to run all other programs. However, it is then undesirable to save files to the desktop as they clutter the toolbar.
3. Add a Quick Launch toolbar to the taskbar and place all of your apps and management shortcuts on it
4. Launch all of the W7 right pane start button items and more by right clicking the little start window icon at the extreme left of the taskbar, including useful things like launching an administrator command prompt.
5. A few other useful apps like Pure Text install themselves by default in the "hidden notification icons" area of the taskbar as they used to in W7.
With these 5 steps, 8 becomes entirely usable. Every program and function can be launched from the desktop with one or two clicks. Search in a working machine is much better from Explorer than Start, so with this approach there is almost no need to use Start or Charms which seem to offer nothing useful (to me) on a working non-touch notebook.
