start

The more apps you install in Windows 8, the more crowded and wider the Metro Start screen becomes. But PC users can easily steer across the Start screen using just their trusty mouse and keyboard.

By Mouse:

Move your mouse right and left to move to the right and left edges of the Start screen. Moving your mouse's scroll wheel up and down will also move you left and right on the Start screen.

Laptop users can tap into their trackpad. Swipe your fingers up and down the trackpad to move left and right on the Start screen. And … Read more

One of the benefits of the Metro Start screen are live tiles, which can display the latest info from your e-mail, calendar, contacts, and other apps. How do you enable that feature?

You first need to open and potentially set up the app for which you want to see a live tile. Among the apps in the new Windows 8 Release Preview that can tap into this feature are Mail, People, Calendar, Photos, Weather, News, and Sports.

Just opening certain apps will turn on the live tile feature. For example, open the News and Weather apps and then return to … Read more

Facebook Camera was just released for any iPhone and iPod Touch running iOS 4.0 and later. The new Camera app from Facebook allows you to upload and share multiple photos, whereas the Facebook app restricts you to uploading only one photo at a time. With Facebook Camera you can also crop, rotate, and even add 1 of 14 total filters to a photo. Even having just bought Instagram, Facebook has proceeded to release an app that some would say competes directly with Instagram.

If you're curious about the look and feel of the app, watch the video below … Read more

Users of Google Chrome know that by default, when you open a new tab, your most-visited Web sites will be displayed as thumbnails. Start is an extension for Chrome that displays your bookmarks and other selected content instead. It's an interesting, and useful, alternative to the standard Chrome options.

Start installs without any fuss, as is typical of Chrome extensions. By default, the extension displays icons representing bookmarked Web pages, which may be great for some users, but not for us; we ended up with a tab full of New York restaurants that we'd bookmarked in anticipation of … Read more

The Windows 8 Metro Start screen can quickly get overrun with a huge number of tiles, making it hard to find the app you need. How can you manage this mishmash?

Users who have taken the Windows 8 beta for a spin already know that the Metro Start screen poses certain challenges. For every app you install -- Metro or non-Metro -- one or sometimes several tiles are plopped onto the Start screen. Each Web site you pin gets its own Start screen tile. Displaying features such as Administrative Tools adds even more tiles.

Windows 8 is designed with a … Read more

For Windows 8 beta users still yearning for the good, old-fashioned Start menu in Windows 8, StartMenu7 is one utility that can bring it back.

Initially designed to replace and enhance the Start menu in Windows 7 and prior versions, StartMenu7 (aka StartMenuX) can pull a similar trick in Windows 8. Designed for a PC or touch-screen device, this utility is available as both a free version and a paid $19.99 pro version, so you can try out the freebie first.

After installation, the software displays an icon in the lower left corner of the desktop. Click on the … Read more

For better or worse, IE10 is one of those Windows 8 apps with a split personality--part Metro and part desktop. Microsoft dubs it a "Metro style enabled desktop browser," which means that technically it's a single app that offers two different "experiences."

That sounds cool in theory. But in reality, bouncing back and forth between the Metro browser and the desktop browser can be clumsy and jarring. Both flavors do share the same history list, but otherwise there's a lack of consistency and standardization between the two.

I like the design of the Metro … Read more

Time and time again, the old adage that it's easier to find a job when you already have one rings true. One young Austin, Texas-based entrepreneur decided to capitalize on that notion and created a Web site with a perfectly descriptive name: JobPoacher.com.

When building the site in his spare time, John Everett Creighton said he drew on his own experience. As an MIT graduate with a degree in physics and nuclear engineering, he was in hot demand when entering the job market and had to juggle multiple offers and rounds of negotiations. Creighton sought to simplify that … Read more

People who just can't work in Windows 8 without the classic start button may want to check out a free app called Start8.

Designed by the folks at Stardock, Start8 tries to merge the convenience of the start button with the functionality of the new Metro environment. As such, it moves beyond the standard start menu with some unique features of its own.

You can download Start8 from its dedicated Web page and install it in the current beta, aka Consumer Preview, edition of Windows 8. Installation is quick and simple. After the app is installed, you'll see … Read more