Managing Windows 8 Tiles

If you ask someone - What's new in Windows 8? There could be 100 answers. But what should come first? Definitely Tiles. With live tiles, Windows 8 has got an absolutely different look. But most of the PC users are not comfortable with this attractive feature! Users are often confused while working. Today I'd like to discuss about working with Windows 8 Tiles. 

What are the Tiles Actually? 

In fact, tiles are the modern look of previous start menu. Due to the growing demand for Smart Phones and Tablets, the sales volume of desktop and laptop PCs is falling down. And ultimately it hits the market share of Windows. And definitely the future of Windows was  at stake. 

And that's why Microsoft was looking for innovation. Windows Team was trying to make an operating system which works with PCs, tablets and mobiles. Windows 8 is such an operating system. 

And live tiles have been added to Windows to make it more popular. Windows Tiles let you do many things which are not possible by traditional Start Menu. 

This post is for the new users of Windows 8. And if you're afraid of upgrading your OS to Windows 8 due to the tiles, hopefully you will be interested to upgrade after reading this post! Let's start . . . 

Start Screen (Press Start Button)

After opening PC, Windows 8 will take you to the start screen first. And what you see in the start screen, is known as tiles. Some of them are live and others are not. You can go to the Start Screen by pressing Start Button. 

Pin/ Unpin Tiles from Start

Windows 8 has some built in apps which can be accessed from start screen. And when you install a new program, you will get the shortcut in the Start. But sometimes you may need to unpin tiles from start. Or you would like to pin something to the start screen. 

• Pin to Start: To pin an app to the start you have to click right mouse button on that app. Now choose Pin to Start option from the menu. You can also choose Pin to Taskbar to get access there quickly. See the image below:

• Unpin from Start: To unpin an item from the start, go to the start screen first. Then click right mouse button on that item and choose Unpin from Start. Look at the image below:

Show/ Hide Administrative Tiles

By default, Administrative Tiles are hidden from start menu. Even on earlier version of windows, you have to open administrative functions from Run. But if you show Administrative tiles, you will get many handy tools from there. 

To show Administrative tiles, Press Start > Move your mouse to upper corner to open Charm > Hit on the Settings gear > Choose Tiles > Show Administrative Tools > Slide to option No to Yes. 

Turn Live Tile On/ Off

Live tiles are the most attractive features of Windows 8. But to enjoy the live tiles, you have be connected to the Internet. And net speed should not be absurd! I recommend minimum 512 kbps net speed to work with live tiles. News, Sports, Weather, Mail, Message, Windows Store and what you need? Live tiles will be updating always. 

But if you are using a limited bandwidth, then live tiles are not for you. :( It may consume huge amount of data. So you have to keep them turned off. 

To turn off a live tile, you have to click right mouse button over that item > Now choose Turn Live Tile Off. 

But if you see Turn Live Tile On, that means the item is already turned off. 

Resize/ Reposition Tiles

If you pin/ unpin programs randomly, your start screen could be turned into a massacre! But Windows 8 has options to resize and rearrange the tiles. Let's find out how - 

• Resize: Click right mouse on an item, and choose Smaller or Larger. Remember, some items are not resizable. And in Windows 8.1, you will find more shapes of tiles. But in Windows 8, you will get two shapes only. 

• Reposition: Just hit on an item and drag. Place it anywhere. In Windows 8, there is no group of tiles, But in Windows 8.1, tiles are divided into groups. Even you can rename a group. 

Switch Between Apps

Windows 8 has made multi tasking easier. In fact this version of Windows has been optimized for multi tasking. If you run multiple apps at the same time, see how to switch between them: 

Open 3/ 4 apps randomly. Now move mouse pointer to the upper left corner of your screen. You will see the app thumbnails as the image shows above. Choose an app that you wanna jump into. 

You can also press Alt+Tab to switch between programs. 

Closing the Apps

To close an app, you have to press Alt+F4. Or you can use your mouse too. Move your mouse to the top of the app. You will get a hand icon. Now drag it to the bottom. Your app will be closed. 

Note: Never run too many applications at the same time. Your PC will be slow down. So, close all the unnecessary applications to work smoothly. 

Uninstall the Apps

You can uninstall built in apps from Start. Because these apps can't be removed from Control Panel. Click right mouse button over an item and choose Uninstall. It will be removed immediately. 

BIG Deal! It's almost a 1000-word post. I get nothing more to clarify. But if you have any question/ query regarding Windows 8 Tiles, don't hesitate to leave a comment. I'm here to serve you . . .