Taming Windows 8, series of blogs that will help you navigate this new version of Windows

Part 1: Putting a familiar face on the Windows 8/Metro UI

Happy Holidays All!

We at Vigilant understand that the Holidays will bring new laptops and desktops for many of our readers. Most of those shiny new machines will be loaded with a fresh new look and feel called Windows 8. This newest version of Windows: Windows 8 is a user interface or UI designed for touch screen enabled devices such as Tablets and Phones that has been integrated into Windows. It turns out that a very large percentage of folks are not comfortable with or do not care for the new face of Windows. If this is the case for you or someone you know we have good news, you can have the look and feel of your comfortable version of Windows, whether it be Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows 7/Vista back again! Just follow through the short article below and you can have the compatibility of Windows 8 with the comfort of the Windows version you are most comfortable with

So, without any further rambling……..

With the advent of Windows 8 things appear very differently:

First up the new login screen:

Logging in brings us to the inbox:

Hit the Windows Key or CTRL+ESC and it now takes us to the new Meto UI:

A bold departure from the familiar Windows  button we’ve seen since 1995!

Click on the  icon and the browser window will pop up, for now please click on “Ask me later” button

The regular browser window will then appear:

Enter “Ninite” into the search window and hit enter. Next click on the search result like the purple one below:

Clicking on the link will take you here. Feel free to select any programs you might want as you scroll down to……..

….This program: “Classic Start” Click the box and then click on the  icon

If your download doesn’t start automatically then you can click on the “retry the download” button

The bar at the bottom of the screen will appear, click on the “Run” button

This window will pop up, click “Yes”

The installer package will run…..

When the program is complete…..voila! A  button and a Start Menu!Click on the close program button once the installer is done

Click on the  button:

Click on Programs\Classic Shell\Classic Start Menu Settings:

Choose the Windows version that you would like to use and click OK

Click Yes

In this case I chose Windows 7/Vista and now we have a familiar environment to work from!

All the Windows 8 Apps/Icons in one place!

Amazingly, all of the familiar windows programs back in the usual spot!

You can still access the Windows UI “corner” functions:

We hope that this helps ease your transition into Windows 8!

Please come back next month when we will give you a short guided tour of the Windows 8/Metro UI!

Wishing you all the Happiness and warmth of the Holidays and the New Year!!

Mike Kirk is the director of enterprise architecture at Vigilant Technologies. Mike has over 20 years in the Computing industry and has worked for companies such as Intel Corporation and Motorola in senior admin capacities. We asked Mike to present a series of articles to help our clients with New Technologies.