What To Do If I Get A Fix It Ticket For Window Tint

Windows viii, I want to love you, but your annoying quirks go along bringing me down.

Afterward spending more than a twelvemonth acquisition the operating system's overhauled (and nonintuitive) interface in its various prerelease iterations, I've at present entered a second stage of frustration: I observe myself cursing at Windows 8's major changes less and less, only shaking my fist and swearing similar a sailor at its little irritations more than and more.

Beyond its polished, tile-based surface, Microsoft's new operating organisation plays host to a legion of smaller annoyances—a cornucopia of quirks that will leave you seething long subsequently you go the hang of all the new gesture controls and schizophrenic organization options. Some of the bug are whoppers. Others are mere nitpicks that result from a lifetime of traditional Windows use. Merely many of these bug tin can exist stock-still, with ane major exception. Read on!

Lock down the lock screen

Disabling the lock screen is but a hidden option away.

Allow'due south offset at the very beginning of the Windows 8 experience. Lock screens make sense on a tablet, just on a PC the lock screen becomes just another superfluous click in a ocean of nonstreamlined Windows eight controls. Fortunately, banishing the Windows 8 lock screen from your life is easy.

Open the Run command box by searching for "Run," pressing Windows-R, or moving your mouse pointer to the lower-left corner of the Desktop screen, right-clicking, and selecting Run in the Quick Access menu.

Now typegpedit.msc and press Enter to open the Local Group Policy Editor. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel >Personalization in the left menu. Double-click the Exercise Not Display the Lock Screen option in the main pane to open a new window. Select the Enabled radio button, click OK, and yous're done. Buh-bye, lock screen!

Press Starting time to continue

Plenty words have been written about Windows 8'southward missing Commencement button to fill the Library of Congress twice over, so I won't spend much time on information technology. But if you're looking to bring back the Start push button and peradventure even banish the alive-tiled Commencement screen for good, check out the free (and crawly) Archetype Shell program. We cover it in-depth in our roundup of free tools designed to bend Windows 8 to your will.

No Popular for you!

That POP option in the Mail app? It'due south a trick.

One of my biggest Windows 8 irritations is its lack of Pop email back up in the native Postal service app. I get it, Microsoft: IMAP's syncing functionality fits better into the cloud-connected, piece of work-everywhere vision y'all accept for Windows 8. Only tell that to all the nontechie people who lean on me for computer support, and who rely on the Pop email addresses that their ISPs handed out.

If yous're running Windows 8 and demand to go along tabs on a POP email account, I beginning recommend downloading Mozilla'south gratis Thunderbird e-mail application and using it in Desktop fashion. Just if you don't want to do that (or if you're running Windows RT), y'all have a workaround for Microsoft's Pop reluctance, though it's somewhat clunky.

The key lies in the Mail app'south support for popular webmail clients, including Gmail and Outlook.com—two free favorites that just happen to be able to connect and link with outside Pop email accounts. See where I'yard going hither? Just create a free email account with either service, then link your POP mail service account to information technology using the tutorials supplied by Outlook.com or Gmail.

After persuading your Pop account to play nice with your Outlook.com or Gmail account, add together your chosen webmail service to the Windows 8 Mail app through the normal means. Voilà! Your Pop mail will work its manner into the Mail app inbox by style of its webmail proxy.

Here's the kicker: When you send email, the Mail app will let yous use but your webmail e-mail accost, not your Popular mail address. There isn't any way around the limitation, just at to the lowest degree your messages volition country in your inbox.

No DVD playback? No problem!

VLC's myriad media options include full DVD playback.

Windows eight still includes Windows Media Player, but the new version of the program lacks DVD playback support. If you've even so to take the plunge into a digital-only lifestyle, you could spring for Windows 8 Pro and the optional $x Media Center Pack (which Microsoft is giving away gratis to upgraders until January 31, 2013). This is i solution, merely I recommend downloading the free and flexible VLC instead.

VLC isn't every bit polished equally Microsoft's Media Middle software, but it's jam-packed with utility, offering total DVD playback and ripping support, robust file-transcoding options, the ability to melody in to Internet videos and podcasts alike, and even spotty Blu-ray back up if you enlist the help of add-ons with questionable legality. Our guide to mastering VLC will get you up and watching in no time—and for no money.

Merely what exercise y'all think you're doing, Dave?

Unlike HAL (and Windows seven), Windows eight isn't pleading or pushy when you desire to get rid of a file. Deleting something sends the particular straight to the Recycle Bin, no confirmations necessary. Ironically, this may be the one example when yous can perform a task in fewer clicks than you could in previous iterations of Windows. That said, the erstwhile-style confirmation prompt has saved me from errantly deleting something of import on more than than one occasion.

If y'all want to bring back the alarm, right-click the Recycle Bin and select Backdrop. Simply check the Display delete confirmation dialog box in the new window, click OK, and yous're good to go. Getting rid of the choice is equally easy every bit removing the checkmark one time over again.

Forget the Bing app

Skip the Bing app, and pin the Bing website instead.

I'k a Google fanatic, but when I'm tooling around in Windows eight's Showtime screen on a touchscreen device, I find that the Bing search app's picture-heavy aesthetic fits very nicely with Windows viii's Modern design. Like many Modern-style apps, however, the Bing app includes an irritating quirk: Selecting a search issue pops y'all out of the Bing app and opens the page in Cyberspace Explorer. Information technology'due south a mild annoyance in the grand scheme of things, only it nevertheless drives me nuts.

You tin can take your attractive block and eat it also by pinning the Bing.com website to the Start screen. Head to Bing.com, click the Pin This Site icon in the toolbar, and and so select Pin to Start. Annoyance averted.

Higher resolution, lower readability

Desktop prototype sizing options: Non just for the hard-of-seeing.

Windows 8 has spurred a whole new hardware type: the laptop-tablet hybrid. Many of these devices sport 1080p IPS displays that are breathtaking to behold. I've had the opportunity to test a few hybrids extensively, and I've found that the blessing of a high-resolution display comes with an accompanying expletive.

Many convertibles stick to an Ultrabook-type form factor, squeezing that 1080p resolution into a ten- to 12-inch screen. The ultrapacked pixel density makes for a razor-sharp picture, only text appears a bit as well small for my taste in desktop style. Fortunately, a trick that helped farsighted folks browse with ease in Windows vii nonetheless applies in Windows 8.

Correct-click anywhere on the desktop, select Screen Resolution, so click Make text and other items larger and smaller. The Change the size of all items option works dandy if you programme on sticking to a touchscreen interface, boosting the size of icons and text akin to brand them finger-friendly. I adopt using the Change only the text size selection on hybrid-blazon devices that include a touchpad or mouse, however. The drop-downwards card includes a bevy of text types, each of which y'all tin individually alter to suit your particular needs.

The ane that got abroad

Unfortunately, Windows 8's unmarried-most oppressive annoyance can't exist stock-still by small-scale tweaks, or—as I was told subsequently spending hours on the telephone with multiple support representatives—by Microsoft itself.

I'm a huge proponent of the organization's ability to transfer basic settings and files between multiple computers with the help of a cloud-connected Microsoft Account. I've accumulated several Microsoft Accounts over the years, notwithstanding. 1 exists solely to maintain my Xbox Live gamertag, with more than six years' worth of achievements, Microsoft points, and associated purchases tied to it. Another Microsoft Account plays host to my grandfathered 25GB SkyDrive account, and all the files within. I rely on a 3rd as my primary Microsoft Account login.

There is no way to merge the multiple accounts into a single, comprehensive Microsoft Account.

The aforementioned back up calls proved unhelpful in clearing up the issue. Taking to the Cyberspace, I institute this July 2012 forum post by a Microsoft representative stating that the visitor has no plans to introduce an account-merging selection. "I think it would exist a nice feature, but it was repeatedly assessed as too costly compared to other needs," he said.

That sucks for a long-term Microsoft fan similar myself, especially since I bound from computer to reckoner oft. I've resigned myself to the fact that I need to juggle three separate Microsoft Accounts in social club to keep total functionality. Signing out of my principal account and back in with my secondary accounts on the SkyDrive and Games apps doesn't take long, only it's frustrating, all the more so because I won't have whatsoever way to fix this item irritation at any time in the foreseeable future.

Ah, well. You can't win 'em all, I guess.