Chapter 4
(Still) Alive and Kicking: The Windows Desktop
In This Chapter
- Understanding what’s changed with the Windows desktop
- How Metro experiences are exposed on the desktop
- Using the new File Explorer
- Managing files and folders
- Managing classic desktop applications
- Managing running tasks
- Using SkyDrive with the Windows desktop
While the touch-friendly Metro-style user experience is clearly the big story in Windows 8, most Windows users have a rich history with the Windows desktop and the many, many applications and utilities that have run in this environment for years. Fortunately, all of these things are still available in Windows 8, since this OS includes an updated and enhanced version of the traditional Windows desktop environment, its File Explorer file manager, and the other related capabilities Windows users know and love. And this is true whether you’re using a traditional desktop PC or laptop, or a newfangled tablet computer or hybrid PC, and whether you’re using Windows 8 or Windows RT.
NOTE There is one major exception to this rule. While Windows 8-based PCs and devices of course provide all of the desktop features you’ve come to know and love, those based on Windows RT—the ARM-based variant of Windows 8—are somewhat limited in that they cannot run any third-party Windows desktop software. That said, all of the features described in this chapter work equally well and identically in Windows RT as they do with their Intel-type Windows 8 brethren.
How the Metro-style ...
