A few hints & tricks for build 8102

[George P Global Moderator]

There are elements to the start screen that are missing in this build, I think it's clear now. So as it stands things are missing or just don't work well.

[Quillz]

So was the build demonstrated at BUILD newer than 8102?

[George P Global Moderator]

It seems so, I don't remember being able to see a build string in any of the video though so I dunno what it is. But they also flashed a big list of features they haven't shown that are in, so I'm guessing that's all in the beta version they're now on. Basically this dev preview is the final M3 build they put together which should mean the core APIs, the WinRT stuff, is done unless they find bugs and or dev feedback gets them to change things.

For example, one of the items on the big list it seems was "changing start screen background" or something to that extent. This is something you can't do right now in this build without hacking a dll, and even then it doesn't work right.

[Zain Adeel]

also.

did anybody notice if we delete a file it doesn't ask for confirmation anymore?

just straight deletes it to the recycle bin.i think thats nice

[Quillz]

I also like that the Ribbon has a command to permanently delete files, skipping the Recycle Bin entirely.

[George P Global Moderator]

Yeah, Sinfosky said in the keynote, though without much detail, that they've cut down on lots of those nagging popup screens and stuff that you would get. That's one of them, though you could always turn that off but I don't remember where, probably file and folder settings in explorer I think.

[Guest xiphi]

also.

did anybody notice if we delete a file it doesn't ask for confirmation anymore?

just straight deletes it to the recycle bin.i think thats nice

Yeah, One of the first things I noticed was that option being disabled in the Recycle Bin.

[bogas04]

how to set temperature format to degree celsius in weather application ?

[George P Global Moderator]

how to set temperature format to degree celsius in weather application ?

I'm guessing you'd go into the apps settings. Right clicking on a app should bring up it's menus in the bottom or top of the screen, there should then be a settings button or something. If not, you can move your mouse down to the left corner to bring up the charm menu, then click on settings. That should bring up the app settings as well. I'd have to restart my VM and try this out though.

[bogas04]

I'm guessing you'd go into the apps settings. Right clicking on a app should bring up it's menus in the bottom or top of the screen, there should then be a settings button or something. If not, you can move your mouse down to the left corner to bring up the charm menu, then click on settings. That should bring up the app settings as well. I'd have to restart my VM and try this out though.

THANKS!!!

The charm method was my lucky charm :p Apparently the app bar or whatever its called doesn't work , it doesn't have this key setting in it :/

[Zain Adeel]

this is exactly what i was trying to find!! :D thanks for the info

i think Microsoft should keep all the settings to each app in this charm menu

keeps everything consistent :)

[Riggers]

Something iv`e picked up while trying things out is that you can find out if you can make a Metro tile for an app by typing in the executable then right clicking, if the pin symbol appears at he bottom then you can make a tile.

Another thing iv`e noticed is that a tile seems to be made when installing some things but you cannot make one later. At the moment it seems very random! Hopefully when all the application makers use this facility we will have some lovely looking tiles.

Somehow my metro tiles look like this.

[George P Global Moderator]

Native metro tiles, though not all, can be single or double wide tiles. Try right clicking on some and the option should pop up in the lower right of the screen. The tiles you have up there, the green ones with the small icon are just that, icons. They're not true tiles, but this way you can tell what's a metro app and what's a desktop app so it works out imo.

[Zain Adeel]

also if you want to reverse the cycle of flip apps.. then flip an app but dont leave the click.move it back to the left and then leave it. It will then cycle app in the opposite direction.

[~Johnny]

THANKS!!!

The charm method was my lucky charm :p Apparently the app bar or whatever its called doesn't work , it doesn't have this key setting in it :/

The way Microsoft recommend - ALL settings for apps should be accessible only from the settings charm. Same with search (search functions should only be available through the search charm)

[Zain Adeel]

The way Microsoft recommend - ALL settings for apps should be accessible only from the settings charm. Same with search (search functions should only be available through the search charm)

Love the fact that settings and search are in the charm menu.

great decision by microsoft and nicely implemented.

[FaiKee]

I'm guessing you'd go into the apps settings. Right clicking on a app should bring up it's menus in the bottom or top of the screen, there should then be a settings button or something. If not, you can move your mouse down to the left corner to bring up the charm menu, then click on settings. That should bring up the app settings as well. I'd have to restart my VM and try this out though.

You are right, when an app is opened, then the "settings" in the charm applies to the app.

[Riggers]

Native metro tiles, though not all, can be single or double wide tiles. Try right clicking on some and the option should pop up in the lower right of the screen. The tiles you have up there, the green ones with the small icon are just that, icons. They're not true tiles, but this way you can tell what's a metro app and what's a desktop app so it works out imo.

Your correct, only native Metro tiles can be made single or double width, and mostly these are just icons on top of a native tile. But when the devs of these apps make a native tile we could start to see something which is usable on the desktop but a great experience on a touch screen.

Obviously it`s not to everyones liking, but hey, you can please some people some time, but you can`ta please all the people all the time :)

[George P Global Moderator]

Yeah, I'd love to see task manager support the tiles in some way, so you can have a double wide task manager tile that shows your info right there.

I also expect them to add in some way to see, on the start screen, the apps you have running via the mouse. You can ofc alt+tab and so on, or move the mouse over to the left and click to bring up whatever you were on last but I think, just like when you bring up the charms menu by going down to the left corner that they could also bring up some type of taskbar so you can click that way.

[FaiKee]

After I installed some 3rd party apps, get the charm menu->search->apps; then I have the tiles like classical start menu expanded.

Then I went to the Metro, delete some tiles that I am quite sure I don't need - actually if you are not sure, just shrink it half size to make room. Then go back to the "search apps", drag and drop those items you desire - I am begining to like it, it's fun to work on.

[George P Global Moderator]

Yeah, and this is just some stuff, I think we're only seeing a fraction of what the start screen and Win8 itself can do right now since it's so early. They'll add even more to it as time goes on, hell we know you'll be able to change the background for it for sure, they said as much, so why not have glass tiles to? Someone already brought this up in another topic but I too agree that it'd look quite good if you could control the level like you can in Win7's borders etc.

[Eric Veteran]

The way Microsoft recommend - ALL settings for apps should be accessible only from the settings charm. Same with search (search functions should only be available through the search charm)

Thanks! I hadn't noticed that.

And... while trying that out - bam! there's the shutdown button. :D

[George P Global Moderator]

Yeah, shutdown, or in this case the power button is in the settings menu. Of course you can also get it if you log out iirc. I don't get how some people couldn't find it. You didn't check out all the charms/menus after you installed it?

[Eric Veteran]

Yeah, shutdown, or in this case the power button is in the settings menu. Of course you can also get it if you log out iirc. I don't get how some people couldn't find it. You didn't check out all the charms/menus after you installed it?

I hadn't fiddled with the search icon until you mentioned it. I was just typing from the start screen and not looking at the right-hand bar. :)

I've been logging out and using the power button there. :/

[FaiKee]

Also, the all-time universal Ctrl-Alt-Del, since DOS - :whistle: