How to customize the Start Screen in Windows 8?

How to Customize Start Screen in Windows 8

We all are familiar with Windows 7 where we are welcomed with a “Start” button as soon as we opens the windows and we know at the very first instance where to start and move on; But, what if we observe a bare screen with no start button? Confused?

Microsoft has recently launched Windows 8 where a lot of changes were made to make it a more powerful than the Windows 7. One of them is the presence of what is called a “welcome screen” or a “start screen” instead of “start” button/tab.

Start Screen consist of a number of blocks or tiles. Tiles are vertical live toolbars. These tiles are actually shortcuts to your favourite app or website or Folder. When you select any one of the tile, you will be taken to that particular app/update/info. This is just as what we have seen in Windows Phones. But if you do not prefer this new interface, you can anytime return back to the familiar Desktop screen. Start screen have all the latest-updates, app info, contact details, website info etc stacked at one place in the form of tiles or blocks.

Microsoft has tried to impress the users by giving them the option to customize the start screen. Though many of us may not get into it at the very start but it is indeed a welcomed option.

There are a few websites and pages that we visit frequently; with Windows 8, we can create a customized tile or shortcut to get to it within no time. We can then “Pin” it to the “Start screen”.

Now let us see how we can actually customize the start screen to our taste and requirements.

How to add a Tile/icon to the start screen of Windows 8:

1. First of all “Start” the Windows either by tabbing the start button or clicking on it, whichever is applicable.

2. Now open the “App Command”; there you will see a “Pin to Start” tab. Just click/tab it and your website will be pinned to the start screen.

3. If you want to add a personal Folder to the start screen, open it in the “File Explorer”. Now right click it. There you will see “Pin to Start” tab, just click it and you will have your folder pinned to the welcome/start screen.

4. To add a tile on start screen for an App of your choice, open “start screen” and look for “search charm”. Now click on your favourite app to open its Commands; there you will observe “Pin to Start” tab, click it and your work is done. Isn't it easy?

In the same way you can rearrange the tiles or change the size of each tile to adjust them properly in your screen.

In the older version, we used to Press, Hold and drag the icons to re-arrange them, in Windows 8 and Windows RT, we can rearrange and resize the tiles with simple steps. If you are in a habit of using a touch screen phone, then it will become all the more easy to understand and do.

You need to pinch the tile with two fingers and squeeze in to reduce the size and pinched out to increase the size. Further, to re-size the tiles, make use of “app commands”.

Similarly, we can group the tiles; for this select all those tiles which you want to include in the group and tab in “Name group” tab; and you will have a well defined group of selected info.

When you are bored with an App or want to remove a tile from the start screen, you can do it very easily by using “Unpin from Start” command.

You can further customize the screen by changing the colour and background of the start screen according to your choice and mood. You can even upload your own picture and make it as a background image.

1. For this select “Charm settings” and tap on “Change PC setting”.

2. Select “personalize” and now do changes as you desire, either get a background image stored in your PC or upload your own latest one.

In the same way you can change the colour and theme of your Start screen.

“Charm” is one of the added new features of Windows 8 and we will explore it a bit in our next section.