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The final output of the Consumer Preview Windows 8 showed a real interests from Windows users with more than one million downloads in the first 24 hours. The biggest change in Windows so far is its Metro style which some users may find a bit hard to handle but its not that hard as it seems. Today I will show you some tips that will help you achieve your goals inside Windows 8 much faster and access easier those usual options you did used in Windows 7 such as Start menu, Control Panel etc…

First, Microsoft has finally built a screen capture function with a direct result, the one that Mac OS X and Linux have for years. Using a keyboard key combination you can screen capture your desktop or working window and save the result directly in the Pictures folder. These keyboard combinations are the Windows key + Print Screen. The file will be automatically saved in PNG format with the name “Screenshot” followed by a number.

Second, some shortcuts can really save time. Here is a selection of those I find most interesting

Windows key: Display the Start Screen

Windows + D: Displays the Office

Windows + C: displays the Charms bar (ability to share, search, and settings)

Windows + I: displays the Control Panel

Windows + Z: displays the App bar for the application Metro active

Windows + Q: display Metro search

There are also other shortcuts which include more precise handling of Windows 8 such as

Windows + Esc: Switches the language and keyboard layout between several languages

Windows + Enter: Launches Narrator

Windows + Tab: Switches for one to another Metro application (the desktop, and everything in it, is considered as an Metro application)

Windows + W: opens in settings research

Finally, it is possible to use the File History feature an connected external hard drive or USB drive. The history keeps track of file versions. To find it and activate it, use the keyboard key combination Windows + W to call the search parameters and then type in “File history”.

There you go, if you have any other keyboard shortcuts which you may consider useful please leave them in comment section below. Also make sure to subscribe to our How To Tutorials to stay updated when new Windows 8 tutorials come up.

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