Perform Much Smaller Mouse Movements or Touch Swipes To Close A Windows 8 App

Recently I posted an article, The Easy Way To Close A Windows 8 App, that explains how to close an app in Windows 8 by positioning the mouse pointer at the top of the app screen (where the pointer turns into a hand); then, dragging and dropping the app to the bottom of the screen.

On a desktop computer where the screen can be quite large and the travel distance (or threshold) to drag and drop the app (to close it) can be an exercise in itself. It was at this point I wondered if there was not a way to close the app quicker using less travel distance. Sure enough, using the analogy of “if you can think it, someone else has done it”, I came across a small portable utility called Close Threshold for Metro Apps.

By using Close Threshold for Metro Apps, if you set the sliders to the left, save the settings, you will find that you will not have to drag an app to the bottom of the screen. The travel distance to close an app is reduced dramatically resulting in a more efficient and faster method to close the app.

There is also an additional feature where you can completely disable the “drag and drop” method of closing an app all together.

With Close Threshold for Metro Apps you will able:

• to speed up Metro apps closing with mouse
• to speed up Metro apps closing with touch gestures
• to disable Metro apps closing with mouse
• to disable Metro apps closing with touch

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Two Options to Boot Windows 8 To The Desktop

Typically when you boot Windows 8 you will land either on the Lock (or Login) Screen or the Start Screen; depending on how you have Windows 8 configured. To get to the desktop, you have to click on the Desktop tile on the Windows 8 Start Screen. This change has really thrown a lot of folks off of their game.

There are couple of ways to fix this so that you will land on your desktop, instead of landing on the Start Screen. One option is to download (and buy) Start8 by Stardock. The advantages of this option is that there is a configuration setting in Start8 that will allow you to boot to the desktop; PLUS, Start8 creates a Start Menu (which is a missing component in Windows 8). So this option is really a win-win option, all the way around. There are many other third party options out there, but I lay my trust in Stardock’s reputation.

The other option that I came across is by WinAero. This option is a more techie type option that requires a little work on your part; however, this option does not require you to install any third party software. It modifies system policy and allows to Explorer to read the registry key which controls Metro behavior. If you think you may be interested in this option, [click here]. WinAero also has some other Windows 8 utilities that you may be interested in, as well.

In summary, I am thinking that Microsoft will eventually get this right by giving us an option to restore the Start menu and by giving us an option to boot to the desktop. Microsoft reminds me of many of the smart (intelligent) people I know. They are smart, but they lack common sense.

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FREE Software To Customize Windows 8 Start Screen Background

You are very limited when it comes to changing the background on the Windows 8 Start Screen; however, today I want to show you a third party utility, called Windows 8 Start Customizer, that will give you the ability to jazz up that background screen and use the images that you want.

A couple of things to point out here is that the Windows 8 Start Customizer is in beta and can be downloaded with an installer or as a portable app. Even though this is in beta, I found it to work flawlessly on my desktop PC. If you download the portable (zipped version), you will have to rename the executable file in order for it to run (not as difficult as it sounds). Also, Windows 8 Start Customizer runs on startup and does not appear to change any registry settings that could cripple the actual Windows 8 Start Screen. Super job from the developer on this!

What you can do with this utility is this:

You can set your desktop wallpaper as background picture (not support for multimonitor, it just uses the main monitor’s desktop wallpaper)

You can select your pictures from any folder and set it as a sequence of background pictures.

There is a blur effect available, it is slow and slower on bigger resolutions, but it might work for you.

Tiles opacity can now be changed (not perfect though)

You can revert to default background

You can choose a picture and select the area to be shown as background picture.

You can set the Start Screen transparency

You can set the rows of you tiles (limited by your screen resolution)

You can run it on startup hidden, so you can see your custom background as soon as this tool starts

Save configuration to ini file.

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The Easy Way To Close A Windows 8 App

As I mentioned in an earlier article, I never had any “hands-on” experience with Windows 8 until it was officially released by Microsoft back in October. I intentionally did this so that I would have that first time user experience (and challenge); like most of you will have.

As I continue to “find my way” there was one thing I started to wonder about. Was there a way to easily close a Windows 8 app once I opened it? In reality, in the scheme and design of things when it comes to Windows 8, you will find that it really does not matter; however, I wanted to know. I eventually found the answer that works for me on my desktop computer and find myself doing this all of the time now.

When you are working from the “Start Screen” (see screenshot of my Start Screen below) and click on an app, the app will open maximized on your screen and you will immediately notice that there is no close button or minimize button.

What you have to do, is this:  When the app is open move your mouse cursor to the top of the screen. When the cursor reaches the top of the screen a “hand” will appear (see cropped screenshot below). When the “hand” is visible on the screen, hold down the left button on your mouse, drag to the bottom of the screen, and the app will disappear (and close). As you are performing the dragging action, visually you will see the app shrink down from full screen to a much smaller screen (or window). Once you teach yourself to do this, I will guarantee it will become second nature to you when you want to close an app.

Note:  The cropped screenshot you see above is a Windows 8 app called SmartCalc.

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