New laptop today and has windows 8, last one had 7, bit lost to say the least. First thing I can’t figure out is how to add my bt internet address to it.
Can’t even figure out how to close an app, doing it by dragging down from top shoving it to the side then shifting sideways again, any easier way?

Alt-f4

To add your bt email account there are two options, the Mail App on the Home Screen, or Outlook on the desktop

Mail App

Open the mail app
swipe in from the right of the screen to open the list of charms
Click on settings
Click on Accounts
Click on Add Account
Click on Other Account
Select IMAP
Enter your email address and password and you should be good to go

Outlook
Open outlook for the first time, you’ll be prompted for email address and password, enter your bt account details

Get the app “Start Menu Reviver” to get it looking like Windows 7 again.

Cheers got the bt account working wonder

How it will like my old freeserve address

Once you get used to Windows 8 I think you’ll like it.

I don’t use the main Metro block screen too much, instead preferring the usual desktop.

To close something I usually click back to the tiles ( left click in bottom left on the windows icon) then move the mouse up to the top left corner. All the windows open are then shown as little boxes. Right click on the ones you wish to close and select close.

Seems a bit of a faff but in reality it is a 1 second job.

Install the latest Windows 8 update (you need to login via the Store, if you don’t have it, it is the first thing that appears – takes about 15-90 minutes to download and then about 60-180 minutes to install (reboots about 5 times as well). It then gives you a ‘Start’ button on the desktop and within that, you can select to always start in Desktop. Metro is still there – hit the ‘Start’ button but you can avoid the tiles if you don’t like them.

cheers cant find the update in the store though

Does anybody know how to get rid of the auto hide features of the stuff in the corners? In W7, you could auto hide the task bar and it was a Royal PIA. I hate this feature of W8 and could really do with getting rid of it (the feature).

Ta.

You probably already have the update installed then…

Boblo, what do you mean the auto-hide features? Are you looking to get them to stay visible at all times?

No, I just want them to go away. The stuff that pops up when you put the cursor into the corners. Errrm, probably all the new W8 stuff 🙂

Just bought a new windows 8 laptop for one of the kids. The windows 8.1 update was not available until we had done all the other updates then it was available in the store icon on the metro page. Cannot recommend windows 8.1 enough, was so glad once the upgrade was done, it was all very familiar with all the same settings as windows 7