Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Using The Charms Bar In Windows 8 OS

Many experts have declared the latest Microsoft OS, Windows 8, a failure. And shockingly, the recent sales figures indeed support their alleges. However, the ‘modern’ platform is not that bad an OS as many claim it to be. It just happens to be completely different from any of the older Windows operating systems, which we have used so far.

Microsoft took a bold decision to do away with the old desktop user interface, in favor of a new touch screen friendly UI. This led to the complete redesign of the Windows OS structure. If you upgrade to Windows 8, you will notice that there is no Start Menu or Task Bar in the new platform. Instead, you will see a tiled Start Screen for accessing apps in Win8, and a Charms bar to fill the gap of the traditional Task Bar.

Their functions are also somewhat different than it was in the previous versions. Charms bar is hidden in the right side of the OS main screen. You need to swipe to the right side of the screen or move the cursor towards that direction to bring out the Charms bar to the screen.

What options does the Charms Bar provide?

On the Charms bar, you will see a few options like Start, Search, Share, Devices, and Settings. Clicking on any of these options will open a new Window, where you can locate what you are looking for. For example, clicking on Start will take you to Start Screen.

In Windows 8, Start Screen essentially replaces old Start Menu, which shows you all the applications installed in your system as live tiles. Of course, the option Search in Charms bar is used for searching anything in the system, but in the latest Windows OS, Microsoft has upgraded the Search utility by integrating it with their Bing search engine, which allows you to expand the search to the internet.

The options Devices will take you to the page for accessing the options and settings for the different devices connected to your system. This is much like the Device Manager utility in the old Windows versions. The option Settings will take you to different OS options for WiFi, Language Settings, Power Options, Volume Control, etc. You can use the Share option to share anything with your friends online.

This was a short note on Win8 Charms bar. For more information about the latest Windows OS, contact our Windows tech support team today.

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