Five things to love about Windows 8

If you get a new PC, odds are that it will have Windows 8 installed on it. Some have loved it and others have been critical. Here are 5 things that are really great about this new Operating System – things you can actually use in your daily routine.

1. Fast Boot Times: On my laptop, which is about 5 years old, my startup time from completely off to "ready to use" is about 30 seconds. From "sleep mode" to usable is about 5 seconds. This is dramatically faster than Windows 7 on this same laptop.

2. The new "Modern UI" (previously known as "Metro"): Mostly seen in the Start Menu, this is a customizable view to let you see the apps you want - up front and dynamic, automatically updating with new information available at a glance, and rather than burying everything in nested menus like the old Start menu, the apps you access most are right there in big colored blocks. It's also "touch friendly", so if you have a touchscreen laptop/PC, you can control this interface easily with familiar tablet-like actions.

3. Skydrive built in: If you are familiar with applications like Dropbox, you already know the idea of Skydrive: an online "cloud" location to keep your files so you can access them anywhere or share them with others. Users get 7GB of free storage space and apps that work on Windows, Mac, the Web, iPhone/iPad, Windows Phone, and Android devices – more space and compatibility than the other similar competition out there.

4. Native Anti-Malware: For personal use (or for businesses with less than 10 computers), Microsoft Security Essentials has been available for free for the last 2 years or so, but now it's built-in from the start. It's pretty effective, updates automatically with Windows update, has no ongoing subscription costs, and doesn't interfere with your computer use – no major slowdowns, unlike so many of the paid-for options.

5. Lots of apps in the new Windows store: Whether you are looking for games to play, news to read, stocks to track, or shopping deals to find the Windows store has it covered. As of this writing, there are over 50,000 apps available. Obviously some are good and some not so good, but there is a lot of variety out there to make Windows 8 have the features you want.

So, while there is a bit of a learning curve to get the most out of Windows 8, it has some great new features to make your PC life more productive and enjoyable.

If you are in the Canton, Georgia area, please give us a call and ask about our training workshops.  This includes all of Cherokee County and other surrounding areas such as Woodstock and Jasper, as well as the Towne Lake area, Hickory Flat, and even Roswell or Alpharetta to the east and Cartersville to the west.  We can get you past those first aches and pains of a new computer environemt.