Chapter 3
Adjusting Windows 8 PC Settings
Get ready to . . .
⇒ Access PC Settings
⇒ Personalize the Lock Screen
⇒ Change the Start Screen Background
⇒ Choose an Account Picture
⇒ Make Windows 8 Easier to Use
⇒ Check for Important Updates
Out of the box, Windows 8 is showy and colorful. If you don’t like that look, however, you can change the photos and colors you see on the screen. Adjusting Windows 8 PC settings can also make Windows 8 easier and more fun to use. When you’re ready, you can dive in and make Windows 8 yours.
In this chapter, you personalize the Lock screen and change the colors and background design on the Start screen. You’ll see these screens many times a day, so they should please you. Choose a picture to identify your account. Finally, make your screen easier to see and enable features such as Narrator, which reads aloud content from the screen.
Many people leave Windows 8 largely as they found it. Some love to tweak, tinker, and tune. How far you go in personalizing Windows 8 is up to you — it’s your computer, after all.
See Chapter 4 for information on changing passwords and other User settings.
Access PC Settings
1. On the Start screen, display the charms bar (see Figure 3-1) and select Settings with one of these methods:
• Mouse: Move the mouse pointer into the lower-right corner of the screen to display the charms bar, and then click Settings.
• Touchscreen: Swipe from the right edge of the screen to display the charms bar, and then tap Settings.
• Keyboard: Press 
+I to go straight to Settings, skipping the charms bar.
You can complete the following steps with a mouse, the keyboard, or a touchscreen. Find the right combination of methods for you. Experiment and play.
2. The Settings panel appears, the bottom portion of which is shown in Figure 3-2. Select Change PC Settings by moving the pointer over the item and clicking, or by tapping the item.
Options near the top of the Settings panel are for the open app, if any.
3. The PC Settings screen appears, as shown in Figure 3-3. One at a time, select each heading on the left, starting with Personalize, to see the options available. In this chapter, you focus mainly on the Personalize settings.
Figure 3-1
Figure 3-2
Figure 3-3
Personalize the Lock Screen
1. On the PC Settings screen, select Personalize (refer to Figure 3-3).
2. At the top of the screen, select Lock Screen. Figure 3-3 shows the current Lock screen.
The Lock screen is the first screen you see when you start Windows 8.
3. Just above the Browse button, select each thumbnail photo, one at a time. The larger preview photo above changes and the thumbnails shift to the right, with the previously selected photo taking the first position in the row, as shown in Figure 3-4. Select a photo that’s different from the one you started with. (You can always change it later.)
Figure 3-4
You can use the Browse button to select one of your own photos from the Pictures library. See Chapter 10 for information on adding photos to your library.
4. Return to the Start screen. Select your account name in the upper-right corner to display the menu shown in Figure 3-5, and then select Lock to display the Lock screen.
You can lock your computer anytime by pressing +L.
Figure 3-5
5. The photo you selected in Step 3 appears on the Lock screen. Display the Password screen as follows:
• Mouse: Click anywhere.
• Touchscreen: Swipe up.
• Keyboard: Press any key on the keyboard.
6. Enter your password, if you have one. The Start screen appears.
Change the Start Screen Background
1. On the PC Settings screen, select Personalize. (See “Access PC Settings” for help.)
2. At the top of the screen, select Start Screen. You see a preview of the color and background of the Start screen, as shown in Figure 3-6.
You will see the Start screen more often than any other screen, so personalize it to make it yours.
3. Using a click or a tap, select a background pattern thumbnail from those below the larger preview. Your selection appears in the preview area.
If you’d like a solid color background, with no design behind the tiles, select the last thumbnail in the bottom row.
Figure 3-6
4. Using a click or a tap, select a color combination from the row of colors below the thumbnails. The color of the PC Settings heading and the background color of the Personalize heading change immediately. Try a different color.
5. To see the effect on the Start screen, switch to that screen as follows:
• Mouse: Click the pointer in the lower-left corner of the screen. Repeat to switch back to the Personalize screen.
• Touchscreen: Swipe from the right edge to display the charms bar, and then tap the Start charm. Repeat to switch back to the Personalize screen.
• Keyboard: Press . Repeat to switch back to the Personalize screen.
It may seem illogical that repeating an action switches back and forth (toggles), but each of these actions does.
Choose an Account Picture
1. On the PC Settings screen, select Personalize. See “Access PC Settings” for help.
2. At the top of the screen, select Account Picture.
3. Your current Account picture appears. It may be just an outline, as shown in Figure 3-7.
Figure 3-7
Your account picture appears on the password screen and on the Start screen.
4. To choose one of your photos, select the Browse button. The file picker appears. Select a photo and then select the Choose Image button. Or select Cancel to return to the previous screen without changing your account picture.
See Chapter 10 for information about adding photos to your Pictures library.
5. If you have a built-in or attached camera (called a webcam), select the Camera app under Create an Account Picture. The Camera app opens with a preview of what your camera sees. If you see Connect a Camera, select the back arrow to the left of Camera. See Chapter 10 for information on taking pictures with a webcam.
You may be able to use another app to select or create a picture. Select the app under Create an Account Picture (refer to Figure 3-7).
6. Return to the Start screen to see your new account picture (mine is shown in Figure 3-8 — a photo of Luke the Lovehound by Merri Rudd) using one of these methods:
• Mouse: Click the pointer in the lower-left corner of the screen. Repeat to switch back to the Personalize screen.
• Touchscreen: Swipe from the right edge of the screen and then tap the Start button. Repeat to switch back to the Personalize screen.
• Keyboard: Press . Repeat to switch back to the Personalize screen.
The easiest way to access the Personalize settings is through your account name. In the upper-right corner of the Start screen, select your name and then select Change Account Picture. Voila! The PC Settings screen appears, with Personalize selected. You don’t have to change your picture to use this shortcut to PC Settings.
Figure 3-8
Make Windows 8 Easier to Use
1. On the PC Settings screen, select Ease of Access, as shown in Figure 3-9. (See “Access PC Settings” for help.)
Figure 3-9
2. To alter the screen in a way that might make it easier to see text, select anywhere in the rectangle under High Contrast to turn on that feature. This rectangle mimics a switch, indicating off (a square to the left in the rectangle) or on (a square to the right). The screen displays a brief Please wait message and the screen shown in Figure 3-10 appears. As you can see, the On setting changes screen text and objects from black to white and changes the background to black. The background of selected text and some objects appears in blue.
Figure 3-10
The colors displayed by the High Contrast option were chosen because Microsoft considers them a suitable alternative to standard black text on a white background. You can’t adjust these colors.
With High Contrast on, selecting the Personalize category displays You are currently in High Contrast, which disables some personalization settings. To re-enable those personalization settings, such as background color, turn off the High Contrast option.
3. If you want to turn off High Contrast, select the rectangle again, to the left side this time.
4. Select the rectangle under Make Everything on Your Screen Bigger. (Your screen may not support this option, in which case you’ll see a message like the one in Figure 3-9.) The change to the screen is shown in Figure 3-11. The On setting makes text and objects on the screen bigger than normal, making it easier to see a portion of the screen. However, less content fits on the screen at one time, so you must move the screen more. If the PC Settings categories are now off-screen, use the back arrow next to Ease of Access to see them.
Figure 3-11
5. If you want to turn off the Make Everything on Your Screen Bigger setting, select the rectangle again, to the left side this time.
6. The option Pressing Windows + Volume Up Will Turn On determines what happens when you press and hold down the Windows () key as you press the volume up button, which is found on the edge of most tablets and along the top or side of some keyboards (look for a conical speaker icon with + or multiple curved lines). Under the option, select the rectangle and then select one of these choices:
• Nothing does what it says.
• Magnifier zooms a portion of the screen for easier viewing, as shown in Figure 3-12. Text and objects will be larger than they are with the Make Everything on Your Screen Bigger option. Drag the screen to see other areas. Select the on-screen magnifying lens to change settings or to close Magnifier.
Windows 8 tablets have a dedicated Windows key button which functions as without requiring a keyboard.
Press +plus key to zoom in using Magnifier. Press +minus key to zoom out using Magnifier.
• Narrator reads aloud content on the screen.
• On-Screen Keyboard enables typing without using a physical keyboard. This on-screen keyboard uses the layout of a conventional keyboard. However, most people find that the standard Windows 8 virtual keyboard is more flexible. See Chapter 1 for information on the virtual keyboard layouts.
Figure 3-12
7. The Show Notifications For setting controls how long certain pop-up messages appear before disappearing. These notifications are sometimes called tooltips or toasts (because of the way they pop up). Select the box under this option and then select the number of seconds or minutes you want notifications to linger on the screen. By default, notifications disappear after 5 seconds, which usually isn’t enough time to read a long notification. Note that notifications disappear when you move the mouse or select another option.
I suggest that you try 30 seconds for the delay.
8. To check out your new notifications setting, position the mouse pointer in the lower-right corner until you see the Settings panel. Then move the pointer up and click Settings.
This step works only with a mouse, although you will see notifications in other places without using a mouse.
Place the mouse pointer over the keyboard icon to the right of Power. In Figure 3-13, a notification pops up identifying the current language and keyboard settings. Click anywhere in the PC Settings screen to dismiss the Settings panel.
Figure 3-13
9. Cursor Thickness, the last setting on the Ease of Access panel, controls the width of the vertical blinking line that appears when you can type text. The box on the left under this heading displays the current cursor (without blinking). The default thickness is 1 pixel, which is a thin line. To try a different thickness, select a number in the box to the right. (You might try a cursor thickness of 2 or 3 pixels.)
10. To see the new cursor in action, switch to the Start screen and type any text to begin searching. The box in the top-right corner of the screen displays the cursor along with your text. Figure 3-14 shows a cursor 4 pixels thick.
Figure 3-14
More Ease of Access settings are available through the desktop. The settings are easiest to access by pressing +U (for usability). Another way to access them is to type current on the Start screen, select Settings on the right, and then select the View Current Accessibility Settings tile on the left. The screen switches to the Ease of Access Center on the desktop, as shown in Figure 3-15. See Chapter 5 for more information about using the desktop.
Figure 3-15
Check for Important Updates
1. To check for updates to Windows 8, type update on the Start screen. On the search results screen, select Settings, as shown in Figure 3-16, and then select Windows Update.
2. The Windows Update screen informs you that Windows 8 automatically installs important updates, such as security enhancements. You also see when Windows 8 last checked for updates and whether any were found. Select the Check for Updates Now button, shown in Figure 3-17.
Figure 3-16
Figure 3-17
3. You may see a message that one or more updates have been scheduled to be installed. You do not have to do anything to install these updates — the update process is automatic. However, if you select the link to schedule updates, you can see details and select the Install button if you want to. Otherwise, return to the Start screen to let Windows 8 manage updates automatically.
Installing an update seldom takes more than a few minutes. You can use your system during the update process. If the update process requires that you restart your computer, you will see a message on the Windows Update screen and the Lock screen. If you don’t restart when required, Windows 8 will automatically restart within two days of the first notification.
For information on other updates and maintaining Windows 8, see Chapter 12.