Chapter 8

Working with Software Programs

Get ready to . . .

⇒ Launch a Program

⇒ Move Information between Programs

⇒ Set Program Defaults

⇒ Remove a Program

You may think of Windows 8 as a set of useful accessories, such as games, music players, and a paint program for playing around with images, but Windows 8 is first and foremost an operating system. Windows 8’s main purpose is to enable you to run and manage other software programs, from programs that manage your finances to a great animated game of bingo. By using the best methods for accessing and running programs with Windows 8, you save time; setting up Windows 8 in the way that works best for you can make your life easier.

In this chapter, you explore several simple and very handy techniques for launching and moving information between applications. You go through step-by-step procedures ranging from setting program defaults to removing programs when you no longer need them.

Launch a Program

1. Launch a program by using any of the following methods:

• Click a tile on the Start screen. (For more about pinning apps to the Start screen, see Chapter 3.)

• Right-click the Start screen and click the All Apps button. This displays a list of apps arranged in categories such as Windows Accessories and Windows Ease of Access (as shown in Figure 8-1). Click an app to open it.

Figure 8-1

• Double-click a program shortcut icon on the desktop (see Figure 8-2).

• Click an item on the desktop taskbar. The taskbar should display by default; if it doesn’t, press the Windows key (on your keyboard) to display it, and then click an icon on the taskbar (as shown in Figure 8-2). See Chapter 3 for more about working with the taskbar.

Figure 8-2

2. When the application opens, if it’s a game, play it; if it’s a spreadsheet, enter numbers into it; if it’s your e-mail program, start deleting junk mail . . . you get the idea.

See Chapter 10 for more about working with apps in Windows 8.

Move Information between Programs

1. Click the Desktop tile on the Start screen.

2. Click the File Explorer icon in the taskbar to open it.

3. Browse and open documents in two programs (see the previous section for more about opening applications). Right-click the taskbar on the Windows desktop (see Figure 8-3) and choose Show Windows Side by Side.

4. If you don’t need one of the active programs displayed, click the Minimize button in the program window so that just the program you’re working with appears.

5. Select the information that you want to move (for example click and drag your mouse to highlight text or numbers, or click on a graphical object in a document), and then drag the selection to the other document window (see Figure 8-4).

Figure 8-3

Figure 8-4

6. Release your mouse, and the information is copied to the document in the destination window.

You can also use simple cut-and-paste or copy-and-paste keystroke shortcuts to take information from one application and move it or place a copy of it into a document in another application. To do this, first click and drag over the information in a document, and then press Ctrl+X to cut or Ctrl+C to copy the item. Click in the destination document where you want to place the item and press Ctrl+V. Alternately, you can right-click content and choose Cut, Copy, or Paste commands from the menu that appears.

Remember, dragging content won’t work between every type of program. For example, you can’t click and drag an open picture in Paint into the Windows Calendar. It will most dependably work when dragging text or objects from one Office or other standard word-processing, presentation, database, or spreadsheet program to another.

Set Program Defaults

1. To make working with files easier, you may want to control which programs are used to open files of different types. From the Start screen, begin to type control panel and click Control Panel in the results that appear.

2. Click Programs and, in the resulting Programs window shown in Figure 8-5, click the Set Your Default Programs link in the Default Programs section to see specifics about the programs that are set as defaults.

3. In the resulting Set Default Programs window, click a program in the list on the left (see Figure 8-6) and then click the Set This Program as Default option. You can also click Choose Defaults for this Program and select specific file types (such as the JPEG graphics file format or DOCX Word 2010 file format) to open in this program; click OK after you’ve made these selections.

Figure 8-5

Figure 8-6

4. Click OK to save your settings.

You can also choose which devices to use by default to play media such as movies or audio files by selecting Change Default Settings for Media or Devices in the Programs window you opened in Step 2 earlier.

Remove a Program

1. If you don’t need a program, removing it may help your computer’s performance, which can get bogged down when your hard drive is too cluttered. From the Control Panel, click Uninstall a Program (under the Programs category).

2. In the resulting Programs and Features window, shown in Figure 8-7, click a program and then click the Uninstall (or sometimes this is labeled Uninstall/Change) button that appears. Although some programs will display their own uninstall screen, in most cases, a confirmation dialog box appears (see Figure 8-8).

Figure 8-7

Figure 8-8

3. If you’re sure that you want to remove the program, click Yes in the confirmation dialog box. A progress bar shows the status of the procedure; it disappears when the program has been removed.

4. Click the Close button to close the Program and Features window.

With some programs that include multiple applications, such as Microsoft Office, you get both an Uninstall and a Change option in Step 2. That’s because you might want to remove only one program, not the whole shooting match. For example, you might decide that you have no earthly use for Access but can’t let a day go by without using Excel and Word — so why not free up some hard drive space and send Access packing? If you want to modify a program in this way, click the Change button rather than the Uninstall button in Step 2 of this task. The dialog box that appears allows you to select the programs that you want to install or uninstall or even open the original installation screen from your software program.

Warning: If you click the Change or Uninstall button, some programs will simply be removed with no further input from you. Be really sure that you don’t need a program before you remove it, that you have the original software on disc, or that you have a product key for software you downloaded from the Internet so you can reinstall it should you need it again.