Good Essay About Windows 8.1 Tools

WINDOWS 8.1 TOOLS

Windows 8.1 is an advancement of Windows 8 which is one of the most interactive and user friendly operating systems ever designed by Microsoft. Windows 8.1 has several tools and features that make it stand out from other operating systems, however, I will focus on five of the most prominent tools:

The start button and the Desktop.

Windows 8.1 has a better user interface and desktop tools improved from the windows 8. To begin with, Microsoft did justice to users by bringing back the Start button. Though not in its original design, the new start button gives the user the ability to customize the windows 8.1 experience and increase its user friendliness. I am able to prevent the app switcher common with the windows 8 from appearing and boot directly to the desktop. I can do this by right clicking on the task bar, and changing the options on the navigation tab as shown below. Additionally, I can set the desktop app screen to display according to my preferences.
The new windows 8.1 platform incorporates great organization features that are helpful to the user in the start button. One can now arrange live tiles in groups that can be named so that the character of each group can be viewed at a glance. Essentially, the start button is now more user friendly and flexible than it was in the windows 8 operating system.

User interface.

A modern user interface was introduced with the Windows 8.1 platform; this took multitasking to a new level. The new platform offers a flexible multitasking experience for windows store applications that can support four windows at a time. The desktop can allow horizontal scaling to enable a number of windows in one display. With the use of a smartphone or tablet, one is able to long press a website or email link and enable the link to open in a new window.

Online services and Functionality

The windows 8.1 platform provides a tighter integration of the online Microsoft services such as Bing and Sky drive among others. The Sky drive is renamed one drive and is integrated at the system level to allow synchronization of user settings and files. Files are downloaded automatically in the background based on the user’s preference. The One drive tool is configured to allow local file management.
The Windows 8.1 operating system comes with a preinstalled search engine named Bing that was also present in the windows 8. This unified search system can analyse the user’s habits and always provide results that are relevant to the user’s needs based on their search habits. Additionally, the new Bing has the capability to aggregate the several internet sources of information such as articles, Wikipedia, multimedia that is related to the user’s search and summarize it according to the users’ needs.

Internet explorer 11

The window 8.1 uses internet explorer 11 and advancement from the previous internet explorer 10 in the windows 8. My experience with the former was not exhilarating at all. The browser kept hanging, crushing and it misbehaved. The new browser is faster and much more reliable than its predecessor. The platform not only enhanced its performance but also its functionality. The system can now support favorites, page organization that allows side by side page viewing.

Snap tool.

The snap tool is more improved in the new windows 8.1. The tool is more relevant when using a tablet or smartphone. It allows the user to use multiple applications at the same time. Snapping is useful when one needs to perform several tasks at the same time without necessarily minimizing or switching off one of the applications.

References

Microsoft.com. (2015). Windows 8.1. Retrieved February 16, 2015, from Technet.Microsoft: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hh974336.aspx