Windows 8 review

CHARMS

It also takes a while to get used to the fact that, in order to perform various tasks in Windows 8 apps, you need to use Charms. Charms are shortcuts for various tasks that exist in their own bar, which appears if you hover the mouse at the top-right of the screen or slide in from the right-hand side on touchscreen devices.

Charms give you quick access to some features, such as Search, Devices (for printing and the like) and to Share data

One of the key Charms is Search. You’ll be using this a lot, as there’s no search bar in any application. For example, if you’re using the Windows Store and want to find a particular application, you need to bring up the Search Charm first.

Charms can make some jobs quicker. If you’re viewing a picture in Photos, you can click Share and quickly attach it to an email. The Devices Charm is also useful. For example, if you’re viewing a photo you can select your printer from Devices to get a physical copy. It’s a little alien using Charms at first, but once you’re used to them they’re a great shortcut when using both regular desktop and touchscreen devices.

DESKTOP

When you want to get down to some serious work, there’s the standard Desktop for regular Windows applications. This looks very similar to the Windows 7 desktop, only there’s no Start Menu. It didn’t take too long to get used to using the Start Screen to launch applications, then switching back to the Desktop when we needed to.

Microsoft has put a lot of work into new Desktop features, particularly if you’ve got multiple displays. The Taskbar now appears on all screens, although you can modify it so that each monitor’s bar only shows applications open on that screen. It’s not perfect, though, as Excel 2010 refused to appear on the display it was open in, and would only appear on the main Taskbar on the primary display. You can also set different wallpapers for each screen or span an image across all your displays.

The new Desktop looks like the old one, but there are some key improvements, particularly if you use multiple monitors

As much of Windows 8’s interface, when used with a keyboard and mouse, requires the use of hotspots (hovering the mouse over the top-right of the display opens the Charms bar, for example), Microsoft has created hard edges on each display. You can’t move the cursor past where the corner of one desktop meets another one. Instead, the mouse hits the edge and activates the hotspot. It’s a small change, but one that makes multiple desktops and the hotspots much easier to use.

There have been some bizarre decisions, though. Looking for the Backup utility we instead found the Desktop File History application. This backs up and stores files in your Libraries (Documents, Photos, Videos and Music), and keeps multiple versions of them, similar to Apple’s Time Machine. However, we couldn’t find the old System Image option when we wanted to take a complete backup of the system. Instead, the system imaging functions are found under Windows 7 File Recovery, which admittedly lets you restore Windows 7 backups, but why the System Image option isn’t more obvious is a mystery to us.

It’s strange how the System Image function is hidden, with more prominence given to File History

We love the new Task Manager, which organises running processes into Apps (things you can see), Background processes (things you can’t see) and Windows processes (things you should probably leave alone). Each entry tells you the amount of CPU, Memory, Disk and Network the process is using, helping you troubleshoot more effectively.

The new Task Manager is brilliant: it’s easier to use and gives more detail than the old one

We also have to mention the improvements to the copy dialog. First, copying starts immediately, rather than Windows calculating how long it will take; secondly, there’s a pause button, so you can temporarily suspend a large copy if it’s slowing your computer down.

We’re pleased to say that the excellent window management remains and Microsoft is a long way ahead of Apple here. You can snap windows to the side of a screen, where they take up half the available resolution, or snap to the top to maximise them, and there are keyboard shortcuts for these features too. It makes keeping abreast of all your open applications really simple.

However, we have concerns at how easy the Desktop will be to use from a touchscreen device, such as a Tablet, and we can see people either being stuck using the Start Screen or having to get a keyboard and mouse to access all the operating system’s features.