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Nice work Ted. Now if only people will read this.
Joe

Yes, that is nice work! Like Joe stated, it's a matter of whether people will take the time to read before proceeding. This has been an issue with CP & RP, & certainly will with the Retail version.

Cat

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So far, I've reinstalled Win-8 at least a dozen times, on several different PC's, and I got tired of chasing down the Desktop Icons for the programs I want to run from there, every time I install the OS.
So, once I had a desktop all set up with the shortcut icons I use frequently, I just copied them to a folder on my Utilities Flash Drive. Then I wrote a little batch file to copy them back to any desktop.

Now when I install Win-8, I just run that little batch file (SetDesktopIcons.bat) and in about one second all my desktop shortcuts are in place. This would work great, for the guys who plan on being able to set up Win-8 for friends and family after the final release in October. Professional techs, who will want to set up the desktop for their customers, would also find this technique useful.
If you're going to do something more than once, Automate it with a batch file, VB-Script, Registry Script, etc.

Colorful Themes, like City Lights are beautiful and really add a lot to a desktop.


But no good deed goes unpunished. Eh? When you install a theme, on either Vista, Win-7 or Win-8, it takes away your ability to place your desktop icons where you want them. So, if you like to place your icons in certain places on your desktop (I do!) then get them where you want them BEFORE you install a Theme. Just go with the default desktop picture till you get your shortcuts arranged where you want them. Then reboot, which locks them in place and then install your special theme.

Tech's and Geeks: There are even more useless 'Services' in Win-8 than there were in any previous OS. You may want to shut some of them down, to increase system performance. A full listing of all the services and which ones can be shut down can be found on the "Black Viper" website.
They can be listed in a batch file for a very fast application. Doing it manually, could take you an hour or more.

From my own SetServices.bat file for Win-7, here are the first few lines.

@echo off
cls
rem This batch file will Stop selected Services and set them to Disabled.
rem The following are a few examples of task name vs actual program name.
rem Schedule = Task Scheduler
rem Themes = Themes
rem W32Time = Windows Time
rem SysMain = Superfetch
rem WinDefend = Windows Defender
rem
sc config Appinfo start= demand
sc stop Appinfo

sc config ALG start= demand
sc stop ALG

sc config AppMgmt start= demand
sc stop AppMgmt

sc config wbengine start= demand
sc stop wbengine


Just a thought!
TechnoMage

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There are several ways to go through Metro UI quickly to the Desktop UI.

1) Ensure the Desktop tile is in the upper left hand position on the Metro UI. When you enter your password, instead of tapping the Enter button, hold it down for a couple of seconds. Holding the Enter button after entering your password activates whichever tile is the upper left hand tile. If this is desktop, then voila, you go to the desktop. If this is IE then IE opens.

2) After entering your password, tap Enter, then as soon as the Metro UI opens, tap Enter again. Which ever tile is in the upper left hand tiles will activate. If that's the Desktop tile then you will go to the Desktop UI.

3) Click the Desktop tile in the Metro UI

4) When on the Metro UI, click Win + D

5) Install Classic Shell. On the General Behavior tab, put a check mark in Skip Metro UI.



OK, so there are 5 easy ways to go to the Desktop UI.

Thanks for revamping this thread Ted!

The Logoff shortcut (on the Taskbar) is good for those with SSD's, as it's only in this idle position that Garbage Collection does it's operations. Preferably a few hours or overnight monthly, depending on how much the computer is used. This keeps the performance level of the SSD as high as possible. These drives needs maintenance just as mechanical ones does, just a different type.

Of course, it's also accessible through a couple of other options, either through the Charms Bar Search option, or in some of our cases, it's there in Classic Shell. It's simply more noticeable on the Taskbar.

Cat