Windows 8 Taskbar does provides useful features to pin any selected drive or folder. You can explore folder pinned to the Windows 8 Taskbar in two ways. You can either click on the folder icon on the Windows 8 Taskbar to open the folder in Windows Explorer or you can navigate the selected folder or files from the Windows 8 Taskbar with a popup menu. The given below screenshot displays C Drive pinned to the Windows 8 Taskbar. Unlike other pinnable icons on the Windows 8 Taskbar, you cannot move the pinned folder icon to any location. The pinned folder(s) stay at the extreme right corner on the Taskbar.

Pinned Folder on Windows 8 Taskbar

In order to pin a Folder to Windows 8 Taskbar, you need to create a new Toolbar and show it on the Windows 8 Taskbar. The Folder Toolbar added to the Windows 8 Taskbar is resizable and once expanded it displays the contents of the folder. In case you do have the Taskbar Visible across Dual or Multiple Monitors, you can expand the Folder Toolbar and launch any folder really quickly. However if you do have only single monitor or you are displaying the Taskbar only on one monitor on a Dual or Multiple Monitor Windows 8 Computer, providing too much space to the folder toolbar will leave less space for taskbar icons.

New Toolbar on Windows 8 Taskbar

The Popup Menu displayed above can be made visible by doing a right click on the empty area of the Windows 8 Taskbar. You can alternatively pin the Windows Explorer to the Windows 8 Taskbar and utilize the JumpList of the Windows Explorer to open recently closed folders using Windows Explorer. The Windows 8 Taskbar can be really handy and quick way to launch folders, applications, documents, etc, provided you do have knowledge about Toolbars for Windows 8 Taskbar, JumpList Management of Windows 8 and usage of Windows 8 Taskbar on Dual or Multiple Monitors.

Yes you can download Windows 8 totally for free from Microsoft Website right now. Technically speaking it will not be completely free as you have to pay for your broadband usage, electricity, etc. The Free Download is offered by Microsoft for free so that people can try out the new Microsoft Windows Operating System and decide whether they do want to upgrade to Windows 8 and lots of other reasons. The Free Download is labelled is provided by Microsoft in the name of Enterprise Evaluation.

As per Microsoft Website this free trial enterprise evaluation is for developers but you do not have to prove to Microsoft that you are a developer and anybody can download Windows 8. Free Evaluation by Microsoft is available in .iso file format containing 32 bit and 64 bit download versions. Generic Rule is that if you computer has more than 4 GB of RAM , you must go with 64 bit download and for users with less than 4GB or RAM, the 32 bit version of Windows 8 should suffice.

You can run Windows 8 on actual Computer or you can even run Windows 8 on a Virtual Computer using Software such as Oracle’s Virtual Box, etc. Windows 8 needs at least 1 GB of RAM for 32 bit Windows 8 and minimum of 2 GB RAM for running 64 bit version of Windows 8. Another important thing about this free download of Windows 8 from Microsoft is that it must be activated online within 10 days of installation. The Windows 8 Activation requires internet connection and does not takes too long and once activated, it displays how many days are remaining for the trial at the bottom right corner of the Desktop.

In case you use Dual or Multiple Monitor with your Windows Computer, the Multi Monitor Taskbar can be one of the strong reasons to upgrade to Windows 8. In case you spend lots of time on internet, play games, etc, then new Windows 8 Applications can be one of the reasons to upgrade to Windows 8. There are lots of other improvements in Windows 8 like new inbuilt drivers for USB  devices and much more. In case you are not sure whether to spend money on Windows 8 or not, the free download of Windows 8 from Microsoft is for you. Download Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation and know Windows 8 better and make your decision whether to upgrade to Windows 8 or not. The Free Windows 8 Trial will work fine for around 3 Months giving you enough time to make your decision to upgrade to Windows 8 or to keep your current version of Operating System

using Windows 8 Control Panel without Mouse Cursor can be a really learning Experience. There can be many reasons why you would want to use any feature of Windows 8 without using a mouse cursor, but Mouse is just a physical device and yes it can stop working. Using Windows 8 Control Panel with Keyboard is not difficult provided you know the rules of how controls in Windows behave to keyboard keys. Working with keyboard can be many times really faster as compared to working with mouse cursor as well.

There are few rules to remember when using Windows Control Panel or any other Non Full Screen or Direct X Game or Application in Windows 8. Yes there can be deviations from the rules mentioned below depending on how the application developer has designed the software or application. As we are talking about using Control Panel without Mouse here in this post, almost all the rules mentioned below will stand correct.

1. Tab Key on Keyboard is to navigate between various controls. In case of control panel you can navigate to various icons visible in the control panel using the tab key on Keyboard.
2. Enter Key on Keyboard is as good as clicking on the selected icon / control. In Windows Operating System, graphical user interface is made up of controls and any control which is designed to interact with humans normally displays a dotted focus window to depict that it has the focus and you can press the Enter or Spacebar Key on Keyboard to Click on it. Yes depending on the Enter key behavior defined by the application, you would need to verify whether to press the Space bar or the enter key.
3. Arrow Keys are useful keys as well. Depending on application to application, arrow keys can also move focus window to various controls in an easy and quick way. In case of Control Panel, you can use the Arrow Keys to navigate to various icons easily and quickly.

Yes there are many other rules but as said above, there are exceptions to these rules as well. In order to open up Control Panel in Windows 8 without using Mouse cursor, press the Window key and then press the I Key on the Keyboard. This would open up the charms bar of Windows 8 with Control Panel as the selected option. When you do have the Charms bar opened up with Control Panel selected, press Enter to Open Up Control Panel.

Windows 8 Charms Bar with Control Panel selected

Once you have got the Control Panel opened up, use the tab key or Arrow Key to navigate between various icons visible in the Control Panel. Once you have reached to the desired icon in Control Panel, press Enter Key on the Keyboard. This will open up the desired Control Panel Applet and again Tab key and Enter Key are your friends to navigate between various controls of the Control Panel Applet. In case you are not sure of what changes you have done in the control panel applet, press the Esc key on Keyboard and try again. Pressing Enter Key in Control Panel Applets is as good as pressing the OK button which stores the changes you have done and closes the Control Panel Applet.

Finally in order to close the Control Panel Window, you can simply press the Alt +  F4 key. This action will close the Control Panel or any other Application which has the focus. You can determine whether an Application Window has the focus or not by looking at the color of the Application’s Title Bar. The Titlebar changes color as and when it receives the focus.

When using Another Monitor or Display Device in Windows 8, you can control both the Display Devices easily in Windows 8. The Keyboard Shortcut Windows Key + P Key opens up the Second Screen Bar in Windows 8 allowing you to easily control your display devices. The Screenshot of the Windows 8 Second Screen Bar is as displayed below and gives you lots of options. The Screenshot of the Windows 8 Second Screen Bar below has been trimmed to display only few options. Yes you can even check out this Second Screen Bar if you have only one Monitor Connected to your Windows 8 Computer.

Control Dual Screens with Windows 8

The Keyboard Shortcut Windows Key + P Key was there in earlier versions of Microsoft Windows as well including Windows 7, Windows Vista etc. Connecting Dual Screens with Windows 8 can give you more visible area and you can even switch between dual screens with the Windows 8 Dual Screen Bar or you can extend your Desktop and hence working area to span dual screens.

Lots of people across the globe use Dual Screens while giving Presentations, while monitoring stocks, news and even when working with Graphical Software Applications like Video Editing. Having a big resolution monitor does gives an advantage and to add to that Dual Monitors gives you more what a Single Monitor can provide. Windows 8 also provides flexible TaskBar and other useful options when using dual or multiple monitors.

Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 8 can really make life simpler. Yes there are lots of keyboard shortcuts available to control your Windows 8 Computer with Keyboard Keys. Yes you can control everything with your Mouse Cursor as well, but when working with both hands on keyboard, handy keyboard shortcuts do help to accomplish day to day tasks really faster and easier. There are lots and lots of keyboard shortcuts and remembering every keyboard shortcut is not mandatory. Just have a look at given below few keyboard shortcuts and see for yourself which keyboard shortcuts might be useful to you when using Windows 8 Desktop or Laptop Computers.

Windows 8 Charms Bar

Keyboard Shortcut Number 1 for Starting up the Windows 8 Charms Bar is Windows Key and C Key on Keyboard. Irrespective of the application you are working on the Keyboard Shortcut Windows Key + C key will invoke the Windows 8 Charms Bar. Even when you are using some Windows 8 Style Application or you are at the Windows 8 Start Menu, the Keyboard Shortcut Windows Key + C Key works always to invoke the Windows 8 Charms Bar.

Search For Apps in Windows 8 with Keyboard Shortcut

One of the Most Important Keyboard Shortcut in Windows 8 is to Search Apps or File Search. With new Windows 8 Start Menu, you would need to Search for Applications or Files. Windows 8 provides two related Keyboard Shortcuts. In case you want to search for something that you suspect would be an application , you must use the Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcut Windows Key + Q Key on Keyboard. The Wind key + Q Key allows you to open the Windows 8 Search with Apps pre selected. In case you want to search for Files , you must use Windows Key + F Key on Keyboard.

Search for Files in Windows 8 with Keyboard Shortcut

This website will list many more Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts, however you would find above listed the most useful Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 8. Yes Mouse is also your friend when working on Windows 8, however there is no quick and fastest way to interact with Windows 8 using Keyboard Shortcuts.