Windows 8: The Missing Manual

Chapter 5. TileWorld Settings

TileWorld, where rectangles rule, has its own way of doing things. No overlapping windows, no menus, every app runs full screen—and, of course, everything runs best on a touchscreen. TileWorld has its own version of Internet Explorer, its own technique for right-clicking—and its own special Control Panel, filled with settings that control only the TileWorld world.

The traditional Control Panel still exists at the desktop, and still gets its own chapter in this book (see Chapter 12). Here, though, is a complete rundown of the settings you can change just in TileWorld.

The Six Charms-Panel Settings

When you open the Charms bar (Corners and Swipes) and then choose Settings, the bottom half of the Settings panel offers icons for the six settings Microsoft thinks you’ll want to adjust most often (Figure 5-1). They are:

• Network. You use this icon to connect to a network—a WiFi hotspot, for example, that gets you onto the Internet. Details are in Chapter 13.

• Volume. Here’s your speaker-volume control. When you select it, a volume slider appears; tap, click, or drag anywhere in the vertical “track” to make the volume louder or softer. The number tells you where you are, on a scale of Mute to 100.

• Brightness. This icon works just like the volume slider—except it adjusts your screen brightness.

  Tip

  If you have a tablet or some kind of freaky hybrid Frankenstein laptop, a little surprise lies in store at the top of the Brightness slider; see Figure 5-1.

  Figure 5-1. If ...