it with the “Start Screen” and “Charm Bar”.

If you are completely new to Windows 8 and would like a beginner introduction to the

new “Start Screen” and “Charm Bar”, you can click on the link on screen to this

tutorial. To complement the new “Start Screen” Microsoft

has added a new menu called the "Quick Access Menu" (QAM).

The "Quick Access Menu" is intended primarily for computer technicians and power users,

as it provides quick access to common system administration tasks.

The "Quick Access Menu" brings together systems administration type features that were spread

all over the place in previous versions of Windows.

The "Quick Access Menu" can be opened in several ways.

The first option is to drag the mouse to the bottom left-hand corner of the desktop, but

instead of left clicking on the “Start” you right-click instead.

The second option is to use the keyboard shortcut of the “WinKey + X”.

The menu is broken up into two sections. The top section is made up of system and network

management tools and utilities. The bottom section contains common options

that were previously found on the start menu. Let’s briefly go over the options available

in the "Quick Access Menu". We will review each one working our way up from the bottom.

“Desktop”. The "Quick Access Menu" can be opened on the desktop as well as from the

“Start Screen”.. If you are not already on the desktop, selecting this option will

bring you there. If you are already on the desktop this will minimize all open applications.

So if you have two open applications. Open the quick access menu. Select “Desktop”

and it minimizes them. They both still open. You can select desktop again to open them

back up, or from the “Start” screen you can select desktop.

“Run”. This will open a Windows run box. This was previously on the start menu and

I used to constantly. The “Run” command is used to open an application by name, or

a file or folder by path name and you can launch applications from here.

“Search”. This will open the “Search” window that will by default have “Apps”

selected for searching. You also have the option here to search by “Settings”, “Files”,

or search using the individual applications at the bottom.

“File Explorer”. This will open the Windows File Explorer view. This allows you to navigate

through the file systems and file repositories on the system.

“Control Panel”. This will open the Windows “Control Panel”, which allows all the

windows system settings. “Task Manager”. This opens the new and

improved “Task Manager” included with Windows 8. By default it opens to the minimal

information version. There is no running application so nothing really shows up here. We can now

see internet explorer here and close it if we like. To use the full version, click on

the “More details” button. As you can see it offers much more granular information

here. “Command Prompt (Admin)”. This opens a

command prompt Window as the administrator account, right above this is just command

prompt. This opens a command prompt window as the currently logged in user, this may

or may not have “Admin” Rights. “Computer Management”. This will open

the Windows Computer Management window. Computer Management is a collection of windows system

management tools. Here we can get to the event, viewer, shared, folders, local users and groups,

performance, device manager, disk management and into services

“Disk Management”. The Disk Management utility is a storage device management utility

that manages system disks, volumes, and partitions. With Disk Management you can initialize new

disks, create volumes or partitions, format volumes, change drive letters, and more.

“Device Manager”. This opens the Windows “Device Manager”, which is an organized

view of all the hardware devices recognized by Windows. Device Manager is used to manage

the hardware in your computer like graphics cards, hard drives, keyboards, and other USB

devices it also shows when there is unrecognized devices in the system it shows the old exclamation

point and says unknown device. “System”. This opens the “System Properties”

window. System properties provides information about the computer system such as the version

of Windows, system type like (32 vs 64 bit), the computer name, and more. You also have

the option to make changes to windows system settings here.

“Event Viewer”. This will open the Windows Event Viewer window. The event viewer allows

you to view detailed logged events on the local or a remote computer. These logs can

be invaluable in diagnosing a computer problem. The most useful logs are under windows logs

and they are the system and application logs. “Power Options”. This opens the “Power

Options” window, which allows you to adjust the power settings based on performance and

energy consumption. It allows you to chose what happens when you close the lid of your

laptop, press the power button or perform other actions like that.

"Mobility Center". If you are using a laptop you will have an additional option showing

various mobile app settings in one place. Like the display, volume, battery sinking

in one. “Programs and Feature”. This opens the

“Programs and Features” window. This is the program used to change or remove programs

or features that you have installed on your system. I currently only have one program

installed on this test system. which is windirstat. Although some people are unhappy with the

removal of the “Start Menu”, I think additions like the "Quick Access Menu" will greatly

improve the workflow for the average computer technician, power users and average user alike.