Windows charms are the 5 helpers that appear on the right corner of the
screen when you swipe down with a finger, or click down with the mouse.
Actually, the Charms remind me of Vista's Gadget Sidebar, but they are
less intrusive, yet are always available at your fingertips.
While you can bring up the charms from any Windows 8 screen, I suggest
that you start at the New UI screen, or as in the screenshot below, the
desktop.
With a tablet computer the easiest way to see the Charms is to swipe downwards over the bottom right
corner of your screen. Observe the finger movement in the screenshot.
Once the charms appear, hover over the icons and the overlay will change to
display their individual names.
The trickiest way of launching the charms is with the mouse. If you
are trying to acquire this knack my best advice is have faith, it will work!
If no charms appear when you point the mouse at the
right corner, the biggest problem is over-think.
DON'T press either of the mouse buttons. Just hold the sides of the
mouse and circle it gently over the bottom right CORNER. Windows
Charms are full of surprises, and after a week of experimenting, I
suddenly found you could awaken the charms by applying the same technique to
the TOP right corner.
Still frustrated with the mouse? Or if you prefer keyboard shortcuts,
then press Windows Key +c. Incidentally, whichever method you use to
launch the Charms, you also get a clock on the other side of the screen,
fortunately this date / time display disappears when you dismiss the charms.
At first I ignored the Windows 8 charms, then I thought they were a
gimmick, but I soon became a convert. In particular, I like this consistent
overlay for finding context sensitive Settings. Scanning the overlay
from top to bottom,
the 5 charms are: Search, Share, Start (Windows),
Devices and Settings (those familiar cogs).
For
me, it's that small wheel with cogs at the bottom of the overlay that's the most useful
Charm. When I am scratching my head and looking around the screen for an App's settings,
I have an 'ah ha' moment, and call for the charms!
For example, until I dialled-up the Settings charm from inside my Weather app
I could not change the temperature scale from Fahrenheit to Centigrade.
The
topmost charm, called Search, is very useful when you seem locked inside the
App Store and wish to browse for more gismos. Even when you are not
using a Windows 8 app, you can use this charm to find configuration screens.
For example, the charms' search seems more comprehensive than the
traditional Explorer search supplied by the Control Panel.
My
friend 'Mad' Mick uses that third window charm to return to the
main Apps start screen. I prefer to ignore the charms for this task
and instead I just press WinKey. Incidentally, Mick thinks the charms
sidebar has the same function as the old XP Start menu. In a nutshell,
this charm is to give tablet users a consistent method of navigating back to
the main screen.
As
for 'Devices', we really have to give this charm a chance by having a gismo
or gadget actually plugged into our computer!
For example, to stream a video to a T.V. you need to attach the monitor
to your Windows 8 computer's port.
The
Windows 8 Share charm reminds me of passing around a box of assorted chocolates, there is
always one sweet that nobody chooses. There again, just as different people
like different chocolates, those who love their social network will regard
the 'Share' charm as a tasty tool.
Another reason for using the Share charm is when you want
files stored on SkyDrive to be available to friends.
Note: You cannot share anything in Desktop mode, another
clue this is sharing for Apps.
Charms summary: Like the Control Panel, which some
say they resemble, you cannot configure these settings. However, they
are ubiquitous, consistent and grow on you.
Guy Recommends: A Free Trial of the Network Performance Monitor
(NPM)
SolarWinds'
Orion performance monitor
will help you discover what's happening on your network. This
utility will also guide you through troubleshooting; the dashboard will
indicate whether the root cause is a broken link, faulty equipment or
resource overload.
What I like best is the way NPM suggests solutions to network
problems. Its
also has the ability to monitor the health of individual VMware
virtual machines. If you are interested in troubleshooting, and creating
network maps, then I recommend that you try NPM now.
It is possible to change the graphics for the Charms representing Search,
Share, Window, Devices and Settings. This programmer has also found a
way to change the colour of the text. However, I have not found a way
of adding more charms to the bar, or removing existing Windows charms such as the
share.
A
similar technique to finding and mastering the Charms, is tracking down the
Windows Desktop 'Start' and its menus.
I suggest that you navigate to the desktop - pressing WinKey is a good way.
This time, from the Windows desktop, focus on the left hand side of the screen;
in particular the BOTTOM left corner. If you circle the mouse over
the point of the corner, then you should see a mini Metro style 'Start'.
Tip: keep your fingers away from the mouse's buttons.
If you have a touch screen, then you can swipe down on the bottom left
corner, see screenshot to the right. My favoured alternative is to
press WinKey +x.
Amazingly, if you
carefully right-click this icon then you get a whole menu of Windows 8
settings, which is reminiscent of the Windows 7 Start menu. See
screenshot to the left.
To
see this App switching effect, and learn how to cycle through all the Apps that you have
opened, try this:
Open two or three Apps
Push the mouse at the top right corner - key point. It's
really difficult the first time. Try different speeds, and try
right in the corner, try 20 pixels in from the corner.
Look for a thumbnail of one of the open Apps
Left-click in the thumbnail, you should be able to cycle through all your
open Apps.
Right-click and a 'Close' menu appears.
The screenshot (above right) shows regedit open, and a thumbnail of a
weather App; OK, confession, I enlarged the thumbnail so that you could see
it more easily.
Guy Recommends: SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset v10
This
Engineer's Toolset v10 provides a comprehensive console of 50 utilities
for troubleshooting computer problems. Guy says it helps me
monitor what's occurring on the network, and each tool teaches me more about how the
underlying system operates.
There are so many good gadgets; it's like having free rein of a
sweetshop. Thankfully the utilities are displayed logically: monitoring,
network discovery, diagnostic, and Cisco tools. Try the SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset now!
If the above App switching is not working, then navigate to the PC
settings, General then on the right you should see a bar for App switching,
make sure it's set to 'On'.
The best way to make bring up PC settings is to
press Winkey +i.
The charms are available from virtually any Windows 8 screen, indeed they
are designed to be both omnipresent, yet provide context sensitive
settings for a particular App, Control Panel, or traditional program.
If you like this page then please share it with your friends
Guy Recommends:
SolarWinds' NPM - Network Performance Monitor
SolarWinds' performance monitor is designed for detecting network outages,
making it easy to see what's working, and what needs your attention.
This utility guides you through creating network maps; it also helps
identifying whether the
root cause is faulty equipment, or resource overload. Give NPM a try.
