Deleting something sends the item straight to the Recycle Bin, no confirmations necessary. Unlike HAL (and Windows 7), Windows 8 isn’t pleading or pushy when you want to get rid of a file. Just what do you think you’re doing, Dave? The Recycle Bin properties screen.
Our guide to mastering VLC will get you up and watching in no time-and for no money. VLC isn’t as polished as Microsoft’s Media Center software, but it’s jam-packed with utility, offering full DVD playback and ripping support, robust file-transcoding options, the ability to tune in to Internet videos and podcasts alike, and even spotty Blu-ray support if you enlist the help of add-ons with questionable legality. This is one solution, but I recommend downloading the free and flexible VLC instead.
If you’ve yet to take the plunge into a digital-only lifestyle, you could spring for Windows 8 Pro and the optional $10 Media Center Pack (which Microsoft is giving away free to upgraders until January 31, 2013). Windows 8 still includes Windows Media Player, but the new version of the program lacks DVD playback support. No DVD playback? No problem! VLC’s myriad media options include full DVD playback. But if you don’t want to do that (or if you’re running Windows RT), you have a workaround for Microsoft’s POP reluctance, though it’s somewhat clunky. If you’re running Windows 8 and need to keep tabs on a POP email account, I first recommend downloading Mozilla’s free Thunderbird email application and using it in Desktop mode. But tell that to all the nontechie people who lean on me for computer support, and who rely on the POP email addresses that their ISPs handed out. I get it, Microsoft: IMAP’s syncing functionality fits better into the cloud-connected, work-everywhere vision you have for Windows 8.
One of my biggest Windows 8 irritations is its lack of POP email support in the native Mail app. No POP for you! That POP option in the Mail app? It’s a trick. We cover it in-depth in our roundup of free tools designed to bend Windows 8 to your will.
But if you’re looking to bring back the Start button and possibly even banish the live-tiled Start screen for good, check out the free (and awesome) Classic Shell program. Enough words have been written about Windows 8’s missing Start button to fill the Library of Congress twice over, so I won’t spend much time on it.
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