Time-saving Windows 8.1 tweaks

With the introduction of Windows 8.1, Microsoft has introduced a number of options to help users fine tune their experience. I'm Donald Bell, and today, I'm gonna show you four simple ways to save time in Windows 8.1. Now, if you're really not worried about strangers jumping on to your laptop, one way to save yourselves from daily hassle is to disable the Sign on Screen. From the Start Screen type 'netplwiz' and choose the account you want to automatically sign in with and then uncheck the box for 'Users must enter username and password to use this computer.' Click Okay, enter your password twice, and then the next time you wake up your computer, you'll just jump right in. Now, if you wanna boot straight into the desktop and instead of the Start Screen, here's how. From the desktop, right click on the Taskbar and select Properties, click the tab for Navigation and check the box for 'When I sign in or Close all apps on the screen, go to the desktop instead of the start,' then hit Apply. Now before you close out this window, here's another tip, the Windows button has returned to the bottom left corner, but it doesn't do what you think. Instead of acting as a shortcut for all of your applications, it toggles you right over to the Start Screen, boo. To get closer to that classic Windows start button within that same navigation tab, check the box for 'Show the apps view automatically when I go to start' and hit Apply. The start button will now toggle over to a list of all your apps. Traditionalist can go even further by checking the box at the bottom here to prioritize desktop apps in the list ahead of the more tabletized Windows 8 widgets. Finally, there are dozen different ways to shut down Windows 8, but here's the absolute fastest, no confirmations, no menus, no fuss. Hit the Window's key and the letter X and then tap the letter U twice--done. Personally, I rarely do a full shut down on my computer, so to modify this for Sleep mode, hit the Windows key and the letter X and then U and S for sleep. So there you go four tips for streamlining your time on Windows 8.1. For a bonus tip, check out Dennis O'Reilly's full post over on CNET How To. For CNET.com, I'm Donald Bell.