14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8.1 Preview is now available for all Windows 8 users, so if you’re willing to try out some of the features that could be publicly released later this year, go to the Store and download it free of charge.
It’s not a secret anymore that Windows 8.1 Preview is supposed to make the platform a bit more familiar, so in addition to many other improvements, it also comes with a Start button to easily get users to the Start screen.
What’s more, Microsoft has apparently listened to customer feedback and introduced an option to boot directly to desktop and skip the Start screen.
In Windows 8, users who wanted to go straight to the desktop after loading the operating system had to turn to some registry tweaks or third-party software solutions capable to do this automatically, so beginners probably had a hard time trying to set this feature up.
Windows 8.1 Preview makes it much easier, so simply turn on the dedicated option to skip Metro and boot straight to the desktop.
The feature is located in the “Taskbar and Navigation” properties screen that can be easily accessed by right-clicking on the Taskbar.
Go over to the “Navigation” panel and look down in the Start screen section. Enable the first option called “Go to desktop instead of Start when I sign in,” hit apply and then close the window, as all modifications are automatically saved.
We’ve heard that for some people this option doesn’t work, so in case you’re one of these unlucky users, make sure you reboot the computer after making the changes.
In some cases, you might even need to restart the PC before enabling the boot-to-desktop option, so this could be another way to deal with any issues that might occur during the configuration process.