Summary. There’s no doubt that Windows 8 is a huge upgrade for consumers, a revolutionary new version of Windows that will allow Microsoft’s most successful product

There’s no doubt that Windows 8 is a huge upgrade for consumers, a revolutionary new version of Windows that will allow Microsoft’s most successful product line to enter new markets for touch‑based portable devices. But Windows 8 isn’t just about fun and games. Like previous Windows versions, it comes well‑stocked with an abundance of business‑oriented features, including updated versions of many preexisting features like domain join and Group Policy support, EFS, BitLocker and BitLocker To Go, and more.

Windows 8 includes new business features, too. It picks up the powerful Hyper‑V virtualization platform from Windows Server 2012, providing users with an astonishing new tool for managing virtual environments and resources. And Hyper‑V is further bolstered by new VHD shell integration and a new Virtual Machine Connection client. Remote desktop users will find both Metro‑style and desktop clients as well as a secure version of Remote Desktop Host that will allow you to access your own desktop PC remotely.

Those corporations that opt for Windows 8 Enterprise will see several other additional features. And even consumer‑oriented Windows RT tablets can make their way into businesses thanks to Exchange ActiveSync compatibility and a unique management client.

Appendix A: Windows Key Keyboard Shortcuts

Table A‑1: Windows Key Keyboard Shortcuts

Note that some Windows key shortcuts can be used in tandem with the Shift key to cycle objects in the opposite direction.

Credits

Executive Editor: Carol Long

Senior Project Editor: Kevin Kent

Technical Editor: Todd Meister

Production Editor: Christine Mugnolo

Copy Editor: Mildred Sanchez

Editorial Manager: Mary Beth Wakefield

Freelancer Editorial Manager: Rosemarie Graham

Associate Director of Marketing: David Mayhew

Marketing Manager: Ashley Zurcher

Business Manager: Amy Knies

Production Manager: Tim Tate

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher: Neil Edde

Associate Publisher: Jim Minatel

Project Coordinator, Cover: Katie Crocker

Compositor: Craig Woods, Happenstance Type‑O‑Rama

ProofreaderS: Sarah Kaikini and Scott Klemp, Word One New York

Indexer: Johnna VanHoose Dinse

Cover Image: © Chad Baker/Lifesize/Getty Images

Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed

About the Authors

Paul Thurrott, the author of over 20 books, is a technology analyst at Windows IT Pro and the editor of the SuperSite for Windows (winsupersite.com). In addition to his daily contributions to the SuperSite, he writes a daily Windows news and information newsletter called WinInfo , a weekly editorial for Windows IT Pro UPDATE, and a monthly column for Windows IT Pro Magazine. He also co‑hosts two highly‑rated technology podcasts: Windows Weekly with Leo Laporte and Mary Jo Foley and What The Tech with Andrew Zarian. You can follow Paul’s exploits on Twitter at @thurrott.

Rafael Rivera is a software developer for a VAR 500 company, Telos Corporation, where he works on mission critical systems. He is also a certified reverse engineering analyst and takes Windows apart for fun on his blog Within Windows (withinwindows.com). He has a growing interest in culinary arts and photography, and frequently shares his thoughts on Twitter at @WithinRafael. Secret: Rafael was born on the same day as Windows 1.0–November 20, 1985–which many believe is no coincidence.

About the Technical Editor

Todd Meister has been working in the IT industry for over 15 years. He’s been a Technical Editor on over 75 titles ranging from SQL Server to the .NET Framework. Besides technical editing titles, he is the Senior IT Architect at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He lives in central Indiana with his wife, Kimberly, and their five wily children.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the anonymous souls from Microsoft who provided us with dozens of interim builds and important tidbits of internal information, both of which contributed to making this the best Windows 8 book on the market. We literally could not have completed this book in time without you and we hope that we lived up to the trust you placed in us.

–Paul and Rafael

This book was a truly collaborative venture that included daily check‑ins on Skype, document sharing on Windows Live Mesh and SkyDrive, and even some in‑person meet‑ups at all‑too‑infrequent industry events. Thanks again to Rafael for accompanying me down the rabbit hole.

Thanks as always to Stephanie, Mark, and Kelly for giving me the time to make this book happen and for understanding why things got grouchy sometimes.

Thanks to Jill Lovato and Greg Chiemingo at Waggener Edstrom for being islands of calm in a sea of insanity. You guys are the best and were always ready to help. Much appreciated.

Thanks to Kevin and Carol at Wiley for the help, support, and understanding. Books are always stressful to make, with less time than I wish for and more work than I expect, regardless of how many times I’ve done it. But you get that.

Finally, thanks to my readers and listeners from around the world. I’ve enjoyed the conversations and hope they continue well into the future. It’s always been fun, but what makes this worthwhile isn’t the products and technologies, it’s the relationships you make along the way.

–Paul

Thanks to my parents and sister for supporting my interests 100 percent. I love you all.

Thanks to Paul, for giving me another opportunity to do what I love doing–digging into and documenting Windows.

Thanks to Jennifer Ortiz for understanding my crazy late‑night hours and a huge congratulations on being accepted to the PhD program at University of Washington.

A special thanks to David Golden, Patrick Laughner, and Paul Paliath whom I spend hours with on Skype daily playing Minecraft and other games.

Big thanks to Cliff Simpkins and Brandon Watson for helping me convince Microsoft there were merits in my hacking work on Windows Phone. And also Chris Walsh and Long Zheng for helping make a product of that hacking work, ChevronWP7 Labs, a huge success.

Last but not least, thanks to all my blog readers and Twitter followers. It’s those conversations with real people that drive me every day.

–Rafael

Read This First

In October 2009, I participated in the Windows 7 launch at the World Forum in the Hague, Netherlands. It was easily the most beautiful theater I’ve ever spoken in, and while I have many memories of that all‑too‑short trip to Europe, one stands out.

After my talk, I was signing copies of Windows 7 Secrets for attendees and I received a wonderfully blunt question that forever altered the book you’re now reading.

“If Windows 7 is so easy to use,” a bespectacled Netherlander asked as I signed my name, “then why is your book over a thousand pages long?”

Time stood still for a moment while I pondered this question. And though I replied, “To be fair, it’s padded with screenshots,” to laughs, the question hung in my mind for some time to come.

In my defense–our defense, since Rafael is of course my willing partner in this crime against both trees and those who would safely read before going to sleep–I have always taken the position, both in my writing for the SuperSite for Windows and in the Secrets books, that Windows isn’t a standalone “thing”; it’s the center of a vast ecosystem of related and connected products and services. That is, nobody buys Windows for Windows, per se. They buy Windows because of its promise of compatibility with the hardware, software, and, increasingly, services that they use and trust.

With Windows 7, that meant applications like those in Windows Live Essentials–which weren’t technically included “with” Windows 7 but were very much required to “complete,” if you will, Windows–but also Zune, Windows Home Server, Windows Media Center, and a slew of Windows Live services.

But with Windows 8, suddenly, everything is different. Yes, Windows still stands at the center of a vast ecosystem. But Windows 8 itself is quite different from its predecessor, and the solutions that make up its supporting cast have changed quite a bit since Windows 7, thanks to changes in the market.

Microsoft says it is “reimagining” Windows with Windows 8, giving Rafael and I the chance to, in turn, reimagine our Secrets books. A year before Windows 8 launched, as we plotted this next version of the book, it occurred to us that it was time to make a break with the past, similar to what Microsoft was doing with the product we’re writing about. And so we came to Wiley with a tentative plan, since we feared failure, to not update Windows 7 Secrets . Instead, this next book, Windows 8 Secrets , would be an all‑new book, with virtually no information taken and updated from previous books. It would be a shorter book, too, one that wouldn’t harm you if you dropped it on yourself.

Oddly, and humorously, Wiley not only agreed, but they had also separately come to the same conclusion, and were likewise worried that the daunting task of starting over from scratch would be uninteresting to us.

Problem solved.

The resulting book, the one you now hold, is the product of this reimagining. It is significantly shorter than the previous book–about a third shorter, I guess–and doesn’t drift into surrounding ecosystem products and services unless they’re central to the discussion. Part of the reason we’re able to do this is that Microsoft has simply built so much into Windows 8, while extending its support to cloud services in more seamless ways. But part of it is us just saying no to peripheral topics as well.

Our goal, as always, is to make you more efficient and proficient in Windows. It’s to take you from your current skill level to the next level by revealing information about this new Windows that is new–simply because Microsoft has added whatever new features and functionality–and, as important, because it is new to you. In the old days, before the pervasive online connectivity we all now enjoy, the notion of “secrets” was pretty straightforward, and you could safely assume that you’d pick up a copy of whatever Secrets book and discover unique information–often obviously called out in gratuitous “Secret” boxes–that was not available anywhere else.

Today, that’s not possible.

Both Rafael and I have discussed virtually every topic in this book online in some form already. I often test content on my own website before writing about it in the book to gather feedback and questions from users, which I can often present to Microsoft for further internal insights. The value of this book, then, is manifold. It’s not just some simple compendium of previously published online articles. It’s a deeper, more thorough examination of what’s truly new in Windows 8, backed by months and months of research and usage, and feedback from the people at Microsoft who actually made the product. And it’s all gathered in one organized and convenient place: this book.

Things have changed for you, the reader, as well. We’re now making more assumptions than ever before. And while the bar isn’t particularly high, both Rafael and I wanted to make sure that you understood what you are getting into here.

That is, we assume you know how to use Windows. And by this, we don’t just mean how to translate the physical actions of moving a mouse on a surface into on‑screen mouse cursor movements. We expect you to know Windows 7 inside and out, and to be familiar with the way it works. This is important, and different, because we’re carrying over virtually no secrets, tips, or information from Windows 7 Secrets . This book is all‑new, and assumes you already understand the features that were previously available, often in unchanged form, in Windows 7.

But don’t worry that this book will be daunting in some way. It’s not. We used the same approachable and conversational style that we’ve always used because, well, that’s the way we do things. It’s just that adding the relevant content from Windows 7 Secrets to this book would have necessitated a 1,500‑page tome. No one wanted that. So we took what is a bold step for us. We think the book is better for it. And we hope you agree.

But we want to hear from you either way. We view this book in the same way we do our own websites and other work, as a conversation about technology between people who are truly interested in learning more, always. And that includes us. If we did something right or screwed up something terribly, please, do let us know.

These are our personal e‑mail addresses and Twitter accounts. We’re interested in continuing the conversation.

Paul Thurrott

thurrott@hotmail.com

@thurrott

Rafael Rivera

rafael@withinwindows.com

@withinrafael