Microsoft has done good hard work on Windows 8 and added lots of new features. The most popular feature in Windows is its Metro Start Menu which appears automatically after booting Windows 8.
To get to desktop, you need to select desktop from the Metro Wall and this might be issue for many Windows 8 users. Metro Start menu increases your computer’s startup time because first you have to deal with Metro Start Menu then select Desktop from the menu to start your work.
Related posts:
- How to Install Windows 8 From USB Drive
- How to Check If the Software is Compatible on Windows 8 PC
- Ultimate List of Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows 8
I know that many people do not like seeing the Metro Start menu immediately after the booting. But Microsoft has not added any option in Windows 8 to skip the Metro Start Menu and directly move on to the Desktop. Don’t worry. Here is a simple tweak can help you skip Metro Start Menu .
How to Skip Metro Start Menu
Fortunately, a simple tweak can help you skip Metro Start Menu and directly move to Desktop right after the system booting. This tweak is very easy to follow and you will get Desktop just like in Windows 7 operating system.
What you basically need to do is
- Create a shortcut that switches to the desktop
- Schedule this shortcut to be activated as soon as Windows 8 logs on
Step1: Creating the shortcut
Create a blank plain text file in Windows, for instance by right-clicking the desktop and selecting New > Text Document, and fill it with the following lines:
[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=Explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop
Now you need to save the file, and rename it to start.scf (you can select a different name, but the extension needs to be .scf).
Step2: Using Task Scheduler
You need to load the file using Windows’s Task Scheduler, and here is a quick rundown on how you’d do that:
- Hit the windows key, enter schedule, filter by Settings on the right, and hit enter.. This opens the Task Scheduler on the desktop.
- Click on Task Scheduler Library, then right-click the task list in the upper-middle pane and select Create New Task from the context menu.
- Enter a descriptive name for the task and click on the Triggers tab afterwards.
- Click on the New button and select At log on next to Begin the task at the top of the new trigger window. Click OK afterwards.
- Switch to the Actions tab and select New. Now click on browse and pick the start.scf file that you have just created. Click ok when you have done that.
- If you are working on a desktop PC click on ok to complete the process. Laptop users may want to click on the Conditions tab before that to uncheck the “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” box there so that you are taken to the desktop when the laptop runs on battery.
Instead of using the task scheduler, you could also move the file into the system’s autostart folder. You first need to enable the display of hidden folders before you can access the folder in Windows Explorer though:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
And that’s how you switch right to the desktop. Depending on your system, this may be happening pretty fast after logon, or to slow to really make a difference.