Desktop Versus Metro in Windows 8
Windows 8 can be intimidating because it is so much different than previous Windows operating systems. One of the most significant differences present in Windows 8 and not in previous versions of Windows is the Metro Screen. The Metro Screen has replaced the Start Tab from previous Windows operating systems. You can navigate to the Metro Screen by either pressing the Windows button on your keyboard or the Windows icon on the bottom left hand side of your screen.
Some applications can be accessed from both Metro and Desktop; however, you will notice small differences between the two applications even if they have the same name; for example, Internet Explorer. See the Metro version of Internet Explorer versus the Desktop version in the picture below.
The top picture is the Desktop version of Internet Explorer, and the bottom picture is the Metro version of Internet Explorer.
Note: We have cut out the picture of the website because it is identical in both pictures. The difference is in the address bar. For example, notice the Metro version (at the bottom) has the URL at the bottom of the page while the Desktop version has the URL at the top. There are other differences you may notice but the function of the two versions of IE are the same.
Functionally the two versions are the same, but they do have some cosmetic differences. The Desktop version of Internet Explorer will probably seem more familiar to anyone who used a previous version of Windows. This version is complete with multiple tabs (circled in red above), an exit button in the top right and a URL bar at the top. The Metro version is a little bit different, the URL bar is at the bottom instead of the top, and it does not have the traditional tab display.
Scroll down to see instructions on how to use multiple tabs using the Metro version of Internet Explorer (these steps will work for nearly every other Metro application as well), to learn how to exit a Metro application, you may find instructions here.
While in any screen you can access any of your running applications (or tabs) by moving your mouse to the far left top corner (as seen below).
Here you can click on the application to enlarge it.
After you have enlarged one application you can move your mouse to the far left top corner again and drag another application to the side. The currently open application will push to the side and you can have two applications open at once, side by side (shown below).
You may drag the three dots (circled in red) to readjust the sizes of the display of each application.
Once mastered the Metro screen can be a very convenient tool for multitasking and switching between applications.
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