The year is drawing to a close, so there’s a very good chance that you now find yourself staring straight down the gaping maw of Windows 8. Maybe someone gave you a new Windows tablet or PC as a gift.

It's now too late to whine about the user interface changes in Windows 8. They may be "confusing" and put a "cognitive burden" on ordinary users, but for now at least, these changes are there to stay.

Windows 8 has a settings screen called PC Settings that allows you to change some basic settings and Windows Start Screen preferences directly in the Windows 8 Start Screen. This screen allow you to ...

Senior writer Seth Rosenblatt covered Google and security for CNET News, with occasional forays into tech and pop culture. Formerly a CNET Reviews senior editor for software, he has written about ...