So What’s New in Windows 8?

So What’s New in Windows 8?

There’s a ton of new stuff in Windows 8, but the biggest change that you’ll notice right away is the addition of the new tile-based Metro interface, which you can see in the screenshot above. Keep in mind that this is the developer preview release, which means it’s nowhere near finished, and you should definitely not install this on your primary PC.
We’ll go into loads of detail about everything as you read further, but first here’s a quick list of just some of the new features:

• Metro Interface – the new default interface in Windows 8, keep reading for everything about this.
• Faster Boot Times – Windows 8 will boot much faster than Windows 7, thanks to a partial hibernation mode and a lot of improvements in the loading process. On my old Dell laptop, it boots in less than 10 seconds – on new machines, it’s crazy fast.
• Less Memory Usage than Windows 7. That’s right. Microsoft is saying that not only will this version use less RAM than Win7, it also uses less running processes.
• Windows Explorer overhauled, now has the Ribbon UI, Revamped File Copying, and ISO mounting.
• In-Place PC Refresh will reload Windows in just a couple of clicks, keeping your files intact.
• ARM processors are now supported, which will lead to an entirely new class of low-power, battery-efficient tablets.
• Hyper-V is now part of Windows – so now you can create virtual machines easily without installing anything extra.
• Taskbar can now span multiple monitors – this very simple feature has finally made it into Windows.
• Wallpaper can now span multiple monitors – yet another feature that should have been around 10 years ago.
• Universal Spell Check across Metro applications.
• Windows Live Integration for Sync, Mail, Skydrive lets you sync all your settings across your PCs, including your files, mail, and photos. The sync is available in the preview, but the Skydrive and Mail are not yet.
• Windows Store will let you purchase Windows apps all in a single place.
• New Task Manager is completely revamped with much better tools, including a way to disable startup applications, track application resource usage over time, and even easily restart Windows Explorer.

There’s way more changes all over the place, and we’ll try and cover as much as possible, but there’s no way we can get everything. Not to mention the fact that this is a preview, so there’s probably a whole lot more coming in the beta.