The latest version of Microsoft Windows has a new tiled interface called Modern UI (previously called Metro UI). By default, Windows 8 boots up and shows the Modern UI with all the tiles, clicking on which you can run different apps. You can click on the Windows Explorer tile to switch to the classic desktop. But if you do not like the new Modern UI and crave for the classic Windows 7 desktop, then you can make Windows 8 boot straight into the classic desktop. Here is how :
- Press keyboard shortcut Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog. In the Run dialog, type %windir% and press Enter to open the Windows folder.
- In the Windows folder, type show desktop in the search textbox shown at the top-right corner of the folder window. This would search for the Show Desktop shortcut in the Windows folder.
- Again press the keyboard shortcut Windows logo key + R to open the Run dialog. This time, type %UserProfile%AppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup and press Enter to open the the Start Menu folder.
- Press the Ctrl key on your keyboard and keep it pressing. Click on the Show Desktop shortcut that you found in the step 2 above, and drag it to the Startup folder as shown in the picture below. This would copy this shortcut to the Startup folder.
- That’s it. Now when you start Windows 8, the Show Desktop shortcut would execute and would automatically switch you from the Modern UI to the Classic Desktop.