Adjusting the Look of Windows 8

In the preceding section, you learned how to personalize your Lock screen by changing the Lock screen picture, switching out your user image, and adding badges to your Lock screen. In Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Microsoft has also given us the ability to change the color scheme of the Start screen, which was a highly requested feature.

>>>step-by-step: Changing the Look of the Start Screen

Now in Windows 8 Consumer Preview, you can change the color scheme of the Start screen and select a background design so that you get just the look and feel you want for the background of all the colorful app tiles you’ll be displaying. You make the changes in the Start Screen settings in the Personalize category of the PC Settings window. Begin by displaying the Windows 8 Charms bar, tapping or clicking Settings, and choosing More PC Settings.

1. In the Personalize screen, click or tap Start Screen.

2. Drag the background color bar to a new color to see the effect of the change. The preview area shows you how the new color will look, along with the color highlights. The PC Settings title and the Personalize category also changes to reflect the color choice.

3. When you’ve settled on a color, select the background design you want to apply to the background of the Start screen.

>>>step-by-step: Up the Contrast, Baby

All these snazzy colors and the fluid movement are great, providing your contacts or bifocals are doing the trick and you don’t have any trouble making out what all these little notifications on the screen are telling you. But some people have trouble differentiating colors, and others find it hard to make out characters on a colored background when the contrast is low.

Anticipating this, Windows 8 includes a High Contrast option in the Ease of Access settings in your PC Settings screen so that you can display Windows 8 in a way that heightens the contrast on the screen, which will hopefully make things easier to read.

1. In the PC Settings, scroll down to the Ease of Access category on the left side of the screen.

2. Drag the High Contrast slider from the left (Off) to the right (On). The background of the Control Panel changes from white to black and the text appears in white and gray.

>>>step-by-step: Magnifying Your Display

Another way you can enhance the readability of your Windows 8 screen involves magnifying the entire screen. You can do this by changing one of the settings in the Ease of Access category in the PC Settings screen.

1. Tap or click Ease of Access in the PC Settings window.

2. On the right side of the screen, drag the slider in the Make Everything on Your Screen Bigger setting from Off to On. Your screen magnifies instantly, and you can navigate as normal (but you may need to do a lot more scrolling).

Changing the Time

If necessary, you can let Windows 8 know what time it is where you are so that you’re in sync no matter who you’re chatting with online and where in the world they may be. Having the time set to your local time is also helpful when you are scheduling calls and online meetings with others who may be in different time zones.

1. Display the PC Settings window, and tap or click General.

2. In the Time Zone area, tap or click the time zone arrow to display a list of available time zones and choose the zone you want to use.

3. Leave the Adjust Clock for Daylight Saving Time Automatically turned on if you want the time to be adjusted for you when Daylight Saving Time changes.