Paul Thurrott - Windows 8 Secrets

Figure 2-8:The Personalize phase of the OOBE.

If you are using a Windows PC or device with wireless networking hardware, you will next be asked to choose a wireless network and then, if required, enter a password. Do so and then click Next.

What you’re not asked is which type of network you’re joining. In Windows Vista and 7, this was done via a network location, where you could choose between Home, Work, or Public. This occurs a bit later in Setup and is hidden if you choose a certain option, as you’ll see.

Speaking of cute, if you don’t choose anything, Setup will assume you want a custom install and just start you down that path regardless. You can click the Back button, however, to choose Express Settings.

In the next part of OOBE, called Settings and shown in Figure 2-9, you can choose between Express Settings and Customize, which is a cute way to potentially cut the number of OOBE steps dramatically.

Figure 2-9:Do you want to do this the hard way or the easy way?

Long-time readers know that we have always preached the need to perform the more difficult and time-consuming configuration type in situations like this because Microsoft and other companies don’t always choose the correct defaults in their express-type options. That said, we actually choose Express settings here. But for purposes of full disclosure, let’s examine what options you’ll configure if you choose the customized route, and what the defaults are if you choose Express.

These options include:

• Sharing and Connect to Devices:A simplification of the Select your computer’s current location step from Windows 7 Setup, here you can choose Yes, turn on sharing and connect to devices (for home or work networks) or No, don’t turn on sharing or connect to devices (for networks in public places). The Express default is Yes, turn on sharing and connect to devices. (See Figure 2-10.)

Figure 2-10:Sharing and connect to devices.

• Help protect and update your PC:Here, you configure Automatic Updates, including those for device driver updates, and the SmartScreen filter (separately for both Internet Explorer and the file system). The Express default is to enable all of these features. (See Figure 2-11.)

Figure 2-11:Protect and update settings

• Send Microsoft info to help make Windows and apps better:Here you choose whether to send diagnostic information to Microsoft to improve Windows, Windows Store, Microsoft’s anti-malware online service, Location Services, the Customer Experience Improvement Program, and Windows Help, as shown in Figure 2-12. The Express default is to enable all of these features except for Location Services.

• Check online for solutions to problems:In this step, you can configure Windows Error Reporting, Internet Explorer 10 Compatibility lists, user name and account picture sharing with (Metro-style) apps, and the Windows Location Platform, as shown in Figure 2-13. The Express default is to enable all of these features.

Password:If you upgraded from a previous Windows version, you may be asked to supply the password for the user account you previously used to sign in. Do so and click Next.

Don’t see an option to sign in to your Microsoft account? You won’t see this if your PC is offline. Granted, this isn’t a huge issue for a web-based install of Windows 8 since, by definition, you have to be online to get it started. But it happens. You can later convert a local account to a Microsoft account if you’d like.

Figure 2-12:Windows and app settings

Figure 2-13:Troubleshooting and app sharing settings

Finally, you’ll be asked to sign in to your PC, using a Microsoft account, as shown in Figure 2-14. You’ll see this regardless of whether you performed a clean install, upgrade, or migration using the web-based installer.

Figure 2-14:First Windows 8 sign-in

You can click Skip to use your old local account.

Windows 8 supports a new type of user account that is based around your Microsoft account, or what used to be called a Windows Live ID. And while you could still use the old-fashioned local account that you previously configured, we recommend accepting Setup’s offer to switch this account to one based on your Microsoft account. Doing so is highly recommended: You gain impressive PC-to-PC settings synchronization and integration functionality by enabling this account type. As a result, we will assume you do this.

Click Next.

In the next screen, you’ll be prompted for your Microsoft account password. Enter the password for your existing Microsoft account or click Sign up for a Microsoft account to turn any e-mail address into a Microsoft account.

After clicking Next, you’ll be prompted to enter (or at least verify) your security verification info. To help you recover your password and keep your Microsoft account safe from hacking, this screen, shown in Figure 2-15, lets you configure a mobile phone number and alternate e-mail address. You’ll receive a confirmation e-mail at your primary e-mail, and if agreed to, you can make the current PC a trusted PC for authentication purposes.

Figure 2-15:Security verification info

Click Next to continue.

Now, Setup creates your account on the PC and finalizes settings, and then further prepares the PC and logs on to the Start screen. When it’s done, you should be presented with a Start screen similar to the one shown in Figure 2-16.

If you performed an in-place upgrade or a migration, now is the time to see which customizations made it across—check by clicking the Desktop tile—and to ensure that your documents and other files are where they belong. We examine post-Setup tasks later in the chapter, but this is a good place to begin.

Figure 2-16:Welcome to Windows 8!

In some ways, this is all academic, even given the improvements Microsoft has made to Setup, especially with the web-based installer. That’s because performing a clean install will typically be a one-time affair with Windows 8, even for those that really need it: This version of Windows includes new Push Button Reset functionality that allows you to wipe out and quickly reinstall Windows 8 without needing to step through Setup again, as is the case with Windows 7 and previous Windows versions. So once you’ve got Windows 8 on a PC, it’s unlikely you’ll ever need to do this again. And since most people acquire Windows with a new PC, or upgrade from a previous release to the new version, most will never run through Setup this way at all. We examine Push Button Reset, and other ways to back up and restore, in Chapter 11.