Skip Metro Suite

Today we are starting a series of articles dedicated to sharing with you some tricks and guides for Windows 8, either to cover undocumented aspects or that are not present in the operating system, or to explain with simple steps the completion of certain tasks. To start the series, we have chosen a small free utility, Skip Metro Suite, whose name already somewhat indicates its function: Skip the Windows 8 Start screen, allowing some additional tweaking.

Skip Metro Suite, that's how it works

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The first thing we will do is download the application.On the download page, you will see several buttons with the legend Download, the correct one is the one with gray color By clicking on it, the relevant dialog will open to record a file, SkipMetroSuite.zip , in our installation. Inside the ZIP there are two executables, corresponding to the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the program. The download size is 240 KB."

Once unzipped it is convenient to place the executable that we are going to use in a place with easy access or create a shortcut. Skip Metro Suite does not require installation and any modification that we make with it necessarily implies launching the executable. The changes will not be effective until we restart the session

When launching the executable, we will be shown a window that contains all the functions of Skip Metro Suite, which can be enabled or disabled through controls type checkbox .

The first control, located in the upper left corner of the window is ">disable with a single action any setting set.

Separated in an independent box, we will find the Skip Start Screen control, which allows direct access to the classic Windows 8 desktop, skipping home screen. With the function activated we will start Windows 8 as if it were Windows 7, saving the distances that separate the two versions of Windows.

The next area of ​​the window, named ">. The location of each is closely related to which Modern UI element it enables or disables.

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Thus, we will find in the upper left part of the box the Apps Switcher control, which acts on the change of applicationsIn the top center, we&39;ll enable or disable the feature of drag (downward) an application to close it "

Note.- The version reviewed in the article is the latest available, V 3.0, and the video corresponds to a previous version, although it serves to illustrate how the changes are applied by restarting the session.

On the right side, both in the upper and lower zone, we will enable or disable the Charms Bar, each one acts on the corresponding handle(up/down) from the hidden right sidebar.

In the lower left corner we have the control that acts on the handle that allows access to the Windows 8 start screen Finally , we have two buttons. One to save the configuration which, I remember, will not be available until you restart the session, and the other to exit the application without save changes

" TIP: It is not convenient to disable the two handles of the Charms Bar simultaneously, since we will lose access to important functions of the system and, above all, the possibility of turning off the computer comfortably, having to resort to the useful key combination ++, or any other method. Also think that if we cancel simultaneously the two handles of the Charms Bar and the one corresponding to the start screen, the latter will not be accessible except with the Windows key."

Skip Metro Suite, conclusions

I have tried several combinations and everything works correctly. We can start the system without going through the start screen and disable the different Windows 8 handles. I have repeated the operations several times and Windows 8 has worked the same. Also It's easy to restore your system back to factory condition

Personally, I'm not a big fan of these kinds of third-party apps.If we have acquired Windows 8 it is, among other things, because of the extra features it has over previous versions of Windows. However, for specific work sessions, Skip Metro Suite fulfills its mission efficiently

Video | Youtube