How to move and customize Windows 8 tiles on your start screen

The Windows 8 tiles replace the desktop/start menu of earlier versions of Windows.  When you open up Windows 8, the start screen may seem like a lot.  It can feel like there are boxes everywhere and nothing is in the the order you like.  Moving the tiles on your start screen is easy.  Mattering on the type of tile, you can change the size, make it active or static, put it in a different location on your start screen, or remove it from the screen altogether.

On the start screen, right-click on any tile that you wish to change.  A bar will appear at the bottom giving you options on how to change the tile’s appearance.

 Windows 8 Tiles have up to four options.  The first two options will always appear.  The first, “Unpin from Start,” will remove the tile from your start screen.  Note that this does not uninstall the program, or remove it from the “all apps” section.  The second tile, “Uninstall,” will uninstall it from your computer.  You will have to go to the Windows Marketplace or wherever you got the app in order to reinstall it.  The second two options will only appear for some programs.  Windows 8 Tiles can have two sizes: a “standard” size and a size that will fit across two tile spaces.  You can choose to make a tile larger or smaller.  Larger Windows 8 tiles can be easier to see and find, and for “live” tiles (such as Calendar and People) you may want to see the extra information that having a larger tile allows for.  Smaller Windows 8 tiles allow for more apps to be seen in a smaller area, and for you to be able to see more apps at once on your monitor.  Clicking on “larger” or “smaller” will change the size of the tile you have selected, rearranging the other tiles in that grid as necessary.  ”Turn live tile off” and “Turn live tile on” works on tiles that regularly update.  For example, the “People” tile will update with photos, notifications, and facebook statuses, among other things, if it is activated.  News tiles will show current pictures and headlines.  Photos will rotate though pictures in your picture library.  Turning any of these to off will change the tile to a static, unchanging image with the name of the app.

You can move tiles anywhere on the start screen.  To do so, right-click on a tile.  It will show a check mark in the upper right-hand corner.  Then left-click on the tile, and hold down the mouse button as you drag the tile to its new location.  You can add it to an existing column or row, or pull it all the way over to the right to make a new set of tiles.  You do have to move tiles one-by-one.  Tiles will automatically move out of the way (not necessarily where you want them to) when you place the new one on top of them.  Once you have the tile where you want it, let go of the mouse button and it will set into place.