Becky H,

I just posted this message about Jaws and Windows 8 to another list. 
Item 3 below describes how to add icons to the desktop.


I'm using Windows 8.1 with Jaws 15, and everything works just fine in 
the desktop environment. The metro environment, where you go when you 
press the Start
key, is more like a smart phone, so you have to arrow around instead of 
using first-letter navigation. Some of the Metro apps have unlabeled 
buttons, etc.,
but there's almost always a desktop version of the same app. so there's 
no need to simulate a Windows 7 environment.

Here are some things you can do to make your Windows 8 machine feel more 
familiar:

1. Tell the computer to go straight to the desktop when you turn it on.

* From the desktop, tab to the notification chevron.

* Press alt+enter to get into properties.

* Use ctrl+tab to get to the Navigation dialog.

* Check the box that says something like, "go to desktop on startup."

* While you're there, check the box that says something like, "Use app 
view on the start screen." This puts the metro apps in an alphabetical 
list, so
it's easier to find things.

* Tab to and press enter on OK.

2. Put This PC on the desktop. This PC is the file explorer, what used 
to be called My Computer. In Windows 8, it was not on the desktop by 
default. It
might be in Windows 8.1. I don't remember if I had to do this for my 
laptop.

Anyway, to put this PC on the desktop, following these instructions:

http://www.howtogeek.com/178740/how-to-make-the-computer-icon-display-on-the-windows-8.1-desktop/

3. Putting icons on the desktop involves more steps in windows 8 than in 
earlier versions.

* Press the start key to go into the metro area.

* find the program you want by arrowing to it or by typing the first few 
letters of it's name in the search box.

* Don't open the program; instead, press the context key, down-arrow to 
Open File Location (or something like that), and press enter.

* On the next screen, find the name of the program again, press the 
context key again, down-arrow to the Send To submenu, right-arrow once, 
and press enter
on the item for sending to desktop/creating shortcut.

* Press enter one last time.

I think that's all you need to do.

Ciao


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