Lisa,

Windows 8 has two interfaces, the desktop and a cell-phone like metro 
area. To switch between the two, just press the Start key. Sighted 
people tend to forget the start key is also on the keyboard. In fact, 
when I told a friend of mine to hit it, she told me her keyboard was 
normal, not a special blind-person keyboard with extra keys. Anyway, you 
can also get to the desktop by pressing Windows+m as you can in other 
versions of the OS.

To tell Windows to go directly to the desktop after booting, tab to the 
toolbar, press alt+enter, and go through the items in the dialogs. I 
think you want to go into the Navigation tab (ctrl+tab) and check an 
item that says something like Go to Desktop After Logging In.

You can still put icons on the desktop though more steps are involved. 
I've posted instructions for that on this list. When you get your 
machine, I can try to find the link.

The only reason to get a Windows 7 computer at this point is to save 
money by buying a clearance item.

Ciao


    VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
    http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
    Signoff: [log in to unmask]
    Subscribe: [log in to unmask]