How to Customize Windows 8 Start Screen?

We all love customization, don’t we? It is human tendency to get easily bored of the same repetitive and monotonous things. Every human being (let’s not fight over this) wants to be different from another. This is how man invented innovative things. Such greed or hunger to become better made human race the most intelligent creature on the earth.

Even, Microsoft tried to be different from its past alms by completely changing the system from the ground. The resultant is one of the most beautiful OS till date, also known as Windows 8. However, it comes with limited customization capability, and this is the reason why we covered options like Decor8, which lets you personalize Window 8 the way you want.

Decor8 is a very powerful utility, but the only drawback is that it is a paid application. Many people, including me, will refrain from shedding $4.99 from the pocket for such customization related task. In case, if you’re happy with the chopped down free version, then Windows 8 Start Screen Customizer is the best buddy of yours.

Consider, it as a stripped down version of Decor8. It would be imprudent statement to compare them, as they both operate very differently. At the end, you will be able to customize Windows 8 start screen using these applications.

Windows 8 Start Screen Customizer V1.3 is currently in the beta phase. It will let you change the Windows 8 start screen background picture. On the top, you can add some customization to adjust it to your need. In essence, it will let you choose desktop wallpaper and your favorite wallpapers, which will be automatically configured to replace start screen background on your Windows 8 system. In the past, we did cover some useful applications to tweak Windows 8 settings.

Also Learn Windows 8 through free ebook.

What W8 Start Screen Customizer could do?

Following functions are offered by this Windows 8 customization tool.

• Set desktop wallpaper as background picture
• Select pictures from any folder
• Set as a sequence of background pictures
• Apply blur effect (not polished function)
• Change opacity of Start Screen and Tiles
• Set start screen transparency
• Set number of rows of tiles to be displayed
• Set slideshow

As the name implies, it will let you customize start screen of Windows 8. However, you should use this tool with extra precaution. Since, it is in beta phase, it often acts weirdly. There are some known bugs like on screen resolution change and a few more.

Use the device at your own risk. We have had no problem using the tool, but it is always advisable to not to try such tool on your primary system. There is also a provision to revert back to old background.

How to Use This Tool?

• Just download the tool
• Left pane display options to select pre-loaded background. Users can choose them and apply them
• The bottom option in left pane lets you handle the number of rows and Start Screen and Tiles opacity
• Right hand pane lets you use desktop wallpaper or select pictures from the folders. There are also several options available like slideshow option etc.

That’s sums up all. Have you started customizing your Windows 8 system yet? Which and all tools do you use? Let us know via the comment section below. Also, stay tuned to our Windows tutorials so that you get more such knowledge.