http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/australia/what-applications-are-available-on-windows-rt/1589

What applications are available on Windows RT?
While the Surface RT does not support most Windows legacy applications, the desktop, with its multiple windows and taskbar, is still there, and, as well as Office 2013, there are a number of familiar Windows applications.
Notepad and Paint ? is that it ?

http://www.maximumpc.com/features?page=1

Dell Warned Microsoft Over Windows RT Branding, Claims Dell Executive
Dell had reservations about Microsoft using Windows branding for its ARM-friendly tablet OS

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/atom_powered_windows_8_tablets_delayed_due_driver_issue2012

Atom Powered Windows 8 Tablets Delayed Due to Driver Issue
The majority of Windows 8 tablets won't start shipping until 2013.
Wondering where all the Windows 8 tablets that were supposed to ship before the end of the year are hiding? It seems they've all been bitten by a driver bug, or at least the ones built around Intel's Atom Z2760 processor. The "Clover Trail" part is an energy efficient CPU that promises all-day battery life, but it's reportedly been challenging trying to code drivers that are stable enough to pass Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) testing.

http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/dell-hp-windows-8-atom-tablets-delayed-u/240145002

At this moment people are not ready for the Windows 8. so as a result Windows 8 is unable to capture users interest towards itself.

http://www.zdnet.com/a-very-slow-start-for-windows-8-7000008919/

A very slow start for Windows 8

Summary: There's no doubt about it--with Windows 8, Microsoft has a tough job on its hands.

Windows 8 has come along as an unknown entity, asking us to change the way we use our PC. No surprise then that at launch, the new OS had just 0.46 percent of the browser market and one month later, that had risen to just 1.31 percent. It's a hellishly slow start.

The figures come from Statcounter, which tracks user data from more than 3 million websites. The numbers are a telling indication of Microsoft's challenge in staying ahead in the race to give us the operating system of our dreams. Sure, they still hold 86 percent of the market, but that's quite a slide from the 95 percent of just four years ago.

https://www.infoworld.com/d/microsoft-windows/9-windows-start-menus-windows-8-208963

9 Windows Start menus for Windows 8

These free and low-cost utilities bring a classic Windows Start menu -- and respite from Metro annoyances -- to Windows 8

The research Microsoft cited was surprising, to put it mildly; the company said that few people actually used the Start menu. But on top of that were other issues: The growing size of menus was becoming a logistical problem; Modern UI apps and the classic Start menu don't have a way to talk to each other; and most crucial, the old Start menu wasn't optimized for touch interfaces, not least because it was too small to use effectively on a touchscreen.

Whatever the rationale, the new Start screen turned out to be a bigger thorn in people's sides than Microsoft realized. Users reacted with a litany of complaints: The new Start is too touch-focused. The constantly updating live tiles are too distracting. Type-to-search is far less useful than before. It takes far more clicks to do certain things. Too many features are now hidden too deeply. And so on. In short, many longtime users feel they've been thrown under the bus.

Time for an end to this sort of bogeyman nonsense - I've been using W8 since it was released and it's no big deal. I don't use any apps, I just stick to desktop programs but I do have tiles for all the programs I use regularly pinned to the apps screen (tiles for all programs in the hidden start menu are readily available for pinning); these tiles can be grouped quite easily so that it's not just a hodge-podge.

Also, more system programs than were included in the old start menu are available simply by right-clicking the bottom left corner of the screen.

Incidentally I've been using the taskbar toolbar method of accessing the start menu entries for a long time but, unlike when I was using W7, it's very seldom that I need to access it in W8 because of the tiles pinned to the start screen; as I said before, this toolbar isn't strictly necessary because all programs in the defunct start menu are available as tiles, pinned or not pinned.

http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-397765

You don't really need a Start Menu in Windows 8

you can go to this folder...
to create shortcuts on your desktop, or launch programs

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Or better still...
Right click the taskbar.
Choose Toolbars
Choose New Toolbar
Navigate to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
Choose Select Folder
Now you will see "Start Menu >>" on your taskbar.
Click on the ">>" hover on the Programs folder and all of your programs appear.

Administrative Tools, Microsoft Office, Windows Accessories etc. - They're all there. - right from the good ol' taskbar.

You don't really need a Start Menu in Windows 8
But it's just as easy to say
You don't really need Windows 8
Business is unlikely to adopt it in any serious form on the Desktop the only place it will find it's way into Business is through the BYOD where personal Tablets and Phones with 8 installed start to get into the inside of the business. Some Business may even Bar their Introduction because that OS is not compatible with their existing systems.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/add-a-self-made-start-button-to-the-windows-8-desktop/7024

Add a self-made Start button to the Windows 8 desktop
Greg Shultz shows you how to create the CLSID shortcut to the Apps screen and set it up like a Start button.

After my You don’t really need a Start Menu in Windows 8 article was published, the ensuing discussion really took off sprouting points from both sides of the issue. It seems that a lot of people are really ticked off that the Start menu is no longer a part of the operating system. While my guess is that a lot of those folks will opt for a Start menu replacement, such as StartW8, Classic Shell, or Start8, I heard from plenty of others who stated that they were willing to give the new Start screen and Apps screen a shot even though they lamented the passing of the Start menu.
Seroiously, if you don't like it don't use it. Did we all go out and buy Vista, no becasue it was awful. Windows 7 is still great and still supported so why are you all crying about Windows 8 being crap, you'd think it was the end of the world.
Microsoft have lost us as a client, here is what we have done....

Moved our users (115) to a flavour of Linux "Zorin 6" which has a UI that looks and works like WIN7.

We purchased Zorin 6 Ultimate with DVD media for NZ$30.00 and it has applications also When we can move to Linux flavor Zorin 6 Ultimate, "http://zorin-os.com/premium.html" for NZ$30.00 with DVD and Support per seat.

This includes Libra Office and a full range of Applications Business, Multimedia, Gaming, you don't need to purchase anything else.

http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-393978

Discussion on
The first 10 things you should do to a new Windows 8 desktop installation

You can set firefox clear history when firefox closes

max history keep 2 days

download history untick is best

Offline Storage to about 0 MB say Firefox Portable

https://services.addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/discovery/addon/startupservice/?src=discovery-upandcoming

In the author's blog he notes this add-on does not yet work on Windows XP because he does not have a Windows XP environment with which to test it.Unfortunately too many online media outlets have picked up the story of this add-on and neglected to highlight this XP incompatibility.

Even cleaning out Firefox cache helps. Tools>Options>Advance>Network Change your Offline Storage to about 14MB. I can't remember what it was before, around 50MB I think. So change it. Click the Clear Cache Now button. Restart.

Thanks Tiffany, I tried this yesterday and my FF start up has been much quicker.

— Copy/Paste Hotdoge3's link and it should work...
"http://lifehacker.com/#!5781138/start-faster-halves-firefoxs-startup-time-on-windows"
— Or try clicking on this hyper-link.
- - - - - - - - - -
The website is designed around 2 scrolling frames, with new articles added regularly and older articles 'rolling off' the screen.
Mozilla's Link:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/startupservice/
Developer's Link:
https://blog.mozilla.com/tglek/

Firefox is slow to start the FIRST time. I'm in and out of it often enough that it seems to still be available and pops up fast after the first time.

I couldn't find anything and the link is only half there.

I fixed my Firefox through pipelining. Just Google Firefox Pipelining and find one that suits your system.

A lot of the times it is the add-ons in Firefox. Start cleaning them up and you may find it loads quicker. Another can be viruses or even spyware.

Even cleaning out Firefox cache helps. Tools>Options>Advance>Network Change your Offline Storage to about 14MB. I can't remember what it was before, around 50MB I think. So change it. Click the Clear Cache Now button. Restart.

http://lifehacker.com/#!5781138/start-faster-halves-firefoxs-startup-time-on-windows

Start Faster Halves Firefox’s Startup Time on Windows

Start Faster Halves Firefox's Startup Time on WindowsFirefox 4 on Windows: One of the longest-running complaints among the anti-Firefox crowd is that it's slow. One Mozilla developer has set out to fix part of this problem by making Firefox start up twice as fast in Windows with a simple add-on.

That's strange; It does sound like that indeed, and yet if she was playing fullscreen earlier, that shouldn't've been happening. I'd suggest updating your video drivers and possibly troubleshooting DirectX (run dxdiag), typical as that is.

Sounds like you're not seeing all the screen. If so, there is a video problem. You could try changing the display resolution if you know how. You can get to it by right-clicking on the desktop, select "Properties" and click the "Settings" tab. Adjust the "Screen Resolution" slider one notch higher and click "OK". Don't try this if you aren't familiar with it, however. Find someone to help you, if possible. You could get the video so messed up that you couldn't see the screen well enough to put it back like it was!

Check Windows Help for information on changing screen resolution before trying it if you've never done it before.

No, the screen doesn't go black. I think I found part of the problem, but don't know how to rectify it. It looks like I get the main board, but, if I'm reading the directions right from the "help" section in my "Ingenious" program file, there are NO 'chips' at the bottom of the board. I followed the directions for the 'single-player game', reduced the screen, but still no sign of the chips. Without them, I cannot make a move, and, I think that's literally 'holding up the game'. Does that make sense?
Also, when I try to make the tutorial play, nothing happens. I thought there was a button at the bottom right corner to start it, but, now I can't see it to click on it.

CTRL+ESC is supposed to bring up the start menu; I'm just trying to figure out how bad the situation is. So, if I understand correctly, you're able to get to the main menu? Can you see anything, or is the screen black? Please provide more details.

I tried your suggestion, but the ctrl + esc just brings up the start menu. I've gotten no where. this is really disappointing. I bumped the mouse, and when I did, a couple of the sections of the board 'lit up', so to speak, but I was unable to duplicate the action. I was able to go into the "options" button, and deactivate the full-screen option, but I still couldn't get any further with playing the game.

Can you do anything when this happens? Hit Enter? ESC? CTRL+ESC?

I downloaded this game, "Ingenious", the day it was offered, and was looking forward to playing it, but cannot get past the intro screen. I wanted to see the tutorial, but it just sits there, and since it stays at "full screen", I can't see any of the control buttons. Can someone help me? Thank you!