Windows 8 For Seniors For Dummies

March 28, 2013: Please read Windows 8 App Updates for Readers before updating your Windows 8 apps.

Windows 8 For Seniors For Dummies will available from Amazon and bookstores by October, 2012.

Regardless of the reader’s age, this book features step-by-step instructions with illustrations to guide you through specific tasks, such as start a program, sending email, and viewing photos on your computer.

If you wonder whether this book is for you or someone you know, read What makes a book “For Seniors”?. Then peruse the Amazon reviews.

See the latest blog entries related to Windows 8, including the following:

Amazon.com: Windows 8 For Seniors For Dummies (9781118120286): Mark Justice Hinton: Books

Shirley Andes:

December 21, 2012 at 8:47 pm

I have your book. My question is, it says my Flash player isn't working but when I check maintenance it says it is. I want to install Adobe Flash player on my desktop and disable the embedded one. How do I do that?

Mark Justice Hinton:
January 5, 2013 at 11:38 pm
See Adobe's page for some help: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/flash-player-issues-windows-8.html

John Merck:

December 28, 2012 at 7:09 pm

I bought your book and have gone completely thru it. It has a lot of good information but does not explain a basic function.. how to return to the previous screen when backspace, arrow on the left does not work, placing the arrow in the upper left corner, or cussing windows 8. It is extremely frustrating when I am checking emails and open an attachment and have to use the hand pull down screen and then have to log back in to email. Please tell me how to do this the easy way.

Mark Justice Hinton:
January 5, 2013 at 10:57 pm
Apps are inconsistent in this. However, something else is wrong if you have to log back into email. Are you using the Mail app included with Win 8. (Is it updated. See Chapter 9.) What program are these attachments opening in? Does Win+Tab (switch) or Alt+F4 (close app) help?

Dave Lowe:

January 25, 2013 at 2:16 am

Just got a new laptop and your book at the same time. Some reason having difficultly getting Skype up and running. Maybe I'm missing something or just have to read more.

Mark Justice Hinton:
January 25, 2013 at 3:06 pm
Dave- Have you installed the Skype app or the older Skype desktop program? You get the app through the Windows Store (Chapter 9). Write anytime (mark@mjhinton.com).

JoAnn Breitbach:

February 20, 2013 at 9:50 pm

My Action Center tells me AMD Graphics Driver has stopped working 2 times and I need to follow instructions that I can't understand as I don't know what this is or what I need.

Mark Justice Hinton:
February 21, 2013 at 4:43 pm
Hi, JoAnn- I got the same message yesterday. I can't recreate every step, but I followed the Action Center message which lead to a link to the AMD website. In the first option, I think I selected Windows 7 / Vista (I don't think there was a Win8 option). Give the page a second to react to your first selection. Then, the second selection will have an "AutoDetect" option -- select that. You should see a message near the bottom of the browser to Run or Save the autodetect program. Choose Run. (Or Save, then Open/Run when it is done.) You'll get a prompt to allow the program to run. Pick your way through a series of screens choosing Express, OK, Continue, Next -- whatever moves you forward. It takes a while to run and don't be alarmed when your screen goes blank a couple of times. Write me directly anytime: mark@mjhinton.com

James Kevin Clarke:

February 21, 2013 at 3:39 pm

Windows 8 for Seniors is a great book—so easy to read , and full of very useful information. I am about ¾ of the way thru it. I like the tactic, in later chapters, of. ( see Chapter 3 about that), it is a good test to see what you have retained. I don’t have Win-8 yet, so I’m looking at many sites, and mags (Smartcomputing, PC World), to get an understanding of it. I am also reading a book by Paul McFedries “Teach yourself visually”. All the books I have looked at deal with in a different way, and I guess that is to expected. I also am into Digital Phtography, and have been taking photos for about 50 years. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements, and am wondering how it will work with Win-8. I also manage some web sites, for churches, and family, www.kevrose.com , through host Homestead, and again, I wonder how I will manage it in Win-8. I go to a computer store near here, and find a computer running Win-8, and try some of your shortcuts. Really enjoying your book, and have already recommended it to our 5 sons.

Mark Justice Hinton:
February 21, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Hi, James- Thank you for your kind remarks. I don't use Adobe PE, but I expect it to run normally on the Windows 8 desktop. I also think whatever you do now to maintain websites will work largely the same on the Windows 8 desktop. Eventually, you may find new tools available, but all the old stuff should work. Write again, anytime.

Debby Wampole:

February 25, 2013 at 6:11 pm

I tried the shortcut for "shutdown"--love it! Now, is there one for "sleep"?

Debby Wampole:
February 25, 2013 at 6:14 pm
sorry, I mean the one where you pin it to start-up screen.... thanks again!!!
Mark Justice Hinton:
February 27, 2013 at 2:52 pm
Hi, Debby- That is a handy shortcut, isn't it? For sleep, create the shortcut using "Rundll32.exe Powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState Sleep" (without the quotes -- you could just copy that text). Write again anytime. (Everyone else: see http://bit.ly/149uEJc for the shortcut Debby likes.) peace, mjh
Debby Wampole:
February 28, 2013 at 6:40 pm
Hi Mark, I'm confused here... This sleep shortcut didn't work for me. it seemed to shut down the computer instead--the power button went dark and no amount of pressing spacebar or keys would wake it up!
Mark Justice Hinton:
March 1, 2013 at 4:50 pm
Debby Wampole I did more research about that Sleep shortcut. It no longer works in Win8 *unless* you disable Hibernation, which I'm not willing to do. I suggest you set your power button to sleep and have shortcuts for any of the other variations you want. Write anytime. peace, mjh
Debby Wampole:
March 2, 2013 at 8:14 pm
Thx.

Raymond Anctil:

March 25, 2013 at 5:56 pm

Hi Mark, Your book is not helping me a great deal. will donate the book to my local library.

Mark Justice Hinton:
March 26, 2013 at 1:17 pm
Hi, Raymond. I'm sorry the book didn't serve you. I hope you find something more suitable. peace, mjh

Liam Murphy:

April 7, 2013 at 3:01 pm

Using your book as a reference when I screw up. Which is often. Love it.

Mark Justice Hinton:
April 8, 2013 at 1:33 pm
Have fun, Liam. Write anytime (mark@mjhinton.com). peace, mjh

Art Perini:

April 19, 2013 at 1:17 am

Search as I may, I've never found the way to print just one page of a document of more than one page. When I command it to print page one, it just keeps printing everything.

Mark Justice Hinton:
April 19, 2013 at 3:50 am
Hi, Art- It depends on the app. For example, if you open a PDF in Reader, then select Print from the app bar, you'll find a Custom option for a selected printer, allowing you to specify pages. But if you use Internet Explorer, as a different example, you won't have this option. Generally, until this inconsistency is fixed (and we can hope it will be in 8.1 in the next 4 months), if you don't find a custom print option in an app, try to open that file in a desktop program instead -- those still have selective page printing. peace, mjh
Mark Justice Hinton:
April 24, 2013 at 5:13 pm
Art- If you want detailed instructions, you inspired a blog post: http://bit.ly/YQMKek