Start Screen of Windows 8.1

The Start screen  in Windows 8.1 is based around square and rectangular colored blocks called Tiles. When clicked or tapped, each one starts an app. The app will then perform a specific task, such as sending and receiving email, viewing web pages, editing photographs, or playing a game. The Start screen pans left to right across your screen.

Note: Swipe left and right with your finger to pan across the Start screen. If you are using a mouse, you will see a scroll bar at the bottom of the screen when you move the mouse. Click/Touch and drag this left and right to look around the Start screen. You can also use the scroll wheel (up and down) on your mouse to move left and right on the Start screen.

As you look around the Start screen, you will see that some Tiles change occasionally to display text or images. These are Live Tiles, which give you information from inside the app or show you what is new or changed, such as giving you a message. These messages can include details of new emails or social network messages, informing you of the number of updates that are available for your apps in the Windows Store or giving you news headlines. 

You can rearrange Tiles on the Start screen by right-clicking or touching and holding one of them. This puts you into customization mode, where you can drag tiles around and drop them into new locations, which can help you organize them to best suit you.

Note: When you drag a Tile between groups, you will see a colored vertical bar appear. If you drop the Tile onto this bar, you can create a new group. This can be useful to separate apps. For example, you can separate games, websites, and so on.