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There’s absolutely no getting away from the cloud on Windows 8, so you might as well learn how to put SkyDrive and associated cloud services to proper use on your Windows 8 system.

Tips For Using SkyDrive On Windows 8

As you install Windows 8, you will notice that there’s absolutely no way to avoid signing in to a cloud account. Cloud Windows 8 is mainly about SkyDrive. So let’s look at what it is and how to use it.

SkyDrive can be accessed to the SkyDrive app on Windows 8. It will give you access to all your folders and files that are stored in the cloud. You can click/tap on individual files directly and Windows 8 will automatically launch it in the associated application. All that is fine except for the fact that you cannot create, modify or delete folders on your SkyDrive at the moment. It is annoying but it will mostly likely get fixed with the next update and much before the commercial release.

You can used the cloud to keep all your data and settings backed up. Go to the Metro control panel and find User Account Synchronization — a very useful option that backs up your profile information to the cloud. This will come in handy later when you sign in to your account using another Windows 8 PC. If you have your profile stored on the cloud, most of your settings will be available to you instantly even if you have not used that particular machine ever before. This means colors, wallpapers, lock screen, profile photo and even accessibility options with contrast and font details.

Individual app settings, browser history and a large number of other things are also back up and linked to your account. So if you are in the habit of moving around a lot but are using the same set of apps, all you have to do is log in with your credentials and you will feel right at home. Also great for configuring different machines.

One cannot sync files between accounts right now but hopefully that too is coming up. Since every app can now access and use SkyDrive, you will have access to all your files on the cloud through any app that requires it.

Even Windows Explorer will have integrated SkyDrive access, which means it will be similar to DropBox but more integrated in to the system. Elitists might turn up their noses at it but then Microsoft is offering 25GB to everyone for free and paid upgrades up to 125GB. Now that’s hard to find on other cloud services. DropBox’s free account has a 2GB capacity.