Tips to help you run Windows 8 Apps on a Netbook

Windows 8 brings in new tile based apps that has been optimized for touchscreens. The ‘Snap’ feature on the new Microsoft OS allows users to resize and re-position apps by dragging them to one corner of the screen. Some users have raised queries in online forums about an error message that pops up while running Windows 8 apps in netbooks. Usually this message reports a problem of the screen resolution being inadequate for running the apps.

The new user interface of Windows 8 requires a display resolution of 1024x768 pixels for the proper running of the applications. Majority of the netbooks have a lower resolution of 1024x600 pixels. This is why the problem crops up.
Users can fix this problem by applying some simple methods. Follow the steps mentioned below to solve the issue:

Get a separate monitor
You can opt for a separate display that has the required high resolution of running the apps and plug in your netbook’s display cord to it. This solution may not seem to be very convincing, but is an easy way to fix the problem. You can easily run Windows 8 apps on a monitor which has the specified resolution.

Remote Desktop Connection

Using the Remote Desktop Connection is another way of running Windows 8 apps on your netbooks with low display resolution. If you have a second system with higher screen resolution, you can connect your netbook to it using the Remote Desktop Connection technology, compatible with Windows. This allows you to have the netbook’s interface displayed on the other system from where you can adjust the display resolution to the required value. This way, you will be able to view your netbook’s screen on your bigger laptop with display resolution of 1440x900 pixels, with the help of remote desktop application. You can then run all the Windows 8 apps on your netbook and view them from the second machine.

Tweak the system resolution

If you wish to run the new generation applications on your netbook’s monitor, you will need to adjust the resolution to 1024x768. This way you will be able to run most of the Windows 8 apps. However, tweaking the resolution to the above value will hamper your system’s graphic performance leading to a reduced image quality. You can reset the graphics back to 1024x600 when you are done with using the Windows 8 apps to normalize the image quality.

Edit the Windows Registry

Another way to run Windows 8 apps on netbooks is by making some changes in the Windows registry. For this, you will need to log in to Windows as the administrator. Follow the steps mentioned below to edit the Windows registry:

1. Click on the ‘Start’ menu and click on the search box.
2. Type ‘regedit’ in the search box without quotes. This will display the Regedit icon to you.
3. Click on this icon and then click ‘Edit’ button to locate the Registry Editor.
4. Type Display1_DownScalingSupported in the ‘Find what:’ field.
5. From here you will need to click on ‘Find Next’ to track the registry key.
6. Then double click the key to change the value from 0 to 1.

When you are done with this, you may witness the registry editor to be tracking one more Display1_DownScalingSupported key. If this happens, you will need to edit it as well. Once you are done with editing you will need to restart your system. When the system boots up, check if the screen resolution is set to 1024x768. Choose this as the default resolution to run Windows 8 apps.
Users can also apply this method on Windows 7, at times when some dialog boxes do not fit on the screen. This procedure can also be applied with remote-control applications like LogMeIn.

Windows 8 would be the first major change to the Windows family of operating system ever since the launch of Windows 95. The new Microsoft operating system has a new UI, with a set of apps customized for the new generation tablets. It requires a high resolution to be operated. Consequently, the netbooks with low screen resolution are not able to run them. The methods discussed in this article will help netbook users solve this problem. You can choose to plug in your PC to another monitor, connect the system to another one or tweak the registry as per your convenience.