In Windows 7 and
earlier, icons were static objects that developers adorned with all
sorts of non-standard accoutrements to show a message or state. That’s
still true on the Desktop in Windows 8, but it is no longer the case in
the tile-based interface. A carryover from the Windows Phone interface,
Live Tiles can convey messages and states and display pictures and
picture shows.
Live Tiles are a
feature of tile-based apps; don’t expect to find them in legacy
applications. To see a Live Tile in action, you need to turn the feature
on.
Live Tiles are somewhat inconsistently
implemented in early versions of Windows 8. Some apps, like Mail and
Calendar, are live and you don’t get a choice. Other apps require you to
turn the app on to get the feature working. Many apps don’t offer the
feature at all. And, of course, what a Live Tile does is completely up
to the developer .
Live Tile actions
Live Tiles are used by the following apps:
• Weather, to list temperature and conditions
• Desktop, to show a thumbnail image of your current Desktop (including its background)
• People, to list postings to connected social accounts
• Calendar, to list appointments
• News, to list a news feed
• Photos, to present a slide show
• Mail, to list the number of unread messages and more.
The information displayed in a Live Tile is called a badge. To show badges, you have to enable the app so that it is allowed to communicate with you in this fashion.
If the app needs to know your geolocation, you need to turn presence on for that app.
To turn a Live Tile on or off
• Select the tile on the Start screen, and tap or click the Turn Live Tile On button .
The Turn Live Tile On button
• Select the Live Tile on the Start screen, and tap or click the Turn Live Tile Off button .
The Turn Live Tile Off button
To enable an app’s notifications
1. Press 
+C or swipe from the right edge to display the Charms bar.
2. Tap or click Settings, tap or click Change PC Settings, and tap or click Notifications to view the Notifications screen .
The Notifications screen
3. Move the Show App Notifications slider to On to enable notifications globally.
You can also enable notification sounds and the notification displays on the Lock screen on this page.
or
Move the slider for an individual app to On to enable that app to send you notifications.
To turn on presence
1. Click the Privacy link to open the Privacy settings.
2. Enable the Let Apps Use My Location setting .
The presence feature in the Privacy settings allows your location to be used by an app for notifications and other purposes.
Tip
Secondary tiles can also be Live Tiles. If the
developer went to the trouble to use the secondary tiles feature, they
likely did so to enable Live Tiles. For example, Calendar lets you pin
multiple locations to your Start screen, with notifications for each;
People does this with individual contacts; and Mail with individual
accounts. Search may bring up multiple tiles for an app, and you can pin
those tiles to the Start screen to see if they are live. Experiment!
Tip
Unfortunately, in
Windows 8 the presence feature is a global setting. It would be better
if it were assigned by the app (as it is in the iPhone)—but so be it.
