Windows 8 guide: Introducing the Internet Explorer App

As well as the normal Desktop-based version, there is a Windows 8 app for Internet Explorer. It's much more efficient with screen space so it is worth using if you are on a tablet or laptop.

Read more: Windows 8 video guides

To Start the Internet Explorer App tap on it's tile on the Start Screen. It will always start from your last browsing session.

Once it's loaded, the address bar will disappear and you see that there's nothing to get in the way of the web page. That gives you lots of space but might be a little confusing. Don't worry as it's very simple once you get the hang of it.

There are no icons for forward and back. Instead move the mouse to the left-hand side of the screen to reveal the back button and to the right to reveal the buttons. Alternatively, right-click on the page away from any links or images and use the buttons on the edges of the bottom bar.

Tabs are not immediate obvious but are accessed with a right click. Right-click anywhere that isn't an image or a link and the list of tabs will appear at the top of the screen. Click on an existing tab to switch to it or click on the plus icon to open a new tab. The icon with three dots can be used to close tabs or open an InPrivate tab. The latter option will be greyed out if you are a limited user and Activity Logs have been enabled.

To Favourite a site, right-click as before to make the address bar appear and click on the pin icon. You can pin it to start, which makes a tile appear on the Start Screen. Edit the web page name if you want and click on Pin to Start. Otherwise click on Add to Favourites.

Finally the Spanner icon has a couple of useful functions. The Find on Page lets you search the page for some text. The view on the desktop opens the webpage in the traditional formatted Internet Explorer.