Compelling features underlie the new look of Windows 8

ANAHEIM, Calif. —

When Microsoft took the wraps off Windows 8 at its Build conference here last week, the overwhelming emphasis was on its new look and feel, a dramatic departure from the traditional Windows desktop we all know and, um, love.

And while the tilebased Metro interface was indeed front and center, Windows 8 has a slew of other goodies that promise to be useful. They may not have gotten the spotlight, but once the new operating system hits a hard drive near you late next year, they may be the features you appreciate the most.

Here’s a look at the four I find most intriguing:

• Improved search.

Windows 7 power users love the search field that appears at the bottom of the Start menu. Just type what you’re looking for — a program, a document or media file — and it appears in the Start menu’s list area. Fans of this feature were dismayed when screen shots showed there was no such field on the new Metro start screen.

Never fear. Search is there, and it’s even easier to use.

When you’re on Win8’s start screen, just start typing, even though no search box is available. A search pane automatically slides out from the right side, with results appearing on the left. Under the search box you’ll see a list of applications that can plug in to Windows 8’s search capabilities to help refine the results.

For example, a Facebook app could search photos on that service, or a contact manager could search for names.

Searching is fast. On the Samsung tablet that was loaned to me while I attended the Build conference last week, searches yielded almost instantaneous results.

• WindowsToGo. Suppose you could sit down at any Windows PC and have it boot up as your PC — with your settings, wallpaper, bookmarks and even your favorite software programs. WindowsToGo makes this possible by putting a complete copy of the operating system on a USB flash drive. It works like this: Plug a souped-up flash drive into a USB 2.0 or, preferably, 3.0 connection and reboot. If it’s a Windows 8 PC configured properly, it will boot from the external drive that’s set up to look like the system you normally use. When you’re done, just shut down Windows and unplug the drive — there will be no trace of your presence on the hard drive, as all documents and other files stay on the USB drive.

While this feature is primarily aimed a corporate users, it has a lot of promise for many different scenarios. Rather than tote a notebook computer home from the office, for example, you can just plug a WindowsToGo drive into your home PC.

Of course, you do have to plug the USB drive into a Windows 8 system — it won’t work on a Windows 7 or, heaven forbid, a Windows XP system.

• Syncing PCs. For some time now, Android and webOS smartphone users have been able to sign in to a new phone and have their customizations and even applications transferred automatically to a new device. Microsoft is bringing this feature to Windows 8. Once you have set up an account on one Win8 system, you can sign into another one and it will personalize it with your bookmarks, settings and programs. It uses Microsoft’s cloud service to store the information remotely. I didn’t have a chance to try this myself, but in demonstrations it looked simple and useful. One downside: You’ll only be able to bring over Metro-based applications. Those designed to run on the “classic” Windows desktop, which remains available in Windows 8, won’t be synchronizable.

• Refresh your PC.

Many Windows users think it’s a good idea to periodically refresh their PCs by reinstalling the operating system. This can be a real pain, because it involves also backing up and restoring all your documents, then reinstalling your applications.

In Windows 8, you’ll be able to reinstall the operating system, but doing so won’t nuke your programs and files, which will be backed up by Microsoft’s cloud service. But if you want to do a full “wipe,” you can set the PC up as it was when you first brought it home. This takes just a few minutes, and I used it when I returned the loaner tablet to

Microsoft. I was sad to see it go but happy to be able to remove my personal information from it before giving it back.