many questions on window 8

I have made a start menu on the desktop in my windows 8 & it now contains many window features & programs such as system tools, task manager, calculator word pad, notepad,etc. My question is where did all these features show in windows 8 before I made the start menu.
Next question I cannot find a way to make a shortcut for Mail so I have to go start window to check the to check email. Also no way to make shortcut for solitaire.
Thanks to this forum as I now have media center. I am a intermediate PC user and for many years taught computer at the Senior Center and I am certain that if a newbe installs window 8 it will be so very confusing they just might start drinking or throw their computer out the window. Also last month I installed a Samsung 256 gb ssd and now my start up time is 15 secs & shutdown is 5 secs. Also to open programs is 1 sec so everything is really fast jimjoh

If you right click on the Metro Start screen you should see an "All Apps" option pop up along the bottom of the screen. Click that and you should see a lot of the missing features you mentioned. There are also some settings on the Charms Bar. Mouse to the lower right corner of the screen for that. Mouse over to the lower left corner of your screen and right click for even more hidden settings.

You can start typing in the start menu for something you want to find, like Notepad. Just hit the windows key and type note and you should see it in the list.

Alternatively, you can right click on the start menu and choose "All Programs", or you can go into the start menu settings (with start menu open, lower right corner, open charms bar, click settings or just WindowsKey+I), then click on Tiles and enable show more tiles and show administrative tools.

I don't know of any way to create Metro app links in the default OS, but there are third party apps such as MetroApp Link

Create Shortcuts For Native Metro Apps On Windows 8 Desktop

Hello there!

Windows 8 is a TOTALLY different beast than Windows 7, and shouldn't be thought of as such. If you try to think of using Windows 8 straight up like with 7, you'll get frustrated as things aren't the same.

Firstly, as already said, All apps is brought up by right clicking the mouse on the Start Screen. You'll see everything there. Right clicking is hugely done with Windows 8, it's how you navigate and get around further with the new UI. You will also need to use the Charms bar, or the system commands bar, on the left side of the screen. That is brought up with the Start key+C, or by moving your mouse pointer to the right hand side corners of the screen and moving it to the middle. Settings is also where you'll find things to change about with apps primarily. If you need to search for something, go to Start and just type. It works right away.

And as it has been said, the new apps are only accessed from the Start Screen, you'd need a third party solution to do that. Think of the Start Screen as a new Desktop of sorts. You can open the Mail app, then switch back to the Desktop by hit Alt+tab, Start key+tab, or moving the mouse pointer to the left hand corners, and moving it to the middle and switch back to the app. You can, if you have the proper screen resolution, snap the Mail app next to the Desktop. Simply move the mouse to the top corner, move down, click on the app and drag it left or right of the Desktop.

Windows 8 is sometimes SO simple, it's confusing.

If the tile on the Metro Screen is not a Metro App you should see an "open file location" option for it if you right click it so its check marked. Then click the "open file location" to take you to the actual file that's run. Once there you can copy it or create a shortcut to it on your desktop. It should be a lot easier but its not. Windows 8 seems to have a minimum 5 click rule for any action. IMHO just about anything to do with the standard desktop that was easy to do in Windows 7 has been made overly complex in Windows 8.