End of video problem

Hi all,
I have joined this forum in the hope that somebody can help me with a specific problem.
Much as I hate Windows 8 I am sticking with it and generally have been able to get around all the problems with it that I have encountered - except the following.
On watching a video clip a red screen opens up with a 'play' button in the middle. However a timer like icon is below that and once that stops going round the video plays. All well and good so far.
BUT, once that video finishes I am left with a small house at top left, the play button again in the centre of the screen and a round ring with what appears to be a pointer on it on a slider thingy near the bottom of the last frame of said video. I want to exit this application and return to my desktop (I don't use those stupid tiles, what a pig's ear they are!) but there is no cross at top right like there always used to be for closing an application. If I click on the 'house' at top left It sends me to an Xbox Video' page with a lot of movie icons. I don't have an Xbox so I have no use for that screen. How do I get out of this and back to my desktop?
I press the 'Windows' key on my keyboard, but this takes me to those stupid tiles whereupon I then click on the 'Desktop'' tile. What a long winded exercise! How can I close that original video screen and return to my desktop in one easy click of a mouse?
Would it pay me to download a free video player (if so, which one?) and set that as my default so that once a video has finished I can press the 'exit' cross on that application returning instantly to my desktop screen?
Thanks in anticipation for your assistance.
Pete (not computer savvy so please don't reply with a lot of tech-speak!!)

I am assuming you are playing the video with the Modern UI video app which does not have the X button. To close the app, move your mouse to the top of the screen until you see a "hand cursor" then click and hold the left mouse button and drag it down to the bottom of the screen.to close it.

Thanks for that. It took many attempts to close the screen as it kept reappearing, but by dragging it to the bottom of the monitor screen it then disappeared - BUT it disappeared leaving that stupid tile screen. Can I do the 'hand' 'drag' close movement and return to my desktop? I'm fed up of constantly clicking the 'Desktop' icon in the tile screen (BTW, what the hell is that screen called?) to go to what I know and prefer. I don't have a smart phone, I have no use for apps so I don't want that piece of c**p!
Regards
Pete

These threads make me shake my head, and then realize why Windows 8 is considered a "failure". The tile screen is called the Start screen. If you don't want to use it, and are so vehemently against using it, why haven't you installed a Start Menu replacement program, like Classic Shell, StartIsBack, or Start8? I've been using Windows 8 for a solid 9 months now, and I can't remember the last time I saw the Start screen. It's a very simple obstacle to overcome. For the record, I don't like it either, and won't use it until I get a touchscreen display.

I'm going to make an assumption and say you haven't ever used another type of computer or tablet, have you? If so, you'll realize that everything besides Windows uses an app store, and by name, it makes more sense on a computer than a smartphone, because apps are what we've been installing on a PC for decades. Why not simplify that process, as well as the process to update those apps?

You are taking a lack of understanding and experience and turning that into a hatred for Windows 8...which is very common, unfortunately. Take a look at the bigger picture, and Windows 8 makes perfect sense. The Movie app, which you are talking about, has been removed on my system from day 1. I don't need those Metro apps to open files for me. But that's the point...Windows 8 allows for the ability to customize the computer, from interface, down to actual usage. That's a good thing...and nothing to rant about.

As I mentioned in my original post, I am not computer savvy, but somehow I did find a 'start menu' button on-line a while back which I installed but that certainly doesn't get rid of the Start Screen, it still unexpectedly pops up from time to time - such as when I exited the Movie app. It was accessed via a link in an email and thus my desktop, so why on exiting did I not return to my desktop?
Thankfully, on start up the computer always now starts with my desktop - presumably because of the start button I somehow installed.
No, I haven't used a touch screen ot tablet. I have no need for them.
I had no idea I could uninstall the Movie app, but having just discovered I can (and more importantly, how), what can you suggest I install in it's place? I only play ordinary video files like wmv or mpegs, nothing fancy.
Cheers
Pete

I can't give much help to the first part, unless you know what app it was you did install. If it boots to the desktop, then you definitely have something installed along the lines of what I was suggesting. Those usually let you customize, or even disable most Windows 8 features that people tend to rail on about.

If you have no use for a smartphone, touchscreen, or a tablet, then why are you ranting and raving about a cutting edge OS?

As for the movie files, they will still play in Windows Media Player, just like any previous OS you are used to. I removed similar Metro apps like Movie, because I didn't need several apps on one computer to do the same thing. Especially since you play ordinary movie files, Windows Media Player should handle them just fine. By removing the Movie Player Metro app, those files should default to Windows Media Player.

Which Metro App are you using for Video Playback? The oNly Tile app I have found is called "Modern Video Player" - It's 2 bucks, plays most codecs, maybe does not play WMV.

Video LAN is the best free Content player for Mac and PC:

VideoLAN - VLC: Official site - Free multimedia solutions for all OS!

it has all of the codecs inside the app, so you don't have to waste your time downloading "Shark Codec Pack" or other gunk like that.

I was having a moan, but I didn't realise it was coming across as a rant and a rave! Sorry if that's how it appeared.
It may be a cutting edge OS as you suggest, and no doubt many young (and some not so young) computer experts are happy to have all the gadgets and gizmo's within this OS, but I suspect many people have no use for any of it. It just annoyed me that when I went to buy a new computer 6 weeks or so ago, I was told - Windows 8, take it or leave it!! Windows 7 or XP were no longer available. Then being forced to use an OS I have no need of I find it difficult to customise it to how I can use it (due, as I said, because I am no expert) and thus why I have joined this forum and get some help.
Don't get me wrong, except for this one problem, I have overcome most of my others by myself and gotten my computer working how I like it. But that is back to what I'm used to i.e. XP or 7, so what was the point of forcing me to take 8 when I don't use any of it's features?
Why can't a computer be sold as a basic shell with the customer chosing their preferred OS and having the staff install that OS prior to it going out of the shop? You wouldn't go to a shop for a packet of ginger biscuits only to be told that they no longer sell that so it's cream crackers or nothing. Likewise for cars, technology moves on, engines get more efficient (just like computers get faster + more storage etc.) they can come with air-con, built in SatNav and a host of other extra's, but you can still opt for the basic model without any of the new fangled gadgets if you so wish. You can have a whole range of engine sizes (plus a diesel or petrol option - or in some models, electric), number of doors etc. But buy a computer and it's windows 8 or sod off and never darken our doors again!
Even easier of course would have been an option within '8' that, after trying it and finding you don't like it (like many people don't judging by many forums I've seen) that there was an installed option to go back to a more classic OS. And if you do like '8' then of course you can continue.
I'm sure you will reply saying I could have gone to an independent computer shop who would build a computer to my specifications, but just like independent car manufacturers, they are well outside my budget! Like many people, I have to buy from the 'pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap' retailers.
End of rant!!
Pete

Even an indie shop will probably only have Windows 8. If you have your own Windows 7 install disks, you can have them make s system with no OS, then install 7.

As far as 8 is concerned, it was shipped without any ability to play DVDs. DVD play has been removed from WMP, and you have to have Media Center to play them, if you don't use 3rd party software.

Most people have just installed VLC to deal with this shortcoming. It's better than what's in the OS.

Thanks for your suggestions. On an older computer I used to have VLC. I can't remember much about it now but I recall I wasn't a fan. I may see if it's been updated somehow to make it better than I remember it being

Re: OS disks, no I'm afraid I don't have any older disks with previous operating systems otherwise I would have used them.
Don't get me wrong, although I used the word crap to describe the new '8', I should probably have used the softer 'rubbish' nomenclature - but I would qualify that as meaning it was rubbish TO ME.
I found 8 novel and interesting, but quite literally, it has absolutely nothing to offer me as a basic computer user. And judging by many comments I've seen in other forums over the past few weeks as I tried to overcome my problems with it, I'm not alone. For a basic user like myself, it has thrown up far, far more problems than solutions and I won't bore you with a litany of them.
For those of you who do like it and it is a godsend to your computer use I say congratulations. But for the rest of us we should have had some choice over whether to accept this new OS or not.
Pete

Oh I hated it when I first started using it, but the more you use it you discover it's the absolute best - and FREE content player ever.

It's more than just a player, you can stream to your handheld device or other computers on your network.

I use it to watch TV shows and Moovies, while I sleep, cos I have insomnia, so I have to have the noise in the background. I use VLC Remote by Hobbyist Software on my iPhone (They have Droid and Windows 8 Phone Versions). I can control VLC from the NET. I can stream what I am watching on my TV into my device - From a mile away.

Ya cant do that with WMP. Media Center, or iTunes.

If you frequent their forums, you will discover all kinds of things you can do to get the best playback even from lousy media files.