While typing on a (large) touch screen isn’t difficult – I find myself almost able to touch-type on my Surface or Yoga 13 – it’s certainly not convenient unless you’re able to set the tablet down and actually type on your lap or something.
With this in mind there’s something of a little-talked-about feature of Windows 8 that I feel saves time and effort in this regard: PIN logon.
Sure, there are other alternatives like Picture Password, but I feel PIN entry is a more affordable (ie: easier & quicker to set up) and even faster option than Picture Password.
To set up PIN logon on your Windows installation, head to PC Settings (metro version), go to Users, and select your account.
Click ‘Create a PIN’ and you’ll be prompted for your current Windows account password. Then you’ll see this screen:
Set that up and voila, now it only takes 4 touches on a 10-key on-screen keyboard and you’re in. A lot easier than typing (most) passwords to log in.