said by BlitzenZeus:You can't uninstall all the metro apps, therefore part of the problem.
Depends on if you are talking about Windows 8.0, or Windows 8.1.
Below is the list of Metro Apps that come pre-installed with Windows 8.0. You can uninstall every single one of them from the Start Screen by right-clicking on the app, and selecting uninstall. By the way, Reader is not pinned to the first Start Screen, it is only listed on the 2nd, or All Apps part of the Start Screen.
• Bing
• Camera
• Finance
• Games
• Maps
• Music
• News
• Photos
• Reader
• SkyDrive
• Sports
• Travel
• Video
• Weather
• Messenging, Calendar, People, Mail (Uninstall one, and it will uninstall the rest)
However, you are correct if you are talking about Windows 8.1. Here is the full list of Apps that come with Windows 8.1. As with the location of the Reader App in Windows 8.0, 8 of these (Alarms, Calculator, Reader, Scan, Sound Recorder, and Travel) are only listed on the 2nd part of the Start Screen (they are not pinned to the main Start Screen).
• Alarms
• Calculator
• Camera
• Finance
• Food & Drink
• Games
• Health & Fitness
• Help + Tips
• Maps
• Music
• News
• Photos
• Reader
• Reading List
• Scan
• SkyDrive
• Skype
• Sound Recorder
• Sports
• Travel
• Video
• Weather
• Calendar, People, Mail (Uninstall one, and it will uninstall the rest)
In the list for Windows 8.1, the following 3 Apps cannot be removed.
• Camera
• Photos
• SkyDrive
The only one that I could see causing a small problem would be the Photos app, as that would be set as the default when you click on an image file. That is fixed very easy, with just a few clicks of the mouse to change the file association for your image files. I know in my specific case, I only have .jpg files on my system (no bmp's, no png's, etc). I made it a point to rename every image file that I save to my local system as a .jpg file, and they are only stored in the "My Pictures" Library. If there is an image somewhere else (Program directory, Web Browser cache, etc), I would not be clicking on it directly from Explorer, so it does not matter. Also, if I do save an image from a web page, and its not a .jpg, I will go into paint, open the image from inside of paint, convert it to a .jpg, and then delete the non jpg file. So, I only have to change one file association. But, I would think it would be very easy to change the rest so that the Picture app is not associated with any file types. An app will never launch if it has no files associated with it, unless you launch it directly.
I don't know which file type(s) would be associated with Camera, or SkyDrive. I know that I have yet to click on a file and have it throw me into either one of these applications.
Since I don't have a Microsoft account, I don't have (and probably never will) need to use SkyDrive for anything.
The Web Cam that I have is a Logitech QuickCam Easy/Cool model #V-UBQ42. It comes with its own Software which I launch directly if I want to use the my camera to take pics or video. I also use my camera with Skype, which (as far as I know) does not use the Camera App, as it has never launched.
I guess if you don't know that you can uninstall the apps, and then go in and make the file association change for the ones that are left, you would be correct. But, if you know you don't want the Apps, just remove them like you would any other piece of software that comes with the OS. If you just started using Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 out of the box, then yes, I can see where the issue you describe could be an issue.
--Brian