Explorer in Windows 8 is quite updated and it is as much as possible adapted to the user. They have also added the option to quickly access the Command Prompt terminal window.
Some installations or settings changes require you to restart your computer. In most cases you don't need to actually reboot it, you only need to restart the explorer.exe process.
Neat little trick to force the preview images of running programs in Windows 7 taskbar or a so called Aero Peek, to show instantly with no delay at all.