While Windows 8 may stink in many areas, this feature is cool

Misguided though the Metro interface may be, there are some nice under-the-hood improvements to be found in the OS. For example, there's the File History feature that will allow you to get back a previous version of a file.

And the other day I did a little  bit of file copying. Lo and behold, Windows 8 offers a vastly superior file-copying experience, though you might miss the benefits if you're not paying attention.

Let's say you're moving a bunch of stuff to an external hard drive. As usual, the process goes: drag, drop, and wait. The initial good news is that you'll be waiting less: Windows 8 is generally faster at copying files.

But take a closer look at the file-copy dialog box that appears. For starters, if you click the More details arrow, you're treated to a real-time progress meter that graphs the current and total speed of the copy process. Neat!

You may also notice there's now a pause button. It's true: Windows 8 lets you pause file copies. It's not something you'll probably need to do very often, but it's nice to have the option.