A: It's possible to bring up a list of Windows 8 live tiles on the left side of the screen of the Metro-style applications and desktop.
Using a touch interface, swipe right a little from the very far left side of the screen, then back to the left very quickly (basically going off screen as you go left) as the screen shot below shows.
When using a mouse, hover the mouse in the far bottom left corner. Then, after the single tile for desktop displays, move the mouse upwards (see screen shot below).
See FAQs on Windows 8, virtualization, systems management, and all things Microsoft, at John Savill's FAQs.