Thanks to my teammate Andre for sharing this great switching method using the wheel button on the mouse.

1. Download the Mouse and Keyboard Center 2.0 (formerly IntelliPoint and IntelliType Pro) http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35379  Note this will require a reboot.
2. Open Control Panel and Mouse. I went to the top right corner which brings up the menu and I pick settings and then control panel. You can also select the All Apps option on the Windows 8 tile screen and scroll to find Control Panel.
3. The Mouse and Keyboard Center tab should open with a url to change the mouse settings.
4. In this new Microsoft and Mouse and Keyboard Center app, select the Wheel Button and Macros
5. For the new macro press the CTRL key and then ESC. While the keystroke itself is pressing the buttons at the same time, the macro fails to get created this way. I also found that after pressing CTRL and then ESC the macro assumed and inserted a 10ms delay which I selected and deleted.
6. The new apps don't have an active save button, you simply make your change and close it.

Now you press the wheel button and switch between the Windows 8 default Tile screen and your desktop view. A great efficient method of navigating.

TomL LCSKid