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Do you know what DMA is? Here’s how to enable it for some of your hard drives

What is DMA ?

DMA stands for "Direct Memory Access”.

As the name refers DMA means tranfer of data between IO and disk without intervention of CPU.
The IO processor gets the control of IO buses along with control buses.

Suppose you have connected your peripheral device, e.g., pen drive to you computer. Now you are copying some data from hard disk to that pen drive.

Now to transfer data, the CPU must have to control that. But using CPU only for copying data is not efficient. Here comes DMA controller.
It takes the charge of data transfer betwen devices and frees CPU for other tasks.
But remember the hardwire should actually support DMA & It can only be enabled or disabled using the OS

Steps to enable it

The whole process can be divided in the following steps:-

1. Open Control Panel from the Metro UI.

2. Search for Device Manager.

3. Click on device manager & open Device Manager (Administrator password may be needed). After opening you will see a screen like the following:

4. Expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.

5. Right-click on any label where "Channel” is present & Click on properties (I have used ATA Channel 0)

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According to a report from Bloomberg, Microsoft will be able to deliver the finished version of Windows 8 by the end of this year around October.

Windows 8 Coming In Time For Early Christmas

Bloomberg has reported that Microsoft is on track for a late 2012 launch for Windows 8. The tech giant will apparently release the OS to manufacturers by the end of this summer and will officially launch the OS in October so that it has the period leading up to Christmas to gain everybody’s attention.

The publication, just like most other predictions about the upcoming OS, cited unnamed sources who were close to the matter. The report also said that there will be less then five ARM devices at the time of the launch, which seems to tie up to Dell, Lenovo and others claims. One of them, we believe will be from Nokia, given how tightly they are working with Microsoft at the moment.

The lighter ARM-based tablets running Windows 8 are what Microsoft will be depending on to carve out market share from the huge numbers that rival Apple now commands thanks to their iPad. The iOS maker in fact disclosed sales figures for the iPad on Monday during the earnings call saying that over 3 million iPads had already been sold since the Friday on-sale date.

Microsoft has already promised to ship ARM devices at the same time as other devices, making it possible for everyone to choose which one they want at the very beginning. However, since WoA (Windows on ARM) will not see a public preview like the main Windows 8, there are rumors about the actual progress being made.

If there are only abut five ARM tablets on the market at launch, then they might not pose that much threat to the iPad. However, combined with the x86 tablets that most companies are working on, Windows 8 might create a visible dent on the iPad’s market.

It is possible to bring back the Windows 8 Start button and Orb using various tools and tricks

Want to bring back the Start and orb buttons? Here’s a guide

Want that old Windows look in the Windows 8 beta? Well it’s possible to bring the Windows Start button and Start orb can back, and here’s how.

1. Download ViStart, an app which remakes the Windows 7 Start menu
2. When you start and run ViStart, make sure to decline options for toolbars bundled with the app. Assuming you don’t want them, of course
3. Once installation is complete the Start button and orb should be back

We said "should.” Some users have been reporting problems with the orb and Taskbar overlapping, so for those of you who run into issues here’s a lengthier guide on sorting out the problem.

1. First, you’ll need to another blank toolbar. Create a folder, and put it anywhere. Right-click on the Toolbar, then New Toolbar. Find the folder you created and click Select Folder. The folder will be added to your Taskbar, in the bottom right corner
2. Right-click on the Taskbar and uncheck Lock the Taskbar. Now drag and drop the new folder toolbar to the start of the Taskbar.
3. There should now be an empty area between the folder toolbar and the program buttons. Uncheck both the Show Text and Show title options. Move the program buttons near the start orb.
4. Lock the Taskbar, and you should have a Start orb that isn’t overlapping anything.

Bring back classic Start menu

If you don’t want to bring back the Start menu button and Start orb however, then you can bring back the classic Start menu instead. While this guide is for Windows 7, the desktop side of Windows 8 is basically the same in its basic functions.

1. First, right-click on the Taskbar and select Toolbars, New Toolbar
2. It’ll open a dialog box, so paste in %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
3. Next press Enter and click on the Select Folder button. Now Programs is added to the toolbar. Now uncheck Lock the Taskbar
4. Finally drag the Taskbar so the Programs toolbar is next to the Start orb, and you’re done!

If you are having troubles booting Windows 8, you should most certainly try to fix the master boot record after booting into the safe mode or using the cmd launch option when booting from the Windows 8 DVD

What is MBR?

MBR or Master Boot Record is the second most important thing after the BIOS which can affect the windows startup in your PC.

This is the fixed "starting point” for booting a machine. When the machine is booted,

it looks here for required instructions and informations on how to boot the disk and load the operating system.

Many virus writers try to affect this critical portion.

Boot viruses are of this type.

Steps to fix MBR for Windows 8

1. Insert your Windows 8 DVD. Restart PC & start booting by pressing a key.

2. Click on next

3. Now, click on Repair your computer .

4. Next, click the option Troubleshoot among the 3 options shown on screen.

5. Click on Advanced options.

6. Then click on Command prompt.

7. The following prompt will appear.

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If you are having problems finding all your programs, read this tutorial to learn how to find all of your Windows 8 apps, programs, tools

Microsoft Windows 8 comes with the streamlined, touch-friendly Metro User Interface. Metro UI replaces Windows start button and menu with a grid of tiles. If you are new in Windows 8, you must have seen that the installed programs are not appearing in the start menu, which was there till Windows 7. The Metro UI tiles launch software.

If you want to find out the shortcuts of the installed programs to access them, then read the instructions below.

Finding Programs (UI: Developer Preview Very Similar To Consumer Preview)

1. First switch to Metro user interface by pressing Windows button.

2. See the bottom right corner of Metro user Interface .You will see a Rightward Arrow icon there. Click on that icon quite a few times till your program icon appears on the screen.

3. If you want to open the program normally, then just left click on that icon.

But if you want to open the program with Administrative privilege,then Right click on it. Now click on Advanced and select Run as Administrator.

Now the program will be opened with administrative privilege.

First of all there is no boot.ini file in Windows 8, Windows 7 or Vista. It is now the boot manager. Go through this tutorial before editing boot settings in Windows 8.

What is boot.ini?

In Windows 2000, Xp and Windows 2003 boot.ini file can be seen. Its default location is C:\(drive, where the default or Primary OS is installed). It contains boot configuration data. This file is used by these Operating Systems to display a menu of operating systems currently on the computer and allows users to select what operating system to load.

What about Windows 8, 7 or Vista?

Windows 8, Windows 7 or Vista works differently. If you try to boot these Operating Systems using BOOT.INI and NTLDR, it will fail. NTLDR can’t load Windows 8 even if you have the boot.ini entry. For example, if you install Windows 8 in unallocated space on a computer running Windows XP and look inside the XP partition, you will find that the boot.ini file is changed and two lines have been added before the original boot.ini script.

There is a hidden system partition. As the system partition does not have a drive letter assignment, it can’t be seen. BCD or Boot Configuration Data is stored in a folder named \boot on this system partition. Like Windows 7, Windows 8 uses a boot manager (bootmgr.dll) which consults with the BCD ( in Boot folder) to locate the boot loader ( winload.exe).

What is the location of bootmgr.dll in Windows 8?

Bootmgr.dll is a hidden system file and it is located generally in the root directory of C:\ drive (always not necessary, it depends on installation history). If you are confused, simply navigate to Disk Management. The drive labeled System, Active will be the location of bootmgr.dll file.

Change Boot configuration in Windows 8

You may change boot configuration by editing bootmgr.dll. But it’s not wise to mess with bootmgr.dll unless you have good knowledge about it. However if you are determined to change bootmgr.dll, it is advised to create a recovery image of your existing system.

There’s a utility tool, EasyBCD to edit Boot Configuration. It is free for limited and non-commercial use.

Download EasyBcd