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If you want to know how to navigate Windows 8 with a mouse and keyboard, this guide will help you out a bit.

Metro interface of Windows 8 seems to be perfect for touch input but what about mouse control?

No doubt, navigation on non-touch devices (mouse or keyboard input) can be improved further in windows 8. Features like De-emphasizing scrollbars, Multi-gesture swiping etc. are still missing in Windows 8 mouse control. While touch input Windows 8 devices support all these things.

Here you can see some popular navigation operations performed using mouse.

Lock screen

Click and hold the bottom screen and drag it up to escape from lock screen. You can also double click on anywhere on the screen to do the same thing.

Switch to Metro UI

Click on the Start Menu icon to swtich to metro UI form desktop mode.

Open a Tile

Left click on the tile to open it.

Tile Property

Right Click on the tile to see the options available for that tile.

Move Tile

Click on the tile and hold it .Then drag that tile to the desired position.

Navigate Tiles

Scroll down to see the tiles of the right and scroll upward to see tiles of the left. Or you can simply click on the rightward arrow on the bottom of the screen or leftwared arrow to navigate the tiles in Metro UI.

Switch Applications

Take the cursor to the left of the screen and hold that for a second and you will see a very small window of the previous application you were in. Then Left click to opent that application

In order to make Metro apps, you have to download the Developer SDK first and then you can get started right away if you know how to program.

If you want to make Metro applications, you must have the following things:-

required Things to be downloaded:

• 1. Microsoft Visual Studio 2011.
• 2. The SDK tool from microsoft website.

You must have the basic knowledge of:-

• 1. XAML(Extensible Application Markup Language).
• 2. Visual Basic or
• 3. Visual C++ or
• 4. C#.

You will get details about SDK tool from Build.

For Metro applications, you have to go to Build. When you click on the "Build” tile, it will ask you for
a Live Id. If you already have a Live Id, then just sign in else create a Live Id and then Sign In
using Build.

Then the Build Window will appear with various popular tutorials in it.

You can follow the tutorials mentioned there, of your choise, and start designing your  ... Read more »

Are you an avid fan of Minecraft and want to play Minecraft right now on Windows 8? Nothing easier than that, follow this tutorial.

Minecraft is a game about placing blocks to build anything you can imagine. It is an online game.
Though it was pretty good till with windows 7. This polpular game had no issue with Windows 8′s predecessor. But somehow, It creates
problems in Windows 8.
In these tutorial, you can learn how to play Minecraft in Windows 8.

1. If you want to play Minecraft for free, please download this file from
here

2. Right-click on My Computer and select Property.

3. Now click on Advanced Sytem Settings

4. Now click on the Environment Variables button below.

5. Next click on the New button just below the variable names.

6. In the Variable name section, type Path.
... Read more »

You constantly have a high latency / ping in games while playing on Windows 8? No worries, we’ve got you covered! Let’s reduce that latency.

What is latency?

The time taken to send a package(unit of data) between two points in a network is called latency.
In other words, we can say, latency is the delay that may be found in audio or video transmission because of
inherent limitations of a digital system. Latency generally increases when more bandwidth is required than
available bandwidth.

In TCP-IP error control mechanism windows sends an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT message to the sender
(e.g. Game server) to confirm network package is successfully received (from the sender). The sender
(e.g. Game server) waits until it receives the ACKWOLEDGEMENT message from the receiver
(Windows) for the last sent network package before sending another network package to receiver (windows).
So, any congestion in Network can increase latency.

Low Latency Network and its advantages

In low latency network the design of the system, hardware and protocols are in such a manner that it minimizes the time taken to move units of data between any two points on that network.

Some applications are more affected by latency and reduced latency helps them to be worked properly. Like:-
Voice based applications (VoIP)

Networked Games (LAN and online gameplay)

Streaming (Audio or Video)

Sometimes while playing games (like Counter strike, FIFA, age of emperor etc.) over LAN you may experience audio or video is very jerky because of higher latency.
By reducing the latency you can improve Networked or Online games.

Enabling the TCPNoDelay we can reduce latency.
Follow these steps properly to reduce latency in Windows 8.

Steps to reduce latency in windows 8

1. Press window+R to start "Run”prompt.
and type regedit in Run then click on OK.

... Read more »

If you want to remove write protection from your USB drive, refer to the instructions below.

What is Write Protection & Disable Write Protection

Sometimes, virus gets attached to your pen drive and it becomes write protected i.e. you can’t copy anything into it although you can read it and copy data from USB device to hard disk.
The above picture is about such an error.

Some devices also has a write protection switch in its hardware part like the following

Different Solutions to this Problem

Editing Registry

Most frequently this problem can be solved using registry editing

Press window+R to start "Run”prompt.

Type regedit into it & press enter & allow it by pressing Yes

Registry editor has been started & expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Expand SYSTEM & go to SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control

Search for StorageDevicePolicies & change value of WriteProtect to 0

Format USB drive

If the usb drive is still "Write protected” then you may perform a "low-level format” on the drive.
Download this software to perform the "low-level format” of the USB drive.
... Read more »

Windows 8 has been consistently performing at the top against Windows 7 in multiple benchmark tests that are used to gauge a OS’ performance, speed, etc.

Windows 8 Better Than Windows 7 At Most Benchmark Tests

This shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone — Windows 8 Consumer Preview has been beating Windows 7 at most of the benchmark tests performed on both platforms. The tests were run by the good people of PC World and the results show that Windows 8 is a much more fine tuned cat than its predecessor Windows. Most of the tests showed that Windows 8 was overall faster and in some cases much faster that Windows 7.

Since this was a comparison test, both platforms were tested on the same machine configuration — Intel Core i5-2500K at 3.3 GHz, 8 GB of RAM, 1 TB hard drive, and an NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti video card. It was benchmarked with the WorldBench 7 batch of tests and Windows 8 scored 14% over Windows 7. The report says that 5% performance difference is a noticeable difference, which means 14% is considerably better.

Things that were faster on Window 8 included things like: -

Start up time — 36.8 seconds against 56.2
Web performance through WebVizBench — 28.6 FPS against 18.9

However, Windows 7 was seen being faster at content creation than Windows 8. The difference was very subtle though and it is possible that Windows 8 just needs better drives for the components in order to perform better at heavy load content creating tasks as well. But that would only happen once Windows 8 is commercially launched.

For content creation, Windows 7 scored higher than Windows 8 on PCMark. The scores for Office productivity were — 2280 for Windows 7 and 2099 for Windows 8.

A pair of Microsoft’s seal of approval bearing app make the process of restarting, logging-off or shutting down much easier than what the user has to go through on the stock version of Windows 8.

Two Microsoft Approved Apps make for easy shutdown and restarting on Windows 8

Microsoft Approves Of Easy Shut Down/Restart Apps

Since Windows 8 is designed to not need as many shut downs and restarts as the previous versions, Microsoft has buried the shutdown and associated options deep underneath the digital foliage. So the process of getting to these options is exceedingly non-intuitive. There are workarounds however, which we have already posted but they require a teeny bit of tinkering to make custom Metro UI tiles on the Start Screen. If you are loathe to do even that much, you will definitely like what Woody Leonhard of InfoWorld has found on the Microsoft website.

Hidden deep inside the website as mentions of two apps that make life a lot easier for users who want to shut down and restart frequently.

To shutdown/restart from the Metro UI, you will have to get the Charms bar out, go to the Settings charm and then choose the Power option which will have the Shut down and Restart options. Alternatively, you will have to press Alt+F4 on the Desktop to bring up a special dialog that gives you options for shutting down, restarting or putting the device to sleep. Since you are probably using Windows 8 on a desktop or laptop that has no touchscreen, the experience would rate quietly high on frustration and inefficiency.

Now go to the Microsoft Gadgets site for personalization by using this link —

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/personalize/gadgets

…and find one of these two apps —

Control System with Clock by Keat
TOP – Vista Shutdown Control by Markus

Install any one and you will be pleasantly surprised with a sudden appearance of icons that are one-click shortcuts for shut down, restart, sleep and log off. And both come with clocks. How splendid!

Windows 8 for Windows Phone (Apollo) is definitely going to be better but new rumors claim that Lumia phones running Windows Phone 8 will be better than the current version by a wide margin.

Lumia Phones To Become Amazing With Windows Phone 8

According to a long winded chain of rumormongering, it has been uncovered that Nokia has been working on Windows Phone 8 devices and they are apparently many times better than the current Lumia phones.

According to the statement from a Nokia engineer quoted in the original post by Phone Arena, the next batch of Windows Phone models will be called Nokia Prodigy and they will are "Incredible”.

The rumor seems to have originated from the Twitter stream of user Cosimo, who recently posted the following tweet: -

"Today I met a Nokia employee. Nokias Apollo devices will be incredible. But still Microsoft…Meh..Also have some good news for Meltemi.”

Even though he praises the Windows Phone Apollo devices, the twitter stream shows a clear bias towards the N9 and apathy for Microsoft, which is strange for a Nokia employee because he ought to be rather busy with showing the upcoming Windows Phone in a good light, especially since it has not been been launched yet. But on the other hand, it is possible for employees within Nokia to disregard Windows Phone and stick to the older Symbian platform.

Nokia has of course not made any comments on this story and neither have they released any information regarding Apollo phones. And they would not do so till it was just about time to launch them.

The Finnish phone maker is currently busy promoting the Lumia phones all over the world. It is Nokia’s ticket to recapturing a lot of the lost smartphone market and for the world’s largest mobile handset manufacturer, that is quite a shame.

Internet Explorer 10 or IE10 on Windows 8 comes in two version — the Desktop and Metro — and here’s how they are similar yet so very different.

Dealing With The Split Personality Of IE10 On Windows 8

You can choose which version of IE10 will be your default browser on Windows 8. The factory setting is contextual — links clicked in Metro open in Metro and links from Desktop open in Desktop. Which is basically great for those who have a different workflow for each Metro and Desktop. However, most of us just want a simple, one thing does it all browsing experience. So here’s a closer look at the two sides of IE10 and you can then choose which on you like best. Spoiler: if you have a tablet or touchscreen PC, things are pretty much self-explanatory — you are far better of using Metro.

There are two major differences between the two side of IE10 and one major similarity. The first and obvious difference lies in the UI, of course, as the Desktop side looks more like what have been used to on Windows so far and the Metro side is more about touch based controls and minimal design. The other difference lies in the fact that IE10 on Metro is devoid of any plugin. It is pushing the Internet to become self-reliant using recent developments like HTML5. So there’s no Flash or Active X. However, those technologies are still present in the Desktop side.

The major similarity is in the background — they are both based on the same engine and they share things like history items.

Experience-wise, Metro is much more immersive. Everything gets out of your way as soon as you stop using them, leaving you with a fullscreen view of whatever page you are on. If you need any of the tools, they are just a swipe or a tap away. Plus there are quick shortcuts to frequently visited sites and pinned sites that you can access on the fly. The Desktop mode on the other hand is exactly what Internet Explorer has been like all this time with its toolbars and menus; perfect for power users and those who absolutely must have plugins.

So choose your use-case scenario and you will automatically know which one’s the best for you. However, if you are on a touchscreen, you will absolutely love using the Metro version and would probably have a frustrating time with the Desktop edition.

News reports from a tech expo in Bahrain talk about Microsoft putting end of this year as the launch date for Windows 8.

Microsoft Says It Will Launch Windows 8 By The End Of This Year In Bahrain

A two day expo called Microsoft Open Door has just taken place in Bahrain. It is an event support by the Bahrain Government in order to take advantage of the upcoming Windows 8 OS and Office 365 cloud service. But the main point of interest is what Microsoft had to say about the OS. Regional news reports suggest that Microsoft officially answered a question about the launch timings of Windows 8, saying that it would launch some time towards the end of the year. As for Office 365, they said it was coming summer this year, which is not that far away.

Microsoft has so far made no official announcements about when it intends to release Windows 8. So the news of this statement comes as a surprise. These reports fall in with what has already been rumored about Windows 8 — Microsoft is very close to achieving Release Candidate stage by this summer and that would translate in to a late 2012 commercial release. Some have even claimed that Windows 8 is currently on schedule for an October release so that it can build up to the holiday season sales.

The expo was majorly sponsored by industry stalwarts HP and Dell with exhibits from other companies like Fujitsu, Exceed, docuBox also present. A regional Microsoft manager for Bahrain and Oman also stated that Microsoft has a long standing with Bahrain and these kind of activities are important for boosting nation building efforts with access and introductions to newer platforms and technologies.

Installing Windows 8 themes requires you to replace system files, here’s how you would do that in Windows 8

Sometimes you may see that Windows is not running properly because one or more system files (like autochk.exe, msscntrs.dll, msdtcprx.dll etc.) got corrupted. In that situation to avoid fresh installation of windows corrupted system files need to be replaced.

Not only that, to use some custom themes or to change the default Start Orb you need to change explorer.exe, shell32.dll etc. files, which are also system files. So, it is very important to know how to replace system files before doing all these stuffs.

Creating Back up

Before starting with the following process, make sure that:-

A. System Image back up has been taken.

B. A set of bootable recovery media has been created.

Steps to replace system files in windows 8

The whole process can be divided in two main steps:-

A. Taking ownership of system files.

B. Changing the name of original system files and copying new file in exact location.

What is Ownership?

Ownership of a file means permission of owner of that file. In an Operating system, during some file operation, you may get an error message "Access Denied” and one of the reason behind this error message is that you are not the owner of that file or folder. So you don’t have the permission for that operation. In that case you have to take the ownership of that file.

Follow the instructions below to replace system files in Windows 8.

1. Download the file Take Ownership.zip from here.

2. Extract the file .You will get 2 registry editor file in that folder. One is Install Take Ownership and another one isUninstall Take Ownership .

... Read more »

It seemed for a while that Media Center was to live as an integral part of Windows 8 as a feature but now there are rumors that it will have a separate version.

Windows 8 Professional Media Center Version?

Windows Media Center has been through a lot of evolution and it was finally settled that it will live on as a major feature inside Windows 8. However, industry whistle blower Winunleaked has offered a different perspective in the case. According to a post, there’s a Pro Pack edition that is called the ProfessionalWMC. There’s no telling what this is for though. It could just be a separate SKU for Windows 8 Professional but then that separate mention of Windows Media Center does look suspicious.

There are reasons for Microsoft to leave out the Windows Media Center from the main builds of Widnwos 8 though. One the main being the licensing costs. There codecs used inside the Media Center that are licensed from Dolby Digital and the likes. These codecs must be paid for by the buyer with every copy of Media Center that is sold. That is how it works. But then that also means it will raise the price of any OS that it is part of. Higher costs will mean slower adaptation and that is not something that Microsoft should want to risk right now.

Windows 8 is banking on the fact that there will be quick user adaptation followed by the enterprise. This is the only way Microsoft can pave way for a rapid development that will usher in the new era of touch first that this new OS is so very emphatic about.

As of now, there’s nothing really to go by on, so we will just have to be satisfied with speculations. There are rumors that the launch of the new OS will happen in the fall this year but nothing’s final so far.

Got a restore point? Great, let’s restore Windows 8 to a previous state, a known-to-be-working configuration point

It is quite probable that you may make some unwanted change in system configuration by changing registry or installing some problematic application. In such
cases you may need to go back to previous configuration to undo the effects.
This tutorial will help you to achieve that goal.

Steps to restore Windows 8 to previous configuration

PREREQUISITES

You need to create & maintain a "Restore point” beforehand so that you can go back to the restore point (i.e. the configuration on a particular day) as needed.

So now you need to know how to make a restore point.

Open "Control Panel” & click "More settings”.

Now search for "Restore point” by writing it the search box on the upper right hand side of the control panel window.

Click Create a restore point. After the following window appear click "Create…”

Write a description as you want & click "Create”.

You can see that restore point creation is being done.

Restore Your PC now

Go back to the control panel screen & search for "Restore point” by writing it the search box on the upper right hand side of the control panel window.

Under the System heading click "Restore system files and settings from a restore point”.

You may choose Recommended restore or Choose a different restore point & click Next.

If you have selected Choose a different restore point you will see a list of "Restore Points”. Select correct one & click Next.

... Read more »

In this tutorial we are showing you how to properly run old games and programs on Windows 8

Up gradation from Windows 7 to Windows 8 is far more pain-free, than up gradation from Windows XP to Vista, or Vista to Windows 7. There were some compatibility headaches while running some old programs or games in Windows Vista or even in Windows 7. Despite of having attractive metro interface and metro apps Windows 8 has more or less same salient features like Windows 7. So it is expected that there will be no compatibility issue in running those programs which are compatible with Windows 7.

Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s COO said at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2011,
"The gateway to get to Windows 8 is Windows 7, and we will have backward compatibility with Windows 7 embedded into Windows 8. That’s something that we’re very committed to. But that’s a really important first pillar.”

But you may face compatibility issue while running some old programs or games, which were meant to be run only on Windows Vista or XP. In that case follow these steps to solve the problem.

Steps to run Old programs and games

Compatibility issue can be appeared during the installation of any old program, during the execution (run) of a old program, or in both of the situations. Here, old version of "Connectify” (compatible with XP service pack 2 or 3) application has been chosen to describe the steps.

1. First of all click on the setup file of the program that you want to install. If the version of the program is not compatible with Windows 8 "Program Compatibility Assistant” dialog box will appear. Click on "Run the program using compatibility setting” . Now, the installation process will start.

2. After the installation process is finished, try to run the program. You will see the same compatibility problem what you have experienced during the installation process.

3. Now, right click on the game or program icon (here, connectify icon) in your desktop and click on Properties option. New Properties window will pop up. Navigate to Compatibility tab.

4. Now, if you know the exact compatibility mode for running the game or program, first check "Run this program in compatibility mode for:” box and then select desired Compatibility mode from the dropdown list. Then press "Apply” and then "OK”.

... Read more »

Your Internet Explorer 10 is too slow? Let’s speed up IE10 and make it blazing fast!

Windows Internet Explorer or IE (abbreviated) was developed by Microsoft. It is a web browser and was released in 1995. It is one of the most popular web browsers today.

In Windows 8 IE 10 is more than just a browser. When a new tab will be opened a start screen with frequently visited websites or pinned websites will be opened.

In case your IE has slowed down you can try the following things.

Steps to speed up IE10

First see how you can open internet explorer.
There are many ways to do it.

1. You can open it from desktop by clicking the icon.

2. You can start it using from "run” also. Press window+R. Run window will appear. No write iexplore & click ok.

Now you can try the following things for faster performance

A. Disable Add-ons

Loading a lot of add-ons during startup may cause IE10 to slow down. Disable unnecessary add-ons.

After IE has opened go to Tools->Manage add-ons (in case you can’t see the menu bar press F10)

Now select unnecessary add-ons & disable them.

B. By increasing maximum number of connections per Server

IE 7 and below are bound to maximum 2 connections per server. That means you can download maximum two files from one particular website at a time. IE 8 raised
this limit up to 6. IE 10 is more flexible. Here you will come to know how to increase number of simultaneous HTTP connections to 10. This will make the loading of web pages faster.

1. Open registry by writing "regedit” in "run” prompt.

... Read more »

Still not fast enough, even though it’s faster than Windows 7? Here are some ways to speed up Windows 8

We always want that our computer must have a satisfactory speed. Whatever operating system is installed in a computer, the operating speed of that Operating System matters a lot. An operating system with a very attractive look but takes long time for opening a folder, running any simple program, copying or moving data, opening a file is not expected by any user. So if you want to increase the access time of your Windows 8, follow the steps carefully.

Registry Tweak

1. Switch to Desktop Mode by pressing Windows + M simultaneously.

2. Press Windows + R to open the Run window. Now just type regedit and then press Enter.

3. Now navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Control panel > Mouse . Right click on MouseHoverTime and select Modify . Change the value to 50 to 100.

4. Now navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > Current Control Set > Control . Right click on WaitToKillServiceTimeout and select Modify. Set the value near to 100.

MSConfig Tweak

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run window. Now type msconfig and then press Enter. Now click on  ... Read more »

Do you want to increase your productivity on Windows 8? Download some alternative app launchers

What is an App Launcher?

An application launcher is a computer program that helps a user to run a program or open a webpage easily. Some App launchers support to assign some shortcut words to launch a particular program. So, app launchers provide a friendly environment to run a particular program from the user end very easily.

There are many popular App launchers available for Windows 8. Here is a list with their download links.

A. Dash Command

B. SlickRun

C. Find and Run Robot

D. Launchy

E. Tool Box

F. Start++

G. True Launch Bar

Steps to download and install alternative app launchers for windows 8

1. First of all choose an alternative app launcher available for Windows 8.

Here SlickRun is selected to demostate the procedure.

2. Download the file SlickRun from here

... Read more »

Here’s a free version of an app that detects and installs missing and compatible drives for all pre-release versions of Windows 8.

Here’s their website (Free download)

Driver Detective: Free App For Driving Drivers

Device support, as with most new OS’, is a major issue in Windows 8. This has been aggravated by the drastic change that has gone in to the step from Windows 7 to Windows 8. As a result, a lot of devices that work fine on Windows 7 are failing work on Windows 8 even though in theory it is meant to work.

So we have come across an app that comes for free and does ‘Driver Detecting’ for Windows 8. It is called Driver Detective and it searches your machine for compatible drivers that will helps Windows 8 run faster and better.

This is actually the beta version that is being given away for free. The company makes Driver Detective software as a paid product and they are hoping to help Windows 8 users enough to make them want to buy the final version when it is released once Windows 8 is commercially released.

According to the company, this beta version of the software is fully functional and it will help people to test all of their peripheral devices with Windows 8 in the OS’ present Consumer Preview build. So it will automatically search and install compatible drivers for different kinds of network devices, printers and other devices.

One more important fact they mention is that the app delivers the drivers in the actual form as they are released by the manufacturers. So the driver packages are delivered without any modifications and their integrity is fully maintained.

This software is still in beta though, so use it at your own risk. We are not assuming any responsibility and are not endorsing it. That said, Windows 8 itself is in a Public Beta AKA Consumer Preview stage, so there’s no harm in testing out beta software on another beta software. They might break each other or you might have an easier time trying out Windows 8

umors Windows 8 Release Candidate coming out in May have started making the rounds of the interwebs.

Windows 8 On Track For Summer Release Of The Next Build: Rumor

Rumor has, yet again, that Windows 8 is on track for a Release Candidate build for May this year. Which also means in turn, Windows 8 is on track for a commercial release on October.

A Release Candidate is an ‘almost’ finished piece of software that will probably go to the market as is but might still have a few small bugs left. It is usually a timed item that expires automatically once the actual commercial release happens.

The rumor was started this time by Winunleaked.tk and they wrote it in absolutes that Microsoft is sharing Windows 8 Release Candidate with everyone by end of May. This post on their own might have raised a lot of skepticism, however, it does fall in with what Bloomberg has had to report so far on the situation.

However, if Microsoft has actually managed to do this, they have taken their development speed up by many notches. When the latest build was released (Consumer Preview AKA Public Beta), the development cycle was still slow enough for analysts to predict an early 2013 release. Microsoft so far has not commented. So do not get your hopes up just yet.

Rumors like these have been growing in number throughout the month of March and there’s a distinct possibility of something actually going down in summer this year. However, there might just be a little bit smoke for all this talk of there being a fire.

The only thing to look forward to right now is happening in April. Bloomberg says Microsoft will stage an event that will give out information about the release timeframe. So it’s just a wait till then.

Next time you use a Snapdragon chip powered device, you might notice how good the graphics has become because Qualcomm is now working on getting better graphics in to it.

Qualcomm Bringing Better Graphics To SnapDragon

Qualcomm has decided to include an Imagination GPU on the SnapDragon SoC after seeing the processing demands of the upcoming Windows 8. Since Microsoft wants to run Windows 8 on every device conceivable – ranging from desktop and laptops to tablets and smartphones. And the last categories are the ones that would be powered by SnapDragon.

Windows 8 is the first OS in the Windows series to run on something other than x86. However the builds for both are different and only the x86 version will available to the public. ARM version will be distributed directly to the manufacturer.

This reason was attributed to Qualcomm’s decision by industry news source SmiAccurate, who says that Qualcomm had to step it up in order to be able to run Windows 8 smoothly. They had the option to develop a solution by themselves or licensing one. With Windows 8 breathing down their necks, it was n obvious decision.

The end result for this is that people who are very impressed with the A5x chip inside the iPad will be similarly impressed by Windows 8 devices running SnapDragon’s next generation SoC (System on a Chip).

Windows 8 is expected to be one of the most important events to happen in the mobile industry this year. It is expected to create serious mass interest in tablets that goes beyond iPads, which is the market leader and dominant product. The only other tablet to sell well is the Kindle Fire but the gap in numbers is huge.

Windows 8 is scheduled to launch end of this year but there has been no official word on it. Rumors going around on the internet suggest that there will be a Release Candidate launch during this summer.

Tablets running Windows 8 on x86 will apparently have a slight edge over those running the same OS on ARM.

Windows 8 To Have More x86 Over ARM In Tablets

Intel is all set to launch their tablet efforts with Windows 8. One of the good things going for them is the fact that there will probably be more x86 tablets immediately post the Windows 8 launch than ARM tablets. The main reason behind this seems to be the familiarity factor with x86 for most PC manufacturers. Companies like HP, Dell, Toshiba, Acer and Asus are much more at comfort working with x86 and they are all very eager to get in on the tablet market.

Beyond that lies the fact that Intel is bringing out special chips that are going to be pushed for the tablet and ultra-portable markets. Bringing in extra leverage is the desktop side of Windows 8, which can only be fully realized on a x86 machine. This is especially true because ARM has no way of running legacy software that was built on and for a x86 architecture.

Most of the productivity and high-end work that goes on in Windows are on software that will instantly become legacy at Windows 8 launch. So to run them, users will need to use x86 machines. However, Microsoft has done the good job of making sure that all current applications running on Windows 7 will run on Windows 8 as well.

In fact, Windows 8 is being built in way that enables any user to do an in-place upgrade. The installer will automatically advice on application compatibility going onward with the upgrade. If something goes wrong, there’s automatic roll-back and the system restore.

So it is time for ARM and Intel to battle it out on the field but for now, Intel seems to have a slight advantage over ARM by being the largest x86 chipmaker in the world.

Mozilla has been working hard to develop a Windows 8 Metro version of the Firefox browser and they have finally got a working prototype that they are showing off.

Metro Style Browser From Mozilla Has Reached Prototype Stage

Mozilla has arrived at the prototype milestone with their Metro style browser, which is essentially a version of Firefox meant for the Metro UI on Windows 8. Whilst they are showing off the current version of the browser that started development just over a month back, they admit that there are still design questions that have not been answered yet. The UI will be changing, Mozilla’s Brian R. Bondy said. He also said that this is a working prototype, which means the development work is in fact going at quite a fast rate.

One way the team accelerated the design was by implementing the existing Fennec version of Firefox. Fennec is the mobile version of FireFox and the team reports that it "just worked” on Windows 8, which surprised them because the same code base gave significant problems when they tried to run it on Android.

Fennec on Windows 8 already has a lot of the Windows 8 features in place. It features support for Metro Snap, HTML file picker and also the Windows 8 Search contract that allows it to work in tandem with other apps that have the contract in place, such as the Windows Search Box.

There’s also support for the share contract, which means a page or content in the browser can be shared with the rest of the Metro apps. So you can already mail, Facebook and Twitter a page that you are on without having to go through cut, copy and paste options.

Given the pace of development, Metro version of Firefox for Windows 8 should be ready by the time Windows 8 is commercially released. Or may be even by May-June when the Release Candidate build is supposed to be happening.

Microsoft said it is working with hardware partners to bring better touchscreens than the ones that were offered for Windows 7.

Microsoft Helping Better Touchscreens For Windows 8 That Work Perfect To The Edges

Microsoft recently talked about how the company is working with hardware makers to bring better touchscreens for Windows 8 as compared to the ones found for Windows 7. The company seeks to improve touch performance, especially when it comes to how a touchscreen responds when it comes to the edges of the screen. The maker of Windows wants to implement these newly improved touchscreens on the tablets and laptops that will run the upcoming Windows 8 OS.

Since Windows 8 is a completely touch-based OS, it makes sense for the company to be working to improve touchscreens in every way they can. Tablets, Ultrabooks and general laptops and notebooks are all slated to be released with Windows 8 as soon as Microsoft releases Windows 8 commercially. According to the latest rumors, this will happen sometime this October with a Release Candidate build rumored for this summer, some time in May.

Microsoft’s focus on edge to edge response for every touchscreen is also because of how the new touch-based interface works on Windows 8. There are multiple edge swipes that are needed to bring up search, extra features and tools called ‘Charms’ and more for the user to have the full experience of Windows 8.

Microsoft is not going to allow sub-par touchscreens from vendors selling Windows 8 tablets and touch-based devices and will actively be vetting all designs before they go to the market.

Windows 8 allows developers to use all available pixels in contrast to Windows 7 where Microsoft had reserved 20 pixels for edge swipes. With fullscreen mode, Windows 8 apps will be able to utilize every single pixel available and Microsoft is working to ensure better touchscreens that detect edge swipes everytime.

The post on PhoneArena that shows three colors of the same monolithic design on a poster that claims to be branding for Windows Phone 8 is to be taken with a pinch of salt at the moment. Even though Nokia is working with Microsoft very closely and Nokia will definitely be releasing Windows Phone 8 devices, this poster has every chances of being the creative imagination of some enterprising artist.

There’s one main reason behind this alleged poster of Windows Phone 8 from Nokia being somewhat dodgy — there’s still half a year to go before Microsoft will be even close to commercially releasing Windows 8. So this is too early for the company to be worried about ad campaign artwork.

The argument against that is that Microsoft might be working on releasing Windows Phone 8 devices much earlier that Windows 8 itself. However, that is improbable because of Microsoft’s current approach to the unified experience of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Releasing the phone earlier will create a disconnect in the platform and consumers will be skipping Nokia’s Lumia series phones, which are critical for the success of Nokia and Microsoft together.

The tipster who handed the image to PhoneArena said that it is a non-final template for the campaign posters for the Windows Phone 8.

Nobody quite knows how far the Windows 8 on ARM project is coming along. Microsoft is under no obligations to give out public information regarding that because they have already declared that WoA is not going to be distributed to the public. It will be handed directly to the manufacturers.

Windows 8 on ARM is closely linked with Windows Phone 8 because they are basically the same OS running on the same architecture. Windows Phone 8 is likely to be just a slightly more modified version of Windows on ARM.

However, the continual leaks and rumors, it does seem like Microsoft is getting close to the commercial release. So deadlines that end this year are starting to look somewhat believable.

The IEBlog on the MSDN network that talks about everything Internet Explorer recently made a post explaining how pinned sites work on Windows 8 and how they are much more than just bookmarks.

Pinned Websites On Windows 8 Come With Badges And Intelligent Color Mapping

Windows 8 continues on its path towards a worldwide commercial release and in its wake it brings in host of new experience features. One of the main points of interest is how the Metro UI version of the new IE10 internet browser works. Other than being a completely new browsing experience, it also brings in a new way to bookmark your favorites sites that is more than just plain vanilla bookmarking.

One of the best features of the new Metro is the Live Tiles feature where every tile that is pinned on the Start Screen updates itself with relevant information whenever required. Similarly, websites pinned to the Start Screen will also act as Live Tiles with just a little support from the websites themselves.

Windows 8 has built-in features that support updating a pinned website badge every 30 minutes, 1 hours, 3 hours and so on till once every day. This appears on the Pinned website tile as a count of unseen updates. The data is pulled from a location that is specified by the website itself and the frequency is also set by the website itself. So the user doesn’t have to do any of the hard work. Just pin the website and Windows 8 will know what to do as long as the website has the right kind of settings written in to the site.

The tile creation process itself is interesting. You can choose the title of the title when it is being created and the color is automatically chosen by the system. The choice is based on the dominant color of the website and the icon. So you have easy color association too when you pin the website. Once you get used to this, plain old pinning and bookmarking will just not cut it. If Microsoft can keep this up, the adoption rates of Windows 8 should be quite good.

If you want the cool new Windows 8 look but don’t want the extra hassle of installing the Consumer Preview, try out the following themes!

Windows 8 Skin For Windows XP, Vista or 7

There are currently two different skins on the market for making any of the older Windows installations look like Windows 8. Both of them have been around for a while now but their latest updates contain bug fixes and modifications that make them replicate the Windows 8 experience more faithfully.

Windows 8 UX Pack 4.0 is for Windows 7 only. Then there’s Windows 8 Transformation Pack 4.0 for Windows XP and beyond. Both of these apps will transform your desktop to look like Windows 8 without any of the heavy lifting that you will have to do to install and run Windows 8.

The two new versions have both attained 4.0 and the changes include using the Segoe UI font to better mimic Windows 8 and including all of the wallpapers found on the current Windows 8. The Start Button and the UI in general have been changed to align it better with what is on Windows 8.

These are essentially Windows Transformation packs, which means they will change the look of your Windows OS totally without changing any of the actual performance parts. So if your OS were a car, this would be the equivalent of a body kit that makes it look like something else altogether. The engine and internals are the same though.

These seem to be more stable and easier on the system, with an increase in overall safety. However, do exercise caution and use it at your own risk. If you have a secondary machine, use it on that machine first before using it on your system. The Windows 8 Transformation Pack seems to be a safer bet because it doesn’t seem to make any changes to any system file.

If you share your PC with other people it’s a good idea to frequently change your password!

In the time of installation, Windows 8 Consumer preview will ask your for the password for your account in Windows 8. But later you can modify it. But the Consumer preview version of Windows 8 differs in the way of doing it even form its recent predecessor : Windows 8Developers Preview. It is one of those proofs that the Consumer preview version differs from the developers preview version by 10 lacs lines of code.

Here you will not see the Control pnel icon in the Metro User Interface. In order to chaneg your
account’s password, please follow the instructions below.

1.Switch to Metro UI. Now type Control Panel Automatically the Control Panel
will come in the search result.Click to open it.

2. Now navigate to "User Accounts and Family Safety” and click on Change your Windows password

3. Now click on "make changes to my accounts in PC settings”

4. Now click on Change your password. At first, you will be prompted to give the current password and then you will be able to chaneg your current password.

Click save to make the password change.Remember, don’t forget the password hint, because without that, you will not be able to chnge password.

Don’t know what graphic card you are using? Use this guide to find out what video card sits in your PC on Windows 8

Graphics Card and Key terms to understand your graphics card

A video card, display card, graphics card, or graphics adapter generates a feed of output images to a display. Now a days, every processor has some inbuild onboard graphics card. Alternatively, we can add graphics card of owr own to enjoy rich multimedia contents. Every motherboard since 1990 maintains separate slot for installing graphics card or adapter.

There are few key terms to understand your graphics card installed in your PC.

• Graphics Processing Unit or GPU speed
• Graphics Memory
• Video Memory
• Video BIOS
• RAMDAC, or Random Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter

How to check graphic card information

Several options are open to know graphics card information.like,

• Using Display Settings from control panel
• Using Device manager
• Using Command Prompt
• Using Third party application programm

Method 1: Using Display Settings

1. Right click on desktop and select Screen resolution .You can also go here by Control panel -> Display->Adjust
Display Settings.

2. click Advanced Settings .Graphics card information be popped up in a new window. If you want more information
like driver version,events etc. click the button Properties.

... Read more »

The Start Screen may be a fancy new piece of UI that everyone is drooling over but there are people who would really like to boot straight to the desktop and start working on Desktop apps; this simple guide shows you how.

Bypass Start Screen On Windows 8 At Boot

There’s a simple and effective way to bypass the Start Screen at log on and go straight to the Desktop when you boot your Windows 8 machine. It does not change anything at a low level though. All it does is execute a command at logon that brings out the desktop, making it look like you have bypassed the Start Screen. Here’s how you do it: -

Step 1

Open a notepad document. Copy the following text in to the document

[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=Explorer.exe,3

[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

Now go to file and click on ‘save as’. At the save dialog, navigate to the Desktop and save the file as a ‘.scf’ file (everything without the quotation marks of course). You can name it anything, like desktop.scf.

To check to see if it is working correctly, click on the file from any location and it should bring the desktop to the front.

Step 2

Now go back to Start Screen and search for the ‘Task Scheduler’. Once the app opens, navigate to the ‘Task Scheduler Library’ on the left side navigation pane.

Now right-click on an empty area on the middle pane right below the scheduled tasks (if there are any). On the contextual menu that comes up, choose ‘Create New Task’.

On the dialog box that appears, fill in the name for the task in the general tab and then click through to the Triggers tab.

Step 3

Once on the Triggers tab, click on the ‘New’ button and choose ‘At log on’ from the ‘Begin the task’ drop down menu. Click Ok. Then click on the ‘Actions’ tab.

In the Actions tab, choose ‘Start a Program’ from the ‘Action’ tab then click on the Browse button for the Program/Script field and choose the .scf file that you created earlier.

Step 4

Now click on ‘Ok’ and go to the ‘ ... Read more »

Next time you go to the hospital or the clinic, you might be greeted with Windows 8 touchscreen devices everywhere.

Tablets Might Work Well For Healthcare Professionals

One of the most important areas where consumer technology can go is Healthcare. Doctors and surgeons all over the world are already working on various prototypes using tablets, motion sensors, etc. Given that Microsoft technologies like Kindle are already being used in the healthcare industry, Windows 8 might become the de facto platform for making new-age healthcare devices in the near future.

The greatest strength of Windows 8 is the fact that it can bridge the gap between the desktop at the doctor’s office and the tablet that the nurse is using to keep track of a patient’s health. In the meantime, the out of station doctor who is using a Windows Phone 8 is kept in the loop at all times by both the desktop and the tablet.

The ecosystem that Windows 8 will be creating upon launch will encompass all these platforms that consumers have become used to. If healthcare professionals can be made to reap the benefits, information flow between the entire industry would become much faster and streamlined. However, even at the lowest level, the communication between healthcare professionals and the workers running the entire system also deserves streamlining and optimized.

And the last but not the least is the patient him/herself. Whether you are admitted or an outpatient, there’s always room for better medical records and easier access to them. With supporting features like cloud storage and NFC, the flow of information would be much easier. Imagine just swiping your phone at the doctor’s to pass along your entire medical history. That is how smooth healthcare can become once current consumer technology is absorbed in to this industry

Windows 8 is very likely to get released by end of this year despite lack of official confirmation and we are also likely to see a lot of tablets as Intel has been found to be working with multiple vendors to make tablets for the upcoming OS.

Windows 8 To Have Intel-Based Tablets From At Least 10 Different Companies

Intel is reportedly working with as many as 10 Chinese and global device manufacturing companies to make tablets based on the upcoming Windows 8 OS from Microsoft. The world’s largest chipmaker has not disclosed the names of those it is working with but Intel China chairman Sean Maloney said that we will see a lot of Intel-based tablets by the end of this year. He was speaking at an Intel Developer Forum event in Beijing.

His comments, whilst not related to the OS directly, can also be interpreted as hint that Windows 8 is on a steady path to releasing before the end of this year. Intel would not be making so many tablets based on Windows 7 after all.

He also talked about how Intel is also venturing in to the smartphone race. The company’s latest Atom processor the Z2460 AKA Medfield is meant for smartphones and Intel clearly hopes that that this high-performance and low battery requiring series will find a home in Windows Phone 8 as well.

Chinese company Lenovo’s K800 handset is based on this chip and is also the first smartphone to use an Intel chip. Lenovo will being selling the phone in China by the end of May this year. Maloney said that the K800 is aimed at the "high-end”.

Intel’s other low-energy high processing power chip, codenamed Clover Trail, will be released later this year and it will be targeted for tablets. Maloney said that the chip will have a 1.8GHz processor. So you will se a lot of Windows 8 tablets in the market with a 1.8GHz processor in it if all of Intel’s plans bear fruition.

Microsoft has released the first ever patch for Windows 8 Consumer Preview and it comes alongside a Windows patch with six different security updates that address 11 different vulnerabilities within the OS.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Gets First Ever Patch

The first ever patch released by Microsoft for Windows 8 Consumer Preview comes simultaneously with 6 security updates that fix 11 vulnerabilities found within Internet Explorer AKA IE, Office, Windows itself and other Microsoft products. One of the most important updates as suggested by Microsoft and identified by security experts is the MS12-027 update that fixes a security hole that attackers have already started exploiting. This is the patch that you should be installing first if you have any of the following: -

• 32-bit version of Office 2003, 2007 and 2010
• SQL Server
• Commerce Server
• BizTalk Server
• Visual FoxPro
• Visual Basic

One of the top dangers of this vulnerability is that it can allow a specially written office document to completely hijack your computer when opened in Word or even the simple WordPad. It also has a way of attaching itself to your computer when you visit a website with malicious content. Microsoft has said that it has seen a small number of attacks that use this but has not mentioned when the attacks started being noticed.

This patch was released out of cycle by Microsoft, which released regular patches every second Tuesday of the month. This indicates that Microsoft deemed this threat serious enough to go outside its regular cycle. This happened last in December last year and that was the first time for the year.

Other applications that use this component are still vulnerable to attacks and they will be patched by their respective makers. Microsoft has released the appropriate information for developers to patch their software. Windows 8 users are affected due to the IE and WordPad vulnerabilities along with any other applications like Office that use components that the security updates are meant for.

8 out of 11 updates in this patch are tagged "Critical” — the highest level of threat ranking by Microsoft. The other two are labeled as "moderate”.