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Windows 8 gets its first ever social live tile through FlipToast — an app that allows you to stay social without having to go in to your browser.

Windows 8 Gets Its First Social App

Fliptoast for Windows 8 is a social app that has its own live tile that allows you to stay connected to your Social networks at all times without needing to open the browser. And this app does more than just pour out your updates outside your browser; it allows you to chat with your contacts and also supports drag and drop image sharing. You can also invite friends and recommend games that you are paying while you are playing them.
FlipToast makes use of a built in feature inside Windows 8 called Contracts. It allows any Windows 8 app to open their data for sharing with any other app. This way, apps do not have to be ‘aware’ of each other to share information between them. FlipToast uses this intelligently to make it easier for you share things on your Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
This app is fairly new in the market although it has recently hit the one million users mark. As a social app that is not for a particular social network (like the Metro Twitter client we reported about earlier), it is a first on Windows 8.
Social is going to be one of the biggest things on Windows 8 Metro not only because it is one of the biggest things around anyway but also because of the way the Metro User Interface works. With the Live Tile feature and things like Metro Contracts, social apps will be much more dynamic that than what they are on other platforms like iOS and Android.
For those who don’t know — Live Tils is a feature that allows apps to have a toned down presence on the Start Screen as a square or rectangular tile and the tile will display changes in information automatically without the full app running somewhere in the background. So your social updates will still reach you in real time without the whole app running and adding to the work load and slowing things down.

To know, how to add power options to desktop Context Menu in Windows 8, go through the tutorial below.

You may want to add Power options like Lock, Switch user, Sign out, Shut down, or Restart to your desktop context menu. That can be done very easily. You just need to download an archive (.zip) which contains two REG files. Download Link is also provided in this tutorial.

Follow the steps to add power options to desktop Context Menu.
1. First of all Download this .zip archive from here

2. Unzip the archive and place two REG files on your desktop.

3. Now, Double-click on Add_Power_to_Desktop_Context_Menu.reg file. You will get a security warning. Click on Run option.

4. User Account Control (UAC) dialog box will pop up. click on Yes option.

5. You will get a registry editor dialog box. Select Yes option to continue the process.

6. Now, a registry editor confirmation message will appear. You have successfully added keys and values contained in Add_Power_to_Desktop_Context_Menu.reg file to the registry.

Now Right-click on your desktop and you can see Power option is available in your context menu.

... Read more »

If you want to Automatically Login to Windows 8, see to the tutorial below.

When you boot your computer in Windows 8 Consumer preview , first it will ask password for your chosen user account. If your machine is not generally used
by any other person, or you don’t want to keep a password, then you have to use Automatic Log In. Asking password becomes irritating time to time.
In Automatic Log In, the computer know the user password before login and thus it will not ask you for entering it. You have to put your user account name and password once to set Automatic Log In, and from next time the machine will remember you and login automatically with the given user ID and password.

1. Press Windows button to open the "Start Menu”.
To get Automatically login into windows 8, type "netplwiz” without quotes in the start menu of Windows 8 Consumers preview
and hit ENTER.

2. It will open a User Accounts dialogue box.

3. Now select a User from the list.
Here I am having only one user administrator, so I select the account "Rick”.

After selecting the User, uncheck the box mentioning
"User must enter a username and password to use this computer” and click OK

4. This will open a "Automatically Sign In” dialogue box where you will be asked for your selected  ... Read more »

Verizon has shown interest in taking up Windows Phone 8 as their third smartphone platform after Android and iOS.

Verizon Working On Getting Windows Phone 8

According to Verizon CEO Fan Shammo, the wireless carrier is actually working with Microsoft to bring about the upcoming Windows Phone 8 platform to their network. Verizon carries only one Windows Phone handsets at the moment but that seems to be held up for the release, now that the CEO has made this announcement.

Shammo said that they were working with Microsoft on the Windows Phone 8 software because they think it is a "differentiator”.
The one Windows Phone that Verizon carries was designed way back in 2010 — the HTC Trophy. It is poorly supported by the carrier and no further Windows Phone activities have happened in the time between then and now. Verizon’s apparent indifference caused many to question the viability of the platform itself in comparison to iOS and Androir. Now it seems more like Verizon has been working in the background to make things better before really taking the platform onboard.

Shammo believes that the platform has the capability of competing with market leaders Android and iOS on the same level. He said Verizon will have Windows Phone devices on its roster for the 2012 holiday season.

Looking back, Verizon was chiefly responsible for the early adoption of Android through the massively successful Motorola Droid handset that sold enough to put Verizon on competing terms with then market dominating iPhone. This happened in 2009 and it really pushed Android to the masses. Theoretically, with a good enough handset, the wireless carrier to launch Windows Phone 8 in the same way.

Right now we do not know much about Windows Phone 8 except that it would be a part of the Windows 8 platform and its been codenamed "Apollo”.

Comparing the number of who were using Windows 7 Beta to the number of people who are using Windows 8 Consumer Preview, it was found that the numbers for Windows 8 far outstrip its predecessor.

Windows 8 Winds Over Windows 7 In Beta/Preview Stage

The Microsoft development team tweeted the news on Friday last week —

"Windows 8 consumer preview usage more than twice Windows 7 beta at the same point in time. Millions of people using everyday.”

This comparison is really going to help Microsoft in establishing Windows 8 against the current world popular Windows 7. The Windows series Of OS are by far the world’s most installed OS’ and Windows 7 is currently the popular. So much so that there are some who fear a rejection of change, similar to what happened when users entrenched in to XP simply refused to upgrade to Vista even if their system supported it.

Windows 8 was announced to come in three different versions plus one ARM-based release called Windows 8 RT that will be used for manufacturers directly and won’t go in to retail.

Windows 7 was the talking point of every tech enthusiast for a long time during the beta phase and it got a lot of positive reviews and hence the number of users kept on increasing. However, even that seems to have fallen short when compared to the large number of users who have flocked to the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Other than the novelty factor of a completely new UI and brand new look and features, there’s also the point of consumers worrying about whether the radically different OS will change their workflow drastically. So a lot of people are using the Consumer Preview to actually test things out for themselves so that they know whether or not they want to move. But the response has been positive from such individuals as well as from pundits and your average user. And this explains the great demand of the OS — it is constantly evolving to keep users on their toes.

Rumor has it that the Nokia Lumia phones will not be supported by the upcoming Windows Phone 8 "Apollo”.

Nokia Lumia To Not Support Windows 8?

There has been a tussle going on in the industry between people who claim that the Nokia Lumia series will get Windows Phone 8 support and those who say that it won’t. Microsoft evangelist Nuno Silva recently stated that all Windows Phone sold till date will be supported by the "next major update” — which everyone took to be the Windows Phone 8 Apollo update. However, now industry news source The Verge reports the opposite.

Quoting an internal and unnamed source within Microsoft, the report states that internally Microsoft has no such plans. So Nokia Lumia phones will unfortunately not be supported by Windows Phone 8. In fact, right after the comment made by Silva, Microsoft issued a public statement saying they had nothing to share about the future updates of Windows Phone and that all apps in the marketplace right now will be supported in the next version.

Given the precision ambiguity of that statement, it is possible that Microsoft is still weighing in its options. The careful avoidance of mentioning anything about hardware might be to avoid saying no outright but it might also be to avoid saying anything at all because they a)don’t want to say yes either or b)are still not sure themselves.

Strategically speaking, it would give Microsoft some immediate install base if they allow existing Windows Phones to run Apollo. That would also keep current Windows Phone users, who can all be considered early adopters and hence patrons, happy and loyal. Technologically the handsets that will run Apollo can’t be all that different because they will be using ARM chips as well. And handsets like the Lumia 800 and 900 look quite capable of running a future version. From the sounds of it, Microsoft would not be looking to increase the specs for running Apollo. So performance parts should not be a problem. What remains to be seen is whether Microsoft comes up with some hardware twist to make Apollo unique and hence incompatible with older handsets.

New Windows 8 versions are much simpler than what we had for Windows 7 but this post still explains the differences between all four versions to ensure that consumers make the right decision for themselves.

Windows 8 Versions Explained: Which One Are You Gong to Buy:

1 Windows 8

The basic Windows 8 is what most users would want and it is definitely a well-featured OS for a price, which I am sure will be a bargain once it comes out. What it will not have are advanced features. It will come with everything that comes standard with Windows 8 along with apps like Media Player and Internet Explorer 10 and also Windows Store.

2 Windows 8 Pro

This is the version that every small to medium business owners would want. It comes with tools that let you manage data better and has virtualization options like Hyper-V. It also comes with advanced encryption options like file system encryption and security features like BitLocker. And it of course comes with everything that Windows 8 has.

3 Windows 8 Enterprise

Windows 8 Enterprise is the corporate version that will be given to companies that pay for Software Assurance licenses. It has everything that Windows 8 Pro has in addition to features that Enterprises require like PC Management, Deployment and Virtualization.

4 Windows 8 RT

Windows 8 RT (RunTime) is the pure Metro UI that will only be used on ARM devices. This version of the Windows will never be retailed and it will not available directly to the consumer. It will come installed on your phone, tablet or ultraportable computer and your manufacturer will be the one who will get it directly from Microsoft. This is the lighter version of Windows 8 that would not support legacy applications but it will be running on the ARM chips for mobile devices.

Microsoft will release more information as the launch draws closers, so watch this space.

Microsoft will be pushing Media Center to the Pro edition of Windows 8, which user will need to purchase the feature as a separate Media Pack as an add on to the system.

Media Center To Work Only On Windows 8 Pro

Looks like consumers to want all the premium features of Windows 8 including Media Center, will need the Windows 8 Pro edition. Since RT is for ARM device manufacturers only, Enterprise is for the corporate and Windows 8 is the base, Windows 8 Pro seems to be the version to go for if you are looking for every possible consumer feature.

Microsoft has only announced the four main versions so far and there’s been no word on pricing. However, it is clear that the edition containing Media Center will cost higher because the company has made it clear that Media Center as a feature will have to be bough separately with the Windows 8 Pro version. Even though the company has not introduced any rationale behind this decision, there’s one very obvious reason why they could be doing this — cutting down the price of the actual OS.

Media Center has several expensive licensing fees attached to it, such as Dolby Digital and these costs are passed on to the consumer every time they buy the OS or buy a PC with the OS installed. By separating the Media Center altogether, Microsoft is possibly trying to bring down the cost of the base version of Windows 8.

Offering the new OS at a really low price would give Microsoft and also Windows 8 as a platform the one thing they really need — adoption. They need to rapidly create an install base to attract developers and other partners. A low, low price point would really work in their favor in such a case. Since most people would not miss Media Center, it seems like a fair trade off to bring the base cost down all across the board.

Intel has announced its intended list of specifications for Windows 8 tablets and it includes the chipmaker’s upcoming Ivy Bridge chips.

Intel Ivy Bridge Processors Will Be Included Within Windows 8 Tablets

Intel has unveiled its own list of specifications for the upcoming Windows 8 tablets and one of the main components is the upcoming Ivy Bridge processor. It is going to be part of the Core series of chips and will feature better battery life management and processing power, making them fit for tablet use. Intel hopes that this will be enough to convince manufacturers to make Intel-based Windows 8 tablets. The conventional approach is to use ARM-based chips because of their lower battery consumption and greater processing power in terms of the ratio. And now that Windows 8 is available on ARM, it will be even easier to make Windows 8 tablets using chips from the likes of Qualcomm and NVIDIA. However, Windows 8 also puts x86 and hence Intel, at a position of advantage.

Intel chips will be able to run the full version of the legacy Desktop side of Windows 8, which means it will be able to run Windows applications the way we know them now. Even though it does not make sense to run the current Windows version of Photoshop on a tablet, it may be easier for companies to adapt existing applications instead of coding them from scratch. On top of that, when comparing pure processing power — Intel would win out over ARM.

Intel is planning for tablets in both dual-core and quad-core processor configurations. And these will all feature chips from Intel’s flagship Core i series of chips, instead of being the lower powered Atom line. Intel had concentrated on Atom in past as their offering to the mobile industry but that was changed recently to shift all focus back to the Core series.

Microsoft has released more information about Windows 8 Enterprise version that has been specifically made with large businesses in mind.

Windows 8 For The Enterprise: The Pro Version And Much More

Microsoft has released more information about the upcoming Windows 8 Enterprise version. This is the edition of Windows 8 that has been specifically designed to help large businesses and according to Microsoft, it has a lot of tools to ensure that.

The Enterprise version of Windows 8 is basically everything that the Pro version is with features that help mobile productivity, Enterprise class security, manageability and virtualization — all of which are essential to any business being run these days.

But the best feature is probably the ability to welcome the BYOD trend that has been slowly starting all over the world. BYOD or Bring Your Own Device is a new phenomenon but the want for it goes way back. Thanks to the advances in technology, employees can now bring in their own technology to office and work on it without risking any security or compatibility issues. This is not very common right now but it is definitely an emerging trend and one that will increase productivity over all employee satisfaction. So companies would definitely want it.

It usually creates a nightmare for the IT administrator to keep the employer and employee happy by letting them work on their own personal devices but at the same time being charged with safe guarding all the company data from loss, corruption and theft. However, all that is going to change with Windows 8.

Since Windows 8 is going to be running across the entire range of devices right now — from desktop to laptops, tablets and smartphones — all of those will be supported by the company that is already running on Windows 8. There will far fewer hiccups going forward with this and if Microsoft gets a good response, they will be able to streamline and fine tune the whole process.

After recently announcing their desire to trump the Ultrabook with a thinner, better Snapdragon based device, Qualcomm is now busy exploring a full array of options for new form factors that will be running on Windows 8.

Qualcomm Planning Multiple Form Factors For Windows 8

Qualcomm has apparently been hard at work in the background, developing multiple different devices that will run on Windows 8. The devices have both new and traditional form factors, so the company is not taking too many chances with the market as of yet. This announcement was made by Tim McDonough, the vice-president of Marketing at Qualcomm. So the news is definitely straight from the source.

It was only about two weeks back when we reported about Qualcomm planning to beat Intel at its own game by bringing out a thinner and lighter device running on the immensely popular Snapdragon processor. Since it essentially a mobile processor designed by ARM, there’s nothing preventing the device from having a prolonged battery life and a thinner profile because of the lack of a cooling fan for the CPU, which in this case is because it is passively cooled.

So according to the latest information, Qualcomm’s new array of devices will be going on a head-on collision of with Ultrabooks coming in from Intel’s side.

Interestingly, McDonough would not give out any details as to whether an ultrathin netbook powered by the Snapdragon S4 SoC was actually on the way for a 2012 launch. But he reassured everybody saying that Qualcomm’s chips will offer greater flexibility to OEM’s who can then use it to explore various different form factors in combination with Windows 8.

Since the chip can be used for anything from a smartphone to a tablet and up to a notebook and a convertible — it gives manufacturers and innovators enough room to experiment with various different form factors. McDonough outlined the whole process saying that any device the S4 powers will be characterized by super thin construction and great power efficiency, which means amazing battery life. We would say both are really great for us consumers.

Your PC is about to get turned on its head and innovated on, thanks to Windows 8 RT, which is the official name for Windows 8 on ARM.

Windows 8 RT Will Be The Base Of A Lot of Different PCs

Now that Windows is finally available on ARM, the PC as we have known it so far will never be the same again. ARM’s mobile chips and the SoC built around those chips will ensure that OEM’s and innovators get to experiment as much as they want with Windows 8 RT.

RT, which stands for RunTime and is basically the pure, distilled Metro UI that will run on ARM chips, will be distributed directly to manufacturers and will not be sold retail. It will basically not be sold directly to users of any kind.
Windows 8 running on ARM will have one major effect — it will produce thinner, lighter and more battery efficient devices that will run for a very long time. Microsoft themselves talked about how Windows RT will fuel innovation in this space and come up with PCs like never possible before.

RT will not include support for legacy apps that need the traditional desktop. But that does not mean you will be left without tools. Microsoft has already promised that there will be touch based Office on Windows 8 RT and developers are already being roped in by Microsoft to make more apps for the platform. Which means by the time you have the opportunity to buy one of these Windows 8 RT devices, the options for software tools will be quite expanded.

For regular consumers who are only looking for greater portability, cheaper price, better looks and better battery life — Windows 8 RT in many cases would theoretically win hands down. The only thing working in Intel’s favor right now (and also AMD’s for that matter) is that you need their x86 chips to run legacy apps. This would be very important for businesses. But for the common masses, it would not matter much. As a result, Windows 8 RT has the chance to be quite disruptive in the market.

Windows 8 Release Candidate version is coming much earlier than anticipated but then is it likely that the launch of Internet Explorer 10 is actually being held back because of it?

Is Internet Explorer 10 Waiting Windows 8 Release Candidate To Drop

Windows 8 is rapidly progressing towards reaching the Release Candidate stage. This is the stage where the software is almost ready to shipped out; most of the glitches have been ironed out by now and it is only being put out their to act as a taster for the masses and also to weed out the final few bugs before launch. There has been no official word on this but it is everywhere on the web.

According to authority sites ZDNet and The Next Web — Windows 8 RC will be dropping sometime in the middle of this month and so will Internet Explorer 10. However, there are different opinions on this.

Various tech focus sites are saying that the launch of Internet Explorer 10 is necessary to coincide with Windows 8. It cannot be either before or after because that will only leave confusion in its wake. Additionally, user experience will suffer if we do not get Internet Explorer.

The usual release schedule for Internet Explorer is in the middle of the year and with rumors of the Windows 8 Release Candidate coming in at the same time, it is possible that Microsoft sees the opportunity of releasing both together and maintain a harmonious user experience for Windows 8. After all, the release of IE10 is important but not as important as making sure that Windows 8 goes through the proper staging before releasing commercially.

In the meantime, Winunleaked.tk has been forthcoming about the actual time frame. According to a post made on the blog, Microsoft would be releasing Windows 8 in between end of May and beginning of June this year.

Looks like Microsoft has taken a lot of active interest in the development of Ultrabooks and has been working in tandem with Intel to bring them in to the market in a bigger way.

Microsoft Has Posted Its Own List Of Ultrabook Requirements

Microsoft has been overseeing the production of Ultrabooks just as Intel has been doing and the maker of the Windows 8 OS has also released its own set of requirements for ultrabooks to make sure that everything goes smoothly and that Windows 8 should work flawlessly on all of these Ultrabooks.

Small things like keyboard quality, smooth touchpad/mouse action, better and thinner chassis but above all else seems to be a great display and an even better touchscreen for the devices that do come with it. However, Microsoft has been going a step further and rejecting certain design limitations.

For example, Microsoft wants a solid experience for the screens on your typical clamshell Ultrabooks. They cannot shake or wobble when they are being touched to perform an action. Microsoft instead wants a solid feel to it that reminds people of holding a tablet and using.

Redmond is not happy at all with the current lines of devices that tablet manufacturer are supplying and as a result they have revised the specifications to make the manufacturers work on the display and make it stronger.

Ultrabooks for Windows 8 cannot happen without Microsoft, manufacturers will absolutely have to abide by them. But most of them cannot pay up for the increased manufacturing costs of building more solid components, so most of them are taking up Windows 7 licenses instead for now.

However, the situation is bound to improve with time as manufacturing costs come down and several processes are standardized. Microsoft’s push to get the ball rolling right now will make sure that only the best Ultrabooks run Windows 8 when the OS launches later this year.

Microsoft explains Windows 8 Metro Tiles in more detail and shows how they can be useful in a desktop scenario.

Insight In To Windows 8 Metro Tiles

The tiles on the Start Screen in Windows 8 are all about the visual impact on the user and making things easier on mobile devices. However, they can also be extremely useful for desktop users who have never used anything like it before. Microsoft recently made a blog post about it, detailing how the whole system works for the betterment of user experience.

Visual cue is one of the greatest things for the Metro. Users will not only see the graphics on the Metro tiles but also their bold colors. Forming color and spatial associations will help users to spot things faster.

The self-updating nature of the tile has already been discussed before but it bears repeating that they will help you stay connected and updated without actually running full apps.

Apps can actually schedule updates and publish information via push notifications. It can also update tiles in real time and share data. Tiles can be used to drag and drop items which will then be intelligently opened in the respective app.

So if you have an photo that you really like, you can drag it from your photo app and drop it on to a social network tile that will then open up the connected social networking app that starts uploading the photo to a photo host and gives you options to share your photo on multiple social networks. All of that can happen with one swift motion.

Also, there’s the Semantic Zoom — this is where you can zoom out of the Start Screen to only see clumps of tiles with just identifying icons on them. This helps you quickly move between a large collections and switch between groups of tiles really fast. So overall, desktops users are all set to have a great Windows 8 experience as well.

Windows 8 seems to be on a speedy road to completion and launch as Microsoft discusses near future plans of cutting in to the iPad’s market share with Windows 8 tablets.

Microsoft Wants To Cut Down iPad’s Market Share to 50% With Cheap Windows 8 Tablets

Microsoft is going all out when it comes to competing with Apple it seems. The Redmond-based IT giant is planning to push a barrage of sub-$300 tablets running on Windows 8 in to the market to take a chunk out of the iPad’s market share. These tablets will run both Windows 8 RT and Windows 8, meaning they will be based on both ARM chips (commonly used in mobile phones and tablets) and x86 chips (every chip that Intel makes).

Given that Intel was recently found to be working with vendors to push out as many as 32 different Windows 8 based tablet models by the end of this year, it is no wonder that Microsoft is planning to flood the market with low-cost tablets. And the partners involved are no small fries either. You have the likes of HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus and Toshiba — some of the biggest PC manufacturing companies in the world. All of the above mentioned would likely be working with x86 chips, especially the new Ivy Bridge processors that Intel recently introduced.

Sources told DigiTimes that Lenovo and Acer are particularly interested in hitting the $300 market and take on similarly priced, budget Android tablets. Which is basically another way to say Kindle Fire and B&N Nook Tablet.

Tablets above $300 usually work to compete with the iPad, which starts from $499 for the lowest, WiFi only model. It has proven to be hugely popular with the consumers and currently holds a whopping 70% market share. But Microsoft is planning to capture markets other than mainstream consumers, such as the education and enterprise markets in China. Any such move would help the cause of Windows 8 quite a lot.

If you want to add your newly bought hard drive to your computer in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

A disk drive that reads data stored on hard disks called Hard Drive.

Hard disk is a device for storing and retrieving digital information. It stores all of your computer programs and files.
If the drive is damaged for some reason, you will lose all information stored in that drive of your computer.

That why now-a-days people purchases external Hard disk for increasing the storage of the computer.
External hard disk is the best solution for backing up your computer files or documents in it.

If you want to add a hard drive in Windows 8, follow the instructions below.

1. Login to Windows 8 Consumer preview and make sure that your new hard disk is physically connected.

2. Open Desktop by pressing Windows + M or by clicking on Desktop from start menu.

3. Right click on the My Computer icon and from the menu that appears click on Manage option.

4. It opens Computer Management window. Click on Disk Management option on the left pane.

5. If you have installed a new hard disk then it will automatically be displayed with Initialize Disk box with the checkbox checked on the hard disk that is newly installed and needs to be initialized.

... Read more »

If you want to backup your registry in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

A full registry backup is useful if you experience a problem where one or more registry hives has been trashed (especially if it prevents OS boot) and you need to recover from it. That could be because of bad manual registry edits, malware, bad application or driver, disk/controller errors, and so on. It is also useful to some to retain multiple "snapshot” copies of the registry for reference or manual research and recovery, where no other method or record exists. In order to backup your Windows Registry, follow the instructions shown below.

1. Press Windows button to open Start Menu and type"regedit” without quotes.

2. Click on regedit in the search result to open Registry Editor.
Now navigate to File -> Export.

You will be asked to browse to where you want to save the backup registry file.

3. Your registryis now backed up.
You can use this file later to recover your computer’s registry.

To prevent applications being connected to internet in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

What is Firewall

A firewall is software or hardware that checks information coming from the Internet or a network, and then either blocks it or allows it to pass through to your computer, depending on your firewall settings.A firewall can help prevent hackers or malicious software (such as worms) from gaining access to your computer through a network or the Internet.

A firewall can also help stop your computer from sending malicious software to other computers.Here one must keep in mind that Firewall is not an antivirus, they are separate things.It just stands between the network and the operating system as a gatekeeper.

If you have multiple users in your system, and you want some users should not connect internet through some specific application, or you identified an application or service that automatically connects to Internet at background you can block that application or service being connected through internet. Alternatively, you can block the port no that is curently used by some application or process or services.

How to configure Windows Firewall to block an application

To block an application being connected to internet, follow the steps below:

1. Open Control Panel. Then type "Windows Firewall ” in the search box. Click Windows Firewall.

2. Then select advanced settings in the left sidepan .

3. In the new window appeared, select Outbound Rule in the left sidebar, then click Action in the menubar, and click New Rule .New outbound rule wizard will pop up i.e. you are going to make a protocol in the firewall.

4. In the new window, select program to make a new protocol related to any application program. (by default selection is set to program) . Click Next.

5. If you want to block all the programs in your system select All programms . But if you want to block a specific application from being co ... Read more »

To change Operating System name in the boot Screen in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

If you are using only windows 8 as your operating system in your PC, perhaps you need not to worry about changing the operating system name in boot loader. But do you use two or more operating system with Windows 8 as primary one? Are you bored with the same name, "Windows 8 Consumer Preview” appearing on the boot screen every day? Let’s tweak Windows 8 to show the operating system name, that I want to see.

How to change

There are three ways you can perform this change,

• 1. Change the boot.ini file in windows folder .
• 2. Change the Windows registry
• and the simplest one is, 3. to use command prompt to change the name.

to change the operating system name, follow the steps:

1. Press window +C to open charms bar. Click Search . In the Search box write Command prompt. Then right Click on the Command prompt icon and select Run as Administrator . It is mandatory to open command prompt in the administrative privilege
, because shortly after, whatever you are going to do is changing or modifying the boot loader. Without administrative privilege, access will be denied.

2. In the Command prompt, type bcdedit and hit enter. Note that, the commands are case sensitive and must use lower case. Immediately command prompt will show you details information about the boot loader. Here are few things we must clear to understand
what are actually going to be happened.

A. identifier: This parameter indicates the operating system that holds the bootstrap application.

B. device : In which drive the boot loader is present.

C. path: ... Read more »

If you want to change permission of metro applications in Windows 8 Consumer preview, go through the tutorial below.

Windows 8 brings a new user interface : Metro User Interface. The Metro UI user interface comes with new look, new features.
In the Consumer Preview version, windows brings new applications like Camera, Reader and thus reduce the need
of any third party software. Like the applications, their permissions are also different from other applications and thus have a sophisticated way to change the their permissions. This tutorial will guide you in the way of changing these permissions.

1. Press Windows to open Start menu. Left click on the application, (of which you want to change the permission)
to open that.

2. Press Windows + C to open the sidebar and click on Settings.

3. Now click on Permissions under Camera on the right pane.

4. Now disable or enable permissions according to the customisation you want to do.

Now you are done with the permission change for the application Camera. In the same way you can change the permission of other applications like
... Read more »

Xbox owners and lovers, get ready for your very own Spotify because Microsoft seems to be working on a similar service for the Xbox platform.

Microsoft Working On Music Streaming Service

Microsoft is apparently working on a music streaming service that it plans to unveil at the E3 gaming convention. This will be a service that won’t require any browser plugin and it will have cross-platform support. So other than Xbox owners, users can also get service on their Android and iOS devices. This service is currently referred to as Woodstock internally and it will allow people to stream music on their Xbox and other platforms. It will also be deeply integrated in to Facebook and still not need any browser plug in.

There were already reports going around about Microsoft launching a music service back in February this year. This current report comes from The Verge and it says the service will also include a ‘scan and match’ feature that will match songs that are already on the user’s local music library to songs available on the service. So you will never miss our on your music when you are away from your computer.

Microsoft will be entering a market that is currently dominated by popular and established services like Pandora and Spotify. So there are skeptics who aren’t entirely sure how well the service will perform. However, they are discounting the massive presence of the Xbox community.

As an Xbox feature, this will have an instant audience amongst all the Xbox Live users all over the world (or the US, if the service is region specific) and they are quite a large community. So that will provide the community with an instant launching pad from where it will have better chances to grow compared to the past attempts like Zune Pass and Urge.

Microsoft has announced that the Release Preview (Release Candidate) build of Windows 8 is almost ready and it will be released one month down the line in June.

It’s Official: Windows 8 ‘Release Preview’ Coming In June

After a lot of waiting and a lot of speculations, Microsoft has finally announced the ETA for the Release Preview build of Windows 8, which is the name Microsoft is using to denote the Release Candidate version of Windows 8. The company announced yesterday evening that they are almost ready with the build and it should be available for public consumption by June.

This announcement was made by Microsoft President Steven Sinofsky whilst he made an appearance at the Windows 8 Dev Days event held in Japan. It was then talked about in more details via the official Build Windows 8 Twitter feed.

The Release Preview is the final stage before the OS goes on sale later this year and it follows the current beta build that is available and called the Consumer Preview build. The Consumer Preview came out in February 29th, so Microsoft is clearly working at a fast pace to push Windows 8 out as fast as they can. The latest rumors to emerge from Redmond and elsewhere suggest that the final version will go in to commercial production in October.

Windows 8 is the biggest bet Microsoft has taken in recent times and it will bring about a change that is bigger than what Vista did. However, given the way Vista was hyped up and then flopped in the market, there’s a lot of trepidation about this new OS. However, the preview builds have been quite well received so far and it is clearly one of the most talked about things in the tech world right now.

Microsoft will be tying everything in to Windows 8 in the coming days and that includes services like Xbox Live and every device class — Desktop, Laptop, Tablet and Smartphone

If you want to change tile size in Windows 8 Consumer preview, go through the tutorial below.

Windows 8 brings a new user interface : Metro User Interface. The new user interface comes with new look, new features. A new feature of this Metro UI is that it shows all installed applications in tiles. Every tile can be either small or large, though they have same height, they can have different width. If you don’t want to keep the default tile size, then you can customise this tile size just by one click. It also helps to redesign the appearance sequence of all tiles. This tutorial will guide you to change the default width of these tiles.

1. Press the Window button to go to the Start menu.

2. Choose the tile, of which you want to change the width, i.e., make it small if it is large or make it large if it is small. Now right click on that tile. Now you can see a tick sign in the right corner of that tile. You can also see a bar in the bottom of the Metro UI.
As I have chosen Mail and want to make it small, so in the right of the bottom bar, i click on Smaller.

3. Now you can see that the tile size of the Mail tile has been made smaller.

4. If you want to make the tile larger, then in the bottom bar, you will see Larger in the place of Smaller.

If you want to know how to check whether your CPU Supports Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) or not, go through the tutorial below.

What is SLAT?

SLAT or "Second Level Address Translation” technology is mainly used by Hyper-V to perform more VM memory management functions and reduce the overhead of translating guest physical addresses to real physical addresses. As result, Hypervisor CPU time is significantly reduced, and more memory is saved for each VM. Second Level Address Translation technology is introduced in both Intel and AMD.
Intel calls their SLAT technology EPT(Extended Page Table). This technology was first introduced in the Nehalem microarchitecture found in Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors.
AMD, introduced SLAT technology in their third generation Opteron processors (code name Barcelona). They called it Rapid Virtualization Indexing (RVI) technology.

Windows 8 has Hyper-V as a vitalization platform. SLAT will be required for Hyper-V in Windows 8.

Follow the steps to check if your CPU Supports Second Level Address Translation (SLAT).

Steps to check if your CPU Supports Second Level Address Translation (SLAT)

1. At first you need to download CoreInfo from here and extract it in the root of the C:\ drive (the drive where you have installed Windows 8).

2. Search Command Prompt by typing cmd in the Apps Search field ofWindows 8 charm screen (Metro UI).

3. Right click on  ... Read more »

To know, how to configure host file to block any website/IP in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

What is windows Hosts file?

Windows Hosts file is One of the less known, but important files included with Microsoft Windows. Hosts file is a simple text file without a file extension. In windows 8 you will find this file in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc location. Not necessarily C:\, it can be varied according to where you have installed Windows 8. Windows hosts file maps or overrides IP addresses before accessing a DNS (Domain Name Server) . Now a day, the Hosts file plays a more protective role in blocking ads and stopping spyware.

Blocking ad servers and malicious websites is really a tough task. There are many utilities in the market to keep ads blocked, remove malicious spyware, and scan for viruses. Most of this unwanted content comes from known ad servers and known malicious websites. If you can detect these malicious ad servers, you can block these servers using the power of the Windows HOSTS file. Using hosts file you may also trigger on the parental control by enlisting the websites that you want not to access from your computer.

Steps to configure hosts file to block/ unblock any website/ip in Windows 8

Suppose you want to block an ad server or a website (www.abcd.com). You need to add a line in your default Windows Hosts file to accomplish this. Follow the steps mentioned below. Following method is true for any website or ad server both. So, www.abcd.com can be a particular website or an ad server.
1. First of all navigate to C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc. Here you will see the Windows Hosts file. This file don’t has any extension.

2. Right-click on that file and Open with Notepad. The files will look like this:

3. Now, suppose you want to block www.abcd.com you need to add the following line in the default hosts file:
127.0.0.1 www.abcd.com # ad server for ABCD company

The texts after # sign are comment to identify the site.

... Read more »

If you want to create a Context Menu option to copy an entire text file to the Clipboard in Windows 8, go through the tutorial below.

Sometimes you store some important information (like contact information, address details or any kind of signature texts that you need to add at the end of any document) in different .txt files and you may frequently need those .txt information to use them in other documents or form filling jobs. You first need to open those source .txt file using notepad, then need to select all the texts in that file and at last the copy operation. When you are doing a heavy copy-paste job, it becomes very time consuming because of iteration of these steps. What if you could do copy to clipboard operation with a simple context menu item instead? Yes, it is possible.

Using a little registry hacking it can be done easily. We can even hide it behind the Shift + Right-Click menu so that it won’t waste space on the Context menu. That means you have to hold down shift key while performing the Right-click operation on a text file to view Copy to Clipboard option in Context menu.

Follow the steps to know how to create a Context Menu option to copy an entire text file to the Clipboard.

Steps to create a Context Menu option to copy an entire text file to the Clipboard

1. At first you need to download Copy To clipboard reg.zip archive file from here and extract it. You will find two REG files.

2. Now, Double-click on AddCopyToClipboard.reg file. You will get a security warning. Click on Run option.

3. User Account Control (UAC) dialog box will pop up. click on Yes option.

4. You will get a registry editor dialog box. Select Yes option to continue the process.

5. Now, a registry editor confirmation message will appear. You have successfully added keys and values contained in CopyContentsToClipboardTXT.reg file to the registry.

... Read more »

If you want to know, how to create a fully functional Recycle Bin in the Taskbar in Windows 8, go through the tutorial below.

You may want to create a fully functional Recycle Bin in the Taskbar. In case of multitasking when you have a lot of Windows open on your computer, accessing the recycle bin can be difficult sometimes. Use this quick tip to create a fully functional recycle bin in your taskbar.

Follow the steps to create a fully functional Recycle Bin in the Taskbar.

Steps to create a fully functional Recycle Bin in the Taskbar

1. First of all Right-click on the taskbar, and unlock the taskbar by unchecking the Lock the taskbar option. Go to Toolbars->New Toolbar from the context menu.

2. Now, you will be asked to select a folder. Type the following address in the Folder text box:-

%appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Click on Select Folder option.

3. Now, you will notice that the Quick launch toolbar is all the way over on the right in the taskbar. Click on the dotted lines and then drag the Quick launch toolbar to the left to stretch it. Right-click on the dotted lines or on the free space of Quick launch toolbar and uncheckShow Text and Show Title options from the context menu to get rid of the text.

4. Again, Right-click on the dotted lines or on the free space of Quick launch toolbar and go to View from the context menu and select Large Icons.

... Read more »

To create a Microsoft Account in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

We have already discovered that Microsoft added lots of new features to the Windows 8 and one of them is Built in integration of Web Account . There are two types of account you can create

1. Local Account : The traditional user account that we have used till now with the other versions of windows or any operating system. Local accounts are also subcategorized into three :

• 1. Local Administrator
• 2. Standard User and
• 3. Administrator. This concept is very same with the other Operating system.

2. Microsoft Account : The innovative idea of Microsoft will change your user experience. Microsoft added built in integrity of email integrity, where the user account is the email account itself.

A Microsoft account is an email address and password that you use to sign in to Windows. You can use any email address, but it’s best if you choose the one you already use to communicate with friends and sign in to your favourite websites. You don’t need a Microsoft account to use Windows 8 Consumer Preview, but we highly recommend that you use one.
When you sign in to your PC with a Microsoft account, you’ll connect your PC to the people, files, and devices you care about.

Why we should we Use it?

A.Associate the most commonly used Windows settings with your user account. Saved settings are available when you sign in to your account on any Windows 8 PC. Your PC will be set up just the way you are used to!
Easily reacquire your Metro style apps on multiple Windows 8 PCs. Settings such as your lock screen picture, desktop background, user tile, browser favourites and history, spell check dictionaries, Explorer settings, mouse settings, and accessibility settings, among many others are now associated with your Windows 8 account and stored in the cloud.
The app’s settings and last-used state persist across all your Windows 8 PCs.

B. Save sign-in credentials for the different apps and websites you use and easily get back into them without having to enter credentials every time.

C.Automatically sign in to apps and services that use Windows Live ID for authentication.

How can I create a Microsoft Account

If you are installing Windows 8, Windows will give you option to create a Microsoft account as a part of installation. But if you are using local account you have to change your account type from control panel.

At the time of Windows 8 installation

If you are using Dial up connection or any internet connection that requires network set up then skip this option and create a local account. Read further how to switch to a Microsoft account from local account. Otherwise, if windows can detect it automatically, go for the help below.

1. After installation and reboot follow proceed for the express settings or custom settings whichever you likes. Next you will be served to choose account type. In the textbox put your email address. Follow the furth ... Read more »

If you want to create a new partition in hard drive in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

To create a new partion, you need unallocated space.
Unallocated space is basically disk space that is not formatted or not prepared for storage.
To create unallocated space, you need to shrink your hard drive. When you shrink you hard disk the remaining space becomes unallocated.
To do this,

1. Right click your My Computer icon and select Manage .

2. Now in the Computer management window, click on the Disk Management on the left pane.

3. Now select the drive from which you want to make a partition.
Rigt Click on the selected drive and choose Shrink Volume

4. There you have to enter the amount of space to shrink in megabytes (1024 megabytes = 1 gigabyte).
For example if you want to create a 1 gigabyte partition, enter 1024 megabytes in the text box. Now click "Shrink.”

5. You will then see the region of unallocated space (shaded black). Remember, this space is not yet usable.
Now you have to format the unallocated space. This will allow the space to become usable.
Right click in the region of unallocated space and select "New Simple Volume.”

... Read more »

To create Picture Password and log in into Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

What is Picture Password?

Well, Microsoft added a lots of security feature in windows 8. Microsoft added two new method of log in into the system.

1. Picture Password : The picture password feature is designed to highlight the parts of an image that are important to you, and it requires a set of gestures that allow you to accomplish this quickly and confidently. Obviously it is very secure, because mathematics shows that even a simplest image can create millions of gestures and highlights.

2. PIN : Personal Identification Number or PIN is used here as the same way you use in ATM. It is a four digit number, through which you can sign in to your account .

Experience a new way of sign in into windows with Picture Password that you never faced earlier versions of Windows . Get out of the traditional password matching mechanism of signing in. Picture password is a sequence of gestures or actions performed on the selected image during set up. This actions in sequence is itself the password. To Sign in you must remember the image, the position, the action you taken on that position of that particular image in sequence. Simple, idea shows that, it is possible millions numbers of permutation of password keeping all the three (image, action & positions of actions taken) in consideration whether normal passwords can be guessed by finitely computation. i.e., it is more secure than you can imagine as ‘ Secure’

Why should we use it ?

First of all it must be known that Windows 8 is not only launched for Personal computers, but also for tablet PC, windows phone etc. touch devices. It is easier to make a gesture or tap or swipe on screen than a lengthy password in a touch device like windows phone or tablet PC. Secondly, it serves unimaginable security. One can only log on to the system if only one knows the sequence of actions you set up. PIN log in can be breached, because PIN no is finite and fewer permutations are possible, so one can hit the PIN by random try and error. But this is something, you cannot guess and try random. Thirdly, it is still separated than password. If you use picture password, your account password will be remain same. One cannot modify the picture password without having any a prior knowledge of your Account password. Fourthly, Microsoft does not restrict to use pre specified images or batch of images provided during installation. You are free to choose your own selected image. So, from every corner, Picture password is advantageous than traditional password log in system.

How to create & Use Picture Password in Windows 8

To create Picture password, follow the steps,

1. Activate Charm’s bar by windows key+ C . Click Settings . Then Click More Settings in the right corner of the sidebar.

2. Move to the User tab or click the User tab.

... Read more »

In a move to capture the eBook market for its upcoming Windows 8 OS, Microsoft has entered in to multiple deals with Barnes & Noble for its Nook brand of eBook readers.

Microsoft Buys In To Barnes & Nobles Nook Business

Microsoft is investing $300 million into Barnes & Noble — the makers of the Nook line of eBook readers. This news started spreading on Monday morning and was quickly followed up with another piece of news that had Microsoft paying an extra $180 million for revenue sharing on an upcoming Windows 8 version of the Nook App. And later, it was found out that they were also paying $120 million to NewCo — a new subsidiary owned by Barnes & Nobles that will hold the entire Nook business. So put together, it is clear that Microsoft is working its way in to the Ebook business and has already spent $600 million on it.

Microsoft has thus become only the latest player in the market where players like Apple and Google are already working on providing these services to their users through their own means. Both of them have tablets and both have their own brand of eBook services. Out of the two, only Apple has a fully branded eBook experience — iBooks. Google has both the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook Apps for the Android (as does the iPad) and has it own Google Books initiative.

Microsoft does not have an eBook business so far and that is what these deals with B&N are all about. Windows 8 will thus serve up eBooks from B&N primarily and also hopefully through its own version of Amazon’s Kindle App. But only the Nook app will generate separate revenue for Microsoft thanks to this deal.

The partnership between the two will ensure that Microsoft has a trusted content provider in this regard whilst B&N has a company that will help them get more exposure and stay relevant in the eBook business that is currently being dominated by Amazon and its Kindle.

Windows 8 is not that far away and it makes sense to wait a few more months if you are looking to buy a new PC right now or soon.

Why You Should Delay Your PC Purchase For Windows 8

If you are in the market for a new PC or soon will be, it will work in the long run if you wait it out a few more months till Windows 8 launches. Windows 8 will be launching in October this year, according to the latest rumors, and with it will be coming a host of new software and hardware features that PC buyers will miss out on if they invest in a new rig right now. Besides, even if you don’t want the new thing, this release will also force down prices of the existing PCs which will then be a generation older. So it will work out in your favor anyway.

So if you can afford to wait and buy, you will be able to take advantage of the two major changes in the PC world. The first is Intel’s Ivy Bridge. Though officially it is already out there, Ivy Bridge is actually waiting on Windows 8 to come in to its full form. PCs designed to work with this new processor will only come to the market this Fall with Windows 8.

The second change is touch. Windows 8 is designed to be touch-first (at least its Metro side is) and this will make PC makers innovate on the kind of PCs that they are making. It will force them to integrate touch in to their systems and thus pave way for a new live of software applications. Hopefully, this whole system will result in new and innovative tools that you would want to use. And all of this will happen by the end of this year.

So if you can afford to wait, you will be able to use Windows 8 on the right kind of hardware and it just might make things that much better than the current installs of Windows 8 which are running on non-optimized hardware.

Microsoft has just released a set of brand new features for its SkyDrive cloud storage service and is now competing with the likes of DropBox and Google Drive.

Microsoft Launches SkyDrive With New Drag And Drop Features

On Monday, the last day of April, Microsoft added a set of brand new features to its SkyDrive cloud storage service. Just a month or so ahead of the Windows 8 Release Preview, this new update to SkyDrive adds features for remote accessing PCs (called ‘Fetch’), new storage options and also the ability to access SkyDrive from iOS and Windows smartphones.

SkyDrive now allows users to drag and drop media and photo files from their Windows desktop to their cloud accounts. And in fact, Microsoft is offering the last free 25GB accounts of SkyDrive to old users. So if you’ve have your Windows Live ID for some time now, you might be eligible for getting a free 25GB storage, especially oif you have already used the service before April 22. This is much better than the 5GB Google Drive is offering and definitely better than the 2GB free account that DropBox offers, especially if you are using a Windows PC as well as Windows phone. There’s also a preview client for OS X Lion, which brings the service to Mac users as well. the only service missing right now is on Android.

Microsoft has timed it just right so that the news waves from cloud service launches from Google, Samsung and Sony can be countered. Google Drive was launched this week as well.

Microsoft is concentrating in making the experience as smooth as possible for the user and making sure that everything works without any confusion. There are no pop-ups or dialog boxes. Just simple drag and drop. The SkyDrive app comes bundled with Windows 8 as of the Consumer Preview build.

Toshiba claims that its upcoming Touchscreen enabled All-in-One model meets Microsoft’s requirements for a true touchscreen experience on Windows 8.

Toshiba All-in-One Coming To End Your Windows 8 Touchscreen Woes

Earlier this month, Toshiba debuted its humongous 13inch tablet device, that is currently the world’s largest true tablet device to be found in the mainstream. But that wasn’t the only thing they released — coming up this summer is an all-in-one model that comes with a large display and a capacitive touchscreen.

Toshiba claims it to be the first Touchscreen PC for Windows 8 — an OS that has not even reached Release Candidate yet. Or as Microsoft has named it — Release Preview. But this claim is being made by the company by virtue of the model’s capacitive touchscreen display. This is the same technology that most touch-enabled smartphones use. Other all-in-one desktops in the market most use ‘optical’ touchscreen technology where IR beams are fired from the bezels to ‘see’ where the user is placing his finger.

These all-in-one models are like Apple’s iMacs, as in they have every performance part tucked away behind the display and therefore there is no separate cabinet. The displays come in two different sizes — 21.5inch and 23inch. It comes equipped with USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0 port. There’s also HDMI input for connecting external devices. The configurations go up to 16GB of RAM, 3TB of storage, optional Blu-ray and a TV Tuner. So it is being targeted at the home crowd as the PC alternative to a TV.

The screens have a 1920×1080 resolution, meaning it is a full HD display. So it can natively display 1080p videos without shrinking the image down. The base model price for the 21.5inch is going to be $600 and the same for the 23inch is going to be $880. But the capacitive touchscreen will set you back another $150 on top. However, given the initial hands one reviews from critics and the detailed specs — it does indeed look like a perfect fit for Windows 8.

To create PIN and log in into Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

What is PIN and why use PIN to sign in?

Well, Microsoft added a lots of security feature in windows 8. Microsoft added two new method of log in into the system.

1. Picture Password : The picture password feature is designed to highlight the parts of an image that are important to you, and it requires a set of gestures that allow you to accomplish this quickly and confidently. Obviously it is very secure, because mathametics shows that even a simplest image can create millions of gestures and highlights.

2. PIN : Personal Identification Number or PIN is used here as the same way you use in ATM. It is a four digit number, through which you can sign in to your account .

Why should we use it ?

First of all it must be known that Windows 8 is not only launched for Personal computers, but also for tablet PC, windows phone etc. touch devices. It is easier to use an unique PIN than a lengthy password in a touch devices like windows phone or tablet PC. Secondly, it
gives you a two layer of protection of your acount. If you log in with your PIN, password will be unchanged. And any intruder can not modify this PIN without having knowledge of your password. There will be option to use your password to sign in. Thirdly, It is faster than the contemporary method of password verification.

How to create & Use PIN in Windows 8

To create PIN, follow the steps,

1. Activate Charm’s bar by windows key+ C . Click Settings . Then Click More Settings in the right corner of the sidebar.

2. Move to the User tab or click the User tab.

3. Look for the Sign In Options . Click Create a PIN button.

... Read more »

In order to delete your application history in Windows 8 Consumer preview, go through the tutorial below.

The Application History stores the log for all applications in Windows. You can delete this history quite easily in Windows 8 Consumer
Preview.

This tutorial will guide you to that way. Follow the instruction carefully.

1. Press Windows + I to open the sidebar and then click on More PC settings.

2. In the PC Settings, switch to the General tab. There you will see the Delete History button
under App Switching. Click on this button to delete application history.

3. After successful completion, it will show a messege "Done!” on the right side of the Delete History button.

You will also observe that it not only delete the application history, but also close open switched applications.

If you want to disable the UAC Notifications in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

What is UAC notification?

UAC is short form of "User Account Control” notification.
The management of user accounts in Windows has been started with Windows Vista.
Malwares and viruses have greater control of the computer and thus better attacking power, when it is running with administrative privilege.
UAC was designed to enable general users to run their computers as a standard user rather than as administrator. Most users don’t have an in depth knowledge or
alertness about malwares and thus easily attacked by admitting malwares to run as administrator.
A computer is more secure against attack if it is running with fewer privileges.
But if you dont like the UAC notification showing all the time, then there is a way to completely disable the UAC notification in Windows 8 .

1. Press Windows button from the keyboard to open Start menu.
Type "UserAccountControlSettings” in the start menu an hit ENTER

2. It will open "User Control Account Settings” Dialogue box.

3. Now you can disable the UAC notification by changing the status of the slider to Never Notify .

Click OK to continue.
From this time on, it will never ask you again for permitting any program.

If you want to format a hard drive in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

Formatting a hard drive erases all the information in the disk.

It tests the disk to make sure all sectors are reliable, marks bad sectors and try to recover those; creates internal address tables that it
later uses to locate information.

As it erases all the data so,it also removes all the corrupted files and viruses from that drive.
There are the steps given below to format a hard drive in Windows 8 Consumer Priview .

1.Open My Computer by pressing Windows + E .

2.Right click to the drive which you want to format and from the option select format .

3.It opens a dialogue box containing the name of the drive and some other relevant informations,
which you have selected for formatting.

Select the Quick Format using NTFS(Default) file system and click START .

4.It shows a warning saying ” Formatting will erase ALL the data on the disk” .
Click OK to continue.

5.It takes a while to complete the formatting process.
When the formatting is done it’s open up a dialogue box saying "Format Complete” .

... Read more »

If you want to find the MAC Address in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

MAC(Media Access Control)address are permanent address of your NIC(Network Interface Card).
MAC addresses are also known as hardware addresses or physical addresses as this address is hard coded in the NIC.
They uniquely identify an adapter on a LAN. MAC addresses are 12-digit hexadecimal numbers having 6 fields separated by a hyphen (-). Each field is of 2 digit.
The first three fields are used to indicate the Vendor Id, i.e., unique for the manufacturer of the NIC.
The next three field are used to uniquely identify each NIC of that manufacturer.
If you have both wired and wirelessLAN ports, then
in that case you will have 2 MAC addresses each for different LAN. If you want to find the MAC addresses for your adapters, then follow the instructions given below.

1. Press Windows button to open the Start Menu and then type "cmd” without quotes.

2. Open "cmd.exe” and type "ipconfig /all” without quotes and hit ENTER.
It will show you the MAC address along with some other details such as IP Address for all the adapters.

There is an another process by which you can find MAC address of your computer.

... Read more »

If you want to install Windows 8 without a DVD, follow to the tutorial below.

If you are unable to install Windows 8 consumer preview from the installation DVD, then there is another way.
You can install Windows 8 by using USB drive also.
In order to install Windows 8 from a USB drive, you need an 4GB or larger USB flash drive.
You will need to format the disk and erase anything currently on it before using it.

A. First Download Windows 8 Consumer Preview from Microsoft .Download the ISO file of the Windows 8 Consumer preview. It is a disk image file which you can burn to a disc or load on a USB flash drive.

B. Download the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool from 
Microsoft.

After downloading the both file follow the steps to continue.

1. Double click on Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe and click "run” when prompted.

2. Click Next to install the software.

3. Now open the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool by double clicking on it.
Hit the browse button to navigate the folder where you stored the Windows 8 Consumer preview ISO file.

Click ... Read more »

If you want to lock your keyboard in Windows 8, see the tutorial below.

Unknowingly by pressing several keys on the keyboard sometimes remove or modify urgent information from the computer. These extra keystrokes become much irritating when you are doing any serious work and suddenly you take a break for some other work having laptop on your lap. You have to do several Ctrl + Z to get rid of this messy thing and get back your previous work. To prevent this problem, users may lock their keyboards so that the information and the entire operating system can become invincible.

To lock the keyboard in Windows 8 you need to download and install "Toddler Keys”which is easily available on the internet.

After installing the toddler keys you need to follow the certain steps.

1. Press Windows button to go to your Start menu.

2.From the given option available select Desktop.

3.After installing the software you can see the shortcut icon of the Toddler Keys in the desktop.
At the right side of the taskbar there is a notification icon.
Click on that icon, then go to Toddler Keysfrom the option available.

4.Now Right Click on the Toddler Keysicon and from the options choose"Lock Keyboard”.

5.To disable "Lock Keyboard” repeat the steps 3 and 4.

... Read more »

If you want to make your Computer press a Key every (t) Seconds in windows 8, go through the tutorial below.

Have you ever needed to press a particular key repeatedly after a certain time interval? Suppose you need to press your space key in every 1 minute of time interval or you need to send a particular word (e.g., waiting) and followed by an Enter key. You don’t need to be there all the time, in front of your PC to perform this kind of works. In both cases, you can make your PC do the works automatically.

Follow the steps to make your Computer press a Key every (t) Second.

Steps to make your Computer press a Key every (t) second in windows 8

1. At first you need to download AutoHotkey from here and install it.

2. Now create a new script. Right-click-> New –> AutoHotkey Script.

3. Once you’ve done that, edit the script and at the end of the script Paste the following code :

#Persistent
SetTimer, PressTheKey, 900000
Return

PressTheKey:
Send, {Space}
Return

And Save the script.

4. This simple script will press the Spacebar in every 15 minutes interval. You can easily adjust the time of interval. The number 900000 in the script signifies the amount of milliseconds between two presses. So, for example, if you wanted to change the time to 10 minute, you have to replace 900000 with (10 X 60 X 1000) = 600000.

5. You can also set any other desired key or even a word to be sent after a certain interval. You just need to change the Send, {Space} line. You can add any word or letters, o ... Read more »

To know, how to remove the watermark from WIndows 8 Consumer Preview desktop, go through the tutorial below.

You must have seen the small watermark on the bottom right corner of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview desktop background. It says ”
Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Evaluation copy. Build 8250 ". Though it is small, but still the desktop doesn’t look fully clean due to the
presence of this watermark. So you may want to remove this watermark.

This tutorial will show you the way to remove this watermark.
Before starting this tutorial you should know the fact that, this watermark removal will work only if you select a single picture as your desktop background.
If you have changing desktop background, then this method will not work.

1. Select the wallpaper which you want as your wallpaper. Right click on it and select Set as Desktop Background to set that wallpaper.

2. Now navigate to C:\Users\User Acccount\App Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\CachedFiles\ .

There you will see a watermarked version of the image, you have set as wallpaper.

3. Now copy it’s name. Open the original image change that file’s name to this name. Resize the original picture to your desktop’s resolution
(e.g. :1200X800 or 1366X768 etc) with your favourite image application. You can do this form Paint or Microsoft Office Picture Manager
also. Next copy paste this image to the above mentioned folder.It will prompt you for replacing the file existing there.

4. Now log off from your current user accout and agin login. You will see the watermark free desktop background in action.

If you want rename your Windows 8 Computer, read to the tutorial below.

During the time of installation process it asks for your Computer Name. There is also might be a situation when you want to change your default Computer name.
You can change the default My Computer name to your name or your favourite character’s name etc.
To change your computer’s name you must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group.
If you want to rename your Windows 8 Computer, read the instructions carefully.

1. Press Windows button to open Start menu.

2. Now you can see many options are available there on the start menu. From that option click on the Desktop .

3. Right Click on My Computer icon and select Properties from the menu that appears.

4. It will show you the basic description about your computer.
Now click on Change Settings under Computer Name, Domain, Workgroup Settings.

5. The System Properties window will appear in front of you.
At the bottom you will find a Change button. Click on that button.

... Read more »

To start Windows 8 in safe mode , refer to the tutorial below.

What is windows 8 safe mode

Windows safe mode is a troubleshooting mode of Windows Operating system, which starts operating system with at most necessary resources. It will load basic files and device drivers that are necessary to run windows 8.
In safe mode of windows, all advanced graphics functionality, additional unimportant process & services are not loaded. That’s the reason why we use safe mode for trouble shoot windows bug. So any process or application, preventing
windows to load normally will remain disabled, and we can debug this problem. When windows load in safe mode, graphics functionality is kept at minimum. That’s why Safe mode is quite ugly, large icons, no aero effect & so on. One must keep it in mind that
whenever Windows loads in safe mode by default it will dump you in Administrator Account . So, be careful, whatever will you goanna want to perform, will be reflected on overall windows.

If you are experienced with how to enter in safe mode in other versions of windows, then sorry dear, you cannot enter in windows 8 safe modes as you did with earlier versions of windows. Normally, in case of windows Xp,or Vista & 7,
F8 key is pressed just when boot loader starts. But in Windows 8 , by default Safe mode is disabled and you have to Enable it manually at least once from windows. Then you can enter in safe mode whenever you wish.

How to enter in safe mode

Frankly speaking, there are three popular way to enter in safe mode (or configure to enter in safe mode).

1. Using Windows Advanced Settings

2. Changing System Configuring (MSConfig)

3. Editing Windows Registry via Command Prompt or manually.

A. Using Windows Advanced Settings

1. Press Windows + c to activate charm’s bar. Click Settings . Then Click More Settings on the right bottom corner of Charm’s bar.

2. Move to the General Tab and Scroll to find Advanced Start Up. Click Restart to open advanced startup mode. & wait for restart. While window restart, a window will open, Click Trouble Shoot .Then Click Advanced Option. In the new window appeared, Click  ... Read more »

If you want to know how to use BitLocker in Windows 8, go through the tutorial below.

what is BitLocker?

BitLocker Drive Encryption (get details) is a full disk encryption feature that comes with the Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Microsoft’s Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. BitLocker can be used to encrypt an entire fixed drive. By default it uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm in Cipher-block chaining (CBC) mode with a 128 bit key. Not only that, it also provides the Elephant diffuser for additional disk encryption specific security, which is not not provided by Advanced Encryption Standard.

Steps to Enable BitLocker

Follow the steps to know how to enable BitLocker in your Windows 8 PC.

1. Right-click on a drive, and select Turn on BitLocker option from the context menu to encrypt the entire drive.

2. Now, you need to choose a password that will be used to unlock the drive. Retype the password in the second text field and click on Next.

3. Next, you will be asked to choose a method to store your recovery key. In case you forget your password, this recovery key is needed to unlock the drive. You may save the recovery key in a flash drive or can save it in any location of your computer. If you wish you can also print the recovery key. Windows 8 comes with another option that you can save your key file to SkyDrive.

4. If you choose Save to SkyDrive option. Saving Recovery key to SkyDrive progress bar will appear.

And at the end of the saving process you will get the following message:-

... Read more »

If you want to use event viewer to find the booting time of your machine, then follow the tutorial below.

What is Event Viewer?

Since 1993, Window NT has Event Viewer in it. This centralised operating system component keeps track of all the events happened in the computer from the beginning. This let the administrators and normal users see the events occured. It keeps track of events from booting the machine to any problematic shutdown event, any settings change to any application installed and all other events. If you want to know whoever used your computer in your absence and whatever he has done from the Event Viewer. The Event Viewer has three log sources:System, Application and Security.
Only the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (lsass.exe) can directly write to the Security log.
System and Application log sources are maintained by the Windows operating system and Windows applications respectively.
If you want to know the booting time of your machine form the Event Viewer, follow the instructions given below.

1. To open the Event Viewer type "event viewer” into the Windows Start Menu and press ENTER.

2. It will open Event Viewer and you will be able to see what is going on or went on in your computer.

3. Now navigate to Applications and Services -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Diagnostics-Performance in the left pane of the Event Viewer .

... Read more »

A recent official statement from Microsoft says the company has chosen to support Dolby Digital Plus on Windows 8.

Dolby Digital Plus Added To Windows 8

Microsoft has announced support for Dolby Digital Plus on Windows 8. According to the official statement, it will be supported all across the Windows 8 platform, including Windows RT that will be running on ARM processors. This announcement was penned by Tami Reller, CFO and CMO of Windows and Windows Live at Microsoft.

This is what she had to say about the agreement: -

"”With the incredible growth of online download and streaming media, particularly for video content, this agreement ensures a great audio experience for those consumers who wish to download or stream TV and movies containing Dolby Digital Plus. Additionally, all of their existing and future home videos recorded with Dolby Digital Plus audio will work great on Windows 8 right out of the box.”

As opposed to the THX certification, which is primarily profit driven for device manufacturers, support for Dolby Digital Plus is actually going to be useful for consumers.

Dolby has definitely been pushing for the certification as something that would really workout well for the consumer by enabling them to enjoy cinematic sound everywhere they go on every device. Provided that the device supports it of course. And it is true for most part. For consumers who are into streaming and downloading a lot of media content, this would be quite the helpful thing to have.

Since the ARM version of Windows 8 will also be carrying the Dolby-decoder, tablets and possibly even smartphones running Windows 8 would be able to take advantage of this decoder. This would really help Microsoft use it as a selling point for portable device with great entertainment features. It will come in handy whilst competing with the likes of Apple’s iPad and the varied number of Android devices.

Now here’s something that is more than just a rumor — speed test reports from US wireless Carriers T-Mobile and Verizon show evidence of Windows Phone 8 devices being tested on their networks.

Windows Phone 8 Devices Found On Speed Test Reports

Here’s the greatest confirmation anyone has provided so far about the existence of Windows 8 Phone devices on any US wireless carrier. Devices running Windows Phone OS 8.0 have been spotted on speed test reports from both Verizon and T-Mobile, confirming two things — the phones are up and running with the future OS and they are definitely coming to the two carriers mentioned here.

The names that show up on the speed test result also show that the phones will be coming with IEMobile 10 and there are two devices identified from the series — Nokia Fluid and Qualcomm Fluid. Whilst it is obvious that Nokia is going to be amongst the first to push out next generation Windows Phone devices, the second one is likely to be an HTC or Samsung device. Both of those companies are known for making phones based on Qualcomm devices.

If the respective companies have already begun testing, it is proof that they are in late stages of development and phones should be able to go out for real world testing soon enough. Which means who should be seeing "spotted in the wild” rumors with blurry shots of phones soon enough. Samsung has been quite vocal about making a Windows Phone device with the next generation software that will beat everything else on the market. So there’s also the possibility of that Qualcomm Fluid device ending up being a new Galaxy from Samsung.

According to the latest rumors, Microsoft expecting Windows 8 to launch around October and industry experts and watchers both agree on this. There’s expectation of Microsoft launching the entire Windows 8 Platform altogether, including Windows Phone 8 and Window on ARM or Windows RT, as it is officially known.

Jorma Ollila’s statement regarding the company’s interest in tablet devices was widely reported as an acknowledgement of Windows 8 tablet device and now Nokia has decided to deny everything.

Nokia Calls Out Jorma Ollila Reports On Windows 8 Tablets

Nokia has denied the reports published earlier that cited Jerom Ollila’s statements as proof of the existence of Windows 8 tablets in Nokia labs. Nokia says these reports are ‘misconstrued’ and Ollila said no such thing. Whilst that is technically correct, Ollila said everything about the tablets and hybrid smartphones except two things — the timeframe for launch and the platform they would be running on.

Other than that, he mentioned Nokia’s interest in various form factors and their commitment to providing convergence across devices through a single unifying platform. Put together with their recent tryst with Microsoft, there’s really only one platform that can tie tablets, smartphones, PCs and hybrids together and that is the upcoming Windows 8 OS.

What Nokia is trying to do here is to dissuade people from taking this as an official statement because that would get them in to more than just legal trouble. Companies avoid announcing products and developments prematurely to avoid damaging sales of existing products on the market.

There have already been enough rumors about current Lumia phones not supporting future OS’, so reports like these could further hurt Nokia’s case in the market.

Rumors about a possible Nokia Tablet have been circulating ever since the first Lumia phones were launched, with statements going back and forth between Nokia heads and industry rumormongers. There’s really no telling when Nokia will unveil their tablet but it officially cannot be before Windows 8 itself launches. Hence, there’s still time for this to happen. It is quite possible Nokia will be releasing the tablet/s right around the Windows 8 launch around October. Or may be even a bit later in the year but still early enough to cash in on the holiday rush.

DisplayFusion is a special utility app that is designed to make working with multiple monitors easier and now it is available on Windows 8.

DisplayFusion Ver. 4.0 Comes With New Features And Windows 8 Support

DisplayFusion 4.0 was just released with support for Windows 8 Consumer Preview along with a host of new features working with multiple monitors on Windows.

One of the most useful features on DisplayFusion is the ability to add the taskbar on every screen instead of just one, which is how Windows handles multiple displays by default. Any application that is running on a screen will have a corresponding button on the taskbar that is present on that screen. This version also enables Jump Lists on every screen, a feature that was sorely missing on previous versions of the app and is completely missing from the normal Windows support for multiple monitors.

The new version also adds support for several icon profiles for quickly changing how icons are arranged according to what are doing at the moment. Hotkeys for DisplayFusion have been available for a while now and version 4.0 just makes it easier to customize them. Aero coloring is now smarter and is based on the current wallpaper or the application that is currently active on the screen. There are also new wallpaper providers added to the built in wallpaper search — DeviantART, Google Image Search and Bing Image Search.

Other than these, there are also new enterprise features and support for right to left languages. The new version also fixes certain known bugs and has better performance than previous versions.

The application needs to be bought using the full features but it does have a free version that you can download to try things out. The app is developed by BinaryFortress and here’s the link to their DisplayFusion 4.0 announcement

— http://www.displayfusion.com/News/2012/05/displayfusion-40-now-avail

Microsoft has made restrictions inside the Windows 8 RT software that prevents third-party browsers like Firefox from running on Desktop.

Windows 8 RT Will Not Allow Third-Party Browsers On Desktop

Windows 8 RT is the version of Windows 8 that runs on ARM. Microsoft has apparently made restrictions within the platform that prevent any third-party browsers from running on the Desktop of Windows 8 RT. This has upset Mozilla (the makers of Firefox and Fennec) and they have called out the Redmond tech giant, saying it was a return to the ‘Dark-Ages’ for technology.

Microsoft prevents all non-IE (Internet Explorer) browsers from accessing APIs (Application Programming Interface) that are required to run the application on the Desktop. Windows 8 RT will be running mainly Metro and it has been revealed that Microsoft will allow a heavily restricted Desktop mode that will only run Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Internet Explorer.

Steven Sinofsky said something earlier this year that seemed to confirm the fact that Microsoft has indeed cordoned off the Desktop area for third-party software vendors. This enrages other software makers because now Microsoft applications like Internet Explorer will be able to take advantage of the entire platform, providing a more stable, speedy and secure performance. Third-party software will always be second-class citizen on Windows RT at this rate. It seems like Microsoft has opened a veritable Pandora’s box by creating a Desktop area on Windows 8 RT.

Microsoft has not responded officially to any these comments and at this point, there are several things to take in to consideration. There’s no accurate documentation, if any, of which parts are blocked for third-parties. So we don’t know how restricted is restricted. Secondly, Microsoft’s Windows 8 RT is no longer the Windows we know. So this is another platform entirely. From this point forth, Microsoft should be making clear to the world what is already becoming clear to the tech industry — Windows is now just a brand and it happens to have cloud, mobile and PC under its banner.

HP is rebooting its tablet initiatives but this time it is only for businesses and Enterprise level customers.

HP Working On Windows 8 Tablets For The Corporate

Your office might soon be taken over by Windows 8 tablets made by HP or at least that is what the company hopes will happen once Windows 8 launches. The world’s largest PC maker has revived its tablet aspirations in what will be the company’s third attempt at making a tablet that sells. The last attempts had to be aborted prematurely with the last one ending up in a fire sale of sorts.

This time, HP has decided that the consumer level market has already been taken over by the rest of the industry (read the iPad and the Kindle Fire), so it will not concentrate on offering tablets to the businessman instead of the common man. It will be focusing on Enterprises and SMBs (small to medium businesses) for now but there’s always the possibility of the firm diversifying later and re-entering the consumer market.

Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP’s Personal Systems group, spoke at the Global Influencer Summit and said that HP was working with partners to gain a foothold in the global tablet market. They are trying again after the unsuccessful launch of the HP TouchPad — their last attempt.

"Our strategy is around partnering with Microsoft and bringing Windows 8 tablets to the market place. It’s not to say that this [partnership] is forever – markets evolve,” said Bardley while answering questions. He then said that their products will "…have a more enterprise and small business focus than a consumer focus.”

HP did not reveal any further information regarding the tablets and Bradley said this was because the event was not a place for such information to be announced. He mentioned that it was all about thin and light devices that help you consume information. And it isn’t about creating content and data, which why they had separated the announcements from the Ultrabook Spectre XT launch.

Citrix, the makers of web-conference solution GoToMeeting, has commited to support Windows 8 at launch for all their products.

Citrix Products To Be Windows 8 Ready Soon

Citrix is the company behind a varied number of products that have to do with online virtualization, remote access and conferencing. Most of their products are in extensive use throughout Enterprises and the corporate sector in general. Scott Schwarzhoff, Citrix vice president, product marketing, said during a Sunday event at the company’s Synergy 2012 event that their Citrix Receiver software will be available for Windows 8 at launch. Citrix Receiver is used for ‘playing’ virtualized Windows applications on various different platform that include various versions of Windows as well.

Later during the event, CEO Mark Templeton told the gathering that all their products will be compatible with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 at launch. Citrix Group vice-president and general manager Sumit Dhawan also supported this statement by saying "Windows 8 is a big part of our roadmap.”

The main issue the software makers like these are facing is having to port ‘legacy’ Windows apps to the cloud. Since all of Citrix’s products are for the cloud (like Podia) or cloud-based, the company should have a faster upgrade process. On top of that, Citrix’s products can be used by companies to give a cloud like experience for various different applications that have not made the transition over to cloud and will take years to do so in a way that matches feature per feature of what the legacy app can do now on the user end.

Windows 8 opens a whole range of possibilities for cloud interaction but then software that will become legacy post-Windows 8 will mostly have to be rebuilt by their developers to fit the new environment. However, Windows 8 will still be running legacy applications on Desktop, which ensures that your workflow can still remain the same and you might not have to re-invest if you are already working on Windows 7.

We are very likely to see a lot of Tegra 3 powered Windows 8 devices soon, if what NVIDIA claims is true.

NVIDIA Raises Sales Forecast For Tegra 3 With Windows 8 Close By

Graphics bigwig NVIDIA has just raised their sales expectations for the second quarter of this year and has been talking about the increasing success of its Tegra 3 SoC (System on a Chip). And the increase in Tegra 3 demand can be directly attributed to the smartphones, tablets and hybrid devices that will come out of the whole Windows 8 wave.

The SoC is definitely a great platform for such devices but then there’s just one problem that NVIDIA has to solve right now — keep up with the demands of the market when it comes to supplying the GPU’s. The company did not anticipate this much demand and has consequently fallen short of supply from its manufacturers. So Tegra 3’s success will ultimately depend on whether NVIDIA can solve this issue quickly.

NVIDIA also expects to make it big in the Ultrabook market. Rather, in the Ultrabook competition market because Ultrabook is an Intel brand that NVIDIA is competing with. Using the ARM-based SoC, NVIDIA can easily trump Intel in terms of battery life, mobility thinness. However, it will be difficult for the GPU giant to beat Intel at providing processing power to match up to the Core series with the latest Ivy Bridge chips in place.

These details came out from the NVIDIA’s first quarter financial report, where sales were hurt due to the non-availability of the 22nm chips that the company depends on for its line of high-end graphics solutions and more.

NVIDIA has great things to say about the new Kepler series GPUs but has again mentioned that supply is still a problem and it will remain a problem going forward through the rest of the year. That information came straight from NVIDIA CEO Karen Burns.
Tegra 3 is the first ever quad-core ARM SoC and it also has a fifth Ninja core for dedicated touch input processing. It has a become a favored platform for super phones and tablets in general.

Windows expert Paul Thurrott claims that Windows 8 will be offered at a $15 upgrade deal by Microsoft.

Existing Users Will Get $15 Windows 8 Upgrade Deal

Windows expert Paul Thurrott made a post earlier this week claiming Microsoft will offer a $15 Windows 8 upgrade deal for existing users of Windows. Those who buy a new Windows 7 PC will be eligible for this offer. Paul published this article on his blog Supersite for Windows. It was already reported by CNET that Microsoft would be charging something for the upgrade but no one could tell how much. The only thing that was known back then, as we reported earlier, was that it is expected to begin with the release of Windows 8 Release Preview Build.

Microsoft has already confirmed the Release Preview for the first week of June. Following the Windows 7 release, the expected date for this announcement is June 5.

To become eligible for this upgrade, customers must buy a Windows 7 PC between June 2012 and January 2013. If the rumors prevail, Windows 8 should become available much before January 2013. At that point, Windows 7 PCs would become cheaper and it would make sense to buy one and then upgrade to Windows 8 for cheap.

Microsoft will apparently do everybody one more favor. Aside from the cheap upgrade price, they will upgrade everybody to the same Windows 8 version — Windows 8 Pro. Previously, Microsoft upgraded everybody to their corresponding editions. So you could technically buy a PC with Windows 7 Starter Edition and then upgrade for $15. Windows 8 Pro is the higher end of Windows 8, which shows just how much Microsoft wants everyone to upgrade as soon as possible.

Microsoft has not said anything about the upgrade cost for Windows 8. However, if it is anything like the current scheme, it would cost consumers $120 for Windows 8 and $200 for Windows 8 Pro. If The $15 charge happens (and it looks like a distinct possibility), it will be a discount of about 93% for the buyer.

Parental control within Windows 8 has a feature that can send weekly reports to parents about the child’s activities.

Windows 8 Steps Up Parental Control With Weekly Reporting Feature

Microsoft announced a new parental control feature earlier this week for its up coming Windows 8 operating system. This new feature allows parents to generate weekly reports on their child’s activities and it gets sent to them automatically.
This feature will be available on secondary accounts and will require no extra downloads, configurations or anything. When you are creating a secondary account for your child, you will see a checkbox that says "Is this a child’s account? Turn on Family Safety to get reports of their PC use.”

Check this box and you will be able to set it up in a few steps, guided by Windows. With multiple PCs in a household, it has been getting progressively harder to monitor what the child is doing online. And it is awkward for the child and the parent to be glancing over the child’s shoulder. This new feature makes it much easier for both parties thus. This report is much less intrusive and restrictive than traditional website filtering solutions and it enables the child/teenager to go about surfing the web more freely. In fact, it might make the child more responsible and encourage them to be more productive on the computer on their own.

But this does not mean restriction features are absent in this. If you find website that you do not approve of, you can easily block access to those sites by clicking a link on the email. The changes you make are stored on the cloud and applied all computers that are linked to your account and have ‘Family Safety’ activated. There are also standard parental controls where you can opt to allow only child-friendly websites or only general-interest websites or just block adult-sites. You can also allow all sites with a warning that a site might contain adult content. There’s also SafeSearch, time limits for online activities and filters for restricted apps on the Windows Store.

These features will be available on the Release Preview build of Windows 8 that is scheduled for an early June release.

To get rid of windows 8 explorer ribbon, refer to the tutorial below.

Microsoft introduces the Ribbon in the Windows 8 Explorer to make it easier for end users to complete a variety of tasks. There are more than 200 commands for these purposes in the Explorer, but Microsoft has found that the top 10 commands represent 81.8% of all usage.

"These strengths fit well with our three goals – the ribbon would allow us to create an optimized file manager where commands would have reliable, logical locations in a streamlined experience,” says Alex Simons, Microsoft’s Program Manager.
Microsoft’s Ribbon interface includes direct options for file management tasks, such as Copy, Paste, Delete, Rename, Cut, and Properties.

"These strengths fit well with our three goals – the ribbon would allow us to create an optimized file manager where commands would have reliable, logical locations in a streamlined experience,” says Alex Simons, Microsoft’s Program Manager.
Microsoft’s Ribbon interface includes direct options for file management tasks, such as Copy, Paste, Delete, Rename, Cut, and Properties.

How to disable explorer ribbon

1. Press Windows key + R to launch Run dialogue box. Type gpedit.msc and hit Enter.

2. In the new window appeared, under Local computer policy, expand Administrative Templates by clicking the little arrow left to it. Then just click on Windows Components .

3 . Look right side of it. Use scroll bar to locate Windows Explorer and double click on it.

... Read more »

If you want to get the old Windows 7 Taskbar in Windows 8 Consumer Preview, see the tutorial below.

Microsoft brings Metro Interface, which definitely has variations with its predecessor and most of them are no doubt better. Windows 8 has also changed its Task Manager along with many other components. Microsoft has added App History, Start Upand Details but removed Applications and Windows Tab. Though they have their differences, but both are good. The Windows 7 Task Manager is easy to manage for normal users. Thus if want to use
your old Task Manager, follow the instructions given below carefully.

1. Open My Computer by pressing Windows + E. Now navigate to C:\windows\System32\.
Now find out taskmgr.exe. This is your old Task Manager, hidden in Windows 8. You will also get
TM.exe. That is your new Task Manager available in Windows 8.

2. Now right click on taskmgr.exe and click on Send to ->Desktop(Create Shortcut).

So now, you will see the Task Manager shortcut icon in the Desktop.

... Read more »

To launch the desktop version of IE from metro UI in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

If you are using Windows 8 for quite a long time, then you must have observed that it has two version of Internet Explorer: one is the Standard Internet Explorer and another is the Metro version of it. But the Metro version is not much easy to use as the standard version. It doesn’t show the options and settings in the upper toolbar always like the standard version. The only good thing is that it comes in full screen.

How to launch the desktop version of Internet Explorer from the Metro UI

To launch desktop version of IE, follow the steps,

1. Open Internet explorer from the Taskbar. Click on the gear like icon. Click Internet options from the new popped up window.

2. In the new window, move to the Programs tab. In this tab, look Choose How you open links . By default it is set to Let Internet Explorer decide . Change it to Always in Internet Explorer on the desktop from the dropdown list.

From now on, whenever you click IE in Metro UI, IE will open in Standard Window mode.

If want to know how to open Administrative Command Prompt without Run dialogue box in Windows 8, go through the tutorial below.

Windows 8 comes with the all new Metro Interface having lots of new features, doing many thongs in a different and easier way. Up to Windows 7there was only one way to open Command Prompt by first opening the Run dialogue box and then typing cmd and hittingEnter. Windows 8brings another two options for opening Command Prompt with administrative privilege along with the old one. These two ways are shown in this tutorial.

Method 1: From Task Manager

1. Open the Task Manager by right clicking on the taskbar and selecting Task Manager.

2. Now click on File -> Run new task.

3. Type cmd in the textbox and select Create this task with administrative privilege & hit Enter.

Now you are done, you will see the Command prompt is opened with the administrative privilege.

Method 2: From Quick Access Menu

1. Press Windows + X to open Quick Access Menu. Click on  ... Read more »

If you want to know how to open Metro Control Panel in Windows 8, follow the tutorial below.

All the Windows 8 users must be familiar with two Control Panels : one is the Standard Control Panel and another is the Metro Control Panel. The Standard Control Panel is for changing various computer settings and the Metro Control Panel is for some more general computer settings, which were not available in the Standard Control Panel .
In the Consumer Preview version of Windows 8 none of them can be seen as a shortcut in the Desktop or the Start Menu. You will see the standard version in the Desktop by enabling
that to be shown in there with other computer icons. In the Developers Preview version of windows 8, Metro Control Panel
or rather PC Settings was present in the Start Menu. But in the Consumer preview version this is omitted. In order to open the Metro Control Panel, follow the instruction shown below.

1. Press Windows + I to open the right side Charm bar.

2. When the Charm bar appears, click on More Settings to open the Metro Control Panel.

If you want to prevent the users of your computer from uninstalling Metro applications in Windows 8, follow the tutorial below.

As a default settings of Windows 8 Consumer Preview all the users have access to all Metro applications. So, other users can also uninstalled the Metro applications installed by you. Though any uninstalled metro applications can be restored back by downloading them from the Windows Store, but still that will be unnecessary bandwidth consuming. Thus, if you want to prevent other users from uninstalling Metro applications installed by you, then follow the steps given below.

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run window. Now type gpedit.msc into that textbox and hit Enter.

2. Now navigate to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar . Now Find
Prevent users from uninstalling applications from Start. Initially it will be in Not Configured status.

3. Double click on it to open the settings for it. In the popped up dialogue box, click on Enabled and click OK
to change settings.

4. Now you will see the settings is in Enabled status.

Also, you will no longer see the Uninstall in the Start Menu when you will right click on any  ... Read more »

In order to remove favourites from navigation pane in Windows 8, follow the tutorial below.

In the left pane of Windows Explorer you will always see Favourites there. Under the Favourite tab you will see Downloads, Desktop and Recent Places. If want to remove favourites from navigation pane, follow the steps shown below.

1. Open Windows Explorer. Move to the view tab in the toolbar.

2. Click Navigation Pane . Click Show Favourites to clear selection.

Now watch Favourite items are all gone from navigation pane.

If you want to enable or disable Secure Sign-in in Windows 8, go through this tutorial.

What is Secure Sign in?

It is very important to keep your PC as secure as possible. One way to do so is to enable secure Sign in, so that all users need to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to log on securely. After pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete the users are asked to type a valid username and password to access the computer.
Secure logon provides an additional layer of security for your computer. It ensures you that the authentic Windows logon screen appears and thus it stops any type of mimic of your personal log in information. It means, if you have enabled the Secure logon or Secure Sign in in your computer, no other program (such as a virus or spyware) can intercept your user name and password information as you enter it.

Follow the steps to add or remove Startup Programs in Windows 8.

You must be signed in as an administrator to perform all the steps mentioned below in this tutorial.

Steps to enable or disable Secure Logon in Windows 8

1. Press (Windows + R) to open the Run dialog, then type

netplwiz

And click on OK.

2. If User Account Control (UAC) dialog box appears, then click on Yes.
3. Now, User Accounts window will open. Click on Advanced tab.

... Read more »

If you want to selectively scan a drive or folder by Windows Defender Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

Microsoft introduces Windows Defender or Microsoft Security Essential in a new way, making it strongest ever.
As Microsoft tries to remove the need of any third party Antivirus software, so the strength of its own antivirus Windows Defender must have to be increased and Microsoft does it exactly. The new Windows Defender is so strong and secure that, really no 3rd party antivirus software is needed. But as other 3rd party anti viruses, in case of windows Defender, you will not get a san option in the context menu
of a folder or drive. If you want to scan selectively scan a folder or drive, follow the instructions carefully.

1. Press Windows + F to open the Search window. Type Defender and open Windows Defender from the search results in the Apps section.

2. Switch to the Home tab of Windows Defender. Select Custom Scan and click on Scan Now.

3. Now you will be asked to browse for the folder or drive you want to scan. Select that and click on OK.

Now you will see the scan in progress.

... Read more »

If you want to know how to turn on or off Metro App Toast Notifications in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

what is Metro App Toast Notifications?

Toast notification is a very new feature, introduced in windows 8. According to Microsoft, Toast notifications are an optional part of the app experience and are intended to be raised only when your app is not the active. Toast notifications in Windows 8 are rectangular block type notifications that appear in the upper right corner of your main display. The metro apps which are running in the background cause to pop these types of notifications to seek user’s attention to perform a further action, whether the user is in another app, on the desktop, on the Start screen or on the lock screen. Suppose your Messaging metro app is opened in the background and you are in another application, now if you get a message on Facebook chat (assuming you are connected to your Facebook account using Messaging), a Toast notification will be popped for that. This Toast notifications feature is very helpful, but when you are working on a serious job and don’t want to be disturbed by these sudden notifications, you may want to turn off this feature. Not only that you may also want to receive Toast notification for some certain metro apps, not for all.

Follow the steps to turn Metro App Toast Notifications On or Off in Windows 8.

Steps to turn Metro App Toast Notifications On or Off in Windows 8

A. Quick Method
Press (Windows + I) keys to directly open the Settings charms screen. Then click on Notifications option and you will see a cross sign in the Notifications. You have successfully turned Metro app Toast notification feature off and it will turn off everywhere including the lock screen, and gray out all notifications settings. You can easily turned this feature on by simply clicking again on the Notifications option in Settings charms screen.

B. Detailed Method
If you want to get Toast notification for some particular apps and want to block some unnecessary metro apps from sending you the Toast notifications, you should follow these steps:-

1. Press (Windows + I) keys to directly open the Settings charms screen or press (Windows + C) keys to open Windows Charms screen and select settings option.

2. Now, click on More PC settings option.

... Read more »