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NVIDIA is working on releasing its own chips for devices running Windows 8 and it intends to use its specialization in graphics as leverage.

NVIDIA Working On Its Own Chip For Windows 8

NVIDIA is working on its own line of ARM-base chips (same architecture used in chips made by Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Apple, etc.) for using in Windows 8 devices. The company is known mainly for its superior graphics cards and more recently the Tegra series of SoC’s (system on a chip) that are in common use in the mobile sector.

The company has plans to go beyond tablets and smartphones to put their chips on laptops as well. Since the chips will be using designs made by ARM, they will make for great battery life and NVIDIA’s specialization ill ensure that the graphics quality is great.

Since Windows 8 will be able to run on both ARM and x86 (Intel and AMD), a lot of companies are looking in to ARM-based technologies to work on their own custom offerings for the Windows 8 market. Windows being the world’s most common operating system, the market penetration of its latest version is expected to be quite high. This is what is motivating companies like NVIDIA to offer products that they would not consider otherwise.

NVIDIA’s chip will use the same technology that runs inside most tablets on the market right now, including the market leader iPad and the second ranking Kindle Fire. Many of these tablets are from major companies like Motorola, Acer, Asus and Lenovo and they use NVIDIA’s Tegra SoC. Tegra 3 is the latest in this series and it is one of the first quad-core SoCs. It also has 12 graphic cores, helping companies like Samsung drive higher resolutions and better performance in their smartphones and tablets.

NVIDIA says that Windows on ARM (WoA) gives them the opportunity they require to break the current status quo of Windows running exclusively on x86 and therefore mostly on Intel — the world’s largest chipmaker who makes solely x86 chips.

ARM chips like the one NVIDIA is planning would bring features such as extremely slim fanless-designs and longer battery life to touch-based Windows 8 devices. They would also drive prices down through the emerging competition, thus benefitting the consumer.

If you want to clear the clipboard in Windows 8, read this tutorial how to use the echo command for that

What Is The Clipboard?

Clipboard can be defined as a temporary storage area for information. When we select any text or file and then perform the Copy or Cut operation the selected text or file copied or moved to clipboard. Until we perform a Paste operation the selected content will be in the clipboard. After Paste command the selected content moves to its new location from the clipboard. As all applications can access the clipboard, information can be easily transferred (copy or cut) between different applications or within an application.

Suppose you want to copy a text line from a webpage to your word (.doc) file. Internet Explorer is showing the web page and you want to copy the text (information) to another file which is monitored by a different application, Microsoft Word. As both the applications can access the clipboard it is possible to transfer the text (information) from the web page to the .doc file.

Now, whenever you put any information into the clipboard, the amount of available memory decreases. If you perform a Copy command for a large image file, you may experience slowdowns and sluggish performance due to the low amount of available memory. To clear the clipboard and redeem the memory occupied by the large file you may need to clear the clipboard.

Follow these steps to know how to clear the clipboard in Windows 8.

Steps to clear the Clipboard using CMD

1. Press window+R to start "Run”window.

2. Now type

cmd /c "echo off | clip”

and hit Enter.

This will successfully clear the clipboard.

3. To simplify the procedure, you may create a shortcut with cmd /c "echo off | clip” command as the location of the item, and save the shortcut in a place where you can easil ... Read more »

In some cases you might have to disable network devices/adapters temporarily. You can use the device manager to do that.

What is network devices (or adapters) and drivers ?

A network adapter interfaces a computer to a network. Modern network adapter hardware exists in several forms.As

• Peripheral Component Interconnect or PCI. Both Ethernet and Wi-Fi network adapters for desktop and notebook computers commonly utilize PCI.
• PCMCIA
• USB interface

Windows operating systems support both wired and wireless network adapters through a piece of software called a "device driver”.
Network drivers help application software to communicate with the adapter hardware. Network device drivers are often installed automatically when adapter hardware is first powered on.These prerequisites are important to
configure network devices.

How to disable network adapter ?

There are many methods to accomplish this task,like

• Using Command prompt
• modifying registry value
• Using third party network manager software
• and so many other ways.

But the most simplest, and reliable way is to configure Device Manager . To configure device manager follow the steps:

1. Go to the Control panel .In the Windows 8 charm home screen type "control panel” to search.

2. in the control panel, go to the Device manager. If you do not know where it is, simply type in the
search box.

3.Click Device Manager and a pop up window will open , showing every detected devices.

... Read more »

The "open file security warning” can be rather annoying to advanced users, so let’s diable it

We are currently living in a world, which is rapidly moving to digitalize every single data. Software and applications make it easier. As well as, enjoying full features of multimedia, we need software, and yes we have it. There are tons of Windows software are available in the internet. As we think, they are useful; we do not hesitate to download it. But it becomes a booby trap for operating system if they are not coming from a reliable & trustworthy source. It must be known that, Malwares, viruses are placed on the operating system as an executable file ( .exe or .dll). It is the real case scenario that one cannot trust any document or audio file, if it is coming from a non-trusted network.

But there is nothing to worry about. Windows 8 comes with better security than any other previous versions of windows.

1. First of all it has a built in enhanced antivirus called Windows Defender that always monitor the system.

2. Address space layout randomization (ASLR), which randomly arranges the position of key data areas.

3. Kernel mode security and many more. Search for windows 8 security mechanism for more details.

They can protect harms what are unknown to you. But what if, which you allow knowingly or unaware? IE 10 also comes with enhanced set of security mechanism. Smartscreen Filter monitors phishing URLs, prevents download from non-trusted domain. In windows 8 ,Smartscreen filter is added to the shell, to protect from malware no matter how placed it in the windows. Windows 8 serves IE 10 with a special protection feature called ‘ Enhanced Protected mode ‘ which restrict the access of operating system resources, or simply lock down internet from the OS. In this mode, even cache file, cookie file cannot be placed if it is coming from non-trusted network or domain. And many more.

Why Open-file security warning dialog box is shown :

To protect from piracy and breaching, almost every IT & Software manufacturer’s uses digital signature along with the product served.
You may encounter warning like given below, before downloading or opening any executable file:.This is called ‘ Open file security Warning ‘

This is raised because of Attachment Execution Services(AES).Every program which uses ShellExecute() API, must pass through AES. AES provides a metadata, which indicates from which Internet Explorer Security Zone the file was originally obtained.
The operating system checks this metadata every time the program launches and applies the restrictions set for the indicated security zone. If the metadata indicates a non-trusted security zone, a warning dialog will pop up requiring the user to okay the program execution.

How to disable open file security warning

1. open internet explorer and click the gear button to get internet option.

... Read more »

If you want to fix a corrupt or damaged user profile in Windows 8, refer to the tutorial below.

What is a User Profile?

User profile is nothing but a set of customisation of the default settings of the operating system, for each user of that operating system.
Each user can customise the operating system appearance for only his own account through his user profile. He/she can add a picture as his/her account
picture, can set a default desktop background, can apply a theme and also change the appearance settings for that account only.

Each user profile is secured against profile corruption. But it may be corrupted or damaged while using Windows 8
Consumer preview. In that case you have to fix or repair it for further use. In order to do so, carefully follow the instructions written below.

1. Create a new user account

1. Search Command Prompt by typing cmd in the Windows 8 charm screen (Metro UI).

2. Right click on cmd.exe and click on Run As Administrator.

3. Type "net user username password /add” without quotes.
Replace ‘username’ and ‘password’ with you chosen username and password.

Copy old files to new profile

1. Navigate to C:\Users\Corrupted_Profile_Name\. The profile name will be the corrupted profile name.
2.Copy all files except these 3 :

... Read more »

Got an IP address conflict on Windows 8? Bugger, let’s fix that

What is an IP conflict?

IP (internet protocol) address is the address assigned by the ISP (Internet Service Provider). The IP address is specific to recognize a particular computer on a Local Area Network (LAN).

If you are getting an "IP conflict error” , it means two or more computers having the same IP address on that network. In that situation you need to release the IP address of an computer which is occupying the same IP address and re-assign or renew the IP address of that computer. If "IP conflict error” problem occurs in multiple numbers of computers, same steps should be performed in all of those computers to fix the issue.

Follow these steps to fix an IP conflict on Windows 8.

Steps to fix an IP address conflict

1. First of all click on Search option in the start menu sidebar and type cmd in the Apps Search Textbox and you will see cmd.exe in the left hand side panel.

2. Now right-click on cmd.exe more options will be available. Click Run as administrator option. Select YES in UAC (User Access Control) dialog box. Elevated Command Prompt or Command Prompt with Administrator privilege will open.

3. Now, in command prompt just type the following command line:

ipconfig /renew

Now, hit Enter.

It is assumed that DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration protocol) is enabled in your Windows 8 (by default DHCP remains enabled in Windows 8). This command line will automatically refresh your dynamic IP address and a new IP address will be assigned to your computer. Thus it will solve the IP address conflict problem.

... Read more »

Fixing the autoplay settings is not so difficult, but it can be difficult to find, here’s where the settings are hidden

What is Autoplay

Most of us are familiar with the term Autoplay. Now what is autoplay?
Autoplay is basically a option which select the deafult application for a specific type of action.
Suppose you have inserted a blank dvd/cd in your computer and then you are prompted by apop-up for some action or it may
automatically bring you to the section of burning that cd/dvd. Or you have inserted a game’s dvd and then the game installer
automatically starts running. You can select the default action for this by changing the autoplay options.

In order to enable or disable the Autoplay Options, follow the instructions below.

1. Open the Control Panel by searching it in the Charm welcome screen.

2. Now navigate to Hardware and Sound and then click on Autoplay.

3. Now the Autoplay settings window will appear. Change the settings as per your requirement.
If you want to disable Autoplay for USB drives, uncheck "Use Autoplay for all media and devices”.
You can also specify other option available there.

Don’t forget to save the settings to be applied.

If you are new to Windows 8 and want to use the Aero themes on it, here’s how on the Consumer Preview.

Aero themes offers a glassy touch and feel of Windows with nice settings of programs. However, such an option is not really enabled in Windows 8 Consumer preview version if you want to enjoy it. As a result, you would have to manually activate it by making some tweaks.

You have to make changes in the registry, and it is my word of advice NOT to proceed ahead if you do not understand the steps given below. Better have an experienced person supervise you in following the process:

1. Logon using windows 8 admin account

2. Press the Windows Hot Key + R simultaneously to initiate Run. Type in REGEDIT and enter the windows registry of the system.

3. On the left hand side you need to go to the following directory HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM. Now go to the right pane and right click on the white background to create a new DWORD (320bit) value as shown below.

3. Rename the newly created DWORD (32-bit) Value to UseMachineCheck. Press enter to make sure its value is set to 0. In the similar manner create Animation, and Blur with their values set at 0 too as shown below

4.You are done. Just exit the Windows Registry and restart your system so that the changes you made are in effect. Right click on the Desktop and click Personalize to apply the Aero theme option.

Is your DHCP not working and not assigning a correct IP address to your Windows 8 PC?

What is DHCP?

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol or DHCP allows a computer to join a network without having a pre-configured IP address using the TCP/IP protocol. A computer needs an IP address to connect to the Internet.

The purpose of DHCP is to assign a dynamic IP addresses to a device on a network. Dynamic addressing means, a device can have a different IP address every time it connects to the network. In some systems, the IP address of the device or computer can even be changed while it is still connected.

Generally in case of Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, users do not need to configure DHCP, as DHCP is often enabled by default and routers automatically assign an IP address to the computer. But sometimes DHCP may not work for different reasons. In that case you can do following actions to fix this problem.

A. Manually turn on DHCP in windows 8

1. Right click on Network icon in the right side of the taskbar and select Open Network and Sharing Center option.

2. Now in Network and Sharing Center window under view your active networks option you can see the network with which you are presently connected. Now in Connections: option you can see Wired Ethernet Connection (This is the connection type of the network). There can be other types of connections also like Local Area Connection, Any type of USB modems or it may be any Wi-Fi network so without thinking about the connection type just click on the name on the right side of the Connections: option.

3. Connection properties window will pop up. Click on the Properties option.

4. New window will pop up. Navigate to Networking tab. Then highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) option and click on Propertie ... Read more »

File association problems are common, here are 3 methods to fix them in Windows 8

File association problem :

Each file in Windows Operating system, has an extension with its filename, e.g. .txt,.mp3,etc. These extensions are used to identify the program, with which to open this file. File type and file extension associations may be corrupted or broken, causing files with some extensions cannot be opened properly. This breaking of association between file type and application programme can take place many reason like:

1 . Some third party program may wrongly set or assign file associations for extensions that not supposed to be the default program of that
file type.

2 . If you frequently install & uninstall many software to open a file type (or a group of different file types), during uninstall sometimes
windows registry for file association may corrupt.

3 . Attack of malicious software ( i.e. malware, trojans etc.) also can corrupt this association.

4 . Sometime, application program or the software may crash and deassociate the linkage.

5 . Finally, accidental deletion of registry entry, or installation folder of application program, windows corrupt and crash may break the
file association.

Whatever the reason is, this is very irritating, because double click or ‘ enter ‘ will not open the file. To open any file of this type (association corrupted), each time we have to select ‘Open with’ then selecting the program. And also, when a file type association for an extension is deleted or not found, the icon for the file type becomes blank in the shape of empty white paper.

Fix file association problem:

In Windows 8, you can solve this problem in many ways. Like,

1 . Using Context menu

2 . Using Control Panel

3 . Using third party software

4 . Modifying windows registry

5 . Restore windows to an earlier point from backup.

1. Solve using Context menu :

... Read more »

Windows 8, just like any other previous versions or even software released by Microsoft, is not a free versions, and requires to be purchased to obtain its licensed copy. A licensed copy comes with genuine windows Key that activates the windows. Here is how to active your Windows 8 installation:

1. Press the Windows Hot Key to open up Metro start menu and click Control panel.

2. Usually the first option would be Activate Windows if the windows is not genuine. Click it and in case your internet is not working you would have the option to unlock it via phone. In case the option is not there, you would have to scroll down and click on More Settings.

3. It should come with the classic view of Control Panel. In case it doesn’t, you should click on the View By in the top right corner and select Small icons from the drop down menu.

4. Click on System and in the bottom where its written Windows activation, see the status of your windows. In my case, it is genuine and activated. If yours is not Genuine, the process is simple to activate Windows 8 by entering the Product Key.

Do you love to write with different fonts but after installing Windows 8, you are perhaps wondering how to install new fonts? Need not to worry as the solution is very simple for this.

1. Go to Metro Start Menu by pressing the Windows Hot Key and Click Windows Explorer. You can also simply hit Windows key + R!

2. Now search for the font file that you want to install e.g. in your downloads folder. When found, right click and select Install. You need to have admin access to perform this function. This would install the font on your system. In case you do not see immediate effects, you can always reboot the system, which would make the changes as required.

Conclusion

Usually the font files are supported for Windows 8 as they were for all previous versions of Windows 7. These are in OTF and TTF file formats.

In Windows 8 it has been observed that adding printer, especially network printer is not done automatically due to which, you need to install the printer manually after it gets detected by your Windows 8 version. Here is how to do it:

1. Hover your mouse over the Start button and Click Search. If you are on Windows 8 Consumer Preview or higher, hover over the corner until you see a rectangle then click that to open the Metro screen (which is blue on CP)

2. Click Apps.

3. Search for Computer.

4. Right click on Computer and click on Manage at the bottom right corner of the screen.

5. On the right pane, you would see a list of drivers associated with their categories under your computer name. Right click on your computer name and select add legacy hardware.

6. A new popup window would show. Click Next.

... Read more »

If you have plugged in an external drive via USB, you would see that Windows 8  would notice it and ask you for the required action depending upon what you select from Autoron.

However, in the case of Internal Hard drives, you need to manually add it in Windows to initiate it. Due to reduced storage costs and bigger capacities it has become easier than even 2 years back to add more storage space in your system by inserting hard drives. Here are some simple steps to make sure that you initiate the hard drive:

1. on Desktop, Move your mouse over to Start button, and click Search. (On Windows 8 Consumer Preview and higher open Metro and then Search)

2. Click on Apps, and search for Computer.

3. Right click on Computer and you would notice a pop up on the bottom right of the screen. Click Manage.

4. Click Disk Management form the left pane and if you have installed a new HDD, you would be prompted by a message to initiate it with a check on the newly installed HDD. Just click OK.

5. If nothing pops up, it means that either you have not installed HDD correctly or there is a problem with Windows Detection.

You are done

Woila! You are done! Add, delete files, or make partitions, do whatever you want with the newly hard drive so that you can enjoy more storage peacefully.

Similar to the rumors we had reported about months ago, Microsoft has announced 4 main release versions of the upcoming Windows 8 OS along with their subversions of 32bit and 64bit processors.

Windows 8 To Come In Four Flavors: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro Windows 8 Enterprise & Windows 8 RT

Windows 8 for x86 will come in four different flavors, which is exactly half as many versions as the versions pushed out for Windows 7 back in 2009. As of Monday this week, the name Windows 8 has been announced as the official name of the OS. Two of the versions will be used for pre-loading PC’s at retails level — Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro.

The Windows 8 version will be De Facto for consumers, said Microsoft and Windows 8 Pro will aimed at professionals with more sophisticated technological needs. This also goes for advanced users and businesses. So as Microsoft puts it, the second version is good for enthusiasts and those who want to use it for their business.

The third kind will be given to corporate clients who pay something called the Software Assurance fee. This is a set licensing fee that allows a company to upgrade through a multi-year period in its exchange. This version will be called Windows Enterprise. That makes it 3 SKU’s (Stock Keeping Units) versus the 6 SKUs that Windows 7 currently has.

Out of those six, four are in regular use – Home, Premium, Professional and Ultimate. The Starter Edition is a limited edition where users cannot customize their machines and cannot open more than 3 applications at a time and the Home Basic edition is used only in developing markets. Windows 7 also has an Enterprise version that is used for volume sales.

Microsoft made another interesting statement within this announcement — the company will be offering a local-language only version in certain parts of the world. This sounds like something akin to the Starter Edition or Home Basic.

The Windows 8 RT version is a special case because it won’t available to the masses in general. This is the ARM version that will be chipped directly to manufacturers who will then implement it on their hardware, such as tablets and ultraportables.

Microsoft has brought out new Metro apps for the Windows 8 store, much to the delight of those who enjoy working on the Metro UI on Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Windows 8 Gets New Metro Apps, Including A New One For Twitter

Microsoft has released a new set of Metro apps for Windows 8, which includes a Twitter app for Metro and also some games. The Twitter app is a fully functional Metro app that will help users take full advantage of the Windows 8 Metro UI with its touch gestures and full screen view with Snap. This app was part of the initial Developer Preview release in a much more basic manner and was then taken off the build before Consumer Preview was released. Now it has finally come back to Windows 8 in its full glory.

Part of the new apps is a traffic app called INRIX Traffic that gives you real time information about traffic situations in your local area. This specific app has the capability to run across Windows Phone Platforms as well, which means you can take it with you wherever you go.

Microsoft’s LifeCam Studio has also received a Metro style dashboard as part of this new bevy of Metro apps. It contains a variety of different settings for the webcam and comes with built in special effects that you can use with the webcam during live chat or video/photo sessions.

Adding to the fun element is the Hydro Thunder Hurricane app — a popular arcade game form the Xbox Live platform that has now been ported to Windows 8 Metro. It is a boat-racing game that comes built in with two boats and different tracks to choose from. Developers of the popular game have announced a full version release in the near future. This version will have as many as 11 tracks and various different kinds of boats to choose from.

Other app titles include the Euro Cup 2012, Channel 9, FlipToast, The Big Picture and Discourse. These five apps join updated versions of the older apps to make for latest wave of Metro apps. One of the useful updates is the Metro version of the WordPress app that lets users make posts right inside the panel — a feature that was added in the latest update.

Samsung has announced that they are going to bring out Windows 8 phones later this year in October.

Samsung Plans To Launch Windows 8 Phone Later This Year

Samsung statement regarding the release of the Windows Phone has made at least one thing quite clear — Windows 8 is definitely releasing around the last quarter of this year. The news of this announcement comes from a Taiwanese news source and it says that the new handset will be codenamed "Apollo” the same name used to refer to the next version of Windows Phone. Also according to the report — it will be adding more performance parts such as a higher resolution display and a faster, quad-core processor.

The announcements regarding such a launch have been cautiously worded to avoid hinting at any specifics regarding the launch of the actual Windows 8 OS. Microsoft has been absolutely silent about their release schedule. Windows 8 is supposed to succeed Windows Phone 7.5 Mango but so far there have been no official hints about its release because it will be a single unified platform and hence is likely to launch all at once.

Samsung is looking to push out progressively more powerful devices as the time goes by and hence it is quite possible that the Windows Phone 8 handset they release will trump the existing series of Android-based Galaxy devices. It will definitely be more powerful than the single core based Windows Phone 7 and Windows phone 7.5 devices. The current iPhone sports a modified dual-core processor.

Features that were are likely to see in the Windows Phone 8 device include a microSD expansion slot for adding to the built in storage and NFC (Near Field Communication) chips. But the biggest feature has to be the seamless integration between all Windows 8 devices that include laptops, smartphones, tablets and desktops.

Since Samsung is also a PC and tablet manufacturer, the company could theoretically make a whole line of devices for the Windows 8 platform.

Adding and removing programs is too common among Windows users due to changes in technology as well as software needs. If you have been adding and removing program in Windows 7, then doing the same in Windows 8 won’t be a problem for you. Here is how.

1. Press the Windows Hot Key and click on Control Panel. On Consumer Preview and higher

2. Scroll down and click More settings.

3. Click on Programs if you have a View By category shown or click on Programs and Features if you have a Small Icons View of the page.

4. You would now be prompted by a list of programs that are installed on your computer. Right click on any one of the program to either uninstall or change it. Clicking Uninstall would remove the program completely from your system.

Conclusion

That is it! In case you want to install a new app, you don’t need to get through this hassle. The software installation disc or EXE file has installation wizard that guides you to the setup process. Many programs come with built-in uninstallers but in case your program lacks that feature, you can come here to remove it manually. It is that simple!