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More Windows 8 Features

Mark — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 04:11:29 +0000

Features of the new Windows 8

Windows 8 Preview

Mark — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:43:25 +0000

Windows 8 will be the latest Windows OS (operating system) when it is released, probably in September or October. For now we have the Consumer Preview to play with. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview seem like a release candidate to me. It is very polished, very fast and not buggy at all.

Windows 8 is an OS for desktops and laptops of course but it is also going to be used on tablets similar to the iPad. I do not have a Windows tablet to try it out on so this review is just about using it on a standard computer.

Fast

Windows 8 is very fast and will run on very slow hardware because it’s developed to run on very slow ARM processors (processors used in phones and tablets).

Metro

Windows 8 is mostly like Windows 7 except for a few changes. The first and most obvious is the new user interface (UI). When you login to Win8 for the first time what you will notice immediately is a dark blue background with a lot of rectangle and square icons called tiles. These tiles represent your applications. Don’t panic! This is the new start menu, not the desktop. Click the “Desktop Tile” and you will see the good old Windows desktop environment. To return to the start menu press the Windows Key.

Metro Apps

All of your programs and applications exist in the Metro start menu but some of these Tiles will display information without opening them. Most of these apps are cloud applications that pull information from the Internet. One of the apps that come with Windows 8 is the beautiful Bing Weather app. I also like the Mail app and Calender app. Mail and calender imports

It’s just getting going and the Windows 8 App Store only has an additional 66 apps in it. Soon I’m sure we will there will be apps from all of the big players, Google, Twitter, Facebook, Gowalla and many more.

The Cloud

Windows 8 has made a huge commitment to cloud computing. You have the option to login using your Live ID then you can seamlessly switch from Live apps to desktop apps. Most notable of these is Skydrive which was pretty much useless until now unless you use MS Office 10.

Ribbon

For few years there has been what is called the “Ribbon” at the top of MS Office. It replaces the old menu bar. Now they’ve brought the “Ribbon” to Windows Exploer.

Defender

You may remember the name Defender or Windows Defender. It was an anti-spyware program that Microsoft purchased. Now it is what they are calling Microsoft Security Essentials a really good anti-malware program that I’ve been using for years. Defender will come with Windows 8 so there is no need to buy and anti-virus.

Should I Upgrade?

The general rule is use the OS that comes on your computer and do not upgrade. That said if you have a computer that came with Windows 7 and you really want to upgrade Windows 8 will run fine on it, maybe better than 7.

Learn More About Windows 8

For a lot more information on Windows 8 see Windows Weekly 250.

Also See

Paul Thurrott’s Supersite For Windows

Security Sweeper Beta

Mark — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 09:27:37 +0000

Microsoft has released a new tool to help with their never-ending battle to defeat mal-ware on Windows PCs. Called Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper or MSSS it is a bootable live CD that is just a basic Windows environment with MS Security Essentials on it. Why have Security Essentials on a live CD? Mal-ware effect critical files in your Windows and System directory so it is very difficult to get rid of the while running the system. MSSS comes in both 32 and 64 bit versions. It can be run from a live CD or a USB stick.

I have not tried MSSS on an infected computer yet but I’m sure to get my chance soon.

Security Essentials In Windows Updates

Mark — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 04:15:27 +0000

Microsoft’s very good security suite “Security Essentials” will now be offered in Windows Updates. This is a great step forward in making this very good and free antivirus available to everyone not just to the geeks how know where to find it. The application will only be offered in updates if there is non detected on your computer. So uninstall that Norton’s you haven’t payed for in years and go to Windows.There are so many computer out there with Norton or McAfee trail software that they let laps because they’re not thinking about it or can’t spare the cost of a subscription. Essential is a better, free and now convenient!

Windows Live Sync

Mark — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:07:54 +0000

Windows Live Sync is a part of the Windows Live Essentials Beta. The old Live Sync would not sync to Skydrive, the new version will. There is one little problem. With a Skydrive account you get 25 GB of storage yet you can only sync 2GB. This seems silly to me. Is Microsoft afraid Skydrive might become useful! I don’t see the point. I guess it is better then nothing. Maybe by the time it’s no longer in Beta they will change their minds.

Mount Skydrive As A Network Drive

Mark — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:38:27 +0000

I really like Skydrive Explorer. It creates a virtual folder so you can drag files into it but if you wished to use Skydrive to backup data automatically you are out of luck.

Here’s a method to mount Skydrive as an actual network drive. It requires what I can only call a kluge. It requires you to download the new Microsoft Office 2010 Beta (later you will need the trail download). Creating a file and saving it to the web (File, Save and Send, Save to Web, Skydrive). Once you login to your Skydrive account you will see the address of the network. Copy that address. If your using Windows Vista or Windows 7 (of course you can use Windows XP although I do not remember how to do it) right click on “Computer” choose “map network drive” and follow the prompts to enter you email address and password. You may then use your Skydrive like any real folder. You may now use SyncToy or any other backup program with Skydive.

Here are the details how to do this from Download Squad.

Windows Maintenance Tips

Mark — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 17:58:56 +0000

There is a lot of talk about Windows maintenance. What services should turn off? Which utilities should I use? To sleep or hibernate? Here’s a article from Lifehacker. It is the best article I have seen on the subject.

Here are some of the topics which I agree…

Using “Microsoft Security Essentials” is as good as using third party security apps.
Users should not have Administrator privileges.
Physically cleaning the your computer can increase performance radically.
“Registry cleaning” is over-rated. I would go a step further. Registry cleaning ranges from completely unnecessary to harmful.

Microsoft Technet

Mark — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 07:08:57 +0000

Download all an use all of Microsoft’s software and use it forever without time limits or feature limits. You can download anything Windows Server, Microsoft Office, SQL Server, Windows 7 and everything else. Just get a Membership to Microsoft Technet (cost: $349 per year) and you can have all of this and a whole lot more. Software for person or evaluation use only. Not a site license!

Essentials

Mark — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:39:25 +0000

Windows 7 is a great OS but a lot of essential software was left out on purpose to keep the basic install streamline. There is no email program like “Outlook Express”. No “Windows Movie Maker”.

Frankly, I don’t use either of these but if you needed them you can get these and a whole lot more by downloading them from Microsoft. If you go to “Windows Live Essentials” you’ll find “Windows Live Mail” (Much better than “Outlook Express”). There is the new “Windows Live Moviemaker” and “Photo Gallery” a great photo viewing and managing program). There is “Windows Live Writer” which is blogging software that I really like.

Although they don’t offer it on the”Windows Live Page” one of the best downloads is “Security Essentials” which is an anti-malware / firewall program. I use this and it’s pretty darn good. It’s effective and does not slow your computer down.

There’s much more you have to check it out.

For Windows 7, Vista and XP.

New Windows Tip

Mark — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:11:21 +0000

This is a tip from Paul Thurrott‘s Supersite for Windows. You may know the keyboard shortcut for Internet Explorer start fullscreen mode is F11. What you don’t know is the same shortcut works in for Windows Explorer and other applications. Many other shortcuts work as well. I’ll let Paul tell you more about it.