4 Hidden Window Management Tricks on the Windows Desktop

Windows has quite a few features for autoamtically arranging windows, placing them side by side or tiling them on your screen. These features are a bit hidden, so you may not have noticed them.

We used Windows 7 here, but all of these tricks also work on Windows 8 except the ones that require the Task Manager. Many of the tricks also work with earlier versions of Windows.

Aero Snap for Side-by-Side Windows

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Aero Snap is extremely useful. It was introduced with Windows 7, but it’s also available on Windows 8. Microsoft says they got rid of Aero in Windows 8, but Snap is one of the Aero features still available on Windows 8.

The Snap feature makes a window take up half of your screen, making it easy to arrange two windows side by side without manually resizing and moving them around. To use Aero Snap, hold the Windows key and press the left or right arrow keys. The current window will be resized and placed at the left or right side of the screen.

You can also click a window title bar, hold down the mouse button, and drag the window’s title bar to the left or right edge of the screen. You’ll see a preview of the shape the window will become. Drop the window on the edge of the screen and it will be automatically resized to take up the appropriate side of the screen.

Maximizing, Restoring, and Minimizing Windows

You can maximize a window by dragging and dropping its title bar, too. Just drag and drop it to the top edge of the screen. . You’ll see a preview of the shape the window will become. Release your mouse button and the window will take up the entire screen. When you grab the title bar with your mouse and drag it away from the top of the screen, the window will be restored to its previous size.

With keyboard shortcuts, you can press Windows Key + Up arrow to maximize a window or press Windows Key + down arrow to restore a maximized window. Press Windows Key + down arrow again to minimize a window.

Cascade, Stack, or Tile Windows From the Taskbar

Right-click the taskbar and you’ll see three window management options — Cascade windows, Show windows stacked, and Show windows side by side. You’ll also see an “Undo” option if you right-click the taskbar after clicking one of these options.

The Cascade windows option will arrange your open windows in a “cascade,” allowing you to see all their title bars at once. This option isn’t the most practical.

The Show windows stacked option is a bit more interesting, as it allows you to arrange your windows stacked vertically on top of each other. This probably isn’t ideal for typical wide-screen displays, but it could be useful in some situations.

The Show windows side by side option is even more interesting, as it allows you to have Windows automatically arrange your open windows side-by-side with each other. It’s like Aero Snap, but it allows you to have three or more windows automatically arranged so they’re side by side — useful for multitasking on large, wide screen monitors.

Arrange Windows From the Task Manager

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You can also open the Task Manager from the taskbar’s right-click menu or press Ctrl+Shift+Escape to open it with a keyboard shortcut. The Task Manager has some integrated window management options, among its many other hidden features.

Note: Microsoft introduced a new Task Manager in Windows 8, and it doesn’t appear to have the window list pane or any window management features anymore. You can’t use the below tricks on Windows 8 — Microsoft probably removed them because they were used so rarely.

Click the Windows menu in the Task Manager and you can select Tile Horizontally or Tile Vertically. Interestingly, these options seem to arrange windows in a different way than the task bar options do, tiling them both horizontally and vertically in a way that allows as many windows as possible to appear on your screen at a time.

The Applications tab displays a list of all your open application windows, and it allows you to perform some more advanced tricks. Selecting multiple windows here allows you to arrange only specific windows automatically.

For example, let’s say we wanted to make three specific windows appear side-by-side. First, we’d select three windows by holding the Ctrl key and clicking each window’s name. Next, we’d right-click a selected window and select the Tile Vertically option. Windows will automatically arrange the three windows side-by-side.

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Some of these features are more useful than others. The Snap feature is crucial for multitasking with multiple desktop application at a time. The Tile features aren’t used as frequently, but they could be very useful if you have a large monitor and need to arrange many windows on the screen so that they’re all visible at the same time.

windows 8.1 features

When Microsoft released Windows 8 back in October, 2012, the company faced serious backlash from its loyal fans for eliminating the Start Button (aka Start Orb) from the mix. Unlike its predecessors, Windows 8 boots to a Start screen, which presents the good ‘ol desktop as a regular app tile. The Start screen replaces the Start Button with a Start tile that pops up whenever the mouse pointer hits the bottom-left corner. After playing around with Windows 8.1 Preview for a while, all we can say is that Redmond did finally listen to the users. Taking a 180 degrees turn, Windows 8.1 not only brings back that familiar Start Button, but also allows users to boot straight to the desktop. That aside, the Start screen itself has been improved quite a bit, providing users with more flexibility in altering tile sizes and more ease in creating & editing tile groups. After the break, we’ll be taking a closer look at each of these features.

The Start Button

The Start button was the first delightful thing we noticed after getting the updated OS up and running. Unlike Windows 7, the Windows 8.1 Start button sports a flat, plain-white design that fits well with the new look and feel of the OS.

Hover the mouse pointer over the Start button and you will see the logo change to the accent color (a dark shade of purple by default) over a black background. The animated gleam that passes over the logo (both here and in the Start Charm) might not seem very Modern UI-esque, but it does add a nice effect.

What a lot of users might find disappointing is that the Start button simply opens up the Start screen. That’s right; still no fly-up menu like the one we had grown accustomed to through previous versions of Windows. Fret not, though, as we’ve already covered some of the best alternatives to the Start screen. Also, you can set the new Start button to somewhat replicate the behavior of the old Start Orb by having it open the All Apps screen instead of the Start screen. We will discuss this along with other navigation options in an upcoming post.

As odd as it might sound, the Start button doesn’t appear at the bottom-left corner of the Start screen itself unless you move the mouse pointer there. It would have been nice to have the button permanently present there to make things a bit snappier.

New Start Screen Tile Sizes & Customization Options

You won’t find any drastic change in the Start screen of Windows 8.1 Preview. It looks exactly like its Windows 8 counterpart, the only difference being there are now dynamic Start screen backgrounds with subtle animations, and new tile resizing and sorting options. For now, there seems to be just one animated background, that being the default one with the betta fish. One other very handy addition is the option to set the current desktop wallpaper as the background of the Start screen.

Moving on to tile sizes.

Up until now, you had only two tile sizes to choose from. Windows 8.1, following in the footsteps of its mobile counterpart, gives users much more flexibility in this regard. When you right-click a tile, a new button labeled ‘Resize’ appears in the app bar.

Click this button and you will find two additional options for increasing or decreasing the size of the selected tile; Large and Small. In Windows 8 you could only switch between what Windows 8.1 calls ‘Wide’ and ‘Medium’. The new Large size is basically a Wide tile with twice as much height. The Small size is quarter of a Medium tile.`

Although Small tiles allow you to pack more shortcuts into a single stack, remember that any tiles reduced to that size will stop displaying live information. Moreover, touch-based device users with oversized fingers might find tapping the new Small-sized tiles a tad troublesome.

We are not quite finished with the Start screen yet. Another improvement Windows 8.1 Preview has brought to this part of the OS is the way you can customize tile groups. In Windows 8′s Start screen, you needed to click the miniscule (-) button in the bottom-right corner of the screen to zoom out to a bird’s-eye view of the screen and then right-click a stack of tiles to specify a group name. Windows 8.1 has effectively refined this process by cutting it down to fewer steps. Right-click anywhere on the Start screen and select the new Customize button from the app bar to instantly bring up the tile grouping option. Right-clicking any tile does the same.

When customization is active, you can quickly name or rename tile groups to your liking by clicking the text field over each.

Batch Tile Moving On Start Screen

The Start screen is now much easier to edit and arrange thanks to the addition of a very basic feature that, a lot of users will agree, should have been there in the first place: batch moving of tiles. In Windows 8, you could unpin multiple tiles from the Start screen at once but you were only allowed to move one tile at a time. In 8.1, you can select as many tiles as you want and drag to move the entire selection to another group or an entirely new one. The group moves as one tile (the one you drag), with the total number of selected tiles indicated in its top-right corner.

 

Easier Access To All Apps From Start Screen

The All Apps screen is now much easier to access as well, with its shortcut having been moved from the concealed apps bar to the forefront. Clicking the arrow below the bottom-left most tile on the Start Screen or swiping upwards on the screen.

When Windows 7 was launched, many people cited the new OS as what Vista should have been in the first place. The story behind Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 is pretty much the same. The best thing is, Windows 8.1 Preview hasn’t just brought back the features Windows 8 had shed, it has left it up to the users to decide whether they want to use them or not.

How to Make Your Own Windows Registry Hacks

Over the years, we’ve created many Registry hacks to customize and tweak your Windows computer. Today we’re going to give you the keys to making your own registry hack files that you can use on any computer.

Before we go further, it’s worth noting that even reading this article and thinking about the registry will make your computer melt, and we’re not responsible if you break stuff, which… you will.

So what is a Registry Hack?

Whenever you customize a key or value in the registry, you could arguably call it a registry hack… but in this context, we’re referring to those downloadable registry hack files with the .reg extension that do magical things to your computer. Like break it. Be afraid.

In simpler terms, a registry hack file is a backup of all the changes that you’ve done to your registry, saved in a file so that you can apply those same changes to your computer should you reinstall, or on another computer when you get a new one.

If you want some examples of registry hacks, flip through and read some of the ones we’ve covered over the years:

• The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better
• The 20 Best Registry Hacks to Improve Windows
• How to Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows 7 or Vista
• How To (Really) Completely Disable UAC on Windows 7

If you’re really determined to continue reading, please proceed. Just don’t blame us if your computer breaks.

Making a Registry Hack

Once you’ve mucked around and changed the Registry values to your liking, you’ll want to use the Export feature to save everything out into a text file with the .reg extension — otherwise known as a registry hack file. These files follow a standard format, so you could probably create them from scratch if you really wanted to, but when you can export directly from the Registry Editor, why bother?

When exporting keys, you should make a point of drilling down to the lowest level on the left-hand side that you can get to while still seeing the value on the right-hand side that you’re trying to save into a file. Then right-click, choose Export, and then save it somewhere.

Now that you’ve successfully saved the file, you can either double-click it to merge the values back into the registry, which wouldn’t make sense right now, or copy it to another computer and merge the values into the registry, which would set the same values.

And in the case of this particular registry hack, that would work just fine because there is only a single value on the right — but most of the time, you’re going to need to edit the file. So right-click on it and choose Edit to open in Notepad.

And now we see the registry hack format, which is pretty simple, but requires a little explanation. Every registry hack contains this line at the top, which identifies it as a registry hack — without this line, it’s not going to work right.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

You only need this line once in the file, and it must be the very first line. If you’re trying to combine more than one registry hack, keep that in mind — you only want it at the top line, once.

The next section can be as long or as short as your registry hack needs to go, and is arranged into sections for the Keys (the stuff on the left-hand side of the Registry Editor) and then a set of values for that key. For instance, if you had two keys that you wanted to set values for, you could have them each in the file like this — the SomeVariableName would be the value on the right-hand side under the SOMEKEYHERE that is on the left-hand side — and SomeValue would be underneath ANOTHERKEY.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SOMEKEYHERE]
"SomeVariableName"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ANOTHERKEY]
"SomeValue"=dword:00000001

We should really give you an example where you need to do some editing, what we’ll do is open up the Registry Editor and browse down to the following key on the left-hand side. This key determines whether User Account Control blacks out the rest of the screen when the popup shows up, but that’s not important now.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Now go ahead and Export from the System key on the left-hand side, since that’s the lowest we can drill down while still seeing the key on the right. Open up the registry hack file and you’ll see a whole bunch of different stuff in it — yes, our PromptOnSecureDesktop is there in the file, but what about all the other stuff?

If you were to take this registry hack file to another computer and import it, everything else that was set on this machine underneath that Key… would end up being set on the new computer. For instance, the EnableLUA key that you see in the file? That disables or enables UAC depending on how it is set. So if you just wanted to set the Secure Desktop value and didn’t want to change UAC on the other computer, you could inadvertently change that value too — along with everything else in the file.

Luckily there is a very simple answer: it’s a text editor! Just delete everything that isn’t the value or values you want to set. In our case we’ll delete everything but this single value, but if you had five settings in here you wanted to change, you could leave all five of them.

The important thing is that you don’t delete the first line, and you don’t delete the [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTW....etc] line right above the value, because the Registry Editor needs to know where to put the value.

Combining Registry Hacks Together

Remember that first example with the NoAutoReboot stuff? That’s one of my favorite registry hacks. Now what if we wanted to include that one in our registry hack file along with the Secure Desktop stuff? Luckily, it’s simple, you just have to remember the rule: the Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 line… only goes in the file once, at the top.

So if you copy and paste the two files into each other, and make sure that top line is only in there once, you’ll end up with a registry hack that contains both settings.

And you can do this as many times as you want — if you want to put every single tweak that you’ve ever done into a single file so that you can use it every time you reinstall, we’d be interested to hear about it.

Deleting a Registry Value

And now, the thing they don’t teach you in school… how to delete a registry value.

There are some scenarios where a registry hack entails creating a new key that didn’t exist before, and changing the setting back requires deleting that registry key. The way this works in registry hack land is pretty simple:

Export the key and change the value that it is set to so that it is just a minus sign. For instance:

“NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers”=dword:00000001

Would become…

“NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers”=-

Not terribly hard once you do it once.

So what if you wanted to delete the registry Key instead of the value? You know, the stuff on the left-hand side of the Registry Editor? Again, it involves a minus symbol placed into a registry hack file. So if you wanted to delete the entire key shown in the above screenshot, you’d change it from this:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mic...]

To this:

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mic...]

See that little minus sign? That will tell the Registry Editor to completely delete that key, and every value underneath it.

You should use this with great caution. With great power comes greatly messed up computers when you screw up. In fact, you shouldn’t be doing any of this. Give me back the keys!

Why the 64-bit Version of Windows is More Secure

Most new PCs have been shipping with the 64-bit version of Windows — both Windows 7 and 8 — for years now. 64-bit bit versions of Windows aren’t just about taking advantage of additional memory. They’re also more secure than 32-bit versions.

64-bit operating systems aren’t immune to malware, but they do have more security features. Some of this also applies to 64-bit versions of other operating systems, such as Linux. Linux users will gain security advantages by switching to a 64-bit version of their Linux distribution.

Address Space Layout Randomization

ASLR is a security feature that causes a program’s data locations to be randomly arranged in memory. Before ASLR, a program’s data locations in memory could be predictable, which made attacks on a program much easier. With ASLR, an attacker has to guess the correct location in memory when trying to exploit a vulnerability in a program. An incorrect guess may result in the program crashing, so the attacker won’t be able to try again.

This security feature is also used on 32-bit versions of Windows and other operating systems, but it’s much more powerful on 64-bit versions of Windows. A 64-bit system has a much larger address space than a 32-bit system, making ASLR that much more effective.

Mandatory Driver Signing

The 64-bit version of Windows enforces mandatory driver signing. All driver code on the system must have a digital signature. This includes kernel-mode devices drivers and user-mode drivers, such as printer drivers.

Mandatory driver signing prevents unsigned drivers provided by malware from running on the system. Malware authors will have to somehow bypass the signing process through a boot-time rootkit or manage to sign the infected drivers with a valid certificate stolen from a legitimate driver developer. This makes it more difficult for infected drivers to run on the system.

Driver signing could also be enforced on 32-bit versions of Windows, but it isn’t — likely for continued compatibility with old 32-bit drivers that may not have been signed.

To disable driver signing during development on 64-bit editions of Windows, you would have to attach a kernel debugger or use a special startup option that doesn’t persist across system reboots.

Kernel Patch Protection

KPP, also known as PatchGuard, is a security feature only found on 64-bit versions of Windows. PatchGuard prevents software, even drivers running in kernel-mode, from patching the Windows kernel. This has always been unsupported, but it’s technically possible on 32-bit versions of Windows. Some 32-bit antivirus programs have implemented their antivirus protection measures using kernel patching.

PatchGuard prevents device drivers from patching the kernel. For example, PatchGuard prevents rootkits from modifying the Windows kernel to embed themselves in the operating system. If an attempt at kernel patching is detected, Windows will immediately shut down with a blue screen or reboot.

This protection could be put into place on the 32-bit version of Windows, but it hasn’t been — likely for continued compatibility with legacy 32-bit software that depends on this access.

Data Execution Protection

DEP allows an operating system to mark certain areas of memory as “non-executable” by setting an “NX bit.” Areas of memory that are supposed to hold data only will not be executable.

For example, on a system without DEP, an attacker could use some sort of buffer overflow to write code into a region of an application’s memory. This code could then be executed. With DEP, the attacker could write code into a region of the application’s memory — but this region would be marked as not-executable and could not be executed, which would stop the attack.

64-bit operating systems have hardware-based DEP. While this is also supported on 32-bit versions of Windows if you have a modern CPU, the default settings are more stringent and DEP is always enabled for 64-bit programs, while it’s disabled by default for 32-bit programs for compatibility reasons.

The DEP configuration dialog in Windows is a bit misleading. As Microsoft’s documentationstates, DEP is always used for all 64-bit processes:

“System DEP configuration settings apply only for 32-bit applications and processes when running on 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows. On 64-bit versions of Windows, if hardware-enforced DEP is available it is always applied to 64-bit processes and kernel memory spaces and there are no system configuration settings to disable it.”

WOW64

64-bit versions of Windows run 32-bit Windows software, but they do it through a compatibility layer known as WOW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit). This compatibility layer enforces some restrictions on these 32-bit programs, which may prevent 32-bit malware from functioning properly. 32-bit malware will also be unable run in kernel mode — only 64-bit programs can do that on a 64-bit OS — so this may prevent some older 32-bit malware from functioning properly. For example, if you have an old audio CD with the Sony rootkit on it, it won’t be capable of installing itself on a 64-bit version of Windows.

64-bit versions of Windows also drop support for old 16-bit programs. In addition to preventing ancient 16-bit viruses from executing, this will also force companies to upgrade their ancient 16-bit programs that could be vulnerable and unpatched.

Given how widespread 64-bit versions of Windows now are, new malware will likely be capable of running on 64-bit Windows. However, the lack of compatibility can help protect against old malware in the wild.

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Unless you use creaky old 16-bit programs, ancient hardware that only offers 32-bit drivers, or a computer with a fairly old 32-bit CPU, you should be using the 64-bit version of Windows. If you’re not sure which version you’re using but you have a modern computer running Windows 7 or 8, you’re likely using the 64-bit edition.

Of course, none of these security features is foolproof, and a 64-bit version of Windows is still vulnerable to malware. However, 64-bit versions of Windows are definitely more secure.

Did You Know Windows 8 Has a Built-In Time Machine Backup?

We sometimes forget with all the focus on Windows 8′s new “Modern” interface, but Windows 8 has a variety of great desktop improvements. One of them is File History, a built-in backup feature that functions similarly to Apple’s much-loved Time Machine. Enable the Windows 8 “time machine” File History, and Windows will automatically back up your files to an external or network drive. You’ll be able to restore previous versions from these backups, whether you’ve deleted a file or you just want to recover an old version of a file.

File History requires a removable hard drive or network share, as it can’t save files on your main Windows drive. This ensures that, even if your main Windows hard drive dies, your File History backup drive will still have copies of all your important files. This feature essentially replaces the Windows 7 backup feature in Windows 8 – the Windows 7 backup tools are still present so you can use them if you want, but Microsoft considers them outdated.

Enabling File History

You can open the File History control panel by pressing the Windows key, typing File Historyat the Start screen, selecting the Settings category, and clicking the File History shortcut that appears.

Connect an external hard drive to your computer and click the Turn On button to enable File History. You can also click the Select drive option in the sidebar to select the exact drive Windows should copy previous versions of files to. Using the Select drive screen, you can optionally set up File History using a network share instead of a hard drive connected directly to your computer.

Windows will save copies of the files in your libraries, desktop, contacts, and favorites to this location.

After clicking Turn On, you can choose to “Recommend this drive to members of your homegroup.”  This will automatically share it with computers in your Homegroup so they can use it as a network backup location for File History.

After you turn it on, you’ll see an indication that it’s saving copies of your files.

It’s that simple – Windows will now automatically save copies of your files every hour. If you disconnect your removable hard drive or the network share becomes inaccessible for a period of time, Windows will create a local cache of files to save on the drive when you next connect it.

You can customize the frequency of saving, size of this local cache, and other settings by clicking the Advanced settings link in the sidebar.

Excluding & Including Specific Folders

You can exclude specific folders and entire libraries by clicking the Exclude folders link in the sidebar of the File History control panel. Add folders and libraries you want to exclude from file history backups. For example, if you have many large video files in your Videos library and you don’t care about backing them up, you can exclude your Videos library to save space.

Bear in mind that only files in certain folders – your libraries, desktop, contacts, and favorites – will be backed up. To force another folder to be backed up, you can simply add it to one of your libraries.

From within File Explorer, select a library and click the Manage library button on the ribbon. Add any folders you want backed up to the library.

Restoring a File

Whether you’ve accidentally deleted a file or want to restore it to a previous version – perhaps you’ve saved over the original document – you can now get the file back from your File History backup.

You can get started with this in several ways:

• Open a File Explorer window, navigate to the folder that contained the file, and click the History button on the ribbon to view a history of files in that folder.
• Open a File Explorer window, select a file, and click the History button to view previous versions of that specific file.
• Click the Restore personal files link in the File History Control Panel.

You can use the arrows at the bottom of the window to switch between backups taken at specific times and choose the version of the file you want. After selecting a file, click the green Restore button at the bottom to restore the file to its original location.

Your file will be restored. If it would overwrite an existing file, Windows will ask you what you want to do

Have you made use of the Windows 8 “time machine” File Backup yet, or do you preferanother backup solution? Leave a comment and let us know!

Programming Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Programming Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
English | ISBN: 073567261X | 2012 | PDF | 537 pages | 12,4 mb

Apply your existing skills with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript—and start building your own Windows 8 apps now. As a member of the Windows Ecosystem team, the author has trained hundreds of Microsoft engineers and has been on the front lines of bringing the first Windows 8 apps to the Windows Store. Through this book, you'll get a thorough grounding in platform features and considerations, and delve into development essentials. "Quickstart" sections provide ready experience with the tools, API, and core features. And you'll gain insights and best practices on design, coding, and performance from real-world developers working on real-world apps.

Topics includes:

Platform Characteristics

App Anatomy and Page Navigation

Controls, Control Styling, and Basic Data Binding

Collections and Collection Controls

Layout

Windows 8 Style Commanding UI

State, Settings, Files, and Documents

Input and Sensors

Media

Purposeful Animations

Contracts

Tiles, Notifications, the Lock Screen, and Background Tasks

Networking

Devices and Printing

Extensions

Localization, Accessibility, and the Windows Store

Download Links:

http://extabit.com/file/279w8v6lofq1f/073567261X.pdf

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Windows 8 Step by Step

Windows 8 Step by Step
M-cr-soft Pr-ss (September 2012) | ISBN: 0735664021 | PDF + EPUB | 784 pages | 97.1 MB

The smart way to learn Windows® 8—one step at a time!

Experience learning made easy—and quickly teach yourself how to use Windows 8. With Step by Step, you set the pace—building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them!

Set up a home network, browse the web, and use your email
Use multi-touch gestures on your touchscreen devices
Manage your files with Microsoft® SkyDrive®
Play music and movies, and share your photos and videos
Download apps and games from the Windows Store
Help secure your computer and prevent common problems

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introducing Windows 8
Chapter 2. Making Windows Look and Sound the Way You Want
Chapter 3. Using Apps on the Start Screen
Chapter 4. Saving, Browsing, and Organizing Files and Folders
Chapter 5. Using Internet Explorer 10
Chapter 6. Using SkyDrive
Chapter 7. Using the Social Apps
Chapter 8. Shopping in the Windows Store
Chapter 9. Having Fun with Multimedia
Chapter 10. Playing Games
Chapter 11. Connecting to a Network and the Internet
Chapter 12. Allowing Others to Use the Computer
Chapter 13. Sharing Files and Folders with My Network
Chapter 14. Keeping Windows 8 Safe and Secure
Chapter 15. Preventing Problems
Chapter 16. Supervising a Child’s Computer Use
Chapter 17. Making My Computer Accessible
Chapter 18. Using Windows 8 at Work
Chapter 19. Using Windows 8 on Touch-Compatible Devices
Chapter 20. 20 Tips for Improving Your Windows 8 Computing Experience
Chapter 21. Troubleshooting Problems

Appendix A. Using Keyboard Shortcuts and Touch Gestures in Windows 8
Appendix B. Enhancements for Using Multiple Displays in Windows 8
Appendix C. Installing and Upgrading to Windows 8
Appendix D. Moving Your Data and Settings to Windows 8

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Top Windows 8 Features For Businesses And Professionals

Although Windows 8 has managed to attract criticism from every corner of the globe, its revolutionary new look and feature-rich environment promises to win the hearts of the users, in the long-term. Casting the traditional boot management interface and start-menu away, Microsoft has decided to set the trend for the future. Ease of access, cloud-connectivity, widespread device integration, secure and privacy ensured are the buzzwords associated with Windows 8, if analyzed beyond the smokescreen. The recent unveiling of Microsoft Office 15 is only an affirmation to this cause. Undoubtedly, the new Metro User Interface allows a fast, neat and organized operating experience with everything (except the power options) accessible with a single click. In this post, we set our perspective straight and relevant for businesses. Why should a firm, business or organization look towards Windows 8 when they are already satisfied with the ever-popular Windows 7? Shifting to a radically new operating system, apparently just an upgrade, may require blanket time for adjustment and coordination within and beyond functioning teams that may hinder efficiency, at least in the short term. With this concern in mind, a conscious manager or team lead would think twice regarding the incentives Windows 8 has to offer in achieving the goals of the organization. From the network administrator to the IT manager, the executive to the worker, the accountant to the operator, we present a critical analysis that would empower you in making the move to prosperity, keeping in view the goals of efficiency, productivity, network management, user controls, security and data backup.

First Things First: Better Performance With Current Resources 

The best thing about Windows 8 is a faster boot and startup time with no additional hardware required. This encourages startups and relatively larger firms to attain the much needed peace of mind. Saving both time and money, it doesn’t require much training to adjust with the revamped interface. A usual power-on to desktop time takes up a few seconds, which has an inherent meaning of efficiency in view. You may require shutting-down or restarting the system when applying patches, installing programs, configurations and updates that tend to slow down the overall activity of the user.  With innovative memory management techniques, Microsoft has managed to reach greater efficiency aiming to benefit systems built in the pre-Windows 7 era. IT managers may find it useful to note that x86 tablets loaded with Windows 8 PRO offers the full Windows experience including apps and Office 2013. On the other hand, ARM based tablets may only be able to utilize the Metro Apps giving a partial integrated view.

Introducing UEFI

The Basic Input Output System (BIOS) has been there since we’ve known Windows. It doesn’t actually possess a user-friendly or a modern interface, but is known to be an emergency health care for the system. Whenever something goes wrong with the operating system and attached hardware devices, BIOS would configure it on the road to recovery. Keeping up with the requirements of speed and remote access, the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) promises to turn the tide in your favor. Firstly, it reduces the loading time to approximately 8-10 seconds. The UEFI comes with useful features like ELAM (Early Launch Anti-Malware) protection, saving you from boot loader attacks and the like. The Secure Boot option allows you to control which Operating Systems to consider for loading. Trusted Boot monitors the boot process and verifies essential system resources like boot loader, kernel, system files, drivers, etc. UEFI also allows diagnostics to be performed on the boot screen over the network, thus, saving time and solving problems, swiftly. Similarly, functions like Measured Boot Process, BitLocker Drive Encryption, AppLocker, and claim-based access control ensure infallible security.

The distinguishing feature of the new boot screen is, the support for mouse. The function tiles and navigation buttons allow you to journey through the settings in a fluid way. You can restore Windows, recover via image files, modify the start-up behavior or use the Command Prompt for advance repair as per requirement.

Save Time With Start Screen 

The Metro User Interface has the advantage of a highly responsive resource organization and management platform. Your touch phone would take up your operating system in the very same way as you deal with the traditional keyboard mouse setup. Moreover, you can prioritize programs by varying size and position of tiles in accordance with your needs. For instance, you may use the Mail app more than the other apps, hence a right click would do the trick. It is common to see a cluttered desktop in environments that are neither organized nor managed efficiently. Users usually rely on a clean desktop for peace of mind and a cluttered start-menu for access to programs. In Windows 8, your desktop is not more than an app. The Start Screen efficiently manages your system, making things easily accessible. Click any program and you’re ready to go. Returning back to the screen is only a click away. It surely makes the most of the screen while keeping programs fully accessible.

Type To Search In An Organized Way

You will not be able to find a search bar anywhere in the start screen. Maybe it’s because, in the quest to save more of your valuable time, Windows 8 removes the boundaries to your important searches independent of any field. If you can’t find the application, you are looking for, start typing the name and instant search results would come to view in an organized manner. There are high chances that the respective keyword is the name of a PDF file as well as a Word Document. Moreover, they might be various versions of the file or document in various locations. It is in such situations that the enhanced search presents results with program icons serving as categories for ease of access. The simplest characterization is done in the form of Apps, Settings and Files, while an extensive list of programs comes to your disposal at the right. The enhanced searching experience is meant to process an extensive range of data while presenting the required information in the most user-friendly and accessible way possible.

Personal Time Management Via Calender App

To work effectively in a competitive business environment, the Calender App equips you with full screen note addition option scheduled with time and color coded by priority. You can set the status, reminders and the frequency of the relevant operation so that it may notify you when needed and present a timeline for planning and coordination. Polished with the dominant Metro outlook, it encourages you to make most of the screen space available by attaching notes and timelines to the overall calender.

With multiple entries assigned, you can view your tasks like a Gantt Chart, improving project management and documentation skills. The color codes highlight the urgent tasks, immediately, inducing the appropriate action.

Windows App Store: The Specialized Experience

Although the App Store may not benefit large scale organizations, smaller firms can use these useful applications for creating a customized and specialized environment. A marketing firm may add Fresh Paintor Wikipedia Apps to modify the start screen in their favor. You can easily zoom out anytime, in the metro user interface, to customize and observe the hawk’s eye view. Searching, downloading and installing applications had never been this simple.

People App: Cloud-Based Address Book

Once you’ve organized the tasks, managing time and customizing the workspace in accordance with your specialized environment, it is useful for managers to maintain a comprehensive contacts list or address book that is accessible, wherever you go. Many of us have faced unfortunate situations where the most advanced cellphones get lost or stolen, leaving us frustrated regarding the contact-recovery dilemma. Hence, it is always useful to benefit from the cloud-connected People App. Contacts can easily be imported to your contact list via popular social and professional forums like Hotmail, Twitter, LinkedIn, Gmail and the like. Once you’ve added and configured accounts, you can move between the tabs (at the top) to create groups and contact colleagues for work distribution and follow up.

One-Step Virtualization Experience

If you’re a network administrator, developer or an advanced user, you might have used the Windows Virtual PC or Windows XP mode to run virtual machines. Hyper-V Manager and Client is a brand new utility in Windows 8 that incorporates sleep and hibernate modes, wireless interfaces for 32-bit as well as 64-bit virtual machines. These can also be moved between Windows Servers for live migrations, allowing online activity while exchanging information. Thus, Hyper-V serves as a one-step virtualization solution with advanced functionality. The Hyper-V manager can be used to create and configure multiple virtual machines on a server. Moreover, you can assign varying capacities to each operating system that will then run in isolated virtual environments. In case you are unable to find the Hyper-V feature in your Windows 8, you must install the relevant feature from the Install Windows Applications option in the Control Panel. By default, Hyper-V is disabled due to its specialized use and relevance to the very few advanced users.

Network Control Redefined 

For system & network administrators, Windows 8 presents powerful data activity tracking tools, useful especially in case of 3G or 4G (LTE) connections. Right click the relevant network and the information would become visible after clicking Show Estimated Data Usage. You can further assign metered connections that enhance the overall performance by minimizing the frequency of Windows Updates, which usually leads to sluggish performance. Moreover, it also reduces the usage by applications to liberate your network connection, paving the way for maximum performance for the important tasks, at hand. Windows 8 comes with the latest and secure authentication methods like EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA, and EAP-AKA’ that are specifically useful for 3G and 4G connections. WiFi hotspots can now be treated like cellsites using WISPr (Wireless Internet Services Provider roaming), allowing roaming and connection switching on the go as you move away from one range to another.

If you are unable to transfer the system for physical connection to a projector, especially in the workplace, the Network Projector setup would come in handy. You can either automatically search for network projector or set one up, manually. This requires a network address configuration that would result in access and control of this feature.

Comprehensive Task Management

For system diagnostics, many technical experts rely on third-party system analysis and monitoring tools. Windows 8 wipes away this loophole by presenting a modern and powerful task manager, providing detailed activity regarding your processor, memory, disks, and connectivity (Bluetooth, WiFi, Ethernet) in a real-time debugging environment. The App History lets you trace the activity to the point of concern. The Open Resource Monitor can also be opened from within the task manager.

As evident, the processes list in the Task Manager has been revamped and organized with respect to the application tree as well as the percentage usage of critical system resources. This allows you to instantly monitor and detect the causes behind a specific malfunction of memory, disk, processor or network. You can check out our comprehensive guide on Windows 8 Task Manager.

Effective User Controls: Offline & Online

User controls have been improved by integrating online access, allowing you to access files from anywhere, synchronize settings and access information on the go. Moreover, the picture password andPIN creation features promise flexibility and privacy for the better.

Stay Informed Via Notifications 

In order to keep yourself fully informed regarding important updates that may have an impact on your business activity, you can enable notifications from the PC Settings. This provides a comprehensive list of notifications relevant to both the system settings and the installed apps. You can also disable any unwanted notification with just a click.

 File Management Like Never Before

The copy/move progress window has now truly been transformed. For large scale data transfer operations, it is somewhat inefficient to leave program transferring at the system’s disposal without any consideration for time or priority. Windows 8 comes with faster copying rates and a detailed prioritized management window. If you are copying one file to a folder, the copy window will come to view showing the progress. When you see the details, a pause button coupled with an accurate graphical speed variation is displayed. Now, if you copy another file to the same folder, rather than a new copy window appearing, this operation integrates itself with the existing progress, showing two simultaneous copying actions. The significance and implication is quite evident. In businesses, documents have their own priority and importance specific to events and times. An operation may become less relevant in short time intervals. Hence, you can prioritize copying by pausing and resuming a file transfer according to your needs, while staying fully informed with the progress.

What if a large chunk of duplicate files is to be copied to the folder of interest? You could choose eitherCopy  & Replace, Copy both files or copy using a different name in order to preserve versions of the same document. With the enhanced file copy/move conflict resolution dialog, such conflicts are detected and presented to you for a detailed, customized solution. Just select the relevant action, and you’re ready to go. The Duplicate File Resolution dialog has now been improved for the betterment of users, especially for maintaining updated versions of useful documents.

Reclaim Your Data: Manage, Backup, Refresh & Restore

The PC Settings is a powerful configuration console to configure the entire Windows 8 experience. It allows you to refresh or reset your system. Refreshing the system implies that all personal data including Metro Apps will be retained while a list of installed desktop items is saved in the form of an HTML file with a refreshed Windows (in approximately 10 minutes). Reset on the other hand is more like a clean installation of Windows in a much lesser amount of time (10-25 minutes, according to Microsoft). As you may know that Windows 8 supports ReFS (Resilient File System), which enables large organizations to efficiently manage their storage pools, but as far as management of multiple storage devices are concerned, Windows 8 brings a new storage device-related feature called Storage Spaces that lets you easily extend and manage the storage devices without having to buy and deploy separate, expensive data management solutions. Moreover, this feature groups all attached devices together, allowing you to use all the drives from a single, large virtual drive. You can check out detailed guide on Storage Spaceshere.

Windows To Go: Your Desktop On A USB Drive

For corporates, accessing their desktop in multiple locations is of great importance leading to an efficient information infrastructure. Through Windows To Go, Windows 8 allows you to pack up a fully managed version of your desktop to a USB device, which can easily be booted onto your system at home, or any other location independent of online connectivity. For instance, if you’re on a vacation and suddenly you need to access your office system at the far flung tourist resort. The solution may lie in your pocket, coordinating with Windows To Go in bringing information at your disposal. Disaster Management could never be so predictable!

Improved & Powerful Architecture

Microsoft has equipped Windows 8 with “Super Speed” USB Software Stack to allow a swift access and transfer experience. Moreover, with universal sharing, you can drag images or other objects between applications and online sharing websites like Facebook, which virtually eliminates the need for temporary storage for upload later on. For businesses, this accelerates the vitality of document creation and online sharing with reference to social media marketing. Other tools like BitLocker (disk encryption tool based on used space only), AppLocker (Packaged Apps/Installers Control & Management) coupled with DirectAccess (remote access to a corporate network without VPN) and BranchCache (cache files & websites from servers) give you a truly unique experience in Windows 8.

Verdict

Windows 8 aims to empower businesses in achieving the goals of efficiency (UEFI, Metro UI), productivity (Calender/People Apps), portability (Windows To Go), reliability (File/Task/Network Management), accessibility (Hyper-V), security (ELAM) and privacy (User Controls) in a much effective manner. From our analytic standpoint, a shift to Windows 8 would bring more benefit than harm expanding the scope of the operating system beyond the practical world. If you think any relevant feature was missed out, don’t forget to mention it in the comments below.