Until June 26^th, when Microsoft will host their special Build 2013 event in San Francisco and where Windows Blue will be completely disclosed, this project will remain only a mystery. But perhaps, in the short time we have, we can shed some light on the subject and discuss the meaning, importance and what could Windows Blue change for the existing Window 8 and of course, for Microsoft’s own strategy.

Windows Blue: between meaning and mystery

From what we’ve managed to harness in the past days, we can safely say that Windows Blue, or whatever Microsoft will choose to name it, will be a significant Windows 8 upgrade, but not a completely new version. This Blue project should bring a couple of new features, extra tweaking options and even an easier way to manage and navigate the OS, but besides all of these, Microsoft will not market it as a standalone client.

Most probably, Windows Blue will be a Mac OS-like update, where users should have the ability to gain a couple of extra new features, for a rather small price. This set of extensive features should surpass the ones brought by regular Windows Service Pack updates, but not enough to actually call it a totally different package. Speaking of additions, here’s what you should expect:

New Features and Functionality

• Touch improvisation – while desktops are widely used, the future will no doubt be touch. Therefore, Microsoft aims to improve the general feeling experience in Blue by adding a couple of new gestures, such as swipe upwards to access the application list and enhanced drawing.
• Snapping – I personally loved Air Snap in Windows 7, and even more in 8. With this feature, you could easily drag two windows towards the sides of the screen, and multitask two applications by splitting the screen in half. In the next update, Microsoft will once more enhance this feature, by allowing up to four apps on the screen, depending on the used resolution. Moreover, snapping will be done even easier for touch lovers, thanks to window resizing and quick-enabling modes.
• Smarter Charm Bar – the new Charm system will hold a couple of extra settings, which can now be found only in the desktop mode under Control Panel. From this smart menu, users will be able to change the background and edit some theme options, such as background colors and accents. Moreover, a smart searching function has been implemented here.
• Tiles size and movement– until the moment, Windows 8 lets users change the size of tiles in only two ways: large or small. An extra size will be added with the upcoming update, one which will be a quarter of the existing large. Moreover, tiles can be organized as the user pleases, with the help of a new customize button. Once this button is tapped, tiles can be manually arranged around the screen.
• New Applications – like usual, some of the existing titles will be renewed, while others will be added to the suite. From what we know, Mail, People, Calendar will be affected and a new Alarm system, plus a Sound recorder app will be added.
• Internet Explorer 11 – Microsoft’s old browser will once more be enhanced with another version, 11, which will also be usable from the desktop mode. While there are no mentions of amazing features, we do know that tab syncing is going to be present and that owners will also be able to take screenshots of the screen and link to pages.
• SkyDrive improvement – until the moment, syncing in SkyDrive was only possible from the desktop application. In Blue, this feature will also be added to the Metro-style app.
• Enhanced Lock Screen – the place where all the fun starts can now be used as a frame for all taken pictures, and owners can even enable camera access right from the menu. From here, a shutdown screen similar to the one found in Windows Phone will also be developed.
• New apps settings – from the upgraded options menu, people can tweak the notification feature to be as silent as possible within certain hours. Known as “Quiet hours”, this feature should come in handy while taking a nap.
• Movie Moments – designed as a Windows Movie maker replacement, Moments is a basic editing application at the moment, which only allows people to add captions directly onto videos. But given the remaining timeframe, it should evolve.
• Tweaked keyboard layout – although just a minor adjustment, Microsoft has changed the keyboard layout to insert numbers easily, by holding down and then swapping upwards a letter.
• Built-in tethering – after playing with the leaked build, ItWorld found that a hidden 3G/4G tethering functionality will soon be added. Although there’s no visual interface to prove that, the code exists and it’s enough to handle Wi-Fi or Bluetooth streams towards other mobile devices. This will be a pretty nifty trick, as tethering towards an Android terminal from a Windows computer is pretty stressing at the moment.
• Modern Windows Defender – the standard security suite embedded in Windows will get a revamped UI, now suitable for the modern touch interface. Once again, there’s no working application to prove this claims, but there are several folder references and code traces.
• Barcode Scanners – there are several code traces that show Windows Blue to possibly be compatible with built-in barcode scanners. Our guess is that Microsoft is currently working with 3rd party vendors, aiming to create specific devices, which might be used in general shops or even medical facilities.
• Enhanced battery options – apart from the casual Power Save mode, Windows Blue will also integrate a latency sensitivity feature, which should keep processing power at bay, when no demanding application are used. Once again, no documentation exists, but several tests showed that Blue can handle power juice slightly better than Windows 8.
• Less RAM needs- as Microsoft used clients with every Windows release since Vista, Blue should consume less RAM than Windows 8. Thanks to tests, the actual improvements is about 90 megabytes, with the whole system requiring only 485 MB RAM to run.
• Quality Icons – inspiring from Apple’s own standards once again, Microsoft looks towards Retina-like displays by improving the quality of all existing icons, cursors and etc.

Naming

As Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Communications kindly notes, Windows Blue is just an internal name and most likely, it will not be marketed as such:

 […] a set of plans referred to internally as “Blue.” - chances of products being named thusly are slim to none. And don’t start with the “so you’re telling me there’s a chance” bit

Indulge this fantasy, but there’s a chance to see Windows Blue as Windows 8.1.

How will Blue Change the Game?

With some builds of Windows Blue already leaked on torrent websites and people close to the subject managing to even get a preview of the project, we know that this significant update will hit all existing Windows 8 editions, including RT and Server. But having in mind to upgrade all clients is not Microsoft’s only thought.

Moreover, we have reasons to believe that extra services, such as the Services suite, Office and Internet Explorer will also be upgraded (and even Windows Phone). Although we do not know yet how the system functions, most certainly these enhanced versions will reach outdated systems but again, for a price.

A special attention has been purportedly given to the Office Suite, which will be updated by a Gemini version. In a few words, Gemini is a wave of Office releases coming over the next two years, ones which may transform the software in a more touch-friendly way. As you may already experience, the current 2013 edition is still complicated for touch devices, with so many buttons being too tiny to aim. Officially, only two Metro-style members of the Office suite exist, OneNote and Lync. I guess it’s time to extend the range.

Again, as Mary Jo notes, the first wave should arrive in the same time as Blue and will affect important name, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, while the second updating cycle should target the remaining names later next year. It is well believed that one of the critical changes brought by the Blue project will affect the traditional updating cycle. As the same Mary Jo Foley hints, Microsoft is adapting the release cycle to a faster and smaller pace, one which may resemble Apple’s. We believe that Microsoft will no longer count on game-changing versions, like Windows 8, to attract customers, betting on smaller versions instead.

Where is Windows heading?

Many feared that Windows is going to stray even further from the desktop mode. While enhanced options have been introduced for touch-based users, like a more comprehensive Charms bar and advanced navigation options, we believe that Microsoft will not abandon us, conventional clients.

A big hint of that assumption is the exclusive extra-large size assigned for the Desktop tile. As you probably noticed from the video up-top, the demonstrator shows how you can make the Desktop shortcut as large as two regular applications. This means that once more, Microsoft relies on usage statistics when changing features, and as long as conventional laptops and non-touch monitors will exist, the Desktop mode is not going away.

Beyond this, Window is going to improve, and adapt to the ever-hungry market. Although we cannot call Windows 8 the most successful version yet, we truly like to believe that Microsoft is going to get there.

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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And well, we must confess that it is one of the better looking “official” Twitter apps that we have seen on a tablet. Scratch that – it certainly is the best, outshining its Android and iOS counterparts that tend to focus more on substance than on style and do not actually reflect the OS they are running on (as a consequence of which iOS and Android users tend to hark to other apps for their Twitter fix but that is another story for another piece). Twitter for Windows 8 certainly does that. It is a small enough download at 2.6 MB, and as on other platforms, costs nothing. Installation is quick.

Nothing really seems to bounce out at you once you log in to the app. The format seems pretty standard with a single column showing the tweets of those you follow with a side panel on the left showing Home, @Connect, #Discover and Me (your profile). @Connect shows the tweets where you have been mentioned. And again, the layout seems basic. Uncluttered and lot of white space. Easy on the eye, but no real visual magic. That bit starts when you hit the #Discover button and suddenly Twitter switches into Windows 8’s swiping mode, letting you swipe between trending topics, follower activity and tweets. And shared links and images look awesome, with complete Web articles being displayed within the app itself. A quick note: all this happens when you use the app in landscape mode, which does seem Windows 8’s preferred mode.

There’s more: tap on a user or even head to the Me section to see your own profile. Once again you will be rewarded by a swipe to discover interface as you switch between basic details and statistics of the person, recent tweets, and images shared by the person. It does not sound like much, but take our word for it – it looks gorgeous on a Windows 8 large screen. You can also share information from any other app by just invoking the Charms bar, choosing the Share option and then opting for Twitter. And thankfully unlike some apps, you actually get a chance to edit the copy before sending it off. Finally, there is Snap view, where you pull your finger down from the tap of the app and when it becomes smaller, simply shift it to the right or the left of your display, where it becomes a single column affair, letting you work on the remainder of the screen on whatever app you want. Neat, we think. And there is support for live tiles and notifications, although we prefer just running the app by the side.

Yes, power Twitter users will complain about the lack of customization options (no settings button at all, would ye believe it) and the fact that they have to go delving inside the Me section to access DMs – Tweetdeck gives us them in a nice column by itself. Still all said and done, we cannot help but like Twitter’s official avatar on Windows 8. It is simple and elegantly designed, if not exactly overburdened in the feature department, and is very comfortable to work with, be it in full screen mode or tucked away on one of the sides of the screen. Good enough for it to go flying into our must-download apps list of Windows 8!

Available from: Windows Store
Price: Free

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It seems that Microsoft’s engines are going full throttle as they are looking to expand the Windows Phone platform, also to version 9 and Internet Explorer 11 has also been mentioned. There’s not a lot to go on at the moment, but it looks like the next generation will also be optimized for touchscreen interfaces.

Will Microsoft abandon Windows 8?

We all remember when Windows Vista came out, it was a new interface with awesome looks that left many mouths wide open, but others still stuck with the old XP. Nowadays, with Windows 8 on the rise, the story is similar: many love it, most don’t and quickly downgraded back to Windows 7. This begs the question if Windows 8 was just a way for Microsoft to set the stage for Windows 9.

We can also see from the Microsoft Careers website that they are looking to expand their development team for Windows Phone 9 and IE 11.

From all of this, we can understand that Windows 9 is under development and we might start seeing more stuff in the near future, as the project moves closer to completion. A proper release date or other solid information is not available at this moment. It’s a little too early to speculate when Windows 9 will be released, but if we’ve learned anything from Microsoft’s past releases, we can expect it when Windows 8 will be at least an year old. But that’s still way too early for Windows release cycle.

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The post Windows 9 in Sight: Will Microsoft Abandon Windows 8 that Fast? appeared first on Technology Personalized.

As you may have already noticed, the new UI formerly known as Metro is pretty much the foreground of Windows 8, either we like it or not. In order to push people into adopting the touch-optimized interface and getting used to tiles, Microsoft has made this interface the primary welcoming screen and, has completely removed the well-known Start button. Thus, shutting down the computer has become a bit more complicated.

How to quickly shut down Windows 8?

By default, users can shut down their computer by manually bringing up the Charms bar, clicking on the Power icon and then selecting Shut Down. While this procedure may be very straight-forward for someone owning a tablet, it’s not so wonderful for mouse and keyboard users, that usually hang around in the plain desktop mode.

A way to bypass this tricky procedure would be to click the taskbar and then press ALT+F4, just like you were shutting down a program using just the keyboard. From my understanding, Windows 8 will interpret that while no other applications run in the foreground and this combination is pushed, the user wants to close down the machine and so, it pops up the power-off menu. But what do you say if we could once more re-create the old Windows 7 experience, where users could turn off the PC in one-click, using a home made short-cut?

Turn OFF Windows 8 in One-Click

1. Right click on Desktop and select New -> Shortcut.
2. Type shutdown /s /t 0 in the location box and click Next. 
3. Name the shortcut how you want to, but picking something obvious, like Shut Down, may help afterwards.
4. Now, to customize the bugger, right click its icon and select Properties.
5. Under the Shortcut menu, click on Change Icon and then approve the pop-up.
6. From the list of all existing models, pick an icon that you want, most likely the one that resembles the old shut-down button. 

Further on, you can right-click the shortcut and choose “Pin to Start” to place the icon on the Start screen or, “Pin to Taskbar” to attach it on the bottom-side of the desktop panel. In order to recreate even more functions that relate with this process, you will have to re-do the steps above and insert one of the following commands, as desired:

• Restart: shutdown /r /t 0
• Hibernate: shutdown /h /t 0
• Restart with all current applications reloaded: shutdown /g /t 0
• Hybrid: shutdown /hybrid /t 0 – this will allow for a fast start-up next time, but the PC won’t shut completely.

It’s worth noting that once you’ve double-clicked one of the icons made above, the procedure will come in effect immediately, without any means of interrupting.

How to boot directly into Desktop mode

Just like I’ve said above, creating a desktop shortcut for one-click hybrid shut-down will make Windows 8 power-on next time in just a few seconds. Although this will save a lot of time, the computer will not be shut completely and some core processes will be preserved in a core component, pretty much like a standard hibernation. This will be seeming less to the end-user, but not for the machine.

Another trick to cut down some time is to make the computer automatically boot into desktop mode. This can be done by creating a task that bypasses the present Metro-like Start screen and reaching the good-old Explorer instantly.

Here’s how it can be done:

1. Press the Start button from the keyboard and then type “schedule”.
2. Click on Settings and then open the Schedule Tasks menu.
3. From the left side of the window, click on Task Scheduler Library and then on Create Task, from the right.
4. Choose an appropriate name for the task.
5. Now select the Triggers tab and click on New.
6. From the drop-down menu, select “At log on” and then click OK.
7. Move on the Actions tab and once more, click New.
8. Type “explorer” in the Program text box and then click OK.
9. Restart the computer.

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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Well, the Windows 8 crowd won’t have to do that. For while, Flipboard itself shows no sign of arriving on the platform, it does have a few handy clones out there. The best of which is News Bento. No, it does not have the kind of social network integration that Flipboard or Pulse have – you cannot get a magazinifed look at your Twitter and Facebook account on it – but if it is plain news you are after, then the app certainly does enough to draw comparisons with Flipboard.

The concept of the app is the same as Flipboard – present news in the form of a flippable digital magazine instead of the normal mostly-text-and-odd-picture mix. The system too is rather the same – you choose the channels you want to follow, and can also add the RSS feed of a website if that is not among those mentioned, although there is a very good selection of them available readymade. In a manner of speaking, the app reflects Windows 8′s tiled interface look, with different ’tiles’ representing different websites. Tap on one and you see the content laid out in a magazine-like format which you can browse through easily – you can flick through stories. There is Google Reader support too so you can just check the feeds you follow there in a flip-through format. You also have the option of viewing the article in an even less uncluttered format using the ClearView option, or to just view the story in the browser. And just like on the Windows 8 homescreen, you can move the ’tiles’ around and rearrange them in any order you like. Of course, this being a Windows 8 app, you can use the OS’ native sharing muscle to share stories on social networks.

All in all, it makes reading a lot of fun on high-resolution Windows 8 tablets, with its abundance of white spaces and good formatting. No, it is not quite as awesome as Flipboard which has subject-based channels of its own, works signficantly faster, lets you even check and update your social networks in that magazine-like form, and even seems to lay out articles a whole lot better. But still, this is by far the best news reading app we have seen on Windows 8. Pretty much a must-have if you love keeping in touch with the news and have a Windows 8 tablet or touchsreen device – the magic is not quite the same when it comes to flicking between stories using a touchpad. Ah, but then that is something we said about Windows 8 too.

Available from: Windows Store (Free)

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Available on the Windows Store, MINE for Facebook (yes, that is the complete name of the app) is a 1.84 MB download and installs without any hitches. Once you have logged into the app using your Facebook username and password, you get a screen with two sections – Your Personalized Feeds on the upper portion, and Notifications below them. The Personalized Feeds area has three sub-heads: Your news feed, Status and picture feed and the quaintly named Top friend link and info feed.

Of course, you can just let these be the way they were and the app will serve up your Wall, status and picture updates of your friends and so on, or you can make the most of the app, roll up your sleeves, and sit down and tweak these feeds. Just access the menu by pulling down the upper portion of the app and go to the ‘Manage Your Custom Feeds’’ option. Here you can change the name of the feeds if you wish and even specify what kind of updates (videos, pictures, links, etc.) and which friend’s updates you wish to include under that head. It is a simple, neat touch and actually helps those who have stacks of friends – some more important, and others less so.

What, however, really makes the app rock is the fact that it brings most of Facebook’s functionality in a typically Windows 8 layout. So you have your Wall (which normally shows up in the feed of your choice, depending on your customisation), which you can navigate by swiping from one side to another. Just tap an entry to see it in full form and see comments and likes, and of course, add your own if you wish. You can also access your groups and events if you wish. You can give the app permission to send you notifications, irrespective of the app you are using, and see live updates on its tile on the Windows 8 homescreen. All of it in best Window 8 style, with lots of white space, large images and clear text. There are no ads or friend suggestions to muck up your viewing space.

Yes, it is not perfect. Videos that were shared off YouTube tended to open up in the browser, we could find no way of sharing someone’s status or of sending messages to a contact, and well, those who love Facebook’s apps and games will have to do without them, but still, all said and done, we must admit that we found MINE for Facebook extremely useful for keeping track of activity on our social network. It works smoothly and looks gloriously uncluttered. For everything else, there’s the browser after all!

Available from: Windows Market
Price: Free

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It would seem that Microsoft wants to improve the security of its OS, but they still don’t resolve the older issues. This is also the case of the Internet Explorer vulnerability that we’ve talked about recently, in which mouse movements could be tracked with a javascript exploit.

Note: We realize the potential risk behind this method and the reason why we’re writing about this is only to inform users about this vulnerability. This method can prove to be very useful for those who have really forgot their passwords but also by hackers. Therefore, we hope that the Redmond guys will take some measures about this.

How to bypass Windows 8 password protection

In older versions of Windows, you could replace the password to any account fairly easy, with a recovery disk and a few commands in CMD. Microsoft have tried to resolve this issue, and have succeeded, but only half way. By default, Windows 8 users are logged in to their online Microsoft accounts, in which case, they are pretty secure, but if someone who uses computer running Windows 8 on a local account, they are still vulnerable. Their passwords can still be changed with ease.

Although we do not encourage accessing another computer without permissions, sometimes, there is need for this measure when someone forgets their password and the computer is rendered inaccessible. This step by step guide will show you how to change a Windows 8 user account password in only a few minutes, without the need of any hacking experience. For this, you will need a recovery disk, which can be created either on a CD/DVD or on a USB flash drive.

1. Insert your USB flash drive in a Windows 8 computer

2. Navigate to Control Panel -> Recovery

3. Select “Create a recovery drive” and follow the wizard to create the recovery drive

After the USB drive is complete, insert it into the computer that you want to access, restart the computer and enter Boot Menu.

Note: To enter the Boot Menu requires you to press a key right when the computer starts, usually this key is “F8”, but this is not true for every computer. Look it up on the Internet or watch when the computer starts, it will show you what key it is.

Boot from your USB drive, and when it starts, select the language of your choice and head over to “Troubleshoot” -> “Advanced Options” -> “Command Prompt”. This will open a CMD window, where you will type a few command lines. When the CMD window opens, write these commands:

• diskpart
• list vol

Note: Be careful what volume you select, it should be the letter corresponding to your Windows partition. Usually the letter is “C”, but in some cases, it might differ.

• exit

Note: For this tutorial, we will assume that your Windows installation partition corresponds to the letter C. Also, be careful at the spaces in the command lines, you have to write them exactly as featured here.

• C:
• CD WINDOWS
• CD SYSTEM32
• COPY CMD.EXE CMD.EXE.ORIGINAL
• COPY UTILMAN.EXE UTILMAN.EXE.ORIGINAL
• DEL UTILMAN.EXE
• REN CMD.EXE UTILMAN.EXE
• SHUTDOWN -R -T 00

Now the system is ready to have its password overridden. Your computer will restart, let it boot normally and when it reaches the logon screen, click on the “Ease of Access Center” in the bottom left corner of the screen and a command prompt should open. In this CMD window, type the following:

• NET USER
• NET USER username *

Now you will be prompted to input the new password for the account. Notice that the password will not show and the cursor will not move, so be extra careful when typing it, because you are typing blind. After you confirm the password, the process is complete. You can close the CMD and log on to the computer using the new password you have just provided.

Note: For the second NET USER username * command, replace username with your own account name that is shown after the first command and the “*” will have to be typed after the username, with a space between them.

The process is very simple and can be done by anyone. Also, if you want to revert the effect of this process (the deleted files in the first part of the tutorial), you can do this by re-inserting and booting from your USB drive, open the CMD windows in the same manner as before and type the following commands in the CMD window:

• C:
• CD WINDOWS
• CD SYSTEM32
• DEL UTILMAN.EXE
• REN UTILMAN.EXE.ORIGINAL UTILMAN.EXE
• REN CMD.EXE.ORIGINAL CMD.EXE
• SHUTDOWN -R -T 00

When you computer boots up, you will notice that by clicking on the “Ease of Access Center”, it will no longer open a CMD window, but it will have changed to the default setting.

Note: For those who have a Windows 8 installation DVD, you can do this without a recovery disk. Boot your Windows 8 DVD and when reaching the first start screen (where you select the language of the installer), hold “Shift”+”F10” keys together and a CMD will open. In this scenario, continue only from the “diskpart” command.

This is how it was done in the previous versions on Windows, and this also works on Windows 8, but only on local accounts. If your targeted account uses the Microsoft online logon, this method will not work. Again, we strongly suggest that you do not use this method unauthorized!

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The post Windows 8 Security Breach: Password Protection Can be Bypassed appeared first on Technology Personalized.

Windows 8 was launched with much fanfare a few weeks ago and definitely represents a bold new step forward by the world’s most popular computer operating system. Unfortunately, if reports are to be believed, people are not exactly moving to it in the kind of numbers that some pundits (and perhaps – perhaps – MS itself) expected. It works brilliantly, looks better than ever before and can work on existing Windows 7 machines without a hardware upgrade, and does not even cost a bomb. What then is keeping a lot of people away from Windows 8. In our opinions ever so humble, eight factors:

1. The touchscreen problem

We know that many people think that moving to a touchscreen was something that was overdue for Windows. And we have no complaints whatsoever about how well the interface behaves on a touchscreen. The problem is that most of us are so accustomed to starting our computers and typing away that the whole NEED to touch the screen escapes us. The fact that all the Windows 8 ads seem to focus on the touchscreen has also propagated the myth that the OS runs ONLY on touchscreen devices and is absolutely useless on others. Total nonsense, but alas, being digested by many people. The fact that it is a whole lot easier and fun to use on touchscreen devices (gestures do not work well with trackpads and mice) only complicates matters.

2. The desktop mode

In theory, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a facility which lets you run apps designed for older operating systems on a new one. In practice, however, the Desktop mode of Windows 8 for running apps designed for Windows 7 has tended to annoy a certain section of the interface purist crowd which insists that it makes it appear as if one is working on a dual boot machine – and small though this crowd is, it is very vocal indeed. Equally worrying is the fact that a number of users simply head to Desktop mode within seconds of logging in to Windows 8.

3. The learning curve

The move to a tiled interface is a masterstroke as it gives both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 a rather similar interface. The problem, however, is that Windows Phone has not been a massive success, which has made the new Windows 8 interface very odd for those accustomed to the “traditional” Windows look with a wallpapered desktop on which you parked icons. We have seen people handling Android on their desktop more easily – well, it is on most of their phones – but the relative lack of popularity and penetration of Windows Phone has actually made the Windows 8 interface appear more odd to many people than it actually is. The need to learn gestures which often don’t work that well the keyboard-mouse combo make things tougher.

4. Appy miss

Yes, Windows 8 does have its own app store and a lot of apps in numerical terms. But in terms of quality, we are going to have to call it pretty bare at the moment. Windows 8 is still waiting for the equivalent of a Flipboard, Instagram or Angry Birds, which will make the world suddenly start tracking Windows 8 with the same frenzy that is accorded to an iOS or Android in the app department.

5. The gaming factor

I know a few dozen PC gamers. They update their computers several times a year, in software and hardware terms. They want a smooth performing system for those tournaments and demos, and of course, for their own hours of gaming. Not one of them has upgraded to Windows 8. The rationale, bluntly delivered by one of them was “I don’t like switching between two different interfaces for two tasks. Why can’t I make a tile of my game and access it from the main screen?” The fact that most titles even now are coming on disks and downloads from sites other than Microsoft’s own Marketplace is complicating matters. Once again, this is a small segment but VERY influential and the “gaming sucks on Windows 8” myth (it IS a myth – we have had no problems with games on the OS, barring switching to desktop mode, where they run just fine) is harming the OS’s popularity.

6. Retail issues

We have seen (and loved) the TV ad but that apart there seems to be no attempt by anyone to push the new OS. Retail stores still show off Windows 7 notebooks, although we do see the odd Windows 8 banner from place to place. There is no “hey this is amazing and look at this” feel about what we think is one of the most significant upgrades to the OS right since Windows 95 and let us start off without typing in “Win” at the DOS prompt. All of which does not exactly encourage people to walk in and ask about a Windows 8 device.

7. Highlighting expensive gadgets

We have been to a few Windows 8 gadget launches so far and the trend seems to be – hey, this is a new OS, now watch how brilliantly it runs on these new, really expensive systems. We have seen the Vaio Duo 11, the Asus Tai Chi, the Lenovo Yoga and a few other devices all of which are priced in the niche segment. We are still waiting for a device that hits the mainstream sweet spot without compromising on performance. Yes, we have no doubt that it will eventually come, but the sooner it does and the more it is publicised (THAT is critical), the more quickly will people adapt to the Windows 8 phenomenon.

8. Windows 7

One of my friends in marketing say that the biggest problem of having a successful product was following it up with something better. And Windows 7 was perhaps Microsoft’s best OS ever for the non-touchscreen computer. The problem is that many users are SO satisfied with it that they are in no mood to leave it yet, and definitely not for something that looks rather different and seems to need adjusting to get used to. Throw in the fact that you need to invest in a touchscreen to REALLY get the most out of it and many people fall even more deeply in love with their existing Windows 7 machines, which, let’s face it, were pretty good as it is.

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What you should know, right from the beginning, is that Surface Pro is not a competitor to the iPad or other tablets in that range. For that, Microsoft has created the Surface RT and you can check out some reviews to see if it can convince you to buy it. Surface Pro should be regarded as a competitor to ultrabooks and if you really want us to compare it to some Apple product, then MacBook Airs are Microsoft’s target.

Surface Pro: Microsoft’s premium hybrid bet

The Surface Pro’s price is double than Surface RT’s, so I guess many will be curious to know what exactly are the differences between these two sisters. What we learnt from Mr. Panos is that both models will have a Surface Pen, so all of you who need that in a tablet will find this very useful. You can also find a pen in the Galaxy Note 10.1, if you’re into that. The SurfacePen is said to have Palm Block technology, but we didn’t manage to find out about it too much besides the official description:

Surface with Windows 8 Pro will support Pen input. This is an amazing feature for all you note-takers or document editors out there, especially since it has expanded capacitive and digitizing technology we’re calling Palm Block that will prevent your handwriting from getting interrupted if you accidently place your palm on the screen as you write. This feature is pretty cool, and allows for a great inking experience alongside a great touch experience when needed.

You can also buy a Touch Cover or Type Cover and I personally think these are essential for your Surface Pro experience. Sadly, this is one of the reasons why many perceive Surface Pro as a competitor to tablets – the fact that you have to buy the “keyboard” separately. In my humble opinion, if Microsoft had managed to include it in the price, it would’ve been better for them. I’m curious to discover how many people will buy the Surface Pro without any covers at all.

For those of you that wanted to buy it for Christmas, you’ll be disappointed. Surface Pro will arrive in January, and Microsoft hopes to open 2013 in style. However, I’ll stress once more that you’ll need Touch Cover or Type Cover to get a full experience out of it. So, let’s say that the cheapest option with a cover would be to buy the 64 GB version and the Touch Cover – this means around $1020. The premium choice is the 128 GB version + Type cover – this means around $1130. It’s a good price, still, when you look over the fence, at products from the same category (Ultrabooks).

But when you look at the real competition, i.e the 11″ Macbook Air, things doesn’t look as bright for Surface Pro. The 11″ Macbook Air (128GB) starts at $1099 and comes with the same Intel i5 processor and 4GB RAM. Moreover, Apple lets users to upgrade to a higher storage (256GB or 512GB) and higher memory (upto 8GB RAM) on the 11″ Macbook Air, which isn’t the case with Surface Pro. But when compared to other Windows 8 Ultrabooks, the pricing of Surface Pro looks like a steal.

Features that stand out in Surface Pro

Here are some of the main features in Surface Pro that make it almost twice as expensive as the Surface RT version:

• Intel Core i5 processor
• 10.6” 16:9 ClearType display with 1920×1080 full HD resolution
• Full-size USB 3.0 port.
• Mini DisplayPort which can hook up to an external display up to a 2560 x 1440 resolution
• 4 GB of RAM
• 10 point multi touch
• Intel HD graphics
• Full version of Windows 8
• Ability to run Windows 7 desktop apps

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2012. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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Of course, there are other ways to speed up computers, without using other programs, but those require money to be invested, such as buying more RAM, or buying a SSD drive, or even installing Windows 8, that has really revamped its boot up process, now taking much less time than what it used to (but with all of this innovation, some users still want to downgrade to Windows 7).

Tricks to Boot up PC Faster

Of course, the biggest improvement on any PC will be to add more computing power, but to change the components requires some technical knowledge and it can cost quite a lot. By using optimization programs and implementing some simple tricks, you can make your computer much more responsive and faster. We’ll start tuning your PC from the bottom up, and the lowest level you have is the motherboard’s BIOS.

• BIOS Tricks

When you start your computer, press the BIOS key (it’s not the same for all the computers, but it usually says in the bottom of the screen “Press [key] to enter Setup”). When you have entered the BIOS, you can enable or disable some features that will allow your computer to boot faster.

Note: Not all BIOS versions are the same, some have different menus or features, do some research on your BIOS version to see what features are available for you.

One feature you can disable is Quick Power On Self-Test. What this means is that the BIOS will no longer do all the hardware and memory tests at startup, thus making it faster. Set this setting to “Fast” something similar. If your BIOS has IDE and Floppy Drive check, you can disable these if you do not use IDE drives or a Floppy drive.

• Windows Tricks

Moving on from the BIOS to the operating system, the first step here is to scan your computer for viruses. There are lots of free antivirus utilities that do an excellent job, but I would recommend buying a good antivirus also. After scanning your computer (I usually use 2-3 antivirus utilities to scan my computer), you can move on to deleting useless files and cleaning the startup process.

Some programs have the option of starting on Windows startup, but each program takes up some memory, and with the more you have, the startup of your computer has a lower speed. To disable the non essential programs, click on “Start” and the “Run”. When the Run windows opened, type ”msconfig”. The Msconfig utility is a Windows integrated tool that allows you to remove startup programs. In the main window, click on “Startup” and you will see a list of startup programs. All you have to do is uncheck those that you do not necessarily need. Apply and exit without restart.

Note: For those who have dual boot, you can adjust the “timeout” time and the default OS from the Msconfig tool. This feature is located under the “Boot” menu.

• Cleaning the Temp files is something that might make your computer a bit faster. You should know that if your C: partition is running low on space, the performance of your computer drastically decreases. These files are temporary files that have no actual use for Windows on startup, so can delete them with no problems. There are two temp folders on your computer, you can find them here: C:\Users\[Yourusername]\AppData\Local\Temp or C:\Windows\Temp.

After doing this, you can clean your registry for entries that are not used anymore. These can really pile up after some time because each program you install creates registry entries and they are not deleted after uninstalling the program. There are lots of utilities that allow you to clean the registry of your computer, we will feature a list later on.

• Updating the drivers of your computer can have a beneficial effect on the performance of your computer and sometimes it will help it boot faster, so visit the websites of the manufacturers of your components and download the latest drives and install them.
• Defragment your drive for better seek times. We have previously discussed the benefits of defragmenting your drive, and you can also use defragmentation programs. A list of the best can be found here.
• Remove unused fonts that make your computer run slow. You usually do not use all the fonts installed on your computer, so removing some of them is a benefit. Head to Control Panel -> Fonts and right click on unused fonts and delete them.

The last thing you might want to change is the visual aspect of your desktop. This is why desktop customization apps are not recommended for slower computers, they take up RAM memory and increase the boot time of your computer. Setting your desktop background to blank or solid colors and disabling transparency for Windows can free up some memory. Also, try disabling the Windows widgets.

These are some of the tips you can use to speed up your boot time for your computer. But there are other methods to optimize a PC. There are programs that can help with the boot time of your computer. Also, they have some other optimization tools that can lend a helping hand. Here is a list of such programs:

Programs to boot up your computer faster

1. Soluto – Soluto is a complete PC optimizing solution. It helps you identify and remove start-up programs slowing down the PC boot in addition to identifying crashes.
2. Regcleaner – We previously talked about this tool. It allows you to delete the unused registry files.
3. Tuneup Utilities – This is one of the best optimization utilities that I have ever used. It features lots of optimising tools for making your computer faster.
4. PC Doctor – Similar to Tuneup Utilities, this program offers some great optimization tools that I have used to great success.
5. Norton 360 – 360 is right, Norton is one of the best antivirus utilities, but apart from this, it provides a good parental control feature and a great PC optimizing tool.
6. Startup Faster – A utility that has a very low resource footprint but it can also have a massive impact on your computer. It allows you to very easily stop or delay startup processes.

If your computer had problems with the booting time, after using these tips and programs, you surely won’t have any more problems. Try them out for yourself and see what an impact they can have on your computer.

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2012. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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