How to Use Old Windows Boot Manager Screen in Windows 8 Dual Booting Environment

Windows 8 lead outstanding changes in their fastest ever OS, formally known as Windows 8. Changes including Start Screen, metro style interface, faster boot processing etc. are some of the major one that greatly modified the way we interact with the PC.

Boot manager in Windows 8 is a part of the booting process that lets you choose desired OS to start with if you’re running in Multiple OS platforms. You’ll see this screen just after starting your system. Once you select the operating system, you’ll need to press Enter to start with desired version of operating system.

                             
                               
Microsoft had decided to remove the old boot manager screen and replaced with modern boot loader screen in Windows 8 so you can reach to desktop within the shortest possible span of time. However, some user didn’t liked it at all as it’ll restrict capabilities like advanced startup options, capabilities to start system using various other method like Safe Mode, Clean Boot Mode, system recovery options (all these options was previously found at Advanced startup options in Windows 7/Vista/XP). 

Moreover, if you’ve installed multiple OS including Windows 8 on the same system, it’ll directly boot into Windows 8 OS without giving any options to choose other installed operating system.
This will seems annoying if you want to boot into different copy of OS, Windows 7 or Windows Vista.

Sometime, user may get distract with their modern boot manager screen of Windows 8 and desperately want to bring back the old interfaced boot manager screen like Windows XP or Windows 7. This article will guide you how to bring back old boot manager screen without digging much deeper and conflicting your customizations and settings. Once you’re done with following all the steps, you’ll probably see your old boot loader screen instead of metro boot loader screen, as seen in the image below:

                  
                  

Disable Metro Boot Loader Screen
Follow the steps mentioned below to get your old boot loader screen:

1. Open elevated command prompt in your Windows 8 computer by pressing ‘Window’ + ‘Q’ button, type cmd and right click on it. You’ll see an option to start command prompt using administrative credentials on the right screen.
   
   P.S. Enter desired admin details if asked and hit enter.
   
2. Once you are on the black screen window (MS-DOS screen), type the below mentioned command and hit enter:
   
   bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy
   
3. After receiving the conformation message, you’ll need exit from the command prompt window and restart system to see the old boot loader screen.
   
   

How to restore or enable metro boot loader screen back again
If at some time, you want to restore modern boot loader screen in Windows 8, just follow the tutorial below:

1. Start command prompt as described in the first step of disabling metro boot loader screen and type the command mentioned below:
   
   bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard
   
2. Again, you’ll get a confirmation message as received in the previous tutorial that confirms that metro boot loader screen has been restored successfully.
   

In case you aren’t able to perform steps described above or facing problem while enabling/disabling metro boot loader screen, post your questions using the comment section and we’ll look onto it.
Moreover, if you’re continue receiving boot manager popups even after removing other copies of Installed OS, you’ll need to follow the tutorial to remove boot manager popups error.

How to Move Windows 8 from HDD to SSD, the Easy Way?

SSD can give your computer a superb boost and make your applications start almost instantly unlike HDD’s where applications may take more time, depend on the space filled and memory it requires to run. However, hard drive is still a top runner when it comes to storing bunch of files and user data but may results in low performance over time due to degraded equipment. So, it’s better to move your current OS from the old HDD to a brand new SSD to get maximum possible speed and use your old drive to store as much data as you want. 

Clean installation of Windows in new SSD would be much easier but may force you to start everything from scratch such as installing all the programs once again, copy data to the drive, customize windows the way it was before etc. So, if you don’t want to take that much headache and simply want to put everything from the old drive to new SSD, we’re describing few simple things to get this done easily.

What you need?
You’ll require SSD drive to use as a destination device and the old drive as a source drive to migrate Windows 8. Keep in mind that SSD prices are almost double as compare to the normal hard drives but you can take a low capacity solid state drive (at the cost of normal drives) to put only Windows and install programs you can’t live without. However, make sure the SSD capacity is equal or greater than the size of C: drive. If the C drive is too big, you can take backup and then delete files from c:\users\. We’ll need this backup later to restore everything back to the old drive. Make this backup copy as updated as possible, just to be sure that you’re not missed anything updated recently. You can use external hard drive or the spare removable storage device to secure the backup copy.

Note: As the process is little tricky and anything could go wrong. Keeping a copy of professional Windows data recoWindowsvery software is recommended to recover any lost, deleted or formatted data. 

We’ll need a free Drive Cloning tool, called Clonezilla also known as Clonezilla live as you’ll need get an ISO copy of Clonezilla and thereafter, have to create a bootable USB or CD/DVD. Once you’ve opened the website, click on stable release and the ISO file will begin downloading. Burn the downloaded ISO copy to USB or bland CD using imgburn.

                            
                 
During ongoing cloning process, Clonezilla tends to format the destination drive. So it’s recommend to create a prior backup copy or move entire data to an external drive such as USB or flash drive.

Note: Before continuing with this migration, make sure that you’ve cleared enough files and defragmented the drive to get some extra free space. This is to ensure that the current partition size is at the lowest and could easily fit to the solid state drive.

How to Migrate?

Hook up your SSD to your computer in the available slots and remove hard drive after taking updated backup.

Restart your computer and the created USB or CD will take care of the rest such as automatically boot your system using the same and provide various options to clone HDD and transfer it to SSD. If your computer didn’t start automatically using the bootable USB or CD, change the boot sequence from the BIOS option.

After choosing the display size and preferred language, you’ll get an option to start cloning the drive using Clonezilla.

Note: Choose Device to device cloning option when screen appears to choose the desired cloning method.

Once you’ve completed with SSD migration, reconnect the old drive back again and format it to erase everything on the drive and restore files from the backup copy we’ve created previously.

That’s it. You have now Windows 8 installed on your computer with spare drive left to store almost anything else you want. Just make sure to thoroughly read your SSD user manual to keep it maintained and free from troubles.

Windows 8.1: Leaked Features and Improvements over Windows 8

Windows 8.1, codenamed Blue is the first major update after Windows 8 and expected to arrive here for public review on 26th June 2013. It has lots of improvement and added functionality to mitigate drawbacks of Windows 8 such as start button returns, more personalization settings, improved apps store and more. Microsoft will provide this update for free to Windows 8 and RT users,available from the Apps Store.


Microsoft has implemented these updates to Windows 8 after receiving feedback and reviews from  the avid PC users and has high hope to provide uniquely build OS for both consumers and businesses. Needless to say, this time Microsoft won't want users to be disappointed and doesn't want the charms of Windows 8 get ruined.

Let’s talk about some leaked features of Windows 8.1, the upcoming version. In depth details about all the features will be available only after putting it in the live test environment.

Start Button Restored
Much awaited and long missed traditional start button is likely to be placed again in Windows 8.1. However, the functionality may differ as compare to start button in older version of Windows. New looking start button will alike as latest Windows logo and is placed at the bottom exactly where it exists in the previous windows versions.

                   


However, unlike its functioning in previous Windows copy, press start button in Windows 8.1 a. k. a. blue will take user to the metro-style start screen or UI interface. Sources also confirmed that the so called new start button will not be visible on the metro-style/ Windows app store screen but can be accessed by hovering over your mouse to bottom left corner of the screen.

Though, user may able play with start button settings and can set it to open in old fashioned manner in which, all programs were available on the single screen. That will makes it easier for user to find installed programs that is not pinned on the start screen or has quick launch icon on the desktop screen.

Directly Boot into Desktop

This one would be best news for users who hates the modern start screen which appears just after starting Windows 8. In the so called “Milestone Preview” release of Windows 8.1, users may able to boot directly into the desktop environment instead of seeing the bogus UI screen filled with apps.

In this upcoming release of Windows, users have the full capability to bypass infamous UI screen and see their traditional desktop screen on startup. Metro apps screen distracted windows users to a great extend and becomes the primary causes of not so much success of Window 8.

Since the said features are still not confirmed by Microsoft, anything can be change when it ships finally to consumer hands.

Option to Set Personalized Wallpaper on Start & Lock Screen

There is much more added to make your PC more customized exactly in the way you want it to be. Now you can your own set of wallpapers to lock screen or change background and accent colors to start screen or apps screen. In the current running Windows OS, you can only change the color scheme and accents, but these limitation would likely be lifted with Windows upcoming release. For the lock screen, you can create a slide show of photos that is stored in the PC or hosted on the cloud. You can also take pictures using built in camera from the lock screen apps without logging in.

This is not over, to slim the confusion between start screen and your desktop screen, you can set your desktop background as your start screen background or vice versa and makes both screen highly looks alike.

Customize Tiles with easy

Windows 8 has large tiles button at the start screen that looks ugly and distracts users by default. Things get even worse as the user won't provide with any option to make tiles large or small for apps or programs which they use most or which they'll use less frequently.

Many flexibilities were also added in customizing tiles such as rearranging group or tiles, select multiple apps at once to resize, uninstall or rearrange them. This will allow adding more tiles or pinning more apps to your start screen and starting digging them.

Unified Search Screen

Search feature in Windows 8.1 is completely revamped and feature rich. You'll get the search results from the web, apps, skydrive or settings in a simple to read, hierarchy form and available without tapping menu's that makes it easier for you to find almost anything, either from the web or from your local computer.

P.S. This search feature will use Bing search to fetch results from the web.

You can scroll down at bottom for search queries that yields many results. In Windows 8, user gets the results only from apps by default. To see results from settings or files, you'll need to tap it, available at the bottom of apps button.


Inbuilt apps get redesigned and Good Looking Windows apps store

Whenever we talk about tablet or smart-phone, we can't forget about apps. But now windows 8.1 have everything that you could find on tablet and much more to offer in near future. Windows 8 inbuilt apps like “Music” or “Photos” app were updated to helps you make the most of it in Windows 8.1 a k a Windows Blue. Such as, photo apps will let you quickly edit or adjust pictures or open them directly from other placed like mail, cloud server or camera apps. Whereas, music app is redesigned to help you quickly pick and play music from your great music collection.

Microsoft is planning to offer more inbuilt apps with Windows 8.1 which will launch very soon.

Unlike Windows 8 apps screen where only one app could be seen at a time, now you can have at most four apps on one single screen. You can also view the double window of same app on one screen, such as two running window of Music app can be seen on one single screen.

Windows 8.1 apps store would get also updated where large number of apps in top free, new release and picks for you would available that help you decide more suitable apps from the huge list. Apps screen will constitutes more information and an extra area is added to help you choose more related apps.


There are still much more to explore in this highly redesigned Windows OS. We can't predict about its success or failure as like Windows 7 which is a very successful release of Microsoft just after failed Windows Vista but can presume that It'll going to tougher the operating system marketing challenges as well as brings revolutionary change in the apps history. Let’s wait and watch!!!

How to Refresh or Reset Your Windows 8 PC Using Recovery Drive?

Microsoft provides two great utility to help revives your Windows 8 PC problems entitled ‘Reset your PC’ & ‘Refresh your PC’. Reset your PC will wipes off everything on the PC and make your system like a new one. In other words, Reset your PC tool will reinstall a fresh copy of Windows 8 (replace old copy of Windows) and completely erase everything stored on the hard drive. This helps user to get away from any virus / Trojan infected or damaged PC to start everything from scratch.

However, if you've mistakenly erased something important files or documents while resetting your PC and want to get it back, can do so by using professional recovery software. This sort of software's have certain limitations like it can't recover data that's overwritten or can't run on the drive that is physically damaged or not showing in the software drives list. 

Refresh your PC tool will ensures the safety of stored hard drive content as well as keep all the settings and customizations intact. Standard formatting is used in refreshing your PC and any removed apps will be automatically reinstalled once the refreshing operation is completed.

Stuff you require

You'll need a recovery drive and Windows 8 Installation DVD to reset or refresh your PC. Though, if you don't have the recovery drive and wants to create a new one go through the tutorial of making a recovery drive in Windows 8 and create a new one.

Note: If you only want to reset your PC from within Windows, press 'CTRL + 'W'' to open search screen and type 'Remove' in the search text box. Select Remove everything and Reinstall Windows to launch reset your PC tool.

Getting Started with 'Reset your PC'

Running reset your PC from the recovery drive requires system restarts as the system can be reset only in Windows recovery environment (RE).

# 1
Connect recovery drive (the USB device which we've created previously) to your PC and restart your system. Now the system will boot from the recovery drive and gives you the screen as in the image below,


           


# 2
Select Troubleshoot tile from choose an option screen. The next screen constitutes three options: Refresh your PC, Reset your PC, and Advanced options. As we're going to reset your PC, you'll need to click on the Reset your PC option located at mid.


              

# 3
Reset your PC confirmation window will open to inform you about what will happen when you choose to reset your PC. For example all of your personal files and Apps will be removed; your PC settings will be changed back to their defaults. Once you're assured and decided to go with reset, Click on the Next button located at the bottom right corner of the screen.

              

# 4
Locate the desired copy of Windows 8 OS (if you've dual versions of Windows 8) that you want to reset and click on it. Next screen will asks you to insert Windows 8 installation DVD. Remember to remove the recovery drive before inserting installation DVD as the system will starts many time during the whole process and keep plugging the recovery drive will causes unnecessary delays.

                

P.S: Be sure to have installation DVD before heading towards this step.


# 5
Soon after inserting the installation DVD, system will begin verifying media for its integrity and displays the next screen, which asks you to choose the drive to delete files such as the drive where Windows 8 is installed or all the drive/partitions currently partitioned in the hard drive.

             


# 6
Next screen will asks you to choose the desired formatting methods such as remove files using standard method or permanently clean your PC. The second option is bit useful especially when you're trying to sell or handover your Windows 8 PC to someone else and wants to get ensured that the stored data is permanently deleted which can't be recovered even by using professional recovery utilities. 

           

‘Just remove my files’ option is fairly quick and uses standard formatting method to clean your PC. On the other hand, ‘Fully clean the drive’ will permanently wipe everything and insert ‘0’ information throughout the sectors and blocks of your hard drive and makes it impossible to recover anything from the cleaned hard drive.


# 7
At last, setup is all set to reset your PC based on the finalized selections and parameters defined. Click on the Reset button to start resetting your PC. The requested action might take some time and gives you the percentage of operation that is completed on the black screen window. In the end, Windows will begin reinstalling all of the system drivers, settings, and screen options again to get your PC ready.

             



Steps to Refresh your PC

Refresh your PC is still a great way to resolve issues with your PC without deleting or modifying the stored data and installed Apps. To ensure that all the preexisting Apps were successfully installed after performing refresh your PC operation, this tool will automatically create a list of installed Apps as well as Apps which couldn't be installed that you need to manually install from the Microsoft Apps store. 

You can also run this tool from within the Windows as like reset your PC tool, though its always a good idea to run refresh your PC tool using the recovery drive as unstable or infected environment could cause tasks to be remain uncompleted or not at all and the problem might resurfaced even after successfully completing the refresh your PC task.

Note: As the first step of reset your PC is quite same, you can read it from the step #1 and instead of choosing reset your PC, you need to select refresh your PC from the step #2.

Select Refresh your PC option from the troubleshoot screen to begin refreshing PC. You can always check the information available at the refresh your PC screen to know about what happens once you choose to refresh your system. The options are like your PC and personalization settings won't change, PC settings will be changed back to their defaults, Apps from Windows store will be kept, Apps you installed from discs or websites will be removed, list of removed Apps will be saved on your desktop. Click on the Next button to proceed.


           

All of the rest steps will be same as in reset your PC except, refresh your PC will begin reinstalling removed Apps after successfully completing the aforementioned tasks. Refresh your PC tool lets you find the Apps which weren't installed during the aforementioned operation. Find the .html file entitled Removed Apps from the desktop and open it using IE or any browser you'd prefer to use.

 


Above image gives you clear view of how the removed Apps file will look like. Later then, you can go for installing the same Apps again either from the Windows Apps store or from the publisher website.

What would you like to do now?

You might already have clear understanding about which operation best suites to your need. However, I'd like to share my own opinion about both. Refresh your PC gives you great chance to bring back everything to its normal state without modifying or deleting anything (except PC settings). However, refreshing PC won't remove any virus or damaged registries inside the system and cause your system to fail or become unstable again even after fully completing the refresh your PC operation.

Where as, reset your PC utility will force you to start everything from scratch yet fixes all the running issues by installing a fresh copy of Windows. So you might not have to worry about anything malicious and start using fresh and faster Windows 8 again.

Both options were highly useful and recommended as well as plays unique role when anything goes beyond your control. It’s all up to you about weather you want just to restore system to its default or completely remove everything from your PC. Don't forget to add your own opinions and any pros or cons that you've found during any ongoing resetting or refreshing operation.

Refresh Your Windows 8 PC for Faster PC Performance

At many occasions, your Windows 8 PC might start performing abruptly and hangs at the same screen. However, unlike other Windows previous OS versions, Windows 8 will allow you to automatically repair system and make it as fresh as you used it the very first time. Refresh Your PC is another addition to great features of Windows 8 that lets you improve system performance and speed up PC without affecting the stored files on the hard drive.

Refresh PC will reinstall all the applications from scratch that you've already installed on your PC while ensuring that no data or applications will be lost after completing the action. Refresh PC will place a copy of stored files and applications at special place to prevent unwanted things from deleting your important files and damaging the installed applications. Refresh PC will keep ensure the following things to your PC during ongoing Refresh PC operation:

• Any customization or personal settings will not be deleted or modified
• PC settings or modified system parameters will be restored to defaults
• The only applications will remain intact which were installed from the Windows store. Though, you'll lose any or all the applications that weren't installed from the Microsoft store.

Though, It’s always recommend to have your latest backup copy created before refreshing PC to make sure that you will not going to lose your important stuff when disaster strikes. However, you still have option to recover data, just in case you lost it anyhow.

How to refresh your Windows 8 PC?

• Press 'Windows + Q' to open all apps with search bar at the top left corner and type Change PC settings. Choose the Settings tab just below the App.
• Click on the general tab and choose to Get Started  from the “Refresh your PC without affecting your files” option.
• On the next screen, you may able to see that what will open when you start refreshing your PC like files & personalization settings, PC settings etc. See the image below for your reference:
  
  
  
• Click on Next button. Your PC will restart and might take few minutes to complete the requested action.
  
                     

Once the PC is successfully refreshed, you will able to feel the difference in system performance and any freezing issues completely removed.

How Windows 8 is Performing after Four Month of It's Release

Image Credit: Bobfamiliar

Microsoft's Windows 8 has been released on 26th October 2012 and over 4 months have been completed so far. So, It’s better to DIGG deeper about how well windows 8 is performing in the real world and the level of satisfaction the user has with this brand new and fastest OS (as claimed by Microsoft) in the OS industry.

Windows 8 becomes the rapidly adopted OS in Microsoft History where 60 million copies were sold out after its general availability, which is quite large as compare to Windows 7 sales or any previous Windows OS. However, Windows 8 received negative feedback in massive amount which enforces Microsoft to rethink about Windows 8 design and replacing some core features like re-placing start button again in Windows 8 beta, forecast windows next release. 

The news is also murmuring in the technology world that Microsoft will allow booting windows 8 directly to desktop mode instead of giving tiles and charms bar or metro screen after booting. Hopefully that will, to some extent, improves the Windows 8 adoption level and helps them to get their old Windows like PC back again. 

In recent weeks, upgrades to Windows 8 from Windows 7 are fallen below the expected level and remains at quite invisible figure. Known reasons behind this could be lack of old drive support by Windows 8, unimpressive Metro screen, confusing Apps screen etc. that forces users to stick with Windows 7 or whichever version of Windows they were using.

At business or enterprise level, Windows 8 have quite high adoption rate because of few great Windows 8 features like storage spaces, file history, hybrid booting etc. These features could allows businesses to keep their data safe, maximize the utilization of externally attached storage devices using storage spaces and improve productivity using fast booting, optimized PC performance.

Last month, Microsoft released surface tablet with Widows 8 pro at an easily acceptable cost around $299 USD. This tablet has improved functionality and high capability than previously introduced tablet from Microsoft; Surface RT with ARM based processors.

Overall, Microsoft's Windows 8 have pretty advanced features which might not suites well to novice or beginner computer users. Due to high market capture and large consumer base from around the world, Microsoft would have been able to attract more consumers.

Microsoft never want to distract their customer as always and would expect to re-launch beta version of Windows 8, possibly in the July end. It'll surely include all the expected and demanding changes to be the best replacement of Windows 8.

What is Hybrid Boot in Windows 8 and How to Enable or Disable It?

Windows 8 is rebuilt and completely redesigned OS with fast booting capability unlike any other OS. Using Windows 8 will never let you feel sluggish or dizzy with so much entertaining features and tough security around.

Windows 8 uses hybrid booting as a key component to start on or off your system and thus, making it the fastest booting OS (nearly 8 seconds to load all drivers, initialize kernel and reach at the desktop).

In the Hybrid boot mode or say log off + hibernation mode,  system driver and all the running state information will temporary saved in hibernation file and initialize automatically the next time you start the system. Therefore, instead of starting all the system core files, Windows 8 will use the stored session information and start system more efficiently.

Hybrid mode is enabled by default so you could taste its benefits. Though, in case if you want to disable it, can do so by following the steps mentioned below in this article.

Note: If you've multi boot OS or have more than one version of Windows, hybrid boot sometime skip the OS choice menu and directly take you to the desktop. This is little weird but that's why you need to disable hybrid boot mode in multi boot OS environment.

How to Disable Hybrid Boot Mode
Disabling hybrid boot could result in extended startup duration and thus, more power consumption or battery power and system resources. Disabling hybrid boot isn't recommended and should be avoided if you're running a PC/Laptop with only single OS or didn't faced any problem so far.
                          

Though, if you really want to disable hybrid boot, here's how to do it:

• Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options > System Settings.
• Navigate to bottom of the window and uncheck the box stating Enable Hybrid Boot (Recommended).
• Click on Save Changes and restart system to let changes take effect.

To enable it again, you need to follow the same steps again except to check mark the box than uncheck. You're all set and good to go.

Good Luck!!

3 Major Points of Attraction of Microsoft Surface With Windows 8 Pro

Microsoft keeps their promise by releasing Surface with Windows 8 Pro recently, exactly after the 90 days of Windows 8 released in late October 2012. There's a lot more to explore in MS brand new Surface tablet but it might be weird to know that it costs as much as a high spec Laptop ($900, Little big) for 128 GB model. However, If you keep money aside, this ultra-book like tablet have some good advantages over other manufacturer's tablet or Microsoft itself previous surface tablet i.e. RT.

Surface Pro provides all the luxuries of Windows 8 in compact form and packed with Intel based processor instead of ARM processors.

So hold your breath and start exploring the points and see if any of them would meet with your need. 

Design:



                   

Great design of Surface Pro got the first spot in the list of 10 best things to explore. A kickstand on the backside and optional keyboard are much more improved and will soon available in custom colors. Surface Pro is much like an ultra-book and have a large screen size of 1920x1080 (10.6 inch HD display), but would be a little heavier and thicker than the Surface RT.

Though, Surface Pro is compact in size, you can still able to play high quality graphics demanding games and HD videos with same functionality as in Windows 8 PC's or Laptop's. 

Surface Pro got single USB 2.0 port and two USB 3.0 ports along with one Mini-Dislplay port for video output. Microsoft needs to slightly get better on making additional USB ports as less USB ports could be little disappointing for user like us who loves to have lot of USB ports to make it more like PC's or Laptops.

Great Specs:

              


Though, Microsoft Surface Pro got heavier in specs in the same compact size. Below are few great specs of Surface Pro in short which is almost double as compare to old Surface RT having 32 GB or 64 GB of capacity, 3 GB of RAM and ARM based processor,

Processor: Intel Core i5 1.7 GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Storage Capacity: Available in two modes, 64 GB or 128 GB.
Graphics Card: Intel HD 4000

Third Party Software and Thousands of Free Apps:
Surface Pro removes the barrier of Surface RT which limits you to have certain series of supported apps, but now you can have as many software or apps as you want in your tablet. This is because MS has upgraded the processor from ARM to i3. Important to say that ARM processor resists installing unsigned version of applications and offer you to use only apps that are available in the MS apps gallery.

What's more, you've everything that any tablet should or even more. You'll definitely get high performance and speedy booting with this feature enrich tablet than the existing tablet in the market.  Surface Pro price could a form factor for user and might get little less attention of middle class citizens who still love to have Google Nexus or any Apple products.

Windows Blue in Coming Months, Facts Remain Uncleared

90 million copies of Windows 8 has been soled out within the 3 months of its release. Even after it's huge success, expert's won't recommend to have it on your PC as if your PC dies. Windows 8 will be its killer. This is because Windows 8 has some drawbacks like Modern UI, bit defender not performing well and sluggish lock screen (though you can optimize it for better performance).

Clearly, releasing Windows 8 idea is not fully down and Microsoft has still some plan to release the newer and improved version to came over the drawbacks of Windows 8. Though, many sources have strong proof that the next big hit from Microsoft, would be Windows 8 blue to safegaurd the rapid decreasing popularity of Windows 8. According to popular Windows 8 blog of China, known for leaking latest news on Windows, Windows 8 blue will going to arrive at the end of 2013 (There is no proof of any date and month) and most probably, will be named as Milestone Preview.

Windows 8 would be expected to have same capability and powerfulness as compare to Windows 8 alongwith solid features like less power consumption, Modified Modern UI, close button for apps button. Sadly, there would be no improvement expected for removed start button and user's who're missing start button needs to compromise. .

Drawback and Benefits of Using Lock Screen in Windows 8

Lock screen is another addition to great features of Windows 8 which lets you to lock your PC when not in use or just to prevent unauthorized use. This lock screen functionality is same as you see in Windows 7 but proves more beneficial.

You can usually get to this screen by rebooting or pressing 'Win + L' key and it requires you to enter administrator password to access desktop or charms bar. Lock screen have some components like wallpaper, time and battery notifications, which is always your primary need and you don't even need to unlock your PC.

      

The main advantages of having lock screen enabled in your Windows 8 is you can still able to get updates like recent mail notifications, battery status, date information etc. while leaving your system ideal. You can always able to customize these apps or the order in which these apps appears at lock screen.

You can easily customize lock screen apps appearance by going to PC settings from the start screen and choose personalize. A flying pane will open in right consisting set of apps currently enabled for the lock screen with an option to add or remove apps as well as an option to change background picture.

                  

Below are some quick benefits of using Lock-Screen,

a. Easily get mail, weather or time notifications from a single screen.
b. Prevent your system from unauthorized use
c. Customize apps of your need

Why user hates lock-screen (drawback)?
Probably, you'll get no reason to hate this Lock-Screen as it might serve many purposes without requiring you to sign in. Though, there are many users who doesn't like this addition in Windows 8 either because they didn't want to enter password all the time before getting to the desktop or just want to make their PC even more faster. Clearly, I do not recommend to do this as it will reduces the security of your PC and a wonderful functionality of Windows 8 OS.

 [Good Reads: Fix Windows 8 freezing at Boot Screen]

However, you can easily disable the lock-screen by following the below steps:

1. Reach at the desktop screen and press 'Window button + R' key to open Run program.
2. Type gpedit.msc in the text box and press OK.
3. At the 'Local Group Policy Editor' window, navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization > and double click on the option saying “Do not display the Lock Screen” 
   
    
   
   
   
4. From the open window, check mark the radio button stating Enabled and click Apply/OK. 
5.  Now, lock-screen window will no more pop-up and you can able to directly reach at the desktop.

[Also Read: Hard Drive Data Loss at a Glance]

Windows 8 brings lot of added functionality and tries to reduce the bridge between the modern PC's and tablet devices. That's why; Microsoft has provided this functionality as a hand on tablet experience even when you are using PC.

Windows 8 is less shining than even Windows Vista, Report Says

Windows 8, latest OS release and most talked with 'Next Generation Operating System' tag name, is loosing its popularity in early days and getting even worse than the failed Windows Vista. No doubt, Microsoft has put all its efforts in developing this great OS. The curiosity of people to try the new OS and advertising are the only reasons behind sale of 40 millions copies in less than a month as per my belief. Anyway, Windows 8 has failed to meets the expectations of long time Windows users, experts and demands of enterprises.

[Read Also: WIndows 8 vs Windows 8 Pro vs Windows RT: Full Review]

Windows 8 releasing looked promising and users thought that Windows 8 will be the OS that meets the need of any user like gaming professional, business or home users, enterprise users etc. But sadly, Microsoft engineers started receiving tons of error messages and complaints about Windows 8 soon after its launch. Don't know, weather these bugs were counted at MS end or not, but one thing for sure, Windows 8 is now not receiving the much attention as expected by Windows lovers or even former president of Microsoft Windows division, Steven Snifosky.




With the huge data collected from over 40,000 websites, net marketshare produced a report on desktop operating system market share, which clearly indicates the total market share of Windows 8 has just reached 1.72% for all the three versions even after 2 months of its release. When we compare this data with Windows Vista (A fail), its desktop usage has increased to 2.2% which is much higher than Windows 8 distribution.

Thus clarified, that Windows 8 has the lower adoption rate than Vista which makes it even less popular among computer users. However, no one can predict what Microsoft will do to improve its effect or operation. But, users will take time to change their mindset and might stick to continue using the old yet popular OS i.e., Windows 7.

[Read Also: Revert Back to Windows 7 from Windows 8]

Microsoft Windows 8 Released, Have You Tried It?

Much awaited and anticipated version of Microsoft Windows OS i.e., Windows 8 is officially released at New York City and ready for download at Microsoft official website. May be, many of you are already using a Windows 8 Consumer Version but now the time has come to upgrade it by paying just few bucks. Microsoft is offering upgrades for your home PC, notebook or laptop at just $40. You can upgrade to Windows 8 if you are currently running Windows 7, Vista or XP and your machine's hardware configuration matches the Windows 8 system requirements. However, a user having no Windows PC can also try it on or after 26th October either by downloading ISO image from the Microsoft website or buying from a local store.

                           


Windows 8 is available in two versions: Windows 8, TER  to be used on PC, notebook or laptop and Windows RT (Windows 8 for ARM devices) comes pre-installed with Windows tablet and Windows 8 enabled smart phones. Windows RT has certain limitations as compared to Windows 8 TER version. To be blunt, you can't use Windows RT unless you buy the new tablet enabled with Windows 8 and supported hardware. Microsoft has already launched Surface Tablet starting at $499 and can be pre-ordered from here: http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US

Its free to download and install third party as well as legacy Apps from Windows Apps store. Though, if you are using Windows RT, you won't be allowed to use third party Apps.

Windows 8 offers an easy to install procedure and removes the headache of installing OS as before. Just keep your Windows 8 DVD as well as license key ready and allow the computer to manually reboot and automatically install Window 8 for you. Microsoft has a separate guide to help you in successfully upgrading your PC from Windows 7, Vista or XP to Windows 8.

Easy Upgrade: You can carry all your settings, folders of Windows 7 to Windows 8 except their programs and 'Start' menu/button. But in Windows XP, this feature is restricted to carry only stuff from desired storage location.

What Microsoft has specially focused is to build an exceptionally better and high performance PC. This is true to some extent as because of metro start screen (Replacement of Start menu as looks in old Windows), all Apps are available on home screen, control panel settings in just single click etc. 

                         Img Credit: Cnet                 

In an above highlighted image, charms bar is located at the right side containing a set of tools to monitor and control various hardware as well as program settings in a single click. Tasks such as, finding and sharing the desired files of your loved ones, installing or un-installing Apps, accessing start screen, accessing internal or external devices can be easily performed by this Charms bar.

I think we can not expect much more from Microsoft Windows 8, it gives you no reason to complain. In dark side, Windows users may feel annoying while using Windows 8 for the first time might as there no replacement to the removed start button. One thing is for sure, Windows 8 has remarkably fast and free from bugs as compared to its predecessor. So, there is pretty enough chances of high success rate of this latest release in OS  market.  Let's wait for the time when we  all will have something better and more improved version of new generation OS.
 
To explore more features about Windows 8, read a great blog post entitled 'Are You Ready For Windows 8'

Windows God Mode and Similar Hidden Tweaks

If you are using any of the latest versions of Windows such as windows 8, Windows 7 or Vista, you can have access to all the control panel settings in just a single folder, using Windows amazing features called God Mode, first coined by bloggers. Its original name is ‘Master control panel shortcut’ but users would prefer to call it God Mode as it provides all the basic as well as advanced OS settings without navigating to control panel for each setting individually. It's an invisible developer shortcut and can be created or used from any location you want.

Windows God Mode supports best to Windows 7 & Vista in 32 bit mode but often crashes with same OS of 64 bit. IT administrators and professional users can freely use it to troubleshoot system errors from fixing registries to change hard drive volume settings.

Here's how to create God Mode Folder:

All you have to do is to create a single folder and rename it with certain parameters to use all God Mode features in a single click.

1. Create a new folder at any desired location.
2. Directly press F2 to rename that particular folder and enter the text string showed in the below image (Without braces):
   
3. Folder icon will be automatically changed to control panel icon. Now explore the folder to find list of tweaks and options to customize your computer. 
   

Note: You can choose any folder name by replacing the text 'God Mode' with your desired name, dictated in the image above.

Microsoft's professional wouldn't recommend it to use as it may cause serious damages and hardware failure on your computer especially if you use God Mode with incompatible OS.

There are other tweaks (text string) like God Mode which can be used to access more control panel settings. Similar to God Mode, you have to create a new folder and then enter any of the strings provided below (Without braces and names)

Action Center {BB64F8A7-BEE7-4E1A-AB8D-7D8273F7FDB6}

Backup and Restore {B98A2BEA-7D42-4558-8BD1-832F41BAC6FD}

Biometric Devices {0142e4d0-fb7a-11dc-ba4a-000ffe7ab428}

Credential Manager {1206F5F1-0569-412C-8FEC-3204630DFB70}

Default Location {00C6D95F-329C-409a-81D7-C46C66EA7F33}

Devices and Printers {A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}

Display {C555438B-3C23-4769-A71F-B6D3D9B6053A}

HomeGroup {67CA7650-96E6-4FDD-BB43-A8E774F73A57}

Location and Other Sensors {E9950154-C418-419e-A90A-20C5287AE24B}

Notification Area Icons {05d7b0f4-2121-4eff-bf6b-ed3f69b894d9}

Recovery {9FE63AFD-59CF-4419-9775-ABCC3849F861}

RemoteApp and Desktop Connections {241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}

Speech Recognition {58E3C745-D971-4081-9034-86E34B30836A}

Troubleshooting {C58C4893-3BE0-4B45-ABB5-A63E4B8C8651}

The above strings were revealed by Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's Windows division president after being asked by a Cnet professional.

Note: Again, use any string at your own risk because unsupported OS might cause accidental crash.

You can follow Oliver on twitter @powellstellar