Windows 8: The official review

Reviewing an operating system is an odd endeavor, because people don’t really use operating systems; they use applications. The OS should be as transparent as possible, acting as a platform for applications. In today’s cloud-driven world, however, the notion that your application will run in a single OS is tenuous at best. Toss in the increasing use of smart devices, whether phones or tablets, and the idea of a single-platform operating system is less relevant now than it was just a few years ago. These days we have “ecosystems”—Microsoft, Apple, or Google, take your pick. That said, PC users still expect their Windows applications to run as before, and they want to have the same control over their laptop and desktop computers as they’ve always had. New software features should enable users to do more. And as the reaction to the late, unlamented Windows Vista illustrated, all the shiny new bells and whistles should not harm performance or require new hardware. Can Windows 8 meet its goal of being one aspect of a new Microsoft ecosystem while maintaining its roots in the PC? Can existing computers run Windows 8 without the need for expensive new touch displays? Will the revamped Windows 8 user interface turn off existing Windows users or pull them into the ecosystem? I’ll try to answer those questions and others as I dive deeply into Windows 8. This review is based on the Windows 8 final release—what Microsoft calls the “release to manufacturing,” or RTM, version. The final release is available to Microsoft TechNet and MSDN subscribers. Desktop PCs, laptops, and tablets ship with Windows 8 preinstalled on the official launch day, October 26. We ran Windows 8 on a moderately high-end desktop system along with a standard (nontouch) monitor, mouse, and keyboard. We also used a Samsung Series 9 laptop with an Elan touchpad supporting full multitouch gestures. The Windows 8 user interface Windows 8 tries to get you to tie your Windows login to your Microsoft account; it’s optional, but if you do link the two, the Windows login and password serve as your Microsoft account login and password. Enabling this link allows tighter integration with the remote and cloud-based features of the new OS. As mentioned previously, Windows 8 is designed to be part of an ecosystem, alongside Windows Phone and Windows RT. Microsoft believes in this idea so strongly that it has made the Windows 8 user interface (formerly called Metro) the primary interface for Windows users. PCs with the new OS installed will boot into the Windows 8 interface; the OS offers no built-in way to set it to boot to the traditional Windows desktop. The Windows 8 interface acts as the Start menu now. Instead of appearing as columns of small icons that pop up when you click the Start button, all your applications show up as tiles on the Windows 8 Start screen. You can also search for an application by typing its name when you’re in the Start screen; the results list autosorts as you type more characters. All applications show up as tiles on the Windows 8 Start screen.All applications show up as tiles on the Windows 8 Start screen. It’s important to realize that the Start screen is no more Windows 8 than the Start menu was Windows 7 or Windows XP. The screen exists as a launchpad for applications, not as a desktop replacement. That concept is easy to forget, since the Start screen occupies the entire display. Even so, Windows 8 apps consume the entire screen, whereas desktop applications can still run in a window on the desktop. However, not all desktop applications appear on the Start screen by default. Some accessory apps, such as Paint, live in the Apps screen. You can force these programs to appear in the Start screen by right-clicking them to select them and then clicking Pin to Start at the bottom of the screen. Nevertheless, getting to the Apps screen is simple: Right-click a blank area in the Start screen and then click the All apps icon at the lower right. This is where you’ll run into a fundamental change in how you interact with Windows. Previously, right-clicking an object on the desktop always brought up a context menu, giving you a choice of actions to take. In the Windows 8 interface (but not the desktop), right-clicking now produces a bar at the bottom of the screen containing assorted context-sensitive items. It’s a jarring change, but the arrangement makes sense within the context (no pun intended) of a touch-based display such as a tablet’s. (Context-clicking still works the same way when you’re in the Windows desktop.) Live tiles are among the key features of the Windows 8 Start screen. While normal (non-live) tiles measure 150 by 150 pixels, most live tiles are double-wide (310 by 150 pixels) and display dynamic information. The People tile, for instance, shows you tweets and Facebook posts from your feeds, assuming that you’ve set them up. As you install apps from the Microsoft Store, more dynamic tiles may appear. Live tiles first appeared in a broad fashion in Windows Phone 7 and Xbox 360 updates, but will exist across all Microsoft platforms going forward. Navigating the Start screen is easy. If you’re using a mouse with a wheel, moving the wheel scrolls left and right. If you’re using a touchpad, swiping left and right (with one finger) scrolls the tile list. You can drag individual tiles to any location. Navigating the desktop Microsoft now partitions applications into “Windows 8” apps (formerly known as “Metro” apps) and desktop applications. The latter are those programs we all know and love from previous versions of Windows, including Microsoft Office. You cannot boot directly into the desktop, since Microsoft wants the Start screen to be users’ initial experience with Windows 8. For most people, this restriction may not be an issue, but certain vertical applications (specialized programs, such as those for point-of-sale PCs) need to boot directly into a desktop environment. Until Windows 8 versions of such programs become available, users requiring vertical applications should stick with earlier versions of Windows. If all you need to do is launch an application, you can simply click its tile in the Start screen. If you need robust file management and navigation features, you have to access the desktop. After you boot the machine, pressing the Windows key sends you to the desktop. Unfortunately, the Windows key isn’t consistent in this behavior: If you’re in an app, pressing the Windows key always returns you to the Start screen. Press it again, and you’re in the most recent Windows 8 app. Instead, to move to the desktop consistently, you need to be in the habit of pressing Windows-D. Another option is to move the pointer to the lower left of the screen and click there (though this method works only if you have used no other app recently). The desktop offers familiar shortcuts and pinned icons.The desktop offers familiar shortcuts and pinned icons. Except for the omission of a Start menu, the desktop mostly behaves the same in Windows 8 as it did in Windows 7. So how do you reach com­monly used features such as the Control Panel, the file explorer, and the Run command? Move your pointer to the lower-left corner and right-click, ignoring the Start-screen peek that pops up. This is the simplified Start menu; you can also bring it up by pressing Windows-X. Or you might prefer to use the search function, entering “Control Panel” or “Run” as the search terms. Microsoft has chosen to leave the Windows 8 desktop bare, as it did with Windows 7. Given the absence of the old-style Start menu, you may wish to add the system and user-file icons by right-clicking the desktop and selecting the Personalize menu. After you have added those two icons, you can pin them to the Windows 8 Start screen. Connecting to networks is easier than ever, once you have installed the right drivers. Windows 8 enumerates and displays all of your networked devices—including DLNA devices, network folders you’ve set up, and other computers residing on the network—in any file manager window. The appearance of individual windows has changed. Gone are the faux transparency and the fake beveled edges, replaced by a completely flat appearance. If you click one of the menu items (such as ‘File’), each window will show a Ribbon similar to the Office 2010 Ribbon. (The Ribbon isn’t sticky, though; it shows up only when you click one of the top-menu items.) The Ribbon contains, in one location, all the information that previous versions displayed in a series of menus and submenus. Ultimately, navigating the new desktop is similar to getting around the old version, but the absence of a full Start menu may throw you off at first. Using hotkeys, and customizing the desktop and Start screen, might help you become more comfortable in the short run. Once you get used to navigating the system, it’s as transparent as the old one—just different. The touch experience The PC you own today almost certainly lacks a touchscreen. You may have a laptop with a touchpad, but most existing touchpads can't take full advantage of the touch capabilities inherent in Windows 8, since they lack the edge detection that is built into recent touchpad hardware. On the other hand, your next PC may very well have full ten-point multitouch support, even if it's a stock desktop PC. Manufacturers are starting to ship desktop displays with touch capability; the first touch-enabled displays have built-in capacitive touch sensors, which work via a USB connection to the PC. Future touch displays might communicate through some flavor of wireless, including Bluetooth. More likely candidates for built-in touch are mobile PCs, including traditional clamshell laptops and convertible units that you can transform into tablets, either by concealing the keyboard or by detaching the display, which can act independently as a tablet. Windows 8 is a different experience with a touch-enabled display, even if you're using such a display with a stock desktop system. At first, you don't think you'll use the touch capabilities. But then your kids come up and start touching the screen—after all, these days young users are growing up expecting displays to be touch-enabled. I've been running Windows 8 on a desktop PC equipped with an Acer T232HL touchscreen display, and although I use the mouse some of the time, I find myself reaching out to use gestures on the screen at other times. As for other desktop-PC options, look to the emerging generation of all-in-one PCs, such as Sony's 20-inch Tap 20 and the updated version of Lenovo's A720, which are shipping with Windows 8. The Tap 20 is unusual in that it has a built-in battery, which allows you to move it around the home easily and use it as an oversize tablet. SonySony Tap 20 All-in-One With any touch display, you tap app tiles to launch software, swipe the display to access other features, and use multitouch gestures, such as pinch-to-zoom to enlarge or shrink what's on the screen. Touch support makes the Start screen more usable, though the user interface still has some rough spots. For example, if you swipe your finger in from the left just a little, you get thumbnails of currently running or suspended applications. But slide it a bit too far, and one of those apps takes over the screen. You need to develop a delicate touch (no pun intended) to take full advantage of the interface. Despite Windows 8's new features, performance tweaks, and improvements over Windows 7, its touch support will likely be the defining factor. And despite some imperfections, the touch interface works smoothly. After you use it for a few days, the old way of using Windows will start to seem slightly cumbersome. Windows 8 on tablets One of the big reasons for the creation of Windows 8’s new Start screen is the emergence of tablets. Microsoft has tried and failed on several occasions to create a market for tablet PCs, but the models released during those attempts have always been clunky and difficult to use. The gargantuan success of Apple’s iPad—with its streamlined interface and its relentless focus on encouraging content consumption instead of serving as a general-purpose tool—seems to have clarified Microsoft’s goals. Microsoft's Surface comes in Pro and RT models.Microsoft's Surface comes in Pro and RT models. Even so, Microsoft is planning to support two types of tablets. The first type, which resembles the company’s original Tablet PC concept, consists of convertible laptops running Windows 8. Even Microsoft’s Surface Pro is just a thinly disguised laptop that emphasizes touch interaction over keyboard input. The second type will carry a slightly different flavor of Windows 8, dubbed Windows RT. This version runs only on tablets using ARM processors, rather than Intel or AMD processors. ARM doesn’t make its own hardware, but licenses its processor technology to other companies such as Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments. These companies design system-on-chip (SoC) products, which typically consume very little power relative to their performance. (The iPad, for example, uses an ARM-based SoC that Apple designs and builds.) Windows RT tablets will have a restricted version of Windows 8. Although such tablets will include the traditional desktop, you will have access to the desktop only on a limited basis, to run preinstalled applications such as Office. You will not be able to install desktop programs; instead, RT tablets will focus on the Windows 8 apps you buy through Microsoft’s Store. In contrast, tablets with Intel-compatible processors can run the full PC version of Windows 8, and offer complete access to the desktop. They’ll probably cost more than RT tablets, too, as they’ll need broader expansion options, bigger batteries, and more memory. Intel-based tablets will almost certainly be heavier and bulkier, as well: For example, Surface Pro, which has an Intel Core i5 CPU, weighs about a half-pound more than Surface RT does. The existence of two types of tablets on the market may end up confusing consumers, though the differences in price will likely drive shoppers in one direction or the other. The Microsoft Store Late to the game, Microsoft is adding a store to Windows, much like the marketplaces for Mac OS X, iOS, and Android. If you want to buy apps from the Microsoft Store, you need to create a Microsoft account. Perhaps I should say stores, since you’ll find more than one store within Windows 8. You buy Windows 8 apps by clicking the Store tile—but you purchase music by launching the Music app, and you buy videos by launching the Video app. In addition to playing tunes, the Xbox Music app sells songs.In addition to playing tunes, the Xbox Music app sells songs. Even more confusing, the app store is called just the “Store” while the music and video stores are named Xbox Music and Xbox Video. (Of course, both the Music app and the Video app are media playback tools as well, though they are less robust compared with Windows Media Player or the likes of iTunes. The new operating system’s lack of a unified Windows 8–style media player is a pretty significant hole.) Navigating the Microsoft Store is similar to navigating the Start screen. Featured apps come in individual tiles, and are sorted by groups; each group also has a ‘Top Free’ tile and a ‘New releases’ tile. As of this writing, however, the Store listed only about 1000 apps, so Microsoft has a little catching up to do. The number of apps available at the official Windows 8 launch on October 26 will be more telling. Personalizing Windows If you don’t like Windows 8 out of the box, you can customize it, with some exceptions. Perhaps the most controversial exception (as mentioned earlier) is the fact that you can’t set Windows to boot directly to the desktop, though third-party utilities promise to enable this. Since the Start screen consists of groups of tiles, moving your favorite or most commonly used tiles to the left side of the screen is pretty easy. You can also specify the tile size (normal or double-wide) and turn off live-tile updates if you find them distracting. In addition, you can group tiles by program type, such as business applications, games, and so on. One configuration option that Microsoft has buried in the past is the startup configuration. In older versions of Windows, customizing which applications launched on startup required entering the Msconfig system-configuration utility. In Windows 8, you can select which applications launch at boot-up with the new Startup tab in Task Manager, which you can easily launch in the simplified Start menu. The tile-based app store offers both free and paid items.The tile-based app store offers both free and paid items. Some customization configurations are less obvious. One example concerns the games you might buy from Valve Software’s Steam download service. When you install a game from Steam, the procedure asks you whether to create a desktop shortcut. But that shortcut isn’t an application shortcut; it’s actually a URL, which points to the local Steamapps folder where the game is installed. If you right-click a URL shortcut, you’ll find no option to pin it to the Start screen. Instead, you have to copy the shortcut to the Start Menu folder (yes, it’s still called the ‘Start Menu’ folder), typically in C:\Users\user folder\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu. Desktop customization is also available, except for the obvious lack of Start-menu tweaks. The taskbar is present, as it was in Windows 7, and you can pin applications to it as before. Graphics improvements Nearly all of the desktop and Start-screen functionality now relies on acceleration from your machine’s graphics processing unit. Many of Windows 8’s windows subsystems use the DirectX API. HTML5 and SVG (scalable vector graphics) also depend on GPU acceleration, in the form of enhanced 2D geometry rendering. Applications tell Direct2D what to draw in the form of 2D objects, such as circles and rectangles, plus additional features such as color and style. The API converts the instructions into a format suitable for Direct3D, which passes the instructions to the GPU. As a result, normal desktop windows will likely see substantial performance increases. On top of that, Microsoft has added a new programming interface, DirectText, which offloads text rendering to the GPU. Text-rendering performance in desktop programs and in Windows 8 apps is double that of Windows 7—often better than double. Why, then, did Microsoft return to “flat” windows, eliminating the transparency and other 3D effects it used in previous editions of the OS? Direct2D and Direct3D will also work with Windows RT and Windows Phone 8, and removing the eye candy will help Windows perform equally well across diverse platforms. Storage and file system Windows 8 includes a new file system called ReFS (Resilient File System). It’s compatible with most NTFS file features, and, as the name suggests, it adds features to improve data integrity. Features left out include BitLocker, compression, and 8.3-format short filenames. What ReFS brings to the table is improved data verification and auto-correction: ReFS continually scans the file system, including rarely used older files, to ensure they haven’t become corrupted, repairing bad disk clusters and moving data as necessary. Note, however, that ReFS works only on secondary drives, not boot drives. Your boot drive will still be NTFS. If you’re worried about encountering a problem that may force you to reinstall Windows, you’ll be pleased to learn that reinstalling Windows is now much easier; in fact, Windows 8 provides multiple levels of system repair. The Reset option nukes the hard drive and reinstalls Windows from scratch. You can use this option to get the machine back to a factory-fresh Windows install, without the need for a new Windows key or the Windows setup disk. If you prefer something less drastic, the Refresh option resets important Windows settings but maintains your personal files and installed Windows 8 apps. Note, though, that it doesn’t keep desktop applications, so you might wish to first uninstall or deregister software that will need reinstallation and activation. Finally, you can customize the refresh process by using the “recimg” command-line tool. Using recimg makes an image of your current version of Windows—including installed desktop applications—and makes that the default image when you refresh your PC. Then, when you run Refresh, you’ll still reinstall Windows from scratch, but you’ll also retain your desktop applications. You will need to run recimg occasionally if you have desktop programs that you don’t want to reinstall all over again. Windows 8 and SkyDrive The new operating system ships with a Windows 8 app for the SkyDrive cloud-storage service. If you have a Microsoft account, you begin with 5GB of SkyDrive space. Out of the box, SkyDrive shows up as a Windows 8 app, but it does not appear in the file manager on the desktop; to make that happen, you need to download and install the SkyDrive desktop application. Once you download the application, install it, and link it to your Microsoft account, both the Start screen and desktop become coupled to your SkyDrive. Assuming that you’re logged in to your Microsoft account, SkyDrive is available as the default storage for many applications, but you can change that on a per-application basis. Of course, that default setting could cause you to consume your 5GB allotment of free storage pretty quickly. An additional 20GB costs $10 per year, while 100GB costs $50 per year. SkyDrive can serve as the default storage for many apps.SkyDrive can serve as the default storage for many apps. SkyDrive has several important drawbacks that for many users may make it less viable than local hard-drive storage or competing cloud services. First, it imposes a 2GB limit on individual files, so the high-definition video you took of, say, your child’s soccer match might not copy to your SkyDrive if it’s bigger than 2GB. Second, Microsoft restricts the types of files you may upload: Illegally copied commercial content is prohibited, and so are files that contain nudity or excessive violence. Microsoft has been vague when asked for the specifics of how it defines and detects prohibited content. Although it’s understandable that the company would ban the uploading of illegal content, Microsoft’s decision to serve as a moral authority on prohibited private material seems excessive. Microsoft Office integration Microsoft Office 2013, still in beta at this writing, is more tightly tied to Windows 8 than any previous version of Office was to any older OS. Like Windows 8, Office 2013 is closely coupled with SkyDrive: If you sign in with Office to your Microsoft account, you can specify SkyDrive as Office’s default storage location. This arrangement is handy if you’re constantly moving between a home system, a laptop, and a work computer. Office 2013 is closely tied with both Windows 8 and SkyDrive.Office 2013 is closely tied with both Windows 8 and SkyDrive. In addition, Office 2013 seems to perform better on Windows 8 than on Windows 7, most likely because the new Office takes full advantage of the GPU acceleration built into Windows 8. The overall look of Office 2013 also matches that of the new OS, mimicking the Windows 8 look and feel. Bottom line Windows 8 is almost here, and system makers are readying new models. Some will be touch enabled or otherwise optimized for Windows 8, while others will be similar to existing PCs. For some time, PC sales have been down, partly because everyone has been waiting to see what Windows 8 will be like on new systems. Although we’ve delved into the RTM version, and we like what we see, the success of Windows 8 will depend on how rapidly customers adopt the new user interface and the hardware to support it. Under the hood, Windows 8 offers performance improvements, a new file system, easier recovery from system problems, better cloud integration, and numerous minor enhancements. However, the Start screen seems to overshadow all the cool new stuff. Although admittedly the original Start menu created some controversy when it launched years ago, Windows 8’s Start screen seems much more polarizing. Toss in Microsoft’s overly aggressive stance in trying to sell apps and content, and some users will likely rebel. Of course, you can avoid much of that hard sell simply by using a local account rather than tying your Windows account to a Microsoft account. But in doing that, you’d miss a lot of what’s intriguing about Windows 8. In some ways, Windows 8 also highlights Microsoft’s tribal nature; for example, “Xbox Music” stands alone as its own thing, rather than as part of the Microsoft Store. Internal company differences shouldn’t confuse users, as some of these moves probably will. Love it or hate it, Windows 8 is ushering in a new era of cloud-connected Microsoft services, a unified user interface, and more-robust social media interaction. Younger users may find Windows 8 more attractive than some old-school computer users will. It’s a risk that Microsoft needed to take to try to remain relevant in today’s connected, mobile world. Only time will tell whether it’s the right risk at the right time. Windows 8 isn’t for everyone. If you’re mostly a desktop PC user comfortable with Windows 7, upgrading to Windows 8 is probably not worthwhile. If you’re a mobile user who needs easy access to the complete Microsoft ecosystem, including SkyDrive, Windows 8 is definitely a good fit. If your needs lie somewhere between those two extremes, give Windows 8 a close look; the cost is low, but you’ll need to learn your way around the new Start screen and make sure that your existing software runs well in the new OS.
By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28 Give us a call today: 281-554-5500 or visit Friendly Computers to schedule an appointment. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2012830/windows-8-the-official-review.html

10 Windows 8 apps you should download first

Windows 8 is all about the apps, so it's important to find the best ones for your unique needs. Unfortunately, you need to sift through a lot of crap apps in the process, especially if you're not using a Windows 8 tablet; desktop and laptop PC users don’t need to worry about the lion’s share of Windows 8 apps, because they're usually single-purpose tools designed to replicate the functionality of a full PC on a mobile device. Since you have access to a full Windows desktop you don’t need just another way to look at photos or surf the Web—you need a way to do those things better. With that in mind, we’ve taken the liberty of sharing some of our favorite Windows 8 apps in order to help you get up to speed as quickly as possible so that you can take advantage of all that Windows 8 can offer. Microsoft does a pretty decent job of covering your basic computing needs with apps like Messaging, Mail, SkyDrive and Skype, but there are a few excellent third-party apps you should download post-haste. Problem is, the Windows Store is still in its infancy and thus lacks a lot of free apps for well-known services such as Twitter and Facebook; but even though Microsoft’s digital distribution platform can’t yet match the variety or breadth of apps available in the Apple and Google ecosystems, it still has more than enough Windows 8 apps to make your head spin. We sifted through dozens and dozens of the most popular Windows 8 apps available at launch, then tested a few dozen more and compiled this list of our favorites. While these apps may not satisfy all your computing needs (we just couldn't find a great Twitter management app, for example) they should help you get the most from your Windows 8 PC. Netflix The Netflix app for Windows 8 is free to download and easy to use, with an attractive tile-based interface that's intuitive to navigate on a touchscreen. Streaming movies through the app also seems smoother than streaming them through your browser, which is reason enough to launch Netflix right from your Start screen. IM+ Everyone needs a good instant messaging client, and although the Windows 8 Messaging app is functional enough, as of publication it supports only the Windows Messenger and Facebook Chat services. That may change in the future, but if you want to chat with all your friends right now across disparate networks (including AIM, Facebook, GChat, ICQ, and Jabber) Shape's IM+ app has you covered. It’s free, it supports a wide variety of chat networks, and it lets you enable push notifications so that you can stay on top of your social life no matter what app you’re using. TuneIn Radio Over 14,000 radio stations exist in the United States, and TuneIn Radio will let you listen to almost all of them, plus a bunch more from across the world, for free. While you could always stream your favorite radio station from your browser, TuneIn does a fantastic job of presenting a huge assortment of AM/FM radio streams and podcasts in one slick app that’s simple to navigate. The sound quality is great, playback rarely stutters, and the TuneIn live tile displays information on what’s currently playing. You can choose from over 70,000 talk shows, sports broadcasts, news programs, local radio broadcasts, and podcasts. eBay The eBay app is beautiful, free and easy to use, but most importantly it takes advantage of the Windows 8 Start screen in ways that make it more useful to savvy shoppers than the standard eBay website. You can use the app to quickly and efficiently sort through your tracked auctions and saved eBay searches, and you can pin the Daily Deals tracker to your Start screen to stay abreast of savings opportunities at a glance. Microsoft Minesweeper Windows 8 is the only version of Windows in recent memory that doesn't come with Minesweeper preinstalled, but you can download it for free if you’re feeling nostalgic. At its core the classic guessing gameplay of Minesweeper is the same as it ever was, but Microsoft has updated the Windows 8 version with a fresh coat of paint and some new features, including an Adventure mode with traps and treasure, online leaderboards, and the ability to log in with your Xbox Live account and see when your friends are online or earn Minesweeper Achievements. Clock Jujuba Software's app does what it says on the tin, placing a live tile on your Start screen that shows the time. You might be wondering why you'd need an app to do such a simple thing; surprisingly, in Windows 8, Microsoft actually failed to include an option for users to see what time it is without pulling up the Charms bar to display the system clock. The Clock app is a free, simple alternative for anyone who wants the convenience of being able to check the time at a glance without pulling up a menu, and you can also use it to set a timer, run a stopwatch, or set alarms for yourself. SmartGlass Microsoft's SmartGlass functions as a second screen for your Xbox 360, keeping track of what you’re watching or playing and offering complementary information such as Achievement charts and additional video content. You can also use your PC as a remote control for your Xbox 360, launching videos or games on your HDTV from within SmartGlass. In addition, the app allows you to track real-time stats while watching sports, queue up songs in a dance game, or check your in-game GPS while racing against your friends in a motocross title. SmartGlass has been available in the Store for some time now, but Microsoft is updating the app with a bevy of new features to accompany the Windows 8 launch. StumbleUpon Whether you’re an avid Stumbler or a first-time user, consider adding the StumbleUpon app to your new Start screen. StumbleUpon is a fantastic way to discover new and interesting things online, and the Windows 8 app makes it even easier to stumble upon your next favorite video or article by updating the live tile with websites tailored to match your tastes. Installing the Windows 8 StumbleUpon app will also allow you to share websites, audio, and video with StumbleUpon via the Share Charm. It's a great tool for injecting a little serendipity into your online existence, and it's completely free to use. HowStuffWorks The HowStuffWorks Windows 8 app basically bundles all the excellent articles, videos and podcasts from the HowStuffWorks website into a package and plops it down on your Start screen with a live tile that updates you whenever there's something new to check out. The app itself has a few peccadilloes (the tiles look cramped together and the podcasts don't keep playing when you switch to another app) that suggest it was rushed out to hit the Windows 8 launch date, but HowStuffWorks is still a fantastic free app that deserves a permanent spot on your Start screen. MovieGuide Zühlke Engineering's MovieGuide app, a handy tool for movie nuts, combines the film trivia of IMDb, the variety of trailers on YouTube, and the list-making feature of Flixster into a single app. Some of the information on films and actors (especially the more obscure ones) is sourced from Wikipedia and can be a little anemic, but the beautiful design and easy discovery paths more than make up for that. Seasoned cinemagoers can probably skip this app, but it's perfect for budding film buffs.

How to avoid fake Download buttons

You know the old saying, "Look before you leap"? Let's give that a modern-day twist: Look before you click. See that screenshot up top? It's from popular daily-download site Giveaway of the Day. On the left, there's a description of the day's freebie. On the right, a big, tempting Download button. Obviously that's what you click to get the software, right? Wrong. That's actually an ad for something called Download Manager, which itself is actually a collection of garbage you don't want: toolbars, adware, and so on. But many an unsuspecting user will get so far as to install all of it before realizing it's not the program they wanted. Quite the opposite. This is an increasingly common tactic among advertisers and even spyware distributors: ads that masquerade as Download buttons. When you're looking at a download page for any given piece of software, your eye naturally goes to the large, colorful button that plainly says "Download"--and your mouse pointer instinctively follows. But that can lead to big trouble: spyware, viruses, and other system-clogging junk. As I said earlier, look before you click. Here are three ways to help protect yourself from fake Download buttons: 1. Don't just click the first Download option you see. You might need to scroll down the page a bit to find the right one, and it might be a simple link rather than a big, sexy button. Many download pages are heavily cluttered with ads and other distractions designed to trick you into clicking the wrong thing. Take your time, and look carefully. 2. Still not sure? Mouse over the button or link (but don't click!) and then look near the bottom of your browser: You should see a little box containing the associated URL for that item. If the domain matches the site you're on, you should be in the clear. If it's long and/or fishy-looking, or contains telltale words like "adservices," it's probably a fake. 3. Stick with reputable download sites. (Hint: Most torrent sites? Not reputable.) Even better, whenever possible, download software directly from the developer's site. You're much less likely to run into fake-out ads. Have you ever fallen victim to a fake Download button or link? If so, where did it happen? And have you learned any tricks for avoiding them? Let's hear from you in the comments
By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28 Give us a call today: 281-554-5500 or visit Friendly Computers to schedule an appointment. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2012958/how-to-avoid-fake-download-buttons.html

10 awesome new additions in Office 2013

This is a heady time for Microsoft as it rolls out an ambitious OS and polishes off its productivity suite, billed as "the new Office." At the suite's core is Office 2013—the desktop applications. Changes include a sleek appearance that reflects the look of Windows 8, functional improvements, and tie-ins to SharePoint and SkyDrive for storing documents online. In addition, the various components of Office Web Apps improve productivity in the cloud, while Windows 8 Surface RT tablets get their own flavor of Office. You'll be able to get Office 2013 desktop software on its own (as usual) or as part of an Office 365 subscription that's newly open to consumers, and not just to small businesses. Though the software shipped to manufacturers this month, the final edition won't reach customers until sometime in the first half of 2013. A consumer preview of the subscription-based Office has been available in preview mode for public download since mid-July Should you be planning to upgrade? Based on my experiences so far with the previews of the new Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, ten features make the move worthwhile. 1. Modern Style Interface In keeping with the “Modern” (previously called "Metro") style interface that you'll see in Windows 8, Office 2013 is getting a new look. Gone are the multiple shades of color that decorated the older interface, as well as the shadows and shading that suggested three dimensions. Instead, everything is minimalist, flat, and stark—mimicking the tiles on the Windows 8 start screen. The only hint of frivolity exists in a watermark design in the top right corner of the screen. The idea is that the new look will help you focus on your work rather than being distracted by the objects decorating your screen. Whether the redesign will achieve this goal or not—time will tell one way or the other—I certainly like the crisper look. The cleaner Modern look appears throughout Office 2013. 2. Start Screens Each app supports a new color-coded start screen—blue for Word, green for Excel, orange for PowerPoint, green for Publisher. Like the other applications' start screens, the one for Word displays a list of recent documents. Though creating a blank document is the default option, you can alternatively select a template, search online for templates, or click Open Other Documents to search for a document on disk or in a SkyDrive folder. These screens will help new users find their way around more easily, and experienced users will appreciate having all of their options in one place at startup. The top right of the screen shows details of the SkyDrive account that you are currently logged in to use. The new start screens show a range of options for launching a document. 3. SkyDrive Integration Office 2013 is designed to integrate with the cloud—with SkyDrive and SharePoint, in particular. That's good news if you prefer to save your work online for anywhere-access, though most small businesses and individuals still save files locally. If you use SkyDrive, the account details wil appear in the top left corner of all the application screens, as well as on their start screens. Click your account details to switch accounts and to manage them. When you save a document, worksheet, or presentation, the application will default to saving to your SkyDrive account, but you can save to your local disk if you wish. The Office 2013 applications default to saving to SkyDrive or SharePoint, which may not suit you. Office 2013 applications default to saving to SkyDrive or SharePoint. 4. Syncing Across Devices When you save your Office documents online, they’ll be available to you (and others) from any device at any time, via Office 2013 on a PC or tablet, or via the WebApps. Microsoft has already upgraded the WebApps for Word, Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint with the new Modern-style look and Office application color coding. In addition, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will save the last location where you were working before you saved--down to the letter, cell, or image. This feature makes it easier to pick up where you left off working, even if you open the file on a different device than you last used. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint keep track of where you were working last, and show you this position when you open the file again. 5. Touchscreen use Some new Office 2013 features are designed to make working with a touchscreen easier. The new Read Mode in Word opens a document in reading view, which lets you scroll through the document by swiping horizontally with your finger. On a desktop with a touchscreen monitor, you can change this behavior back to the more traditional page navigation mode if you wish. Click the Touch Mode button on the Quick Access Toolbar—to the right of the program logo of each application—and the ribbon toolbar spreads its icons further apart for easier access to fingers. Apart from these useful changes, however, touch integration in Office is somewhat erratic. You can use gestures such as tap, pinch, stretch, slide, and swipe for various features. But on a 24-inch touchscreen monitor, unfortunately, the text formatting icons were too small for me to use accurately. So, right now, though the suite is usable on a touchscreen device—which is a step in the right direction—it is still far from touch-friendly. The new Read Mode in Word 2013 is optimized for touchscreens. You can navigate horizontally by swiping with your finger. 6. PDF Editing In the past you could save a Word document as a PDF file, but until now you couldn't edit PDFs in Word without first converting them to Doc or DocX format. The new Word 2013 can open PDF files, edit them there, and then save them as either DocX files or PDFs. When opened in Word, the file retains the structure of the PDF file, even for elements such as tables. This advance will be a big plus for many users, who can simplyopen a PDF and get straight to work. Now you can open and edit PDF documents inside Word without converting them to another format first. 7. Formatting Task Panes in PowerPoint Formatting images, shapes, and other objects in PowerPoint is now more intuitive. Right-click an image and choose Format Picture to open the new Format Picture task pane, which shows the formatting options available for that object. Click another object, and the options in the task pane change to show only the options available for that object. You can leave the pane open as you work, so that it’s visible without cluttering your workspace. PowerPoint's new task panes put formatting features permanently on the screen, where you can easily find and access them. 8. Easier Charting For users confused by the plethora of charting options in previous versions of Excel, the new Recommended Charts feature is useful. Select the data to chart and click Insert > Recommended Chart to see options such as line, bar, and pie charts that the program recommends for your data. Click each chart to preview what your data will look like in that form. After you select and create a chart, small icons will appear outside its top right corner when you select it, giving you access to work with chart elements, styles, and colors, and with the chart data itself. Excel's Recommended Charts tool analyzes your selected data and suggests appropriate charts to display the data. 9. More Graphics Options In Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher, and even Outlook, new icons on the Insert tab of the ribbon toolbar let you insert pictures from your local PC or from various online sources. The online options include inserting images within the Office Clipart collection online, via a Bing search, or from your own SkyDrive or Flickr account. (To access your Flickr account, you must first need to authorize Office to connect to it.) You can search and import images from online sources directly into Office 2013 applications. 10. Account Login The Backstage View in Office 2013 applications (accessed via the File tab) includes a new tab called Account (or 'Office Account', in Outlook). Here you can log in to your SkyDrive account or switch accounts. You can also see a list of connected services, such as Twitter and Facebook, and add services, such as LinkedIn and SkyDrive. The Office Updates area gives you information about the status of any available updates. Click Update Options to disable or enable updates and to view a history of Office 2013 updates.
By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28 Give us a call today: 281-554-5500 or visit Friendly Computers to schedule an appointment. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2012663/10-awesome-new-additions-in-office-2013.html

Facebook beefs up security with new anti-virus partners

Facebook is stepping up its security focus to better protect users from malicious links and malware. The social networking giant on Tuesday announced seven new additions to the its Antivirus Marketplace. The new security partners include Avast, AVG, Avira, Kaspersky, Panda, Total Defense, and Webroot. Those companies join existing partners Microsoft, McAfee, Norton, TrendMicro, and Sophos to offer Facebook users desktop and mobile anti-virus software. Some of the software is easily found on the companies’ own sites; Facebook just offers a centralized point from which to download. But there are a few special offers. Kaspersky Lab has a six-month software subscription to its Pure Total Security Suite and Security for Mac products exclusively for Facebook users, the company says. Free six-month subscriptions from McAfee and Webroot are also available in Facebook’s AV Marketplace, while Norton is offering a free download of its mobile security software for Android phones and tablets. Other downloads, like Avira’s, AVG’s, and Avast’s free anti-virus software products, are always free. AVG partnered with Facebook to provide date from its LinkScanner service, which alerts users when links to external sites are malicious. Beyond just software downloads, the anti-virus companies in Facebook’s Antivirus Marketplace are also building up the social networking site’s URL blacklist system. The system screens links posted on Facebook users’ walls to external sites to make sure they’re safe to visit. Facebook places an interstitial page between its own pages and malicious sites to protect and warn users. The company in a Tuesday blog posting said it plans to soon announce more tools related to security and screening. Facebook has this year escalated its efforts to protect the site’s 1 billion users from malware, phishing, and other security violations. The company in July put in place phishing protections and malware checkpoints so when your Facebook friends post suspicious links on your wall, your computer won’t immediately be attacked (unless you ignore the site’s warnings and proceed to click through). “We’re very committed to making the Facebook experience more secure for the more than 1 billion people who use Facebook,” Joe Sullivan, Facebook’s chief security officer, said in a statement. “We believe that effective security must be a cooperative effort, so we’re thrilled to collaborate with these partners more in the future to keep our community even better protected from threats both on Facebook and elsewhere on the Web.” The new partnerships were announced just as Facebook has come under fire for security holes such as phone number searches and discussion groups. The two issues are unrelated to viruses and malware, but could be used in more personal and equally malicious ways.
By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28 Give us a call today: 281-554-5500 or visit Friendly Computers to schedule an appointment. http://www.techhive.com/article/2012148/facebook-beefs-up-security-with-new-anti-virus-partners.html

How to master VLC, the ultimate Windows media player for power users

Let's just rip off the Band-Aid and get the bad news out of the way: The standard version of Windows 8 won't include Windows Media Center or the ability to play DVDs by default. Wait! Put down those pitchforks, home theater PC enthusiasts. Microsoft's ill will toward media support and optical discs is really an opportunity in disguise. Now you have every reason to check out VideoLAN's VLC media player, a versatile app that does much, much more than Windows' baked-in alternative. VLC streams files from the Internet, streams files to the Internet, manages podcasts, captures webcam videos and, yes, plays DVDs. Blu-rays, too. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Simply put, VLC is the power user's media player of choice. Unfortunately, VLC's deep array of powerful options can also be a bit intimidating at first glance. What do all those buttons and menus actually do? This guide will catch you up to speed on the basics, show you how to watch your favorite movies and Internet streams, and then close with some fun tips and tricks to help you get the most out of this free VLC player. More than just a DVD player DVDs aren't the only physical discs that VLC can read: standard audio CDs, VCDs and SVCDs all play without a hitch as well. Experimental Blu-ray disc support was added early in 2012, but the Blu-ray encryption system can make that experimental playback more miss than hit. If VLC refuses to play your favorite HD disc, installing these hush-hush files (at your own risk!) should help for older Blu-rays with AACS encryption, or you could rip the movie to your hard drive using MakeMKV (more on that later) and watch it as you would any video file in VLC, by selecting Media > Open File. Image courtesy of VideoLANVLC can handle all sorts of media formats and even ignores region coding, so you can watch your favorite foreign films. Speaking of opening files, OGG and FLAC fans will be happy to hear -- literally -- that VLC supports almost any file type you throw at it, including ISO disc images. VLC also plays movies and music from the Internet or over your local network via the Media > Open Network Stream command. Media > Open Capture Device displays input from webcams or TV tuner cards so that you can save, stream or just plain view the feed. Capture screenshots from videos Like the HTC One X, VLC includes a fun feature that lets you easily take screenshots from a video. Just select Video > Snapshot to save a picture of an individual frame. Screenshots save to your Pictures folder by default, named "VLC-(date and time)". Adjust the options in Preferences > Video > Snapshot if you want VLC to dump screenshots somewhere else. Stream podcasts and Internet radio VLC is no one-trick pony: The media player sports several audio options that can help you manage your podcasts or find something new to listen to. Click View > Playlist to bring up the playlist view, then click on the Internet option to reveal a large number of listening options -- including hundreds of Internet radio stations from around the world. The best part? They're all free. If you want to track your favorite podcasts, simply click the gray plus button next to the Podcasts option and enter the URL for the RSS feed of the podcast you want to stream. You can stream tons of free audio and video using the preloaded Internet playlist, or add your own by entering the URL of your favorite podcasts' RSS feeds. Change how VLC looks with customizable skins The look of VLC won't impress anybody out of the box; it's as plain vanilla as a piece of free downloadable software can be. Like a mullet, however, that bland demeanor hides a world of awesome possibilities, as VLC lets users change the look of the media player with the help of custom skin files. Simply download an appealing skin from the VLC website, then head into Tools > Preferences > Interface. In the Look and Feel portion, select the Use custom skin option and point VLC toward your saved .vlt skin file. Dozens of different skins are available, some vastly more appealing than others. Transcoding files with VLC Not all programs or outside A/V sources handle ASV1 and other esoteric file types as well as VLC. Fortunately, VLC can help you skirt that annoyance; this media player is a basic media converter, too! Transcoding existing media files into a different format doesn't take much effort. Click Media > Convert/Save, click the Add button, and select an audio or video file to convert. If you have a subtitle file for the film, check the box and select that, as well. Next, press Convert/Save, then click Browse and choose where you'd like to save the new version of the file. Name the file, being sure to manually give it one of the file extensions listed in the Save as Type field, such as .mpg, .mov, .ogg or .wav. Make sure the extension matches the file type you're converting; an audio extension won't work well if you're converting a video, for instance. VLC allows you to transcode your media into different formats; you can even convert a video file into an audio file (or vice versa) so you can do neat tricks like turning your favorite comedian's stand-up special into an .mp3 you can listen to at the gym. You can play around with the audio/video codec details in the drop-down box in the Settings area if you so desire, but unless you have a specific reason to use another file type, I'd suggest sticking to the default MP4 profile for video and MP3 for audio, as they're widely supported formats. The VideoLAN wiki contains useful information about codec types. Transcoding veterans can fine-tune the audio/video codec combinations even further by clicking the Edit button (represented by an icon of a screwdriver and wrench) to the right of the drop-down box. Once everything looks good, click Start and prepare to wait--transcoding video is an intensive task that can take a long, long time depending on your setup. The gray area: copying DVDs, Blu-rays and Internet streams with VLC Note that the Convert/Save options also let you handle streams from network sources and webcams or copy media from physical discs. Saving content you find on YouTube or wherever else on the Internet isn't always legal, so make sure you have the right to do so before you begin. Likewise, make sure you're only making backups of physical discs that you actually own. The actual process of copying discs is fairly straightforward, however. Open Media > Convert/Save again, but instead of adding files in the File tab, click Disc to select a disc to rip. Afterward, the transcoding options are the same as with a straight file-to-file conversion, and, yes, copying a disc takes a long time. If, on the other hand, you want a straight-up copy of the original files on the disc, just check the Dump Raw Input box. Copying DVDs and audio discs shouldn't be an issue, but ripping Blu-rays can occasionally be an exercise in frustration. If you run into problems, MakeMKV is a great Blu-ray-ripping resource that can handle modern BD+-encoded Blu-rays and older AACS-encoded Blu-rays alike. Saving webcam and Internet streams is simple, but the methodology is a little different than with physical media. Open the file using Media > Open (Network Stream or Capture Device), but rather than hitting Play, click the arrow to the right of it and select Stream from the list. Identify the source, press Next, then make sure the destination is set to File, and fiddle with the transcoding options the same way you would when saving a DVD or doing a file-to-file conversion. One final note: You can capture the video you're watching at any time by simply clicking the Record button. To add the Record button to the toolbar, click View > Advanced Controls. Transform your videos into ASCII art Let's close things out with a bit of fun: VLC can translate video into ASCII art consisting of nothing but numbers and letters. Why? Who knows? It's pointless, but fun. Louis C.K. performs his Beacon Theater set in ASCII. To get the alphanumeric party started, select Tools > Preferences > Video. Then, click the drop-down box next to Output (in the Display section) and select Color ASCII Art Video Output. Now, just start a new video and enjoy the text-based show. Be sure to change the output back to Default when you're done! These tricks only scratch the surface of what VLC can do. Advanced users can set the VLC player to stream video to the Web, batch encode files based on their extension, capture only the audio track from a DVD, access movies from other computers on your network, and more. Check out VideoLAN's incredibly helpful wiki and forums for more tips, tricks, and help with any issues you may run into.
By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28 Give us a call today: 281-554-5500 or visit Friendly Computers to schedule an appointment. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2011013/how-to-master-vlc-the-ultimate-windows-media-player-for-power-users.html

Lock down your social media with essential security add-ons

Oversharing: It's become standard operating procedure in our social-media-obsessed world. Still, there's a difference between Facebooking embarrassing party photos or tweeting about your celebrity crush, and actually releasing critical private information to the Internet at large. Knowing your social media privacy settings can certainly keep your data safer, but a number of apps and services can help out, too. Today we look at two types of social-networking security apps. The first type can alert you and your friends to malicious posts, comments, links, and other exploits that are used to spread viruses, phishing scams, and malware. The second type is designed for keeping tabs on your children: These tools can alert you to any potentially dangerous communication or content on your child's Facebook page (such as material containing violence, sex, drug use, and inappropriate language), and other things such as questionable friends (or possible predators). Bitdefender Safego Bitdefender Safego is a free antiscam service for Facebook and Twitter. The Facebook app automatically scans items posted to your wall or Timeline, status updates, and messages. It will also scan your friends’ updates and comments for spam, scams, phishing attempts, malware, and other malicious activity. Its Privacy feature will tell you what sorts of things you may be unknowingly sharing publicly, and will warn you of possible privacy issues. Here's how it works. Once you authorize the Bitdefender Safego app to access your Facebook account, it will start to monitor the account. When it finds malicious activity or a privacy issue, the app will comment on the malicious post or notify you via the Facebook notifications feed. You can also set it to publish a weekly summary of the detection statistics on your wall and/or publish warning comments to posts that it finds malicious. The Bitdefender Safego Facebook app page shows the scanning alerts and stats. MyPageKeeper MyPageKeeper is a free Facebook antiscam app from StopTheHacker and researchers at the University of California, Riverside. Currently in public beta, MyPageKeeper monitors all items posted on your profile and news feed, and notifies you of malicious posts, much as Bitdefender Safego does. Also like Safego, if MyPageKeeper finds something malicious or something that presents a privacy risk, the app will comment on the post or send you an email notification. The MyPageKeeper Facebook app page is where you install the app and access the settings You can go to this app's Facebook app page and click the Settings link to change the settings; from there, you can turn the automatic commenting on malicious posts on or off. You can also turn on more aggressive notifications; this provides better protection, but may also result in a few false alarms, according to MyPageKeeper's creators. SocialShield SocialShield, from security software firm Avira, is a free monitoring service that lets you keep an eye on your child’s Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Google+, and FormSpring accounts. SocialShield analyzes the kid's public and private posts, messages, photos, friends, and other content to alert you to any dangerous activity. It searches for inappropriate content such as profanity, sexual terms, and discussion of drinking or drugs. After you create a SocialShield account or log in with your Facebook account, you can add your child’s accounts with his or her usernames and passwords, or send the child an invitation email so he or she can provide their log-in credentials. Once that Facebook account is connected, SocialShield will show you any alerts categorized by friends, posts, messages, and photos or videos. The SocialShield portal shows an overview of alerts. SocialShield gives you an overview and more details of any alerts regarding your children's accounts. You also can view a listing of all of your children's friends and a listing of any potentially dangerous photos posted to their accounts. Minor Monitor Minor Monitor is another free monitoring service that works with both Facebook and Twitter. Similar to SocialShield, it analyzes your child’s Facebook posts, messages, photos, friends, and other content to alert you of any dangerous activity. But unlike SocialShield, Minor Monitor lets you see all activity instead of just those items marked as potentially dangerous. After you sign up, you simply add your child’s Facebook account by logging in with his or her username and password. Once Minor Monitor finishes its initial analysis, it will give you a few charts and graphs that show number of alert types (profanity, sexual, and such), activity sentiment (positive versus negative activity), activity types (posts, comments, messages, and so on), and activity schedule (what your child is posting and when). You can also view a listing of alerts or all posted photos, activity, and friends. The Minor Monitor portal shows an overview of the potentially dangerous content and charts showing the activity. You can disable the default alert emails via the settings pane and customize the level of sensitivity for the different alert categories. From there, you can also add your child's Twitter account, which Minor Monitor will analyze and track much like the child's Facebook account. Here’s where you can change the Minor Monitor settings Other options These are just a few of the tools out there to try. Many security companies are starting to build social-media security tools directly into their antivirus packages and security suites. For instance, Trend Micro offers one of the more notable tools in its 2013 Titanium antivirus line. In addition to warning you about malicious links on social networks, the software also comes with a tool that will check your Facebook privacy settings and warn you of any problems. When it comes time to upgrade your security software, check to see if the new version has similar social-network security tools.
By Friendly Computers Copyright: 2010-01-28 Give us a call today: 281-554-5500 or visit Friendly Computers to schedule an appointment. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010916/lock-down-your-social-media-with-essential-security-add-ons.html