Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and Windows 8 Recovery

Just like the dual Metro and desktop interface and the dual Metro IE and desktop IE, you also have dual backups in Windows 8. Everything in Windows 8 is like a split personality: you have the new shiny Windows 8 style and features and then all the left over stuff from previous versions of Windows.

It’s the same with backups. In this article, I’m going to talk about the backup features in Windows 8 and how it’s a blend of new Windows 8 features and old Windows 7 backup options. In a way, it’s a good thing that you still have all the options you had before, but it’s also more confusing just like it’s confusing to have two different versions of IE 10! That really makes no sense to me, but that’s beside the point.

Windows 7 Backup Options in Windows 8 In Windows 7, you can still do everything you were able to do in Windows 7 in terms of backups and recovery. If you go to the Control Panel, you’ll see an option called Windows 7 File Recovery.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

The dialog that pops up is pretty much the same one you see in Windows 7.You can Create a system image, Create a system repair disc,Set up backup or restore a backup if there is one available.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

If you click on Create a system image, you’ll have a  choice of where you want to save the image. Only on Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8 Enterprise can you save the system image to a network location.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

Note that you cannot save the system image to any drive that is included in the system image.Creating a system image this way is a manual process. If you want to have it done automatically, you need to choose the Set up backup option.

This is the same as Backup and Restore in Windows 7.Basically, you choose where you want to save the backup to and then pick a schedule.The only thing you have to note is that you cannot create a system image if you backup to DVD.You have to backup to a hard disk or network location in order to have that option otherwise it’s greyed out.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

By default, the system images are saved in the following format, where X is the drive you choose.

X:\WindowsImageBackup\PC_Name\Backup YYYY-MM-DD HHMMSS

For example, if I chose to save the system image to an external hard drive (E:), then I the location of the 
backup would be:

E:\WindowsImageBackup\AseemPC\Backup 2012-10-04 083421

Backup Restore Options in Windows 8 There are two ways to recover data from your backups in 
Windows 8. If you created a system image, then you have to boot to System Recovery Options in Windows 8 to restore the image

If you backed up using the schedule feature and picked files and folders, you can restore the files/folders from within the Windows 7 File Recovery dialog.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

Click on the Restore my files button and then you can go ahead and selectively choose which files you want to restore from the backup.

For restoring the system image, it’s a different procedure.Note that restoring a system image is a full restore, meaning that you can’t pick and choose what you want to restore, everything will be wiped out and replaced 
with the image.Restoring from a normal Windows backup allows you to restore individual files and folders.

To restore a system image, you need to boot to System Recovery Options in Windows 8. Once there, you need to click on Troubleshoot.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

Then click on Advanced Options.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

Then go ahead and click on System Image Recovery.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

Next, you’ll have to choose an account and type in the password for that user account.You’ll then have the 
option to restore from the latest system image or choose a specific image, which you would do if you had the system image saved to an external USB hard drive, a network location or a DVD, for example.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

Once you have selected the image, you’ll have several options on how to restore the image to your computer.Note that you can only restore to a disk that is the same size or larger than the disks included in the backup image.

Refresh PC and System Images In addition to the options above, you can also use a new feature in Windows 8 called Refresh PC. This is basically like performing a repair install in Windows XP or Windows 7.All system files are replaced and you essentially lose all your programs and settings, but you data stays intact.

This is exactly what Refresh PC does, but it’s a lot easier and really just takes a couple of clicks.The one 
caveat is that you can replace the default system image created when Windows 8 was first installed with a custom image.For example, you could install Windows 8, install any Metro apps, install any desktop programs, customize settings, etc, etc and then replace the Refresh PC image with your new custom image.

Now if you were to perform a Refresh PC, it would reload your custom image with all your apps and programs too! Much easier than going through the first method of creating a system image in Windows 7 File Recovery and then restoring it through System Recovery Options.

You can read my previous post on how to create a Windows 8 backup image that will replace the default image for Refresh PC.

File History

In addition to all the Windows 7 backup and restore options, the Refresh PC option, you also have another new feature in Windows 8 called File History.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

File History is turned off by default. Also note that if you are using a Windows 7 file backup with a schedule, 
File History cannot be enabled! You’ll see this message:

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

You have to turn off the schedule in order to use File History. This is kind of annoying since that means you’ll 
have to manually create system images if you like to have system images for your backups. Once you disable scheduled Windows 7 backups, you’ll see you now can turn File History on.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

It’s suggested that you use an external drive for saving the file history instead of a local hard drive or partition.You can also use a network location if you like. Actually, you can’t even choose a location on the 
same physical disk for File History

This is one advantage File History has over Shadow Copies, which was a similar technology in older version of Windows. If the drive dies, you can reinstall Windows 8, give it the same name as the dead system and then choose the same location for File History as the dead machine.

Once you have chosen a location, the Turn on button will be enabled so you can click on it.That’s about it, FIle History is now on! So what does that mean and what does it do?

Well, it basically saves versions of the files stored in your libraries, favorites, contacts, and a few other locations like Music, Videos, Pictures and Desktop. If you go back to File History after it’s made some copies, you can click on the Restore personal files option.


Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

You can now browse through to a specific file or folder and navigate back and forth in time using the green blue keys at the bottom of the screen. Here’s an example of a text document I created and edited with some text.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

If I click the left arrow key, I’ll see version 2 of 3, which has a little bit less text than version 3 of 3.

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

Pressing the green circular arrow button will allow you to restore that version of the file:

Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and   Windows 8 Recovery

You can replace the file, skip it or see some comparison info on the files.Unfortunately, it won’t actually compare the content of the files, just the date and other info like the size, etc. File History sounds pretty good, but it has some serious issues in my opinion and with a lot of other people too, apparently.

1 :- If you rename a file, the history for that file is lost. It basically starts from scratch again. So renaming a file is pretty much the same thing as deleting a file and starting over.The old history still exists, just with the old name.

2:- Following from point one, if you create another file with the name of the original file, the histories will be 
joined! So if you delete a file that had a history and then you create a new file with that same name, you’ll get 
the history of the previously deleted file too.

3:- Copies are made of the entire file each time a backup is done. So if you have a 500 MB file that gets changed three times in a minor way, you’ll have three 500 MB copies of that file.

4:- You can’t backup anything other than files and folders. You’ll still have to rely on Windows 7 FIle Recovery for actually backing up your Windows 8 system.

5:- You can’t include additional folders other than the ones pre-defined by Microsoft. This means if you want to use File History, you’ll have to move the data to one of the designated folders.

Overall, it’s all complicated system of backup options in Windows 8 that will most likely confuse new users. 
Hopefully this article sheds some light on the different options, their advantages and disadvantages and how you can use them in combination to create a robust backup plan for your Windows 8 PC. If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment. Enjoy.




"Windows 8 Tips: Backups Guide tips System Images and Windows 8 Recovery"



Reference : online-tech-tips.com















Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

As Windows 8 gets closer to the final release, I’ve already started seeing a lot of ways to customize or tweak the registry! There are a lot of visual and under-the-hood changes in Windows 8 and not all of them can be changed via the GUI settings.

In this article, I’ll show you 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install. I’m sure there will be a lot more customizations in the coming months, so feel free to post a comment and let us know any that you find.

Disable Charms Bar Hint


Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

The Charms bar in Windows 8 pops up the second you move your mouse to the top right or bottom right corner of the screen. I find it annoying because I do this by accident a lot. There is a registry key that lets you disable the hint so that the bar only opens when you move to the top or bottom right and then slide your mouse down or up along the right edge.

Prevent Charms Bar Keeps Opening by Accident in Windows 8

Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

Thanks Microsoft for getting rid of the options to customize our desktop! What used to be so easy is now a registry hack! In order to change the desktop icon spacing (horizontal and vertical), you have to edit two values in the registry. Check out our previous post below.

Change Desktop Icon Spacing in Windows 8

Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

By default, Windows 8 will try to figure out the number of rows it should show on your Start Screen based on the resolution of your monitor. What if you don’t want the number of rows it determines? Well, you can change it to a different value if you like. As you can see, I decided on only two rows instead of having 5 rows. You can choose a value from 1 to 5. Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Grid
Create a new DWORD value here and name it Layout_MaximumRowCount. Give it a value between 1 and 5. Enjoy!

Disable User Account Control

Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

User Account Control is a different beast in Windows 8 and you can’t even fully disable it via the traditional GUI interface you see above. To actually turn it off, you have to go to the registry. However, there are a few unexpected consequences to disabling UAC in Windows 8, which you can read in full below.

OTT Explains – UAC (User Account Control) in Windows 8

Confirm File Delete Dialog

Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

Another missing feature in Windows 8 is the confirm file delete dialog we were all so familiar with. I never noticed it too much, but when I first deleted a file in Windows 8, I was shocked to see that the file just went straight to the recycle bin. I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually, but if you really want it back, here’s how to get it back. Navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\
Go ahead and create a new key under Policies called Explorer. Then create a new DWORD value and give it a name of ConfirmFileDelete. Change the value to 1 if you want the delete file dialog and 0 if you don’t want it. Sweet!

Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

Registered Owner

Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

Even though it’s so old and useless, I still like having the ability to change the registered own in Windows to whatever I like. Don’t ask me why, it’s just some weird geek thing from the early days of Windows. Luckily, Microsoft still has the value stored in a registry key which you can change to whatever you like.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
Under CurrentVersion, just find RegisteredOwner and change it. Also, note there is a RegisteredOrganization, you could could actually put two custom lines in the about Windows dialog. How do you even get to that dialog in Windows 8? Go to the Start Screen and start typing winver.

Paint Desktop Version

Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

If you’re running several copies of Windows 8 on multiple computers and in virtual machines like I am, it’s nice to have the Windows version painted onto the desktop automatically. Windows 8 has a registry key that enables you to add this to your desktop automatically. Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
Find PaintDesktopVersion under the Desktop key and change the value from 0 to 1. Next time you login, you’ll see the Windows 8 version number and build number.

Border Width

Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

If you don’t like the border size around all your windows while on the desktop, then you can change it by going to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics
Find the key called BorderWidth and change it to any value between 0 and 50. It’s defaulted to -15, which is some odd numbering scheme employed by Microsoft which I don’t really get. Luckily, you can just use 0 to 50 for this registry setting instead of the crazy negative numbers.

Prevent Users From Uninstalling Apps

Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

By default, you can uninstall any app that you download from the Windows Store. However, it could be useful to create a user account for guests or your kids and then prevent users from uninstalling the apps. As you can see above, when I right-click on a metro app, the Uninstall options is gone! Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
You’re going to have to create the Explorer key under Windows and under Explorer you’re going to need to create a new DWORD value called NoUninstallFromStart. Give that a value of 1 and then sign out and sign back in.

Enable Snap on Low Res Screens

Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install

If you’re running Windows 8 at a lower resolution, you may not be able to snap metro apps to the right or left side of the screen. However, using a little registry hack, you can get the benefit even on lower resolutions. Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\
Under the ImmersiveShell key, create a new key called AppPositioner. Under the new key, go ahead and create a new DWORD value called AlwaysEnableLSSnapping. Go ahead and give this a value of 1.

If you’re using Windows 8 and feel comfortable modifying the registry, feel free to play around with the options above and customize Windows 8 to your delight. Enjoy!




"Windows 8 Tips: 10 cool registry hacks you can use to customize your Windows 8 install"


Reference : online-tech-tips.com




Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010 document

I barely use Office 2010 nowadays, so when I actually need it for something, it takes me more time to understand how to do something than it does to actually do it. Case in point: I wanted to make a document read-only in Word 2010 and I thought it would be fairly easy to setup.

Unfortunately, it’s easy, but there are literally 5 different ways you can restrict editing or protect a document in Word and depending on which option you choose, you’ll get a different outcome. On top of that, you can enable multiple of these options at the same time, which makes it even more confusing. In this article, I’m going to walk you through all the different options for protecting a document or making it read-only and explaining the advantages and disadvantages for each.

Note that you can also save yourself some hassle and make a document read-only by converting it to a PDF file. However, I’m assuming if you’re reading this,you need to use a Word document over a PDF format.

Before we start,let me mention the different options so that we can have a clear understanding of what all the options are. Here are the options I found in Word 2010:

A- Save As, Tools, General Options (Read-only and passwords)

B- Mark as Final

C- Restrict Editing (Protect Document)

D- Encrypt  with Password

E- Restrict Permission by People

I’ll start out with the easier stuff and then move on to the more technical options.There are a couple of options that “discourage” editing, but don’t really mark the document as read-only.Those are Mark as Final and Read-only check box when doing Save As.

Mark as Final
You can mark a document as Final in Word 2010, meaning that it is complete and there should be no more changes to it. You can do this by going to the File ribbon, clicking on Info and then clicking on Protect Document and choosing Mark as Final.

Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document

When you do this, it will disable all the ribbons in Office 2010 so you cannot edit the document. However, it’s pretty weak in the sense that a big toolbar pops up saying the following:

An author has marked this document as final to discourage editing. Edit Anyway.

All you have to do is click on the Edit Anyway button and you can now edit the document again! So not really protecting it, but just giving users a default read-only which can be turned off if they want.

Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document

So if you need something a little more controlled by you and not the reader, then you’ll have to try some of the more advanced read-only options.

Save As Read Only
The next option is when you are saving a document.You can click on Tools and then General Options.

Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document

Here you’ll see a couple of options including adding a password for opening the document, adding a password for modifying it, checking read-only and the option to Protect Document.

Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document

Let’s start off with just checking Read-only recommended. If you check just this box, then next time you open the document, you’ll get this dialog saying the document “should” be opened as read-only unless you want to make changes. Again, the user could just click No and then edit the document.

Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document

Now here is where things start to get confusing.What’s the difference between the password to open, password to modify and the Protect Document option? Well let’s go through them below.

Password to Open
If you type a password in the Password to open box, the next time you try to open the document, you’ll be asked to enter the password before you can even view the document. Note that with this option, you can even view the document in read-only mode either.You have to know the password in order to view the document.


Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document

Once you are in the document, you can still editing everything as long as editing has not been restricted, which I’ll explain in just a minute.Note that using the password to open option also encrypts the document, so it’s much harder to hack the password. If you just type in a password for Password to modify, it can be hacked.

Password to modify
With this option, you’ll see a dialog again when you first open the document. If the user knows the password, they can type it in and edit the document. If not, they can click the Read-Only button and view the document, but not edit it.

Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document

When you open the document in read-only mode here, it does not disable all of the ribbons.The person can type or do whatever to the document, they just can’t save over the original file.This means they can edit the file and then do a Save As and save it under a different name.

This is the first real option for actually making the original document read-only. Note, however, that the document is not encrypted and that means the password can easily be hacked.

Protect Document
If you click on Protect Document from the dialog above or if you click on the Review ribbon and click on Restrict Editing, you’ll get the following sidebar pop up in Word 2010:

Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document

Here you can limit the editing within the document after the user has already opened it. So let’s say you didn’t want to worry about having user enter passwords to view the document, you could just come straight to restrict editing, check the box under number 2 for no changes and then click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection

You’ll have to enter a password here too.

When you do this and you don’t set password to open or password to modify, then anyone can open the document, but when they go to try and edit anything, it’ll ask them for the password. Note that this password is different, so you can literally have 3 passwords to 

protect one Word document!

Again, this password is also not encrypted, so it can be hacked fairly easily if you know what you are doing. For complete protection, you would have to enable encryption, which you can do by typing in a password for Password to Open or going to File, Info, Protect Document and clicking on Encrypt with Password.

Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document

Restrict Permission by People
The last option you have is to restrict the document by person. You can do this by clicking on File, Info, Protect Document, Restrict Permission by People, and then click on Restrict Access. In order to use this feature, you have to use the Information Rights Management service from Microsoft, which means you to 
either already have or create a Windows Live ID.

Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document

Once you sign up, you can them manage the read and modify permissions, which will basically be someone’s email address.If you don’t add any email address, then only you can open the document. Also note that you can’t open the document unless Word can connect to the Internet and verify your credentials.

Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010   document





As I mentioned before, you can turn on multiple forms of protection and permissions if you like. Word 2010 has quite a few ways to configure your document for sharing, so hopefully one of the methods above meets your needs. If you have any questions, post a comment and I’ll try to help. Enjoy.




"Computer Tips:Guide to Permissions and Protection in Word 2010 document"


Reference : online-tech-tips.com


Windows 8 TIPS-- customized tile on Windows 8 Start Screen

Looking to do a little customization to the Windows 8 Start Screen? Well, you really canot do much with the built-in options in Windows 8. You can make the tiles a little larger or smaller and change the overall color scheme of the Start Screen, but that’s about it.

Luckily,someone wrote a nifty tool that lets you create your own customized tile on the Windows 8 Start Screen. For example, I use a program called Process Explorer to analyze processes on my Windows 8 system. I created a custom tile for this and it looks like this:

Windows 8 TIPS-- customized tile on Windows 8 Start Screen

Sweet huh? You can create a custom tile with your own picture, clipart or whatever you like. You can also have it open any program, file, folder or even a website.So what’s the program? It’s called OblyTile and you can download it here.

OblyTile is a pretty easy to use program.Once you download it, just run the program, there is no need to install it.You’ll see the following screen:


Windows 8 TIPS-- customized tile on Windows 8 Start Screen

There are a couple of options you have to fill out in order to use the program:

A- Tile Name – You have to give your tile a name. You can choose to hide the name if you like, but you still have to give it a name.

B- Program Path – This can be the path to an EXE file, a PDF file, a folder, or a website.

C- Program Arguments - This is optional, but if you want to pass any command line arguments to your program.

D- Tile Image – A 120×120 pixel image for your tile.

E- Tile Small Image - A 30×30 pixel image for your tile.

F- Tile Background Color - Lastly, you have to choose a tile background color.

Here’s an example of my creating a custom tile for the Process Explorer program. I apologize in advance for the horrible purple shown above.

Windows 8 TIPS-- customized tile on Windows 8 Start Screen

To get rid of your tile, just right-click on it and chose Unpin from Start. That will remove it. Currently, there is no way to re-load a tile you created and then unpinned. You have to go through all the steps again.Not a big deal, but it would be nice if you could load up the previous tiles considering it saves all of them at C:\Program Files\OblyTile.

Windows 8 TIPS-- customized tile on Windows 8 Start Screen


That’s about i! Overall, a nice program for creating custom tiles that doesn’t require you to know any coding! You can really jazz up your Start Screen with this tool.Also, it just got released so there are bound to be a lot more features in the coming months. Enjoy!




"Windows 8 TIPS-- customized tile on Windows 8 Start Screen"


Reference : online-tech-tips.com






windows 8 TIPS-- OTT(over the top) Explains-User Account Control(UAC) in Windows 8

User Account Control is one of those features in Windows that many people really don’t understand. Most people just find it annoying that you keep getting pop up dialog asking for permission to do things like install apps, change settings, etc, etc. A lot of people even disable UAC just so they don’t have to be bothered with it.

Well first off, you should read the excellent guide written by the How to Geek on why it’s not a good idea to disable UAC in Windows 7. Now their article generally says you shouldn’t disable UAC and I completely agree with this view. However, in Windows 8, there has been a major change in the way UAC works and it’s now designed to keep your computer secure even if you disable UAC. I’ll explain more about that how that works in this article.

First, let’s understand a little of what UAC does. I won’t go into great detail since you can read the above-mentioned article to get more details. Basically, when you log into your computer as an Administrator, the apps running on your computer don’t have Administrative privileges like your account. Instead their is something called an integrity level. The highest integrity level means that an application will have full administrator access. A medium integrity process will have the same access as a standard user account with limited privileges.

In Windows 7/Vista, disabling UAC is really not a good idea because all processes then run in the highest integrity level, which means if you catch some malware while using IE, the malware will have full administrator access to your system just like IE does.

However, this all changes in Windows 8. In Windows 8, you can’t even disable UAC without a registry hack. In Windows 7, if you go to Control Panel, clicking User Accounts and then click on Change User Account Control settings, you can drag the bar all the way to Never notify.

windows 8 TIPS-- OTT(over the top)Explains-User Account Control in Windows 8

You can also go to this same dialog by following the same path in Windows 8. Here’s the difference: in Windows 7, UAC actually gets fully disabled. In Windows 8, UAC is not turned off, you just get less notifications. Why is this so? And how can you really disable UAC?

Firstly, the reason Microsoft has done this is because there is a new security feature in Windows 8 for Metro apps called AppContainer that really restricts what areas of the operating system Metro apps can read and write too. When you really disable UAC in Windows 8, you can’t run any apps from the Windows store! Yes you heard that right!

If you disable UAC in Windows 8, you will not be able to run apps from the Windows Store (Metro apps). Instead, you’ll get a nice dialog saying “This app can’t open. App can’t open while User Account Control is turned off“.

windows 8 TIPS-- OTT(over the top)Explains-User Account Control in Windows 8

So how do you disable UAC in Windows 8? You have to go to the following registry key:

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

Find the EnableLUA key and change the value to 0, which disable UAC. The second you make that change, you’ll see a message from Action Center saying you have to restart to disable UAC.

windows 8 TIPS-- OTT(over the top)Explains-User Account Control in Windows 8

So disabling UAC in Windows 8 is actually a bad idea. However, moving the slider bar all the way down to Never notify is actually not so bad anymore as it used to be. Now instead of UAC actually being disabled, you’ll just get less prompts and all of the processes will still run in the medium integrity level. This means you don’t have to worry about a process having elevated permissions anymore in Windows 8! Only by disabling UAC via the registry key will you get the same effect as disabling UAC in Windows 7 where all processes run in the highest integrity level.

So without having to disable UAC, how does an app run with the highest integrity level in Windows 8? Well, it actually has to request permission in the code, which means a lot of programs are not going to work well with Windows 8 unless they rewrite the code to properly ask for permission.

In conclusion, remember that no matter what you read online, moving the slider to Never notify in Windows 8 is not turning off UAC. Secondly, moving the slider all the way down is not as dangerous as it used to be in Windows 7 and Vista. If you really don’t want those prompts, this is the best option while still keeping your system safe. Lastly, if you really want to turn off UAC in Windows 8, use the registry key, but remember you won’t be able to run any Metro apps.

If you have any questions about UAC in Windows 8, please post your comment here and I’ll try to help. Enjoy!





"windows 8 TIPS-- OTT(over the top)Explains-User Account Control in Windows 8"




Reference : online-tech-tips.com


Windows 8 Tips: System Speed up Windows 8 Use 5 Ways

Windows 8 is pretty darn fast compared to Windows XP and Windows 7, especially on boot up. If you replace your hard drive with an SSD (solid state drive), it’s even more ridiculously fast! But I’m always about optimizing the system to make it even faster.

I’ve been using Windows 8 for a few months now and I’ve run across a few small tweaks here and there that have made my Windows 8 system run blazingly fast. In this article, I’m just going to mention stuff you can do in Windows 8. You can always add memory, get an SSD, or add other hardware performance enhancements, but this post will focus on the software.


Tip 1 – Turn on Fast Startup

Fast startup is a new feature of Windows 8 that helps your computer boot back up really fast from a shutdown.There are a lot of technical aspects behind this feature that I won’t really explain here in detail, but basically Windows doesn’t load everything from scratch on boot up, which makes the boot time a lot shorter.

If you don’t have fast startup enabled, you’ll really be slowing down your Windows 8 machine.Check out my previous article on enabling fast startup in Windows 8.

Windows 8 Tips: System Speed up Windows 8 Use 5 Ways

Tip 2 – Optimize Your Drives

Keep your hard drives optimized using the Optimize Drives feature in Windows 8. It’s basically a replacement for Disk Defragmenter. Make sure that the weekly optimization is turned on for all of your drives.You can read my previous post on how to turn on Optimize Drives in Windows 8.

Windows 8 Tips: System Speed up Windows 8 Use 5 Ways

Tip 3 – Adjust for Best Performance

I’ve always found animations, shadows and other small visual effects to be quite useless in Windows. As with previous versions, you can just disable all of those by right-clicking on Computer, choosing Properties and then clicking on Advanced System Settings.

Windows 8 Tips: System Speed up Windows 8 Use 5 Ways

In the System Properties dialog, click on the Advanced tab and then click on Settings under Performance.

Windows 8 Tips: System Speed up Windows 8 Use 5 Ways

Finally, click on Adjust for best performance, which will basically uncheck all of the animations and effects.

Windows 8 Tips: System Speed up Windows 8 Use 5 Ways

Tip 4 – Startup Items

As with all versions of Windows, you need to disable all those useless startup items and the same applies for Windows 8. Instead of being in MSCONFIG, you will now find the startup items in Task Manager. Go ahead and disable anything that doesn’t need to start up on Windows login.

Windows 8 Tips: System Speed up Windows 8 Use 5 Ways

What’s cool about Windows 8 is that it also gives you a Startup impact score, so you can quickly see which startup items are slowing your system down the most. If you can disable those, do it.


Tip 5 – Close Open Apps

Lastly and most importantly, you have to keep an eye out on the number of Metro apps you have running. Unlike desktop apps, there is no quick way to see how many apps you have open.You have to move your mouse to the left side of the screen to see the open metro apps and then manually right-click on each and choose close. I previously wrote a post on how to close Metro apps in Windows 8.

Windows 8 Tips: System Speed up Windows 8 Use 5 Ways

However, there is an easier way to do this! If you go to PC Settings (open Charms bar, click on Settings and then click on Change PC Settings) and click on General, you’ll see an option under App Switching called Delete History.

Windows 8 Tips: System Speed up Windows 8 Use 5 Ways

This will basically clear that list of items in the sidebar and actually close out all of the currently open apps. This has been useful as I sometimes have 10 to 15 of those open and don’t even know it.

Hopefully, these five tips will help you enjoy a speedier Windows 8. If you have any suggestions of your own, feel free to post a comment here.thanks.


"Windows 8 Tips: System Speed up Windows 8 Use 5 Ways  "


Reference : online-tech-tips.com