10 reasons why Windows 8 may appeal to consumers

Takeaway: Will Windows 8 be a hit with consumers? Maybe. Here are a few things that could win them over.

We have talked a lot about how Windows 8 will mean significant changes for software developersand how Windows 8 will affect (or not affect) businesses. But it’s important to keep in mind that plenty of Windows computers get sold directly to consumers, and those are the sales that are most likely threatened by non-Windows devices right now, like smartphones and tablets. Here are some Windows 8 features that consumers may find interesting.

1: Games

One of the things that struck me about Windows Phone 7 was just how many games were quickly brought over from Xbox Live. Windows 8, with a similar infrastructure under the hood, looks like it will be the same way. I have always been a sucker for unique, quirky games, and by bringing the Xbox Live game set over, we should see lots of those for a low cost on Windows 8.

2: Tablets

Tablets may not be for everyone, but if you are or may become a tablet user, Windows 8 has appeal. It is tough to see how you wouldn’t want to consider a tablet that can potentially run all your existing applications (assuming you get an x86/x64 tablet). Microsoft has worked hard to give Windows 8 a touch-friendly UI, and having used the MetroUI on a Windows Phone 7 device for more than a year now, I think it is a great touch system. I’m eager to use it on a tablet.

3: Messaging

Windows 8 integrates messaging from common providers like Facebook, Live, and Twitter into one spot. It is nice not to have to go to different Web sites and leave a page open to monitor various data streams or get a bunch of third-party applications to do the same. The integrated messaging system is very slick and builds off of the unified contacts system. This is another feature borrowed from Windows Phone 7, and it is a great one.

4: App store

Windows has had an official app store in the past, though it was not terribly obvious and few people used it. With Windows 8, the app store is hard to miss. Not only is it the easiest way to load Metro applications onto Windows 8 devices, it will handle updates automatically too. The days of having out-of-date software or dealing with a zillion update applications is finally over! And if you need to replace a machine, there’s no need to dig up piles of installation discs or remember what apps you installed and downloaded from what sites and hope you still have serial numbers — you can easily reinstall them from the store.

5: Reduced security risk exposure, increased stability

The WinRT API that Metro applications are built on top of is designed to severely limit what Metro applications can do to the underlying system, as well as to user data and with each other. Internet Explorer running in Metro (but not the traditional Desktop) will not allow third-party plug-ins to run at all, either. This may be a curveball for developers, but for users it means that the risk of malware is significantly decreased. It will be very tough for applications to damage the system or affect user data maliciously or inadvertently.

6: Unified UI

Microsoft has been moving more and more of its systems to the Metro UI. With Windows 8, all the big form factors (PC, phone, tablet, and video game consoles) will be using the same UI principles and styling. That makes it a bit easier to get a handle on how to use new devices and new applications across platforms.

7: Cloud sync

Built into Windows 8 is cloud-based synchronization. By signing into a Windows 8 machine with a Live ID, all sorts of unified data is available across devices. For example, when I signed into a fresh Windows 8 Consumer Preview installation, all my Twitter, Facebook, and Live Messenger accounts were immediately established because I use the same Live ID on my phone. Changes I make to this data will instantly be reflected across the board as well. That’s pretty nice. It is especially helpful when replacing a device, because you don’t have to reestablish all these connections or re-import (or re-create) data.

8: Integration with services and applications

As I’ve mentioned, there is some neat integration around messaging and data in Windows 8. The integration goes much deeper, though. For example, My Pictures in Windows used to be nothing more than a directory that got special treatment from Windows Explorer. Now it has the notion of Albums and Libraries, which represent where the pictures come from. Services like Flickr and Facebook are integrated by default as Libraries, and third-party applications can tap into this functionality as well.

Likewise, the People Hub collects information about people you know from a variety of sources (Facebook, email accounts, LinkedIn, etc.) and puts it all in one place. Instead of an application-centric view of data, Windows 8 presents a data-centric view, minimizing the number of places you need to go to get access to data, while at the same time increasing the number of places it can be used.

9: Email

Windows Phone 7 gets a lot of kudos for its excellent email client. This email client has been brought over to Windows 8 and scaled up to the larger screen size. Unlike some previous versions of free email clients bundled into Windows, it is quite capable and for many people will be a significant upgrade. Like other parts of Windows 8, it provides a concentration of data from different places (in this case, email accounts) and presents a unified view that makes it easy to work with and respond to emails.

10: Simplicity

One of the key things in Windows 8 is that if you stick with Metro applications, it is a very simple system to deal with. Power users will not necessarily be thrilled about losing the control that they are used to (although they can still have it if they head to the Desktop on x86/x64 machines). But those who just want to sit down and “get stuff done” will appreciate how the OS gets out of the way and lets you do what you want to do.

Things like the highly reduced maintenance of applications (thanks to the app store), concentration of all email in one place (rather than the need for a native client and a few Web clients), and messaging add up to a simplified experience. You’re no longer switching between dozens of applications and Web pages but working around a small number of Hubs on the system based on your current needs. It is a refreshing change from the current overload of system tray notifications, buzzers, noises, and flashing taskbar icons that typify the current Windows system.

Hitting Windows 8 reset button: Security bonus saves time and money

Takeaway: The Windows 8 reset button from a security perspective.

The much ballyhooed Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest release of its flagship product, will allow users to restore their Windows 8 PC to its pristine factory state through the push of a single button. There are two distinct restore types: reset and refresh. A reset will restore a Windows 8 PC to its original factory state, consequently removing any personal data, apps, and settings. A refresh will reinstall Windows 8, but preserves any documents, wireless network connections, BitLocker settings, drive letter assignments, personalization settings, and installed Metro apps. Any file-type associations, display settings, and Windows firewall settings will not be retained after a refresh.

The reset/refresh options are different than the current system restore process found in Windows 7/Vista/XP in that Windows is completely re-installed (the current system restore reverts back to a “last known good state” therefore, not all current system settings or files are retained). Additionally, the system restore files are not immune from becoming infected with malware. I assume cybercriminals are already looking for any weaknesses in the new reset/refresh process. The time required to perform a refresh is approximately eight minutes, and six minutes for a quick reset. A thorough reset takes 23 minutes. The thorough option overwrites any existing data visible to the operating system.

Good news for support pros

From a security perspective, the reset/refresh options provide a great method for quickly restoring malware infested computers to a “safe” state. Before security companies rush to play the antitrust card, they should realize that this capability complements itself nicely to any endpoint security software. The purpose of endpoint security software is to prevent any malicious software from being run or installed in the first place. However, as any IT professional can attest, having such software does not equate to complete immunity. Scareware, rootkits, keyloggers, trojans and other nefarious items can still make their way onto a computer. The reset/refresh option allows for a quick recovery when the security software “fails”. The security industry has yet to prove that their products are able to fully cover the entire prevent/detect/recover/remediate cycle.

Depending on the industry, anywhere between 40%-70% of IT support (or help desk) employee time is spent removing viruses and malware from company computers. Generally speaking, the time required for someone to run an antimalware removal tool and conduct further troubleshooting (if needed for particularly troublesome malware) can easily exceed an hour. This leads to productivity loss and subsequent frustration. Countless hours are spent attempting to either remove all traces of the malware from the computer or completely wiping out the machine, re-imaging it from scratch, and installing the latest patches. On top of that, time is needed to re-install any applications, copy over any files, and restore usability settings. Pretty soon an entire afternoon (or morning) is lost. This is crucial time taken away from IT support (and the employee whose laptop was infected) when they could have been working on more strategic projects that actually provide value to the company. When scaled by organization size, the productivity loss grows exponentially. The time that is spent cleaning up viruses and malware costs the company money and negatively affects the bottom line.

In a time where companies are cash strapped and desperate to find cost savings, reducing the time devoted to recovering from malware infections to mere minutes, will lead not only to reduced costs, but will translate into a competitive advantage. Making use of the reset/refresh one-click option in Windows 8 is a no-brainer. The security industry would be foolish to view it any other way.

Five free replacements for Windows Explorer

Five free replacements for Windows Explorer

Takeaway: If you’ve ever wished for more or better file management features than Windows Explorer offers, these free alternatives might be the answer.

I must say I’m not a fan of Windows Explorer as a file manager. When using it for simple file management, and it starts up the old Not Responding behavior, it can be a nightmare of frustration. This is a pain because Explorer is so interconnected with so many other tools. That’s why I often rely upon one of the free replacements for the default Windows file manager. There are quite a few. Here are my top five. Give these a try and more than likely you will come out with one you like.

1: CubicExplorer

CubicExplorer is a fine example of how to make a full-featured, yet lightweight file manager for Windows. This particular file manager offers some great features: tabbed exploring, bookmark files and folders, search filters, a built-in text editor, file preview, transparency levels for different programs, themes, shortcut key support, breadcrumb navigation, session saving, and much more. CubicExplorer is broken up into three panels: Main navigation window, Navigation tree, and Filter/Preview/Dropstack panel. The Dropstack panel allows you to drag and drop files/folders into groups for temporary quick access.

Figure A

2: Explorer++

What I like about the Explorer++ file manager is that it’s not required to install, so you can run it from a flash drive. No more having to put up with wonky Explorer on your machine or any other machine. Pop this tool on a flash drive and carry it around with you — you’ll have a file manager that will work when Explorer is flaking out. Explorer++ features:

• Complete portability
• Tabbed browsing
• Real-time previews as files are selected
• Easy-to-remember keyboard shortcuts
• Customizable user interface
• Full drag-and-drop support
• Advanced file operations

Figure B

3: Xplorer2

Xplorer2 comes in two flavors: free and not free. The free version (called the Lite version) doesn’t have all the features of the paid version (you’ll be missing Advanced Searching and Customer Support) but is still a solid file manager. You can browse the entire shell namespace, preview docs/pics/music/video, view side by side, filter using wildcards, synchronize folders, and obtain more information per file/folder than you get with the default file manager.

Figure C

4: NexusFile

NexusFile brings a bit of style to Windows. Not only is it skinnable, it also offers some great built-in features: tabbed browsing, built-in FTP, built-in archive, advanced rename, Split/Join File, and much more. NexusFile might well be one of the most powerful Windows file managers you will come across. Its only downfall is that the interface could take some time for new users to grow accustomed to. But for anyone who has used a typical FTP client (or an older file manager), the learning curve will be nonexistent.

Figure D

5: Q-Dir

As the site says Warning: Once Q-Dir, always Q-Dir!!! Whether that applies to you will depend upon what you want from a file manager. If you want a crazy amount of interface control, Q-Dirmight be the perfect fit for you. Q-Dir offers a large number of preconfigured viewing options to satisfy just about any need. You want four panes? You got it! That is, after all, what the Q stands for: quad. You can install this file manager on your hard disk or as a portable solution. It offers preview filters, drag and drop, clipboard, exporting to XLS/CVS/TST/HTML, screen magnifier, color filter, highlight filter, and much more.

Figure E

Choices

If there is a feature you’ve always wanted in a file manager for Windows, it probably exists in a different tool. The five free alternatives we’ve looked at here represent a nice cross section of the possibilities.

Five free antivirus tools for Windows

Five free antivirus tools for Windows

Takeaway: The field of AV solutions has gotten crowded, making it tough to sort through your options. Here are several solid (and free) tools worth a look.

Without antivirus protection, a Windows machine is a ticking time bomb. Of course, there are hundreds (if not thousands) of possible antivirus solutions for the Windows operating system. Some are worthless and some are viruses themselves. But others are pretty darned dependable. I wanted to share my favorite free real-time antivirus solutions for the Windows operating system. You might already have a favorite, but it’s always good to have another option in your back pocket. Just remember to have only one installed at a time.

1: Avast Free

For the longest time I recommended AVG Free to clients. That time has come and gone. Now, when a client needs a free go-to antivirus software package, I always recommend Avast Free Edition. Avast has a ton of features for a piece of free software. But more important, it does a great job protecting PCs from those nasty infections. It also does a good job blocking spyware. The free version is limited to virus and malware protection, but what more do you need? Well, if you need online protection (such as safe shopping), ID protection, and advanced firewall, you’ll need to drop some coin for the professional version.

2: Microsoft Security Essentials

If you or your clients are looking for a bare bones antivirus solution that does one thing and one thing only (but does it very well), download and install this outstanding free Microsoft product. What I really like about Security Essentials is that once installed, it’s unobtrusive. You will hardly know it’s there. Unlike some solutions that bring your machine to a grinding halt, Security Essentials uses little CPU and can do a scan without your even realizing it’s happening. Security Essentials is also one of the easiest to install, configure, and use. So for those less-than-savvy end users, this might be the one you want.

3: Avira Free Antivirus

Just two clicks to install, and your machine has some basic, yet solid antivirus protection. No, Avira Free will not protect you from phishing like its premium brother. Nor does it have a gaming mode like its premium upgrade. But Avira Free will do a great job of protecting your machine from viruses, with an easy-to-use interface and an incredibly fast scanning engine. In fact, this might well be the fastest antivirus scan you will ever use. What I like about this entry is that it checks for viruses, Trojans, AND rootkits. Not many free antivirus solutions go that far.

4: BitDefender

BitDefender is one of those solutions that few know about but more should. It’s an outstanding solution that has the standard features (virus scan/removal, scheduled scan, immediate scan, quarantine, reporting). It’s one of the on-demand solutions. BitDefender does not include any real-time features but makes up for it with a strong scanning engine that can be scheduled for use at any time. What I like about on-demand scanning is that it doesn’t interfere with email or Web browsing. When push comes to shove, I always trust the BitDefender line of tools — and the free version is no exception.

5: Comodo Antivirus

Comodo Antivirus is probably the least well known tool on this list, but that doesn’t make it a lesser product. In fact, it could be a strong solution if you’re looking for guesswork-free protection. Comodo automates the decision-making process for blocking or allowing trusted or untrusted files. If anything is questionable, it’s sandboxed for your examination. Comodo tracks and protects from malware as well as viruses. And with an adjustable security level (via a simple-to-use slider), it’s easy to modify the level of protection you want on a desktop. Comodo was also designed with optimization in mind. Although not as unnoticeable as Microsoft Security Essentials, Comodo does do a great job of remaining in the background.

10 things you can do to boost PC performance

10 things you can do to boost PC performance

Takeaway: Does your PC performance need a kick in the pants? These simple steps will help speed things up.

There’s so much information out there about PC performance (especially on Windows machines), it’s difficult to be sure what’s right and what’s not so helpful. Here are 10 proven performance enhancements you can make to your computer, many of which are free.

1: Get rid of malware

New machines shouldn’t have malware on them. But one of the most common causes of the “my PC used to be fast, and now it isn’t!” complaint is actually the presence of malware. Malware can sneak onto a computer in a zillion different ways and quite often it sits in the background slowing your machine to as it sends out spam emails, searches for other computers to infect, works on cracking cryptography, or any number of the other nefarious tasks that hackers like to use their botnet slaves for. There’s a good chance that the malware brought even more friends with it (that’s often how you see computers with thousands of viruses on them not long after the initial infection), and the infection may be bad enough to justify a wipe and reload. My first step in investigating a slow system is usually a virus scan.

2: Upgrade to a better video card

For typical business productivity tasks, a video card probably isn’t an upgrade that will have a lot of value. But for gamers and other similar uses, a video card is a slam dunk upgrade. If your current card and motherboard support SLI or CrossFireX, adding a second card and bridging them will be a good option as well. In some scenarios, better video cards can be a huge benefit even without heavy onscreen video work, because certain applications can leverage the GPUs for calculations.

3: Get a faster drive

Many times, the real performance issue is the speed of disks. Look at numbers like the RPMs, cache size, seek speed, and transfer rate to buy a faster drive. Often, a good drive will seem slow because the computer’s power settings are allowing it to spin down. You may want to consider changing these settings to make sure that the disk is more likely to be ready to work when you need it to. While the SSD vs. hard disk debate is still continuing, SSDs usually seem to feel faster to users. Boot times are usually cut for sure. But something about an SSD makes a system feel more responsive or “snappy” to use, and for day-to-day work, that’s a great feeling.

4: Address hardware and driver issues

All too often, system slowness is actually a sign of hardware problems. For example, if your CPU isn’t being properly cooled, it will often have its speed reduced in an effort to keep it from overheating. Recoverable errors with disk access can kill your throughput while not showing up as a dead drive. And bad hardware drivers can often make the whole system slow, especially video drivers. Using utilities to check your CPU speed and various temperatures, scanning for hard drive errors, and updating your drivers is a good start to investigating performance problems. Often, problems caused by hardware or drivers are not just poor speeds, but system flakiness too.

5: Use a RAID

Using a RAID can dramatically lower the read and write speeds of your disks, depending upon the RAID level you choose. You will want to do some research to see what RAID level fits your needs the best. Personally, I am a fan of RAID 1, 6, and 10 because I feel that they offer appropriate levels of data protection along with a good measure of speed improvements.

6: Try a different browser

It’s no secret: Different browsers perform differently, and most people spend a lot of time in their Web browser. Benchmarks really muddy the browser speed conversation. Some browsers perform well on some but do badly on others, even when they are supposed to test the same thing. The problem with the benchmarks is that what they usually test is not real work performance! While JavaScript is an important part of the modern Web, few Web applications beat on the JavaScript engine hard enough to produce a noticeable impact on performance. That said, it’s been my experience that the Chrome browser is the fastest for actual work. If you want to have your Web browser feel more responsive and lively, consider a switch to Chrome.

7: Remove junk

It’s easy to have a computer get loaded up with junk that slows it down. The worst part is, we invitethis garbage into our lives by installing “helpful” utilities, toolbars, and other add-ons. I could easily write a list of 10 kinds of computer-stalling junk. Here are some of the things you’ll want to seek out and remove for best performance:

• Automatic update systems for various applications (but be careful: some apps, like Flash, Acrobat, QuickTime, and Web browsers are prime malware targets and you will want to keep these up-to-date)
• Things that run on startup
• Windows services you don’t really need
• Crapware from the PC maker
• Toolbars
• Browser plug-ins (the Skype browser plug-in is an especially bad offender, I’ve found)
• P2P applications
• Web servers and database servers that were installed by since-removed applications, but left behind

8: Add a faster DNS lookup server

Most ISPs love to brag about how much bandwidth they are giving you. But they don’t mind letting the rest of their infrastructure slowly get overwhelmed or deteriorate. Among the biggest offenders are the DNS servers our ISPs use. If you want to know why things seem to take forever to start loading, slow DNS servers are often the cause. Consider adding a fast DNS server as your primary DNS server in your TCP/IP settings. Google’s Public DNS server is a great option.

9: Defrag

Defragging your hard drives is a great way to get some more performance. While modern Windows systems automatically defrag on a regular basis, I’ve found that the Windows defragging is fairly unaggressive. We’ve reviewed a lot of different defrag apps here at TechRepublic. I suggest that you check out your alternatives and find one that does a better job for you.

10: Check network connectivity

Time and time again, “system slowness” actually is caused by networking issues. Our computers do so much on the Internet that slowness there can affect just about everything you do on a regular basis. While there isn’t enough space to write an exhausting troubleshooting list here, some of the things you should try (or investigate) are:

• Replacing the network cables, switches, routers, WiFi access points, etc.
• Calling the ISP and checking the distance from the CO (for DSL) or the local segment’s current load (for cable); the ISP may need to rewire or rework its connectivity. Satellite customers will want to double-check their dish installation and ensure that it is tightly locked down and pointed in the right direction.
• Malware scanning on all PCs to see if malware is burdening the network
• Inspecting the wiring of the phone lines (for DSL) or coax (cable customers) to look for loose connections, corrosion, or flaky wires
• Cable customers will want to find out how many splitters are between the line from the pole and their modem. If it is more than one (and preferably only a two-way splitter), they should rewire so that they have only a single two-way splitter between the pole and the modem to ensure the cleanest signal possible.

20 Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know

20 Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know

Mastering the keyboard will not only increase your navigation speed but it can also help with wrist fatigue. Here are some lesser known Windows shortcuts to help you become a keyboard ninja. ^_^


Global Windows Shortcuts :-

Win+1, 2, 3, 4, etc. will launch each program in your taskbar. It is helpful then to keep your most used programs at the beginning of your task bar so you can open them one right after another. This also works in Windows Vista for the quick launch icons.

Win+Alt+1, 2, 3, etc. will open the jump list for each program in the taskbar. You can then use your arrows to select which jump list option you want to open.

Win+T will cycle through taskbar programs. This is similar to just hovering over the item with your mouse but you can launch the program with Space or Enter.

Win+Home minimizes all programs except current the window. This is similar to the Aero shake and can be disabled with the same registry key.

Win+B selects the system tray which isn’t always useful but can come in very handy if your mouse stops working.

Win+Up/Down maximizes and restores down the current window so long as that window has the option to be maximized. It is exactly the same as clicking on the middle button on your windows.

Alt+Esc is like Alt+Tab but switches windows in the order they were opened and does not have the fancy window preview overlay.

Win+Pause/Break will open your system properties window. This can be helpful if you need to see the name of a computer or simple system statistics.

Ctrl+Esc can be used to open the start menu but will not work as a Windows key replacement for other shortcuts.

Ctrl+Shift+Esc will open the task manager without needing to hit Ctrl+Alt+Del first.

Alt+Space will open the window system menu which can be used to maximize (x), minimize (n), close (c), or move (m) the window which can be especially helpful if your window is somehow off-screen. This shortcut can also be helpful with windows that don’t close with the Alt+F4 shortcut such as the command window.

Windows Explorer Shortcuts :-

Here are handy shortcuts built into Windows Explorer which may have similar features in other programs too.

Alt+Up will navigate up one folder level since the up arrow on the menu bar was removed in Windows Vista. Alternatively, you can also make Backspace go up one folder level with a handy AutoHotKey script.

Shift+F10 opens the contextual or “right click” menu for a file/folder. This can be very handy for speed especially if you know which option you want to select. Look for an underlined letter in each option to know which letter you can press for faster access.

Shift+Del deletes a file without sending it to the recycle bin because who wants to empty their recycle bin anyway?

Ctrl+Shift+N creates a new folder in your current directory.

Alt+Enter opens the file properties so you can view file size, sharing settings, and creation date.

F2 renames a file or folder.

F3 will open explorer and select the search bar. If you already have an explorer window open it will highlight the search bar. In some programs it will also open the search dialog to search within that program.

F6 cycles objects in the current window. In explorer this will cycle between the location bar, options bar, left pane, and right pane. It also works with varying success in other programs.

F10 toggles the file menu in explorer.