Posts Tagged ‘windows 8’

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Windows 8 Guide: The Hot Corners

February 27th, 2013

Have you upgraded to Windows 8 yet? If you have, you’ve probably noticed how important the corners are to navigate in Windows 8. The corners on your screen are hot corners and give you access to different Windows features.

Bottom Left-hand corner

The bottom left-hand hot corner of the screen will allow you to access the Start Screen. When you move your mouse cursor to bottom-left corner, it shows you a small Start Screen thumbnail to go to Start Screen. With mouse left click, it toggles between the Desktop (if opened) and new Start Screen (Metro screen). Right-clicking in the left hand corner will bring up new Power User Menu with all admin tools like Device Manager, Control Panel, Command Prompt, etc.

Top-left corner of the screen

Moving the mouse to the top-left corner and then down will display all the apps running on the computer. Clicking and dragging any of these apps to the left or right-hand side of the screen will snap that app to that side of the screen. Each of these open app icons can also be right-clicked to close or snap.

Right-hand side of the screen

If you move your cursor to top-right corner or bottom-right corner, the new Charms Bar is shown containing direct shortcuts to Search, Share, Start Screen, Device Manager and Settings.

Hot corners make navigating in Windows 8 simpler, and even a little fun!

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How to Turn Off App Notification in Windows 8

December 31st, 2012

Windows 8 displays app notifications in the Metro-style Start Screen for installed apps, Calendar events, new email, and other app events. But you might not be interested in getting notifications for all apps, in such cases you can configure which apps can sent out notifications for you. In this article we’ll show you how to turn off app notifications in Windows 8.

How to Turn Off App Notification in Windows 8?

  1. Access the Charms bar by pressing Windows + C or moving your mouse to the bottom right of the screen and slowly moving the mouse up. When the Charms bar appears, click on the Settings.
  2. Click on More PC Settings link at the bottom of the sidebar.
  3. In the PC Settings screen, navigate to Notifications section in the left pane.
  4. In the right pane, there are ‘Show app notifications’, ‘Show app notifications on the Lock Screen’ and ‘Play notification sounds’ toggles. In order to complete turn off notifications for all apps, just turn off the Show app Notifications option.

  5. Other than turning off notifications for all installed apps, you can do so selectively as well. The lower part of the Notifications settings screen allows you to turn off notifications for individual apps of your choice.
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How to Access UEFI BIOS Setup in Windows 8

December 30th, 2012

On Windows 8 operating systems that came pre-installed on the computer from the factory, the legacy BIOS has been replaced by UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). This will cause the problem that bootable media from previous versions of Windows may not be recognized in Windows 8 computer. To resolve this problem, you need to switch your BIOS mode from UEFI BIOS to Legacy BIOS. No doing so would prevent the installation of Linux, Windows 7, or any other OS.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to access UEFI BIOS Setup in Windows 8, so you can disable the UEFI mode to avoid the compatibility problem described above.

How to Access UEFI BIOS Setup in Windows 8?

In previous post, we’ve covered how to set Windows 8 PC to boot with legacy BIOS mode instead of UEFI mode. Here we’ll show you another option to access UEFI BIOS Setup so long as you can log into Windows 8. Here are the steps:

  1. Press the Windows key + C, or swipe in from the right edge of the screen to open your Charms.
  2. Click Settings.
  3. Click Change PC Settings.
  4. In PC Settings, select General.
  5. Under Advanced startup, click Restart now. The system will restart and show the Windows 8 boot menu.

  6. In the boot menu, select Troubleshoot.

  7. In the Troubleshoot menu, select Advanced options.

  8. In the Advanced options menu, select UEFI Firmware Settings.

  9. Click Restart button to boot into UEFI BIOS Setup screen.

  10. When the computer restarts, the UEFI setup screen will be displayed. You can then disable UEFI BIOS and Secure Boot options, and enable legacy BIOS mode.
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How to Set Windows 8 PC to Boot with Legacy BIOS Mode Instead of UEFI Mode

December 29th, 2012

I just got a new Toshiba laptop with Windows 8 pre-installed. As I hate Windows 8 I decided to make a clean install with Windows 7. I got my Windows 7 installation on a bootable USB (it works with my other computers running Windows 7/Vista/XP), plugged it in, went into the BIOS and changed the boot priority to USB as primary. But it still doesn’t boot from the USB, and just boots right back into Windows 8. I have tried the same thing with a Windows 7 DVD and still can’t boot from the CD.

I spent entire last night trying to figure out this issue and eventually I found the solution. All you got to do is to disable the UEFI mode and turn off the Secure Boot option in BIOS, which allows the EFI-based PC to operate in a legacy BIOS mode. Fortunately, nearly all modern EFI-based computers include a feature known as the Compatibility Support Module (CSM) that enables them to boot with legacy BIOS mode.

One of Microsoft’s new rules for Windows 8 is that any manufacturer that ships a windows 8 computer must enable UEFI secure boot by default. The UEFI BIOS is created for Windows 8 and if you need to use other system like Windows 7, Linux or any other OS, you have to disable the UEFI BIOS and Secure Boot options.

How to Set Windows 8 PC to Boot with Legacy BIOS Mode Instead of UEFI Mode?

When your computer is powered on, check the boot-screen for setup key (i.e. DELETE key, F8 key, F2 key) to enter BIOS Setup Utility. In the BIOS Setup Utility, change the boot mode from UEFI mode to legacy BIOS mode (or CSM boot mode), and disable the Secure Boot option. Here are steps of disabling UEFI secure boot in Toshiba laptop:

  1. Power on the system and while the “TOSHIBA” logo appears, press F2 key to enter the BIOS Setup Menu.
  2. Select Security tab and set the Secure Boot to Disabled.

  3. Select Advanced tab and go to System Configuration.
  4. Set the Boot Mode to CSM Boot.

  5. Press F10 key to save and exit.
  6. Press F12 key at “TOSHIBA” logo screen to toggle between the bootable devices and choose the medium which you want to boot from.

Note: Once you are finished and you want to return back to normal operation you need to revert the BIOS settings. The installed Windows 8 OS will not boot up, if you do not revert the BIOS settings!

The exact menu option in your motherboard’s BIOS may differ but look for phrases like “Boot Mode”, “Boot List Option”, “UEFI/Legacy Boot Priority”, “UTFI Boot”, etc.

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How to Disable Password Reveal Button in Windows 8

December 16th, 2012

In Windows 8, when you type a password in a website or app, a password reveal button (looks like a small eye) will appear at the end of the password filed. Clicking this button will display your password on the screen. By leaving the button displayed, it can result in somebody else viewing your password.

Luckily, this feature can be disabled by a Windows Administrator for every Windows user account on a computer. So let’s see how you can disable the password reveal button throughout Windows 8 easily.

How to Disable Password Reveal Button in Windows 8?

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run window, type in gpedit.msc and click OK to open the Local Group Policy Editor.

2. In Group Policy Editor navigate to Local Computer Policy –> User configuration –> Administrative Templates –> Windows Components –> Credential User Interface on the left sidebar.

3. When you select Credential User Interface on the left sidebar, you will see Do not display the password reveal button settings on the right-hand sidebar. Simply enable the settings and close the Group Policy Editor.

4. Once done, this will immediately stop displaying the button after a user has typed in his password in the password field anywhere.

Conclusion

After disabling the feature, if you feel that the option to reveal was a comfortable option to rectify mistyped passwords, you can disable the settings or change it to Not Configured and bring back the password reveal button.

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How to Disable Windows 8 Lock Screen

December 7th, 2012

By default, Windows 8 shows Lock Screen at startup, which displays the date ad well as notifications. You have to click the screen before you can get to the logon screen. This seems like something that makes more sense on a tablet PC.

If you are using a desktop or laptop computer, you can disable the Lock Screen so the computer will boot up directly to logon screen to choose the user account to log in to Windows 8. Fortunately, you can disable the Lock Screen from Local Group Policy Editor.

How to Disable Windows 8 Lock Screen?

1. The first thing you need to do is to open the Local Group Policy Editor by pressing the Windows + R key combination to bring up a Run box, then type gpedit.msc and hit Enter.

2. Now, expand Administrative Templates settings from Computer Configuration, and then navigate to Control Panel –> Personalization. In main window, you will find Do not display the lock screen policy.

3. Double-click this policy and tick Enabled checkbox. This will permanently disable Lock Screen. When disabled, users will see the logon screen when they log off or lock out Windows. Similarly, you will be taken to logon screen directly, instead of Lock Screen, at startup.

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Forgot Windows Live Password in Windows 8

November 30th, 2012

With Windows 8, you can sign in to your PC with a Windows Live account. This allows syncing and sharing personal data across multiple devices very easily. You might also be wondering, “How to log on the computer if I forgot my Windows Live password?” Well, here is a excellent hack for you.

With Password Recovery Bundle utility you can create a bootable password reset CD, and set your computer to boot from the CD and it enables you to reset forgotten Windows Live password which is stored on your local computer. After resetting, you will regain full access to your PC with a new password.

How to Reset Forgotten Windows Live Password in Windows 8?

  1. First you need to download Password Recovery Bundle program on another computer. After installing and running the program, click the Windows Password button, which allows you to create a bootable password reset disk in 3 steps. Insert a blank CD/DVD or USB drive into the computer and click Start Burn to create a bootdisk.

  2. Insert the password reset bootdisk you’ve created into your Windows 8 computer. Turn on the computer and hold down F2 or whatever the setup key is shown as during the initial boot screen. This should bring up the BIOS.

    In the BIOS look for the Boot Device Priority option, set CD/DVD as the 1st boot device if you want to boot from CD. You can either set Removable Device as the 1st boot device if you want to boot off USB drive. Save your changes.

  3. Restart the computer and now it will boot from the password reset bootdisk. After one or two minutes the bootdisk will launch the Reset Windows Password utility. Choose the local user account which is linked to your Windows Live ID, and then click Reset Password button. The program will set your Windows Live password to Password123 instantly.

  4. Now remove the password reset bootdisk and restart the computer, you can then quickly sign in to Windows 8 using your Windows Live account and the new password: Password123.

Password Recovery Bundle could also reset forgotten login password in Windows 7/Vista/XP/2003/2000. It should be the first Windows password recovery program which supports the latest operating system Windows 8.

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How to Set Up Parental Control in Windows 8

November 26th, 2012

We’re glad to see that parental controls in Windows 8 are simple and not nearly as complex as previous versions of Windows parental controls. It is much easier for all parents out there who want to protect their kids while they are using their computers. Parents can set up parental control to set limits on the hours that children can use the computer, the types of games that they can play, the websites that they can visit, and the programs that they can run.

How to Set Up Parental Control in Windows 8?

The key to using parental control in Windows 8 is to properly configure multiple accounts on your PC. You, as a parent you should have access to an administrator-level account. You need to set up a standard user account for your children as only this type of account can have parental controls applied.

Step 1: Move the mouse cursor to the lower right corner of the screen and then right-click to bring up a small menu. The menu gives you quick access to some common administrative tasks, including Control Panel.

Step 2: Open Control Panel and then open Family Safety. In family safety, click on the account you would like to configure and proceed. You will now have to configure some of the settings like Web Filtering, Time Limit, App restriction and, Windows Store and game restrictions.

Step 3: As all the settings are similar to Windows 7 and Vista, you can refer to our complete guide – How to Use Parental Controls in Windows 7. The article shows you how you can allot time limit, moderate games and apps and filter inappropriate websites. Finally at the end of the day you can view your kid’s activity log and see how he has spent his time on the computer.

Conclusion

That’s it. Keep in mind that if you have more than one PC that you allow your child to use, you might want to consider setting up an online Microsoft account for them. You can use local accounts, but you’ll probably have to set up their Family Safety settings for every PC, rather than just once with a Microsoft account.

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