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Category Archives: Windows

Windows 8.1 to be a free update

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You read the headline correctly folks! In a post on the Blogging Windows blog,  Microsoft has announced that they will be making Windows 8.1(previously known as Windows Blue) a free update for current Windows 8 users. No official word on the actual release date of 8.1 just yet. However, Microsoft has stated that they will be making a preview version available on 26th June.

I for one am glad that it is going to be a free update. After all, keeping up with the latest and greatest in Windows operating systems can be quite a costly affair. In any case, I will be downloading the public preview edition so I can give you my first impressions, so stay tuned for more.

Update: You will be able to get Windows 8.1 from the Windows store on release day.

Microsoft Fined for not promoting alternative web browsers

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Browser Choice ScreenThe EU’s European commission has fined Microsoft €561 million(£484 million). The fine comes as a punishment for not promoting alternative web browsers made by it’s rivals as opposed to Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer(IE).

In March 2010, when users brought a new computer, or installed/re-installed Windows on their computer, they would get a screen which would allow them to choose rival web browsers. Choices included popular browsers such as Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome web browsers. People would be able to then download and install them. In February 2011, Microsoft took this feature out of Windows with the release of Windows 7 Service Pack 1. They said that this was due to a “technical error”. This screen was supposed to be displayed until 2014.

On one hand, this is down to a problem which a security researcher calls “the tyranny of the default”. The idea is that the average consumer would think that the option which was chosen for them by default is the best one available for them, because someone who is smarter than them chose that option. Since IE comes bundled with Windows, a some people would think that this is the best browser for them.

On the other hand, I think that this is good for something that consumers should have: choice. This is the kind of thing which also gets competitors in this space and other spaces to improve their offerings. It gets people aware that there are choices out there.

As this browser choice screen demonstrates, there are some great web browser choices out there. Of course, you have Firefox, Chrome, Opera and many others out there. I personally like Google Chrome and I encourage you to at least try some of these choices out since they are free. Even on iOS and Android, you have a choice of web browser. You don’t have to use Safari or whichever one ships with your mobile device, as there are choices. Most of them are free to download. If you can, then try some of these choices out for yourself and if you don’t like what you are trying then don’t use it. It’s that simple.

So this brings me onto a question for you to answer. What is your favourite web browser? Why do you like it? Let me know in the comments.

Windows 8 Selling well

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We’ve had Windows 8 available to us for just over a month now and a few computers that come with Windows 8(or Windows RT).  So how has Windows 8 faired? Well, Microsoft has announced today that they have sold 40 million licenses. This also outpaces the uptake in the number of Windows 7 licenses during its first month after launching.

 

 

Microsoft replacing COA stickers with BIOS-embedded product keys

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Up until the release of Windows 8(Microsoft’s latest operating system), laptops have come with special stickers. These stickers would display the product key for the copy of Windows installed on your computer.  However, with the release of Windows 8 this changes.  Instead of having a sticker on the bottom of the laptop, the product key will be embedded in a chip known as the BIOS of the laptop.

This is all well and good, but what happens if you’re in a situation where you need to re-install your copy of Windows 8?  Well, the installer will simply just pick up the product key right from the BIOS.

First of all, I think that this is one way which Microsoft is trying to get rid of piracy(which I approve of). I for one have heard of many occasions where people would try and pirate a legitimate copy by copying the product key from a legitimate stick on the underside laptop. This will make it a lot harder for pirates to do this or even peel the stickers off.  Whilst it’s a good measure by Microsoft, I’m sure someone will still figure out a way to get around that.

On the other hand, there have been lots of instances where a laptop might have a product key stuck on the back but that may have faded away.  With the new BIOS-embedded product key system in a Windows 8 laptop, some parts of this problem will be solved.

The third issue I have with this one is downgrade rights.  People who don’t like Windows 8 might want to downgrade to Windows 7, so with the product key being embedded into the BIOS chip, how would a downgrade be handled?

Disclaimer: For the record, I do not advocate, condone, promote, glorify, approve of or endorse piracy in any way, shape or form.

Internet Explorer 10 preview now available for Windows 7

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Have you upgraded to Windows 8(Microsoft’s latest operating system for PCs)? If so then you would have already used the new version of Internet Explorer(AKA IE10). However, users still on Windows 7 can now get their hands on a preview version of IE10. You will be able to try out everything that the new version has to offer for free. You can get it from the IE test drive downloads page.

For the record, I’m an avid Google Chrome user but I will of course download it and check it out for myself.

Have you downloaded and tried out IE10 for Windows 7?  If so then leave a comment below and let me know what you think?

Microsoft releases security patch for Internet Explorer

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Last week, I reported that there was a critical security flaw in Internet Explorer(the web browser that comes with Windows PCs).  However, the people at Microsoft have been hard at work and have finally released a security patch for it.  It’s now available from Windows Update.  If you have your Windows updates set so that they are automatically downloaded and installed, then you won’t have to do a thing.

 

Windows 8 Pro OEM license has downgrade rights for Vista and 7

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The release date for Windows 8 is coming very soon.  In the run-up to the release there is an interesting tidbit of information with regards to the licensing side of things.  If you buy an OEM license of Windows 8 Pro, then you will have downgrade rights for Windows Vista and Windows 7.  That means, if people don’t like Windows 8 and want to downgrade to Windows 7 or Windows Vista, then they will be able to do that.

I don’t know about you, but I for one will stay away from Windows 8.  That being said, I think that Microsoft should also allow people to buy Windows 7 if they really want it.

Windows 8 Enterprise Trial on Mac via Boot Camp – Adi takes up the challenge

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Yes folks, I have decided to take up the challenge.  I have decided to take Windows 8 and install it on my Mac via boot camp. Boot camp essentially splits the Mac’s hard drive into two unequal portions(partitions to be proper), and allows the user to install windows 8 on the second partition.  What you can then do is choose whether you want to boot into your mac’s main operating system(Mac OSX) or boot into Windows 8 and give your mac over to Windows 8. When you are done, simply shut down or restart and you will be able to boot back into OSX. So why would you want to do that? Well, you are pretty much getting close to all of the performance that the mac can offer. When playing games under Windows on a mac using boot camp, you will have pretty much full access to all the graphical power that the mac has to offer. This can be really useful especially when playing games such as Diablo 3 or Left 4 Dead 2.

The things that I needed were:

  • A DVD with the 90-day trial version of Windows 8(or the Windows 8 RTM)
  • Another blank DVD to put the boot camp support software onto
  • The boot camp assistant software on the Mac

In my case, the test subject was my main computer and it was a Mid-2010 iMac with the following specs:

  • Screen size: 27″
  • CPU: Intel Core i3 3.2GHz
  • HDD: 1TB Seagate HDD
  • Built-in ODD
  • Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5670 512MB
  • Memory: 12GB DDR3 1333(3×4)
  • Built-in SD card reader
  • Built-in iSight camera

So the first thing that I did was to launch the boot camp assistant on my Mac.  I decided to allocate 73GB for Windows 8 and have the correct version of Windows 8 on a DVD. In this case, I had burnt a copy of Windows 8 Enterprise(64-bit) to a DVD before I installed.

I started off by launching the boot camp assistant and hit the continue button.  As shown in this screenshot, I chose to install Windows 7 and download any support software that I needed.  This could include drivers(the software that allows the hardware to talk properly to Windows).

As for the support software itself, I had the choice of either putting it on a DVD, or putting it on an external hard drive or USB Flash Drive, I chose to make a DVD.  The boot camp assistant then set about downloading and putting my support software onto a DVD for me.

It was now time to choose how much of my Mac’s Hard drive I wanted to allocate to Windows 8.  In this case, I decided to allocate 74GB to Windows 8.  Next, it time to install Windows 8 onto the Mac. After what seemed like a lengthy partitioning process, I restarted my mac and chose to boot from the Windows 8 DVD that I created earlier.  Since this was the 90-day evaluation version I did not need a product key as such.  When I was asked what kind of install I wanted, I chose custom.  From there, I selected the boot camp hard drive and under the “drive options(advanced)” I clicked on format.

At this point I was worried that I had chosen my Mac partition.  However, I would advise you not to do that otherwise you will lose all of your data. If you do format your Mac OSX  partition by mistake then I can’t be held responsible. Since this was the 90-day trial version of Windows 8 Enterprise I did not need to enter in a product key.  Afterwards, it was just a case of a waiting game.

After the install was done, I restarted my Mac and booted back into the Windows 8 partition and everything was ready to go.  As expected, I was asked to set up my user account for Windows 8 as well as personalise my install with my preferences.  In addition to that, I had to link up my hotmail account so I went ahead and did that.

I have not seen anything else that is new in this build since the release preview(which will expire on 15th January 2013). The first thing that I did was to check out what apps there are in the Windows 8 app store. I have to say that there are now a lot more applications available than in the release preview. I should also say that even on the mac I was using, Windows 8 was still very snappy. I will definitely say that this latest build is definitely faster than the release preview and even more polished.  In my experience of using this build of Windows 8 I have not experienced any bugs(knock on wood).

The other cosmetic change that I noticed was to do with the way the desktop Win-32 apps  look on the new Windows 8 tile UI.  As shown here, the icons for these apps have all been enlarged.  In addition to that, I can also report that most of the older Windows “desktop apps” and metro apps worked well in my tests.  Most of the hot corners worked perfectly. I was able to access the “charms” menu as well as see all of the windows that I had open.

And so we move to the hardware tests. I had a microsoft mouse along with a wired Apple keyboard plugged in. In my testing both of them worked well.  In addition to that,  the built-in iSight camera also worked well with the camera app on Windows 8.  I also tested the camera app with my Logitech C615  and in my tests, pictures came out fine but videos recorded with a slower frame rate. That being said I am sure that the Logitech Webcam Software should be updated with support for Windows 8. The graphics card in the Mac also worked well. I played a round of left 4 dead 2 and Windows 8 handled it well.  There was nothing noticeable in terms of a slow-down of frame rate.  This also proved that the built-in speakers worked well.

All-in-all I can report that Windows 8 worked well on the mac. My only gripe is the new tile-based UI.  I am sure that many of us will want to just use the desktop UI that we’ve been used to for a long time. I know that there is no start menu but that’s been replaced by the start screen.  From what I have seen, most of the hardware and software worked well. If you are going to install Windows 8 on your mac, then I would recommend giving it a try before shelling out the full amount for a system builder’s copy. That way you can make sure that all of the hardware on your Mac will work as well.  Just make sure that you back up your data before doing so.

 

Microsoft releases a 90-day free trial of Windows 8

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There might be a lot of you out there who might want to upgrade to Windows 8(the next version of Windows after Windows 7). However,you might be unsure about whether you should put down the money for it. Well, Microsoft has you covered as they have released a free 90-day trial of Windows 8. You will be able to download either the 32-bit version(for lower performing computers) or the 64-bit version(for higher performing computers) . Both of them are available right now from the link below. I would suggest either making a partition on your hard drive for this, or getting a separate hard drive for the purpose of trying Windows 8. Though the page says “Windows 8 evaluation for developers”, don’t let that scare you.  The point I am trying to make, is anyone can download it and try it. However, you will need a hotmail/outlook.com account in order to do this(which is free to sign up for).