Catching up! Windows, Android and more.

My dear followers and readers, I've not been actively engaged in blogging over the past year. Now I kind of look back at what happened last year, the biggest change in me has been the shift of interest from writing technical stuff to the artistic way of writing. Yes, you read that right, I've been lately writing quotes, poems and short stories at MycroLines. 

The last post I wrote was about a Windows Insider build. Since then we have had around 50 odd builds. But I'm not going to write anymore of builds, unless it brings something substantial. As time progressed, I've seen Windows phones going dark. Yes, my old Lumia 535 is now with my dad and my primary phone is a Android device. You can ask me, how difficult was the transition from Windows to Android was? I would say it was seamless, I managed to import all my outlook contacts into Google contacts using the in-built tool. I could have sticked to Windows phone but it was never a story that was going to succeed. Microsoft's actions to shift focus to third party platforms meant that apps were getting better in rival platforms while Windows phones were left behind sub-par experiences.

Why Android?

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality apps found in the Play Store, coming from an lacklustre app experience from Windows phones, Android as a platform, has a number of quality apps. I'll not talk about the quantity of apps because no one is going to install every app in their phone but whatever the need is, there is an app for you. This is why Android is the most preferred mobile OS, and it is the same reason why Windows phones never grew. Android is Open source, hence the OEM's have the capability of tailoring the experiences for their devices. My Redmi 3s runs MIUI 8.5 on top of Marshmallow. Before someone quickly dismisses MIUI as a clone of iOS, I can confidently say that it is a general misconception. At the first glance, the layout of home screen might resemble the iOS screen but it is Android, in very nature, supports high level of customization. I've started liking MIUI and the next major update, MIUI 9 is just around the corner making the Android experience a little more sweeter.

Windows, tablets and PCs.

I have tried Linux, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Linux Mint and the beautiful Elementary OS. Although they are wonderful platforms, they share the same problem as Windows phones, lack of apps. Windows in PC is still the most productive desktop OS you'll ever need. Windows 10 with each update is progressing towards a unified and feature rich platform. The tablet and notebook experiences are moving together shared experiences in harmony. The integration of Cortana, OneDrive and Office in Windows,Android and iOS is forming a solid foundation for the future of Windows. At the end of the day, I'll still take Windows on a PC.

In the end, as a tech enthusiast, I believe it is good to stick with what works for you rather than worrying about the small differences and problems in the platform. Whichever the platform is, staying productive is the main purpose.

How to dowload YouTube videos without extensions or software

So you just bumped up on a YouTube video which you want to download and watch it offline. It can be a cute cat video or the latest trailer of your favorite star's movie, anything literally as long as it is in YouTube, you can download it. But you are not interested in downloading a YouTube video downloader software or adding an extension to your already clumsy list of addons in your browser.

The video can be downloaded easily by using "ClipConverter" website. In addition to the download option, you also get the choice to select the quality of video. Also you get the choice to convert the video into mp4,3GP,avi, mov video formats or mp3,m4a,aac audio formats. Here are the steps which are fairly easy to follow.

Fixing Windows Store in Windows 8.1 !

When did you face problems with Windows Store last time ? Well it's something rare but highly frustrating as it restricts your access to the world of Windows Apps. My Store choked with a problem which was not a prevalent one which made finding the solution much more harder. Practically, my Store would open and it will cross the loading screen and the Home section would load fine but the featured section won't load and whenever I click on an app, Store would stop responding and would close itself. Sounds weird and irritating enough isn't it. I tried all the methods to resolve the issue but alas none worked except one of course ! :) 

The following methods failed to get my Store working :

1)  Microsoft Store Diagnostic Program: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=268423; 

2) Run CMD as administrator to re-register the Store " App: powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $Env:SystemRoot\WinStore\AppxManifest.XML"  This command worked fine but still I was not able to repair the Store.

3) In run command, type " wsreset.exe ". This is supposed to reset Store. When I ran this, the Store would open showing the loading screen with the dots making a circle for a long time. Even after an hour it was doing the same and so I decided to move on to the next step.

4) Changing from Microsoft account to a Local account also failed.

5) " sfc /scannow " which should be used in Command Prompt (admin) is supposed to repair all the system files.

After all this I was frustrated enough, I was thinking of refresh my PC ! That would mean that I will have to spend the next few hours setting up my apps from the scratch. But I stumbled upon the following solution in this web page : 

Determine the Windows Experience Index in Windows 8.1

As most of you know that Windows 8.1 removed the ability to use Windows Experience Index(WEI) in System properties. WEI was introduced in 2006 with Windows Vista to assess the performance of your computer. It rates your computer's important components such as Processor,Graphics,RAM,Primary Hard disk and Desktop graphics in a grade scale. Microsoft had intentions to make it an important part of Windows. They wanted applications to come with a label with a minimum/recommended WEI rating which would practically let users to know if the application would run fine in their computer. It's still a part of Windows 7 and even Windows 8 but not in Windows 8.1 as Microsoft removed it for some undisclosed reason.

But not all the components of WEI was removed in Windows 8.1, they left the WEI engine intact but just removed the GUI in properties. This was a very helpful tool for some people so they wanted this feature back and that's why WinAero's developer built this tool which gives WEI the same old familiar GUI. Winaero WEI brings back all the features and has some additional goodies too. It lets you to take a screenshot or save it as a HTML page or even upload it in the internet to share. You can download this tool from here . It supports Windows 8.1 32-bit and 64-bit with or without Update 1. 

Microsoft : 5 top tweaks to make Windows 8.1 feel more familiar

In a post in Microsoft's Windows Experience blog, the tech giant talks about how to make Windows 8.1 feel familiar for new users. "Let’s face it: Windows 8.1 looks a whole lot different than Windows 7 or Windows XP. I mean, the desktop we all know and love is still there (awesome!) but the Start screen can take some time to get used to. " coveys the intention behind this post. Microsoft wants to make consumers who have upgraded from older Windows to Windows 8.1 feel home.

Pin your favorite apps to the taskbar

Of course, Boot to Desktop is the first feature which comes into mind when making Windows 8.1 work like old versions of Windows. The post continues to say that pinning your desktop apps to taskbar is still there so Windows 7 users will feel a lot better with this feature. Using the desktop wallpaper as your start screen's background is also a useful features as it the transition smoother. Opening Internet explorer in the desktop mode by default is a awesome tweak so that the new users land on the familiar version of internet explorer. You can read the blog post for more tweaks !

Windows 7 and Windows 8.x will gain share as XP fades away !

Windows XP is going to to expire after 12 years of service. Suddenly people seem to be looking for a better and newer alternative to their old systems. In fact the OS is used more in IT companies who have developed their apps to run just in XP. But what looks like the best alternative to Windows XP is Windows 7 and for some Windows 8.1. Linux might try to capitalize on the retirement of XP but it is not gain much as it is a completely different OS. Mac OS X has no chance because Apple products are priced premium. Windows 8.1 a good chance to achieve a greater share,thanks to the compatibility because it's after all Windows !

Windows 8.1 posts a significant change in how user interact with their PC. It has somewhat contrasting learning curve which might not suit to novice users. Windows 7 seems to be the best alternative to XP in all possible ways as it can run most of the legacy apps in the desktop. It looks and works similar to Windows XP. Yes, you have the good old start menu and a powerful taskbar. Again it's more stable than Windows XP. Windows 7 is the second most secure Windows OS after the latest Windows 8.1. It boots up faster than Windows XP in most situations. Importantly the stats from netmarketshare show that Windows 7 is steadily increasing it's share every month even after the advent of Windows 8.1.

Windows 8.1 will be the best option if the company is planning for mobile devices such as tablets,convertibles. Windows 8.1 works best with touch-enabled devices. They must upgrade all their devices to 8.1 if they are planning to migrate to modern platform. Windows 8.1 is most secure and fastest Windows available till date.

Windows XP had it's own time and now it's time move off from the world's oldest supported OS. Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 provide a lot of new features which boost productivity by a long shot. They are fast and secure than Windows XP.

TIME TO MOVE OFF FROM XP ! 

How to Open Metro apps from Desktop

In Windows 8.x there is no official way to launch Metro apps from the traditional desktop so every time we should go to start screen and launch our favorite apps. But here is a small trick to launch the metro apps from Desktop.

• Right click on the desktop and create a shortcut.

• Next copy this code "explorer shell:AppsFolder" without quotes and paste it in the location of the the file.

• Click next . Now name the shortcut. You can name it as you wish like Apps,Applications or anything else. This is not going to affect anything.

• Click Finish. Now the shortcut will be present in your desktop. Open it to launch all your metro apps.

Note : You can't edit or copy any of the metro app shortcuts ! Hope this helped you to launch metro apps from the desktop easily.

Windows "Threshold" : Microsoft wants to call all it's Operating System as " Windows " !

Microsoft has announced that it would be merging all it's operating system into one to provide same experience with multiple devices. They are calling this update as "Threshold" and it will see daylight in late 2014 or early 2015.

The naming convention in Windows is going to see a major change as all the OS developed will be called Windows but the features will be different based on the type of devices you use. It is meant to provide similar experience in all the devices without any confusion. Microsoft might merge Windows RT and Windows Phone into one because both are mobile operating system which is completely built for touch. This change will provide more apps and a lot of new features to all the mobile and tablet users in one single UI. 

Redmond’s purpose, on the other hand, is to offer a unified experience across all devices, so expect a common app store and other similarities that will be based on powerful synchronization services and cloud tech.

Windows 8.1 is popular now : A big story lies behind it !

Windows 8.1 which was released on October 18th finished it's first full month, November with a staggering increase in market share which is mainly due to the Windows 8 users upgrading to Windows 8.1. You can see that there is huge improvement in the share of Windows 8.1. Thanks to Microsoft for delivering such a solid update within a year after launch of Windows 8. 

How to bring the classic Windows 7 file explorer features to Windows 8.1

If you have been using Windows 8.1 then you might find that some improvements made to the file manager is pretty annoying like the removal of libraries and the merging of removal devices with the local disks which makes hard to find the external devices.

So here is OldNewExplorer which brings all the Windows explorer features found in Windows 7.

Here is how the file explorer will look after running this tool in Windows 8.1.

How to get Desktop Gadgets back in Windows 8/8.1

If you loved the desktop gadgets found in Windows 7 but you are using Windows 8.1 or Windows 8 which does not come with desktop gadgets, then I have found a permanent solution for you. It's great to hear and it works great too.

Internet Explorer is on top !

Source :- www.netmarketshare.com

Internet Explorer is the world's most popular browser as of now and this won't change any sooner as the market share of Internet Explorer has shown improvement over the last few months, thanks to IE 10 in Windows 8 and Windows 7. 

Windows 8 goes down as Windows 8.1 grows

Windows 8.1 is already in full phase replacing Windows 8 and this is clearly found in the new reports from netmarketshare .

Microsoft has done with Windows 7 !

Windows 7 is the most popular OS in the world with a market share of about 46%. It's successor is still trying to catch up with Windows 8.1 released few days ago. In the mean time Microsoft has managed to remove the official Windows 7 page from it's Windows website. Clicking on Windows 7 link in the bottom will take you to the support page for Windows 7 rather than showing up the Windows 7 official page with features and tips and tricks ! You can see the official page of Windows 7 from this link. This link may expire at any time !

This is a expected move from Microsoft as they do not want to get XP scenario when Windows 7 expires.It's still a long time to go but they have to get users to Windows 8.1 and the future Windows versions.Don't worry Windows 7 is still a modern choice and it's a very capable OS and most importantly it is still under main stream support of Microsoft which will end on 2015.The extended support date is set as 2020. You have got seven more years to move off from Windows 7.Microsoft sees Metro UI and Windows 8 as the future of Windows !

How to avoid problems when upgrading to Windows 8.1 from Store

Some users are experience some problems in downloading and installing the latest Windows 8.1 via the Store. At this point Microsoft has no idea to release standalone iso's of Windows 8.1 for download. So for Windows 8 users updating via the store is the only obvious way to update your PC to Windows 8.1. If there are some errors occurring when trying to update to Windows 8.1 then you can avoid by the following step.

 When you get a error like this 

Your Windows 8.1 install couldn't be completed

Then you should get all the updates for Windows 8 via Windows update feature and then try updating again. Voila ! No more issues or warnings . 

Statistics from avast! show that Windows 7 is the most used OS !

avast! 2014 brings in a lot of new features and one of the notable features is statistics which will show personal and global statistics. Under Global statistics, more than 84% of avast! users use Windows OS .

In that 61% users use Windows 7 while XP is used by 27%. The latest Windows 8 and the cumbersome Windows vista have 6% each.15% users of avast! use android and mere 0.3% have avast! installed in their Macs.

Windows 8 and Windows 7 increase their Market share

The latest stats from net market share shows that Windows 8 and Windows 7 have managed to grab some share from the aging XP. 

Windows 8 jumps from 7.41% to 8.02%. Microsoft would not be the happiest to see the improvement of Windows 8's market share.Also it's notable that Windows 8.1 will hit the shelves on 18th of this month. Windows 8 has never shown great improvement but it has been steadily increasing it's market share each month.

Windows 7,on the other hand is the most popular OS out there with as much as 46.43% of the market share.People are moving to Windows 7 from Windows XP rather than the latest Windows 8. It's because Windows 7 is more familiar and stable and users are feeling comfortable with Windows 7 and it's desktop.

How to shred a partition permanently

Deleting your Hard disk before you sell it to someone is very important because if you don't do so then your files can be recovered using recovery software. You may also want format your partition to recover space. Then here are the steps to shred the data forever.

• First you need to download Ccleaner which is free and small tool . Install it.
• When you are done with the installation process open the program.
• Go to Tools tab and select Drive Wiper.

• This will lead to the screen as shown in the above picture. Click the Wipe option which will show two options " Free space only" and " Entire data".
• Select the "Entire data option". Select the security level in which you want to shred. In most cases Complex overwrite is enough to Shred the partition.
• Click on Wipe ..

That's it . You have deleted your partition permanently !

Windows won't go away any sooner

Windows© plays a very important role in our life. From the personal desktops and to powerful ultrabooks, Windows is used. We have been living with computer for last 25 years with Windows being the OS used. Windows 95 brought a new redesigned UI which was improved with Windows XP and after that Windows became the most preferred OS in the world.

 

Last two years proved worthy for Linux and Mac OS X. They are becoming as primary solutions rather than a alternative for Windows like it was before. The competition is heating up and already 9-10% of the users use Non Windows devices. Does this mean that Windows era is coming to an end ?

I can say no easily because it's hard to compete with Windows as it can run millions of software and is found to be more professional and productive than any other OS in the world. Windows is found every where around you, from the small shop to big malls and theatres, developers love to develop apps for Windows which brings them quite a lot of money. It is a indispensable part of the computer world.

Windows 8 was released to mixed reviews and some users got irritated with it's metro part while it is loved by the touch users. Windows 7 remains as a stronghold for Microsoft in the OS world while Windows 8 is slowly gaining momentum with Windows 8.1 around the corner. Users like Windows and only negligible number of people are running Mac OS x or the free Linux OS's. It's quite normal to see people who have not even heard about Ubuntu or Mac OS X. Windows 9 and 10 will move a step up with cloud playing a important role. Windows has set the stage for a great future while it's rivals are still well behind and struggling.

Six months with Windows 8

It's like a star that I wanted to touch when it (Windows 8) came out. When I got my hands on it, I forgot the time was running. Now it has lead me here, 6 months of using Windows 8.

Windows 8 is a playing a important role in my life with it's ever charming start screen and the familiar and trusted traditional desktop. With small Modern apps which help me do more in it's own and unique style. Everything makes me fall for this fantastic OS. I never looked back after installing Windows 8. Oh yeah Windows 7 had me for some time but Windows 8 took it's place by it's fluidness.

 

Learning Windows 8 was not a hard thing for me, I just spent nearly 10 to 15 minutes to know what corners did and what can Modern apps do. I love using new software . So using it did not let me feel alienated.

 

Performance is the key thing that every computer user wants and Windows 8 delivers it with ease. Windows 8 boots way faster than Windows 7 in the same rig. User friendliness got a new name with Windows 8.Windows 8 is fast and fluid.

 

 

Stable forever, Windows 8 brought a lot of improvements in terms of stability. I have been installing and uninstalling many programs for reviewing but I have never got a BSOD till date. It's the same Windows 8 I installed over my Windows 7.

 

Also a big salute for Internet explorer which is like Windows 8, fast and fluid. It comes with a baked flash player. It's more faster than any Internet explorer version this world has used. I have never touched Windows 8 till now but it just works fine with my mouse and keyboard.

 

 

Now, I am in the next chapter of Windows 8, Windows 8.1. Windows 8.1 is certainly a advancement over Windows 8 which brings some of the most important features for Windows 8 users. More than everything it's free for Windows 8 users. If you are looking for a great OS then Windows 8 is the best choice.