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.

Windows 10 Build 14390 is available for PC and Mobile.

Hello Insiders, we have a new build waiting for us to test. Just like the previous builds, this one too concentrates on fixing those last of few bugs remaining in Anniversary update. We might very well get the RTM as soon as next week which will then be followed by small cumulative updates in order to make the Anniversary update available on August 2 worldwide for the general public.

Microsoft has fixed several bugs, significant ones include Improved Battery Life on Windows phones and overall polish and performance. Amazon assistant is a new extension available for Microsoft Edge. This build takes us almost there!

Improvements and fixes for PC

• You should no longer see the error code 0x80004005 when enabling Developer Mode on the “For Developers” Settings page if your PC is using a non-EN-US language.

Known issues for PC

• AWARENESS: A recent fix went into place for the Hyper-V firmware that will that affect the ability to boot Windows Server 2016 Tech Preview 5 VMs with Secure Boot enabled. A fix for TP5 builds has been developed however, due to release schedules, the Insider Preview build changes will be released before the TP5 fix is released. During that time, if you try to boot a new TP5 VM with Secure Boot enabled, it will fail. The workaround is to disable Secure Boot during this period.

Windows 10 Build 14383 is available for PC and Mobile.

Microsoft has just released a new build to insiders in the fast ring. Windows 10 build 14383 as expected brings a lots of fixes as the anniversary update is nearly done and set to be released on August 2 for both PC and Mobile devices. Microsoft will continue to release builds mostly with fixes this month. Key fixes include improved accessibility to Extensions in Store and battery life in mobile ( Yay!).

Improvements and fixes for PC

• The link to “Get more extensions from the Store” under the Extensions pane in Microsoft Edge now takes you directly to the Store to download available extensions.
• We have changed the keyboard shortcut to invoke Cortana in listening mode to Win + Shift + C based on feedback from Insiders experiencing a large number of unintended activations of Cortana while in listening mode. Speaking “Hey Cortana”, when enabled in Cortana Settings, continues to invoke Cortana in listening mode as it always has.
• Going forward from this build, updates to the Quick Action area of Action Center will be preserved across upgrades.
• We fixed an issue where disconnecting the Surface Book from an external monitor set as primary might result in the Surface Book screen showing in portrait rather than landscape until having detached and reattached the screen.
• We fixed an issue where the Settings app was showing media controls in the taskbar preview window.
• We fixed an issue where dragging the file comparison or manage library dialogs between two monitors with different DPIs would result in the dialog content no longer displaying correctly
• We fixed an issue where the checkmark used to indicate a selected state in app bar toggle buttons wasn’t visible in high contrast, for example in the Photos menu under “…”.
• We fixed an issue where connecting to a PC using Remote Desktop when a maximized window is immediately behind the Remote Desktop dialog would result in the subsequent the Credential UI window being displayed behind the maximized window.
• We fixed an issue where, with certain monitor configurations, Explorer.exe would hang after a tooltip is displaying.

The top 3 YouTube apps for Windows 10 devices

"What !? Windows 10 doesn't have a official YouTube app?" This is something I have heard from my friends, specially in the case of Windows 10 Mobile. For the record, Windows (phone) never had a official YouTube app. Thank Google for that. But that doesn't mean that there is no way to access YouTube. You can do so using your web browser to access the mobile site for occasional browsing and watching videos. This won't suffice if you want save videos offline, get notification from your favorite channels and other advanced features which you can find in the official YouTube app in other platforms.

Fortunately, there are several beautiful third party apps that are equivalent to the official apps. Here is a list of such apps.

1) Tubecast

Multitasking : A video running in the bottom left corner while browsing other videos.

Tubecast is one of the finest and full featured YouTube client that you will ever find in Windows. The interface is clean and slick. You can log in using your Google account and bring your favorite channels at the finger tips. You can also comment in a video without leaving the screen and the app supports swipe gestures making navigation a breeze in touch enabled devices. Offline videos (Preload) are supported and you can choose between SQ,HQ or HD for saving that video. It has a live tile and supports push notifications to keep you updated.

WhatsApp for PC : Hands on and the (im)possibility of UWP app

WhatsApp announced their desktop apps for PC and Mac, which is nothing more than a web wrap of WhatsApp Web but with notifications directly in your computer.

Opening the app presents you with the same UI that you find in WhatsApp Web. The login process is also similar, you open WhatsApp in your phone and scan the QR code, voila ! All your chats are synced to your desktop.

The application has a set of options in the menu bar. Under WhatsApp menu you have "new chat", "new group", "Profile status" and "Log out" which are pretty obvious and useful. The "+" sign also allows you to start a new chat with your contacts.

Windows 10 Build 10586.318 available for PC and Mobile devices. Full changelog

Microsoft has released this month's cumulative update for both smartphones and PC's running Windows 10. The update pushes the build number to 10586.318 and it is available for Windows Insiders in Release Preview Ring and to devices running Windows 10 officially. As it is another cumulative update, there is no new features added but there is a good amount of bug fixes for the two platforms. Here are the changes

Windows 10 PC

• Improved reliability in a number of areas including Cortana, Bluetooth, Shell, Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, Miracast, and USB.
• Fixed memory leak that occurs when opening a portable document format (PDF) form multiple times.
• Fixed issues with text alignment for right to left languages in Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft Edge.
• Fixed issue that affected Bluetooth function when a PC resumes from sleep.
• Fixed issue where user accounts weren't locked out after a number of failed sign in attempts.
• Fixed issue with revised daylight saving time.
• Fixed issue that sometimes corrupts CompactFlash cards inserted into a card reader.
• Fixed additional security issues with kernel mode drivers, remote procedure calls, the Microsoft Graphics Component, Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, Windows Shell, Windows Journal, Virtual Secure Mode, Schannel, and Jscript.
  

Windows Update MiniTool lets you control Windows Updates in Windows 10

If there is one thing that most power users regret over upgrading to Windows 10 is, it will be the lack of controlling Windows Updates as they could do in the previous versions of Windows. Windows 10 Home is set to automatic updates while the Windows 10 Pro offers a little more control by deferring the updates for few months. Also I personally find the new Windows Update lacking a lot of information, importantly the size of updates is a big deal for me as it would help to calculate the required time for the process. This is where Windows Update MiniTool comes as a handy solution.

The tool provides the necessary details and goes beyond the basics by providing granular control over how Updates are installed in your PC. You can actually select any of the given modes such as Download only,Notification mode, Schedule or Disable it completely though it is not recommended to do so.

How to set a custom search Engine as default in Microsoft Edge Mobile

If you're using the latest build of Windows 10 Mobile preview ( Build 10581),then you all know that the default search engine in Microsoft Edge is Bing and there is no way to change it. But you can change it with a couple of changes.

Follow the steps to set the search engine of your choice. In the below example, I will set Google as the default one.

By default Bing is the only search engine in Edge

1) Navigate to www.google.com

2) Now Open settings in Edge browser and set the website preference to "Desktop".

Nearly 700,000 apps in Windows Store !

Windows 10 is having a successful run across the globe despite the privacy problems. Softpedia reports that Microsoft has stated that there are 669,000 apps available for download in Windows Store. This includes mobiles,tablets and PC's combined and it is not clear on how many of them are Universal apps.

It is interesting to see the growth rate of Windows 10 and Apps, definitely there is a increase in interest from the developers to bring their apps to Windows Store as it has the potential to reach millions of people using Windows in devices with different form factors, all with a single code. Also the report states that the number of apps is rapidly growing as hundreds of apps are added each day. Even though it sounds quite positive, Microsoft should make sure that the quality of the apps is maintained as the numbers make no sense when the apps are just clones or fake. They have already faced this scenario with Windows 8.x and with Windows 10 in 75 million devices already and still rolling out to millions of people coming from Windows 7, Microsoft should take care of this issue seriously.

Getting Windows 10 ISO? A small tip for you people

Windows 10 is everywhere! Running on more than 18 million PC's within few days of the launch is a very impressive record and all credits go to  Microsoft for that. But sometimes, the upgrade doesn't go well or you may need to upgrade multiple PC's for which the Windows Update mechanism turns out to be painfully slow and uses lot of your data. Most of you must have come across the Windows 10 media creation tool which will let you download the Image file and use it in other PC's but still I find that tool lacks the capability of pausing and resuming the download.

I found this new trick when I was browsing the Download Windows 10 page in Lumia 535, the website showed direct links to the ISO files rather than showing Windows 10 Media Creation tool which makes downloading Windows 10 ISO via a download manager like Internet Download Manager which can help in managing the download flexibly with ability to pause and continue whenever you want to.

Keeping up with Cricket in Windows 8.1/10

If you are living in India  or any country where cricket is one popular sport that millions cheer along. You may not like miss the happenings but sometimes you'd have work or anything else that would not let you view the match directly. Apps in Windows 8.1 will keep you updated with your favorite sport. Here is one app which will help you to follow your cricket team.

ESPN Cricinfo 

As the name suggests, it is developed ESPN and is the app version of it's Cricinfo website. The app is complete and full featured. As you open the app, it presents Live matches, on-going series, Headlines, Features and News in a simple UI. You click/tap any one of those topics which shows the fixtures and news about the series. It's far simple than always opening your browser and navigating to the sites especially if you are using your Windows tablet. You can also pin any of your favorite series and the Live tile would show news and current score's of matches, which is really good as you don't even have to open the app.

Upper tile opens the app and second is a live tile of a pinned series

It is fast, simple and easy to use. Download it from the Store by following this link.

Watch Windows 10 Unveiling and system requirements

For Windows watchers out there, Microsoft has released a recording of the media briefing which happened yesterday in San Francisco in which Microsoft unveiled Windows 10 technical preview.

You can watch the full video from here

Windows 10 represents a major change over for Microsoft as it can run all forms of devices ranging from Phone to 80" screens. Windows 10 provides the best experience based on which device you are using. For instance,if you are rocking a Windows Phone you are going to have the familiar start screen and apps and if you are using Windows 10 in a PC then you are going to get the new start menu which will replace the Start screen. The thing is that there will only one app store which means that you can have all your apps in any of the device powered by Windows. You can read more about the new features of Windows 10 from here.

Windows 10 will run in the same hardware as Windows 8.1 runs which means that users can easily deploy Windows 10 when it's out.

· Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2
· RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
· Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
· Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

Windows 10 announced

Well, this is something that we have never expected. Yeah I was thinking that Mr.Terry was kidding everyone when he said that the next version of Windows will be called Windows 10 instead of Windows 9. But he was pretty sure on what he was saying and he went to talk about the new features that technical preview will bring tomorrow.

Mr.Terry Myerson and Mr.Joe Belfiore during Q/A session

Windows 10 carries the same vision that Microsoft had announced with Threshold back in April. In fact they showcased some of the important changes to Windows such as Start menu and Apps in desktops. Windows 10 brings the same to the table with a bit more refining done around the corners.Here are the new features

The Start menu looks very similar to the one showed off in build and it pretty much does the same work as it did before,you can perform a universal search right from the start menu or using the search button from the taskbar which comes handy for convertible users. When I talk about the convertibles, I get the point that Microsoft has performed a study on how users interact with convertibles and they're calling the changes they made based on the study as "Continuum", A UI that smartly adapts to how it's being used.

Start screen 2.0 or Continuum !

The next major change is that you can run Apps in the desktop just like how the traditional apps work.They can be snapped just like how you do in Windows 7.

The task view button is a new arrival in Windows 10 and it lets you to see the apps that you are running and manage them easily in a single place.

Snapping has never been so much productive, in Windows 10 you snap upto 4 apps in the desktop and work with multiple apps at the same time.

As expected, Windows 10 brings Virtual Desktops in action and they are quite useful when you are doing both home and office work in the same PC. You can keep things neat and separated in their own desktops.
Watch the video below to get a glimpse on how things work in Windows 10.

Here are some interesting things that happened in the announcement of Windows 10 "If you look at Windows 8 users on touch devices, they have higher satisfaction than those on Windows 7 devices. Windows 7 users have higher satisfaction on mouse and keyboard devices than Windows 8." "We want all these Windows 7 users to have the sentiment that yesterday they were driving a first-generation Prius... and now with Windows 10 it's like a Tesla." "In Windows 8 when users launched a modern app, it sort of had a different environment." Q: Any incentive for Windows 7 and Windows XP users to upgrade?
A: "We want to talk about the overall product family." No news on upgrade pricing, etc.
Q: You mentioned screens ranging from 4 inches to 80 inches. Is Windows 10 the next version of the phone operating system too? A: Yes. You can read more at The Verge and the official blog post. The preview site is on and check back soon to get Windows 10 technical preview !

Windows 10 : Notification center in action

It's Windows 9 everywhere. One more video from WinFuture shows us how the Notification Center in Windows 9 works.

Windows 9 is making headlines often these days and it comes with a set powerful features which will appeal the consumers to switch from older version to the latest of Windows family. The notification center is a major improvement over the notifications seen in Windows 8.1. Now you can see what happened and what is happening right from a single notifications Windows which sits in the taskbar.

It seems that all the pre-installed apps have been updated to give notifications which can be recorded in the notification center. This feature was one of the most rumored feature for Windows 9 when talks started about it.It's getting better as we talk.

Windows 9 : Virtual Desktop in action !

Want to get a taste on how Windows 9's virtual desktops work ? Here is the answer in the form of a video.

Here is a short overview, You can open up to 7 virtual desktops in total and you can run different apps in different desktops. When you have open applications in different desktops, you can hover over the desktop to see what's running inside and directly go to your application of your choice. Virtual desktops may be a bit confusing for average Joe's out there it is turning out to be a important and very useful feature for the power users in Windows 9. Windows had this feature for long enough but this the first time that this feature is built right into the core of Windows.Most of the Linux distros had this feature but implemented in a different manner, overall the native Windows implementation looks solid and easy to use.Microsoft is putting much more focus in the desktop right now and is yet to improve the Start screen and Start menu is now well integrated with Windows.

So do you think that Virtual desktops will make Windows much more easier to use and how will it help you to boost the productivity of your work ?

Watch Windows 10 Start menu in action !

Now,it seems that there is nothing to say much about Windows 10's start menu. Watch the video you will come to know about how flexible and modern is the new Start menu in the next major version of Windows. You can still pin the apps to get live updates as you open the screen and one more good news is that users who like the current start screen can disable their Start menu for the start screen. The start screen is largely unchanged for now,though it will be different when Windows 9 ships out next year. You can also can run your favorite modern UI apps right into the desktop. Enjoy the video !

Internet Explorer 12 spotted online !

A new version of Internet explorer is now visible in the HTML5test page, if you don’t know what the website does. I will keep it short, this site is used to measure a web browser's HTML5 capabilities.

The new version is shown as Internet Explorer Dev Channel under the upcoming browsers which shows a small increase in the score of HTML5 as compared to IE 11. It also indirectly shows that Microsoft has started the internal development of the next major version of IE which is expected to ship with Windows 9 or the next major version of Windows which is expected to come out later this month in the form of a technical preview. And don't take the score as a final one as it only represents the developer preview of IE, Microsoft may very well improve the browser’s HTML 5 capabilities in the coming days. Watch this space for more information as I have already asked out for a reliable source to know what the browser has to bring.

Update : It's IE 12 confirmed, Thanks Nawzil !! 

Windows 8.1 August update (2) available for download

As you might have heard that Microsoft planned to release Windows 8.1 update 2 aka August update with some minor improvements rather than those which were actually expected to be packed with the update such as the start menu,ability to run Store apps inside the desktop. But the development of Windows 9 has made several changes to the Redmond Giant's update to Windows 8.1.  

But still the update has some improvements which won't make much difference for the consumers, here are the new features : 

Precision touchpad improvements – three new end-user settings have been added: Leave touch pad on when a mouse is connected; allow right-clicks on the touchpad; double-tap and drag.

Miracast Receive – exposes a set of Wi-Fi direct APIs for Independent Hardware Vendor (IHV) drivers or OEM drivers to develop Windows 32-bit applications that run on all supported x86-based or x64-based versions of Windows 8.1, enabling the computer as a Miracast receiver.

Minimizing login prompts for SharePoint Online – reduces the number of prompts with federated use in accessing SharePoint Online sites. If you select the “Keep me signed in” check box when you log on for the first time, you will not see prompts for successive access to that SharePoint Online site.

As you can see there is no much changes to the latest incarnation of Windows and most probably this will be the last set of features introduced in Windows 8.1 which means the next Windows release will be Windows 9 which is scheduled to launch as a preview later this year or in the first quarter of 2015. Windows 8.1 will continue to get security patches and other improvements via Windows update. I still wonder if Microsoft will release the start menu for Windows 8.1 as a update after the launch of Windows 9 next year.

You can also wait till the updates gets pushed to your PC/tablet via Windows update but if you don't like waiting like me, then you are free to download and install the updates from the links below. 

Download Windows 8.1 update 2 for 64-bit systems

Download Windows 8.1 update 2 for 32-bit systems

Note : You have to install the small update and restart the PC before installing the big one which actually contains the August updates. Happy updating ! 

A new screenshot shows Start menu in Windows 10

Microsoft has been refining Windows 8.x with updates coming in different sizes and features. But it seems that these updates introduced most of the traditional features incorporated in the newly introduced Modern UI. Though the chrome less UI has it's own advantages for tablets, the desktop is still the home for millions of Windows users. Let's leave this debate and enter into the next version of Windows which seems to be shaping up nicely !

This is Windows 10 !! I'm not kidding and you may have a look at the screen shot and say that it is Windows 8.1 Pro but that's how Microsoft has disguised the next version of Windows. As you can see this just a screenshot from the internal preview version of Windows 9 which is currently circulating in the desktops and tablets inside the Redmond giant. Well the most wanted feature in Windows 8.x makes it's way to Windows 9, yup I'm talking about the Start menu. It has a new look and is similar to what Microsoft showed in the Build conference earlier this year. You can pin tiles and move them around and arrange them the way you want. And also according to my sources, users will be given the option to choose between the Start Screen and Start menu which is a welcome change as some users like me have got used to the Start screen and may not always want the Start menu. It's definitely a efficient way to open apps and see the live updates as they happen, right in your desktop.

Still there is a lot happening behind the screens that this screenshot pretty much hides, IE pinned in the taskbar may be the next version of the browser built in Windows, IE 12 and of course most of the traditional apps are still in Windows 9 such as Windows Media Player,Word Pad and Calculator. There is also a good chance that the apps might open in the desktop in devices where start menu is used.There is a lot to change in the coming months as Microsoft will roll out many visual changes to Windows 10. When it hits the market as a public preview, it would be a completely different OS than it is shown in the above screenshot. Because Microsoft does not touch the UI part till it gets all the background works done. It happened with Windows 8 as it looked very similar to Windows 7 till the public preview which brought in some radical changes such as the removal of aero . This Screenshot was leaked intentionally to let people know that start menu is a key feature coming in Windows 10. Still Cortana has not made her way into Windows 10 !

My sources also say that a Windows 10 build 9788 is going to leak very soon which is the same build from which this screenshot is coming ! But for now we have nothing to do but to wait and wait ! What do you think about Windows 10 ? Do you like the new start menu ?

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 :