Here’s 6 Great Tricks for Windows 8 that You Probably Don’t Know

Here’s 6 Great Tricks for Windows 8 that You Probably Don’t Know...&*&*&*&*&*

We’ve covered a lot of tips, tricks, and tweaks for Windows 8, but there are still a few more. From bypassing the lock screen to instantly taking and saving screenshots, here are a few more hidden options and keyboard shortcuts.

Whether you love Windows 8, hate it, or just wish Metro would go away, these options will help you make Windows 8 work the way you want it to.

Disable the Lock Screen

Windows 8 shows a lock screen when you restart your computer, log out, or lock it. It’s very pretty, but it just adds one more keystroke to the login process. You can actually disable the lock screen entirely, although Microsoft hides his option very well

This option is located in the Group Policy Editor. To launch it, type “gpedit.msc” at the Start screen and press Enter.In the Group Policy Editor, navigate to Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\Personalization.Double-click the “Do not display the lock screen” option, set it to Enabled, and click OK.The next time you restart your system, log out, or lock the screen, you’ll see the login screen instead of the lock screen
. 

Combine this with skipping the Start screen and you can boot to a login screen and log straight into the desktop, just like on previous versions of Windows. The desktop will be the second screen you access instead of the fourth.

Take & Save Screenshots Instantly

Windows 8 has a new hotkey combination that lets you take and save screenshots instantly. To take a screenshot, hold the Windows key down and press the Print Screen key. Your screen will flash and Windows will save a screenshot to your Pictures folder as a PNG image file.

You might assume that WinKey+Alt+Print Screen would take and save a screenshot of the current window, but it doesn’t. Maybe this will be implemented in the final version of Windows 8.

We’ve also covered other new keyboard shortcuts in Windows 8.

Prevent Files From Opening in Metro

If you prefer to use Windows 8’s desktop and try to avoid  Metro, you may be surprised the first time you double-click an image file in Windows Explorer and get kicked back into Metro. By default, Windows 8 launches images, videos, and music in Metro apps – even if you open them from the desktop.

To avoid this, launch the Default Programs control panel by pressing the Windows key to access Metro, typing “Default Programs,” and pressing Enter.
Click the “Set your default programs” link.

In the list of available programs, select the “Windows Photo Viewer” application and click the “Set this program as default” option.

Repeat this process for the “Windows Media Player” application. You can also set the desktop version of Internet Explorer as your default Web browser from within Internet Explorer.

Of course, if you have a preferred image viewer or media player, you can install it and set it as the default application instead.

Display Administrative Tools

By default, Windows hides the Event Viewer, Computer Management and other Administrative Tools from the Start screen. If you use these applications frequently, you can easily unhide them.

From the Start screen, mouse over to the bottom or top right corner of the screen and click the Settings charm. You can also press WinKey-C to view the charms.

Click the “Settings” link under Start and set the “Show administrative tools” slider to “Yes.”The Administrative Tools will appear on the Start screen and in the All Apps list.

Control Automatic Maintenance

Windows 8 has a new scheduled maintenance feature that automatically updates software, runs security scans, and performs system diagnostics at a scheduled time. By default, the maintenance tasks run at 3am if you aren’t using your computer. If you’re using your computer at the scheduled time, Windows will wait until the computer is idle.

To customize this time, open the Action Center from the flag icon in the system tray.

You’ll find Automatic Maintenance under the Maintenance category. Click the “Change maintenance settings” link to customize its settings
.
From this screen, you can set the time you want to run automatic maintenance tasks. You can also have Windows wake up your computer to run maintenance tasks, if it’s asleep.Customize Search Applications

Metro apps can appear as options when you use the search feature.

You can control the apps that appear here and trim down the list. First, click the Settings charm from anywhere on your system and click the “More PC settings” link

From the PC settings screen, click the Search category and use the sliders to hide apps from the search screen.

Do you have any other Windows 8 tricks to share? Leave a comment and let us know

Samsung Galaxy Note II Launched in India

Samsung Galaxy Note II Launched in India

Samsung has launched Samsung Galaxy Note II in India for Rs39900.

Galaxy Note II has a 1.6GHz Quad-core Exynos processor, a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED HD display with Gorilla Glass 2 and has a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. It also has 2GB of RAM, a 8-megapixel rear camera that can shoot 1080p video, a 1.9-megapixel front facing camera, and a huge 3,100 mAh battery.Galaxy Note II will be available in three memory variants of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB and will also have a microSD slot.

Important Specifications:

Features                 Samsung Galaxy Note II

Processor                 1.6GHz Quad-Core Exynos processor
RAM                        2GB
Display                     5.5-inch Super AMOLED HD (Non-Pentile) 1280×720
Camera                     8-megapixel rear camera, 1.9-megapixel front facing
Input device               S-Pen
Operating System       Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with     TouchWiz Nature UX
Battery                       3,100 mAh
Expansion                 Micro-SD card slot up to 32GB of storage
Memory Options        16GB/32GB/64GB

Sony Xperia Tipo Launched in India for Rs 9999Sony Xperia Tipo Launched in India for Rs 9999

Sony Xperia Tipo Launched in India for Rs 9999

Sony has launched the Xperia Tipo in India for Rs 9,999. It runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The phone is available in single-SIM and dual-SIM variants. The dual-SIM model costs Rs 10,449.

It has a 3.2-inch display with scratch-resistant mineral glass, a 800MHz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 3.2-megapixel camera, 1,500 mAh battery, 2GB internal memory, up to 32GB of expandable memory , and free 50GB of Box cloud storage.

HTC Announces Launch of 8X and 8S Windows Phones

HTC Announces Launch of 8X and 8S Windows Phones

HTC is back to launching Windows Phones after a slew of Android launches from its stable.HTC has launched Two new Windows 8 phones namely HTC 8X and HTC 8S.


HTC 8X has a 4.3-inch S-LCD 2 display with a 720p resolution, a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory, a 8-megapixel camera with a BSI sensor, a 88-degree lens for wide shots and a f/2.0 aperture. For the front facing camera HTC has added 2.1-megapixel sensor with a f/2.0 aperture.

HTC 8X will be available during early NovemberThe HTC 8S is more of a budget offering.HTC 8S has 4-inch WVGA display with a resolution of 800×480 pixels, a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory.It has a 5-megapixel camera with f/2.8 aperture, a 35mm lens and it can only shoot 720p video. It doesnt have a front facing camera. There is only 4GB of onboard memory but it has a microSD card slot.The battery is not removable.

Tricks With Android 4.o Ice Cream Sandwich...;)

Tricks With Android 4.o Ice Cream Sandwich...;)

Google's latest version of its Android software takes it up to version 4.0 and higher, which is commonly known as the Ice Cream Sandwich update of the mobile OS.

The big selling point is that it unifies the experience across all hardware, so users of phones running ICS see largely the same interface, albeit with some layout changes for the bigger screened devices.

Of course, there's still the issue of manufacturer skins to take into account. While Android 4.0 offers a basic and seriously updated feature set, some tools and features may be missing or accessed through different means when using the same OS on phones made by different companies.

So Samsung's Android 4.0 update, which we're seeing arrive on its Galaxy S II right now, looks and works differently to the Android 4.0 you'll shortly see arriving on HTC's exciting new One Series of phones.

Which makes compiling a list of tips that work on all versions of the OS out there rather hard. But enough of our moaning. Here are a few useful shortcuts to getting the most out of your Ice Cream Sandwich serving, whenever the metaphorical waitress decides to bring it to your metaphorical table. 

1. Add quick controls to the browser.

One of the options buried beneath the Labs section of Android 4.0's web browser is the Quick Controls option. This adds a pop-out menu to the browser, which pulls in a little semi-circular collection of shortcuts to the main browser features, removing the URL bar and giving you more screen to play with. Also, holding down the Back button is the Android standard way of bringing up the bookmarks and history tool, too. But that's been around for years.

2. Long-press to uninstall

Long-pressing on an app within the app drawer lets you drag it to a Home screen, but it also pops up a couple of menus along the top of the screen. App Info gives you the boring technical stuff about how much memory it's taking up, or you can fling it off the other way to uninstall it.

3. Flying Android screensaver

One odd undocumented little secret within Android 4.0 is this strange little collection of flying Androids, which you can... look at. Look at for as long as you like. To activate it, head into the phone's About screen and hammer away at the Android Version tab and it'll all happen.

4. Save your eyes with inverted rendering

Inverted rendering is a posh way of saying it makes the pages black and turns the text white, so it looks like you're reading the internet from 1997. It also supposedly saves battery, plus is easier on the eyes if you're reading in the dark. It's under the browser's settings tab, within the accessibility area - and there's a contrast slider, too.

5. Set a custom rejection text message

When your Twitter action is rudely interrupted by someone actually telephoning you, there's a polite way to give the caller the boot. Android 4.0 lets users ping a rejection text message to callers - and you're able to customise this too. Just answer a call and ping the lock screen notification up to access to custom rejection messaging area.

6. Stop app icons automatically appearing

One of the many new ICS features is the way Google lets apps automatically add shortcuts to themselves on your Home screen when they've finished installing. It's useful, but if you're a control freak and wish to remain 100% in charge of your Home layout, head to the Google Play app's settings tab and untick the Auto-add Shortcuts toggle.

7. There's a Settings shortcut in the Notifications pane

That little settings icon in the ICS notifications area isn't just art to fill the space. It's a shortcut to your phone or tablet's settings area. So use that instead of giving it a Home screen icon slot all to itself.

8. Manually close apps

Google's lovely new recent apps multitasking menu also lets you close apps quickly, should you suspect one's gone rogue. A Long-press within the Recent Apps listing lets you visit the app's info page, from where you can easily force close it.

9. Remove the lock screen

It's possible to entirely bin your Android 4.0 lock screen, making the phone instantly turn itself on when you press the power button. It's a security nightmare, but if your phone lives entirely on your desk and you demand instant access without any unlocking, head to Security > Screen lock and select none. Then be very careful.

10. Folders in the dock

Android's new official love of folder formation makes it dead easy to combine app shortcuts and make folders, simply by dragging one icon on top of another. You can make these groups of apps even easier to access by dragging a folder onto the ICS floating dock, meaning you can squeeze stacks more content on to each creaking Home screen.

11. Take photos while recording video

The Android 4.0 camera app that arrived with the Galaxy Nexus has one cool little extra feature - the ability to fire off still photos while recording video clips. Simply tapping the screen takes a shot at full resolution, which is saved to the phone's gallery while the video's still happily recording away.

12. Bin animations and transitions

Hidden within the Developer Options section of the Ice Cream Sandwich software are quite a few nerdy ways to adapt your phone. Most won't be of any use to those who are just using their phone as a phone, but if you want it to feel faster, or at least look a little different, the scrolling, zooming effects on windows and menus can be edited in many ways.

13. Take a grab of your phone

Screen grabbing of your phone's display is finally in Android. On the Galaxy Nexus, it's activated through holding the power button and volume down switch. On HTC's new models it's done by holding the power button and pressing Home. Other phones had different techniques for doing this before Ice Cream Sandwich, but it's good to see this now becoming part of the standard Android feature set in Android 4.0.

14. Long-press dotted words

When typing on the Android 4.0 keyboard, you may see some suggested words appear with the "..." icon beneath. Doing a long-press on this one will pop up a much bigger window of suggested words, letting you bail out on some of that tedious typing a little quicker.

15. Add additional faces

The ICS face unlock feature, as found in the Galaxy Nexus, lets you unlock it by scanning your face with the front camera. Which is great, but what if you haven't shaved for a month? The software can actually store multiple images of your face, so you can do left parting, right parting, shaved, unshaved - or even add a trusted a friend to the visually verified user list.

16. Experiment with GPU settings

Another hidden little gem found within the Development options tab is the hardware acceleration 'Force On' toggle. This makes ICS attempt to boost the performance of any apps that don't already use the feature. It may also break them in the process, though, so it's something of a trial and error fiddling exercise to do on a very rainy day.

17. Type like an adult

Make a stand for grammatical standards in this day and age by long-pressing on the stock Android 4.0 keyboard's full stop button. This brings up such doomed punctuation as commas and speech marks, plus even a semicolon for the extra brave mobile typist.

18. Nick wallpapers off the internet

Found a lovely photograph of some stars, a pretty computer generated planet or even the mighty Professor Brian Cox himself? Long-pressing on any image in the web browsers lets you instantly set it as your wallpaper, without the hassle of saving it, finding it, and setting it the long way.

19. Limit background process

If you fancy an even more serious bit of fiddling, the same ICS developer area contains the option to "limit background process" demands by the OS. You can use this to stop your phone or tablet storing so many apps in memory. Whether this has any effect of the actual battery life of us users is up for debate, but again, it's something to play with and see if it suits your phone use patterns.

20. Quickly access Notifications

Here's a simple yet huge change Google's made in Android 4.0 - the Notifications pane can be accessed from the lock screen. Press power, touch the Notifications area, then scroll down to read your latest messages. Obviously it's a bit of a security risk and lets anyone access your messages, so best be careful.

HoPE U Guyz GonE Through What You ShOuld Know..;)

How To Install And Run Android 4.0 On Mac, Windows PC Or Linux [Tutorial]

How To Install And Run Android 4.0 On Mac, Windows PC Or Linux [Tutorial]...;)

 

The mobile smartphone and tablet industry seems to have a very prominent divide, with a lot of consumers having their favorite operating system and choosing to stick to hardware which is powered by their chosen OS. Obviously fans of Apple’s iOS use the iPhone and iPad devices, whereas Android lovers have a wide range of hardware to choose from due to the fact that the OS is available to multiple manufacturers.

But what happens if you are a die hard fan of iOS, or Windows Phone but you still want to sample the delights that Android Ice Cream Sandwich has to offer? I personally am an Android User for the last three years and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. But after recently getting my first taste of Android, I am severely tempted to shell out for a second device so I can have the benefits that both provide. For those that can’t, or won’t, purchase a second device then why not run Android 4.0 in virtualization on your desktop or laptop in order to see the Ice Cream Sandwich experience first hand?

Android 4.0 is an operating system in its own right, but instead of running on a dual boot setup, we install and run ICS within a free of charge virtualization application known as VirtualBox. VirtualBox runs like any other application or program on your machine, but offers the benefits of being able to install a secondary OS within it which can be invoked quickly by the user. For all those die hard iOS and Windows Phone fans out there, this is a perfect way to experience the delights of Android.

Are you ready for a whirlwind journey down Ice Cream Sandwich lane? Buckle in and follow the simple steps below.

Step 1: Head over to the official Oracle VM VirtualBox site and download the relevant VirtualBox binary for your computers operating system (Windows/Mac OS X/Linux/Solaris).

Step 2: Find the saved location of the downloaded VirtualBox binary and install as you would with any other native application making sure to follow all on screen prompts and instructions.

Step 3: Head on over to the VMLite website and download a copy of the Ice Cream Sandwich which has been preconfigured for virtualization and features seamless mouse support for navigation. The download weighs in at 88MB in size so may take a while to download depending on your connection.

Step 4: Locate the downloaded ‘Android-v4.7z‘ file and extract the contents from within.

Step 5: Once the Android-v4.7z file has been opened, locate a file from within the archive called ‘Android-v4.vbox‘ which as you can tell by the file extension is a pre configured VirtualBox file.

Step 6: Double click on the Android-v4.vbox file which will load the VirtualBox application and boot up the ICS file.

Step 7: When the boot menu is presented in VirtualBox, press ‘start‘ on the top toolbar and then if required select the ‘Android Startup from /dev/sda‘ option.


Step 8: All steps are complete. Android 4.0 ICS should now be booting up allowing you to enjoy that Android goodness.

5 Ways To Download Torrents Anonymously..;)

               With anti-piracy outfits and dubious law-firms policing BitTorrent swarms at an increasing rate, many Bittorrent users are looking for ways to hide their identities from the outside world. To accommodate this demand we’ll give an overview of 5 widely used privacy services.

With an increasing number of BitTorrent users seeking solutions to hide their identities from the outside world, privacy services have seen a spike in customers recently. Below we’ve listed some of the most-used services that allow BitTorrent users to hide their IP-addresses from the public.

The services discussed in this post range from totally free to costing several dollars a month. The general rule is that free services are generally slower or have other restrictions, while paid ones can get you the same speeds as your regular connection would.

VPN

Hundreds and thousands of BitTorrent users have already discovered that a VPN is a good way to ensure privacy while using BitTorrent. For a few dollars a month VPNs route all your traffic through their servers, hiding your IP address from the public. Some VPNs also offer a free plan, but these are significantly slower and not really suited for more demanding BitTorrent users.

Unlike the other services listed in this article, VPNs are not limited to just BitTorrent traffic, they will also conceal the source of all the other traffic on your connection too. BTGuard,StrongVPN and Itshidden are popular among BitTorrent users, but a Google search should find dozens more. It is recommended to ask beforehand if BitTorrent traffic is permitted on the service of your choice.

BTGuard

BTGuard is a proxy service that hides the IP-addresses of its users from the public. The service works on Windows, Mac, Linux and as the name already suggests, it is set up specifically with BitTorrent users in mind. Besides using the pre-configured client, users can also set up their own client to work with BTGuard. It works with all clients that support “Socks V5″ proxies including uTorrent and Vuze. In addition, BTGuard also includes encryption tunnel software for the real security purists.

After these words of praise we’re obligated to disclose that BTGuard is operated by friends of TorrentFreak, but we think that should be interpreted as a recommendation.

Torrent Privacy

Torrentprivacy is another proxy service for BitTorrent users, very similar to that of BTGuard. It offers a modified uTorrent client that has all the necessary settings pre-configured. The downside to this approach is that it is limited to users on Windows platforms. TorrentPrivacy is operated by the TorrentReactor.net team and has been in business for more than two years.

Anomos

“Anomos is a pseudonymous, encrypted multi-peer-to-peer file distribution protocol. It is based on the peer/tracker concept of BitTorrent in combination with an onion routing anonymization layer, with the added benefit of end-to-end encryption,” is how the Anomos team describes its project.

Anomos is one of the few free multi-platform solutions for BitTorrent users to hide their IP-addresses. The downside is that it’s not fully compatible with regular torrent files as Anomos uses its own atorrent format. Another drawback is that the download speeds are generally lower than regular BitTorrent transfers.

On the uTorrent Idea Bank, more than 1,600 people have asked for the Anomos protocol to be built in to a future uTorrent build, making it the second most-popular suggestion overall.

Seedbox

A seedbox is BitTorrent jargon for a dedicated high-speed server, used exclusively for torrent transfers. With a seedbox users generally get very high download speeds while their IP-addresses are not shared with the public. Once a download is finished users can download the files to their PC through a fast http connection. FileShareFreak periodicallyreviews several good seedbox providers.

Shhht

And then there’s Usenet.