Microsoft releasing Windows 8.1 today

Microsoft's update to its Windows operating system delivers a handful of new features

Microsoft is releasing its long-awaited Windows 8.1 upgrade as a free download starting today (Thursday, Oct 17). Previously, Windows 8 received mixed reviews when it was released. Critics blasted Microsoft for its redesigned user interface and removing the famous Start button. The company promised improvements in the next version of the operating system, now known as Windows 8.1. With Windows 8.1, Microsoft has attempted to fix a lot of the things that were wrong with Windows 8, and make the operating system more appealing by adding a bunch of additional features. It is a massive improvement over its predecessor.

The Window 8.1 update is free for Windows 8 users. You can simply find it in Windows Store app. It may take a few hours for updates to reach everyone. Windows 7 users need to purchase the base software for $119.99 (£75) and Windows 8.1 Pro for $199.99. It’s not designed for installation on devices running Windows XP or Windows Vista. Computers with Windows 8.1 already installed will go on sale Friday. People will also be able to buy stand-alone copies of Windows 8.1.

Windows 8.1 has several new features, including being able to boot directly to the desktop as well as the return of the Start button. The update adds some new finger-and gesture-friendly shortcuts for touch-based apps. The new Windows 8.1 lets you watch movies or play games with Xbox, access files anywhere with SkyDrive, or find your next favorite app in the Windows Store. You won't have to download Skype anymore. Anyone will get it when they upgrade their operating system to Windows 8.1 or purchase a Windows 8.1 PC. It'll be available as the default communications experience in Windows 8.1, replacing Microsoft's Windows 8 Messaging app.

Windows 8.1 returns the Start button to the desktop, although not the way it was before Windows 8 came along. In Windows 7 and before, a click on Start would have brought up programs and important folders in a list. Now, clicking the button will bring you back to your last menu, while a right-click will reveal more traditional options. From here you can easily restart or power down the computer, access things like your programs, system settings, and Device Manager, along with the Task Manager, Control Panel, File Explorer, and Search and Run functions. This menu can be accessed with a long press for computers with touch screens.

Windows 8 supports two tile sizes at the moment; the new Start screen in Windows 8.1 now offers a choice of four different tile sizes. The new large and small sizes are great and provide more options for organizing apps. Windows 8.1 automatically detects screen size and resolution and if it’s running on a big screen, it will provide more rows.

The Internet Explorer received many improvements with its most recent update, but not everyone prefers to use Microsoft's Web browser. The browser now supports plugin-free HTML5 video, WebGL and the latest standards for closed captioning. It also lets you have up to 100 tabs per window in modern UI version, which can now also permanently show tabs and the address bar.

Windows 8.1 now allows users to set default apps for things like the Web browser, e-mail client, music player, video player, photo viewer, calendar provider, and map address. Windows 8.1 also gives users the option to organize apps into various groups. A right-click will give you the opportunity to name specific app groups. Not every app is displayed in the Start screen. Windows 8.1 will allow running two apps side by side rather than one thin and one large as is the case with Windows 8. On higher-resolution devices you will be able to run three or four app windows side by side for those who really want to embrace multitasking on the same screen at the same time.

 
Live Tiles can be reordered by dragging and dropping makes it easy to select and move lots of tiles around at the same time.

The onscreen keyboard now includes the ability to type numbers or punctuation marks by swiping up or away from certain keys on the standard QWERT layout, eliminating the need to toggle between numeric and alphabetic layouts. Users can also select from suggested words mid-stream using side swipes and taps on the virtual spacebar.

Microsoft introduced Hot Corners last year with the release of Windows 8. Each corner of the screen has a different function; the Charms menu is in the lower and upper right, the back button is in the lower left, and the running apps window is in the upper right.

Users were previously forced to look to third-party alternatives to disable this feature. However, Microsoft adds the option to disable these corners directly into the operating system.

Microsoft added even more customization options in Windows 8.1. You can now set the same background for both your desktop and Start home screens.

(Source: CNET)

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Microsoft Windows Phone 8 update features Driving Mode

MICROSOFT is introducing a drive mode to its Windows Phones to help users avoid distractions on the road. Other features include rotation lock, new layout for bigger phones.

Microsoft announced update for Windows Phone 8 software. This significant update offering a number of enhancements including support for higher resolution and to include a new featurecalled Driving Mode.

It's the third update to Windows Phone 8 software since the system's release a year ago. Devices with this new update will start appearing in the next few weeks. According to Microsoft, all the older phones will be eligible for a free upgrade.

A new Driving Mode will automatically silence incoming calls and texts so that you can focus on the road. You also can configure the feature to automatically send out a reply to say that you're driving. What the Driving Mode won't do, however, is block outgoing calls or texts.

It can be activated automatically when the phone is linked with a Bluetooth device in a car. Apple added a “Do Not Disturb” feature for iPhones, but that needs to be turned on manually.

The new OS is going to support 5 and 6-inch class devices with support for resolutions up to 1920X1080.Currently, the system supports a highest resolution of 1280 pixels by 768 pixels, which is adequate for phones with screens no larger than 5 inches on the diagonal. But video and image quality degrades when stretched out on larger phones, such as a 6.3-inch Android phone from Samsung.

There are a few ways Microsoft Corp. will catch up to the iPhone and Android phones with the new update. For the first time, Windows phones will have a rotation lock function, so that the screen won't switch back and forth between horizontal and vertical mode while you're curled up in bed. There also will be a central way to close open apps. Before, you had to go into each open app and press and hold the back button.

Microsoft is launching a program to give app developers early access to the new software. Apple has had a similar program for the iOS software behind iPhones and iPads, while Google often has worked with selected developers on unreleased features.

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DriverBackup!

The installation of drivers after reinstalling Windows is one of the hardest processes if you don’t have a CD/DVD for relevant system drivers. DriverBackup! is a fast and user-friendly free tool for driver’s backup, restoration and removal with command line options, automatic restoration from CD/DVD and path formatting. DriverBackup! includes also an interactive command like builder. The program requires .Net 2.0 and is working on almost all versions of Windows Operating system.

The main features of freeware are:

· Backup & restore windows drivers
· Drivers’ backup from non-booting system
· Unknown devices recognition
· Command like switches with integrated command line builder
· Compatible with 64-bit systems
· Automatic generation of autorun files for drivers’ restoration
· No installation required

To download the freeware, click here.

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Gentibus CD: Data Backup Indexing freeware

Data backup strategies played important role in computing. Large organizations paid a huge amount for storing backup of corporate data. Most of our data stored on CDs, DVDs and other portable media. Mostly, our data includes software, drivers, documents, favourite songs and movies as well as images of our events, etc. Its fine when the is in small size but the problem arise when the data grows and it consumes large volume of CDs or DVDs and its not possible to write on CDs/DVDs cases to identify what's inside the disk and as a result, we spend hours to find the specific file in these CDs/DVDs.

Gentibus CD is best to solve this problem. The program is used for indexing of data on multiple CDs/DVDs and provides search option to find a specific file. When you use the indexing keyword in this program, it finds the file, tell you the destination CD/DVD and provide the facility to run the file. So, you don't need to browse CD/DVD for desired file. Besides, one important feature of Gentibus CD is making thumbnail images. it means that it gets stored thumbnail images through which you can easily find the desired images. Another useful feature is finding files by categories, explore the contents of archive files (zip, rar, etc), extract information from AVI, text, HTML, WAV, MP3, creates HTML pages with thumbnails stored in catalogue and export the file list.

For more technical details, please visit the developer site here.

To download Gentibus CD, click the download icon below:

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Recover Your Deleted Photos

The captured moments in a photo are priceless as these moments are irreplaceable, so precious and often times fleeting. Losing some of them can be a big disaster and can mass up one’s day. Many of us face this due to virus attacks, mistakenly formatted a memory card or erase a whole bunch of photographs from hard disks. Magic Photo Recovery is the best solution for all these problems.

Magic Photo Recovery enables to recover deleted images from hard disks and media cards. It recovers lost and deleted images completely either normal scan, deep analysis or both in your computer’s hard drive or other physical disk like digital cameras, USB-disks, flash-cards, memory cards of mobile phones, etc. Search pictures by file size, date created or by selected file types. A memory card formatting and partitioning the hard disk does not stop the recovery process. The user interface is very simple and easy to use. Just select the victim drive and the program will scan it for images than can be recovered and thumbnails them as they found. Some other features include full-size image preview, option for filtering images based on location, name and size, supports any file system including FAT and NTFS.

Magic Photo Recovery works on Microsoft Windows platform and can successfully recover photos in variety of formats including RAW images produced by SLR and advanced compact cameras. 

The free version of Magic Photo Recovery comes equipped with advanced picture recovery algorithms, image browser and full size previews just like the full version. To download your free trial copy, click below link: 

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