Friday, January 6, 2012

How to uninstall Windows 8 Developer Preview

Uninstall Windows 8 using the Boot Option in msconfig.

1. Type msconfig in start search and hit Enter.

2. System Configuration box will open up. Navigate to the Boot Tab and select Windows Developer Preview. Next click on Delete.

3. Click on Apply button and then finally click on OK.

4. Now, you just have to format the partition where you had installed Windows 8 Developer Preview and then you can get your disk space back. To do so, Open Computer folder and right-click the drive on which it has been installed. Select Format.



Monday, December 19, 2011

Windows 8 Picture Passwords: Smudging Your Finger for Security

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Who needs long, archaic passwords full of letters, numbers, and characters when you can just circle a picture of your cat's head to log into your operating system?

Sound silly? Well, it's a new feature Microsoft is building into Windows 8 to supplement the ordinary text passwords that we've all been using on our desktops for countless numbers of years. And whether you're smearing your finger across the touchscreen of your desktop PC or drawing circles with your trusty mouse cursor, the picture password promises increased speed and security compared to a string of text characters.

"The experience of signing in to your PC with touch has traditionally been a cumbersome one," writes Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky, president of the company's Windows and Windows Live division. "In a world with increasingly strict password requirements—with numbers, symbols, and capitalization—it can take upwards of 30 seconds to enter a long, complex password on a touch keyboard."

Picture passwords change the game – and the time it takes to log in – on two fronts. First off, you're the one responsible for selecting the picture and up to three different gesture combinations that you use to interact with it. That offers additional avenues for security that conventional PIN numbers and plain text passwords just don't have. For example, it would be relatively easy for a person to test the waters of your desktop's plain-text password security if they had access to your personal information or a list of passwords you've used elsewhere: A number of computer users often use passwords with some kind of personal significance or, worse, repeat the same password across a number of different entities.

A picture, on the other hand, comes with a significance that only you understand. Whether you're tapping on all the faces of relatives whose names start with "G," drawing a line through cats you once owned, or circling the spot where you proposed to a significant other, the subtext of your touch-based password can't be easily determined even if a user can correctly identify everyone in the shot.

Better still, touch passwords are just as statistically secure as conventional, typed-in passwords.
"The use of three gestures provides a significant number of unique gesture combinations and a similar security promise to a password of 5 or 6 randomly chosen characters," writes Sinofsky. "Additionally, using three gestures ensures a Picture Password that is easy to remember and quick to use."

Sinofsky runs through the full mathematics behind his security statement on a long post within Microsoft's "Building Windows 8" blog. And he also describes the additional security measures in place for those looking to just draw all over a user's touchscreen in an attempt to gain access to the OS. After five failed attempts on a picture password, Windows 8 requires a user to use a text password for entry – picture passwords are designed as a supplement to the conventional password system, not a replacement, Sinofsky writes.

So while you might be able to draw circles on an image of your favorite cats to log into your desktop, don't forget your master text password – the 32-character combination of their names and birthdays – just yet.

Windows 8 Beta Installation Screenshots Leaked


The leaks of Windows 8 screenshots continue with the latest one coming from Win8China.The latest screenshots reveal the installation of Windows 8 Beta build which is slated to be released in late February along with Windows 8 Store.

The first screenshots shows the Product key screen,the major difference is that the installation is now optimized for the on screen keyboard unlike the previous versions,so you can straight away switch to the OSK mode to type the product key right from the touch input method.



The new Windows 8 beta setup shows up options for “keeping windows settings”,personal files and apps or choose to “keep nothing” from the previous Windows installation.So when you choose the Keeping windows settings option your previous windows system files and apps will be retained after the installation while the keep nothing option won’t move the previous version files to the newer version,so those earlier files won’t be retained in the new system installation.


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Windows 8 Store Panoramic Mode Pictures Leaked

There is no stopping the leaks of the Windows 8 Store,yesterday we saw some leaks showing up the music beta app from the Windows 8 Store and now Win8China have added some more leaks to the Windows 8 Store list.

The latest leaked pictures of the Windows 8 Store reveals the Panoramic Mode of the Windows 8 Store.As we can see from the First Screenshot below the panoramic mode of the Windows 8 Store shows up various app tiles like the Weather app,Socialite app then the games,music and other apps in the panoramic view.

You can see the zoomed in screenshots of the App tiles from the Gallery below,The first block reads:”Have a new computer, but are not sure where to start? To your computer to install the necessary applications.”


Then it shows up the Weather and Socialite app as mentioned above,the 2nd block in the panoramic view lists the Games in the Windows 8 Store,3rd and 4th blocks shows up the Music app,video and the books and references apps while the 5th and 6th block showing up news and weather and some other stuff.


Windows 8 Store will launch along with the Windows 8 Beta release in February next year,but that won’t stop the flurry of leaks of Windows 8 and Windows 8 Store pictures over the web.We can expect some more leaks in coming days.

source:= http://www.win8china.com/html/334.html

Monday, December 12, 2011

Windows 8 Store Welcomes Open Source Apps






Microsoft Windows operating system has been the most popular system operating system in terms of global market share with the current one i.e Windows 7 being the most popular one with over 500 million licenses and counting.The successor to Windows 7 i.e Windows 8 is being designed and near to a beta release in the month of February 2012 which will also see the release of Windows 8 Store for the Metro based apps.



Last week Microsoft previewed the Windows 8 Store and along with that also opened a new contest for the developers who want their apps to be featured first when the Store is released in a couple of months time,at the time of release there will be only free apps available over the store.

Those who thought that Microsoft won’t allow open source apps to the platform,well Microsoft thinks otherwise.As spotted earlier by TheRegister in the Windows 8 Store’s Developer’s agreement Microsoft will allow developers to develop their apps using any open source licenses as long as it’s been approved by the OSI(Open Source Initiative).

Here’s what the Agreement read:

“Your license terms must also not conflict with the Standard Application License Terms, in any way, except if you include FOSS, your license terms may conflict with the limitations set forth in Section 3 of those Terms, but only to the extent required by the FOSS that you use. ‘FOSS’ means any software licensed under an Open Source Initiative Approved License.”

“If your app includes FOSS, it must not cause any non-FOSS Microsoft software to become subject to the terms of any FOSS license.”

According to The Register Microsoft indirectly denied any support for the GPL(General Public License).So it would be interesting to see if this open source love lure the open source developers to take interest in the Windows 8 Store app development.

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