While the new interface is optimized for touch, it works equally well
with a mouse and keyboard. Microsoft's mantra is: No compromises, you can
use whichever device you prefer. Read
more reviews on Windows 8...
Windows 8 has a radically new Start Screen. The key feature
are chromeless overgrown icons called tiles. Furthermore, these tiles
are capable of providing dynamic information about the underlying program.
See more about the Metro UI
»
New Windows 8 Explorer
Microsoft have re-designed the Windows 8 explorer concentrating on the
most important tasks such as copy and paste. Although the Windows 8 ribbon
gives the old explorer.exe a new look, you can see how it has evolved from the Office Ribbon. Windows 8 Explorer ribbon
»
Encouraging computers to sleep when not in use is a great idea -
until you are away from your desk and need a file on that remote sleeping machine!
Wake-On-LAN really will save you that long walk to awaken a hibernating
machine; however my reason for encouraging you to download this utility is
just because it's so much fun sending those 'Magic Packets'. As Wake-On-LAN (WOL) is free, see
if I am right, and you get a kick from arousing those sleeping machines.
WOL also has business uses for example, wakening machines so that they can have
their patches applied.
Microsoft produces a utility called the Local Group Policy Editor for
checking registry settings. As with
previous Windows operating systems you can need to launch a snap-in called
gpedit.msc.
Secpol Microsoft also supplies a Local Policy
Editor for changing security settings without resorting to regedit.
If you are already familiar with gpedit.msc then secpol.msc is a
subset.
Activate Administrator Account
See how to
activate 'The Administrator' account by typing a 'Net User' command. One
side-effect of logging on
with this account is that you are not prompted by the UAC dialog box.
This Administrator
account has elevated privileges. Thus when you run CMD you don't have to 'Run as administrator' before you get unrestricted access to the command line.
See more on Activate
Administrator
»
Sleep and Hibernate
settings will never be 100% reliable. What I find is that for any given machine, either
they work 99% of the time, or else the fail so often that I abandon power management. In my experience, Sleep
settings works much better on laptops than desktops.
See more on Windows 8 Sleep mode
»
Windows 8 and PowerShell 2.0.
Windows 8 has PowerShell 2.0 built-in. No longer to you have to
download .Net Framework and PowerShell before you can use this superior
command-line configuration language.
PowerShell in Windows 8
»
Guy
Recommends: WMI Monitor and It's Free!
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is one of the hidden
treasures of Microsoft operating systems. Fortunately, Solarwinds
have created a
Free WMI Monitor so that you can discover these gems of performance
information, and thus improve your scripts. Take the guess work out of which WMI counters to use when scripting the
operating system, Active Directory or Exchange Server.
When troubleshooting unusual or suspicious computer behaviour it's often
useful to launch regedit and check the registry settings, to master this
skill, and to have fun check out these
Windows 8 Registry examples.
Remote Desktop Connection on Windows 8
Once you have configured the remote host to 'Allow connections
...'. Then you are ready to launch the Remote
Desktop Connection on the local client.
To access this MSTSC executable, click on the Windows Start Orb, and in the Search dialog box, type
Remote Desktop.
Launch Remote Desktop Connection, and type the name of the computer that you want to gain remote access.
Take the time to examine the 'Options' before you click 'Connect'.
See more on Remote Desktop
Connection for Windows 8
»
Windows 8 AutoPlay
Windows 8 has an AutoPlay enable / disable setting for each type media.
You can control the behaviour either through the Control Panel or via
Regedit. See more on
NoDriveTypeAutoRun
»
MSConfig Utility
For troubleshooting machines that are running slowly, or have been
infected by a virus, launch MSConfig.
I suggest that you start your quest for finding a rogue process in the
Startup tab. This is where all sorts of utilities force themselves
into your Windows 8 startup routine.
See more MSConfig
»
Versions of Microsoft Windows that I have been involved with:
Windows 8
Windows 7 SP1
Windows 7 Ultimate (Build 7600) October 2009
Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000) February 2009
Vista SP2 2008
Vista SP1 Beta September 2007
Vista general release of all editions January 30th 2007
Vista Business edition released to manufacturers December 2006
