Windows - Agora Business Publications LLP

Windows

Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista

Agora Business Publications LLP

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02

Windows


5 Get the Windows 8 Look and Feel with a New Theme

5 Add a Windows 8-style Overlay Menu to Your System

7 Boost the Performance of Your PC to Windows 8 Levels

8 Add the Windows 8 Ribbon Interface to Explorer

9 Integrate Cloud Storage to Access Your Data on the Move

10 Find Software Fast with a Windows 8-style App Store

12 Take Control of Runaway Processes to Prevent Errors


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Contents


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With the information in this report you can:

• Add a Windows 8-style ‘tile’ interface to Windows 7 & Vista• Take charge of out of control applications the Windows 8 way

using Process Hacker• Boost startup times to Windows 8 speeds

No Need to Wait for Windows 8: Get the EssentialFeatures Today!

Windows 8 is still a while off yet, but leaks from Microsoft and their associateddevelopers give a pretty good idea of what new features will be included.However, if you’ve just bought a Windows 7 system, there will probably be littlein Windows 8 that makes the upgrade worthwhile for you. A far cheaper optionis to stick with your existing system, but install just the Windows 8 features thatyou need. Since the Windows 8 features have been leaked, many developers havebeen working to produce freeware alternatives that give you the same capabilitieson your Windows 7 or Vista system. We’ve collected together some of the best inthis free report, so that you can try out Windows 8 without having to commityourself to a new PC.

Windows 8 will

look very similar to

Windows 7, but

with a few

additions.

Add a Windows 8

theme to your

Windows 7 system.

Configure the

theme.

Windows 8 will

also run on

tablet PCs.

Get the Windows 8 Look and Feel with aNew Theme

Windows 8 will likely look reasonably similar to Windows7 in the Desktop mode, but with a few differencesincluding, most probably, a redesigned Windows logo. Thefirst thing you should do to give your Windows 7 system atouch of the Windows 8 magic is to install a new themepack, which includes various Windows 8 desktopbackgrounds and colour schemes.

You can download the Windows 8 Theme Pack forWindows 7 (unfortunately there is no equivalent versionfor Vista) from http://tiny.cc/8ynzbw. Once you have doneso, simply double-click on the Windows-vNext.themepackicon and the theme will be applied to your system.

By default, the Windows 8-style theme will automaticallychange the desktop every 30 minutes. If you’d like tochange the desktop picture manually, or alter the time delaybetween picture changes, follow these steps:

1. Click Start > Control Panel > Personalization.

2. Click Desktop Background.

3. If you want to permanently use one of the desktopbackgrounds, untick the option Shuffle and selectthe image you’d like to use. If you’d like to speed upthe image rotation, select the delay using the drop-down list.

4. Click Save changes and close the control panel.

Add a Windows 8-style Overlay Menu toYour System

It seems likely that Microsoft will release a single version ofWindows that runs on tablet PCs, desktop machines andeverything in between. One of the biggest changes inWindows 8 will be the touch-sensitive tablet interface,which appears to have been taken wholesale from theWindows Phone operating system.

This will most likely sit alongside the usual desktopinterface, and allow you to control your computer in an


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Add a tablet

interface to your

Windows 7 or

Vista system.

Start Rainmeter.

entirely different way. The so-called ‘tile view’ of Windows8 will allow you to launch applications and so on, and asimilar effect can be added to your Windows 7 or Vistasystem using a third party tool called Rainmeter (availablehere: http://tiny.cc/90nzbw) along with an extension calledOmnimo (available here: http://tiny.cc/91nzbw).

To apply the tweak, follow these steps:

1. Download and install Rainmeter.

2. Once the installation has finished, choose to launchthe application.

3. Download Omnimo and choose to save the Ziparchive to your desktop.

4. Extract the Omnimo zip file to your desktop, thendouble-click on the file SETUP.rmskin.

5. When prompted, tick the options Apply theme andLaunch Rainmeter after install, then click Install.

Now that both of the tools are installed, you should beprompted to configure Rainmeter. If you are not, click Start> All Programs > Rainmeter > Rainmeter. When theconfiguration wizard starts, proceed as follows:

1. Select the default options and click the arrow on theright-hand side.

2. Click English.

3. Click the Windows 8 Start Screen theme (middleicon) across the top.

4. Click on your monitor’s screen resolution (the correctoption should already be selected).

5. To switch to the Windows 8-style tiled interface,simply click on the Rainmaker (teardrop) icon in theSystem Tray.


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Various

applications are

available here.

You can search

Google here.

You can shutdown

or re-boot your

PC using these

buttons.

Older Windows

versions took a

long time to

start up.

Windows 8 will

feature faster

startups.

Get the Windows 8 ‘Tile’ interface on your PC

By default you will see a set of tools on the left-hand sideof the screen, and a number of news items on the right. Youcan fully customise the tile interface by right-clicking onthe Rainmaker (teardrop) icon in the System Tray andchoosing to configure Omnimo.

Boost the Performance of Your PC to Windows 8 Levels

Older Windows versions started all of the backgroundapplications before the Windows desktop was loaded,meaning that the startup process could take some time.Microsoft introduced a new capability to Windows 7whereby some startup services are delayed until the desktophas actually been loaded.

Windows 8 may extend this capability further, so that anystartup program can be delayed, but you don’t have to waitfor the Windows 8 release. You can add the samefunctionality to your Windows 7 or Vista system with asmall tool called Startup Delayer, which can be downloadedfrom here: http://tiny.cc/93nzbw.

To use the tool, follow these steps:

1. Click Start > All Programs > r2 Studios > StartupDelayer > Configure Startup Delayer.

2. Click on the Startup Applications tab.

3. All of the startup programs are shown under theNormal Startup heading. To configure a startup


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Click on this tab.

Drag applications

from here to the

top section of

the screen.

The ribbon

interface is being

used on more and

more applications.

Get a Windows

8-style Windows

Explorer.

application to be postponed until the desktop isloaded, drag the application from the NormalStartup section to the Delayed section.

4. Close the window when done.

Boost performance by delaying startup programs

Add the Windows 8 Ribbon Interface toExplorer

It seems that Microsoft are adding the ribbon interface tomore and more of their applications. The ribbon interfacewas first seen in Office 2007, and replaced the toolbar at thetop of the window with a new bar that included buttons forpractically every option, at the same time doing away withthe traditional File menu.

Well, it looks like Windows Explorer is set to be updated inWindows 8 so that all of the Explorer options are availablethrough the new ribbon bar. But if you can’t wait forWindows 8 to be released, you can get an Explorerreplacement featuring a ribbon bar by installing STDU,which can be downloaded from here: http://tiny.cc/z5nzbw.


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STDU has a ribbon

interface across

the top.

Click on this

tab to see a

preview of your

selected file.

Access data from

anywhere.

Connect a

Windows Live

SkyDrive to

your system.

Replace Windows Explorer with STDU

As well as allowing you to browse through your hard driveand copy, move and delete files, STDU also allows you topreview many different types of file – just click on thePreview tab at the bottom of the left-hand column andyou’ll see a preview of any files you select in the right-handpanel, if the file type is supported.

Integrate Cloud Storage to Access YourData on the Move

More and more, the focus of computing is shifting awayfrom the desktop and towards so-called ‘cloud’ computing,where applications and services run on servers belonging tothird parties which are accessed via the Internet.

These might be online email services such as Hotmail, orstorage services such as DropBox, which allow you to storefiles on an online drive, and access them from any Internetconnected PC or share them with other people.

Microsoft have recently released their own file sharing andstorage offering, called Windows Live SkyDrive, and it isexpected that this service will be tightly integrated withWindows 8, so that you can access your SkyDrive filesdirectly from Computer. Fortunately, you can still useSkyDrive with Windows 7 and Vista.

First of all you need to sign up for a SkyDrive account. Ifyou already have a Windows Live account (e.g. to accessHotmail) then you can use this. Otherwise you will need to


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You can drag-and-

drop files on

to your browser.

Add new

applications to

your system via an

app store.

create an account as follows:

1. Open your web browser and navigate to:http://explore.live.com/windows-live-skydrive.

2. Click on the button Get SkyDrive – it’s free.

3. Fill in the form to create a new Windows Live account(if you already have a Windows Live account, clickSign in and follow the prompts to sign in).

4. Once you’ve filled in the form, click I accept.

You’ll be taken to your SkyDrive account. You can drag-and-drop files from Windows Explorer on to the web page to storethem in your SkyDrive, but it is better to integrate SkyDrivedirectly with your PC so that you can access it like a normaldrive in Windows Explorer. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Download and install SD Explorer Base fromhttp://tiny.cc/66nzbw.

2. Once installed, click Start > Computer.

3. Click on SkyDrive Explorer.

4. Enter your Windows Live username and password.

5. Tick the options Remember me on this computerand Remember my password.

6. Click Sign in.

You can now access your SkyDrive files and folders exactlyas you would a normal drive, using Windows Explorer.

Find Software Fast with a Windows 8-style App Store

The phone and tablet PC market has brought the idea of an‘app store’ to wide recognition. Rather than having to trackdown and download the applications you need via the Web,you simply use the app store icon on your phone or tabletto download and install new applications, and pay for themif they are commercial tools.

Windows 8 will almost certainly feature a Windows appstore to allow you to download and install new applicationson your PC, but you needn’t wait for Windows 8 to be


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Install Avenue on

your system.

Search for new

applications here.

Click on an

application for

more details.

Look here for

updates to your

software.

released, since there are several major app stores availablefor Windows 7 and Vista right now.

The Avenue app store is one such tool with a wide-range ofavailable applications, and you can download and install itfrom here: http://tiny.cc/07nzbw. First you need to create auser account:

1. When you first run Avenue, follow the wizard to setup the application.

2. On the main window, click Register to create an account.

3. Fill in the form and then click Create account.

Once your account is created, searching for newapplications is simple:

1. Enter the application name or a keyword describingthe type of application you need into the Search field.

2. Click on the application that you’d like to install inthe main window.

3. Click Get now and the application will be downloaded.

4. Click Go to my apps to see the application you havedownloaded. Once the download has completed, theapplication’s installer will be launched automatically.

You can download a range of popular applications from Avenue


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The Task Manager

will be extended in

Windows 8.

Add a free

extension to

Windows 7/Vista.

Terminate a

whole tree of

applications.

You can also use the category links on the left-hand side ofthe screen to browse through categories of applications ifyou are not sure exactly what you are looking for. TheUpdates button shows any available updates for theapplications you have installed.

The next time you need a new application on your systemdon't bother searching the Web – simply fire-up Avenue tobrowse and search for applications and automaticallyinstall them.

Take Control of Runaway Processes toPrevent Errors

The Windows Task Manager allows you to stop applicationsthat have crashed, and is an essential troubleshooting toolwhen a frozen application has locked up your PC. Thecapabilities of the Task Manager are being improved inWindows 8, with the Resource Manager and Task Managercomponents being integrated, so that you can see exactlywhere your performance is being dragged down, and thentake action to deal with the problem applications.

You can get the similar capabilities on your Windows 7 orVista system using a freeware tool called Process Hacker,which can be downloaded from http://tiny.cc/w8nzbw.With this tool installed, you can view all of the runningtasks, and see how much CPU and memory they are using.

Right-clicking on an application will bring up a contextmenu, from where you can choose to Terminate theindividual component, or Terminate Tree, which will killall of the related processes too. If you find that a particularapplication has frozen and won’t respond, sometimes theonly cure is to use the Terminate Tree option to kill thewhole chain of related applications.

Windows 8 will start shipping with new PCs in the next fewmonths, but if you have a Windows 7 or Vista system thereis very little need to upgrade. By following the steps in thisfree report you can add most of the notable Windows 8features to your existing system for free, so why not give ita try!


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Windows - Agora Business Publications LLP

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