Category Archives: Windows

SkyDrive Upgrade to 25GB free storage

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After I installed new SkyDrive Windows client I noticed that SkyDrive is changing to a tiered pricing. The new default storage Microsoft offers will be 7GB, down from 25GB. It seems the main reason is most existing SkyDrive user don’t use more than 7GB.

The good news is Microsoft is taking good care of existing SkyDrive users with a limited time free upgrade offer. If you are a current SkyDrive user and want to keep 25GB free storage, you need request a free upgrade with one single click.

  1. Go to https://skydrive.live.com and login with your live id
  2. Click Manage Storage link
  3. Click Free Upgrade button

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SkyDrive Release Windows Client

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Last time I posted a blog talked about SkyDrive is Live with OneNote Sync which you can Sync OneNote 2010 notebooks to SkyDrive. Now you can put every files in your PC on the SkyDrive and access it from anywhere, any devices.

Earlier today, Mike Torres and Omar Shahine from Microsoft, posted a blog via the Building Windows 8 blog site announced new SkyDrive Windows desktop client release. The SkyDrive release also includes new version for several platforms including Mac OS X, iPad, Windows Phone, iPhone.

skydrive_windows_client

SkyDrive Windows desktop client features

  • Drag and drop files directly to your SkyDrive folder in Windows Explorer, just as any other files in local disk
  • Remotely access files using SkyDrive.com on any Windows PC that connected to SkyDrive.
  • Sync and view files anywhere on Windows PC, Windows Phone, Max OS, iPad, or iPhone
  • Let you upload big files of up to 2GB

skydrive_wpskydrive_iphoneskydrive_ipad

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Windows 8 How to stop app tile from changing

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Tiles are introduced by Microsoft to Windows Phone. Tiles allow user receive latest update on start menu, without the need to open the application. For example, a weather app could show you the latest forecast.

Tile is widely used in Windows 8 metro UI applications. For some metro application you don’t want notification show up in the start menu, you can right click to app, click (or touch) Turn live tile off.

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Windows 8 Getting Start Experience

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After the release of Windows 8 Consumer Preview, I was very excited to give it a try on my hyper-v VM. There is a lot of difference between Windows 7 and 8, especially Windows 8 has optimized a lot for tablet users.

Lock screen

  • Windows 8 lock screen provides quick view of latest data, time, unread emails.
  • Windows 8 supports picture password.

Start Menu

  • Win 7 classical start menu is removed
  • New start menu for Metro UI Applications

Desktop mode

  • Clock desktop tile from start menu to enter classical desktop mode.
  • The desktop user experience is same as Win 7.

Charm Button

  • Allow you access Search, Share, Start, Devices, Settings shortcuts quickly .
  • Shortcut: Win Key + C image

Reboot or Shutdown

How to Reboot or Shutdown in Windows 8

Work with application

  • Win Key + tab to switch between applications
  • To close metro UI app, click and hold at the top of screen and pull down to the bottom of screen.

Search

  • Type from start menu to launch search

How to Reboot or Shutdown in Windows 8

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It’s pretty hard to figure out how to reboot or shutdown Windows 8 only use mouse/keyboard. After a few hours search in Google, here comes all options I found. All of them work but involved too many steps. It sucks there is no one click shutdown shortcut.

  • Hover the mouse over the lower right corner ( or WinKey + C),  in the right menu, Settings –> Power –> Sleep/Shutdown/Restart.
  • In desktop mode, press Alt + F4.
  • In user switch screen, highlight username, sign out and then shutdown.
  • Running shutdown in cmd.
    • Shutdown: shutdown /s
    • Restart: shutdown /r

Feel free to comment if you found other options

How to turn on client hyper-v in Windows 8

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In Steven Sinofsky’s this blog – Bringing Hyper-V to “Windows 8”. He talks about that Windows 8 will support virtualization on the “client” OS.  This is very helpful for developers as they typically have the need to setup additional test environment on their PC.

How to turn on client hyper-v in Windows 8

First, make sure your system meets the client hyper-v virtualization requirement, you have 64bit windows 8 OS and SLAT available on CPU.

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  1. Control Panel –> Programs
  2. Turn Windows Features On or Off
  3. Check Hyper-V, Click Ok

Note: If your system does not have the required virtualization support, the client Hyper-V feature will be greyed out. To check if your CPU is SLAT-capable, check this How to tell if your CPU Supports SLAT.

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The other cool thing is you can turn hyper-v on even if you are booting from VHD. This behavior is same server Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 R2.

Alternatively, you can enable Client Hyper-V by running following from PowerShell command.

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V

Windows 8 Developer Preview Key

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To install Windows 8 Developer Preview you do not need a product key for activation. However, you would be asked to enter a product key while re-installing Windows 8 Developer Preview Key.

If you need to reinstall Windows Developer Preview or use the Reset functionality, you might be asked to enter this product key:

6RH4V-HNTWC-JQKG8-RFR3R-36498

If you’re running a server version of Windows Developer Preview, you can use this product key:

4Y8N3-H7MMW-C76VJ-YD3XV-MBDKV

The key is provided by Microsoft employee BillFill in msdn forum. You can find the BillFill’s post here

Update 3/1: For Windows 8 Consumer Preview, you can use this product key:

DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J

Windows 8 Shortcut Key Combination

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Here is a list of new shortcuts specific to Windows 8. You might it useful when you are in Windows 8 new Metro style UI. For me I found WinKey + C and WInKey + I really helps a LOT

Hotkeys unchanged from Windows 7

Windows Display or hide the Start menu.

Windows-Left Arrow Dock the active window to the left half of the screen (does nothing to Metro-style applications).

Windows-Right Arrow Dock the active window to the right half of screen (does nothing to Metro-style applications).

Windows-Up Arrow Maximize the active window (does nothing to Metro-style applications).

Windows-Down Arrow Restore/minimize the active window (does nothing to Metro-style applications).

Windows-Shift-Up Arrow Maximize the active window vertically, maintaining width (does nothing to Metro-style applications).

Windows-Shift-Down Arrow Restore/minimize the active window vertically, maintaining width (does nothing to Metro-style applications).

Windows-Shift-Left Arrow Move the active window to the monitor on the left (does nothing to Metro-style applications).

Windows-Shift-Right Arrow Move the active window to the monitor on the right (does nothing to Metro-style applications).

Windows-P Display projection options.

Windows-Home Minimize all nonactive windows; restore on the second keystroke (does not restore Metro-style applications).

Windows-number Launch or switch to the program located at the given position on the taskbar. (Example: Use Windows-1 to launch the first program.)

Windows-Shift-number Launch a new instance of the program located at the given position on the taskbar.

Windows-B Set focus in the notification area.

Windows-Break Display the System Properties dialog box.

Windows-D Show the desktop; restore on the second keystroke (does not restore Metro-style applications).

Windows-E Open Windows Explorer, navigated to Computer. Windows-Ctrl-F Search for computers (if you are on a network).

Windows-Ctrl-F Search for computers (if you are on a network).

Windows-G Cycle through Windows Desktop Gadgets.

Windows-L Lock your computer (if you’re connected to a network domain), or switch users (if you’re not connected to a network domain).

Windows-M Minimize all windows.

Windows-Shift-M Restore minimized windows to the desktop (does not restore Metro-style applications).

Windows-N Create a new note (OneNote).

Windows-R Open the Run dialog box.

Windows-S Open screen clipper (OneNote).

Windows-T Set focus on the taskbar and cycle through programs.

Windows-Alt-Enter Open Windows Media Center. Note that Windows Media Center must be installed for this key combo to function; in many Windows 8 builds, it is not present.

Windows-U Open Ease of Access Center.

Windows-X Open Windows Mobility Center.

Windows-F1 Launch Windows Help and Support.

Windows-N Create a new note (OneNote).

Windows-S Open screen clipper (OneNote).

Windows-Q Open Lync. Note that in Windows 8 the Search function overrides this key combo.

Windows-A Accept an incoming call (Lync).

Windows-X Reject an incoming call (Lync). Note that this key combo does not function if Windows Mobility Center is present on the machine.

Windows-Minus Zoom out (Magnifier).

Windows-Plus Zoom in (Magnifer).

Windows-Esc Close Magnifier.

New hotkeys for the Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Key combination Windows 8 functionality

Ctrl-Shift-Esc Starts Task Manager

Windows-Space Switch input language and keyboard layout.

Windows-O Lock device orientation.

Windows-, Temporarily peek at the desktop.

Windows-V Cycle through toasts.

Windows-Shift-V Cycle through toasts in reverse order.

Windows-Enter Launch Narrator.

Windows-PgUp Move the Start Screen or a Metro-style application to the monitor on the left.

Windows-PgDown Move the Start Screen or a Metro-style application to the monitor on the right. Windows-Shift-. Move the gutter to the left (snap an application).

Windows-. Move the gutter to the right (snap an application).

Windows-C Open the Charms bar.

Windows-I Open the Settings charm.

Windows-K Open the Connect charm.

Windows-H Open the Share charm.

Windows-Q Open the Search pane.

Windows-W Open the Settings Search app.

Windows-F Open the File Search app.

Windows-Tab Cycle through apps.

Windows-Shift-Tab Cycle through apps in reverse order.

Windows-Ctrl-Tab Cycle through apps and snap them as they cycle.

Windows-Z Open the App Bar.

Windows-/ Initiate input method editor (IME) reconversion.

Windows-J Swap foreground between the snapped and filled apps.

Start screen/Metro

The following Windows key shortcuts work in the new Windows shell/Start screen.

WINKEY (tap) Toggles between the Start screen and the foremost running app (Metro-style) or the Windows Desktop.

WINKEY + 1, WINKEY + 2, etc. – Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and launch the nth shortcut in the Windows taskbar. So WINKEY + 1 would launch whichever application is first in the list, from left to right.

WINKEY + B Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and select the tray notification area.

WINKEY + C Display Charms and time/date/notification overlay.

WINKEY + D Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and toggle Show Desktop (hides/shows any applications and other windows).

WINKEY + E Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and launch Windows Explorer with Computer view displayed.

WINKEY + F Display File Search pane

WINKEY + H Display Share charm.

WINKEY + I Display Settings charm.

WINKEY + J Swaps foreground between the snapped and filled apps.

WINKEY + K Display Connect charm.

WINKEY + L Lock PC and return to Lock screen.

WINKEY + M Minimize the selected Explorer window.

WINKEY + O Toggle orientation switching on slate and tablet PCs.

WINKEY + P Display the new Project (for “projection”) pane for choosing between available displays.

WINKEY + Q Search (within) Apps using the new Search pane.

WINKEY + R Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and display the Run box.

WINKEY + U Switch to the (classic) Windows desktop and launch the Ease of Access Center.

WINKEY + V Cycles through Notification toasts.

WINKEY + W Display Settings Search pane

WINKEY + SHIFT + V Cycles through Notification toasts in reverse order.

WINKEY + X Access the advanced context menu on the Start preview tip.

WINKEY + Z Access the App Bar.

WINKEY + ENTER Launches Narrator.

WINKEY + SPACEBAR Switch input language and keyboard layout

WINKEY + TAB Cycle through apps in Switcher.

WINKEY + SHIFT + TAB Cycle through apps in Switcher in reverse order.

WINKEY + CTRL + TAB Cycle through apps, snapping them as you go.

WINKEY + , Peeks at the Windows desktop.

WINKEY + . Snaps application to the left.

WINKEY + SHIFT + . Snaps application to the right.

WINKEY + PGUP Moves the Start screen to the display on the left.

WINKEY + PGDN Moves the Start screen to the display on the right.


Windows desktop/Explorer

The following Windows key shortcuts work in the classic Windows desktop. Note that while many of these shortcuts also work in Windows 7, some are new to Windows 8.

WINKEY (tap) Toggles between the Windows desktop environment and the new Start screen.

WINKEY + 1, WINKEY + 2, etc. Launch the nth shortcut in the Windows taskbar. So WINKEY + 1 would launch whichever application is first in the list, from left to right.

WINKEY + B Select the tray notification area.

WINKEY + C Display Charms and time/date/notification overlay.

WINKEY + D Toggle Show Desktop (hides/shows any applications and other windows).

WINKEY + E Launch Windows Explorer with Computer view displayed.

WINKEY + F Search Files using the new Windows Search pane.

WINKEY + I Display Settings pane for Windows Desktop (also provides access to Networks, Volume, Screen Brightness, Notifications, Power, and Language).

WINKEY + L Lock PC and return to Lock screen.

WINKEY + M Minimize the selected Explorer window.

WINKEY + O Toggle orientation switching on slate and tablet PCs.

WINKEY + P Display the new Project (for “projection”) pane for choosing between available displays.

WINKEY + Q Search (within) Apps using the new Windows Search pane.

WINKEY + R Display Run box.

WINKEY + U Launch Ease of Access Center.

WINKEY + W Search Settings using the new Windows Search pane.

WINKEY + X Display Windows Mobility Center application.

WINKEY + ARROW KEYS Aero Snap.

How to install DotNet 2.0 or 3.5 on Windows 8

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Windows 8 includes the 2.0, 3.5 and 4.5 versions of the .NET Framework. However, only 4.5 is available for immediate use after a clean install. The versions 2.0 and 3.5 of the framework are not installed by default. If you open the Add/Remove Windows Features dialog you’ll see the “Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1” listed, but disabled.

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To install DotNet 2.0 or 3.5 on Windows 8,

  1. Go to Control Panel –> Programs –> Get Programs
  2. Click Turn Windows features on or off
  3. Check ‘.NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)′
  4. Click OK.

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