Windows 8 101: Refresh or Reset?

Windows 8 gives you ways to recover you system in case it is not running properly.  You can either “Refresh” or “Reset”.  There’s a big difference between the two process.  Refresh means that Windows will be reinstalled without losing those precious documents, music, videos, and files.  Reset on the other hand will remove everything and reinstall Windows 8 from it’s original factory settings, this means that all your files, apps, settings and any customizations you have made will be deleted from the drive.  This is useful when you want to give / donate your PC to another individual or if you just want to have a fresh start.

To REFRESH your PC if you are on Windows 8.

• Get you Charms click or tap on Settings > Change PC Settings
• Click on the General tab > scroll down and look for the option that says “Refresh your PC without affecting your files” > click on Get started

If you are running Windows 8.1

• Get you Charms click or tap on Settings > Change PC Settings
• Click on Update & Recovery > Recovery
• Click on Get started under “Refresh your PC without affecting your files”.

To RESET your PC

In Windows 8

• Get you Charms click or tap on Settings > Change PC Settings
• lick on the General tab > scroll down and look for the option that says “Remove everything and reinstall Windows” > click on Get started

If you are running Windows 8.1

• Get you Charms click or tap on Settings > Change PC Settings
• Click on Update & Recovery > Recovery
• Click on Get started under “Remove everything and reinstall Windows.”

If you are using an OEM device (means that Windows 8 comes preinstalled) you can refresh or reset your PC in just few clicks.  On the other hand if you installed Windows 8 manually into your device, there’s a big chance that Windows will ask for a recovery media (DVD / bootable flash drive) as a source of the installation files.

And oh, before I forget please plug in your device before resetting or refreshing to avoid interruptions which may cause to data loss or corruption.

Windows 8 101: Work and play with snap!

Multitasking is a method where multiple tasks or processes, are performed during the same period of time.

An aero feature called Snap was first introduced in Windows 7 which allow the user to snap two windows on each side of the desktop to create a perfect half window. This is very useful when comparing documents, copy reading or you just want to do two things at the same time like watching a movie while doing something productive. Most of the aero features of Windows 7 – snap, peek, shake is still available in the Windows 8 desktop to give the user seamless experience in working with desktop applications.

In Windows 8, multi-tasking has made even better with the Snap feature where you can run two apps side-by-side, imagine chatting with a friend while doing your PowerPoint presentations, or perhaps tweeting while watching a movie or playing a game.

 

Windows 8.1 is here!

Download the preview at www.preview.windows.com

Fuse your photos in Windows Live Photo Gallery

No one wants to be left behind in a photo? Ever traveled with your loved one without somebody to take a picture of you? Photo Fuse will help you!

Photo Fuse is a new feature of the Windows Live Photo Gallery wherein you can join or combine two or more photos to create a new one or to correct some imperfections.

Here’s how:

1.  In your Windows Live Photo Gallery, select the pictures that you wanted to fuse.

2.  On the Create tab, in the Tools group, click Photo Fuse. Photo Gallery will align the two photos for editing.

3.  Click the area of the photo you want to replace. Drag one of the points to adjust the size of this area.

4.  Click the replacement photo that you like then click Save. Below is a sample of my Photo fuse.

 

Here’s another one :)

        

How to: Make Your Command Prompt Window Wider

Getting annoyed or tired dragging the scrollbar of your command prompt every time you can’t read everything because the window is not wide enough?  There’s an easy solution to that, you can make the command prompt window wider! But how? Some Windows users might not know this so I’ll show you how to make the window wider in just a few clicks!

Here’s How:

Open your command prompt. In Windows 7 just type “cmd” (without the strings) in the search bar of your start menu and hit the Enter key.  In older versions of Windows, you need to click Start, click Run and type in “cmd” (again without the strings) and hit Enter and the command prompt window will open.

Right click on the command prompt boarder and click Properties…

In the properties window, click on the Layout tab and change the Window Size to your preference (default width is 80).  You can also change the Window Position and Screen Buffer.  Click OK when you’re done.

Now after modifying you command prompt properties, your new settings will be automatically applied to your current command prompt window after clicking the OK button.

Hide Icon Text in your Windows 7 Desktop

By just looking at the icon in your Windows 7 desktop, it’s already obvious what’s that application is, without reading the text below.  The best example for this is your Recycle Bin icon which is a regular resident of your desktop since the birth of Windows 7’s ancestor the Windows 95.  So why not remove the the phrase “Recycle Bin” below the Recycle Bin icon since it’s already obvious that upon seeing that icon you already know that it’s the Recycle Bin.

Here’s how:

Right click your Recycle Bin icon then click Rename. Now on your keyboard press down the Alt key and type 255 on your keypad  (Note:  For this thing to work, you have to use the numeric keypad on the far right of your keyboard and be sure to turn on NumLock.)

What is Alt+255 by the way?  Well Alt+255 in the ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) table is a blank character.   So in reality you are just renaming the shortcut with a blank character.

Now to rename a second icon, for example the Internet Explorer shortcut you just have to press Alt+255 twice.  AS for the third, do it three times and so fort and son on…The idea is, you cannot have two icons with the same number of blank character.

Take a look a the picture below,  you will have a nameless icon! Isn’t that sweet!?! :)