Category Archives: Uncategorized

5 BEST FREE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARES TO PROTECT YOUR WINDOWS PC

NOTE:You can get a Office 2013 with Genuine License-key from www.officebfh.com at a low price ,up to 70% discount! We will also help you to install and activate it. 

5 Best Free Antivirus Softwares to Protect your Windows PC

Antivirus have become an essential part of every computer today. Without an antivirus your PC will be left exposed to various harmful viruses and malwares. While some of these might hurt your computer, many of them would be more interested in stealing private and financial data from your PC. As more viruses and malwares keep emerging, it has become very increasingly;y important for us to protect all our data from prying eyes.
Gone are the days when having an Antivirus program was way too expensive for most of us. Today Antivirus companies are generous enough to provide basic and free antivirus protection for all . but again there is a stiff competition in the free antivirus segment, as a result free antiviruses are now adding in additional features to lure in prospective consumers.
We have collected 5 of the best and free antivirus programs that will definitely help you to protect your PC from viruses, malwares and even online intruders. Select from any of the antiviruses below and take your first step towards protecting your PC.
Note: You should never install more than one antivirus on your PC.

AVAST FREE ANTIVIRUS

If you haven’t heard of AVAST, they are the most trusted name in antivirus, actively protecting more than 200 million PCs, Macs and Androids. They’ve been protecting devices and data for 25 years, in over 40 languages (more than any other antivirus solution), on every populated continent in the world.
 
avast free antivirus 2014 5 Best Free Antivirus Softwares to Protect your Windows PC

AVG FREE ANTIVIRUS

With over 150 million active users , AVG antivirus is one of the best antiviruses . AVG antivirus also offers free mobile protection , which helps you to protect and speed up your mobile.
avg free 5 Best Free Antivirus Softwares to Protect your Windows PC

BITDEFENDER FREE ANTIVIRUS

Although a newly emerging name among antiviruses , Bitdefender has been rated as one of the best antivirus programs by many reputed antivirus review sites. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition has been engineered to enable you to enjoy your computer to the max, without having to worry about viruses and other e-threats.
bitdefender antivirus free edition 5 Best Free Antivirus Softwares to Protect your Windows PC

AVIRA FREE ANTIVIRUS

Built upon the same award-winning technology as found in their premium products, Avira Free Antivirus helps keep your PC malware-free while protecting your privacy. Lightweight and powerful, Avira Free Antivirus offers Real-Time malware detection, a pop-up blocker, privacy tools and safety ratings for your search results.
avira free antivirus 5 Best Free Antivirus Softwares to Protect your Windows PC

COMODO INTERNET SECURITY

Comodo Internet Security is the free, multi-layered security application that keeps hackers out and personal information in. Built from the ground upwards with your security in mind, Internet Security offers 360° protection by combining powerful Antivirus protection, an enterprise class packet filtering firewall, advanced host intrusion prevention and automatic sandboxing of unknown files.
comodo free antivirus 5 Best Free Antivirus Softwares to Protect your Windows PC

MALWAREBYTES ANTI MALWARE

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware can detect and remove malware that even the most well known anti-virus and anti-malware applications fail to detect. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware monitors every process and stops malicious processes before they even start.
malwarebytes free antivirus 5 Best Free Antivirus Softwares to Protect your Windows PC

 

Download Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta Version for Free

NOTE:You can get a Adobe Photoshop CS6 with Genuine License-key from www.officebfh.com at a low price ,you will get up to 70% discount! We will also help you to install and activate it. Perfect performance, Best price!

 Adobe Photoshop is one of the best and most popular image editing software available for Windows and Mac. It allows you to modify and enhance your photographs like professionals. You can create awesome images using this great tool.

Windows theme creators like me use Adobe Photoshop to create image resources to put in themes and skins.

Adobe Photoshop is not a freeware and you need to purchase it but now you can test it for free. The latest beta of Adobe Photoshop version CS6 is available absolutely free to download.

This free beta version is available for Windows and Mac. The final version is expected to release in first half of 2012.

What’s New?

According to Adobe, Photoshop CS6 comes with huge performance enhancements, imaging magic and creativity tools that offer users a new experience in digital imaging.

Some of the key features include new additions to the Content-Aware tools. Content-Aware Patch allows greater control by letting users select and duplicate an area of an image to fill in or “patch” another and Content-Aware Move lets users select and magically move an object to a new place in the image.

In addition, the Photoshop CS6 beta offers all the features of Adobe Photoshop CS6 and Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended, such as new 3D editing features and quantitative imaging analysiscapabilities.

System Requirements:

  • Processor: Intel P4 or AMD Athlon 64
  • RAM: 1 GB
  • Hard Disk Space: 1 GB for Windows, 2 GB for Mac
  • OpenGL 2.0 capable system
  • Screen Resolution: 1024×768 (1280×800 recommended) with 16-bit color and 256MB of VRAM
  • OS: Windows XP SP3, Windows 7 SP1, Mac OS X v10.0.8 or v 10.7

Adobe_Photoshop_CS6.png

This free download of Adobe Photoshop is available in English and Japanese languages.

Please note that the setup does NOT require any product key or serial number to enter. Simply select “Try. I want to try Adobe Photoshop CS6 for a limited time” option in the Welcome Screen when you start the installation process. But your Adobe ID login and online activation are required either at installation or within seven days after your first launch of the Photoshop CS6 beta. You can register for a free Adobe ID without any problem using the wizard.

You can download the free beta of Adobe Photoshop CS6 using following link:

http://www.adobe.com/go/photoshopcs6

Windows 8 and 8.1 Hidden Secret Features and Useful Hotkeys

NOTE:You can buy windows 8 and windows 7 with Genuine License-key from www.officebfh.com at a low price ,you will get up to 70% discount! We will also help you to install and activate it. Perfect performance, Best price!

Microsoft has made lots of changes in Windows 8. Microsoft has completely removed Start Menu and Start button from Windows 8 and all known registry tricks or other methods to get them back are not working in final version.

Removal of Start button and Start Menu also makes performing power operations a bit difficult. Now you don’t get a direct option to restart, shut down your PC. All these options have been moved to Settings charm which can be accessed by moving your mouse cursor to top-right corner of screen and selecting Settings charm from Charms bar.

You can check out our exclusive Windows 8 FAQ topic which contains solutions for all such problems such as adding Start Menu, Start button in Windows 8, accessing power options in Windows 8, etc:

Although Microsoft has removed a few essential features and functionality from Windows 8 but on the other hand they have also introduced many new useful features in Windows 8.

After using Windows 8 for a few days, we have came across a few interesting features, some of which are not directly visible on screen. The most strange part is that Microsoft has not talked about a few of these features yet in any official blog post.

Anyway for your convenience, today in this topic we are going to share a few hidden secret features which we have found in Windows 8.

So without wasting time, lets share the hidden gems in Windows 8:

1. Hidden Quick Access Menu (Win+X Menu)

Although Microsoft has removed Start button and Start Menu from Windows 8 Taskbar but they have added a hidden Quick Access Menu (QAM) or Win+X Menu which provides easier access to many useful system tools such as:

  • Programs and Features
  • Power Options
  • System Settings
  • Device Manager
  • Command Prompt
  • Task Manager
  • Control Panel
  • Search
  • Run
  • and a few more

To access this menu, move your mouse cursor to extreme bottom-left corner of screen and right-click and you’ll get the hidden system menu as shown in following screenshot:

Windows_8_Consumer_Preview_Quick_Access_Menu.png

You can also access it using “Win+X” hotkey.

You can also check out following exclusive tutorial to customize this new menu in Windows 8:

[EXCLUSIVE] Customize New Quick Access Menu (Win+X Menu) in Windows 8

If you are still using Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7, you can get a similar system menu in Desktop context menu or My Computer context menu using following tutorials:

UPDATE: In Windows 8.1, Microsoft has added new options such as Shut down, Restart, Hibernate, Sleep and Sign out to Win+X menu as shown in following screenshot:

Power_Options_Windows_8_1_Win_X_Menu.png

Windows 8.1 also allows you to replace Command Prompt shortcut with PowerShell in Win+X Menu:

How to Replace PowerShell with Command Prompt in “Win+X” Menu of Windows 8.1?

2. Auto-Save Screenshots

That’s an awesome addition to Windows 8. In previous Windows versions, whenever you needed to take a screenshot of your screen, you had to press “PrntScr” key or if you wanted to take screenshot of a specific program window, you needed to click on it to make it active and press “Alt+PrntScr” keys. After doing this, the screenshot was captured by clipboard and you had to paste and save it using an image editing software like built-in MS Paint, Adobe Photoshop, etc.

Windows 8 makes the whole process a lot easier. You can just press “Win+PrntScr” keys together and Windows 8 will automatically save the screenshot in your “Pictures” library folder. The screenshot is saved with the name “Screenshot.png“. If you take more screenshots, they are saved with an added number such as “Screenshot (2).png“, “Screenshot (3).png” and so on.

Windows_8_Automatic_Save_Screenshot.png

I wonder why they didn’t add hotkey “Win+Alt+PrntScr” to automatically save screenshot of a specific window. I hope they’ll add it in final build of Windows 8.

3. New Hotkey to Access Safe Mode

In previous Windows versions, if the user wanted to boot into Safe Mode, he needed to press “F8” key at system startup but this good old and well know hotkey no longer works in Windows 8. Microsoft has replaced it with a new hotkey.

The new hotkey is “Shift+F8“. So now you need to press “Shift+F8” keys together to access Safe Mode option in Windows 8. I can’t understand the reason behind this move. May be they’ll use “F8” hotkey for some new stuff? Who knows?

4. New Hot Corners in Screen

Windows 8 comes with hot corner feature which allows you to access some built-in options when you move your mouse cursor in a corner of your monitor screen.

When you move your mouse cursor to bottom-left corner of screen, it shows small Start Screen thumbnail which lets you go to Start Screen.

Windows_8_Start_Button.png

When you move your mouse cursor to top-left corner of screen, it shows a list of all running Metro apps so that you can switch between apps or close an app.

Windows_8_Metro_App_Switch_List.png

When you move your mouse cursor to top-right or bottom-right corner of screen, it shows new Charms Bar where you can access Settings, Search, Share, Devices and Start Screen charm.

Windows_8_Charms_Bar.png

If you don’t like Charms Bar to automatically appear on screen as soon as you move the cursor to top-right or bottom-right corners, you can disable it using following tutorial:

How to Disable “Charms Bar” Hint Feature in Windows 8?

If you want to disable all hot corners in Windows 8, check out following article:

How to Disable Hot Corners (Charms Bar, Start Screen Thumbnail, App Switch List) in Windows 8?

UPDATE: In Windows 8.1, Microsoft has added built-in options to disable hot corners (Charms Bar and App Switcher):

How to Disable Hot Corners (Charms Bar and App Switch List) in Windows 8.1?

5. Hidden “Applications” Folder to Launch Metro Apps Directly from Desktop

Did you know you can access a hidden folder “Applications” in Windows 8 by using following command:

explorer shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}
or
shell:AppsFolder

You can execute the above mentioned command in RUN dialog box, in Command Prompt or from anywhere else. It’ll open a secret “Applications” folder containing shortcuts of all installed apps as shown in following screenshot:

Hidden_Metro_Applications_Folder_Windows_8.png

This way you can directly launch Metro apps without going to Start Screen.

You can create a shortcut for this command using a simple method given here and then pin the shortcut to Taskbar, Start Screen or put it on Desktop for quick and easy access.

6. Hidden “Slide to Shutdown” Feature in Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 comes with a hidden “Slide to Shutdown” feature which allows you to quickly shut down your PC using a simple slide down mechanism.

Slide_to_Shutdown_Windows_8_1.png

Check out following tutorial to learn more about it:

How to Shutdown Windows 8.1 PC Using Hidden Secret “Slide to Shutdown” Feature?

7. Use Camera on Windows 8.1 Lock Screen

Windows 8.1 allows you to access your computer or tablet Camera directly from Lock Screen without log into your user account. You can take photos or create videos by using this hidden Camera app at Lock Screen.

Webcam_Access_Windows_8_1_Lock_Screen.png

Check out following tutorial to learn how to use this hidden feature:

How to Enable or Disable Use of Camera App on Windows 8.1 Lock Screen?

Also check:

How to Enable Image Slide Show Feature on Windows 8.1 Lock Screen?

8. Hidden Trick to Close Metro Apps Permanently in Windows 8.1

Microsoft has changed the mechanism to permanently close Metro apps in Windows 8.1. Now if you simply drag-n-drop an app to bottom as you used to do in Windows 8, the app won’t close permanently in Windows 8.1. Instead the app will enter into suspend mode and will continue to run in background.

Close_Metro_Apps_Windows_8_1.gif

If you want to close the running app permanently, you can use following hidden secret trick:

 

9. Hidden Way to Access “Advanced Startup Screen” in Windows 8 and 8.1

Windows 8 and 8.1 comes with a hidden secret method to directly access “Advanced Startup Screen” without restarting your PC. You can access various options such as restart your PC into another installed operating system, restart in Safe Mode or choose several advanced system recovery options from this screen.

Restart_Shutdown_Windows_8_PC.png

 

10. New Useful Hotkeys (Keyboard Shortcuts)

There are a few useful hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts) introduced in Windows 8 which can make your Windows 8 experience better. Some of them are given below:

  • Win key – Toggles between Start Screen and Windows Desktop
  • Win+X – Opens Quick Access Menu as mentioned in point 1
  • Win+PrntScr – Automatically saves screenshot in Pictures folder as mentioned in point 2
  • Win+C – Shows Charms Bar
  • Win+I – Shows Settings panel
  • Win+K – Launches Devices charm
  • Win+H – Launches Share charm
  • Win+Q – Launches Search charm
  • Win+W – Launches Settings search page
  • Win+F – Launches Files search page
  • Win+Tab – Shows Metro apps switcher as mentioned in point 4
  • Win+Z – Shows / hides App bar at Start Screen to show all apps
  • Win+Spacebar – Toggles between input languages and keyboard layout
  • Win+, – From Start Screen peeks at the Desktop
  • Win+Enter – Launches Narrator
  • Ctrl+F1 – Minimizes / maximizes ribbon in Windows Explorer
  • Ctrl+Tab – Launches All Apps list on Start Screen

Five Differences Between Windows 7 and Windows 8

NOTE:You can buy windows 8 and windows 7 with Genuine License-key from www.officebfh.com at a low price ,you will get up to 70% discount! We will also help you to install and activate it. Perfect performance, Best price!

Five Differences Between Windows 7 and Windows 8

As Windows 8 comes closer to its release date, there are still several people unsure of whether or not they should upgrade from Windows 7. One of the most frequently asked question regarding Windows 8 is: How is Windows 8 different from Windows 7? Well, here is a list of five new features in Windows 8 that may help you make up your mind.

Metro UI

The most visual change is clearly the new Metro user interface. Microsoft has scrapped the traditional Windows user interface with the start button we have all become so used to. Instead, Microsoft has taken inspiration from its Windows mobile phones to replicate the Metro user interface in a desktop capacity. While the new interface may seem confusing at first, it really doesn’t take long to adjust to it. The new layout is simple; it consists of neatly stacked, live tiles that display information and updates for the application corresponding to each tile. The tiles are fully customizable and can be arranged and resized to the liking of the user.

Despite all the negative feedback the new user interface has received, I feel that the Windows 8 Metro interface will be taken well by Windows users as it provides a good balance between style and simplicity. The interface displays a cleanly organized home screen that will provide a unique and user-friendly desktop experience for both non-tech savvy and experienced users. This should not be a cause for despair for those already accustomed to the Windows 7 desktop layout, as an almost carbon copy of the Windows 7 desktop can be brought up through a single click from the home screen.

New Task Manager

The Windows task manager is one aspect that hasn’t changed much over the years and has been in need of an upgrade. Windows 8 features a redesigned task manager that simplifies the way in which users manage processes and computer performance. The new task manager is designed to provide users with a simple but effective interface that is specifically optimized to deal with common tasks. Through data collected from Windows 7 users, it was found that 85% of users only open up the task manager to kill non-responsive applications and to monitor processes. As such, the new task manager in Windows 8 features a simplified layout that only lists currently running applications. The new task manager doesn’t prompt users to confirm when ending a task and, as such, tasks can be canceled by a single click.

For advanced users, a more in-depth task manager can be opened by clicking on ‘more details.’ This detailed version of the task manager has also been modified to provide a more user-friendly layout; things such as process names and their usage have been simplified to make it easier to monitor the performance of your computer. Over all, the task manager has been nicely improved and been made simpler to use for the not-so tech-savvy users.

The Lock Screen

The Windows 8 lock screen is similar to that of Windows Phone 7 and is optimized for both desktop computers and tablets. The lock screen consists of a few main components including the background picture, battery and network icons, login screen, and a few choice widgets that you can display on the screen to provide real-time updates relevant to the application. The widgets are customizable to only display selective information.

Windows 8 offers a new way of logging in which works by touch gestures; this is known as a picture password login. The picture password is easy to set up through the control panel and allows users to assign any image to the login screen. The next step is to create three gestures on the image and this acts as the password to log in to your computer. Picture passwords are one of the most secure forms of protecting your computer, and Windows 8 has nicely integrated this fine little feature into the lock screen.

New File System

Windows 8 Server will be introducing a new file system known as ReFS (Resilient File System), which replaces the traditional NTFS file system. While this new file system doesn’t currently apply to the main client builds of Windows 8, it is likely that Microsoft will eventually roll out ReFS for all editions of Windows 8. So how is ReFS different from NTFS? Well, it really isn’t all that different from NTFS. In fact, ReFS is built upon NTFS and is developed by utilizing many of its key areas. The primary focus of ReFS is on the resilience of data; this is achieved in part by making the file system simpler. Basically, ReFS is a more reliable and efficient file system that is less prone to crashing and errors. However, when errors do occur, ReFS is designed to detect and repair issues without causing any file corruption. We’ll go into more detail on ReFS and how it works in a separate article.

ARM Support

Windows has always been based on x86 systems and has not had support for ARM-based devices up until now. A lot of work has gone into optimizing Windows 8 for both x86 and ARM processors. Through its support for ARM-based devices, Windows 8 provides a consistent computing experience across devices including tablets, smartphones, and traditional desktop computers.

Will any of these five differences prompt you to make the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 when it finally hits the shelves officially? Or are you content enough with your current operating system to keep it around for a while more? Drop us a line in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

What’s New in Microsoft Office 2013?

NOTE:You can buy office 2013 with Genuine License-key from www.officebfh.com at a low price ,you will get up to 70% discount! We will also help you to install and activate it. Perfect performance, Best price!

We know that Microsoft has finalized its latest Office suite “Office 2013” which was codenamed asOffice 15 and the final RTM version of Office 2013 is available for download to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Other people will be able to purchase and download it in first quarter of 2013 (most probably in end of January or first week of February 2013) as mentioned here.

In the meantime a free 60-day trial version of Office 2013 Professional Plus RTM version is available absolutely free to public which can be downloaded from following topic:

Download Free Microsoft Office 2013 Professional Plus Trial

This trial version is fully functional and there are no restrictions or feature limitations so you can enjoy it for 2 months and after that you’ll be able to purchase Office 2013 from Microsoft Store and local market.

This new version of Microsoft Office comes with many new features and a brand new UI. You must be aware of the new UI as we have posted several Office 2013 articles recently in our exclusiveOffice section covering Office 2013 tips and how-to guides.

Today in this topic, we are going to post a review of Office 2013 highlighting the new UI changes and features. This review should help you in better understanding the new user interface and getting used to it.

So without wasting time lets start the review:

Office 2013 Start Screen:

The first new thing which you’ll notice while launching any Office 2013 program is the new “Start Screen“. Microsoft has added Windows 8 style Start Screen to Office 2013 programs.

The new Start Screen in Office 2013 helps you in creating new documents quickly and easily using built-in templates. It also allows you to open recently opened documents. Following is a preview of the new Start Screen present in Office 2013:

Microsoft_Office_2013_Start_Screen.png

As you can see in left-side of Start Screen, you get a history of recently opened files. You can click on any entry to directly open it. If you want to remove any particular file from the history, right-click on it and select “Remove from list” option. You can also pin a document so that it doesn’t get lost in future. If you want to clear the history, just right-click on any entry and select “Clear unpinned Documents” option.

Office_2013_Clear_Recent_Document_History.png

If you don’t like the new Start Screen in Office 2013, you can just press Esc or Enter key to bypass it and it’ll open a blank document in Office program. You can also permanently turn the Start Screen off using following tutorials:

Office 2013 Ribbon UI:

Microsoft introduced the ribbon UI first in Office 2007 version and since then its present in all newer versions of Office such as Office 2010 and Office 2013. But Microsoft has tried to make the ribbon UI in Office 2013 minimal and clean. All the Aero glass effects such as blur, transparency, reflection, gradients have been removed and you get a clean UI as shown in following screenshot:

Office_2013_Office_15_Office_365_Preview.png

If you don’t like the ribbon and want to disable it, you can’t but Microsoft has added a new button in Office titlebar to customize ribbon appearance. The button can be found near the minimize button. When you click on the button, it shows following 3 options:

  • Auto-hide Ribbon
  • Show Tabs
  • Show Tabs and Commands

Office_2013_Ribbon_Settings.png

Auto-hide Ribbon” option puts the Office program in full screen mode. “Show Tabs” option minimizes the ribbon similar to Windows 8 Explorer ribbon and “Show Tabs and Commands” option is the default option which shows the ribbon in full view.

 

 

Office 2013 Themes and Backgrounds:

When Office 2013 was under development and Microsoft released a free Customer Preview version of Office 2013 to public, lots of people complained about the use of too much white color in the UI. Microsoft listened those complaints and introduced 2 new themes in Office 2013 final version which are Light Gray and Dark Gray. So now you have a total of 3 themes in Office 2013 to choose from:

  • White (default)
  • Light Gray
  • Dark Gray

Office_2013_Dark_Gray_Theme.png

If you want to change the theme in Office 2013, following tutorial will help you:

How to Get Rid of Too Much White Space in Microsoft Office 2013? Switch to New Gray Color Themes

Office 2013 also comes with many backgrounds which are shown in right-side of Office titlebar and ribbon. You can choose a background only if you are signed in using a Windows Live account as mentioned in next point.

 

Windows Live Integration in Office 2013:

Similar to Windows 8, Microsoft has integrated its Windows Live service in Office 2013. Now you can sign in using your Windows Live account and all your customized settings such as themes, backgrounds will be saved in your Windows Live account settings. Now if you sign in using the same account in any other computer, all your customize settings will be restored in Office 2013.

You can sign in using Windows Live account by clicking on “Sign in” link given in Office titlebar below the titlebar buttons. Once you sign in, you can change Office theme and backgrounds using account settings which can be accessed by clicking on the account name or picture showing below titlebar buttons.

Office_2013_User_Account_Settings_Screen.png

You can also access the same settings page by clicking on “File” menu present in the ribbon and then click on “Account” tab given in left-sidebar.

In account settings page, you can change the theme and backgrounds. The page also shows status of Office 2013 activation. If you are using the trial version of Office 2013, you can convert it into full version from here. The same page also allows you to sign out from the account if you want.

Office_2013_Account_Settings_Screen.png

Windows 8.1: Frequently Asked Questions

NOTE:You can buy windows 8 professional with Genuine License-key from www.officebfh.com at a low price ,you will get up to 70% discount! We will also help you to install and activate it. Perfect performance, Best price!

Windows 8.1 is a free update for Windows 8 tablets and PCs. It includes a number of new features and design elements that will make Windows 8 easier to use. We’d like to offer you a brief overview of Windows 8.1 and try to answer some questions you may have at this time.

When Will Windows 8.1 Be Available?

If you already have Windows 8, you will be able to upgrade to Windows 8.1 starting on October 17, 2013.

If you’re upgrading from an earlier version of Windows, it will be available in stores starting on October 18.

How Much Does it Cost?

If you already have Windows 8, Windows 8.1 is a free update for your device.

If you’re upgrading your PC from an older version of Windows, you can purchase Windows 8.1 from our office-softwares store: www.officebfh.com for $79. Before you purchase it, you should make sure your computer meets the hardware requirements.

How Do I Get Windows 8.1?

If you buy a new Windows computer or tablet, Windows 8.1 will most likely come pre-installed. You won’t need to do anything to install it.

If you already have a  Windows 8 device, it may be updated automatically. You can also update it manually. To do this, open the Windows Store app from the Start screen, then locate and select Update Windows. Review this page from Microsoft if you’re having trouble updating to Windows 8.1

What’s New in Windows 8.1?

When  Windows 8 was released in 2012, many users complained that it was difficult and confusing to use, especially compared to older versions of Windows. Windows 8.1 includes a number of improvements and features to address some of these issues. Below are some of the most helpful and notable features:

  • Start Button Windows 8 replaced the traditional Start menu with the Start screen and removed the Start button from the Desktop. Windows 8.1 adds the Start button back to the Desktop. Clicking the Start button on the Desktop will launch the Start screen, which you’ll use to open programs and search for files.
  • Boot to Desktop: Rather than launching the Start screen when you turn on your device, Windows 8.1 now gives you the option to boot directly to the Desktop, much like older versions of Windows. This is especially helpful if you’re not interested in using the Start screen very often.
  • Snap Start Screen Apps Windows 8 introduced full-screen apps for the Start screen, but it did not allow you to view more than two apps at once. Windows 8.1 allows you to view several different Start screen apps and snap them to different parts of the screen. Traditional desktop apps still work the way they did in earlier versions of Windows: They’ll appear in individual windows that you can move and resize.

 

 

I Have Windows RT. Can I Get Windows 8.1?

Yes, you can download an update to the equivalent Windows RT version (Windows RT 8.1).

I Have  Windows 8 Pro. Can I Get Windows 8.1?

Yes, but if you use Windows 8 Pro or Enterprise at work, you may need someone from the IT department to install the upgrade on your computer. It will not be available as an update in the Windows Store.

Will My Apps Still Be There After I Upgrade?

Most apps you previously had installed on your Windows 8 computer will still be there once you upgrade to Windows 8.1. Some Start screen apps, like Mail and Calendar, will be updated automatically when you upgrade. You will also need to reinstall any apps you previously downloaded from the Windows Store.

If you’re upgrading from Windows 7, your apps should still be there after you upgrade. If you’re upgrading from an older version, such as Windows Vista or earlier, you will need to reinstall your old apps.

Will My Apps Still Work After I Upgrade?

Almost all apps installed on  Windows 8 should work correctly in Windows 8.1. If not, the app’s developer will likely release an update to address the issue.

If you are upgrading from Windows 7 or Vista, most of your apps should still work. However, if you’re using an older version like Windows XP, there’s a good chance some of your apps will not be compatible with  Windows 8..