This Video explains what Windows Easy Transfer is all about.

System Requirements:

• 1 GHz or faster processor
• 1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
• 1024 x 768 minimum screen resolution

If your computer system supports the minimum requirements listed above you are all set to go, download & Install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Though, you should keep in mind that some of the features might need extra hardware support to run properly.

Windows 8 “The Idea”

It’s been said that Windows 8 has been reimagined & everything within Windows has been designed right from scratch, even the Windows flag has been replaced with four tiles that reflects a Window. It has been designed to work on wide range of devices that include tablets, laptops, desktops & all-in-one etc. Windows 8 has been designed to give user more ease with whatever they use this operating system for.

We’ve designed Windows 8 to give you instant access to your apps, your files, and the information you care about most so you can spend less time navigating and more time doing what you actually want to do. You can move between Windows 8 PCs easily and access your files and settings from virtually anywhere. We’ve made touch a first-class experience and navigating with a mouse and keyboard fast and fluid. And just like Windows 7, reliability and security features are built in. It’s the best of Windows 7, made even better. – Windows Team Blog

Things to Remember

This current milestone of Windows 8 is a pre-release version of Windows 8 & is just a preview of what will be coming next. Always remember that pre-release builds might give some problems or bugs as it’s still a work in progress. Though if you are a enthusiast, tester or anyone who likes to take the new technology hands on, you might as well love the experience.

You should backup your data & files before you go and install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. As this is a pre-release software you might as well install this as a second OS or install the same in a virtual environment.

At this point there is no official support for Windows 8 Consumer Preview, though you can check out this blog & many others for new material to read on Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

You can check out this page for information on new features & related articles as I write them. More will follow as my Discovery in Windows 8 Consumer Preview starts.

Microsoft has announced the availability of the much anticipated build of Windows 8 at a Windows 8 Consumer Preview event in Barcelona today 29 February 2012. This milestone called  Consumer Preview is now available for download. The last build of Windows 8 called the “Developer Preview” was released in fall of 2011 & showed a glimpse of the next version of Windows to come. It is being said that the current “Consumer Preview” is intended for a broad spectrum testing scenarios within the general public and not only by developers. The Consumer Preview contains a lot of new features and updates to the ones that were shown in the Developer Preview.

“With Windows 8, we reimagined the different ways people interact with their PC and how to make everything feel like a natural extension of the device, whether using a Windows 8 tablet, laptop or all-in-one,” said Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live Division at Microsoft. “The Windows 8 Consumer Preview brings a no-compromises approach to using your PC.”

Download the Consumer Preview here

Some of the key features include :

• Broad range of product changes and improvements. Since the Developer Preview in September, designed to preview the programming platform, Windows 8 has progressed across every dimension. From completing the user experience for touch, keyboard and mouse to refining the development platform, the Consumer Preview improves performance, quality and reliability across all subsystems. With the added features, it represents a more complete view of the capabilities of Windows 8.
• Windows Store with new apps. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview marks the beta opening of the Windows Store, which is filled with a variety of new Metro style apps from both third-party developers and Microsoft. During the Consumer Preview, these apps are available to try and experience at no cost to users. The Windows Store will offer personalized recommendations, and Windows 8 gives users the ability to take their apps and settings with them across multiple PCs, making it easy to discover and try new apps while offering developers the greatest opportunity of any platform.
• Connecting to the cloud across Windows-based PCs and Windows Phone. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview offers seamless integration with the content people care about across their devices. An optional additional sign-on with a Microsoft account provides access to a host of features, including the ability to roam all settings, use cloud storage, communicate with email, calendar and contacts, and connect to a broad range of services. Your connection to the cloud works across your Windows-based PCs and your Windows Phones.
• Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 5. The best way to experience the Web on Windows is with Internet Explorer 10. The browser has been re-imagined to create a new experience designed specifically for Windows 8 devices. It provides an edge-to-edge user interface that is all about less browser and more Web. Fast and fluid, Internet Explorer is hardware-accelerated to enable Web performance.
• Preview of new hardware capabilities. At the event, Microsoft also showcased Windows 8 running on a wide range of new x86- and ARM-based reference hardware. This hardware will be available to select developers for trial and testing as previously announced.

Source: Microsoft press pass

This Video explains the basic difference between the 32 bit & 64 bit Windows. It also explains the function of Windows 7 upgrade advisor & compatibility centre.

It has been said that Windows 8 has been re-imagined & nothing has been left un-explored. Same goes the case with Windows logo. The new Windows logo does look more like a “Window” & not a flag, even when the good old flag design carries long history with it & has been a renowned mark for Microsoft Windows.

In some ways you can trace the evolution of the Windows logo in parallel with the advancements of the technology used to create logos. From the simple two color version in Windows 1.0 to the intricate and detailed renderings in Windows Vista and Windows 7, each change makes sense in the context in which it was created. As computing capabilities increased, so did the use of that horse power to render more colors, better fonts, and more detailed and life-like 3D visual effects like depth, shadows, and materiality. We have evolved from a world of rudimentary low resolution graphics to today’s rich high-resolution systems. And what started as a simple “window” to compliment the product name became a flying or waving flag. – said Microsoft

Here goes the evolution of Windows Logos:

Watch the final part of the video series : Windows 7 security checklist.

Watch the second part of the three part video series where the essential parts of the Windows 7 Security checklist are explained. These features include Windows Defender, Action Centre, User Account Control (UAC), Windows Update, Windows Firewall, Backup & Restore

Watch the three part video series where the essential parts of the Windows 7 Security checklist are explained. These features include Windows Defender, Action Centre, User Account Control (UAC), Windows Update, Windows Firewall, Backup & Restore.

Customizing Windows is something that most of us love to do. There are tons of software out there that offer different solutions or features, but bottom line is that they all offer very limited functionality. UWC ( Ultimate Windows Customizer) is a ALL-IN-ONE integrated solution for customizing Windows that includes everything from customization option for explorer , libraries, taskbar to Windows Media player. UWC works both on 32bit & 64 bit Windows.

Some of the features include:

1. Lets you customize almost all aspects of Windows including, Start Button, Logon Screen,  Windows Explorer, Libraries, Context Menu, Taskbar, Windows Media Player and more
2. Very simple and easy to use. No manual Hacks. No need to manually edit the Windows Registry and Windows System files
3. Tested over and over for compatibility between various customizations.
4. 70+ major features with literally tons of sub-features
5. Built in Update Feature to be easily notified of new updates.
6. Backs up all System Files and Registry Settings that UWC deals with and does not modify these.
7. Error Log for easy display
8. Creates System Restore Point before any customizations are done

Continue Reading & download

Windows 7 being a huge success & a milestone in the operating system history of Microsoft, has brought a new level of development scenarios to the OS development architecture. Windows has always been a frontline product of Microsoft. After Windows 7’s success and a major architecture change, it was time for Microsoft to think something new, to invent something that might change the way people interact with computers.

Microsoft put together www.buildwindows.com that showcases what is being done with the next version of windows and is a ultimate heaven for developers. After months of work the Windows codenamed “Windows 8” was previewed to the Developer community on September 13, 2011. This NextGen, and next version of Windows has been built upon the rock solid platform of Windows 7. Windows 8 at this Milestone has unique User Interface & User Experience styling, which on combination is known as Metro. This Metro UI is the same UI that was used in the Windows Phone 7 devices launched the previous year.

Metro UI, being a NUI ( Natural User Interface ), provides its user with fluent flick & clicks and a very soothing and natural interface that is inspired with the way human interact with things in their daily life. This just not only supports multi-touch in Windows 8, but it serves as a touch-first interface. This UI on ground level is made for touch screen devices but works equally good with normal keyboard and mouse.

What makes a computing experience wonderful ? It is the capabilities and the reliability we get while working. Windows 8 has its own Marketplace or App Store that connect your computer with thousands of apps to choose from, according to your needs and at your desktop. This also gives the application developer a great chance to build and sell their apps anywhere in the world where Windows is sold.

Windows 8 apps are showcased as tiles that fill your screen in order to provide you with enhanced view of the application making is simpler to run and use. The apps on Windows 8 communicate to give you an easier user experience, this means that you can now copy anything like a picture from anywhere say Flickr and post it to Facebook. These Metro styled apps make your life and work easier with all at one place, that is your desktop. You can now sync to cloud services or upload files to SkyDrive right from your app.

When it comes to consumption of system resources, Windows 8 goes one more step ahead of Windows 7 in reducing the memory footprint that is used by the system, making Windows run more efficiently even on low end hardware. Windows 8 also has a system spell checker that truly helps a lot while writing at places where Spell check is not enabled.

Windows 8 also comes with a new Taskbar that is taking a lot of attention. This Taskbar is kind of a Power Bar, that shows you the information in two different ways. If you are normal user who just wants to see what application is running in the system, the taskbar just shows the list of active applications, plain & simple. But for enhanced users, as soon as you click for more information, the Task Manager gets a powerful tool that displays almost all the information one needs for effective computing. This information includes CPU, Memory, Disk usage. The current application usage, services running in the system & much much more.

At this milestone, Windows 8 developer preview showcases some application that adds Social network integration to your desktop. Some of these apps socialite ( Facebook ) & twitter@rama ( for twitter) has been introduced.

Windows 8 runs on everything that includes 10inch tablets to HD screens. It also adds support for ARM based chipset, x86 as well as x32 and x64 devices.Windows 8 support old low-end hardware as well, it also supports the next generation hardware.

Windows 8 Developer preview definitely gives out a sense of future and showcases beautifully the future of operating system that is to come from Microsoft.

As I have just got my hands on Windows 8 Developer preview, my experience will soon follow.

If you are interested, Please download the Developer Preview from : www.buildwindows.com