PC Makers still mum on Windows 8 Support and its Upgrades

Windows 8 upgrades

The first wave of laptops with Intel’s latest third-generation Core processors has already started shipping this week with Windows 7 operating system. However, PC makers are still quiet on what it would take to upgrade the same to run on Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8. According to a representative from Dell, the company is currently unable to disclose what Windows 8 support and upgrades would follow on with its hardware. This is light of a non-disclosure agreement with Microsoft. Similarly, Samsung, which released a new laptop this week, did not respond to requests for comment. And Acer, which released a desktop last week, said it could not comment on the topic at this time.

A company spokesman from Microsoft has altogether confirmed on the same in an email stating that Microsoft has been declining comments on Windows 8 and its upgrade paths for now, but the company will “have more to share at a later time”.

Windows 8 Support for PCs, Laptops, Tablets and other devices

Microsoft plans on releasing multiple versions of the new OS:

Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro for x86 PCs and tablets
Windows RT for ARM-based devices

However, the software giant as we already know has no support for direct upgrades to Windows 7 from Windows XP. And as such, it requires users to backup data and reload all of their programs. Additionally, upgrades to Windows 7 are also constrained on Windows Vista, limited only to specific versions of the OS.

PC makers usually launch new laptops accordingly when Intel or Advanced Micro Devices releases new chips.

The new laptops that shipped out this week include Dell’s Alienware series of gaming laptops and Samsung’s Series 7 Gamer laptop. These new laptops have Intel’s high end Core i5 and Core i7 processors which are based on the latest Ivy Bridge micro architecture. The new chips deliver around 15 to 20% CPU performance improvement and up to 2 times better 3D graphics than the second generation Core processors based on the Sandy Bridge micro architecture.

Hundreds of lesser priced mainstream laptops with Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors are expected to ship by June. Intel’s rival, Advanced Micro Devices, said of the new laptops that the one’s priced at around $500 with its latest chips, code named Trinity, will start shipping later this quarter. And the same laptops will ship with Windows 7 until Windows 8 is released.

Windows 8 upgrades

So to conclude, it is likely by the end of June or the by the start of July that Microsoft may come forward with details on programs with Windows 8 Support. But for now, it is just a matter of waiting.

How to Erase or Format your Hard Drive in Windows 8 with Windows 8 Support

Windows 8 Support, Formatting hard drive

Formatting successful

Chances are, you might encounter a few unfortunate conditions when you may want to completely reformat your hard drive. This could be for common reasons pertaining to your system being corrupt or being infected by a virus that you simply cannot seem to get rid of. In any case, the Windows 8 support team explains that formatting a system drive is quite simple and can be successfully performed without any hassle.

Now, given below are the steps as suggested by the Windows 8 support team in getting you to successfully format your hard drives and get rid of any problems or issues on your Windows 8 computer. Let us take a look shall we?

Erasing or formatting your Hard Drive with Windows 8 support

Before you proceed with the steps in formatting your system hard drive, Windows 8’s support team explains that you should always have two hard drives, wherein you can install your version of Windows on the new hard drive and then add both the drives to your PC. Also, note to boot into the drive you wish to keep.

And so to begin with the steps, you will first need to log in to your Windows 8 computer as administrator and then click on the “Desktop” icon from Windows “Start Metro” menu.
Following which, right click on the “Computer” or “My Computer” shortcut icon and then “Manage”.
Once you see that the computer management screen has been displayed, navigate to the “Disk Management” option on the left pane. Then on the opposite right hand side, you will be able to see a list of attached hard disks.
Formatting successful
The support team suggests you right click on the disk you wish to format and then click on the “Format” option.
This will open up another context menu from which you should be able to select your preferred formatting option, format timings and also the format type for your HDD. Simply hit on “Ok” to initiate the formatting operation.

NOTE: Always make sure that the same disk you are formatting does not have any of your data because such an action cannot be undone. And the data once formatted will be irrecoverable.

This completes our guide to successfully format your system hard drive of your computer problems and issues. Ciao!

Windows 8 support on the decline of DVD playback feature

DVD playback declined

Whatever wonderful features Windows 8 has, compared to any other Windows or non-Windows operating systems, one thing which really puts it off is the video playing capability of the operating system. Yes, I mean it, Windows 8 will not have the DVD playback support by default. DVD, Blu-ray playback, broadcast TV- all these features can’t be played in the new operating system. Thus, licensing specialized decoders for the operating system is no longer a good option.

Explanation for the change

Windows 8 support, as usual, comes with an explanation for this situation. It says that the Windows Media Player can be used only for playing music and video files; DVDs cannot be played. To playback DVDs, users will have to upgrade the Media center. Windows Media center is available as an Add Feature in the Windows 8 Control Panel. Windows 8 support says that, once the feature is added, DVD and VOB file playback, broadcast TV recording and playback capabilities are fully integrated in the operating system. However, the Media Center upgrade doesn’t come free, there is a marginal fee involved. And that amount will be announced only when the final Windows 8 version is launched; or around that time, nothing has been made clear yet!

The irony of the condition is, though Microsoft asks us to upgrade the Media center, only 6% of Windows 7 users have Media center feature in their system. So how is the upgrade going to happen?

Beats me!

Alternative ways for DVD playback

One good thing about the computer world and the tech geeks are that the doors are never closed; when one door closes, others open. What if Windows 8 don’t have default DVD playback options, there are tons of third party software available for this. Microsoft is also

DVD playback declined

including online media support in the operating system. Standards like H.264, VC-1, MP4, AAC, WMA, MP3, PCM and Dolby Digital Plus codecs have been included. Yet, devices like Ultrabooks and tablets that don’t need optical drivers to play DVDs will support windows 8. Hence, it will be a bad idea to pay licensing fees for these devices.

All you Windows 7 users who want to try out Windows 8, note the changes that have been made, before going for the upgrade. For more information, visit the Windows 8 support website!

How to bring “Start” button back in Windows 8 with Windows 8 Support

windows 8 support options

For a lot of you Windows 8 users, if you wish to customize your Metro UI and instead bring back the old classic “Start” menu, do so by following the simple guide as formulated by the Windows 8 Support team below.

Bringing back Windows “Start” button/Orb with Windows 8 Support

Given below are the steps following which you can successfully configure your Windows 8 Metro User Interface with the classic Windows “Start” button/Orb:

Start by launching your web browser and then download and save the app “ViStart” (allows you to configure old Windows “Start” menu on Windows 8).
Now double click on the execution file to run the same app. You can make sure to decline unnecessary options for toolbars bundled with the app (assuming you don’t want them of course).
So once the installation completes, the “Start” button/orb should be back on your Metro screen. However, there have been reports and complains from a few users about the orb and Taskbar overlapping. If this is also the case for you unfortunately, do not panic. Simply continue with the following steps to resolve the issue:
To proceed, understand that you will need a new blank toolbar. And for it, create a new folder and save it to a location as per you preference. After which, right click on your toolbar followed by the new toolbar. Now locate the folder you just created and click on “Select Folder”. This action will have the same folder added to your taskbar.
Next up, right click on the taskbar and uncheck the option “Lock the Taskbar”. Now drag and drop the new folder toolbar to the start of the taskbar. You will see that there is a lot of empty space between the folder toolbar and your program buttons.
So uncheck both the options “Show Text” and “Show Title” and then move your program buttons closer to the start orb.
Finally, lock your taskbar to see that the issue with the overlapping is no more.

Bringing back classic “Start” menu with Windows 8 Support

Bringing back the classic “Start” menu is yet another option you have in case you don’t want the classic Windows “Start” button/orb. And so to proceed with this:

You will need to first right click on your “Taskbar” and select “Toolbars”, followed by “New Toolbars”.
And from the resulting dialog box, copy and paste “%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs” followed by “Enter”; then hit on the “Select Folder” button.
Next up, uncheck the “Lock the Taskbar” option once all programs have been added onto your toolbar from the previous action.
Finally, drag the taskbar so that your programs toolbar is right next to the “Start” orb.

And you are done. This completes our steps!

mily:K�kA��P(�Aserif”;mso-fareast-font-family: “Book Antiqua”;mso-bidi-font-family:”Book Antiqua”‘>2. Copy old files to new profile

To do so, navigate to “C:\Users\Corrupted_Profile_Name\”.
Now copy all files except the 3 as listed below from the same folder:

NtUser.dat

windows 8 support options

NtUser.ini
NtUser.log

If in case the last file is missing, then there should be 2 log files with “.LOG1” and “.LOG2”.
However, if in case you cannot view these files, you will have to uncheck the option “Hide protected operating system files” from “Folder View” options in “Control Panel”.
Finally, navigate to “C:\Users\New_Profile_Name\” and paste all of the files you copied earlier.

And you are done. You can now delete the corrupted profile and get rid of your Windows 8 problems.