On occasion a misbehaving program may prevent Windows from shutting down. [Read more…] about Fix – Programs Prevent Windows Shutdown
This Site
Avoiding The OpenCandy Installer
Many good freeware programs come bundled with the OpenCandy installer. This article provides information on OpenCandy and shows how to avoid it.
[Read more…] about Avoiding The OpenCandy Installer
Basic Browser Security – Passwords
This article is about protecting your browser passwords. It covers; Password protecting the browser, 2 factor authentication, and password managers. [Read more…] about Basic Browser Security – Passwords
Basic Browser Security – Private Browsing
This article covers private browsing for Windows, Linux, and mobile platforms.
Private Browsing
(Also called Privacy mode, InPrivate browsing, Incognito mode.)
Basically when using private browsing most of the stuff usually stored on your computer by the browser no longer is. Among other things this includes cookies, history, and passwords. The security advantage of this is obvious (less stored information = less chance information is compromised). This browsing mode is not only useful on public machines but also shared computers at home and on mobile devices. [Read more…] about Basic Browser Security – Private Browsing
Random Friday Stuff
Short version today. I’m off to watch the Redskins practice!
Paul Thurrott has an interesting take on Windows 8 usage:
“So over 1-in-3 Windows 8 licenses sales were downgraded (or not otherwise used).”
Slightly surprising but understandable given many peoples feelings about Windows 8.
For those who are interested, here is How To Downgrade Windows 8.
Puran File Recovery 1.1 released. “Version 1.1 Added support for multiple languages” Those guys really need a blog or Twitter page, or something. My review here.
Hope y’all have a safe and happy weekend!
How To Downgrade Windows 8
I’m not advocating it, but I understand some people may want to downgrade Windows 8. Here is how to do it:
See: Microsoft – Understanding Downgrade Rights
Downgrade only supported from from Windows 8 Pro to Windows 7 Pro (or Vista Biz, LOL).
Steps:
1 – You must have Windows 8 Pro (with license key)
2 – You’ll need a Windows 7 DVD or ISO.
You can download ISO’s here:
Windows 7 Professional with SP1 32-bit
Windows 7 Professional with SP1 64-bit
To create a DVD from an ISO use CDBurnerXP.
To create a bootable flash drive see: Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool. (If you have issues with this see here.)
3 – Install Windows 7 Pro. Do a clean install via instructions here: Installing Windows 7
4 – Activation. When entering key you will probably need to use the “Activation Support phone number” as per the Understanding Downgrade Rights above. Explain what you are doing. They will give you an activation code.
5 – That’s it!
The Security Realm – Microsoft Medieval Style Infographic
Thought this was cool looking. Would make a great Geeky poster. [Read more…] about The Security Realm – Microsoft Medieval Style Infographic
Random Friday Stuff
You hardcore overclockers should head over to Ninja Lane. They reviewed the beautiful Gigabyte Z87X OC and they liked it.
Apple fanboys are excitedly parroting the news that Apple was named “brand of the year“. To the rest of us it affirms the moniker iSheep.
Houses and cars are predictably being hacked. I’ve always wondered why “critical systems” are connected to the outside world. For you and me our houses and cars are about as critical as it gets.
“Tweak and Customize”. These are synonyms dude. Just sayin’. 😉
Windows NT is 20 years old!
“XP Retirement Party”. This infographic made the rounds this week with many Windows pundits saying good riddance. The poster was really just cry for you to buy Windows 8. While Microsoft and many Geeks agree that folks should move on, perhaps they should ask, “why the resistance?” Maybe, just maybe, they should give folks what they want and stop trying to tell them how they should be using their PC. Start menu anyone?
Sir Mick Jagger turned 70 today. How he made it that far is beyond me. Cheers Mick (hope you get a Little T&A). :clink:
Hope you all have a great weekend! I’m headed out to a Redskins Rally for a beer or two (checking out the cheerleaders too 😉 )
Bad Tweak – useplatformclock true
Article revised and merged. See: Timer Tweaks Benchmarked
Random Saturday Stuff
I got busy and didn’t get around to posting yesterday. To me, it was a pretty boring week news wise. I really couldn’t give a rip about the Microsoft re-org which seemed to be the major headline this week.
Not new and certainly not concise but the Makeuseof Best Of Apps is the best I’ve seen.
The How-To Geek has a handy article up: How to Easily Transfer Files Between Nearby Smartphones
Not news. This week several sites mentioned an article where the author discovered that if Firefox is running slow it may help to disable hardware acceleration. This “new discovery” has been known by Geeks for some time thanks to the Mozilla support page and 2 year old articles like this one. :rolleyes:
System Ninja 2.4.3 is out. It is another good system cleaner brought to you by the same folks who do CCEnhancer.
One change to Android Apps I Use. I had to switch from AdFree Android to AdAway as it was causing too many issues navigating sites.