Windows 8: Administrator Command Prompt Shortcut

If you do a lot of troubleshooting or system diagnostics you will end up working in the administrator command prompt often. Most people might right-click the Command Prompt shortcut icon and then select the Run as administrator option.

Other tricks for starting the command prompt in administrator mode include, from the Run... command or the Start screen you can type CMD and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter.

However, there is an easy way to modify the command prompt shortcut so always start administrator mode.

• Right-click the Command Prompt icon shortcut and select Properties.
• On the Shortcut tab and press the Advanced... button.
• Check the Run as administrator checkbox and then press the OK button.
• Press the button again.

When this shortcut is used it will start the Command Prompt with administrative permissions.

Windows 8: Windows Keyboard Shortcuts for the Taskbar

Below are Windows keyboard shortcuts for the taskbar that work in Windows 8 desktop mode (this tip is backwards compatible with Windows 7).  These shortcuts allow you to access items pinned to the taskbar or any desktop application that is currently running that has its icon in this area.

• WinKey + (Number): Windows automatically assigns keyboard shortcuts to programs in the taskbar on the desktop. To access them, use the WinKey+the number position of the program in the order it appears there.
•  For example, if Internet Explorer is the first icon in your taskbar by pressing WinKey+1 it will open it. If the Windows Explorer is the second icon in your taskbar by pressing WinKey+2 it will open it. 
• WinKey + Shift + (Number): Opens a new instance of the program associate with the WinKey + number position. So if you had one instance of Internet Explorer running this would open up a new copy of the application in memory. 
• WinKey + Ctrl + (Number): Switches to the last instance of that program associated with that WinKey + number position. 
• WinKey + Alt + (Number): Opens the jump menu of the program associated with that WinKey + number position. 

More: Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

Video: Get To Know Windows 8

Video description: "New to Windows 8? This video has all you need to get up to speed."

Video: Windows 8 Leap Motion in Action

I have been following Leap Motion for what feels like forever.  I wonder if it has the potential to help Windows 8 really take off.

Using Windows 8 is okay when using it with a mouse, but its even better with a touchscreen.  With a Leap Motion type of device you have the possibility of having a user interface like 'Minority Report'.

Although, I am prepared to be underwhelmed, but I would like to hope for the best.  It seems these days that most products can't live up to our expectations, but it doesn't make the technology any less cool.

Video description: "It's what we've always envisioned for Leap Motion — to break down the barriers between people and technology. Here's a video to show you how close we are. With Leap Motion technology, Windows OS is natural, easy, and fun to use. You'll navigate your desktop, browse the web, flip through photos, and do everything you do everyday in extraordinary ways —all with the wave of a hand or lift of a finger."

Windows 8: Charm Keyboard Shortcuts

Native Windows 8 applications don't have the traditional drop-down menus (such as File, Edit, etc.) like older desktop applications. Windows 8 apps use the "charms" side menu and the application bar (swipe up from the bottom on a touch screen or press the WinKey+Z) for these features.

The charm menus can be accessed sliding your finger to the left from the right-side of the touchscreen display, or by moving the mouse to the lower or upper right corner of the screen. There are also keyboard shortcuts for accessing these charms directly:

• WinKey + C: Displays the Charms menu on the right side of the screen. 
• From here you can access the Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings menus. 
• WinKey + F: Performs a file search.
• Windows will search for all documents that match the keywords entered.
• WinKey + H: Opens the Sharing charm menu.
•  Allows the sharing of content with people or applications that support this feature.
• WinKey + I: Opens the Setting charm menu. 
• Modify the current application or Start screen application and feature settings.
• WinKey + K: Opens the Device charm menu. 
• Allows you to send content to another device such as a printer.

More: Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

Article: Which browser is safest? The answer may surprise you

Below is an article that I found this morning: "Web browsers are one of the main ways that malware finds its way onto your machine. Tests carried out by NSS Labs looked at the five major players, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer to see which offers the best protection against more than 700 examples of real-world malware.

And the safest is... (Drum roll and a long, reality TV-style pause...) Internet Explorer 10, blocking 99.96 percent of known malicious downloads." (read the rest of the article)

For years Internet Explorer has been lambasted by the press for being insecure. Unfortunately I will have to let its "track record" speak for itself.

Over the last few years Microsoft  put in a lot of energy to improve this application.  What is interesting is that Firefox and Chrome were considered more secure then IE for a long time, but unfortunately over the last few years their security enhancements have been falling behind.

Windows 8: Built-In Applications

Windows 8 comes with several new built-in applications that provide access to a variety of different types of content (news, sports, and weather) and services (email, storage, and more).  The following is an excerpt from the article: "Windows 8 comes with the following built-in touch-optimized applications out-of-the box (meaning that they're installed by default). These apps can perform several different types of functions from managing your digital communications (email, IM, etc.) to browsing the different types of content (movies, videos, pictures, etc.) on your local system.

As I talked about in an earlier article, there are two types of applications available for Windows 8. There are the older desktop applications that are installed by using optical media or by downloading it off the Internet. Then there are the native Windows 8 apps that are written to take advantage of the new Windows UI." (read the rest of the article)

Windows 8: New Features of the OS

As I stated in a previous post, I am working on a series of articles about Windows 8.  This is my second article in the series that briefly explains most of the major new features of the operating system.

Below is an excerpt from the article: 

• "Secure Boot: This is one of the more controversial features of the new operating system especially for Linux users who dual boot their system. This feature is only available on Windows 8 certified computers. The way the UEFI secure boot feature works is that it only allows signed operating systems to boot, this prevents unauthorized code from loading which could contain malware.
• Faster Booting: Windows 8 boots faster because it uses a technique of partially hibernating the system kernel when the computer is shut down. When the system is booted, the ‘memory state’ of the previous session gets reinitialized more quickly."  (read the rest of the article)