Microsoft enters the lucrative app market, no surprise here. While "Windows Store" (which is the company's name for the online app shop) obviously doesn't work in this early build, the related DLLs and XML resources are already in place and ready to be examined by a variety of tools, such as PE Explorer or Resource Hacker.
All the basic features of any app store are also present in Windows Store -- such as the ability to browse through categories, make in-app purchases, rate apps, download trials and so forth. New, however, is the ability to "stream" apps to your PC, which could lead to a couple of scenarios: 1) an app could be launched instantly after the purchase -- no need to wait until it is fully downloaded; 2) apps could be hosted in the cloud so that users stream only the part of the app they need at any given moment. That would be convenient for someone who'd like a larger product, say an Office suite, on a tablet with limited disk space, or who'd like to access the app from another machine.
Windows 8 collects all apps in its own "Application Explorer" and categorizes each app as either an "Immersive" or a traditional "Desktop" application (see below for more on that):
2. Two-class society
Windows 8 will come in two separate interfaces flavors -- one traditional UI that resembles Windows 7's Aero and one touch-friendly UI specifically tailored to tablets dubbed "Immersive UI". The latter isn't fully implemented (or is too well hidden) in the early Milestone build, yet some specific tablet applications have already been unlocked:
Internet Explorer Immersive: A touch-centric version of Microsoft's IE browser that includes just an address bar (which auto-hides), a browser history and a tabbed view.
Modern Reader: Microsoft's own implementation of a (basic) PDF viewer that has only bare navigation and bookmarking support. (Still, Adobe likely won't be too happy about this.)
System Settings: A touch-optimized "Control Panel" that caters to mobile needs, such as connectivity, time zone settings or device management.
These few tablet apps are literally the tip of the iceberg -- the entire UI has yet to be revealed. While digging through Windows 8's various files, I found hints suggesting that users will be able to switch between the traditional Windows 8 UI and the tablet UI, through what's codenamed the "UIPicker". Also, we've found traces of a "Dock" that is supposed to hold built-in Windows features (such as a search box) and 3rd party apps.
3. Boot in under 20 seconds?
Windows 8 sports a new Hybrid Boot mode which drastically reduces (cold) boot time and will most likely be the default boot option going forward. In essence, it's a combination of "Log Off" and "Hibernate" -- the moment users click on the shutdown button, Windows closes all running applications, logs off and then goes into hibernation mode. Instead of booting up regularly, which usually involves loading hundreds of files and initializing services, drivers and so forth, Windows 8 simply loads the single hibernation file into memory and presents you with the log on screen. I've bench-marked the results on two machines and came away impressed:
However, Hybrid Boot works only if users actually shut down their machines. If a user restarts his or her machine, it boots up cold.
4. Automatic Maintenance
Microsoft puts a heavy emphasis on optimizing and increasing overall stability of Windows 8: A new "Automatic Maintenance" regularly checks for solutions to problems (via Windows Error Report), runs the .NET Optimization Service and defrags all hard disks automatically -- all of this happens while the PC is on idle, of course.
5. Disk Defragmenter Speaking of defragmentation, the new Disk Defragmenter is finally capable of handling SSD drives and allows users to perform the TRIM command much easier than in Windows 7.
In addition, I've found a new Windows service called "Spot Verifier". According to its descriptions and its related DLL files, it checks for bad sectors in real-time and marks them as "bad" in order to avoid data loss or damage. I've also dug up traces of some underlying file system changes that I couldn't quite make sense of, such as an entirely new file system driver called "NT Protogon FS driver", which looks like a kernel mode driver for some sort of (yet unknown) file system called Protogon. It's unclear, whether this is a major new file system or just some minor subsystem.
6. Performance boost
In the performance department, Microsoft has also made some serious improvements: After four weeks of productive use (and even putting it under the load of dozens of applications), Windows 8 somehow manages to perform snappier than an identically configured Windows 7 installation. The log on/off process, launching applications, doing heavy multitasking and performing day-to-day tasks is just a tad quicker -- Microsoft managed to reduce any delay there was and improve responsiveness.
7. Usability goal: Click reduction
Neither the traditional nor the classic Windows UI are anywhere near finished. Yet, Microsoft's usability department is busy simplifying the user interface and reducing overall complexity.
For example, once you connect to a public Wi-Fi, Windows 8 offers a new dialog to enter the user name and password to get online access:
Windows 7 users would need to connect to the Wi-Fi, open up a browser and then wait for the online provider's landing page to pop up.
8. Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer is the next tool that received (quite) a UI overhaul and a perfect example of where Microsoft reduces the steps necessary to perform tasks: Like it or not, Windows 8 is likely to come with a ribbonized version of Windows Explorer, as first revealed by Windows experts Paul Thurott and Rafael Rivera. While actually working with this explorer for a couple of weeks we have to admit that, despite its hideous look, it's absolutely wonderful to work with. Day-to-day file tasks are simpler and the ribbon adapts to the file contents (for example, "Music Tools" below).
9. ISO mounting
Additionally, Windows 8 sports its own ISO mounting tool, thus eliminating the need to go and download 3rd party tools, which are often riddled with annoying toolbars and ads.
10: Windows Time Machine
Last but not least, Microsoft finally managed to give its "Restore Previous Versions" (Volume Shadow Copy) feature a usable and intuitive interface: History Vault lets you go back in time and restore earlier versions of a folder – just in case you accidentally made some unwanted changes or deleted some of its contents, which is pretty similar to Apples Time Machine in Mac OS X.
This is the kind of stuff they'll make all the usability fanatics go wild: Technology that has been there before, but which is (for the first time ever) actually easy to use and accessible to beginners. More to come?
Windows 8 won't be available next year, but even this early build looks promising and we believe there is still tons of hidden stuff to be discovered. We'll keep you posted on our findings.
To run a 64-bit version of Windows, your computer must have a 64-bit-capable processor. To find out if your processor is 64-bit-capable in Windows 7 or Windows Vista, do the following:
Open Performance Information and Tools by clicking the Start buttonof the Start button, and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type Performance Information and Tools, and then, in the list of results, click Performance Information and Tools.
Do one of the following:
In Windows 7, click View and print detailed performance and system information.
In Windows Vista, click View and print details.
In the System section, you can see what type of operating system you're currently running under System type, and whether or not you can run a 64-bit version of Windows under 64-bit capable. (If your computer is already running a 64-bit version of Windows, you won't see the 64-bit capable listing.)
To see whether a computer running Windows XP is capable of running a 64-bit version of Windows, do the following:
Click Start.
Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
If "x64 Edition" is listed under System, your processor is capable of running a 64-bit version of Windows.
If you don't see "x64 Edition" listed, your processor still might be capable of running a 64-bit version of Windows. To find out for sure, download and run the free Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor webpage.
If you don’t use the Hibernate option in Windows 7, you can save some disk space by disabling it. Here we will look at a few different ways to manage hibernate options in Windows 7.
Note: Hibernate mode is not an option on systems with 4GB of RAM or more.
Enable or Disable Hibernate Through Command Prompt
Using the Command Prompt might be the easiest way to enable or disable Hibernation. Click on Start and type CMD into the search box and it will be listed under programs. Right-click on the icon and select Run as administrator.
The Command Prompt opens and you will use the following to enable Hibernation.
powercfg /hibernate on
Type in the following to disable hibernation.
powercfg /hibernate off
Manage Hibernation Through Control Panel
Click on Start and open Control Panel then click on Power Options.
On the left side click on Change when the computer sleeps.
Now click on Change advanced power settings.
In the Advanced Power Options window expand the Sleep tree then expand Hibernate after and change the minutes to zero to turn it off. Or you can specify the amount of minutes you want to pass before it goes into hibernation.
After you’ve made your selection click Apply and Ok then close out of the remaining screens.
Where is Hibernate?
What if you try the command line option to turn it on and Hibernate mode still isn’t available? Then what you’ll want to do is disable Hybrid Sleep by expanding Allow hybrid sleep and turning it Off.
Now you should have Hibernate and Sleep as part of the power options in the start menu and will also be an option when you hit Ctrl+Alt+Del.
Disable Hibernate Through Regedit
Note: Changing registry values can cause your computer to become unstable or stop functioning and is only recommended for experienced users.
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way…you might want to completely disable Hibernate mode through a registry edit. Open the Registry and browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Power and change both HiberFileSizePercent and HibernateEnabled value data to zero. After you’ve made the changes close out of the Registry Editor and restart the machine.
If you always turn off your computer or never do, you can disable the Hibernate mode to gain a bit of extra hard disk space. On our Windows 7 (32-bit) machine with a 300GB hard drive, disabling Hibernation gained us just over 3GB of more disk space. That may not seem like much especially with today’s high capacity drives, but if you don’t need Hibernation, why not reclaim that space?
In SOLARIS, uname -r will give you the solaris release level. some other useful options with uname are
uname -s [Operating system] SunOS
uname -r [Release version] 5.8
For example if output is: 2.6.22-14-generic
then it denotes: * 2 : Kernel version * 6 : The major revision of the kernel * 22 : The minor revision of the kernel * 14 : Immediate fixing / bug fixing for critical error * generic : Distribution specific sting. For example, Redhat appends string such as EL5 to indicate RHEL 5 kernel.
uname -v Generic_117350-27[OS version]
uname -a SunOS hostname 5.8 Generic_117350-27 sun4u sparc The last two words describes h/w name and processor respctl[equivalent to -m and -p),
$ cat /etc/redhat-release Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5 (Tikanga) this command return the Centos version
To find the Memory details:
dmesg | grep ^Memory:
Output: Memory: 1734144k/1792092k available (2512k kernel code, 49156k reserved, 1396k data, 184k init) The second value is the physical RAM size. It'll also tell you what other junk is subtracted from that to give you what you get with "free".. Source
With Aero Flip 3D, you can quickly preview all of your open windows
(for example, open files, folders, documents and programs) without accessing the taskbar. It displays your open windows in a visually pleasing stack.
To use Flip 3D, click and hold the Windows button together with the Tab key.
As you hold the windows button press the tab key to rotate the stack. This will move the windows in a queue so you can see all of your windows in sequence. Once you see the window that you want to view, release the windows button. The window when you release the windows button will be the active window.
Alt-Tab on the other hand will show the opened windows too, but in a different visual presentation. Instead of a 3D stack, it displays the each of the windows’ thumbnails. On Windows XP, Alt-Tab displays the icons of the programs instead of thumbnails. You can switch between windows by continually pressing Tab while holding Alt.
You can also move around by using the arrow keys instead of the Tab key.
Note:Flip 3D is part of the Aero experience. If your computer does not support Aero, or if you are using a theme other than a Windows 7 Aero theme, you can view the open programs and windows on your computer by pressing Alt+Tab.
If you find the traditional Alt-Tab method to be boring, the Flip 3D method is a good alternative. The only downside is that you need to have a hardware that supports Aero.
Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and recently Apple TV users to gain root access to the command line of the iOS operating system, thereby removing usage and access limitations imposed by Apple. Once jailbroken,[1] iOS users are able to download extensions and themes that are unavailable through the App Store (via installers such as Cydia) and perform other tasks that are not possible on store-bought devices, including installing non-Apple operating systems such as Linux. A jailbroken iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch running iOS can still use the App Store and iTunes and other normal functions, such as making telephone calls.
Jailbreaking is different from SIM unlocking, which, once completed, means that the mobile phone will accept any SIM without restriction on, for example, the country or network operator of the owners choice. Under the DMCA of 2010, jailbreaking is legal in the United States, although Apple may claim it to void your warranty. It is also legal in many other countries including the EU. The jailbreaking process can be quickly and easily reversed by restoring the device in iTunes.
Cydia creator Jay Freeman estimates that over 10% of all iPhones are jailbroken.
In essence, jailbreaking your iPhone means freeing it from the limitations imposed on it by AT&T and Apple. You install a software application on your computer, and then transfer it to your iPhone, where it "breaks open" the iPhone’s file system to allow you to modify it.
Why Would I Want to Jailbreak My Phone?
It lets you do everything from customizing the look of your iPhone to installing third-party applications and customized ringtones on it. Depending on how far you're willing to go, you can do even more than that: Jailbreaking even lets you to unlock your phone so you can use it with a carrier other than AT&T.
Why Wouldn't I Want to Jailbreak My iPhone?
Once you do it, you're on your own. You may have voided your warranty, so you can't rely on AT&T or Apple to fix any problems you encounter. All of the applications that jailbreak your phone are unauthorized and could damage or completely disable your iPhone. Your slick smartphone could end up as nothing more than a very expensive paperweight.
Can I Fix My iPhone if Something Goes Wrong?
Maybe. Some users have reported that they were able to connect a malfunctioning iPhone to iTunes and restore it to its original settings, which resolved the problem. Not all users have had this experience, though, and you certainly can't count on AT&T or Apple to provide you with tech support once you've taken this unauthorized step.
