Windows 8.1 is here, and for the most part, we dig it.
The first major update to Microsoft’s Windows 8 OS, Windows 8.1 isn’t a
wholesale refresh so much as a series of smaller tuneups that come
together to smoothen out its predecessor’s rough edges. If
you’re a staunch anti-Start-screenite, Windows 8.1 won’t change your
mind, but it does make a handful of concessions to you and your ilk. And
if you’re already down with Microsoft’s new touch-centric ways, the
update makes things even better. Either way, there’s more than a few new
things to see here, so here’s a quick rundown of how you can take
advantage of them.
The New Start Button
The
most publicized part of Windows 8.1 is also the least significant. Yes,
the Start button is back at home in the bottom left corner of the
desktop, but it still doesn’t bring the Windows 7-era Start menu back
with it.
Instead, simply tapping or clicking on it will bring you over to the
new Start screen. Putting the button back is a nice way to show
Microsoft is at least somewhat listening to its audience, but its vision
for the future of computing seems to be set in stone.
Booting to the Desktop
Windows
8.1’s new “boot to desktop” option is probably going to be the most
useful addition for old-school Windows users. When it’s enabled, it does
exactly what its name suggests–instead of going to the Start screen
when you boot up your computer, you can go straight into desktop mode
and ignore those ‘live tiles’ completely.
To do this, all you have to do is right-click on the desktop taskbar,
select Properties, click on the Navigation tab, and then check off the
box next to the phrase “When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go
to the desktop instead of Start.” Hit Apply and OK, and then you’re all
ready to ignore the ‘Modern UI’ for as long as you’d like.
Shutting Down Faster
The
Win+X menu has gotten a bit of a boost with Windows 8.1 too, but its
most useful tuneup is its new quick shut down option. Pressing the
Windows and X keys together or right-clicking on the new Start button
will bring up, among other things, a “Shut down or sign out” prompt.
Select it, and you can, well, shut down or sign out of your PC without
having to go through the old convoluted method of powering down from the
Start screen. Nothing major, sure, but it might save you a headache or
two.
Keeping Your Background Consistent
One of the more aesthetically pleasing upgrades with Windows 8.1 is
the ability to make your Start screen background the same as your
desktop’s background. There’s no significant step to make it happen–just
set an image as your background like you normally would, and it’ll
carry over to both sections.
If you want to change the Start screen’s background back to what it
was before–or to one of the new colors Microsoft’s included with the
Windows 8.1 update–just swipe open the charms bar while you’re on the
Start screen, press Settings, then Personalize, and then change away.
Expanding Your Lock Screen
Along those lines, Windows 8.1 also expands the lock screen’s
functionality. Now, you can set it to display a photo slideshow by going
to Settings from the charms bar, then clicking Change PC Settings, then
hitting Lock screen under the Personalization menu, and then swiping
the “Play a slideshow on the lock screen” option to on. From there, you
can display photos that are either stored locally on your PC or stashed
in your SkyDrive account.
In those same settings, you can also choose to access a variety of apps
from the lock screen. Microsoft’s native camera app is the most
integrated one–once you ensure that the “Swipe down on the lock screen
to use the camera” option is turned on, you’ll be able to–you guessed
it–swipe down on the lock screen to access your PC’s shooter.
Furthermore, the lock screen settings now let you enable certain apps
to show quick notifications while you’re signed out. If you receive a
phone call while signed into Skype, for instance, you’ll be able to
answer it while your PC is locked.
Skype and the default mail, alarm, and calendar apps will display
status updates on the lock screen by default, but the aforementioned
settings menu lets you enable notifications from up to three other apps
like Twitter, NFL Mobile, and Facebook as well.
Reorganizing Your Start Screen
While those new desktop and lock screen features are worth noting,
the majority of Windows 8.1’s upgrades apply to Microsoft’s ‘Modern UI’
interface. More specifically, you can now organize your Start screen in a
few new ways.
For one, app tiles on the Start screen can be resized into two new
shapes: a smaller square one, and a larger square one. We find the
smaller ones to be particularly handy, as you can now fit four small
tiles in the same space as one medium one.
But whatever your preference, changing these tile sizes is done the
same way as before–just long press or right-click whatever Start screen
app you want to change, hit the Resize button that appears on the bottom
menu bar, and select its shape.
Long pressing an app will also bring up another one of Windows 8.1’s
new features, which is the ability to organize particular apps into a
named group. So if you wanted to put Twitter, Facebook, and Skype
together under one group called “Social media,” just long press one of
those apps, type “Social media” into one of the “Name group” bars that
will appear near the top of the screen, and slide over your chosen
programs under that new banner.
Making Better Use of Apps View
The Apps view is back and can still be accessed by swiping down on
the Start screen, but it’s worth mentioning that apps can now organized
by the date they were installed, how frequently they’re used, and their
category (Kindle is a “Books & Reference” app, Evernote and Calendar
are “Productivity” apps, etc.). These options can be accessed by
tapping “by name” (or however you have it organized at any given time)
at the top of the Apps view screen.
By right-clicking on the desktop taskbar, clicking Properties, and
going to the Navigation tab, you can further change the way you use the
Apps view too. There, you can check off boxes to make Apps view the
default view when you hit any Start button, to make it so desktop apps
are automatically listed first in the Apps view, and to make it so
searching in Apps view returns results from everywhere on your PC rather
than just your apps themselves.
Preparing for Quiet Hours
Windows 8.1 expands the Modern UI app catalogue, but it also gives
you the ability to turn off any notifications you receive from those
apps for a select period of time. It’s a feature that’s been done
before, but Microsoft calls it “Quiet Hours,” and it can be accessed in
the same Change PC Settings menu we mentioned earlier. From there, you
go to Search and Apps, and then Notifications. Then you can change your
particular Quiet Hours, or turn the setting on or off entirely.
Reshaping Your Apps
One of the most obvious complaints with Windows 8’s Modern UI was its
poor multitasking capabilities, but Microsoft has at least made some
steps towards fixing things this time around. Instead of only being
able to have a maximum of two apps on screen at once, you can now have
up to five–provided that your monitor(s) have enough room, at least.
Even if they don’t, though, Windows 8.1 gives you a little more
control over the window sizes of whatever apps you have going on.
Instead of strictly taking up either half or a third of your display,
the apps can now take up as little or as large amount of space as you’d
like when you adjust the sliders on screen. Any app can now have more
than one of these “snapped” windows open at once as well.
‘Smart’ Searching with Bing
Windows 8.1’s most impressive new feature is also its easiest to use.
Microsoft’s essentially baked its Bing search engine into the OS
itself, and the result is an attractive and highly practical search
function that can give you info from your PC, apps, and the web all at
once. Activating it is done the same way as before–either select Search
from the charms bar or just start typing your query at any point while
you’re on the Start screen–but the improvements here make search more
unified, intelligent, and accessible than it was in Windows 8.
Taking Your SkyDrive Docs Offline
As it did with Bing, Microsoft has made it a point to make SkyDrive a
fundamental part of Windows 8.1. If you use Dropbox or Google Drive,
there’s not much for you here. But if you’re already on Microsoft’s
cloud storage bandwagon, Windows 8.1 will let you save and sync all of
your files from your PC by default–if you’re online, that is.
Thankfully, though, Microsoft has also added in the ability to easily
save your SkyDrive docs for offline viewing and editing. If you’re in
the SkyDrive folder in File Explorer, just right click on a file and
select the “Make available offline” prompt. And if you’re in the
SkyDrive Modern UI app, just swipe any files and select the “Make
offline” option that will appear at the bottom. If those offline files
end up taking up too much local storage space for your liking, you’re
able to make them online-only again.
Saving Good Reads in Reading List
Microsoft’s fine tuned a wide variety of Windows’ built-in apps with
the 8.1 update, with everything from Mail to Xbox Music to Internet
Explorer becoming noticeably more functional.
A few new native apps were added as well, though, and our favorite of
the bunch is Reading List. The reading app is essentially Microsoft’s
take on Pocket, but like the updated Bing and SkyDrive apps, it
impresses by being so deeply integrated with the OS itself.
It can be accessed like any other app, but adding articles and other
snippets from the web to your Reading List is quite simple. When you’re
in the Modern UI’s Internet Explorer app, just select the Share option
from the charms bar, and you’ll see an icon to bookmark your current web
page for later reading. Hit it, and it’ll be saved in Reading List for
later.
It’s also worth noting that the Modern UI version of Internet
Explorer supports a new “Reading View” option that presents web pages in
a warmer and (generally) more aesthetically pleasing format. You can
access that for articles and the like by clicking on the little book
icon next to the bottom-based address bar in IE 11.
Subtle Improvements
There
are a few other goodies included with Windows 8.1, but the acts of
using them are mostly self-explanatory. The Windows Store is better
looking, a handful of new apps have been added, and the whole thing runs
like a dream on Windows 8 machines. It doesn’t fix all of the
larger-scale issues with Windows 8, but it’s certainly a step in the
right direction. Take advantage of all the new things it has to offer,
and you just might come around on Microsoft’s new methods. Maybe.
Nelson Mandela dead: Three wives and a family life haunted by shadow of tragedy
South
Africa was moving forward, but nothing could make up for the toll taken
on his family life by his years in prison – and before that on the run
Taken its toll: Mandela's personal life was filled with
sadness, his second daughter Makaziwe was named after his first daughter
who died aged nine months
Getty
Mandela's personal life was filled with sadness and tragedy.
South
Africa was moving forward, but nothing could make up for the toll taken
on his family life by his years in prison – and his years before that on the run as a wanted man.
Known
worldwide for his warmth and humanity, Mandela admitted he had been “a
demanding, ambitious father” and “physically undemonstrative” with his
children.
Married
three times, he fathered six children and had more than 20 grandchildren
and 13 great-grandchildren. But, in his lifetime, he also
lost two sons, a daughter and a great-granddaughter in tragic
circumstances. While in prison, he also missed the funerals of his
mother and son, when the authorities refused to let him attend them.
After
stepping
down as President in 1999, he set about making amends to his family –
becoming a father to his children as well as a nation.
The
irony was that Mandela loved children. He delighted in spending time
with his sons, daughters and grandchildren – and in meeting every new
great-grandchild. He later moved back to the town where he was born,
Qunu, to live as simply as his status would allow. With third wife Graca
he also supported children’s charities and loved to be surrounded by
young people. First wife: Evelyn
Getty
Still, the shadows of the past were never far away.
Mandela’s first marriage, to Evelyn Ntoko Mase, lasted 13 years but was
put under strain by his days on the run as a revolutionary, when he
would pop up at rallies all over the country confounding the authorities
but could never return to his family home.
Three
of four children from that first marriage died. The couple’s first
daughter, Makaziwe, died from illness aged just nine months and they
named their second daughter in her honour.
Their
eldest son Thembi, 25, died in a car crash in 1969, Mandela –
imprisoned on Robben Island – was not allowed to go to his funeral.
Then,
when
the couple’s youngest son Makgatho died from Aids in 2005, it inspired
Mandela to take up the fight against the disease – using his famous name
to challenge the taboos surrounding it. Makgatho: Died from Aids, aged 54
Reuters
He
led by example, saying that he wanted to let it be known publicly how
his son had died. “That is why I announced my son has died of Aids,” he
said. “Let us give publicity to HIV/Aids and not hide it, because the
only way to make it appear like a normal illness, like TB, like cancer,
is always to come out and say somebody has died of HIV/Aids and people
will stop regarding it as extraordinary.”
In 2003, he established a campaign to fight Aids that was so close to his heart he gave it his prison number, 46664.
Apart
from
the loss of his children and the road accident that killed his
great-granddaughter Zenami in 2010, there were other deep sadnesses.
Without a doubt, one of the deepest was Mandela’s failed marriage to
Winnie.
From childhood, Mandela had always loved women. In Long
Walk to Freedom, he writes: “The game I most enjoyed playing with the
girls was what we called khetha, or choose-the-one-you-like.
“This
was
a spur of the moment sport that took place when we accosted a group
of girls our own age and demanded that each select the boy she loved.
Our rules dictated that the girl’s choice be respected and once she had
chosen her favourite she was free to continue on her journey escorted by
the lucky boy she loved.”
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela – his second
wife – came from Mandela’s own Transkei region. The country’s first
black social worker, she was working in Johannesburg when they met.
Married in June 1958, Nelson and Winnie Mandela had two daughters,
Zenani, born in 1958, and Zindzi, born 1960 – just 18 months before her
father was sent to Robben Island.
Zenani
grew up to marry Prince Thumbumuzi Dlamini, elder brother of King Mswati III of Swaziland. Premiere: Mandela's daughter Zindzi
Getty
At the age of 25, Zindzi, who had barely known
her father, read out his speech refusing his conditional pardon in 1985.
Mandela’s letters from prison overflow with love for Winnie. “Whenever I
write you, I feel that inside physical warmth, that makes me
forget all my problems,” he says in one letter.
“I become full of love.”
In another he wrote: “We couldn’t fulfil our wishes, as we had planned, to have a baby boy.
“I
had hoped to build you a refuge, no matter how small, so that we would
have a place for rest and sustenance before the arrival of the sad, dry
days. I fell down and couldn’t do these things. I am as one building
castles in the air.”
During Mandela’s incarceration, Winnie took on the mantle of his political heir and the “Mother of the Nation”. Love: With second wife Winnie
Getty
But her increasingly radical views caused tensions between
them. Her supporters were behind the infamous “necklace” murders, where
tyres filled with petrol were put around the chests and arms of
suspected collaborators and set alight.
Then her personal
bodyguards, known as the Mandela United Football Club, kidnapped a
14-year-old activist named Stompie Moeketsi who was later found
murdered.
The ANC leadership declared Winnie was out of control but Mandela, in jail and in ill health, refused to repudiate her.
On
his
release in 1990, Winnie walked by his side but Mandela refused to move
into her Soweto mansion and relations between them cooled. In 1991,
Winnie was charged with the assault and kidnapping of Stompie.
Initially
convicted
and given six years in jail, Winnie appealed and had the sentence
reduced to a fine. For many years, Mandela had tried to find excuses for
the wife he felt he had left abandoned during his years on Robben
Island. But in 1992, they announced their separation.
Divorce followed in March 1996, with Mandela citing Winnie’s adultery.
A
newspaper
editor had shown him a letter that confirmed Winnie had been unfaithful.
In court, after gentle prodding by his own lawyer, Mandela quietly
described how he had been “the loneliest man” after he was released from
a 27-year imprisonment in 1990.
Winnie, he testified, had been having an affair with a young colleague and never entered his bedroom while he was awake.
Yet
even on the day of their formal divorce, Mandela still paid tribute to
Winnie – known inside the ANC as Comrade Nomzamo – saying: “I shall
never regret the life Comrade Nomzamo and I tried to share together.
Circumstances beyond our control however dictated it should be
otherwise.
“I
part from my wife with no recriminations. I embrace her with all the
love and affection I have nursed for her inside and outside prison from
the moment I first met her.”
In
2003, Winnie was found guilty of 43 counts of fraud and 25 of theft, and
was sentenced to five years in prison. This was later appealed and she
received a suspended sentence.
As a result of the initial verdict she resigned both her parliamentary seat and the presidency of the ANC Women’s League. In Long Walk to Freedom Mandela writes
that Winnie “married a man who soon left her; that man became a myth;
and then that myth returned home and proved to be just a man after all”.
In 2007, Winnie was elected to the ANC national executive, winning the
most votes of any candidate. Whatever scandals scar her past, she
remains a powerful figure in the ANC and in South Africa. His third wife: Graca
Getty
On his 80th birthday in 1998, Mandela married
Graca Machel. She was the widow of Samora Machel, one of his old ANC
allies who became president of Mozambique and had died in an air crash
12 years earlier.
Graca was 52 when the couple married – almost three decades Mandela’s junior.
She
was an international stateswoman in her own right and already well
known as a humanitarian activist and campaigner on women’s and children’s rights.
After
more
than a decade of marriage – and a chance to at last spend time with the
children who saw so little of him in their childhoods – Mandela
called Graca “my life”.
Hearing loss is a problem that affects a
substantial part of the population, both young and old. As many as 36
million American adults report hearing loss to some extent, and while a
vast number of them would greatly benefit from the use of a hearing
aide, only 20% of the people that should wear them actuallydo.
One of the major complaints concerning hearing aids is that they
don’t always allow the wearer to distinguish between the sounds they
want to focus on (like people speaking to them) from distracting
background sounds. However, a new technology has incorporated the use of
“neural networks,” allowing many hearing impaired people to hear and
recognize speech almost as well as regular hearers do.
New Technology to Help with Hearing Loss
A team of hearing scientists at Ohio State University has paired up
with computer engineers to address the problem of filtering out words
from distracting background sounds, and they may have come up with a
viable solution. The new technology takes advantage of neural networks
to increase the ability of test subjects to differentiate spoken words
from other sounds. Thanks to these neural networks, test subjects have
up to 90% recognition – much higher than the 10% recognition enabled by
older hearing aids.
A computer algorithm developed by DeLiang Leon Wang, Professor of
Computer Science and Engineering at Ohio State University, analyzes the
sounds detected by the hearing aid, picks up speech patterns, and
removes the interfering background noise. The computer algorithm
examines all of the sounds, looking for the speech that is dominating
the sounds in the background. Noisy speech is the name given to other
people talking in the background, and stationary noise is the name given
to background sounds (which include traffic sounds, air conditioners,
background music, etc.). Both of these types of speech are dominated by
noise, but foreground speech dominates the noise around it. The
algorithm looks for the speech that dominates the noise around it, and
filters out the rest of the sound.
The technology has proven to be incredibly effective, and a number of
patents have already been taken out on it. It enables people to
comprehend about 85 percent more foreground language, despite background
babble or conversations; this is up from 25 percent from previous
technology. Interestingly, a test administered to non-hearing-impaired
students at Ohio State University proved that this technology worked
better than they expected. Those without hearing impairment scored lower
on the listening test than those that suffered from hearing loss.
The sky is the limit when it comes to potential uses for this
technology. It can be integrated into smart phones, Bluetooth headsets,
and other communication devices. Now that the technology has effectively
begun to solve the “cocktail party problem” of too many background
conversations on top of background noise, this breakthrough could
provide the hearing impaired with a real chance of being able to
communicate effectively.
iPhone users apparently will have yet another game controller to add to their arsenal.
Seen
in a series of photos tweeted by Evleaks, the Razer Kazuyo will offer a
wraparound case that turns your iPhone into a lean, mean gaming
machine. The photos reveal a design similar to iPhone game controllers
offered by Logitech and Moga.
The
controller sports four action buttons on the right and an arrow button
on the left. The iPhone can also be tilted to give you a better view of
the action. Razer is known for its gaming tablets, laptops, mice, keyboards, and accessories. The … Read more
Nintendo
of America President Reggie Fils-Aime made abundantly clear in a recent
interview that his company's direction is driven by strategy and not
the changing desires of its fan base.
In an interview with Siliconera
published on Wednesday, Fils-Aime was asked how does "what fans want or
say influence [his] decisions." His response, which centered mainly on
petitions brought to Nintendo by fans asking them to bring legacy games
to newer devices, was telling of Nintendo's view of the market.
"I have to tell you -- it doesn't affect what we do," Fils-Aime … Read more
Nevermind HBO Go, Hulu Plus, or Pandora. The app that could show the
depth of Chromecast as more than a short-range, media broadcasting
dongle is TicTacToe.
Last updated on the Google Play Store in October, this iteration of tic-tac-toe requires two players, and works on both Android and iOS.
Once you and a friend have installed the game on your smartphones,
you'll be able to connect to the Chromecast and play X's and O's until
your thumbs fall off.
The two-player nature of the game foretells a possible future for Chromecast, where the increasingly higher quality of … Read more
Microsoft's
Project Spark, an ambitious attempt on the company's part to turn
gamers into developers, is making its debut on Windows 8.1 on Tuesday.
The app, which will be available later today in the Windows Store, according to The Verge,
will be in beta when it's launched. In order to actually start using
the app, users will need to download the program and then input a
special beta key to activate it. Microsoft has not said how many people
will be allowed to test the beta, but has a section on its Project Spark
page letting … Read more
Apple might have enough cash to buy up entire industries, but that doesn't mean it can't use a tiny bit more.
Apple
on Thursday filed a motion with the United States District Court
Northern District of California requesting that it be reimbursed $15.7
million for legal fees associated with its patent disputes with Samsung.
The fees are roughly a quarter of the total compensation Apple paid to
its attorneys in connection with the case it won in August 2012, and was deemed to be owed $929 million in damages last month.
In many cases, victorious companies will … Read more
The
newest iPad Mini with Wi-Fi and cellular capability (3G/4G) has yet to
reach carrier stores in the US, pointing to Apple's tight control of
supply.
Verizon shows the iPad Mini with Retina Display back
ordered until December 16, as of Friday morning Pacific time, while
AT&T is still showing 21-28 days when the device is ordered online.
Neither carrier, when contacted by CNET, could provide information about when the iPad Mini Retina would reach its stores. T-Mobile's Web page for the iPad Mini Retina is showing, as of Friday, that the tablet will be &… Read more
Despite some complaints about Apple's iOS 7 redesign, with its flat graphics and zooming animations, it appears the lion's share of users have now adopted the operating system.
Apple published an updated chart
on its developer Web site for the iOS App Store, which shows that iOS 7
is now on 74 percent of all iOS devices. This means adoption of the
operating system has grown 10 percent since numbers last reported in
October.
The tech giant debuted iOS 7 in September, along with the launch of its new iPhone 5S and 5C. Just one month later, Apple … Read more
Despite some complaints about Apple's iOS 7 redesign, with its flat graphics and zooming animations, it appears the lion's share of users have now adopted the operating system.
Apple published an updated chart
on its developer Web site for the iOS App Store, which shows that iOS 7
is now on 74 percent of all iOS devices. This means adoption of the
operating system has grown 10 percent since numbers last reported in
October.
The tech giant debuted iOS 7 in September, along with the launch of its new iPhone 5S and 5C. Just one month later, Apple … Read more
With Voice Search a key component of Google's search strategy, the company announced Thursday that it now works with three other languages besides English.
Google Voice Search, part of the Google Search app for Android and iOS,
can now respond to many queries in French, German, and Japanese in the
language that they were originally asked.
Google did not
immediately respond to questions about what languages are planned next,
or why these three languages were chosen. However, given how many people
speak Hindi, Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese, it would stand to reason
that they would be high on Google'… Read more
Originally posted at Internet & Medi
While Apple has continued to crush the US smartphone market, Samsung and Motorola also have seen some gains.
New data from ComScore
analyzing the smartphone market in August through October shows that
Apple nabbed 40.6 percent of the market share, up 0.2 percent from July.
However, Samsung and Motorola also saw market share boosts. Samsung's
share went up 1.3 percent to 25.4 percent, and Motorola nailed the third
spot by rising 0.1 percent to 7 percent share.
Dragging behind were HTC and LG, respectively. Both of these phone makers lost market share during the … Read more
Time and cruelty have a wicked relationship.
I fancy they sit in a bar together most nights and look back to see what they both have wrought.
That's
why tonight they might be having a beer, a giggle, and dance at news
that has just emerged about the company formerly known as RIM. Bloomberg Businessweek
has been chatting to quite a few current and former employees of
BlackBerry in order to understand what went right and what went less
right.
While you might be fascinated with some of the technological debates surrounding this fascinating company, I was moved by … Read more
With Voice Search a key component of Google's search strategy, the company announced Thursday that it now works with three other languages besides English.
Google Voice Search, part of the Google Search app for Android and iOS,
can now respond to many queries in French, German, and Japanese in the
language that they were originally asked.
Google did not
immediately respond to questions about what languages are planned next,
or why these three languages were chosen. However, given how many people
speak Hindi, Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese, it would stand to reason
that they would be high on Google'… Read more
Originally posted at Internet & Medi
OnLine Electric Vehicles (OLEV)
Wireless technology can now deliver electric power to moving
vehicles. In next-generation electric cars, pick-up coil sets under the
vehicle floor receive power remotely via an electromagnetic field
broadcast from cables installed under the road. The current also charges
an onboard battery used to power the vehicle when it is out of range.
As electricity is supplied externally, these vehicles need only a fifth
of the battery capacity of a standard electric car, and can achieve
transmission efficiencies of over 80%. Online electric vehicles are
currently undergoing road tests in Seoul, South Korea.
Get the latest BBC Technology News: breaking news and analysis on computing, the ... The UK government wants to make Britain a world leader in developing ...www.bbc.com/news/technology/
If
you’re a staunch anti-Start-screenite, Windows 8.1 won’t change your
mind, but it does make a handful of concessions to you and your ilk. And
if you’re already down with Microsoft’s new touch-centric ways, the
update makes things even better. Either way, there’s more than a few new
things to see here, so here’s a quick rundown of how you can take
advantage of them.
The
most publicized part of Windows 8.1 is also the least significant. Yes,
the Start button is back at home in the bottom left corner of the
desktop, but it still doesn’t bring the Windows 7-era Start menu back
with it.
Windows
8.1’s new “boot to desktop” option is probably going to be the most
useful addition for old-school Windows users. When it’s enabled, it does
exactly what its name suggests–instead of going to the Start screen
when you boot up your computer, you can go straight into desktop mode
and ignore those ‘live tiles’ completely.
The
Win+X menu has gotten a bit of a boost with Windows 8.1 too, but its
most useful tuneup is its new quick shut down option. Pressing the
Windows and X keys together or right-clicking on the new Start button
will bring up, among other things, a “Shut down or sign out” prompt.
Select it, and you can, well, shut down or sign out of your PC without
having to go through the old convoluted method of powering down from the
Start screen. Nothing major, sure, but it might save you a headache or
two.
There
are a few other goodies included with Windows 8.1, but the acts of
using them are mostly self-explanatory. The Windows Store is better
looking, a handful of new apps have been added, and the whole thing runs
like a dream on Windows 8 machines. It doesn’t fix all of the
larger-scale issues with Windows 8, but it’s certainly a step in the
right direction. Take advantage of all the new things it has to offer,
and you just might come around on Microsoft’s new methods. Maybe.
OnLine Electric Vehicles (OLEV)