Paul Thurrott - Windows 8 Secrets

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Windows 8 Secrets: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

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Tips, tricks, treats, and secrets revealed on Windows 8
Amazon.com Review
Q & A with the authors of From the Back Cover Microsoft is introducing a major new release of its Windows operating system, Windows 8, and what better way for you to learn all the ins and outs than from two internationally recognized Windows experts and Microsoft insiders, authors Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera? They cut through the hype to get at useful information you’ll not find anywhere else, including what role this new OS plays in a mobile and tablet world.
Regardless of your level of knowledge, you’ll discover little-known facts about how things work, what’s new and different, and how you can modify Windows 8 to meet what you need.
Windows 8 Secrets
•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  Windows 8 Secrets Should consumers adopt Windows 8 or Windows RT? Windows RT offers both advantages and disadvantages compared to Windows 8, and which you choose will depend on your needs. The biggest issue with Windows RT, of course, is the lack of desktop application compatibility: Though it comes with most Windows 8 desktop utilities and a version of Microsoft Office, Windows RT is not compatible with any third party or Microsoft desktop Windows applications that are already included. That said, Windows RT should offer much better battery life and amazingly thin and light form factors when compared to similar PCs and devices designed around a traditional PC microprocessor.
What’s best way to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8? Upgrade or clean install? Is an upgrade safe? Generally speaking, you will actually see better results with an upgrade with this version of Windows, which is different than our experience with previous versions. To be safe, backup everything first, perform the upgrade, and if it doesn’t go well, you can always do a clean install afterwards.
One thing to watch during an upgrade, however, is Internet Explorer: If you have configured a different browser as your default browser in Windows 7 and then upgrade to Windows 8, you will actually lose the ability to run the Metro-style version of Internet Explorer 10. You can fix this by configuring IE as your default browser after the fact.
Does Windows 8 really run faster and better than Windows 7 on the same hardware? Yes. But in real world usage, you won’t notice much of a difference in usage. That said, Windows 8 boots, resumes from sleep, and performs other power management functions much, much faster than does Windows 7. You can also use Push Button Reset to refresh or reset a Windows 8 PC in just minutes.
Will all of my Windows 7 apps and drivers work with Windows 8? For the most part, yes. Microsoft claims that if it works with Windows 7, it should work with Windows 8. And in our experience, that has definitely been the case. Even the now-ancient game “Halo: Combat Evolved,” from 2003 installs and runs just fine. That said, you may need to uninstall some applications if you’re upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8, and then reinstall them after the fact. And of course there will always be some exceptions.
What are the most important keyboard combinations we should memorize? If you remember just one keyboard shortcut, it should be WINKEY + C, which enables the Charms and access to several key system functions, including Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings. Some other useful keyboard shortcuts include WINKEY + D (to navigate directly to the desktop), WINKEY + I (for Settings), and WINKEY + L for lock. And let’s not forget our favorite keyboard combination: WINKEY + X, which displays a power user menu of sorts containing lots of useful shortcuts.
In their introduction, the authors of this book say that “with Windows 8, suddenly, everything is different.” And they are right—with a completely new interface presenting users with a completely new experience, Windows 8 and its device-based cousin Windows RT are arguably the biggest change in Windows ever. But bestselling authors Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera have you covered with Windows 8 Secrets, a completely new, written-from-scratch guide to the ins and outs of this new Windows experience. Covering topics both large and small, ranging from how the new immersive experiences and familiar Windows desktop interface coexist to the subtle differences in interacting with Windows 8 via touch, keyboard, or mouse, this book digs in to reveal helpful and advanced insight in all major Windows areas: application management, data backup and security, networking, and much more.
The Insider’s Guide to:
•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  The Secrets series reveals:
•  •  •  •  •  [Contain tables. Best viewed with CoolReader.]

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Sharing Files Media and Printers at Home with HomeGroup Prior to Windows 7 - фото 427

Sharing Files, Media, and Printers at Home with HomeGroup

Prior to Windows 7, most home users with two or more PCs would employ a simple strategy to easily share files over their home networks: They would simply configure each PC with at least one user account with the same username and password. This way, they wouldn’t need to enter a username and password combination each time they accessed a shared folder on the other PC.

This type of workgroup networking scheme worked well enough but it also required users to understand how to actually share folders, too—a process that was fairly arcane even after the addition of a Simple Sharing functionality in Windows XP Home Edition. So with Windows 7, Microsoft finally moved to formalize a simpler method for sharing resources on a home network, which included not only files, but also printers and digital media (for streaming purposes via Windows Media Player and Media Center). Dubbed HomeGroup, it was one of the nice, consumer-oriented innovations in Windows 7, though we suspect it was underutilized in that release.

HomeGroup sharing didn’t replace the old-school workgroup-style sharing technique, and that’s still true in Windows 8. This means you’re free to share as you’d like. But in Windows 8, HomeGroup sharing is more desirable than ever, thanks to the addition of Microsoft account sign-ins, as you’ll soon discover. But first, let’s review what HomeGroup sharing is all about.

NOTE

Microsoft’s use of the word HomeGroup may seem inconsistent because the word appears variously as HomeGroup, Homegroup, and homegroup throughout the Windows user interface. However, Microsoft tells us this is all by design. The word HomeGroup is a trademarked term and refers to the sharing feature itself. A homegroup, meanwhile, is the generic “thing” that is created by the feature. And if you see it spelled as Homegroup (with a capital H but a small g, that’s just because it’s a title or other place in the UI where an initial capitalization is required. Seriously, they told us this. And yes, they really believe it.

HomeGroup sharing works much as it does in Windows 7, though as part of a wider effort to streamline, well, virtually everything in Windows 8, it’s no longer an option during Windows Setup. So you’ll need to create—or join—a homegroup after you’re done installing Windows 8.

HomeGroup allows you to easily share three items that, prior to Windows 7, required three different interfaces. They are as follows:

• Libraries:Previously, you could create individual folder shares to share documents and other files, but now you can share these through your various libraries—Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos—and individually determine which ones are shared. This is more powerful than sharing individual folders for many reasons, but one obvious reason is that since libraries by definition aggregate multiple physical locations in the filesystem, what you’re really sharing are discrete groups of files (or documents) rather than individual folders.

• Printers and devices:When you configure a printer or other attached device for one PC, it can be made automatically available to all the other home PCs that join the homegroup.

• Media devices:You can provide access to your media collection for purposes of media streaming to compatible devices such as an Xbox 360 or other Windows 8 PCs using software such as Windows Media Player. As with library-based sharing, this makes far more sense than being forced to remotely browse folders of content on your PC from a device. Instead, you can simply connect to a media library and browse the actual content.

In addition to not being part of the Windows 8 Setup process, the interface you use to configure a homegroup is now a Metro-style experience that can be found in PC Settings. To access this interface, navigate to Settings (Winkey + I) and select More PC settings at the bottom of the Settings pane. This will load the full-screen PC Settings interface. When you select HomeGroup from the list of options on the left, you’ll see a screen like that in Figure 13-15.

Figure 13-15:It’s time to join the homegroup.

Enter the homegroup password and click Join Once the PC is connected to the - фото 428

Enter the homegroup password and click Join. Once the PC is connected to the homegroup, you’ll be able to choose which items to share, including individual libraries—Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos—as well as printers and devices, and media devices.

When you’re done, you can exit PC Settings.

You can access the shared resources of other PCs on your homegroup using new Metro-style apps that support this feature. Your homegroup is also available via the standard Metro-style file picker, which can of course be integrated into any app. As you can see in Figure 13-16, the file picker displays each of the machines in your homegroup, letting you dive into the shared libraries on each and find what you’re looking for.

Homegroups are also available from the Windows desktop, of course. When you open an Explorer window, you’ll see a Homegroup node in the navigation pane, and you can easily browse through the shared items on your home network-connected PCs. This works as it did in Windows 7, as you might expect, where files and other resources exposed through the homegroup are available to any desktop-type application, too. For example, applications can open and save files to homegroup locations.

Figure 13-16:Your homegroup is accessible by any Metro-style app, including via the standard file picker.

Put simply HomeGroup works much as it did in Windows 7 aside from the new - фото 429

Put simply, HomeGroup works much as it did in Windows 7, aside from the new Metro-style configuration interface. But there is one more wrinkle.

As you know, Windows 8 provides a new sign-in model where you use a Microsoft account (previously called a Windows Live ID) instead of a traditional local account to sign in to the PC. This new sign-in type provides many advantages related to PC-to-PC sync settings and more, and as a result we recommend eschewing old-fashioned local accounts in favor of this new sign-in type. But using a Microsoft account also comes with a few challenges. And key among them is home network interoperability. If you need to access shared resources on other PCs on your home network, whether they’re using Windows 8, Windows 7, or whatever Windows version, you could experience some difficulty.

That is, if you use the standard Network explorer to access shares on your other PCs, you’re going to be seeing the dialog in Figure 13-17 all too often. And that’s because you’re now signing in with a Microsoft account. If the other PC isn’t also signed in with the same account, you won’t be automatically authenticated to access that shared resource.

Figure 13-17:Not-so-seamless network connectivity

You could of course enter a correct username and password combination and - фото 430

You could of course enter a correct username and password combination, and chances are you know what these entries are since it’s your home network. And Windows 8 even fixes a long-standing bug in Windows networking so that when you select the option “Remember my credentials,” it actually—get this—remembers your credentials.

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