Wednesday, March 26th, 2014

Play and Burn DVDs in Windows 8

© ugaldew, sxc.hu

If you’re using Windows 8 or 8.1 you can play videos and movie files you have stored on your computer but you can’t view DVDs using Windows Media Player—this feature was removed from Windows 8 along with the Media Guide.  If you want to be able to play DVDs in Windows 8 you will need to download and install a DVD player. If you’re using Windows 8 Pro then you can download and install Microsoft’s Windows Media Center which costs $9.99 – this site will step through the process. If you’re not using the Pro version then you would need to upgrade to Pro to use the Media Center, which ends up being a $100 upgrade  just for the ability to play a DVD. Instead, I recommend you use the free VLC Media Player.

If you need to burn DVDs you will need a DVD burner to do so. Windows 8 doesn’t ship with a DVD burner but that doesn’t mean that the manufacturer of your computer hasn’t provided one. Check the Start screen and see if there’s a DVD burner already installed. If not, here is a round up of some of the DVD burning tools around which are Windows 8 compatible. The good news is that most have free trial versions so you can test them out and see how they perform:

Wondershare DVD Creator — $39.95

Ashampoo Burning Studio Free — upgrade to full version for $49.99

Aimersoft DVD Maker for Windows – $39.95

Nero Burning ROM 12 – $49.99

 

Helen Bradley

Helen Bradley

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Categories:Windows

posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:00 am1 Comment links to this post

Tuesday, September 17th, 2013

Uninstall All Windows 8 Start menu Apps

If you’ve upgraded to Windows 8 you may have found that you have no use for Window’s new tiled Start menu apps. You might, like we have, found yourself frustrated when files automatically open in these apps instead of the programs you’ve been using for years. Well fear no more! You can uninstall apps permanently with just a few easy steps.

First, search for Windows PowerShell using Windows 8’s program search.

Right click it and, from the options that appear choose Run as an administrator.

With PowerShell open, type the following command and press Enter to delete all apps from all accounts on your computer:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage
 
If you wish to remove the apps from your user account only then remove “-AllUsers” from the statement above.
Windows 8 will also automatically install the apps on any new user accounts you create in the future. To prevent this, type this command:

Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -online | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -online
 
You will now find that only programs that you have actually installed will appear in the Start menu tiles.

Helen Bradley

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Categories:Windows

posted by Hunter Delattre @ 4:11 pmNo Comments links to this post

Wednesday, May 29th, 2013

Stop Lync and Windows Messenger in Windows 8


Ok. so I have Office 2013 installed but I don’t use Lync – but the damn program launches each time I start my Windows 8 machine and that doesn’t suit me. I shut down my computer every time I use it to save battery life when I travel and for airplane safety. For this reason, the fact that Lync starts up with Windows 8 is a major inconvenience. Not so much so Windows Live Messenger but I don’t want that either – Microsoft is phasing it out and I never use it to communicate – haven’t done so for years. So, the question is – how to remove these annoying startups in Windows 8. Turns out the solution is simple – much simpler in fact than in earlier Windows versions.

Press Ctrl + Alt + Del once and click Task Manager. This is now not only the way you stop a program from running once but also how you axe it permanently. Click the Startup tab in the list and locate the application to stop – in my case, it is Lync. Then click the Disable button in the bottom right of the dialog. Repeat for any other program you want to stop running – of course never stop anything from running that you don’t understand the purpose of – you never know just how vital that program might be – but Windows Live Messenger and Lync are not needed.

When you’re done, click the close button and next time you start up your machine these programs won’t run. Yeah! No more annoyance – well, there are plenty of annoyances but these no longer count!

Helen Bradley

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Categories:Windows

posted by Helen Bradley @ 5:35 amNo Comments links to this post

Wednesday, March 13th, 2013

Change your Windows 8 Lock Screen image

Change your Windows 8 Lock screen and other personal settings

It isn’t easy to find but you can change the images you see on your Lock screen and start screen in Windows 8 by pressing the Windows logo key and I and choose Change PC Settings.

Click Personalize and you can view different options for your Lock screen, Start screen and account picture.

Yeah! No more Seattle Space needle for me!

Helen Bradley

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Categories:Uncategorized, Windows

posted by Helen Bradley @ 5:05 amNo Comments links to this post

Wednesday, February 27th, 2013

Shake Up Windows

See how to minimize everything on your screen except what you are working on

This tip falls into the category of WTF? Who knew this? I certainly didn’t until I fell over it the other day. It’s a tip for Windows 7 and 8 for hiding everything on the desktop except what you are working on.

Grab the title bar of the current window with your mouse and give it a good shake. When you do, everything that was open except what you are working on disappears and you’re left with just the current window.

Do it again and everything comes back in the position it was in. It’s not a tip that will save you a lot of time, but it works and it’s fun to do – at least the first few times.

Helen Bradley

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Categories:Windows

posted by Helen Bradley @ 9:08 amNo Comments links to this post

Tuesday, January 29th, 2013

NO DVD play back or DVD Burner in Windows 8


Image credit Pawel 231 sxc.hu
Are you searching Windows 8 for its  DVD player and DVD burner? Well stop wasting time – they aren’t there

Yep, that’s right. Windows 8 ships without a built in DVD burner and there is no installed DVD player software either. If you don’t have a DVD drive and I guess Microsoft thinks they are so “yesterday’s technology” you’re OK. But I still have a DVD drive and so do millions of others. The worst part of this is that Microsoft doesn’t warn you there’s no DVD burner or player – you have to work that out yourself.

So, all across the world, every day, thousands of man and woman hours are being wasted looking for something which, let’s face it, should be there, but isn’t. Gee, thanks a bunch for that Microsoft!

So, here’s what to do if you have a brand new Windows 8 computer or if you’ve upgraded to Windows 8 and you have a DVD drive.

1 Stop looking. There is no DVD burner and no built in DVD player. If you have either of these on your Win 8 machine it didn’t come with Windows 8 – your PC manufacturer (or tech savvy daughter or son), put it there.

2 Get the software. The best solution if you’re using Windows 8 Pro, although I hate to suggest it is to shell out $9.99 to Microsoft for the Media Center software. This isn’t included in Windows 8 but can be downloaded and installed. You use this to play DVDs on your PC. To get it, launch Windows 8, tap Windows + Q (Search) and in the box type Add Features and tap Settings. Tap Add features to Windows 8 and then click I want to buy a product key online and you can go ahead and buy Media Center.

Now, there is one caveat. If this option doesn’t appear (and it may not because Microsoft left it out of some versions of Windows 8 such as the UK version and other users have reported it as disappearing once it is used the first time – yeah! well done Microsoft!) you can try this. Click Windows + Q, type System and tap Settings and click System.  Now click View Details in Windows Activation. Once there you may find a link to add features or click Buy Windows for another computer to go to the website to buy Media Center – search for it when you get there. Until Jan 31, 2013 if you use Windows Pro you can get a licence code that lets you download it free of charge, otherwise it costs $9.99 if you’re using Windows Pro – it will cost a huge chunk of change if you’re using the Home version though.

3 If this all sounds like too much trouble, download the free opensource VLC Media player which is compatible with Windows 8 from http://sourceforge.net/projects/vlc/ all the open source folk love it.

4 To burn DVDs you need a DVD burner and the Windows DVD program no longer exists in Windows 8, so, you’ll need some burning software. There are plenty of programs around from folks like Nero but they can be pretty costly and not all are compatible with Windows 8 . If you just need a very simple burner, try Ashampoo Burning Studio Free 2013 – the Ashampoo products are great and the company does a good line in simple to use CD and DVD burners that don’t need a degree in computing to operate. Get the free version from Softpedia here or from CNET here.

Bonus Tip – where to find a list of features missing from Windows 8

If you’re searching for features that you think should be in Windows 8 but you can’t find, check this Wikipedia article: Features removed from Windows 8 for a handy list of what is missing from Windows 8 – it might save you some wasted time.

 

 

 

Helen Bradley

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Categories:office, Uncategorized

posted by Helen Bradley @ 11:29 am2 Comments links to this post

Friday, April 20th, 2012

Must know Windows 8 keystrokes

Windows 8 makes a lot of use of keystrokes –  more use than other versions of Windows ever has. Here is a list of handy keystrokes, you won’t use all of them but some are totally awesome for getting around. My fave? This week it is Windows + E! yeah instant access to My Computer – you gotta love it!

Windows key              display the Start menu

Windows + tab           display the task switching panel

Windows + C              reveal Charms

Windows + D              switch to the desktop

Windows + M             switch to the Desktop

Windows + H              Share charm

Windows + I               Settings charm

Windows + K               Devices charm

Windows + L              Lock the screen

Windows + P             shows second monitor options

Windows + Z              display an app’s application bar

Windows + T              Cycle through small images of open apps – press Enter to switch

Windows + Q             Open Metro search charm

Alt + Tab                    Cycle through open apps

Windows + , (comma) Show desktop (temporarily)

Right click an application window                 reveal the application bar

Windows + PrtSc        Capture a picture and save it to the Pictures folder

Windows + Space       change input language and keyboard

Windows + R                          Display the Run dialog

Windows + T                          Cycle through programs on the taskbar

Windows + F                          Find other computers on your network

Windows + E                          Open Windows Explorer and show My Computer

Windows + left arrow             Dock a desktop app to the left of the screen

Windows + right arrow           Dock a desktop app to the right of the screen

Windows + Shift + Up arrow maximize desktop app’s height (width is unchanged)

Windows + Shift + Down arrow        restore/minimize desktop app’s height (width is unchanged)

Windows + 1 (or 2, 3…)         Launch or switch to the application at this position on the taskbar

Windows + Shift + 1 (or 2, 3…)        Launch a new instance of the application at this position on the taskbar

Windows + + (plus)                Magnifier – zoom in

Windows + – (minus)              Magnifier – zoom out

Helen Bradley

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Categories:Uncategorized

posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:00 am1 Comment links to this post

Monday, April 16th, 2012

Making Groups in Windows 8

In Windows 8 Metro you can name groups of tiles so they have headings on the Start screen and you can drag groups around. Pity that nothing on the screen makes it clear that this is something you can do.

To do this, first use the semantic zoom to shrink the start menu tiles so they are very small.

step 1

Then right click a tile in the group of tiles you want to name.

step 2

A dialog pops up where you can type the group name. This only appears when you are zoomed out making it hard to find.

step 3

When you’re done, zoom out and you’ll see the group named. You can now drag and drop tiles into the group to help keep things nicely organized on the Windows 8 Metro Start screen.

 

Helen Bradley

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Categories:Uncategorized

posted by Helen Bradley @ 8:00 am2 Comments links to this post