How to Customize the Lock Screen on Windows 8

Windows 8’s lock screen is very at home on a tablet, but it can also be used on laptops and desktops.  The lock screen is not just a background image – it contains widgets that display quick notifications. These widgets, known as lock screen apps, allow you to view information – such as new emails, weather, calendar appointments, instant messages or social updates – without even unlocking your PC. Select a Lock Screen Background Lock...

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Make Your Own Windows 8 Start Button with Zero Memory Usage

After using Windows 8 for a while, I’ve come to the conclusion that removing the Start button from the Taskbar was a huge mistake. Here’s how to make your own “Start” button that brings up the Metro Start screen—but doesn’t waste any memory at all. What we’ll be doing is pretty simple—create a script that simulates pressing the Windows key button, make it into an executable, assign an icon, and pin it to the taskbar so that it sorta looks...

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How to Quickly Forward Ports on Your Router from a Desktop Application

UPnP is a convenient way for programs to forward ports without you having to pull up your router’s web interface and forward ports manually. Unfortunately, some programs that require port forwarding don’t support UPnP – that’s where UPnP PortMapper comes in. This application takes care of port forwarding for you, right from your desktop. If your IP address changes, you don’t need to log into your router and change your port forwarding rules...

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6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7

Whatever you think of it, Windows 8 isn’t just a new interface slapped on top of Windows 7. Windows 8 has seen a lot of security improvements, including an integrated antivirus, an application reputation system, and protection from boot-time rootkits. There are also quite a few low-level security improvements under the hood. Microsoft hasn’t spelled out all of them, but Windows 8 manages memory in a more secure way and includes features that...

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Do You Need to Update Your Computer’s BIOS?

Updating your operating system and software is important. On the other hand, we have previously covered why you shouldn’t generally update your hardware drivers, althoughgamers will definitely want to update their graphics drivers. But what about BIOS updates? BIOS updates will not make your computer faster, they generally won’t add new features you need, and they may even cause additional problems. You should only update your BIOS if the...

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Why You Don’t Need to Install a Third-Party Firewall (And When You Do)

Firewalls are an important piece of security software, and someone is always trying to sell you a new one. However, Windows has come with its own solid firewall since Windows XP SP2, and it’s more than good enough. You also don’t need a full Internet security suite. All you really need to install on Windows 7 is an antivirus — and Windows 8 finally comes with an antivirus. Why You Need a Firewall The primary function of a firewall is...

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How to Take a Screenshot in Windows 8 with No Extra Software

Today we are going to show you a nifty new shortcut built into Windows 8 that lets you capture everything that’s on your screen–this is the first time that Windows has really included a built-in way to capture screenshots. Taking a Screenshot in Windows 8 Switch to the Start Screen and launch your app of choice. To take a screenshot, hold down the Windows key and press the PrtScn (Print Screen) button on your keyboard. Now press the Win...

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How to Set a Custom Logon Screen Background on Windows 7

Windows 7 makes it possible to change the welcome screen that appears when you start your computer without any third-party software, but this setting is well hidden. You can set any image you like as your background. This setting is intended for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to customize their systems, but there’s nothing stopping you from using it yourself. All you have to do is change a single registry value and put an image file...

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How to Use the File History Feature in Windows 8 to Restore Files

Jealous of your Mac OS X friends and their great Time Machine feature? Windows 8 has a new feature called File History that works much the same way, giving you an easy method to restore previous versions of your files. We are going to use a networked folder in for our article but you could always skip creating the network folder, and just use a USB drive. To use a USB drive you can just go to the setting for File History and turn it on, it...

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