Although the concept of multiple users sharing one device or one PC is getting rarer by the day, there are still cases when you have to share PCs and switch users fast. In earlier versions of Windows before Windows 8, we had a Switch Users command in the Shutdown menu inside the Start Menu to quickly switch users. But in Windows 8, the Start menu got removed and so the Switch Users command disappeared. Let us see how we can switch users faster in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.
Access Firefox extension/addon options from a menu
We always say that the best feature of Firefox is the unrivaled customization the browser offers. Even if you don't like the UI and default look of Firefox, addons, themes and personas can change it. Accessing extension options in Firefox is cumbersome today. Firefox opens a separate addons page in a new tab to manage them. It takes several clicks to access extension options and then you have to close the Add-ons page every time. This is where an extension called 'Extension Options Menu' helps.
How to add anything you want to Control Panel
In Windows, you can add any item you want to the Control Panel's icon-based views such as Large Icons or Small icons, as well as Category view. For icon-based views, it requires only some registry tweaking, whereas for adding to Category view, you require an XML file. Let us see how you can add anything you want to Control Panel's icon views.
Fix: Skype hangs after start for a few minutes
Skype is one of the most popular applications for video and audio calls via the Internet. It is available for various plarforms including WIndows, Linux, Android and Windows Phone. Microsoft purchased it to replace their own Windows Live Messenger with Skype. Now it is closely integrated with Windows and even shipped with Windows 8.x as a Metro app.
If you are a Skype user, you might be affected by the application hanging after the first start, especially if you started it for the first time on your PC.
How to get back Windows Update balloon notification in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8
In previous Windows versions (Windows 7, Windows XP etc), when new OS updates were available, Windows used to show a special icon in system tray notifying you of them. It was a very useful way to instantly know about new updates. You could click on the icon and open the Windows Update Control Panel item to see which updates were available and install them. With Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 Microsoft has removed the tray icon. Notices about updates being available are shown on the logon screen, which appears only for a few seconds if your account has no password protection, e.g. in case when you are automatically logging in to Windows. Fortunately, it is possible to get those notifications back in the system tray.
Daily Bing #38 theme for Windows 8
FIX: Windows 8.1 Metro apps do not work or crash
Windows 8.1 comes with a number of built-in Modern apps which are suitable for touch screens. While they are generally stable, sometimes, due to various causes, these apps can stop working or crash when they start. There are several general recommendations to restore normal Modern apps behavior in Windows 8.1 and get them working again.
40 FREE Store games for Windows 8 including new and classic ones
Much to the disappointment of many Windows casual gamers, Windows 8 entirely removed all classic games from the OS and expected everyone to migrate to the Store versions. The Store versions lack many features and customizations of the classic Windows versions but are still playable, especially with the upcoming Windows 8.1 Update 1 which will show these on the Taskbar so they are not full screen. Here are 40 free games in the Windows Store, some of them classics.
Valentine’s Day 2014 theme for Windows 8
How to use wake on LAN on Windows 8.1 and Windows 8
Wake-on-LAN (WOL) is a great feature of PCs which allows you to wake them up from sleep or shutdown over your local area network or over the Internet. It is like a remote power on button. If your hardware has WOL support, you can power on the computer remotely using any of the dozens of freeware tools available on the web to initiate the wake up event. In this article, I will cover the basic steps which are required to configure WOL under Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.
