Google Play is a common way to install apps on Android devices. Almost all Android phones and tablets are shipping with Google Play preinstalled. The content in the Google Play store is not limited to software. It also includes books, music and other goodies which vary from country to country. If you own an Android phone, probably you have it preinstalled. One limitation of the Google Play store is that you cannot download APK files of the desired app directly. In this article I will show you how you can directly get the APK file which installs the app from Google Play.
How to sign up on Google without creating a Gmail account
Google is a company that does not require any introduction. I am sure that every Winaero reader has used it at least once. During its long history, Google has created a bunch of useful services which are used by millions people everyday.
Almost all Google services require a special account called simply the "Google account". When you are signing in with Google, it creates a new Gmail account for you automatically, so you will always get a new email address and inbox. Although most users consider Gmail as a useful service, you might have your own opinion about it and have no plans to use Gmail. In such a case, you can create a Google account without Gmail. Here is how you can do it.
How to delete Windows.old folder after upgrading from a previous version of Windows
If you choose to install Windows on the same drive where an existing installation is already present, the setup program creates a folder named Windows.old in the root of the drive. This folder is used to store a full backup of the previously installed OS, including the boot manager and installed apps. This is very handy if you plan to uninstall the currently installed Windows version and return to the previously installed release. It can also be handy if you forgot to transfer some files or settings to the new installation. However, if you are already finished with the migration, then Windows.old just wastes your disk space for no reason. Here is how you can delete it and why it is better to use the built-in OS tools.
How to pin modern Store apps to the taskbar in Windows 8.1 Update 1
In Windows 8.1 Update 1, a useful change in addition to showing apps on the taskbar is the ability to pin them. Let us see all the ways in which you can pin Modern apps to the taskbar.
Village Landscapes theme for Windows 8
Village Landscapes theme for Windows 8 features wallpapers with beautiful rural views. To get the Village Landscapes theme, click the download link below, and then click Open. This will apply the theme to your Desktop.
Tip: If you are Windows 7 user, use our Deskthemepack Installer to install and apply this theme.
Size: 26.9 MB
How to display more apps in Apps View in Windows 8.1 Update 1
With Windows 8.1 Update 1, Microsoft tried to make some changes to make the OS more comfortable for classic Desktop PCs with mouse and keyboard. One of these changes is the ability to show more apps in the Apps view of the Start screen in Windows 8.1. When you enable this feature, you need to scroll less to see your installed apps. Let's see how we can enable it.
How to sleep a Windows computer from the command line
Recently one of our readers asked us how to make his Windows PC enter sleep from the command line. This can be definitely useful if you are using the sleep mode frequently and want to create a shortcut to put your PC into sleep directly or via some batch file. In this article, I would like to share a working way to initiate sleep from the command line.
Disable Office 2013 sign in with Microsoft account
Microsoft Office 2013 has a close integration with Microsoft services and if you use a Microsoft Account on Windows 8/8.1, it automatically signs in to it without asking you. Once you are signed in, Office 365 and OneDrive cloud features are enabled in the product.
If you do not want cloud services integration in Office 2013, you might want to know how to disable the automatic sign in it performs. In this article, we will look at how to disable it with a simple registry tweak.
Fix: Animated Windows logo is missing during Windows 7 boot
Windows 7 has a nice, animated boot logo which is displayed every time you start your PC. But sometimes you may get a strange issue: instead of the animated logo, it shows the Vista-like boot animation with the progress bar with green lines at the bottom of a black screen.
If you are affected by this situation, here is a simple fix for you.
