Steve Jobs

Just watching this man speak reminds me of what technology strategy and leadership should be.

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How to Launch It

• Open the traditional Control Panel through the Start Screen or using the Run Windows command “control”.
• Select “Category” view for Control Panel.
• Select “System and Security” category. This opens a new page containing the subcategories.
• Select “Windows Update”. This will launch the applet on the same control panel page.

The opening page of the applet gives you information like your default settings for updates, the last recent update check, the last update installation and what type of updates you receive.

The applet provides following functions.

Check for Updates

You can manually check for updates in this section. Click on “Check for Updates” link located on the left pane of the main page of the applet.

Windows immediately checks for any updates, and if any found, prompts you to install them.

Change Update Settings

You can determine how Windows checks for updates. There are 4 choices for that.

• By default, Windows checks for updates daily, and if any found, downloads and installs them automatically, without asking you.
• The second option is to let Windows check for updates daily and download them for you. But, it won’t install them automatically. That decision remains in your hand.
• If the second option doesn’t make too much sense, then you can configure Windows Update to check for updates daily, but prompt you to download and install them.
• The fourth option (not really an option!) is not to check for updates at all. This is not recommended as you will miss all the critical security and stability patches.

Update History

This section lists all the updates that have been attempted by this applet till date.

Each entry in the list contains the following details.

• Update name
• Status – it was successfully installed, if it failed to download, or if it failed to install, etc.
• Importance – how critical the update is to the system. “Important” updates should always be installed as they are critical to the stability and security of the system.
• Installation date

To view further details of an update, right click on it and select “View details”. It will launch a window that provides all the details of the update.

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Related posts:

1. Windows 8 Control Panel – Programs – Desktop Gadgets
2. Inside Windows 8: Control Panel-System and Security-Action Center
3. Windows 8 Control Panel – Programs – Default Programs

Also, each user has a different need of a system. One may only want to use it to watch movies and to browse on internet. Such a user doesn’t, or rather, shouldn’t need too much control on the system. Another user, however, is a programmer.

He regularly needs to install/uninstall software on the system, as well as frequently needs to access the internal parts of the system. Such a user requires full control over the system. These basic user access levels can be applied through the type of the user account.

This Control Panel applet manages these user accounts registered in the system.

How to Launch It

• Open the traditional Control Panel through the Start Screen or using the Run Windows command “control”.
• Select “Category” view for Control Panel.
• Select “User Accounts and Family Safety” category. This opens a new page containing the subcategories.
• Select “User Accounts”. This will launch the applet on the same control panel page.

The main page of the applet provides links to change your account settings as well as other user accounts. Note that you need to be an administrator to make changes in this applet.

You can change the following components of any user account.

Username

Password

• Account type – the account type decides what kind of control the use will have on the system. A standard user will be able to access those settings which will affect only his account. He can’t access system-level components. On the other hand, an administrator account type technically rules the system. It has access to all the aspects of the system.

• User Account Control – This setting defines how many warnings the system should give you when you try to customize system settings or an app tries to install something or make changes to the system.

UAC provides 4 levels of notifications.

1. The topmost level notifies you when apps try to install software or make changes to the system, as well as when you make any system changes. It also dims the whole desktop to snatch the user’s full attention. This is the noisiest of all levels, and might frustrate impatient users. If you enter a system area like Control Panel with this notification level, you are most likely to get blasted with notifications at every mouse click!
2. The second level notifies only when some app tries to modify the system. Your customizations go unnoticed. This level dims your desktop, too, while notifying something.
3. The third level works similar to the second level except that it doesn’t dim the whole desktop.
4. The fourth level doesn’t notify at all. It might not be recommended by less experienced users. Choose this level only if you know how clean your system is, and what you are doing with your system.

Besides that, you can delete another user’s account. Also, you can set family filters on a user account.

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Windows provides facility to restrict a user account so that it can access only certain type of content, use PC only certain amount of time and only at certain time and use only certain apps. All these filters or restrictions can be applied through this applet.

How to Launch It

• Open the traditional Control Panel through the Start Screen or using the Run Windows command “control”.
• Select “Category” view for Control Panel.
• Select “User Accounts and Family Safety” category. This opens a new page containing the subcategories.
• Select “Family Safety”. This will launch the applet on the same control panel page.

Family Safety filters work on a user account. Select a user account on which you want to apply the filters, and turn on the filter. This applet provides you the following settings.

Activity Log

You can log activities of the user account. That way, you will come to know what your children do while using PC. To view the log, click on “View activity reports” link as shown in the above image.

The log shows following activities.

• The websites the user visits most frequently
• The blocked pages that the user has tried to access
• The time duration in which PC was used each day
• The apps that the user has used most frequently used.

Web Filtering

This part of the applet lets you customize the content, which the user can access on the internet.

There are two types of web filters.

• Web filtering level – Here, you can specify a restriction level which a website has to pass through in order to be accessible. A restriction level allows only certain type of content and sufficiently rated websites. All other web content is blocked for the user.

You can also block file downloads here so that only web surfing is allowed.

• Specific websites – Here, you can create an explicit list of websites that are either allowed or blocked. The websites not in the allowed list will be inaccessible. Conversely, the websites not in the blocked list will be accessible.

I think an allowed list would be easier to create for a child, given the amount of content available on internet!

Time Limits

This part of the applet allows you to specify the number of hours that a child can use PC on each day of week. Also, you can specify at what time he/she is allowed to use the PC.

• Set time allowance – With this setting, you can set the number of hours per day of week.

• Set curfew – You can set the timings during which PC can be used through the user account.

Windows Store and Game Restrictions

This part is crucial to set for children. Computer games are so addictive that the children could keep playing them whole day. So, it is important to set restrictions on games.

You can allow or block games in two ways.

• Based on game content and ratings – This is a generic filter which a game has to pass in order to be accessible.

• Specific games – If you don’t rely on a restriction level, you can create a list of games that are allowed to be played. Conversely, you can create a list that is not allowed to be accessed.

App restrictions

This section of the applet controls what applications will be accessible through this account. For example, you may block all the games and media players during the exam times of children.

This section contains a list the applications installed on your PC. In case a certain application is not detected by Windows, you can manually add it to the list.

To apply restriction on apps, simply select those apps from the list that the account user can use.

The rest of the apps will be blocked from the user.

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No lie, it’s silent. Here it is.

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If you are wondering what Windows 8 actually looks like (or will look like), here it is.

Source

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Well, Paul Thurrott was kind enough to make a brief video showing exactly what those cues are.

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Also interesting – two things:

• This video seems to be very brief so surely that can’t be the only set of video instructions that a user will get with Windows 8?
• Apparently, the cues are device sensitive so you only get cues appropriate for your device (touch vs mouse).

My thanks to Paul Thurrott.

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Related posts:

1. Windows 8 Video: Qualcomm looking forward to Windows 8
2. Windows Weekly Podcast 222 – Thurrott and MJ Foley talk WebOS
3. Paul Thurrott demos windows 8 on Windows IT Pro Insider

Death of Metro?

I’m so tired.

Anyway, here’s the latest on Microsoft and Metro.

For the uninitiated, Metro has been the descriptive name used to characterize the new tiled based layout and design that is in Windows 8.

Well now The Verge is reporting that we may have to find another name to describe Windows 8.

Quote

Microsoft is killing off the use of its Metro design name to describe a tiled interface in Windows Phone and Windows 8. … a tipster has provided an internal memo sent to Microsoft employees confirming the move. In it, Microsoft reveals that “discussions with an important European partner” led to the decision to “discontinue the use” of the Metro branding for Windows 8 and other Microsoft products — one that employees must adhere to immediately.

The Windows team is “working on a replacement term” according to the memo, “and plans to land on that by the end of this week.” Until then, employees have been advised to refer to the Metro style user interface as the “Windows 8 style UI.” The memo was distributed to employees earlier this week, so we expect to hear official news about the Metro replacement by the weekend.

There has to be a really juicy story behind this name change and we’ll get to the bottom of it.

At this point, this is a pretty massive shift in branding terminology for the Windows 8 product. All of us who have been covering this product for so long are really used to calling this Metro and using the phrase “Metro style design” to describe the style and aesthetic.

Whatever is behind this change must be really major.

I guess the silver lining is that the public hasn’t really taken notice of Windows 8 yet.

To be continued…

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Windows 8 RTM Wallpapers final

It seems that the Windows 8 RTM wallpapers have leaked as well.

They are now on the web and look pretty stunning (so they say).

We are not leaking to any sources of illegal downloads. Sorry.

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Related posts:

1. End of July New Windows 8 wallpapers
2. Windows 8 wallpapers for June 1
3. More Windows 8 Wallpapers for June 2011

More Windows 8 RTM Leaked Images

The floodgates are about to open.

More online images have surfaced (pun intended) of Windows 8 Enterprise N.

This is build 9200 and seems to be the genuine RTM.

In addition, I spoke about leaks earlier on today. Well they have started now in earnest.

I will NOT be linking to any Windows 8 Torrents, Windows 8 Links or Windows 8 Downloads so dont even ask.

Some more images below…

Here are some popular search terms that have led to this article:

• buy windows 8 rtm online
• leak windows 8 rtm
• win 8 rtm leaked download
• windows 8 enterprise rtm leakes

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Microsoft Surface Tablet

All the news about the RTM of Windows 8 has been cool but it’s interesting that we don’t know if Windows RT has RTM’ed yet.

Mary Jo Foley had this to say:

Update: When I asked today whether Windows RT had RTM’d, I received a no comment from Microsoft. Also still getting a no comment as to when IE 10 on Windows 7 will be available. It’s IE 10 for Windows 8 that RTM’d today.

Remember that Windows RT is the Operating System that will be used by ARM powered Windows 8 devices.

One more thing – (a pet peeve for me) – it’s also important to remember that Windows RT will be used on laptops and possibly some PC’s as well.

It’s not solely a Tablet Operating System.

We’ll bring you news of the Windows RT RTM (yes I know it sounds funny) as soon as we know…

Here are some popular search terms that have led to this article:

• windows 8 rtm leaked forum

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