Five Easy Ways to Tweak the Look of Windows 8.1

Yes, this is actually Windows

As we know, Windows 8.1 doesn't provide the same high level of customization as other platforms out there, but it still comes with options that give you the power to change the essential settings, such as colors and icons, while third-party applications also come with something extra that bring support for visual styles and other elements.

Step 1: change the Start screen background

One of the best things about Windows 8.1 and 8.1 Update is the built-in option that allows you to change the Start screen background. Windows 8 came with multiple built-in Start screen backgrounds, but starting with Windows 8.1, you are also allowed to use the desktop wallpaper on the Start screen as well.

Microsoft says that this is actually a pretty helpful feature improvement because it eases the transition from the desktop to the Start screen and vice-versa, as many users have actually criticized the Start menu replacement for its touch-oriented approach.

Do change the background, go over to the Start screen, move the mouse cursor to the right side of the screen, wait for the charms to appear, click on “Settings,” then hit the “Personalize” option and then choose any of the available wallpapers.

Alternatively, you can right-click the taskbar, hit “Properties” and in the “Navigation” tab enable the option that says “Show my desktop background on Start.”

Tip: use a clean and simple wallpaper. Avoid photos with celebrities, cars, or other objects because they do not look good when the Start screen live tiles are displayed on top of it.

Step 2: change the taskbar and windows colors

If you right-click the desktop and hit the “Personalize” option, you'll discover a completely new world. This menu allows you to change several visual settings, including the desktop backgrounds, colors, and the screensaver.

As far as colors are concerned, Windows 8.1 is by default configured to use the “Auto” option, which basically changes the color depending on your desktop background. If you'd like a different color, just choose the one you want and hit the save button.

Step 3: deploy a Start menu app

If you're a Microsoft enthusiast, you sure know that the lack of a Start menu is one of the main setbacks of modern Windows, but Microsoft has promised to address these issues in future updates.

There are plenty of such apps out there, but Classic Shell continues to be one of the leading choices for the majority of users, especially because it has a user-friendly interface and options that allow users to quickly shut down their computers or access installed apps.

Microsoft's Start menu is rumored to return sometime in August, and according to information provided by the company itself, could come with live tiles, a search box, and power controls at one-click distance.

Step 4: choose a different mouse cursor

If you're tired of the old mouse cursor that's available in Windows 8 and you're looking for something a bit more eye-catchy, no problem.

There are plenty of third-party skins for the mouse cursor out there and the best of all is that they aren't even requiring you to deploy some sort of application to use them.

Basically, the only thing you need to do is to download the pack, right-click the INI file and click install. All files are automatically copied to your computer and you can then enable the new mouse cursor by opening the “Mouse properties” screen in Control Panel.

As said, there are lots of such cursor themes out there, so we can't really tell you which one to choose, but the “Shadow cursor” theme would be a good way to start.

Step 5: use desktop widgets

Microsoft removed the desktop widgets that were available in Windows 7.

In the meantime, third-party apps can still help you and Rainmeter is clearly the first name that comes in one's mind. This application might not be so easy to use and it requires some basic coding skills, but there are thousands of themes out there that could really come in handy.
There still are some ways to bring back the old gadgets in Windows 8.1 Update, but we wouldn't recommend them, as they might slow down the operating system and turn your desktop into a cluttered working environment.

Tip: try to use only a handful of widgets, as they might affect system performance. Rainmeter doesn't hamper system performance, but if you go for another app, it might have an impact on the way your computer loads apps.

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An amazing Chrome extension for modifying text in web images

Project Naptha

Project Naptha, a Chrome extension made by developer Kevin Kwok, uses optical character recognition technology whipped up by several sources—including Microsoft Research and Google—to automatically identify text in images on the web. The extension then gives you options to copy, translate or even modify the text, right there in your browser.

With Project Naptha, selecting text in images is as easy as highlighting words in, well, Word, and a simple right-click brings up the extension's options. Being able to copy text in imagery and paste it into a Google search or document seems like a highly useful feature indeed.

Swing into the Chrome Web Store to pick up the extension, then head over to the Project Naptha website for the full backstory and—if you have the extension installed—a full demonstration of its abilities. Kwok hopes to expand the project to other browsers in the future.

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How to Dual Boot Android 4.4.2 and Ubuntu for Phones

Ubuntu for phones in action

Testing Ubuntu for phones is now even simpler with an application that is capable of installing the new operating system from Canonical without having to delete Android. Getting a dual boot system in place will perhaps turn the attention of even more users towards the new open source platform for mobiles and tablets.

Canonical has a simple procedure explained on its website on how to install Ubuntu for phones, but that implies deleting Android and getting the new operating system in place. The Ubuntu developers have done a great job so far and the new OS is looking great, but if you decide to return to Android, you will need to delete Ubuntu and install Google’s OS. That means that you will have to set up the phone all over again, which can be bothersome.

Fortunately, there is a solution for this problem and it's called MultiROM Manager, an application developed by Vojtech Bocek. It's available on Google Play and will only work on Nexus 7 (2012 & 2013), Nexus 4, and Nexus 5.

On the other hand, Ubuntu Touch only works on Nexus 4 Phone (mako), Nexus 7 (2013) Tablet (flo), and Nexus 10 Tablet (manta), so unless you have one of these devices, you won't be able to safely do this procedure (it might work, but there are no guarantees and you might brick the device and/or lose all your data.)

First of all, you will need an unlocked phone, which shouldn't be a problem since you already have a Nexus device. You will also have to be root in Android so that you can install the operating system from inside the application itself.

A number of tools will be necessary for this work. First off all, you will need to install ADB (Android Debug Bridge), which is provided by Canonical along with some of its tools. You will have to run a few commands in a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phablet-team/tools
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-device-flash

Now, you will need to download two packages, TWRP 2.7.0.0 and SuperSU binary, which will actually make you root. Copy the SuperSU binary zip to the phone's memory. Run this command to go to the bootloader:

sudo reboot bootloader

Unzip the TWRP files on your computer and install the images with the following command (replace recovery.img with the name of the file you have downloaded):

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

Navigate from the bootloader menu to recovery and you will now have TWRP 2.7.0.0 in place. Run TWRP and install the SuperSU binary, followed by a reboot.

You now have root access in Android. Install MultiROM Manager, apply the patches, and download Ubuntu for phones. The application will ask for root access and the installation will go on smoothly. When you reboot you will be prompted with a small screen that allows you to choose what system you want to run. Choose Ubuntu and you are good to go.

Enjoy!

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CyanogenMod can be flashed through a text message thanks to SMS-Romer

Custom ROMs are undoubtedly one of the bigger joys that Android users can benefit from. However, rooting your device and flashing these might be a little hard and frustrating for inexperienced Android enthusiasts. Fortunately, the team behind CyanogenMod, which is arguably the most popular custom firmware for Android, tried to make a difference byreleasing CyanogenMod Installer several months ago. This user-friendly tool allowed users to flash the popular ROM considerably easier, however, it is no longer available in Google's Play Store.

Fortunately, a new 3rd party app aims to make flashing CyanogenMod on your device a tad painless.

Meet SMS-Romer, an app that allows you to flash CyanogenMod on your device via a simple text message. Wait, what? Yes, you got it right! Developed by XDA developer rootfan, SMS-Romer is a simple app that enables you to remotely instruct your smartphone to download the latest CyanogenMod build and automatically flash it. In order to do so, you just need to text your device a brief command line and the app will take care of the rest. Simply put, SMS-Romer downloads a CyanogenMod build, reboots your device into recovery mode, and flashes the said firmware. Voila! You've flashed the ROM remotely.

SMS-Romer supports all four types of CyanogenMod builds – be it nightlies, snapshots, release candidates, or stable ones. The app also enables you to remotely wipe your device's cache, Dalvik cache, or user data. As a rule of thumb, you don't need to do so when you are simply updating the CyanogenMod firmware, but if you experience any issues with a given build, it is highly recommended that you wipe everything and start over, so this feature is rather handy.

As you might also know, Google's apps (YouTube, Gmail, Google Play, etc.) do not come preloaded with CyanogenMod or any other custom ROM. This means that you need to flash a so-called gapps (Google Apps) package in order to use them on your device. Luckily, SMS-Romer allows you to remotely do this, either!

Still, in order to use SMS-Romer and flash the custom firmware, your device must be or must have been supported by CyanogenMod. In addition, it has to be rooted and you need to have the TWRP2+ custom recovery installed, as well.

SMS-Romer supports only CyanogenMod at the moment and it's unclear if it will be compatible with other custom ROMs in the future. Be advised that the app is not available on Google Play, so head to the source link if you decide to give SMS-Romer a shot.

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Kill Processes using Command Prompt in Windows 7 | 8

If your Task Manager gets stuck or unresponsive due to intensive apps and you are not able to kill the particular process. What do you do ? You press ctrl-alt-delete to open up the Task Manager and find the culprit. But you can kill also multiple processes using command prompt in Windows 7.

Kill Processes using Command Prompt in Windows 7 | 8

For this we use the Tasklist and Taskview commands.

Open the Command Prompt in the Administrative privileges mode and run the Tasklist command, it will show you a list of all the running processes.



To views the processes, type Taskview and hit Enter.

To kill any particular process use the Taskkill command. For example to kill Chrome, run the command as:

Taskkill /IM chrome.exe /F

where /F is used to kill the process forcefully. You can also kill any particular process by using it’s ID, the tasklist command displays the process ID’s as well (you can see the PID column in the screenshot). To kill any process using it’s ID, run the command as:

Taskkill /PID 2704 /F

Now to kill multiple processes simultaneously, run the above command with the PID’s of all the processes followed by spaces

Taskkill /PID 2704 5472 4344 /F

That's it!

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Top 5 Text Editors

Sublime Text

Cross-platform and feature packed, Sublime Text was a crowd favorite in the call for contenders thread, partially because of its amazing feature-set. Plug-ins and add-ons are available for specific programming languages and uses in Sublime Text, the app features extremely powerful search and go-to features, tons of keyboard commands to help you never have to take your hands off the keyboard while you use it, a distraction-free mode that lets you focus right on your work—whatever that work may happen to be, and much much more. Sublime Text has a tabbed interface so you can have multiple documents open at the same time, and a 10,000ft view on the right so you can see where in your document you are at any time. You can select multiple rows to make simultaneous changes, customize shortcuts to suit your own needs, and even chain shortcuts together to perform complex—but fast—operations. It's remarkably powerful. P

Sublime Text is available for Windows, OS X, and Linux. It's distributed as evaluation software (meaning it's free to try, but there's no time limit on how long you can use it for free) and a full license will cost you $70. A full license is per user, so you can use it on as many computers as you like once you have one. In the call for contenders thread, those of you who nominated Sublime praised its impressive feature-set, developer-friendly plug-ins and API, side-by-side file comparisons, and much more.

Notepad++

Notepad++ has been around for a long time, and many users have only ever used Notepad++ when they're ready to upgrade from Notepad or Wordpad. It's stil under development though, and combines the simple interface of Notepad or Wordpad with advanced features that will make writers and developers happy. Some of them include a customizable interface that you can make as minimal or toolbar-rich as you choose, a document map so you can see where you are in your work at any time, a tabbed interface so you can work in multiple documents, auto-completion and text shortening, macro recording so you can customize shortcuts, and more. You also get customizable syntax highlighting, text folding and collapsable parts of the document (to make things easier to read,) and options you can use to launch the app under certain parameters, just to make your work easier. P

Notepad++ is free (free as in free speech and free beer) and available for Windows only. You can grab it as an installable app, or a portable app to run from a flash drive or cloud storage service like Dropbox. If you're not sure exactly what you're looking for in a text editor, it's a good place to start, especially because it's free. You can donate to the project though, and if you enjoy it, you should. The code is available too, so if you'd rather contribute, you can do that as well. Those of you who nominated it praised its simplicity, wealth of plug-ins for just about every type of user, and of course, its price tag.

Vim (and Its Iterations)P

SEXPAND

Oh boy, Vim. Designed to bring the simplicity of Vi to every platform and person who needed a configurable but not-too-heavy text editor, Vim is one banner of the Holy Text Editor Grail Wars to march under. It's not without good reason—Vim is cross-platform, free, and while it's aimed squarely at programmers who want an interface they can tweak to their liking and really get some work done in, you don't have to be a programmer to get the most use out of it. Instead, you just have to take the time to configure it so it works the way you prefer. It won't hold your hand (although its extensive help is useful for beginners), but once you remember its keyboard shortcuts and commands, download tons of user scripts to apply to it to streamline your work, and learn your way around, it quickly becomes an essential tool. It supports dozens of languages, keeps a history of your actions so you can easily repeat or undo them, supports macro recording, automatically recognizes file types, and lives—once installed—at your command line.P

Vim—and most of its iterations, which include editors that add a GUI to the app so you can launch it without resorting to the command line—are free (GPL licensed). It's available for any operating system with a command line of just about any type, and it's charityware, meaning instead of paying for the app, the team behind it suggests you donate to children in Uganda who could use the support via the ICCF. Those of you who praised Vim noted that it takes some commitment to learn, but once you're familiar with it, the sky's the limit. Read more in the nomination thread here. P

Atom

Calling itself a text editor "for the 21st century," Atom earned a lot of praise in the nominations round for being a text editor designed for the needs of today's developers. It's built by the team at GitHub, and incorporates some of the lessons the team there learned by managing so much code on a regular basis. It's flexible, customizable, themeable, and even though it's relatively new, it already has a large following and tons of plugins, thanks to its open API. It operates like a native application, and even the application package is customizable so you only get the modules you need. It packs a tabbed interface, multi-paned layout, easy file browser, and easy learning curve so you can get up and running with it quickly. There's also solid documentationto help you get started if you need it. Only downside though: Atom is currently in private beta, and you'll have to sign up for an invite and cross your fingers if you want to give it a try. P

Atom is currently OS X only (10.8+), although Windows and Linux versions are on the roadmap. It's also free to use while it's in beta, but when it's finished and released, the team behind it says it'll be "competitively priced." Those of you who nominated it praised its customizability and available plugins, and pointed to the tool's potential to become one of the best and most powerful text editors we've seen in many many years.

Emacs (and Its Iterations)

If you've used an operating system with a command line interface, you've had Emacs available to you. It's been around for decades (since Richard Stallman and Guy Steele wrote it in 1976), and its the other major text editor to stand behind in the Holy Text Editor Grail Wars. It's not the easiest tool, but it's definitely one of the most powerful. It has a steep learning curve, but it's always there, ready for use. It's had a long and storied history, but the version that most people wind up using is GNU Emacs, linked above. It's richly featured, too—Emacs can handle almost any type of text that you throw at it, handle simple documents or complex code, or be customized with startup scripts that add features or tweak the interface and shortcuts to match your project or preference. Similarly, Emacs supports macro recording, tons of shortcuts (that you'll have to learn to get really familiar with it), and has a ton of modules created by third parties to leverage the app for completely non-programming purposes, like project planning, calendaring, news reading, and word processing. When we say it's powerful, we're not kidding. In large part, its power comes from the fact that anyone can play with it and mold it into something new and useful for everyone. P

Emacs is completely cross platform, with versions and derivatives available for Windows, OS X, Linux, and just about every other operating system on the planet. It's free, as in both free speech and free beer, and comes with detailed help, tutorials, and guides to help you get started using it if you're new to using Emacs. Those of you who praised it in the call for contenders thread highlighted its flexibility and power, complete customizability, and the fact that you can play Tetris in it, which is admittedly a nice bonus.

P

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How To Hide Drives in Windows !!

1.Go to run .
2.Type "diskpart".
3.Type "list volume".
4.Now select the volume you want to hide by typing "select volume n"(n is the volume number against the drive you want to hide).
eg: select volume 2.
5.Type "revome letter x"(x is the drive name).eg: remove letter D.
Done, now check my computer .


If you want to show the drive again then repeat step 1 to 4 then type "assign letter x".

Note :
**Dont try with drive C **
** If you have locked something with Folderlock or other software then after assigning the drive everything will be unlocked ;)**

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DID YOU KNOW? INTERNET ERROR CODES......

Error 400 - Bad request.
Error 401 - unauthorized request.
Error 403 - forbidden.
Error 404 - Not found.
Error 500 -Internal error.
Error 501 - Not Implemented Error 502 - Bad Gateway
Error 503 -Service unavailable.
Error 504 - Gateway Time-Out
Error 505 - HTTP Version not supported/ DNS
Lookup Fail/ unknown host
Error 500-599 - Server Errors

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Some useful RUN ( Win+R) commands

Accessibility Controls 
access.cpl 
Accessibility Wizard 
accwiz 
Add Hardware Wizard 
hdwwiz.cpl 
Add/Remove Programs 
appwiz.cpl 
Administrative Tools 
control admintools 
Adobe Acrobat (if installed) 
acrobat 
Adobe Designer (if installed) 

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