Nouvelle Technologie

Battle of the Windows 8 Start Buttons If the absence of a Start Menu button is keeping you from  upgrading to Windows 8 , you are in luck. There are tools available that will put the Start Menu into your Windows 8 desktop and these buttons don’t just have a familiar look-and-feel but they also mimic the functionality of the original Windows Start Menu. I tried about half a dozen Start buttons for Windows 8 from various developers and here are some recommendations on which ones you may use and which ones you should avoid. Win8StartButton  brings the best of both worlds. It adds a Start Menu button to your Windows 8 desktop but the layout is more like a compressed version of the Start Screen of Windows 8. When you open the Start Menu, the search box stays in focus so you can even type a few characters to  quickly open any software program . I really liked this program (it makes you familiar with the start screen) but the only issue is that some of the options are written in

How to Upgrade your Computer to Windows 8 Windows 8  is finally here. I just upgraded my Windows 7 desktop to Windows 8 and the process couldn’t be smoother. All the existing software programs work just fine in Windows 8 and the built-in Windows Store offers a plethora of new full-screen “apps” to choose from. Desktop search is so much better in Windows 8, the UI feels more snappy and the system will boot faster. You don’t need to install a  separate anti-virus program  as Windows Defender is already included in Windows 8. If you haven’t played with the Windows 8 beta versions earlier, it may take a day or two to get comfortable with the new layout but overall, Windows 8 is a must-have upgrade. Upgrading to Windows 8 – Step by Step If you are also planning to make the switch to Windows 8 this weekend, here are 3 things you would need: A Windows machine running Windows 7, Vista and Windows XP. It doesn’t matter if you have computer is running Windows XP Premium or Win

Turn CAPS Lock into a Dedicated Windows Key The Windows key is probably the most important key in Windows 8 since it is part of so many new  keyboard shortcuts . Now if you have been using an old keyboard that doesn’t have a dedicated Windows key or if you would like to add another Windows key to your  keyboard for ease of access, what you can do is remap the rarely-used CAPS lock key and turn it into a Windows key. Here’s how: Remap the CAPS Lock Key in Windows To remap any key in Windows, you need to make certain changes to the Windows registry. Since this can be intimidating to most users, there are tools available that let you map one key to another without fiddling with the registry. Sharpkeys and Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator are popular programs that perform key remapping but I prefer ScanMapSet since it requires no installation and once the required keys have been mapped, you can just delete the utility.  Download the scanmapset.exe file and

Some More Answers around Windows 8   This week’s WSJ column  answers some common questions that you may have around upgrading to Windows 8 . I also did a little Q&A with Microsoft India  which is shared below: Q. I am planning to assemble my own PC from scratch. Where do I get a full license (System Builder Edition?) of Windows 8? A: You can buy a retail copy of Windows 8 for Rs. 11,999. Q. If I buy a Windows 8 machine, can I downgrade to Windows 7 or Vista later? A: PCs purchased preinstalled with Windows 8 Pro will have the option to downgrade either to Windows 7 Professional or Windows Vista Business. Q. I have a laptop computer and a desktop computer at home. Do I need to buy separate Windows 8 licenses? A: Yes, you need separate licenses. Q. Can I deactivate my Windows 8 license and transfer it to another computer? A: Yes – by completely formatting your drive. Q. If I buy a TechNet / MSDN license, am I allowed to use them on a personal computer? A: The Tech

The official Windows Themes directory at windows.microsoft.com hosts some beautiful themes for your Windows desktop. Some of the newer themes – like these dual-screen panoramic images – are however compatible only with Windows 8 machines. If you aren’t planning to make the upgrade to Windows 8 , the good news is that you can still extract the wallpaper backgrounds of these Windows 8 specific themes and use them on older Windows PCs. Also see: Use Windows 7 Themes on Windows XP or Vista The Windows theme files have a .themepack extension but the Windows 8 specific themes are distributed as .deskthemepack files. Internally, this is just another archive format that you can easily open using the free 7-zip utility. Install the 7-zip utility and then download any of the .deskthemepack files from the Windows Themes gallery. Press F2 to rename the theme file and change its extension to .7z (you can just append .7z to the file name). Now you can right-click this files and

How to Get Refunds from the iTunes App Store If you are wondering why would anyone want refunds for purchases that they have made from the iTunes Apps store, consider the following situations: A. You ordered an HD movie from the iTunes store but after making the purchase, you realize that it would take several hours to download that massive file to your computer. You can stop the download but your credit card will still be charged. B. You have an iPhone but you accidentally bought an iPad version of some app which is obviously of no use to you. C. You wanted to buy a game but there were at least a dozen similar titles on the iTunes store. The one you finally bought is not the one you were originally looking for and you therefore want to return it to Apple. D. You purchased a song from iTunes store but there’s some problem with the audio format and it won’t play on your iPod or iPhone. E. You have two or more iTunes accounts and you purchased an iPhone App using

How toTry Android Apps Before Buying? Google’s online Android Market, now called Google Play, is huge with more than 200,000 apps for your Android mobile phone and tablets. A lot of these Android Apps are available as free downloads while the paid apps can cost anywhere between 99 ¢ and $200. Amazon runs a parallel online store for Android Apps and one good thing about Amazon’s store is that it lets you test and test apps before you actually buy them. Paid Android Apps – Try before your Buy Say you have found an interesting app in Google’s Android Market that you are quite willing to buy but as the app price is a bit on the expensive side, you would like to use the app and test the various features before loosening your purse strings. Google doesn’t offer “try before you buy” apps but there’s an easy workaround that will help you test any paid app before buying it – you buy an app from the Android market, use it for about 10-12 minutes and then refund the app. Th

Google, as most would know, redirects Blogger blogs to country-specific domains. For instance, if you open example.blogspot.com in your browser, you might be redirected to example.blogspot.in if you are located in India or to example.blogspot.com.au if you access the same blog from Australia. The main reason why Google implemented country-specific redirection is selective censorship – they can now easily block a blog, or a particular page on a blog, in one country but still serve it in other regions. Blogger and Country-Specific Domains My traffic logs suggest that country-specific redirection in Blogger is now live in at least 15 countries. Here’s a complete list: India [blogspot.in], Australia [blogspot.com.au], UK [blogspot.co.uk], Japan [blogspot.jp], New Zealand [blogspot.co.nz], Canada [blogspot.ca], Germany [blogspot.de], Italy [blogspot.it], France [blogspot.fr], Sweden [blogspot.se], Spain [blogspot.com.es], Portugal [blogspot.pt], Brazil [blogspot.com.br],

Looking to write your name in different styles? Here’re some online tools to help you do just that: 1. Google Transliterate – India is a land of many languages and this online tool from Google will help you write your name in almost all prominent languages of the country including Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Bengali. 2. Google Translate – If you want to write your name in a language like Chinese, Japanese or even Greek, you really need to get hold of a person who can speak that language. If you can’t find one, Google Translate is the next best option. 3. Elvish Language – This is something for Lord of the Rings fans. The page describes how you can easily represent your English name using the Tengwar script. The writing looks mysterious and it’s not very hard. 4. Braille Generator – The tool will convert your name into Braille, a popular writing system that enables blind people to read and write through touch. They just run their fingers across these tiny dots to rea

How to Tell if a QR Code is Safe or Not?   Is that QR code pointing to a safe website? Quick Response (QR) Codes make it easier for you to open web pages on a mobile phone without having to type the long URLs. Retailers put QR codes in print ads that customers can scan to learn more about the advertised product. Museums use QR Codes to offer more detailed information about exhibits. Sometimes you may encounter QR codes at random locations – may be on a street pole – that you are often tempted to scan. It could hold a discount coupon for some retail store, maybe its part of some scavenger hunt or, in the worst case, it could be trick to direct you to a malicious website. How do you know if a QR code is safe or not? Protect yourself from Bad QR Codes Unfurlr, an online tool that helps you unmask the long URLs hiding behind short URLs, now offers a QR scanner app for both iPhone and Android mobile phones. Unlike other QR scanners, Unfurlr won’t just reveal the

 Use QR Codes to Get More Facebook Likes A store had this large QR code poster at the entrance window that read – “Like our Facebook Page for offers.” I scanned the QR code with my mobile phone and it redirected me to the store’s website that wasn’t quite mobile-friendly. I spent around 8 seconds on the website but couldn’t locate the Facebook Like button and left. It was a missed opportunity for the brand as the QR Code failed to generate an additional Like on the Facebook Page. QR Code that links to a Facebook Like button Encourage Social Action with QR Codes What the store really needs is a dedicated landing page that would provide customers an option to quickly “Like” the Facebook Page without confusing them with too many options. Also, the design of this page has to be mobile friendly as there’s a 99.99% probability that customers would use a mobile phone to scan the QR code on the go. Scan this QR Code for a sample. If you would like to build a similar lan

Download the Evernote Bible for Free Today! Download the Evernote Bible ebook for free today and take your Evernote skills to the next level. Whether you are an experienced Evernote user or a newbie who is just trying to make sense of the various features available inside Evernote, here’s something useful for you. The Evernote Bible is a $9.99 ebook loaded with tips on how you can use the Evernote software more effectively. It discusses the various scenarios where you can use Evernote, how you can perform advanced searches, how to automate Evernote with IFTTT, and encryption among other things. My favorite part though is at the end where the author shares 99 creative uses of Evernote. For instance, since Evernote can encrypt text, you can also consider using the software as an online Password manager. The Evernote bible is available as a free download on Amazon today. You can read it on your computer, mobile phone or the Kindle, if you have one.