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If you own a PC, the only current way to play "Halo: Spartan Assault" on your rig was to install Windows 8 or 8.1 and download it from the Windows Store. Next week that will change, as Microsoft's top-down sci-fi shooter finally comes to the much bigger Windows 7 PC audience, along with Windows Vista. A listing on Valve's Steam service shows that "Halo: Spartan Assault" will be released on April 4 for the price of $4.99. The description states that this version of the game will support Steam achievements, rather than the Windows 8-based Xbox Live achievements. It also won't support the two player multiplayer missions that were included in the recent Xbox One and Xbox 360 versions. Speaking of which, both of the game's console versions have now received a permanent price cut from $14.99 to $9.99 each. Also, the Halo Waypoint site has posted word that the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 versions, which are currently priced at $6.99 each, will see a deep price reduction to just $1.99 each from April 3-9. On April 10, the price will go up again, but just to $4.99 each on a permanent basis. Source

By Bogdan Popa February 10th, 2014, 21:40 GMT Windows 8.1 is alive and kicking and Microsoft hopes that its new OS update has what it takes to rescue Windows 8 and become the main catalyst of a major market share booth for its modern platform. Statistics provided for the first three months on the market in the United States reveal that Windows 8.1 is quickly gaining ground, as it managed to overtake Linux and post a hefty growth that’s very likely to continue in the coming months. Windows 8.1 posted a market share of 2.13 percent for the October 2013 – January 2014 period, while Linux is trailing behind with 1.2 percent. Of course, Windows 8.1 is still far from competing with market rivals Windows 7 and Windows XP, but it’s still attracting users at a very fast pace. What’s more, with Windows 8.1 Update 1 on its way, figures would most likely grow even more, so expect more consumers to embrace this OS version in the coming months. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-8-1-Overtakes-Linux-After-Only-Three-Months-on-the-Market-425590.shtml

The tip may especially interest the youngerset. This fun-tip will let you customize the alphabets appearing after the time numerals in the taskbar. Put your name if you wish! 1. Open Control Panel. 2. Press Win+X in combination to bring up the Power Task Menu, in Windows 8. From it, choose Control Panel. Then, select Region & Language. 3. From the Region & Language window that appears on your computer screen, select Additional Settings button. 4. From the Customize Format window, choose the Timetab, Change both the AM and PM letters to any name you wish. 5. Make sure that the format you are using has tt in it.That is: Time Format = hh:mm:ss tt Then, simply click on Apply > OK. If you do not like the changes made, reverse them and restore it to default settings by simply clicking on the reset button or by changing it back manually to AM and PM. Should work on Windows 7 and Windows Vista too. Source : TWC

As Windows XP continued its decline, users who deserted the obsolete operating system shifted to Windows 7, not the newer Windows 8, more circumstantial evidence that commercial customers, not consumers, now drive PC sales. Data from analytics vendor Net Applications showed Windows XP dropped one percentage point in user share last month, ending May with 25.3% of all desktop and notebook systems. It was the third consecutive month that XP shed one or more points of user share. Most of May's lost XP share showed up on Windows 7, which gained eight-tenths of a point to reach 50.1%, the first time the 2009 OS has reached that milestone. Meanwhile, Windows 8 grew four-tenths of a percentage point, ending with a user share of 12.6%. For the first time, Windows 8.1 accounted for more than half of the combined user share of it and the original Windows 8. The rise of Windows 7 had been predicted by researchers who have noted a temporary boom in personal computer shipments to businesses as they rushed to throw XP on the ash heap. IDC, for example, has said commercial sales of PCs have climbed by double digits this year compared to last, but that consumers sales have sunk by similar rates. Net Applications' statistics can be interpreted as proof of those trends, with Windows 7 -- the standard corporate OS now that XP has waned -- on the upswing at double the rate of Windows 8/8.1 because of the continued slump in consumer PC purchases. Most consumer-grade personal computers are now equipped with Windows 8.1. In two of the last three months, Windows 7's gains have outpaced those of Windows 8. The latter also continued to flirt with comparisons to Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft failure: At the 19-month mark, Windows 8 was barely ahead of Vista's share of all PCs running Windows. Unless consumer PC sales pick up in a big way later this year, as some forecast or at least hope, or Windows 8 becomes acceptable to businesses, which virtually no one believes is in the short-term cards, Windows 7 will continue to gain ground as all traces of XP are slowly scrubbed from enterprises, a process that will take much of 2014 in the U.S. and longer elsewhere. The dominance of Windows 7 -- and its apparent resistance to replacement by Windows 8 -- will probably mean a repeat in five years of XP's grudging retirement and a similar scramble near the end of Windows 7's support to find an alternative. Microsoft has promised to support Windows 7 until mid-January 2020. Assuming it continues to unveil a new operating system -- as opposed to interim updates like Windows 8.1 -- every three years, Microsoft will get two more shots to come up with a suitable substitute for Windows 7. Net Applications calculates operating system user share -- an estimate of the fraction of the world's personal computers that run a specific OS -- by tallying unique visitors to the websites of its analytics clients. Windows 7 powered more than half of all PCs running Windows in May, solidifying its spot as the standard Microsoft OS for the foreseeable future. (Data: Net Applications.) Source

Microsoft has forced Windows 7 users to apply an April update in order to receive June's patches for its Internet Explorer 11 browser. The demand does not affect users of earlier versions of its flagship browser or operating system. Microsoft did not provide reasons for the move but it appeared to have simplified its patching process since updates need only to be crafted for the latest incarnation of the latest browser version. In order to receive June's monster critical update (MS14-035) and all future IE 11 patches, users would need to speed up testing of April fix MS14-18, which addressed handling of objects in memory, KB2919355, or KB2929437, Microsoft said in a support document. The latest fix, released June 10, addressed 59 security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer the most severe of which could allow remote code execution when users pointed their browsers to specially crafted web sites. "These vulnerabilities by themselves do not allow arbitrary code to be run. However, these vulnerabilities could be used in conjunction with another vulnerability (e.g., a remote code execution vulnerability) that could take advantage of the elevated privileges when running arbitrary code," Microsoft said in a MS14-035 advisory. "In addition, compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content could contain specially crafted content that could exploit these vulnerabilities. "For example, an attacker could trick users into clicking a link that takes them to the attacker's site." Users running IE 11 would miss out on browser fixes without update 2919355 for Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2, or update 2929437 for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1. Users with automatic updates activated would not feel the affects of the new demand unless those updates had quietly failed leaving them exposed. Source

The month of July has ended and it is now time to take a look at how well Microsoft's Windows operating system has fared in terms of market share. According to new data from NetApplications, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 has seen a slight decrease in combined market share as of July 2014, while Windows XP also drops in share. Windows 7, on the other hand, sees a slight increase. Windows 7 continues to be the top desktop operating system with a 51.22% share. This is up from the previous month's 50.55% share. The month prior saw a 48.77% share. Clearly Windows 7 is seeing increased share as the months go by. Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, on the other hand, saw a combined share of 12.48%. This is down from the previous month's 12.54%, which is lower than the 12.64% share from the month prior. Windows XP remains the second most popular Windows browser with a declining share of 24.82% as of July 2014. Diving deeper into the stats, we can see that Windows 8.1 had a 6.61% share in June, but saw a decline to 6.56% as of July. Comparatively, Mac OSX 10.9 has an operating system share of 4.12% while Linux owns a 1.68% share. Interestingly enough, we are beginning to see a declining trend with Windows 8/8.1, while Windows 7 continues to grow in market share. Are Windows 8 users reverting back to Windows 7? It could be. Source

Here's my scenario: I have a laptop with 3 OS on it. Windows XP, Windows 8, Windows 7, and 4th partition for files. Whenever I listen to music or watch and listen to Youtube videos, and the like, I notice that the sound is louder when I play it on Windows XP than on Windows 7/8. I have played the same set of music files, Youtube videos on all 3 OS but the result is still the same. The volume on the 3 OS and on the videos are all set to 100% but still, when I play them on Windows XP, I had to lower down the volume not to cause too much noise. I have installed the required audio drivers for all 3 OS and all OS are Windows updates up-to-date. Whenever I watch and listen on Windows 7/8, I often look at the volume indicator to see if it is already maxed [or 100%] and is thinking if there is any way to make the sound/audio louder. All OS are on their own partition so the settings and software are independent from one another. Just to compare, 100% volume on Windows 7/8 seems to be around 50% on Windows XP even though they are using the same exact hardware, all OS on the same laptop. When I'm on Windows 7/8, I will need to connect additional speakers to get a louder sound/audio but when I'm on Windows XP, the built-in speakers are sufficient enough. Is there any setting that I need to check or adjust so that sound/audio volume on Windows 7/8 will be at par or as loud as on Windows XP? I'm not sure if my computer specs matter but I'll just mention it anyway. Windows XP on 1st partition [148 GB] Windows 8 on 2nd partition [150 GB] Windows 7 on 3rd partition [150 GB] 4th partition for files [250 GB] or 750 Gibibytes / 698 Gigabytes 4 GB RAM DDR3 Intel Core i7 3610QM CLEVO CO. W250ENQ / W270ENQ (U29)

Pause4Relax Pause4Relax is ideal for people who cannot resist looking and working on the computer and keep torturing their eyes for hours at a stretch. And honestly, the timing of coming across this application couldn’t be more right as these days I’m straining my eyes to no limit! How it works Pause4Relax is like a reminder from the computer, which activates after every 30 minutes, lowers the brightness of the monitor and gives you few minutes (5, by default) to relax your eyes. The software gives the user flexibility to customize the settings, best suitable to them. So, if you feel you can take a break after 45-60 minutes, change settings accordingly. The application also gives you the option to skip the relaxation time and add more minutes if all you need is to relax more. While playing games or watching movies, you can disable the application and then resume later. Features Pause4Relax is an extremely light application and can run on minimum system configuration. It’s a portable application; therefore there is no need of installing it, simply double click to execute the application on your PC or laptop. Users of Windows 7 and above can change their system’s startup settings in order to load the application while logging in to their system. Download http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Home-Education/Pause-4-Relax.shtml

Just a short while ago, a registry tweak allowed everyone to snag the highly-anticipated update to Windows 8.1. Not to be outdone, today saw the leak of Internet Explorer 11 Spring 2014 Update for Windows 7, which brings along Enterprise Mode. For those curious, the build number is 11.0.9600.17029. Enterprise mode allows companies to specify which website should be viewed in IE8 compatibility mode and which websites do not need to utilize compatibility mode. This feature will come with Windows 8.1 Update 1 as well. No word on when Microsoft will officially roll out this update to Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7. Chances are we might hear about it during the Build 2014 Developer Conference in April. E11 Update for Windows 7 with Enterprise mode build 11.0.9600.17029 leak soon .. pic.twitter.com/kverjasRaX — WZor (@WZorNET) March 6, 2014 Source

Windows 7 built upon the innovations of Vista to create an impressive desktop operating system that is both highly functional and very stable. For the most part, at least; the OS has to work with an incredible variety of apps and hardware, so problems do crop up. Here are some of the most common, and how to fix them. Windows 7 shuts down slowly Shutting down Windows is supposed to be a quick process, but users sometimes find that the “Shutting Down…” screen becomes stuck for several minutes. This is often caused by the page file, a file on the hard drive that stores overflow data from RAM and, if it’s set to be cleared at shutdown, can slow the process. First, do a Windows search for “regedit.exe” to open the Registry Editor. Once open, go to the following directory. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management Look for the entry “ClearPageFileAtShutdown” and see if it is set to a value of 1, which means it is enabled. If this is so, change the value to 0. Be warned, though, that the page file represents a potential security hole. If someone were to steal your drive, they could look at the page file to try and see what you were working on. This isn’t a concern for most people, but it may be an issue if you handle sensitive information. Windows 7 hangs at shutdown If your system still shuts down slowly, or it freezes entirely, then the problem may be a system process. Windows does not give you details about the shutdown process, so tracking down the culprit can be difficult. Thankfully, there’s a way to make Windows give you more information. Do a Windows search for “regedit.exe” to open the Registry Editor. Once open, go to the following directory. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System In the right-side pane, look for “VerboseStatus” and change its value to 1. If you do not see this entry, right-click on an empty portion of the window, select New, and then DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name this new entry “VerboseStatus” and put its value at 1. This does not resolve the issue by itself, but it forces Windows to tell you what services are shutting down, which means you can now see what’s causing the problem. With that information, you can find and disable the offenders.Windows 7 wakes from sleep When you put Windows to sleep, you expect it to stay asleep, but various devices can cause it to wake. To see what might be waking your Windows 7 rig from its slumber prematurely, do a Windows search for “cmd” and, in the command line interface that appears, type the following. powercfg –lastwake This should show you the last hardware device which caused your PC to wake. However, in our experience this command is not 100% reliable. If nothing shows up, try the following. powercfg –devicequery wake_armed This tells you every device that has permission to wake your computer. Now open Device Manager and seek out the devices matching what the command line reported. Once found, double click to open Properties, and then head to the Power Management tab. Here, you’ll find an “Allow this device to wake the computer” checkbox. Un-check it. If you still have problems, then the issue might be software related, not hardware centric. Windows search for Power Options, and in that window open the power plan your PC uses. Now click the “Change advanced power settings” button. Scroll down until you find the Sleep tree. Expand it, expand “Allow Wake Timers,” and disable it. Software will no longer be able to wake your PC. No sound or intermittent sound Do a Windows search for Sound and open the Sound menu. Under the playback tab, you may see a variety of options. Sometimes these are accidentally changed by the user or by software. If you are using external speakers, you should have Speakers selected as your default device. But if you’re connecting to a display with speakers via HDMI, you’ll want the appropriate HDMI Output to be the default. You can change the default by right-clicking an entry and then selecting “Set as default device.” You may have a driver issue if the problem persists. Under the label of each device in the Sound menu, you’ll see the name of the device that enables it. Jump to Google, enter the name of the device, and look for a new driver to download. IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL blue screen of death This classic problem has caused countless BSODs, yet the message itself is rather difficult to parse. It means that an error has occurred with a driver, causing Windows to immediately halt. Whenever a BSOD occurs, a dump file is generated in the C:/Windows/Minidump folder. This file is also hard for most people to read, but you may be able to scan it for familiar names like “Nvidia,” which will point you in the direction of the problem. You can also forward the dump file to a friend, a help desk or any other source of assistance available to you. Once you’ve identified the problem, you can try installing a new driver or re-installing the existing one. If the problem persists, though, the hardware itself may be faulty and require replacement.Can’t join a HomeGroup A HomeGroup is a networking feature found in Windows 7 that makes it easy to share information with other PCs on your home network. When it works that is, as many users have trouble with this feature. First, check to make sure that you have your network type set to Home, as this is the only type that allows use of HomeGroup. Do a Windows search for the Network and Sharing Center, and check the network under “View your active networks.” It should be listed as a Home Network, but if it’s not, click the listed network type. A window will appear giving you three options. Select Home Network. If you still can’t join, it may be because the PC that created the HomeGroup is not turned on. Unfortunately, this is required for the HomeGroup to work. You’ll have to boot that PC and log in to Windows, even if you only want to use other PCs in the group. Another possibility is that network discovery has been turned off. From the Network and Sharing Center, find the “Change advanced sharing settings” link on the left side. Click it, then look for Network Discovery, which should be the first option listed. Make sure it’s turned on, then save your changes. Finally, you may need to turn on some networking services manually. Do a Windows search for Administrative Tools and open it. Then open Services in the window that appears. You’ll now see a long list of services with gear icons next to their name. Find the Peer Networking Grouping and HomeGroup Provider services, right-click each, and then select Start. Registration error after a major hardware upgrade Windows 7 uses an online activation method that beams your Windows key data along with your PC’s configuration to Microsoft’s servers. This is then used to automatically reject any other computer that tries to use the key. Unfortunately, the system can become a pain if you have to re-install Windows after a major hardware upgrade. Your system’s configuration no longer matches up with what Microsoft has on file, so you’ll receive errors saying your copy of Windows may not be genuine. Do a Windows search for Windows Activation and open the result that appears. Choose to activate online, and enter your key. This will most likely fail, so you’ll be given the option of activating through the phone. You’ll be given a number to call, and a field to enter numbers given to you by the automated phone line. If this fails and you’re told that your copy of Windows could not be activated, don’t hang up. Stay on the line, and you should be transferred to a real person who will likely ask you if you’re only using Windows on one PC. If you say yes, they’ll activate your copy. Should the call be dropped, call back but don’t respond to the automated prompts, and you’ll eventually be transferred to a representative. You can also get in touch with the Microsoft Activation Support line directly by calling 888-571-2048.Right-click context menu causes Explorer.exe crash One of the strangest problems reported by Windows 7 users is an Explorer.exe crash that sometimes occurs when a right-click context menu is opened. This problem is typically caused by a corrupt context menu entry. Windows doesn’t let you edit the contents of the context menu directly, but there’s a free tool called ShellExView that has this capability. Download it and install it. Open the program. You’ll see a list of entries, but you only need to worry about Context Menu entries, so sort them by type. A long list of context menu items will appear. Go through them and disable any that are not related to Windows directly (you can tell by reading the entry’s description). Now close ShellExView and restart your PC. The disabled context menu entries will no longer appear, and the crash should no longer occur. Source

Microsoft’s 12-year-old Windows XP operating system powers 95 percent of the world’s automated teller machines, according to NCR, the largest ATM supplier in the US. While the idea of Windows powering ATMs may surprise consumers, XP runs in the background powering the software that bank customers interact with to withdraw money. An upcoming Windows XP support change from Microsoft means ATMs will need to be upgraded and modified throughout 2014. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that the US has 420,000 ATMs, and the majority of them run XP and face a support cutoff from Microsoft soon. On April 8th, Microsoft plans to end support for Windows XP, leaving businesses still using XP, and 95 percent of ATMs, open to security and compliance risks. While Microsoft has been warning customers about the deadline for years, the ATM industry has been slow to react. NCR tells The Verge that the majority of ATMs run the full version of XP, with support ending in April, while some use an Embedded version that's supported until 2016. Most machines will move to Windows 7, but ATM software firm KAL predicts that only 15 percent of US ATMs will be running Windows 7 by April. That leaves thousands of machines running out-of-date software, with some companies opting to purchase custom support contracts with Microsoft to extend the life of Windows XP. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that JPMorgan is one such company buying a one-year extension ahead of its Windows 7 deployment. If you’ve used an ageing ATM recently then you’ll likely be acutely aware of just how slow and cumbersome these machines are. While modern machines include touchscreen support and speedy navigation, older models typically use buttons and a basic user interface that’s frustratingly slow. Windows 7 appears to be the main choice to replace the ageing Windows XP machines, but some machines will require hardware upgrades, while others will need to be scrapped entirely and replaced to support the new OS. JPMorgan admits 3,000 of its 19,000 ATMs will need "enhancements" ahead of the Windows 7 upgrade. These enhancements might be a costly headache for ATM manufacturers and banks, but the improvements are a win for customers who use these machines on a daily basis. While it’s not likely you’ll be able to browse the internet or send emails from ATMs any time soon, their basic functionality could significantly improve thanks to the death of Windows XP. Source

By John Callaham 2 hours ago Microsoft may be attempting to get people to buy PCs with Windows 8.1 installed, but it appears HP is trying to appeal to buyers who want to stick with the older Windows 7 operating system. HP's home page is currently spotlighting a sale of Windows 7 computers, and uses the term "back by popular demand" as part of its pitch. The fact that HP's website is now openly selling Windows 7 PCs to regular consumers, well over a year after the launch of Windows 8, may hint that the company thinks offering the older OS on some of its systems might be a better selection than Microsoft's newest software. So far, it appears that HP is the only OEM that is actively promoting the sale of new Windows 7 PCs. Other companies like Dell, Lenovo and Acer also have options to purchase PCs with Windows 7 pre-installed but they are well hidden on their sites and are usually targeting the business customer, while HP's promotion is for home and home office consumers. A few weeks ago, Microsoft confirmed that while new retail sales of Windows 7 as a separate software product ended on October 30th, 2013, sales of new PCs with the OS pre-installed still don't have a specific end date. Thanks to Neowin reader Frank B for the tip in our forums. http://www.neowin.net/news/hp-promotes-windows-7-pcs-sales-says-they-are-back-by-popular-demand

Please vote for your best OS. Thanks

Microsoft reportedly stated at their company meeting on Thursday they don't plan to support Windows 7 as long as they have with Windows XP, as they hope more businesses use Windows 8.1 With Windows 8 only capturing a few percent of PC users so far, Microsoft hopes that the release of Windows 8.1 this October will have better luck in sales to both consumers and businesses. Meanwhile, there are still a lot of Windows 7 PCs operating in the world, but Microsoft claims they don't want to keep Windows 7 alive as long as they have done with Windows XP. As we have reported many times before, Windows XP support will end on Microsoft's side on April 8, 2014 after over 12 years. Part of the reason for supporting Windows XP for much longer than predicted was the failure of Windows Vista to gain enough market share. As a result, many people are speculating that Windows 7 will last as long as Windows XP because of the slow uptake of Windows 8. However, that's not what Microsoft wants to happen. Paul Thurrott over at Winsupersite claims that during Microsoft's company meeting on Thursday, Microsoft indicated that it will instead push for businesses to upgrade to Windows 8.1. The thinking is that Microsoft has made enough changes to Windows 8.1, including the addition of a number of enterprise-based features, that big businesses won't bother to hold onto their Windows 7 PCs as long as some have done with Windows XP. Currently, mainstream support of Windows 7 will end Jan. 13, 2015, with extended support (just bug fixes and security updates) ending Jan. 14, 2020. That's about 10 years and two months after the launch of Windows 7 in November 2009, but that's still not as much time as Microsoft has given Windows XP. Will this happen, or will Microsoft be forced to extend its support cut off date for Windows 7 as it has for Windows XP? Only time will tell for now. News Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-doesnt-want-to-support-windows-7-as-long-as-windows-xp & http://windowsitpro.com/paul-thurrotts-wininfo/short-takes-september-27-2013

-- Clean the Notification Area Icon Cache -- After using Windows for a while, installing and uninstalling programs, you will end up with a long list of icons showing up in the notification area, on the taskbar, especially when scrolling through the Notification Area Icons window. If some of the programs have been removed, there is no way to remove their icons from the list. So, what do you do? Read on and learn the best way to solve this problem. Download Notification_Area_Cleaner below, extract it and inside you will find the Notification_Area_Cleaner.bat file. Double click the file and Run. explorer.exe is restarted, and the notification area icon cache is cleared. ENJOY! source Notification_Area_Cleaner.zip

Download Windows 8.1 RTM If you are using Windows 8 and want to upgrade to Windows 8.1, following instructions this: 1. First of all go to Start Screen and click on Store tile to launch Windows Store. 2. Now you should see information about Windows 8.1 update, just click on it and then click on Download option. 3. It'll take a few minutes in downloading and installing the required files. It might restart your system to finish the installation process. 4. Once the setup process completes, you'll be asked to complete a few steps such as accepting the license terms, customize settings, creating a user account, etc. Finally, you'll have the brand new Windows 8.1 in your computer system. If you can't find Windows 8.1 update listed in Windows Store, you should wait for a few hours. Since Microsoft released Windows 8.1 just a few hours back, it'll take some time to appear in all regions. So better to wait for a few hours until it appears in your country. If you can't wait or if the update doesn't appear even after waiting for some hours, check out following steps: 1. An update "KB2871389" is required to update to Windows 8.1, so make sure this update is installed in your Windows 8 system. To check it, open Windows Update from Control Panel or Start Screen and check for new updates. If the update has not been installed in your system yet, Windows Update will automatically detect and download it. You can direct download and install the update using following links: Update for Windows 8 32bit (KB2871389) Update for Windows 8 for x64 (KB2871389) Update for Windows Server 2012 (KB2871389) Once the update is installed successfully in your system, repeat the above mentioned steps to upgrade to Windows 8.1 through Windows Store. Now it should work without any problem. If you are using Windows 7, you can upgrade to Windows 8.1 using Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant. The steps for Windows 8.1 upgrade would be same as Windows 8 upgrade, so you can check out following tutorial to learn how to use Upgrade Assistant to upgrade to Windows 8.1 If you are using Windows XP or Windows Vista, you'll need to perform a clean installation of Windows 8.1. You can't upgrade to Windows 8.1 from Windows XP or Windows Vista.

1.Open Notepad.2.Copy and paste the following text into the notepad window function Get-WindowsKey { ## function to retrieve the Windows Product Key from any PC ## by Jakob Bindslet ([email protected]) param ($targets = ".") $hklm = 2147483650 $regPath = "Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" $regValue = "DigitalProductId" Foreach ($target in $targets) { $productKey = $null $win32os = $null $wmi = [WMIClass]"\\$target\root\default:stdRegProv" $data = $wmi.GetBinaryValue($hklm,$regPath,$regValue) $binArray = ($data.uValue)[52..66] $charsArray = "B","C","D","F","G","H","J","K","M","P","Q","R","T","V","W","X","Y","2","3","4","6","7","8","9" ## decrypt base24 encoded binary data For ($i = 24; $i -ge 0; $i--) { $k = 0 For ($j = 14; $j -ge 0; $j--) { $k = $k * 256 -bxor $binArray[$j] $binArray[$j] = [math]::truncate($k / 24) $k = $k % 24 } $productKey = $charsArray[$k] + $productKey If (($i % 5 -eq 0) -and ($i -ne 0)) { $productKey = "-" + $productKey } } $win32os = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -computer $target $obj = New-Object Object $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Computer -value $target $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty Caption -value $win32os.Caption $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty CSDVersion -value $win32os.CSDVersion $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty OSArch -value $win32os.OSArchitecture $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty BuildNumber -value $win32os.BuildNumber $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty RegisteredTo -value $win32os.RegisteredUser $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty ProductID -value $win32os.SerialNumber $obj | Add-Member Noteproperty ProductKey -value $productkey $obj }} 3. Save the text above into a file with the ".ps1" extension on the Desktop. Bonus tip: To make sure that you saving the file with the ".ps1" extension, you can type its name with double quotes, for example, "GetProductKey.ps1". 4. Open the Powershell console as administrator by typing "powershell" in the search box of the Start Menu or right on the Start Screen and then press CTRL+SHIFT+Enter. This will open the elevated Powershell window. 5. Enable the execution of local files which are not digitally signed. This can be done with the following command: Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSignedPress Enter to allow the execution policy to be changed. 6. Now you should type the following command:Import-Module C:\Users\Winaero\Desktop\GetProductKey.ps1; Get-WindowsKey 7. Voila, you product key is displayed on the screen! Thanks to WinAero

Hi guys, i need help on how best i can downgrade from windows 7 ultimate to professionals without doing any windows installation or loosing my files. i mistakenly upgraded my office pc to windows 7 ultimate which was not my intention. pls dont ask why i upgraded was trying out something. now i want to downgrade to back. i need help pls.... and also anyone has the idea of getting back my windows product keys? no backup of license was made. thanks...

November is a brand new month worth celebrate for, and your desktop also deserve a fresh look to match the new season. November is here, once again i bring you the amazing smashing wallpaper and calendar pack. -| Download |- November 2013 Windows 7/8 Theme (Calendar) November 2013 Windows 7/8 Theme (No Calendar) Enjoy...

Microsoft has released and IE11 Developer preview for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. This is still considered a preview build which users may find a bit buggy or there could be other issues with the pre-release software, so install it with caution. IE11 is the latest browser from the Microsoft camp and will ship with Windows 8.1 that will arrive later this year. Microsoft has added quite a few features to IE11 including WebGL support, improved touch performance on non-touch based sites, improved keyboard navigation support, improved favorites support, and a bunch of other features that you can read about here from our IE11 preview post. Download: IE11 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 News Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/ie11-developers-preview-for-windows-7-released