Disable Start Screen and Hot Corners in Windows 8

Among the many radically different interface changes Microsoft introduced in Windows 8 is one called “hot corners”. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it’s a triggering system that actions by hovering the mouse pointer over the four corners of your screen. In Windows 8, the traditional Start Menu is gone and is replaced by these hot corner or hot edges.

When you move your mouse to the right edge of the screen, a an interface called the Charms menu is displayed. The Charms Bar provides icons to access Search, Share, Start Screen, Devices and Settings. It is from the Charms menu that you shutdown or power-off your computer.

Move your mouse to the left edge of the screen, and you'll see a different interface - the Switcher menu. This provides an easy way to switch between running Modern/Metro apps and the Desktop.



Move your mouse still lower to the bottom-left corner of the screen and a tiny popup will appear, that takes you to the Start Screen.

These mouse-over interfaces, can be launched from your keyboard too: the Start Screen can be launched by pressing the Win key on your keyboard; the Charms Bar can be opened with Win+C, and while Win+Tab lets you cycle through apps without the Switcher menu on the left.

If you are annoyed by the mouse accidentally triggering these menus, you can disable the hot corners. This does not mean that Switcher and Charms Bar are entirely disabled, for you will still be able to show them using the keyboard shortcuts.

Manually Disable Hot Corners

Open Registry Editor (press Win+R, type regedit.exe in Run dialog and press Enter) and navigate to the following registry key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell
Right-click on ImmersiveShell and select New > Key. Name the key EdgeUI.
Right-click on EdgeUI and select New > DWORD and name it DisableTLcorner. Create another DWORD and name this one DisableCharmsHint.

DisableTLcorner stands for “Disable Top-Left corner”. Double-click it and change its value from 0 to 1. Switcher will not appear when you move your mouse to the top-left corner of the screen. However, it still appears when you move the pointer to the bottom-left corner and then move it upwards along the left edge of the screen.

DisableCharmsHint: Double-click it and change its value from 0 to 1 to disable the Charms bar when using the mouse. The Charms Bar will not appear when you move the pointer to the top-right or bottom-right corners. But like the Switcher, if you move the pointer to the top-right corner and then move it down along the right edge of the screen (or from the bottom-right corner up to the screen center along the right edge), it’ll appear again.

The settings take effect immediately, you do not have to restart Windows Explorer. To re-enable the default behavior of Switcher, simply set DisableTLcorner value to 0 or delete it. Same goes for DisableCharmsHint value.

Disable Hot Corners and Start Screen With an App

If registry editing is not your thing, you can use Skip Metro Suite to disable the hot corner actions. Skip Metro Suite allows you to disable the Switcher, the Charms Bar and the Start Screen as well so that you can boot directly to the classic desktop after logging on. All options can be selected or unselected with a single click.

Add Windows Defender to Desktop Context Menu in Windows 8

Windows Defender was introduced as an anti-spyware program in Windows Vista and remained thus in Windows 7. In Windows 8, Microsoft upgraded Defender into a full fledged antivirus software comparable to Microsoft Security Essentials. In fact, Windows Defender is Microsoft Security Essentials and is intended to function as the default anti-virus program on Windows 8 computers. Although not immediately apparent, because it doesn’t have an icon in the notification area, the antivirus program is indeed running and protecting you against malware infection.



Windows Defender can be launched by double clicking the program icon on the Control Panel. If you want to scan your computer or a thumb drive, you have to start the program either from the control panel or by searching it on the Start Screen. Unlike most anti-virus program, Windows Defender has no shell extension, i.e., you cannot right-click a file or a drive in Windows Explorer and select “scan” from the context-menu. But this can be easily fixed by adding some registry keys.

Over at EightForums.com, a forum member has shared a tutorial that show you how to add or remove a cascading (expandable) Windows Defender menu to the desktop context menu for all users in Windows 8 that enables users to quickly open Windows Defender to settings, update, update and quick scan, quick scan, or full scan.



The easiest way to do this is to download this file, unzip the contents and run Add_Windows-Defender_to_Desktop.reg to add the necessary keys to the registry. To remove the Windows Defender entry from the context menu, run the corresponding Remove_Windows-Defender_from_Desktop.reg file.

For those who like to get their hands dirty, here are the contents of both files.

Add Windows Defender to Desktop Context Menu

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\WindowsDefender]
"MUIVerb"="Windows Defender"
"SubCommands"="WD-Settings;WD-Update;WD-Update-QS;WD-QuickScan;WD-FullScan"
"Icon"="%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Defender\\EppManifest.dll"
"Position"=-
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-Settings]
@="Settings"
"HasLUAShield"=""
"Icon"="%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Defender\\EppManifest.dll"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-Settings\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Windows Defender\\MSASCui.exe\" -Settings"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-Update]
@="Update"
"Icon"="%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Defender\\EppManifest.dll"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-Update\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Windows Defender\\MSASCui.exe\" -Update"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-Update-QS]
@="Update and Quick Scan"
"Icon"="%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Defender\\EppManifest.dll"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-Update-QS\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Windows Defender\\MSASCui.exe\" -UpdateAndQuickScan"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-QuickScan]
@="Quick Scan"
"Icon"="%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Defender\\EppManifest.dll"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-QuickScan\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Windows Defender\\MSASCui.exe\" -QuickScan"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-FullScan]
@="Full Scan"
"Icon"="%ProgramFiles%\\Windows Defender\\EppManifest.dll"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-FullScan\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Windows Defender\\MSASCui.exe\" -FullScan"

Remove Windows Defender From Desktop Context Menu

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DesktopBackground\Shell\WindowsDefender]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-Settings]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-Update]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-Update-QS]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-QuickScan]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
CommandStore\shell\WD-FullScan]

Convert Windows 7 Themes to Windows 8 Auto Color Themes

Themes designed for Windows 8 comes with an auto-color feature that smoothly and automatically shift the Windows desktop title bar and taskbar color to match the dominant color in whichever background image is currently being displayed. While it is possible to install themes made for Windows 7 on Windows 8, this auto color feature becomes unavailable when you do so.
ThemeConverter for Windows 8 is a small utility that lets you convert “normal” Windows 7 themes into Windows 8 auto-color themes by injecting the right parameters into the theme file.
Using this easy: Just go to Windows Personalization Gallery and grab some cool, awesome themes. Or check out our extensive collection of Windows 7 themes under the Customization section.

Install the themes like you do in Windows 7. Then run ThemeConverter for Windows 8. Pick the theme you want to auto-color and then add the auto-color setting with a single click. Now head to theme Personalization settings from the desktop and choose the auto-color option.
Auto-color is optional feature and can be turned off under Personalization options.

Windows 8 evaluation for developers

The Windows 8 Enterprise 90-day evaluation is available to developers to build and test Windows 8 apps on the final version of Windows 8. After installing Windows 8, go to the Windows Dev Center developer downloads page to install Visual Studio 2012 and related tools to build Windows 8 apps.

About This Evaluation

This evaluation provides a 90-day trial of Windows 8 Enterprise edition. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available as ISO images in the following languages: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, English (UK), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish. In order to use this evaluation, you must register and the product must be activated online with Microsoft-hosted activation and validation services. Microsoft does not provide technical support for this software.

Is the evaluation edition really for you?

This is intended for developers building Windows 8 apps and IT professionals interested in trying Windows 8 Enterprise on behalf of their organization. If you qualify under one of the following programs listed below, you may already have access to the final bits and do not need to download this 90-day evaluation.

• MSDN Subscription
• Microsoft Partner Network
• TechNet Professional Subscription
• Microsoft Volume Licensing/Software Assurance

Things to Know Before You Start

• The evaluation edition will expire and cannot be upgraded.
• To upgrade, the evaluation must be uninstalled and a non-evaluation version of Windows must be re-installed from your original installation media.
• Consider running the evaluation edition in a virtual environment or installing on a separate hard drive or partition. The will allow you to upgrade your original Windows installation to Windows 8.
• During registration (required) you must login with a Microsoft account and provide your name, e-mail address and country.
• You are required to activate the product online within 10 days after installing.
• Once the evaluation is installed, you cannot upgrade. To revert to a previous version of Windows, you must do a clean install from your original installation media.

Activation and Usage Guidelines

• Back up your files and settings before installing this evaluation and again prior to the 90-day expiration.
• Upon installation, you will have 10 days to activate this evaluation online. Windows will prompt you to activate. A product key is not required for this software.
• You must complete activation before August 15, 2013, to use this evaluation.
• Once you activate, you have up to 90 days to use the software. You can track the amount of time you have left by referring to the "watermark" in the lower right corner of the Windows desktop.
• If you fail to activate this evaluation within the 10-day grace period, or if your evaluation period expires, the desktop background will turn black, you will see a persistent desktop notification indicating that the system is not genuine, and the PC will shut down every hour losing unsaved work.
• Following the evaluation period, you will need to replace the operating system on your test computer and reinstall all your programs and data. It is not possible to upgrade the evaluation to a licensed working version of Windows 8. A clean installation is required.

System Requirements

Windows 8 works on the same hardware that powers Windows 7:

• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
• Hard disk space: 20 GB
• Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

Additional requirements to use certain features:

• To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multitouch.
• To access the Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768.
• To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768.
• Internet access (ISP fees might apply)

Download the Windows 8 evaluation for developers

Downloading the Windows 8 Enterprise 90-day evaluation could take a few hours. The exact time will depend on your provider, bandwidth, and traffic. If your download gets interrupted, it will restart where it left off. See this download FAQ for details. For technical questions, please visit the Windows 8 developer technical forums.

Select the Version You Want to Download

All downloads are provided as ISO images. Start by choosing the 32-bit or 64-bit version. Each version is available in the following languages: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, English (UK), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish.

Download the 32-bit (x86) version:

Download the 64-bit (x64) version:

Free Try Windows 8 For 90 Days Without Purchasing

Free Try Windows 8 For 90 Days Without Purchasing

Microsoft has released Windows 8 RTM or the final version to Technet and MSDN subscribers just a couple of hours ago. If you are not a subscriber, you can still get your hands on a 90 days trial version of Windows 8 Enterprise edition.
In order to use this evaluation, you must register and the product must be activated online with Microsoft-hosted activation and validation services within 10 days of installation. Failure to do so will result in the desktop background turning black and you will see a persistent desktop notification indicating that the system is not genuine. The PC will shut down every hour losing unsaved work.
No product key is required for the evaluation version. Once installed, you cannot upgrade to another Windows version even if purchase Windows 8 after they become available post October 26. Microsoft will also not provide technical support for this software.
Once you activate, you have up to 90 days to use the software. You can track the amount of time you have left by referring to the "watermark" in the lower right corner of the Windows desktop. Once the edition expires, after 90 days, you will need to replace the operating system on your test computer and reinstall all your programs and data. It is not possible to upgrade the evaluation to a licensed working version of Windows 8. A clean installation is required.
The Windows 8 Enterprise edition is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions in multiple languages: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, English (UK), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish. The Windows 8 Enterprise Trial will be available for download until August 15, 2013.

Download Windows 8 Enterprise edition 90 days trial.

How to Reinstall Windows 8 Without Losing Installed Programs and Files With RecImg Manager

How to Reinstall Windows 8 Without Losing Installed Programs and Files With RecImg Manager

RecImg Manager is a new software product from Slimware utilities, the makers of SlimCleaner, SlimComputers and SlimDrivers, that is designed to backup and restore your entire Windows 8 operating system together with installed programs but without affecting your personal files.

Traditional PC backup and recovery tools simply take a snapshot of the PC's entire disk or a disk image which is then written back to the hard disk during recovery. Unfortunately, this results in the loss of personal documents created or altered since the snapshot was taken. Also, a significant amount of storage space is required.




RecImg Manager, on the other hand, creates a backup snapshot of just the Windows 8 operating system core files and other installed software rather than backing up the entire disk. This makes the recovery process quicker and the backup takes significantly less storage space. Because of this, RecImg Manager can be scheduled to create backup snapshots as frequently as desired. When restoring, only the system files and programs are reinstalled; your personal files are untouched and any changes you made to them are retained.
The small sizes of the backup snapshots makes RecImg Manager ideal for tablets, ultrabooks and other Windows 8 based devices with limited storage. There is an option to store backups on removable drives though.

RecImg Manager Features:

• Free, unlimited Windows 8 operating system recovery and reset, including all system files, program files, settings and installed software, in a matter of minutes with no data loss.
• All video, music, personal documents and files all remain intact; no personal documents are erased during restore or recovery.
• Backup images are small enough to be stored on tablets, notebooks, ultrabooks and other Windows devices, making it easy to reinstall Windows and applications.
• Seamless integration with devices running Windows 8.
• Store backups on local and removable drives.
• Manage multiple backups with name, date, description and backup size.
• Schedule – and specify the location of – automatic backups.
• Set the maximum number of snapshots to keep.
• Automatically purge outdated snapshots.
• Modern Windows 8 Metro-style interface is easy to use, and works well on tablets.
• Very small application size (downloads and installs quickly)

Download the Desktop Shortcut to the Windows 8 Start Screen

I’ve noticed a growing complaint with Windows 8: the fact that, on the Desktop there is no visible shortcut to take you to the Start screen. Something like "Show Start", just like we had Show Desktop in Windows XP. For a novice user, there is no clue shown on how to get back to the Start screen. That’s why I decided to investigate and found a hack that gets this apparently simple job done.
UPDATE: The shortcut has been updated so that it is no longer marked as suspicious by certain security products.

People Need a "Show Start" Shortcut on The Desktop

The inspiration for working on this hack, came from this article: Why Regular People May Not Like Windows 8 Consumer Preview and from the complaints people shared with me.
I believe this is a very valid point: people need a "Show Start" shortcut on the Windows 8 Desktop. Not everybody has a Windows 8 manual nor is born a power user who can quickly find ways to get around the new interface. Windows 8 Consumer Preview is great for hackers, geeks and people who are very technical but it is not friendly enough for normal users, who need visual clues to find their way through the operating system.
Below you can see a fun video showing how quickly normal people will be lost in Windows 8, without such a shortcut.

The Solution - Download the "Show Start" File

Download the archive attached at the bottom of this article and extract it on the Windows 8 Desktop. By default, it should look like this.


If the setting "Hide extensions for known file types" is unchecked in Windows Explorer -> Folder Options, then you will see also the extension of the file.



When you double click on this file, you will be immediately taken to the Windows 8 Start screen. If you use it in other versions of Windows, it will open the Start Menu. Therefore, it is best to rename the file to Show Start Menu.

Why I Created an Executable Instead of a Shortcut?

I did loads of research and it seems there is no way you can open the Start screen using a command or a shortcut to a specific executable in Windows 8. The only way to launch it is via the Windows key on your keyboard or with the mouse, using the charms appearing on the right side of the screen.
Therefore my solution involved the following steps:

• Write a script that sends the keyboard strokes required to launch the Start screen;
• Convert the script to an ".exe" file;
• Change the icon of the ".exe" file to the more friendly Windows 8 logo.

I hope Microsoft will solve this problem in the final version and provide a shortcut on the Desktop, to launch the Start screen. Such hacks should not be required for an operating system that wants to offer a great computing experience to all users.

Conclusion

I hope you found this download useful. If you happen to find other ways of creating the same shortcut, don’t hesitate to share it via the comments form below.
IMPORTANT: Even though we updated this shortcut, some security software might still report this file as suspicious. We assure you that this file does not contain any malware and does nothing else than what was advertised.

Windows 8 RTM Leaked Online [Screenshots]

Just a day after Microsoft announced that it had finished the development cycle for the new operating system, a copy of the RTM build 9200 has found its way to a number of torrent sites. The version leaked is an "N" edition of Windows 8 and does not include a bundled copy of Windows Media Player. N editions of Windows are released in Europe after the European Commission ruled in 2004 that it needed to provide a copy of Windows without Windows Media Player built in.

Although numerous builds of Windows 8 has leaked before, this is the first build – after a long gap – that has been leaked publicly. It’s not long from now before users can officially get hold of Windows 8. MSDN and TechNet customers will receive access to Windows 8 on August 15th, while customers will be able to buy it on stores or with their new PCs starting on October 26th.
Below are some screenshots from the RTM Build. Screenshot courtesy: Neowin forum.

Windows 8 Professional RTM x86 and x64 ISOs has been Leaked

Windows 8 Professional RTM x86 and x64 ISOs has been Leaked

As the official release date of Windows 8 draws closer, more and more people are eager to grab a copy of the operating system ahead of schedule. Microsoft has found themselves unable to contain leaks which they have so successfully prevented during the previous month. Last week the Enterprise N edition leaked to the web. Yesterday, both 32-bit and 64-bit of Windows 8 Pro RTM were leaked to file sharing sites.

The leaked Windows 8 Professional RTM can be installed with either a retail product key or a VLK (volume licensing key). My Digital Life, writes:

Several retail product keys and VLKs have also been leaked, where one of the product key allows the Windows 8 Pro to be installed, while another product key (with WMC suffix) to allow the Windows 8 installation to add Windows features to install the WMC (you need to input the new product key after installation to get WMC). Another product keys can be used to install the Core.
With these product keys, Windows 8 Pro can be installed and run properly, but cannot be activated properly, until you purchase a valid product key, or until an activation crack appears.
Checksum information for Windows 8 Professional RTM x86 and x64:
MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.8.PROFESSIONAL.RTM.X86.ENGLISH.DVD-WZT
BUILD: 6.2.9200.16384.WIN8_RTM.120725-1247
FILE NAMEA: Windows_8_Pro_EN-US_x86.ISO
SIZE: 2,632,460,288 byte
SHA-1: B30B7D770F047CF427E836ABC048501EFF8A1FAC
MD5: 99C94934E53B4E28E955D4FCB06CAAA8
CRC: A13474A9
MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.8.PROFESSIONAL.RTM.X64.ENGLISH.DVD-WZT
BUILD: 6.2.9200.16384.WIN8_RTM.120725-1247
FILE: Windows_8_Pro_EN-US_x64.ISO
SIZE: 3,581,853,696 byte
SHA-1: E63C1D3733532ABC7AB28F3D61526E361E80271A
MD5: 7A10316A79A543F2BF4953A4332B4323
CRC: 5D7BB5F4

Magnet/Bittorrent links of the download is found here.

Windows XP to Windows 8 Upgrade Possible

There is some good news for users who have been thinking about moving from their current Windows operating system to the soon-to-be-released Windows 8, particularly those who are running the ancient Windows XP OS: yes, there is an upgrade path available for you guys. Three years ago, when Windows 7 was released Microsoft didn’t have an upgrade option for Windows XP, which was pretty odd since Windows XP was the most used operating system then. Although XP no longer holds the title it still holds an imposing one-forth market share, and Microsoft isn’t going to leave them behind this time.

Only those machines running Windows XP with Service Pack 3 will be able to upgrade to Windows 8, but only personal files/data only will be maintained and not personalized settings. One cannot jump from Windows XP to Windows 8 and expect to keep all their programs and settings, since there is little common between the two operating system. That fact that Windows XP users won’t have to back their personal files before Windows 8 installation is good enough.

For the rest, the upgrade is expected to be smooth. According to details published on ZDnet:

• Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 (the name of the entry-level consumer version of the operating system) from Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic and Windows 7 Home Premium while maintaining their existing Windows settings, personal files and applications.
• Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro from Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate while maintaining their existing Windows settings, personal files and applications.
• Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 Enterprise (available to volume licensees with Software Assurance contracts only) from Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise while maintaining their existing Windows settings, personal files and applications.
• Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 from Windows Vista (without SP1 installed) but only personal files (meaning data only) will be maintained. If upgrading from Vista with SP1, personal data and system settings will be maintained.
• Users will be able to upgrade to Windows 8 from Windows XP with Service Pack 3 or higher but only personal files/data only will be maintained.

Users won’t be able to upgrade or keep their Windows settings, files or applications if doing a cross-language installation. However, users will be able to keep personal files/data during a cross-language install by using Windows 8 Setup. Cross-architecture upgrades — i.e., 32-bit to 64-bit or vice versa is not possible. These users won’t be able to keep their existing Windows settings, personal files and applications or data.

Microsoft had earlier announced an attractive Windows 8 upgrade offer, via which users who purchase Windows 7 PCs between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013 can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for only $14.99.

Windows 8 Drops Aero. Goes Metro All The Way Down

Many users pointed out that the classical Aero desktop didn’t blend with the Metro start screen, a “fact” that apparently Microsoft has started to take notice. So last Saturday, over at the Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft engineers wrote a 10,000 worded post describing why they decided to move away from the Aero desktop, an interface that became wildly popular when it made its appearance in Windows Vista.

We spent a lot of energy carefully considering how substantially to update the appearance of the desktop in Windows 8. We looked at many, many pictures, and considered hundreds of designs. … In the end, we decided to bring the desktop closer to the Metro aesthetic, while preserving the compatibility afforded by not changing the size of window chrome, controls, or system UI. We have moved beyond Aero Glass—flattening surfaces, removing reflections, and scaling back distracting gradients.

We applied the principles of “clean and crisp” when updating window and taskbar chrome. Gone are the glass and reflections. We squared off the edges of windows and the taskbar. We removed all the glows and gradients found on buttons within the chrome. We made the appearance of windows crisper by removing unnecessary shadows and transparency. The default window chrome is white, creating an airy and premium look. The taskbar continues to blend into the desktop wallpaper, but appears less complicated overall.

To complete the story, we updated the appearance of most common controls, such as buttons, check boxes, sliders, and the Ribbon. We squared off the rounded edges, cleaned away gradients, and flattened the control backgrounds to align with our chrome changes. We also tweaked the colors to make them feel more modern and neutral.

However, as Paul Thurrott points out, the reasons Microsoft puts forward in support for the removal of Aero isn’t convincing, but rather full of hypocrisy. Paul notes that while the Aero glass border is gone the rest of the UI retains the old look which still has a lot of chrome and visual cacophony Microsoft talks about getting rid of.

On the other hand, removing Aero will sure have a positive effect on laptop’s battery life. Although Aero glass looks nice it drains the battery. Users had the option to turn Aero off, but the alternative – Aero Basic, is ugly. The new Metro explorer looks comparatively better.

These changes will not be included in the coming Release Preview. You can hope to see them all in the final release of Windows 8.

Better Looking Metro Styled ViStart Skins for Windows 8

One of the ways to get the missing start menu back on Windows 8 is through the Windows start menu replacement program ViStart. Since Windows 8 has no start menu to replace, ViStart simply adds a new start menu to the taskbar. The program has been around for a long time and is a very popular Windows customization tool because it gives users the ability to switch appearance of the start menu using skins.

The default ViStart menu looks exactly like Windows 7’s start menu which doesn’t blend well with Windows 8’s Metro start screen. Although there is nothing Metro-ish on Windows 8 when on the desktop mode, you can change that by adding some Metro flavor to the ViStart start menu.

DeviantArt user PeterRollar has designed some incredibly beautiful Metro-styled skins for use with ViStart. Take a look at them.

 

Download

Windows8 startmenu v1
Windows8 startmenu v2

How to Install

Download the latest version of ViStart and install. These skins don’t work with the older version of ViStart.

Open the folder where you have installed ViStart, and backup these files:

- Resources (directory)
- Rollover (directory)
- Settings.xml

Download the skin package and unzip its contents into the ViStart folder. Launch ViStart to see the new skin. To change skin simply replace these files with the new skin files. Currently, there is no GUI or a better method to switch skins. The default ViStart skin is inside the backup folder.

These skins can also be used with ViStart on Windows 7, Vista and XP.

Customize or Add New Shortcuts to WinX Menu in Windows 8

Most of you know that Windows 8 doesn’t have the traditional start menu or the start button. Instead, you’ve got the start screen. There is but a second menu that is accessible by righting click on the lower-left corner of the screen. This context menu is called WinX menu because it can be launched by the keyboard shortcut Win+X.

The WinX menu has shortcuts to some advanced system functions that are slightly out of reach, for instance, the Control Panel, the Task Manager, Device Manager, Computer Management etc. The entries of this menu is driven by shortcut (.lnk) files present in each Group folder located at C:\Users\$Usename$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WinX\. It’s been noticed that you can’t manipulate the shortcuts or add new ones to this folder, because on restart, Windows reverts back to the default entries. Microsoft doesn’t want the WinX menu to be abused by software installers. But there are folks who genuinely want to extend the menu.

Rafael Rivera of WithinWindows dug into the security that protects the WinX menu from third-party invasion – and found a workaround. But first, allow him to explain how the security works.

An approved shortcut – a moniker I made up – is a .lnk file that has the appropriate markings to indicate to Windows “Hey, I’m special.” The marking is a simple 4-byte hash of several pieces of information. From the .lnk itself, two points are collected:

The link’s target application path/file (e.g. C:\Games\Minecraft.exe)
The link’s target application arguments (e.g. –windowed)

The third ingredient is simply a hard-coded chunk of text, or a salt if you will, to keep things interesting. That string is, literally, “Do not prehash links.  This should only be done by the user.”

With these three strings in hand, Windows then glues them together, lowercases everything, and runs them through the HashData function. But you’re probably wondering at this point, what does it compare to?

Let’s shift our focus to .lnk files. We know them as shortcuts to things. But they’re officially called Shell Links and can store a lot of information on other data objects in Windows. More specifically, they support storing a structure of data called a PropertyStoreDataBlock that acts as a container for arbitrary string or numeric key/value pairs. Yep, the “WinX hash” is stored in here. If you’re curious, the key can be defined as such:

DEFINE_PROPERTYKEY(PKEY_WINX_HASH, 0xFB8D2D7B, 0x90D1, 0x4E34, 0xBF, 0×60, 0x6E, 0xAC, 0×09, 0×92, 0x2B, 0xBF, 0×02);

So to tie it all together, Windows – the Shell specifically – iterates through the .lnk files in each GroupN folder; opens them up; pulls out and concatenates the target path, args, and an arbitrary string; then finally hashes the result. This hash is then compared with the one stored in the .lnk to determine if it’s approved. Rinse and repeat.

Was that too long for you? Okay, here is the gist of the thing.

Basically, what Windows does is calculate the hash of the .lnk file and compares it to the hash saved in the .lnk file itself, as metadata. This is like locking the door and leaving the key tied to the lock. So all it needs to be done is calculate the hash of the file using the built-in HashData function and save the calculated hash in the .lnk file. Then copy the shortcut to the WinX folder. Bingo!

To make things easy Rafael Rivera has coded a small tool that does the job of calculating the hash and storing it on the .lnk file. In the next section I will describe how to use the tool.

First, grab the hashlnk.zip file from this page and unzip the contents to a folder. Collect the .lnk files that you wish to add to the WinX menu and move them into the folder where you unzipped hashlnk.exe.

Open command prompt and navigate to the folder where you have hashlnk.exe and the .lnk files. I hope you know the basic DOS commands. Now type: hashlnk shortcut.lnk, where shortcut.lnk is the filename of the .lnk file.

Repeat this for all the .lnk files. Once the .lnk files have been patched, relocate them into the Group# folder of your choice at C:\Users\$Usename$\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WinX\.

Restart the computer or re-login to put the changes to effect.

Missing MSVCR100.DLL File

You’ll get this message if you don’t have Visual Studio 2010 or later installed. To workaround the missing DLL file (and missing Visual Studio 2010), get a Windows 7 machine, download MSVCR100.DLL file from here, copy it to the folder containing hashlnk.exe and execute the hashlnk commands on the Windows 7 machine.

The downloaded MSVCR100.DLL file is compatible only on Windows 7. If you want to run the hashlnk file on Windows 8, you have to have Visual Studio 2010 installed.

Customizing Entry Names

You’ll notice that the entries do not show up by the program’s shortcut name. For instance, MS Paint show up as “Create and edit drawings” in the menu and Google Chrome as “Access the Internet”.

To customize these entries, right click on the .lnk file and edit the Comment field.