Pinning Apps & Programs To The Windows 8 Metro Start Screen

To pin a Windows application or a Metro App to the Start screen, you have to find it first. For this, tap/click on the Search icon and type the name of the application or the program that you wish to add.

For example, type “Paint” to search for the Windows Paint application as shown below. Once found tap/click on the Apps option:

Figure 1. Searching for Application

Search will come up with the search result for the Paint program, as indicated on the left of the screen. Right-click on the search result or hold your finger on it until a check mark appears besides it and a panel opens up at the bottom of the screen:

Figure 2. Pinning the Application on Windows 8

The Panel offers two options for pinning – Pin to taskbar and Pin to Start. If you like to see the icon of the application on the taskbar on your Windows Desktop, you can tap/click on Pin to taskbar. We want to pin it to the Metro Start screen so Tap/click on the icon Pin to Start, for this article.

The bottom panel now disappears and you can open the application from the icon on the screen. Instead if you would like to go back to the Start screen, click on the bottom left hand corner or swipe in from the right edge of the screen. Now, tap/click on the Start icon. Verify that the application icon has appeared on the Metro Start screen:

 
Figure 3. Pinned Application on Windows Metro Start Screen

Unpinning Apps & Programs From The Windows 8 Metro Start Screen

To unpin an application from the Windows Metro Start screen, right-click on its tile or hold your finger on it until a check mark appears besides it and a panel opens up at the bottom of the screen:

Figure 4. Unpin an Application from Windows Metro Start Screen

Tap/click on Unpin from Start and the icon of the selected program will vanish from the screen along with the panel.

Alternate Way To Pin Or Unpin Apps & Programs On The Windows 8 Metro Start Screen

There is another way by which you can pin/unpin most programs on the Windows 8 Metro Start screen.

Windows may not be able to find every program when you search for it. However, Windows 8 provides a very easy method for looking at all the programs available in your system in one screen. Then you can decide all those you want to pin as tiles on the Metro Start screen.

On the Metro Start screen, tap/right-click on any empty space (not covered by any tile) - a bar will appear at the bottom of the screen. Tap/click on the only icon in the bar: All apps. A new Apps screen will open up showing icons of all the apps and programs available in your computer, neatly divided into groups.

 
Figure 5. All Apps Windows 8/8.1 Screen

Right-click on any icon or hold your finger on it until a check mark appears besides it and a panel opens up at the bottom of the screen, as in Figure 2.

Now you can choose to pin the app to the Start screen or the Task Bar. Moreover, if the app is already pinned, the panel will allow you to unpin it. Continue doing this to all the apps you want on the Start screen.
Once you are done, tap/click on the All apps icon and you will be back in the Metro Start screen along with all the application tiles you had selected.

Conclusively in this article we learned how to add (pin) or remove (unpin) Tiles or all the small squares and rectangles appearing on the Windows 8 Metro Start Screen to suit our requirements. More articles on Windows 8 & Windows 8.1 can be found in our Windows Workstation section.

In addition, using the method described below, you can turn your Windows system into a portable 3G router by connecting your workstation to your 3G provider (using your USB HSUPA/GPRS stick).

Windows 7 users can visit our article Configuring Windows 7 To Provide Secure Wireless Access Point Services to Wi-Fi Clients - Turn Windows into an Access Point

To begin, open your Network Connections window by pressing Windows Key + R combination to bring up the Run window, and type ncpa.cpl and click OK:

 The Network Connection window will appear, displaying all network adapters the system current has installed:

Let’s now create our new wireless virtual adapter that will be used as an access point for our wireless clients. To do this, open an elevated Command prompt (cmd) by right-clicking on the Window 8 start button located on the lower left corner of the desktop and select Command Prompt (Admin). If prompted by the User Account Control protection, simply click on Yes to proceed:

Once the command prompt is open, enter the following command to create the wireless network (SSID). The encryption used by default is WPA2-PSK/AES:

C:\windows\system32> netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=Firewall.cx key=$connect$here

When the command is entered, the system will return the following information:

C:\windows\system32> netsh wlan start hostednetwork

Again, the system will confirm the wireless network has started with the below message:

Looking at the Network Connection window we’ll find our new adapter labeled as Local Area Connection 4. Right under the adapter is the SSID name of the wireless network created by the previous command:

At this point, our new wireless network (Firewall.cx) should be visible to all nearby wireless clients.

Next, we need to enable Internet sharing on the network adapter that has Internet access. In our case this is the Ethernet adapter. Users accessing the Internet via their mobile broadband adapter should select their broadband adapter instead.

To enable Internet sharing, right-click on the Ethernet network adapter and select properties from the context menu, as shown below:

Figure 5. Network Connections – Ethernet Adapter Properties

Once the Ethernet adapter properties window appears, select the Sharing tab and tick the Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection then select the newly created virtual adapter labelled Local Area Connection 4:

Figure 6. Enabling sharing and selecting the newly created virtual adapter

Be sure to untick the second option below (not clearly visible in above screenshot): Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection, then click on OK.

Notice our Ethernet adapter now has the word Shared in its description field:

At this point, clients that have successfully connected to our wireless SSID Firewall.cx should have Internet access.

Note that in some cases, it might be required to perform a quick restart of the operating system before wireless clients have Internet access. Remember that in case of a system restart, it is necessary to enter all command prompt commands again.

The command below will help verify the wireless clients connected to our Windows 8 access point:

As shown above, we have one wireless client connected to our Windows 8 access point. Windows 8 will support up to 100 wireless clients, even though that number is extremely likely to ever be reached.

This article showed how to turn your Windows 8 & Windows 8.1 operating system into a wireless access point, allowing wireless clients to connect to the Internet or Local LAN.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily download and store your Windows License Product Key inside a text file with just two clicks!

The information displayed under the System Information page in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 (including professional editions), includes the Windows edition, system hardware (CPU, RAM), Computer name and Windows activation status. The Windows activation status section shows us if the product is activated or not, along with the Product ID:

Figure 1. System Information does not show the Product Key

Product Keys and Product IDs are two completely different things, despite the similarity of the terms.

The 20 character Product *ID* is created during the installation process and is used to obtain/qualify for technical support from Microsoft and is of no use during the installation process.

To reveal your Product Key, which is the 20 character ID used during the installation process, simply download and execute the script provided on the second page of our Administrative Utilities Download section.

Once you have downloaded and unzipped the file, double-click on the Windows Key.vbs file to execute the script. Once executed, a popup window will display your Product Name, Product ID and hidden Product Key:

Figure 2. Running the script reveals our Product Key

At this point, you can save the displayed information by clicking on the ‘Yes’ button. This will create a text file with the name “Windows Product Key.txt” and save it in the same location from where the script was executed:

Figure 3. Saving your Windows information to a text file

We should note that every time the script is executed and we select to save the information, it will overwrite the contents of the previous text file. This is important in case you decide to update your Windows with a new product key e.g moving from Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Professional. In this case it would be advisable to rename the previously produced text file before executing the script and saving its information.

This article showed how to reveal and save the Windows Product Key information of your Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating system. We also explained the difference between the 20 Digit Product ID, shown in the System Information window, and Product Key.

With the arrival of Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and upcoming Windows 10, Profilic has announced that these operating systems will not support USB-to-Serial adapters using the PL-2303HXA & PL-2303X chipsets, forcing thousands of user to buy USB-to-Serial adapters powered by the newer PL-2303HXD (HX Rev D) or PL2303TA chipset.

The truth is that PL-2303HXA & PL-2303X chipsets are fully supported under Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 and we’ll show you how to make use of that old USB-to-Serial adapter that might also hold some special sentimental value.

Make sure to download our Profilic Windows 8/8.1 x64bit Drivers from our Administrative Tools section

We took our old USB-to-Serial adapter and plugged it in our ultrabook running Windows 8.1. As expected, the operating system listed the hardware under Device Manager with an exclamation mark:

Figure 1. Prolific Adapter in Device Manager

A closer look at the properties of the USB-to-Serial adapter reveals the popular Code 10 error which means that the device fails to start:

Figure 2. Prolific Adapter Error Code 10

Getting That Good-old USB-to-Serial Adapter To Work

Assuming you’ve successfully downloaded and unzipped the Profilic Windows 8/8.1 x64bit drivers from our Administrative Tools section, go back to the Device Manager and right click on the Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port with the exclamation mark and select Update Driver Software:

Figure 3. Updating the Drivers from Device Manager

Next, select Browse my computer for driver software from the next window:

Figure 4. Select Browse my computer for driver software

Next, browse to the folder where you’ve unzipped the provided drivers, click on the Include Subfolders option and select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer:

Figure 5. Select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer

Next, select the driver version 3.3.2.102 dated 24/09/2008 as shown below and click Next:

Figure 6. Install Driver version 3.3.2.102

Once complete, Windows will confirm the successful installation of our driver as shown below:

Figure 7. Driver successfully installed

Closing the window, we return back to the Device Manager where we’ll notice the exclamation mark has now disappeared and our old ‘Unsupported’ USB-to-Serial adapter is fully operational:

Figure 8. Fully operational USB-to-Serial adapter

This article showed how successfully install your old USB-to-Serial adapter based on the Profilic PL-2303HXA & PL-2303X chipsets on Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating systems. Despite the fact Profilic clearly states that these chipset are not supported with the latest Windows, forcing users to purchase new adapters powered by their new chipsets, we’ve proven that this is not true and showed how to make the old Profilic USB-to-Serial adapter work with the drivers available on Firewall.cx.

Although not intended for use by general users, God Mode or Master Control Panel functionality in Windows is implemented by creating a base folder with a special extension. The format used is:

  <FolderDisplayName>.{<GUID>}

Here, GUID represents a valid Class ID or CLSID that has a System.ApplicationName entry in the Windows Registry. Microsoft documents this technique as “Using File System Folders as Junction Points.” FolderDisplayName can be anything - when this technique was discovered, the name GodMode coined by bloggers stuck. Among the many GUID shortcuts revealed in Windows, the CLSID {ed7ba470-8e54-465e-825c-99712043e01c} is of special interest as the related widget points to and permits access to several Windows settings or Control Panel applets.

Users can now create a control panel called GodMode that allows them easy access to almost all the administrative tasks in Windows. In fact, GodMode is so named as users have complete access to all aspects of the management of Windows at their fingertips and in one location. That makes it very convenient to configure the hardware or windows settings quickly from a single screen. You access GodMode by creating a special folder on the desktop.

Arrive at the Windows desktop by closing all the open windows. Right-click on an empty part of the desktop or hold your finger there. In the menu that comes up, tap/click on New and then on the Folder option:

Figure 1. Creating a New Folder

You will see a new folder appear on the desktop and the title of the folder will be in edit mode. Modify the title of the new folder, or rename it to:

 GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Once renames, the icon will change as shown below:

Figure 2. Create a new folder & rename it to reveal GodMode

 You must double-click/tap on the icon to open the GodMode Screen:

Figure 3. The GodMode Screen

You can now proceed to tweak Windows using the list of available configuration options presented simply by scrolling through and tapping/clicking the option you want.

If you no longer need to have GodMode in your system, you can safely  delete the GodMode folder on your desktop. 

This article showed how to enable GodMode on Windows Vista (32Bit only), and both 32/64 Bit versions of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

What Is The Domain Name System?

The Internet uses a standard domain name resolution service called the DNS or the Domain Name System. All devices on the Internet have a unique IP address, much like the postal addresses people use. On the Internet, any device wanting to connect to another can do so only by using the IP address of the remote device. To know the remote IP address, the device has first to resolve the remote domain name to its mapped IP address by using DNS.

The device queries the DNS server, usually configured by the local router, by requesting the server for the IP address of that specific remote domain name. In turn, the DNS server may have to query other similar servers on the Internet until it is able to locate the correct information for that domain name. The DNS server then returns the remote IP address to the device. Finally, the device opens a connection directly to the remote IP address to perform the necessary operations.

An Alternative Method – The 'Hosts' File

Querying the DNS server to connect to a remote device can be a time-consuming process. An alternative faster method is to look up the hosts file first. This is like the local address book in your mobile, which you can consult for quickly calling up commonly used telephone numbers. All operating systems use a hosts file to communicate via TCP/IP, which is the standard of communication on the Internet. In the hosts file, you can create a mapping between domain names and their corresponding IP addresses.

You can view the contents of the hosts file in a text editor. Typically, it contains IP addresses and corresponding domain names separated by at least one space, and each entry on its own line. By suitably manipulating the contents of the hosts file, it is very easy to interchange the IP address mappings of Google.com and Yahoo.com, such that when searching for Yahoo your browser will point to Google and vice versa!

Most operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, are configured to give preference to the hosts file over the DNS server queries. In fact, if your operating system finds a mapping for a domain name in its hosts file, it will use that IP address directly and not even bother to query the DNS server. Whatever entries you add to your hosts file, they start working immediately and automatically. You will not need to either reboot or enter any additional command to make the operating system start using the entries in the hosts file.

Understanding Domain Name Resolution On Windows

Windows machines may not always have a hosts file, but they will have a sample hosts file named as lmhosts.sam. You will find the hosts file and lmhosts.sam file in the following location for all Windows opertating systems, including Server editions:

Figure 1. Hosts & lmhosts.sam files in File Explorer

In case the hosts file is missing, you can copy the lmhosts file to hosts and use it as you wish after editing it in Notepad.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Hosts File

The Windows hosts file is a great help in testing new machines or deployment servers. You may want to set up and test online servers, but have them resolving only for your workstation. For example, your true web server may have a domain name www.firewall.cx, while you may have named your development server development.firewall.cx.

To connect to the development server from a remote location, you could change www.firewall.cx in your public DNS server to point to development.firewall.cx, or add an additional entry in the public DNS server. The problem with this method is that although you would be able to log into your development server, so would everyone else as the DNS server is publicly accessible.

So, instead of adding or changing resource records on your public DNS server, you can modify the hosts file on the computer that you will be using for connecting to the remote development server. Simply add an entry in the hosts file to map development.firewall.cx or even www.firewall.cx to the IP address of your development server. This will let your test bed computer connect to your development server without making the server publicialy discoverable via DNS.

Another great usage of the hosts file is to block Spyware and/or Ad Networks. Add all the Spyware sites & Ad Networks domain names in the Windows hosts file and map them to the IP address 127.0.0.1, which will always point back to your machine. That means your browser will be unable to reach these sites or domains. This has a dual benefit.

You can download ready-made hosts files that list large numbers of known ad servers, banner sites, sites giving tracking cookies, sites with web bugs and infected sites. You can find such hosts files on the Hosts File Project. Before using one of these files in your computer, it would be advisable to backup the original file first. Although using the downloadable hosts files is highly recommended, one must keep in mind that large hosts files may slow down your system.

Usually, Windows uses a DNS Client for caching previous DNS requests in memory. Although this is supposed to speed up the process, having simultaneously to read the entire hosts file into the cache may cause the computer to slow down. You can easily fix this by turning off and disabling the unnecessary DNS Client from the Services control panel under the Administrative Tools.

Conclusion

The Windows hosts file can be found on all Window operating systems, including server editions. If used with care, the Windows hosts file can be a powerful tool. It can make your computer environment much safer by helping to block malicious websites and at the same time potentially increasing your browser speed.

In order to successfully change the IP address via Command Prompt, Windows 7 requires the user to have administrative rights. This means even if you are not the administrator, you must know the administrative password, since you will be required to use the administrative command prompt.

Opening The Administrative Command Prompt On Windows 7

To open the administrative command prompt in Windows 7, first click on the Start icon. In the search dialog box that appears, type cmd and right-click on the cmd search result displayed. On the menu that Windows brings up, click on the Run as administrator option as shown in the below screenshot:

Figure 1. Running CMD as Administrator

Depending on your User Account Control Settings (UAC), Windows may ask for confirmation. If this happens, simply click on Yes and Windows will present the CLI prompt running in elevated administrator privileged mode:

Figure 2.  The Administrative Command Prompt Windows 7

Using The ‘netsh’ Command Prompt To Change The IP Address, Gateway IP & DNS

At the Administrative Command Prompt, type netsh interface ip show config, which will display the network adapters available on your system and their names. Note down the name of the network adaptor for which you would like to set the static IP address.

Figure 3.  Finding Our Network Adapter ID

In our example, we’ll be modifying the IP address of the interface named Wireless Network Connection, which is our laptop’s wireless network card.

Even if the Wireless Network Connection is set to be configured via DHCP, we can still configure a static IP address. Following is the command used to configure the interface with the IP address of 192.168.5.50 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and finally a Gateway of 192.168.5.1:

Next, we configure our primary DNS server using the netsh command with the following parameters:

Note: When entering a DNS server, Windows will try to query the DNS server to validate it. If for any reason the DNS server is not reachable (therefore not validated), you might see the following error:

To configure the DNS server without requiring DNS Validation, use the validate=no parameter at the end of the command:

This command forces the DNS server setting without any validation and therefor no error will be presented at the CLI output in case the DNS server is not reachable.

To verify our new settings, use the netsh command with the following parameters:

At this point, we should see the network settings we configured, as shown below:

Figure 4. Verifying Our New Network Settings

Using The 'netsh' Command Prompt To Set The Network Interface Card To DHCP

You can use the netsh command to switch your current adapter from static to DHCP.  To switch your network adaptor from static IP configuration to DHCP, use the following command:

Windows will not return any confirmation after the command is entered, however if the network adaptor has successfully obtained an IP address and has Internet connection, there should not be any network icon with an exclamation mark in the taskbar notification area as shown below:

Figure 5.  Wireless Icon with no Exclamation Mark

Finally, to verify that DHCP is enabled and we’ve obtain an IP address, use the netsh command with the following parameters:

This article showed how to configure a Windows 7 network interface with an IP address, Gateway and DNS server, using the Administrative Command Prompt. We also showed how to set a Windows 7 network interface to obtain an IP address automatically from a DHCP server.

You can change the behavior of your Windows 8/8.1 computer to show hidden files by changing the settings in the Folder Options screen. There are two primary ways you can reach the Folder Options screen. Both are analysed below:

Windows 7 users can also refer to our How to View Hidden Files and Folders In Windows 7 article

Method 1: Making Hidden & System Files Visible From Windows Explorer

Begin from the Start Screen by closing down all open applications.

Step 1: Tap/click on the Desktop tile to bring up the Windows Desktop.

Step 2: Tap/click on the Files Explorer icon in the Panel at the bottom left hand side of your Desktop:

Figure 1. Icons in the Windows Panel

When the Explorer window opens, expand the Ribbon by pressing the keys Ctrl+F1 together, or by tapping/clicking on the Down-Arrow at the top right hand corner of the window panel. Next, tap/click on the View tab and then on the Local Disk (C:) option. Tap/click on Large Icons option in the ribbon to see the folders.

Within the ribbon, if you tap/click to place a check mark in the checkbox against the Hidden items options, all hidden folders and files will become visible and will show up with semi-transparent icons:

Figure 2. File Explorer showing hidden folders and files

Method 2: Making Hidden & System Files Visible From The Folder Options

Starting from any screen, swipe in from the right hand edge or tap/click on the bottom right hand corner of the screen to bring up the Charms:

Figure 3. Windows Charms

Tap/click on the Search icon and type “Control” within the resulting dialog box. Within the search results displayed, you will find Control Panel – tap/click on this to bring up the Control Panel:

Figure 4. Control Panel

Tap/click on the Appearance and Personalization link, which will open up the Appearance and Personalization screen.

Next, Tap/click on the Folder Options link or the Show hidden files and folders link to bring up the Folders Option screen:

Figure 5. Control Panel - Folder Options

Another way to reach the Folder Options is from File Explorer. In the View tab, tap/click on Options (ribbon expanded) to get a link for Change folder and search options. Tap/click on the Change folder and search options link to open up the Folder Options window.

Click on either Folder Options or Show hidden files and folders to reach the Folder Options screen as shown below:

Figure 6. Folder Options Screen

In the Folder Options screen, click on the View tab, go to the Hidden files and folders option and click on the radio button under it labeled as Show hidden files, folders and drives. This will change all the invisible hidden and system files and folders and make them visible.

It is important to see the file extension to know a file type - normally, Windows keeps this hidden. While still in the Folder Options screen, go to the label Hide extensions for known file types and remove the checkmark against it.

As mentioned in the beginning of our article, Windows hides files belonging to the operating system. To make these visible, click and uncheck the label Hide protected operating system files (Recommended). At this time, Windows will warn you about displaying protected system files and ask you whether you are sure about displaying them – Click on the Yes button.

To make the changes effective, click on the Apply button and subsequently on the OK button. All screens will close and you will be back to your Desktop. 

The folders with the semi-transparent icons are the hidden folders, while those with fully opaque icons are the regular ones.

If you do not want Windows 8/8.1 to show hidden files and folders, follow the reverse procedure above in the Folder Options screen.

The reason behind hiding these files is that users could inadvertently tamper with them or even delete those causing Windows 7 operations to falter. However, malicious software programs take advantage of this feature to create hidden files or folders and cause disruptions in the computer's operations without the user being able to detect them.

Therefore, being able to see hidden files or folders has its advantages and helps in repairing damages caused by unwanted hidden files. You can change the behavior of your Windows 7 computer to show hidden files by changing the settings in the Folder Options screen. There are two primary ways you can reach the Folder Options screen. Start by closing down all open applications.

Windows 8 and 8.1 users can also refer to our How to View Hidden Files and Folders In Windows 8 & 8.1 article

Method 1: Reaching The Folder Options Screen From Windows Explorer

Click on the Windows Explorer icon in the TaskBar at the bottom left hand side of your Desktop:

Figure 1. Icons in the Windows Panel

When the Explorer window opens, you have to click on the Organize button to display a drop down menu:

Figure 2. Organize Menu

Next, Click on the Folder and Search options and the Folder Options screen opens up:

Figure 3. Show hidden files, folders and drives & Hide extensions for known file types

In the Folder Options screen, click on the View tab, go to the Hidden files and folders option and click on the radio button under it labeled as Show hidden files, folders and drives. This will change all the invisible files and folders and make them visible.

It is important to note the Hide extension to know a file type option - normally, Windows keeps this hidden. While still in the Folder Options screen, go to the label Hide extensions for known file types and click to remove the checkmark against it as shown in the above screenshot. This will force Windows to show all extension types for all files.

When ready, click on the Apply and OK button to save the changes.

Method 2: Reaching The Folder Options Screen From The Control Panel

Click on the Start icon in the Panel at the bottom left hand side of your Desktop – see figure 4 below. In the resulting Start menu, you must click on the Control Panel option.

Figure 4. Start Menu

This opens up the Control Panel screen, which allows you to control your computer's settings. Click on the Appearance and Personalization link to open up the Appearance and Personalization screen.

Figure 5. Appearance and Personalization screen

Click on either Folder Options or Show hidden files and folders on the left window, to reach the Folder Options screen.

There are other ways as well to reach the Folder Options screen.

Figure 6. Show hidden files, folders and drives & Hide extensions for known file types

In the Folder Options screen, click on the View tab, go to the Hidden files and folders option and click on the radio button under it labeled as Show hidden files, folders and drives. This will change all the invisible files and folders and make them visible.

It is important to note the Hide extension to know a file type option - normally, Windows keeps this hidden. While still in the Folder Options screen, go to the label Hide extensions for known file types and click to remove the checkmark against it as shown in the above screenshot. This will force Windows to show all extension types for all files.

Windows also hides files belonging to the operating system. To make these visible, click and uncheck the label Hide protected operating system files (Recommended). At this time, Windows will warn you about displaying protected system files and ask you whether you are sure about displaying them – Click on the Yes button.

When ready, click on the Apply and OK button to save the changes.

Windows Now Shows Hidden Files & Folders

When we next browse through C: Drive, we'll notice that there are now additional folders and files which were previously hidden:

Figure 7. C: Drive showing hidden folders

The folders with the semi-transparent icons are the hidden folders, while those with fully opaque icons are the regular ones.

If you do not want Windows 7 to show hidden files and folders, follow the reverse procedure executed in the Folder Options screen.

When Windows boots, the Safe Mode logo appears on all four corners of the screen:

Figure 1. Windows 8/8.1 in Safe Mode

Occasionally, Windows will not allow you to delete a file or uninstall a program. This may be due to several reasons one of which can be a virus, a malware infection or some driver/application compatibility. Windows may also face hardware driver problems that you are unable to diagnose in the normal process. Traditionally, Windows provides a Safe Mode to handle such situations. When in Safe Mode, only the most basic drivers and programs that allow Windows to start are loaded.

Unlike all other Windows operating systems, Windows 8 and 8.1 do not allow entering Safe Mode via F8 key by default. If you are unable to boot into Windows 8 or 8.1 after several attempts, the operating system automatically loads the Advanced Startup Options that allow you to access Safe Mode.

For users who need to force their system to boot into Safe Mode, there are two methods to enter the Advanced Startup Settings that will allow Windows to boot into Safe Mode.

Method 1 - Accessing Safe Mode In Windows 8 / Windows 8.1

Accessing Safe Mode involves a number of steps and actions required by the user. These are covered in great depth in our How to Enable & Use Windows 8 Startup Settings Boot Menu article.

Method 2 - Enabling Windows Safe Mode Using F8 Key At Boot Time

If you find accessing Windows 8 Safe Mode too long and complex, you can alternatively enable the F8 key for booting into Safe Mode, just as it happens with the older Windows operating systems. This of course comes at the expense of slower booting since the operating system won't boot directly into normal mode.

Interestingly enough, users who choose to enable F8, can also access the diagnostic tools within the Safe Mode quickly at any time. Additionally, if you have multiple operating systems on your computer, enabling the F8 option makes it easier to select the required operating system when you start your computer.

Enabling the F8 key in Windows 8/8.1 is only possible with administrative permissions. For this, you will need to open an elevated command prompt. The easiest way to open the elevated command prompt window is by using the Windows and X key combination on your keyboard:

Figure 2. Windows Key +X

The Windows Key + X combination opens up the Power User Tasks Menu from which you can tap/click the Command Prompt (Admin) option:

Figure 3. Power User Tasks Menu

Should you will receive a prompt from the User Account Control (UAC) requesting confirmation, simply allow the action and the command prompt should appear.

At the command prompt type in the following command and then press the Enter key:

Figure 4. Administrative Command Prompt - Enable F8 Boot Function

On successful execution, Windows will acknowledge - The operation completed successfully.

Now, to enable the changes to take effect, you must reboot Windows. If you press the F8 key during Windows boot, you should be able to access Safe Mode and all other Advanced Boot Options.

If for any reason, you want to disable the F8 option, open the Administrative Command Prompt, enter the following command and then press the Enter key:

 Figure 5. Administrative Command Prompt - Disable F8 Boot Function

Again, Windows will acknowledge - The operation completed successfully. The changes will take place on the next reboot and the F8 key will no longer boot Windows into Safe Mode.

This article explained how to successfully start Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 in Safe Mode. We also saw how to enable the F8 Safe Mode fuction which is disabled by default.

Visit our Windows 8/8.1 section to read more hot topics on the Windows 8 operating system.

While not enabled by default, users can use the F8 key to enter Safe Mode when booting into the operating system, just as all previous Windows versions. To learn more on this, read our How to Start Windows 8 and 8.1 in Safe Mode – Enabling F8 Safe Mode article.

Enabling the Windows 8 Startup Settings Boot Menu via GUI

Start with the Windows 8 Start screen. Type the world advanced directly, which will bring up the items you can search. You may also slide in from the right edge, tap/click on the Search Icon and type advanced into the resulting dialog box. Within the Search items listed, tap/click on Settings:

Figure 1. Search Settings

 Windows will now show you the Advanced Startup Options within a dialog box as shown below:

Figure 2. Advanced Settings Search Result

 Tapping or clicking within the dialog box will take you to the PC Settings screen. Tap/click on the General Button and scroll down the menu on the right hand side until you come to Advanced Startup. Directly underneath is the Restart Now button:

Figure 3. PC Settings

 Tapping/clicking on the Restart Now button will let Windows offer its Options screen:

Figure 4. Choose Options

 On the Options screen, tap/click on the Troubleshoot button to bring up the Troubleshoot menu:

Figure 5. Troubleshoot Menu

 From here tap/click on the Advanced Options button to get to the Advanced Options menu:

Figure 6. Advanced Options Menu

From the Advanced Options Menu, tap/click on the Startup Settings button. This brings you to the Startup Settings screen showing the various startup settings of Windows 8 that you will be able to change when you Restart. To move ahead, tap/click on the Restart button on the lower right corner of the screen:

Figure 7. Startup Settings Screen

 Windows 8 will now reboot, taking you directly into the Startup Settings Boot Menu. Your mouse pointer will not work here and you must type the number key (or the function key) corresponding to your selection. If you wish to see more options, you can do so by pressing the F10 key:

Figure 8. Startup Settings Boot Menu

To return without making any changes, hit the Enter key on your keyboard; you will need to login once again.

The menu options presented are analysed in detail below.

Windows 8 Startup Settings Boot Menu

The Windows 8 Startup Settings Boot Menu lists all the options from which you can select one to alter the way Windows will boot up next. You must be careful here, as there is no way you can go back on your selection and Windows will directly proceed to boot with the selected option. Each option results in a different functionality, as discussed below:

• Enable Debugging – Useful only if you have a kernel debugger connected to your computer and you want it to control system execution. This option is usually used by advanced Windows users.
• Enable boot logging – Useful if you want to know what is happening during boot time. This option forces Windows to create a log file at the following path C:\Winodws\Ntbtlog.txt, where you will find detailed information about the boot process. For example, if there is a problem with the starting of a specific driver, you will find the relevant information in the log file. Used normally by intermittent to advanced users.
• Enable low-resolution video – Useful if you are facing trouble with your video graphics card and you are unable to see Windows properly. This option will let Windows start up in a low-resolution mode, from where you can specify the proper video resolution that Windows can use.
• Enable Safe Mode – Useful if you want Windows to bypass the normal video card driver and use the generic VGA.sys driver instead. With this option, Windows will start up in a bare-bones mode and will load only programs as are barely necessary for it to work. Network support is disabled in this mode, so do not expect to connect to the Internet or local network.
• Enable Safe Mode with Networking – This mode offers similar abilities as the previous Enable Safe Mode (Option 4) and provides additional network support, allowing connectivity to the local network or Internet.
• Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt – Useful when you want Windows online but with only a command prompt to type in commands, rather than the usual Windows GUI desktop. In this mode, Windows will only load the bare necessary programs to allow it to run. In place of the normal video card driver, Windows will operate the VGA.sys driver. However, do not confuse this mode with the Windows 8 Recovery Environment Command Prompt, where Windows operates offline.
• Disable driver signature enforcement – Useful for loading unsigned drivers requiring kernel privileges. Typically, Windows does not allow drivers requiring kernel privileges to load unless it can verify the digital signature of the company that developed the driver. This option must be used very carefully, as you are setting aside the security reasons that normally would prevent malware drivers from sneaking in into your computer.
• Disable early launch anti-malware protection – Useful to prevent driver conflicts that are preventing Windows from starting. A new feature in Windows 8 allows a certified anti-virus to load its drivers before Windows can load any other third-party driver. Therefore, the anti-virus software is available to scan all drivers before they are loaded. If the anti-virus program detects any malware, it blocks that driver. Since this is a great security feature, disable it only when necessary and apply extreme caution.
• Disable automatic restart after failure – Useful when you want to see the crash information because Windows restarts too quickly after a crash making it impossible to read the information. Usually, after a crash, Windows displays an error message before automatically rebooting. You may not be able to read the information displayed if Windows reboots very quickly. This option prevents Windows from rebooting after a crash, allowing you to read the error message and take appropriate action.
• Launch Recovery Environment – Useful for accessing recovery and diagnostic tools. This option is available when you press F10 in the Startup Settings Boot Menu. These options are available under Advanced Options Menu - see Figure 6.

This article covered how enable and use the Startup Settings Boot Menu in Windows 8 and also explained in great detail the Windows 8 Startup Settings Boot Menu. Readers interested in learning how to enable F8 Safe Mode functionality can read the article by clicking here.

Our client workstation, FW-CL1, needs to join the Firewall.local domain.  FW-CL1 is already installed with Windows 8.1 operating system and configured with an IP address 192.168.1.10 and a DNS server set to 192.168.1.1, which is the domain controller. It is important that any workstation needing to join a Domain, has its DNS server configured with the Domain Controller's IP address to ensure proper DNS resolution of the Domain:

Figure 1. FW-CL1 IPconfig

Now, to add the workstation to the domain, open the System Properties of FW-CL1 by right-clicking in the This PC icon and selecting properties:

Figure 2. System Settings

Next, click Advanced system settings option in the upper left corner. The System Properties dialog box will open. Select the Computer Name tab and then click on the Change… button to add this computer to the domain.

Figure 3. System Properties

In the next window, select the Domain: option under the Member of section and type the company's domain name. In our lab, the domain name is set to firewall.local. When done, click on the OK button.

Figure 4. Adding PC to Domain

The next step involves entering the details of a domain account that has permission to join the domain. This security measure ensures no one can easily join the domain without the necessary authority. Enter the domain credentials and click OK:

Figure 5. Enter Domain Credentials

If the correct credentials were inserted, the PC becomes a member of the domain. A little welcome message will be displayed. Click OK and Restart the PC to complete the joining process:

Figure 6. Member of Domain

The detailed operations that occur during a domain join can be found in the %systemroot%\debug\NETSETUP.LOG file.

At a higher level, when you join a computer in Active Directory, a Computer Account is created in the Active Directory database and is used to authenticate the computer to the domain controller every time it boots up.

 This completes our discussion on how to join a Windows 8 & Windows 8.1 Client to Windows Domain - Active Directory.

With Windows XP End of Life & End of Support just around the corner (8^th of April 2014), companies around the globe are trying to understand what the implications will be for their business continuity and daily operations, while IT Managers and Administrators (not all) are preparing to deal with the impact on users, applications and systems.

At the same time, Microsoft is actively encouraging businesses to migrate to their latest desktop operating system, Windows 8.

One could say it’s a strategy game well played on Microsoft’s behalf, bound to produce millions of dollars in revenue, but where does this leave companies who are requested to make the hard choice and migrate their users to newer operating systems?

Do companies really need to rush and upgrade to Windows 7 or 8/8.1 before the deadline? Or do we need to simply step back for a moment and take things slowly in order to avoid mistakes that could cost our companies thousands or millions of dollars?

 Parallel to the above thoughts, you might find yourself asking if software companies will continue deliver support and security patches for their products; a question that might be of greater significance for many companies.

To help provide some clear answers to the above, but also understand how companies are truly dealing with the Windows XP End of Life, Firewall.cx approached GFI’s LanGuard product manager, Cristian Florian, to ask some very interesting questions that will help us uncover what exactly is happening in the background… We are certain readers will find this interview extremely interesting and revealing….

Interview Questions

Hello Cristian and thank you for accepting Firewall.cx’s invitation to help demystify the implications of Windows XP End of Life and its true impact to companies around the globe.

Response:

Thank you. Windows XP’s End of Life is a huge event and could have a significant security impact this year. So it will be important for companies to know what the risks are and how to mitigate them.

Google said that Chrome support for Windows XP will continue until April 2015. Adobe, however, will release the last version of Adobe Reader and Acrobat that still supports Windows XP in May 2014.

Microsoft will continue to provide antimalware definition updates for Windows XP until July 2015, and all major antivirus vendors will continue to support Windows XP for a period of time. Some of them have stated that they will support it until 2017 or 2018. Antivirus support is important for XP but one note of caution is that antivirus alone does not offer full protection for an operating system. So while supporting Windows XP is commendable, vendors need to be careful that they do not offer a false sense of security that could backfire on them and hurt their reputation.

We will continue to provide patch management support for Windows XP. For as long as customers use XP and vendors release updates compatible with the OS, we will do what we can to keep those systems updated and as secure as possible. What is important to note is that this is simply not enough. The necessary security updates for the operating system will no longer be available and these are crucial for the overall security of the system and the network.

A GFI LanGuard trial offers unlimited network discovery and it can be used to track free of charge all Windows XP systems on the network. IT admins can use these reports to create a migration plan to a different operating system.

In 2013 and the first quarter of 2014, Microsoft released 59 security bulletins for Windows XP; 31 of which are rated as critical. The National Vulnerability Database had reported 88 vulnerabilities for Windows XP in 2013, 47 of them, critical. A similar number of vulnerabilities is expected to be identified after April 8, but this time round, no patches will be available.

Part of the problem is due to the popularity of Windows XP. Because it is used so widely, it is a viable target for malware producers. It is highly probable that a number of exploits and known vulnerabilities have not been disclosed and will only be used after April 8 – when they know there won’t be any patch coming out of Microsoft.

There are only two options: either upgrade or retire the systems altogether. If they cannot be retired, they should be kept offline.

Third, compliance. Companies that are using operating systems not supported by the manufacturer are no longer compliant with security regulations such as PCI DSS, HIPAA, PSN CoCo and others. They can face legal action and worse if the network is breached.

When Windows 7 is configured to provide access point services, the operating system is fully functional and all system resources continue to be available to the user working on the system. In addition, the wireless network is encrypted using the WPA2 encryption algorithm.

Even though there are 3rd-party applications that will provide similar functionality, we believe this built-in feature is easy to configure and works well enough to make users think twice before purchasing such applications.

Windows 8 & 8.1 users can visit our article Configuring Windows 8 To Provide Secure Wireless Access Point Services to Wi-Fi Clients - Turn Windows 8 into an Access Point 

Creating Your Windows 7 Access Point

While there is no graphical interface that will allow you magically to turn Windows 7 into an access point, the configuration is performed via CLI using one single command. We should note that when turning a Windows 7 station into a Wi-Fi access point, it is necessary to ensure the station’s wired network card (RJ45) is connected to the local network (LAN) and has Internet access. Wireless clients that connect to the Windows 7 AP will obtain Internet access via the workstation’s wired LAN connection and will be located on a different subnet network.

To begin, click on the Start button and enter cmd.exe in the Search Programs and Files area as shown below:

Next, right click on cmd.exe and select Run as administrator from the menu. This will open a DOS prompt with administrator privileges, necessary to execute the CLI command.

As mentioned earlier, a single command is required to create the Windows 7 access point and here it is:

The only parameters that will need to change from the above command are the ssid and key parameters. All the rest can be left as is. The ssid parameter configures the ssid that will be broadcast by the Windows 7 operating system, while the key parameter defines the WPA2-Personal key (password) that the clients need to enter in order to connect to the Wi-Fi network.

Following is an example that creates a wireless network named Firewall.cx with a WPA2 password of $connect$here :

When executed, the above command creates the required Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter and will setup the hostednetwork. The new Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter will be visible in the Network Connections panel as shown below. In our example the adaptor is named Wireless Network Connection 2. Note that this is a one-time process and users will not need to create the adaptor again:

Next step is to start the hosted wireless network. The command to start/stop the hostednetwork is netsh wlan start|stop hostednetwork and needs to be run as administrator. Simply run the command in the same DOS prompt previously used:

Notice how our Wireless Network Connection 2 has changed status and is now showing our configured SSID Firewall.cx:

To stop the hosted network, repeat the above command with the stop parameter:

Starting The WLAN via Shortcuts – Making Life Easy

Users who frequently use the above commands can quickly create two shortcuts to start/stop the hosted network. 

To help save time and trouble, we've created the two shortcuts and made them available for download in our Administrator Utilities Download Section.  Simply download them and unzip the shortcuts directly on the desktop:

Double-clicking on each shortcut will start or stop the hosted network. Users experiencing problems starting or stopping the hosted network can right-click on the shortcuts and select Run as administrator.

Enable Internet Connection Sharing  (ICS)

With our hosted network initiated, all that’s required is to enable Internet Connection Sharing on Windows 7. This will force our newly created hosted network (access point) to provide Internet and DHCP services to our wireless clients.

To enable Internet Connection Sharing, go to the Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing and select Change Adaptor Settings from the left menu. Right-click on the computer’s LAN network adaptor (usually Local Area Connection) and select properties:

Next, select the Sharing tab and enable the Internet Connection Sharing option. Under Home networking connection select the newly created wireless network connection, in our example this was Wireless Network Connection 2, and untick Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection setting as shown below:

After clicking on OK to accept the changes, we can see that the Local Area Connection icon now has the shared status next to it, indicating this is now a shared connection:

At this point, our Wndows 7 system has transformed into an access point and is ready to serve wireless clients!

Connecting Wireless Clients To Our Wi-Fi Network

Wireless clients can connect to the Windows 7 access point as they would with any normal access point. We connected with success to our Windows 7 access point (SSID: Firewall.cx) without any problem, using a Samsung Galaxy S2 android smartphone:

After successfully connecting and browsing the Internet from our android smartphone, we wanted to test this setup and see if using a Windows 7 system as an access point had any impact on wireless and Internet browsing performance.

Comparing Real Access Point Performance With A Windows 7 O/S Access Point

To test this out we used a Cisco 1041N access point, which was placed right next to our android smartphone and configured with an SSID of firewall. Both Windows 7 system and Cisco access point were connected to the same LAN network and shared the same Internet connection – a 10,000 Kbps DSL line (~10Mbps).

The screenshot below confirms our android smartphone had exceptional Wi-Fi signal with both access points:

Keep in mind, the Wi-Fi with SSID firewall belongs to the Cisco 1041N access point, while SSID Firewall.cx belongs to the Windows 7 access point.

We first connected to the Windows 7 access point and ran our tests. Maximum download speed was measured at 6,796Kbps, or around 6,6Mbps:

Next, we connected to our Cisco 1041N access point and performed the same tests. Maximum download speed was measured at 7,460Kbps, or 7.3Mbps:

Obviously there was a very small difference in performance, however, this difference is so small that it is hard to notice unless running these kind of tests. In both cases, Internet access was smooth without any interruptions or problems.

Summary

Being able to transform a Windows 7 system into an access point is a handy and much welcomed feature. We’ve used this feature many times in order to overcome limitations where no access point was available and it worked just fine - every time.  Performance seems pretty solid despite the small, unnoticeable degradation in speed, which won’t affect anyone.

While this setup is not designed as an permanent access point solution, it can be used to get you out of difficult situations and can serve a small amount of wireless clients without any problem.