2012 was a great year for tech as a whole, but there was something extra special for us Windows aficionados. That’s right, the long awaited Windows 8 launch, which resulted in a huge influx of applications for the platform. We covered a plethora of Windows applications in 2012, but if you didn’t get the time to go through them all, let us present you with a list of the top 150 free applications that we have cherry-picked from the countless we covered through the entire year, just like we did at the end of 2011. Read on!

1. Spotflux (Cross-platform VPN client that lets you encrypt internet traffic, access blocked websites and remove ads)

2. Google Drive (The official Windows client of Google’s cloud storage and document management service)

3. Asus Multiframe Utility (Arrange and snap windows to 9 screen regions per monitor)

4. OnlineVNC (Connect to a remote PC via TCP/IP protocol and control it using virtual network computing)

5. Blacksmith (Get Mac desktop spaces, launchpad and mission control in Windows)

6. Moborobo (One of the most comprehensive Android and iOS device management tools yet)

7. Clover (Get Google Chrome-like tabbed interface in Windows’ native File Explorer)

8. Freemore Audio Video Suite (An awesome audio and video suite that amalgamates several handy editing and conversion utilities)

9. CrashPlan (Create scheduled data backups to local and remote PCs)

10. Multiplicity (Control up to 9 different computers with a single keyboard and mouse)

11. Mission Control / Expose Clone W7 (Control opened windows the Mac OS X way)

12. Desktop Slider (Create multiple workspaces and slide windows across the screen)

13. KeyRocket (Suggests keyboard shortcuts that you can use for certain actions while you are working)

14. Cloudfogger (Drag and drop files to auto-encrypt & upload to Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive and others)

15. Stoffi (If Windows Media Player and Windows Explorer were to marry, you’d probably get Stoffi)

16. Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition (Fast, robust, beautiful and reliable, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition was the best antivirus app that came across our way in 2012)

17. Microsoft Research Cliplets (Create half-image, half-video animations called ‘cinegraphs’ and save them as GIF, MP4 and WMV)

18. Clickberry Interactive Creator (Add clickable/interactive elements to your videos and share them over Facebook)

19. Cubby (Multi-platform cloud storage with a Windows client that lets you drag and drop folders to sync them between devices)

20. BufferZone Pro (A Sandboxie-like software that lets you launch your favorite applications in a virtual environment)

21. Dropboxifier (Use your Dropbox account to sync game data between different PCs)

22. DDownloads (Looking for an alternative to the ever-popular Ninite? Try DDownloads!)

23. Save.Me (Probably the best clipboard manager for Windows this year)

24. OPSWAT’s Security Score (A great Windows app that analyzes your system against security loopholes)

25. RecImgManager (Lets you backup and restore user applications and settings in Windows 8)

26. GOM Audio (An app for audiophiles from the team behind one of the most popular media players out there)

27. Paragon Go Virtual (Convert your PC into a guest virtual machine configured to run with VMware, Virtual Box, or Virtual PC)

28. Reboot-To (A free alternative to iReboot; lets you select what Windows installation your system will boot into next)

29. KuaiZip (An file archiver and compressor that has the potential to dethrone 7-Zip)

30. Norton Zone Cloud Sharing (Backup, share & sync data securely across Windows, Mac, Android, iOS & the web)

31. 7Conifier (Apply custom application icon packs with a single click)

32. Free Viewer (A file editor and viewer that works with about 100 different file formats)

33. CloudDeck (Fully functional, unofficial desktop client for SoundCloud)

34. Wondershare vDownloader (Download Full HD 1080p videos from all the popular video streaming websites)

35. InstallGuard (Not sure who’s filling up your precious HD space with unwanted apps? It’s time to block unauthorized software installations with InstallGuard.)

36. Ribbon Disabler (Disable the new Ribbon UI in Windows 8′s File Explorer and get the old interface back)

37. NetSpeedMonitor (Monitor upstream and downstream rate from the taskbar and maintain data transfer reports)

38. Bitcasa (Offers 10GB free cloud storage space, and an unlimited plan for $10 a month)

39. Amazon Cloud Drive (The Official Amazon desktop client for Windows & Mac)

40. Espera (A beautiful Modern UI-inspired music player with a ‘Party Mode’)

41. Sys Information (Don’t like Speccy all that much? Here’s another great system information tool that you can try.)

42. WiFi Protector (Protect your wireless internet connection with 256-bit encryption and hide your real IP address)

43. Syncbox (Host your own personal cloud storage space using your local hard drive)

44. EaseUS CleanGeniu (Elegant system optimizer from EaseUS that analyzes your PC’s health, finds duplicate files, cleans the registry and more)

45. Fake Antivirus (Beware of cheap and fake antiviruses. Quickly detect them with this tool before you hurt your wallet.)

46. Pokki For Windows 8 (Our favorite web apps aggregator comes to Windows 8; also restores the Start Orb.)

47. SnapPea (An Airdroid-like Android management application boasting an attractive design)

48. Voxeet (Conference calling app with a unique natural 3D perception feature that makes you feel like you’re sitting next to your contacts)

49. Smart PC Locker Pro (Automatically powers off your PC after invalid login attempts)

50. Kuvva (Automatically changes desktop and Twitter backgrounds on a daily basis)

51. Folder Lock (Easily password-protect or hide files and folders through drag & drop)

52. Feewhee (Use mouse scroll to resize windows and adjust their transparency)

53. DestroyFlickr (Manage your Flickr account from your PC with this Adobe AIR-based desktop app)

54. Network Sorcerer (Comprehensive client control utility for small networks)

55. Perfect Effects 3 (Apply Instagram-like photo filters in layers on an entire image or specific parts of it)

56. WinPlusX (Get Windows 8 Win+X menu in Windows 7 and Vista)

57. QuickPlay (Borderless HD video player with support for up to 4K resolution)

58. AntiScreensaver (Automatically disables the screensaver while specific programs are running)

59. Juicebox (Create HTML-based photo galleries and share them with your friends)

60. SearchMyFiles (Search files and folders using an extremely comprehensive set of filters)

61. MetroTextual (Minimalistic, Modern UI-inspired text editor with syntax highlighting)

62. Send to Kindle (Send documents to Kindle from Windows context menu)

63. FavBackup (Create user-style backups for Firefox, Chrome, Safari, IE and other browsers)

64. Visions (3D image viewer with customizable layouts and a built-in editor)

65. Familiar (Real-time photo sharing and syncing across PC, Mac, Android & iOS)

66. VarieDrop (Create resolution and size-based profiles for quickly resizing images; lets you resize a single image by all profiles at once)

67. SubtitleDownloader (Auto-fetch subtitles on video file name basis)

68. SmoothDraw (Digital painter with Adobe Photoshop-like layer support)

69. Quick PDF Tools (Merge, extract, convert & encrypt PDF files from Windows context menu)

70. Icon Generator Pro (Create HTML5/CS5 icons, logos and star badges)

71. myManga (Automatically downloads episodes for your favorite Manga series)

72. O&O AutoBackup (Automatically backup files to a USB drive when it is plugged in)

73. Elpis (Desktop client for Pandora radio)

74. PDFzen (Edit and manage PDF documents in a collaborative manner)

75. Name My TV Series (Cross-Platform tool to easily rename TV series episodes)

76. USB-AV (Offers malware protection for all connected USB drives)

77. WinMend Folder Hidden (Set password to hide files and folders completely from the Explorer)

78. PlayClaw (Free alternative to Fraps; lets you take screenshots and record in-game video in user-specified frames per second)

79. Midi Sheet Music (Convert music samples to sheet music)

80. SFunKey (Map Function keys to perform additional operations)

81. Lost Photos (Find images saved in your email inbox and directly share them with your friends over Facebook and Twitter)

82. cacheCopy (Copy images based on their age, size and resolution)

83. Autodelete (Delete files and folders by name and date filters)

84. Care4Teen (Parental control tool that creates screencasts upon detection of inappropriate content)

85. Shadow Explorer (Access and export Windows shadow copies according to time filters)

86. Z-VSSCopy (Create, access, delete and mount shadow copies on any Windows versions)

87. ShiftN (Automatically adjust vertical line distortion in photographs of landscapes and buildings)

88. Free Screenshot Capture (Screenshot tool jam-packed with several handy extra features)

89. Mp3 Rename (Powerful, file renaming and rule-based music collection organization)

90. gExplorer (A Google Docs management client for Windows)

91. MediaPortal (HTPC app to play music, stream radio and record live TV)

92. HotKey Resolution Changer (Change monitor resolution using hotkeys)

93. ClipboardZanager (Retain clipboard items even after system reboot)

94. Hulbee Desktop (Hard drive and internet search with word cloud support)

95. Sunrise Seven (Comprehensive Windows 7 tweaking and customization tool)

96. Holdkey (Quickly type accented characters in any text field or program using a hotkey)

97. SymMover (Move installed programs to other folders and disks without having to reinstall)

98. Order In My Folder (Auto-sort files into folders using 8 different criteria)

99. TweakNow PowerPack 2012 (An all-in-one PC maintenance suite that is definitely worth checking out)

100. Image Resize Guide Lite (Lets you resize images without distorting the main subject with its unique Smart Resize Technology)

101. Seam Carving GUI (Content-aware image resizing with removal of unwanted areas)

102. Close All (Quickly shutdown all running Windows applications with a hotkey)

103. Snappy (Capture screenshots on time, mouse and keyboard events)

104. ProxySwap (Quickly switch between proxy servers)

105. IntelliAdmin (Enable Windows 7 Auto Login feature or bypass password entry at Login screen for a user-specified number of times)

106. MComix (Drag & drop to read comics and view plain images with MComix)

107. Jester (Text editor for comparing documents and creating songs parodies; suggests rhyming words)

108. Free Video to GIF Converter (Create GIFs from frames of videos)

109. PasteBin (Create, sort and manage text snippets)

110. Photo Basic 3 (Comprehensive image editing & archiving tool)

111. Textaizer Pro (Convert images into text mosaic and ASCII art)

112. Tiggit (Open-source indie game downloader and launcher)

113. Geek Uninstaller (Portable uninstaller to completely wipe off all traces of an application from the computer)

114. Windows Tweaker (100+ tweaks for system utilities and UI components)

115. Panorama Perfect (A simple but efficient panoramic photo creator)

116. Media Preview (Enable thumbnail previews of unsupported video formats)

117. SyncWrite (Portable syntax editor with support for tree structure)

118. Rumshot (Take screenshots and create themed previews with them)

119. AutoUP (Scans for and downloads Windows system and application updates)

120. Eassos Recovery (A powerful file recovery software that can recover even lost partitions)

121. Firewall App Blocker (Lets you easily add applications to the Windows Firewall block list via drag and drop)

122. WinLock (Lock any application window and minimize it to system tray)

123. RawTherapee (A powerful and feature-rich RAW image processing software)

124. MultiWall (Set different wallpapers on your multi monitor luxury, or span one across all of them)

125. sRemote (Allows you to remotely execute commands and control your PC via Gmail account)

126. DXPurge (Auto-Removes those .DS_Store files while transferring data from OS X to Windows)

127. WinMend File Splitter (A powerful file splitter that lets you merge files without requiring the application itself)

128. WinOwnership (An extremely easy way to gain full control of system files)

129. Inesoft Cash Organizer (A superb financial management software with cloud support)

130. File Secure Free (A handsome security tool with an extra topping of file backup, shredding and encryption features)

131. Advanced PDF Utilities (A huge collection of PDF tools within one package)

132. Toolwiz BSafe (Powerful data encryption tool that lets you create encrypted file containers and mount them as virtual drives)

133. John’s Background Switcher (Arguably one of the most comprehensive wallpaper customization tools for Windows)

134. PicBackMan (One of the best software to backup images from multiple social networks to a number of cloud services including Dropbox and SkyDrive)

135. Desktop Modify (Rearrange desktop icons into a wide-array of presets and shapes)

136. Taskbar Thumbnails Tuner (Tweak taskbar thumbnail previews in Windows 8)

137. AnyMenu (Add custom shortcuts for files and applications, and access them with the middle mouse button)

138. Mosaizer Pro (Photo-to-mosaic converting application with several customization options and patterns to choose from)

139. Windows + R Alias Manager (Create custom Run aliases for frequently used applications and files)

140.Crystal Anti-Exploit Protection (Protect your system against unintended downloads)

141. DesktopSaver (An open source application that allows users to save the location of desktop icons)

142. SyncLib (Easily synchronize and share photos, music and videos across different platforms)

143. Instagrille (An app for Pokki that lets you browse and download Instagram photos on your desktop)

144. NexusFont (The best font manager we’ve come across this year)

145. Wise Program Uninstaller (Robust application uninstaller that’s several times better than Windows’ native Add/Remove program)

146. CarotDAV (Manage multiple cloud services from one window)

147. RunAlyzer (System startup manager designed to collect all the programs and their registry keys under one hood)

148. Rainlendar (A light, well-designed to-do list manager and calendar app for Windows)

149. Toolbar Cleaner (Remove unwanted toolbars from Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome)

150. NexusFile (Dual pane file manager with FTP & archive extraction support)

That’s it for our 2012 compilation of best Windows applications. Did you find any new apps here that you liked? We’d love it if you mentioned your favorite ones in the comments section below.

Don’t forget to share this post with your friends, and do stick around; we have compilations for other platforms coming up next. Happy New Year!

You might also want to check out our other end-of-year compilations:

35 Best Windows 8 Store Of 2012

100 Best Mac Apps Of 2012

150 Best Android Apps Of 2012

100 Best iOS Apps Of 2012

50 Best Cydia Tweaks Of 2012

40 Best Windows Phone Apps Of 2012

Fawad Mir and Waqas Ahmed contributed to this post

Read 150 Best Windows Apps Of Year 2012 by AddictiveTips Team on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Windows 8 / RT App

The Windows 8/RT variant of Bitcasa can be downloaded from Windows Store. Go to the Windows Store app from Start Screen and type the app’s name in Search Charm to find the app. Simply click the Install button after accessing its store page.

The login screen of Bitcasa looks great, to say the least, boasting full screen Modern UI the way it’s meant to be. Once launched, you can sign up to the service with either a Bitcasa account, or your Twitter or Facebook accounts.

If you’re an existing user, click or tap ‘Login to Bitcasa’ to sign in to your account. All you need to do is just enter your email and password, and click or tap the Login button. The sign-in process is fairly quick and simple. Don’t have an account? The app allows you to sign up for a new one as well.

Once past the sign in process, you’re presented with the app’s main interface comprising a tile arrangement of various navigation elements of the app. The user interface looks simple yet intuitive, and the company’s green branding can be seen throughout its various elements. The uploaded files are automatically organized into four categories, each related to its respective folder. These include Music, Photos, Videos and Documents. That said, you can also upload or download any file you want. I couldn’t find a way to make new folders within my Bitcasa drive from the app though, therefore it seems like the conventional Windows desktop client or web UI are the only way for creating custom folders.

Another area where the app really shines is the ability to preview your media right from the app itself. You can view your photos, stream music and video files, and even preview various supported documents including the PDF, without having to download them or open them in another viewer. Furthermore, music can be streamed simultaneously while you are navigating through other sections of Bitcasa, and the currently selected track can be paused, stopped or skipped anytime from the app bar.

If there’s one area I could nitpick, it’s the app’s poor photo preview implementation. The preview section doesn’t let you scale the image to your desired size (zooming, anyone?), and at times even a single image takes ages to render, let alone the thumbnails of a folder flooded with loads of photos.

On the bright side however, the nifty document preview feature is a very useful addition. Not only can you view your documents without actually downloading them; you can also share any document instantly via copying it’s URL to clipboard. You can then give the link to anyone you want to share the file with, or quickly share it from other Windows Store apps via the Share Charm.

The app bar connects you to a few navigation controls of Bitcasa such as playback controls of an audio track, Upload, Refresh, Logout and File Transfer, the last one allowing you to see the current upload and download progress of your files.

Android App

The Android variant of Bitcasa boasts more or less the same features as its newly released Windows 8/RT counterpart. Once you log into the app, you’re able to see your personal Bitcasa Infinite Drive cloud content under various tiles. The largest tile at the top is dedicated to displaying your recently opened file.

The app comes with a built-in Holo-themed music player that lets you browse tracks by artists, albums and songs, and also has background playback support meaning you can continue doing other stuff without interrupting the music playback. In addition, the app supports a built-in image viewer and video player to let you enjoy full streaming of your multimedia content without having to download it first.

Using the app’s Add to Favorites feature, you can download select content to your device for offline browsing. Once you hit the star button beside an audio file, or long-press and favorite a file, it is downloaded to your device and can be accessed from the Favorites tile on the app’s main screen even when you aren’t connected to the internet. Holding down on a file momentarily, you can also share a file with your friends via public links.

For your photo and video backup needs, the official Bitcasa Android app supports an Instant Upload feature similar to Dropbox and Google+, allowing you to push your fresh snaps and video clips to the cloud as soon as they’re captured. You can also choose to transfer content over W-Fi only to save up on your data connection usage. Barring your fresh photos and videos, the Android app doesn’t support uploading content from the mobile device to cloud, nor does it allow basic file management, which is a big miss considering most rival companies have already been offering both these facilities for quite some time now.

In a nutshell, Bitcasa has created really polished looking apps for both these platforms. Although it still feels fairly lacking when it comes to a number of features and speed, users of this unlimited cloud storage service are likely to give it a warm welcome nonetheless.

Download Bitcasa Infinite Storage For Windows 8 / RT

Download Bitcasa For Android

Abdul Rehman & Waqas Ahmed contributed to this post

Read Bitcasa & Its Unlimited Cloud Storage Come To Android, Windows 8 / RT [Review] by AddictiveTips Team on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Let’s first take a look at the new Windows 8 Modern UI app. When you launch the app for the first time, it will ask for your permission to run in the background. Pressing OK will enable you to receive notifications for new emails and that will save you the hassle of having to open the app and refresh the inbox after every few minutes to keep a check on new emails. Note that the app is also capable of showing your status and notifications on the Lock Screen.

Whenever you launch the app, you will be taken to your Inbox by default  The left side provides you quicky controls for navigating between different folders such as Inbox, Drafts, Sent, Spam and Trash, while the contents of the selected folders are displayed in the middle. Selecting an email will allow you to view its contents in the right half of the screen. While you are reading an email, you can choose common email related functions such as Reply, Reply All, Forward, Delete Message, Mark Message As Spam and Compose, from the top-right.

Selecting more than one message brings up the app bar, letting you perform functions such as Move to Trash, Mark as Spam, Mark as Unread and Star.

Press Win + Q or swipe from the right and select Search to bring up the Search Charms to easily find all emails related to a specific keyword or phrase.

Selecting the Compose button takes you to a new page where you can specify the recipient’s email address, add CC and BCC, write the message and include attachments before hitting send.

The Win + I combination or swiping from right and selecting Settings allows you to enable, disable or change your email signature.

The changes are not just confined to the desktop client; the official Yahoo Mail! client for both Android and iOS has also received a massive interface overhaul, along with addition of several nifty features. The mobile apps sport an uncluttered, Holo-ish interface with a light, easy-on-the-eyes background and Yahoo!’s signature purple theme color visible in various UI elements. A dedicated sidebar helps navigating to the required Yahoo! Mail content – Inbox, Spam, Trash, Sent, Contacts, Drafts, Outbox and Folders etc. – a breeze, whereas context-sensitive action bars provide you with quick controls to perform the required action with ease. While reading your emails, you can now take advantage of the pinch-to-zoom gesture to expand them for better readability, especially when it comes to the font size.

Other feature shared in common by the Android and iOS apps include universal search to look for required mail content by sender, recipient, subject and attachments. Moreover, you can use the pull-to-refresh gesture to manually update a folder’s content. You may also benefit from the infinite scrolling option to quickly navigate to the required mail that was received/sent several months or even years ago. When composing messages, you can select multiple recipients, add CC/BCC, and attach a new or already saved image. All your image attachments can be previewed at the top of the message body.

Goodies exclusive to the iOS variant include sideways swiping on an item to perform various actions such as add to favorites, mark as read or spam, move to a different folder, or send to trash. Push notifications have also been made more reliable, and SSL security now comes enabled by default. Special focus has been placed on battery performance improvement, and the app is now believed to be more stable than ever before. The Android app’s mail composition segment is further beefed up with several options including font size selection, emoticons, bold, italic & underline text effects, and the option to select custom color for your text.

Download Yahoo! Mail For Windows 8 & RT

Download Yahoo! Mail For iOS

Download Yahoo! Mail For Android

Update: The app is now optimized for Android tablets and the iPad as well.

Fawad Mir and Abdul Rehman contributed to this post.

Read Hands-On With The New Yahoo! Mail App For Windows 8, iOS & Android by AddictiveTips Team on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

SugarSync 2.0 For Windows

As much as SugarSync was lauded for it’s feature-laden interface, it was equally loathed for being quite difficult to use. The new version is designed to take care of all those issues that plagued prior to Version 2.0. The fresh UI is not only more compact, it does look quite fascinating, too. It houses four main tabs at the top named as Cloud, Sharing, Activity and Search. Cloud displays all the synced folders that made their way to SugarSyc from intertwined devices. To add a new directory, click Select Folder or simply drag and drop the target directory over the application window. The status bar at the bottom lets you know of the available space on your cloud.

Since, SugarSync is also about sharing files and collaboration, the procedure to share files has also been reworked. Akin to synching the files, you can drop the file over the contact’s name within the Sharing tab. Another noteworthy feature is that, you can share a selected folder with anyone on your Facebook or Twitter account, or simply share the link through the email.

Another nice touch is the new SugarSync Drive. Everything you sync to the cloud appears inside this virtual drive – something entirely new as compared to services like Dropbox. It’s a perfect way to keep an eye on how much cloud space is left. On top of that, you can easily manage the content stored within this drive. It feels nice that you can search and locate files within the Windows Explorer, as if it’s stored right on your computer.

The Search tab will come in handy if you have lots of files synced to your account and don’t have much time at disposal to look for a specific one. This is a new function which instantly finds files and folders stored online. During testing, I tried performing a handful of different searches and it worked like a breeze.

Akin to most cloud storage clients, SugarSync sits on the system tray, quietly performing all the syncing operation. The right-click context menu lets you launch SugarSync (desktop or web interface), open the Drive, view file transfer status or exit the app.

SugarSync 3.7 For Android

As with the desktop client, the Android client of SugarSync has been totally revamped. Following the latest design convention, the app has shunned the archaic UI to make way for a more contemporary, Holo-ish interface, which certainly has to be lauded as one of the app’s high points. The introduction of the left sidebar helps navigating to the search bar, cloud content, photos, shortcuts (bookmarked content), synced & shared data, contacts and your recent activities. Also included within the sidebar are the options to upload select content, share items with your mates, and access the app’s main settings screen.

Nothing much has changed from the app’s basic configuration’s perspective other than the addition of the toggle for keeping the sidebar permanently enabled in landscape orientation. Looking at the app’s home screen, we find that the option to switch between contents of a specific device are now accessible via a drop down instead of the old-school style selection from under the “Devices” menu. The support for creation of new folders seems a fresh addition, too, as do the option to sort content alphabetically, and batch-selection of files to include them within the sync mechanism.

Album and photo thumbnail previews have been enlarged substantially, and there’s a whole lot more that can be done with these images (as well as any file), such as batch selection of content to share, sync, bookmark or open them via third-party file viewers. The app lets you stream videos & music on-the-go, and as ever, the option to browse photos in high resolution is there, too.

Just as a reminder, the Holo-themed Android client of SugarSync (v3.7) is still in beta, so it’s not yet available in the Google Play Store. You can, however, lay your hands on the revamped mobile app by downloading its APK from the link provided below. iOS and Windows Phone users can do nothing but wait for the release of the beta variant for their respective devices.

Download SugarSync 2.0 For Windows

Download SugarSync 3.7 Beta For Android

Waqas Ahmed and Abdul Rehman contributed to this article

Read Hands-On With The All-New SugarSync For Windows & Android [Review] by AddictiveTips Team on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Ever since Microsoft released the consumer preview of Windows 8, many power users have found registry hacks and tweaks to change the way Windows 8 behaves in certain situations. While most veteran Windows application developers had already started developing Modern UI apps, Windows enthusiasts were excavating deep into Windows 8 Registry Hives and the Local Group Policy Editor this whole time to find native solutions to problems that novice users may face. If you’ve been following us since the release of the Windows 8 developer build, then you may know that we have covered an umpteen number of Windows 8 tips, registry hacks and Local Group Policy Editor tweaks to enhance the overall usage experience. In what follows, we bring you the best 20 Windows 8 tweaks, hacks and tips that you may find handy.

For your reading convenience, we have divided this post into the following sections.

• Local Group Policy Editor Tweaks
• Windows Registry Hacks
• Tips related to Windows 8 features

Before you start tweaking your Windows 8 PC, you should get familiar with Local Policy Editor and Windows Registry editor. The former is a MMC (Microsoft Management Console) snap-in that enables users, with administrative privileges, to customize a wide range of system component settings, and restricts the control a standard user can exercise on the system, whereas the latter is a database that stores preferences, configurations and settings of both system and user applications, and therefore provides you with workarounds to disable certain features and make others work.

Local Group Policy Editor Tweaks

Disable Uninstall Option For Windows 8 Modern UI Apps

The biggest change in Windows 8 is the Modern UI (formerly known as Metro UI). Now, in addition to the Desktop workspace, you have the Start Screen. The apps that you install from Windows 8 Store can only be accessed from the Start Screen. The Uninstall or Change a Program dialog box lets you uninstall only those applications that are installed from external sources. You can uninstall any Windows Store app from Start Screen by right-clicking it and then selecting Uninstall option from the bottom. Although, it saves the hassle of opening Uninstall or Change a Program dialog box, it provides access to all users to easily uninstall the Windows Store apps from your computer. If you’re looking for a way to keep standard users from uninstalling Modern UI apps, check out our article to find out how to disable the uninstall option from the Start Screen.

Hide Specific Windows 8 Control Panel Tools Or Applets

The Control Panel in Windows 8 is just like the one that comes with the previous versions of Windows. It contains different system tools and applets for changing default settings of different PC components. However, there are simple options that allow standard users to disable the settings, meaning that anyone who has access to your computer can change your PC settings using the Control Panel. For instance, the Mouse applet lets users change default settings of the mouse, like its movement and clicking speed. Using the policy settings in the Local Group Policy Editor, you can restrict users from changing the settings of system components. You can follow our guide on hiding Windows 8 Control Panel applets to prevent your PC users from changing the settings.

Turn Off Windows Store

Windows 8 comes with its own app marketplace called the Windows Store. The number of apps available for download are increasing with each passing day, and the Windows Store still needs to go a long way. Just like other app marketplaces, there are both free and paid apps available for download. If you are lending your Windows 8 device to your friend or colleague, then you probably don’t want them to download paid apps, using your credit card information. Disabling the Store is a good way to prevent anyone else from installing any unwanted app to your system, however, there is no default option to disable the Windows Store. You can check out this tip to disable the Windows Store by changing its policy setting in Local Group Policy Editor.

Disable Lock Screen & Lock Screen Image

While the Lock Screen in previous versions of Windows adds an extra layer of security to Windows logon and allows you to temporarily lock your system, the Windows 8 Lock Screen offers some extra features; other than the ability to lock your computer with a password, it also lets you view the notifications from different apps such as People, Email, Date & Time, Battery Status etc. If you are using Windows on a tablet, entering the password in order to gain access to the computer every time you login can be a bit annoying. The default settings provided by Windows 8 lets you tweak the elements of the Lock Screen, but does not have an option to completely disable it. However using the Local Group Policy Editor, you can permanently disable the Lock Screen, which in turns gives you direct access to the Windows Logon screen. The Lock Screen policy setting dialog also enables system administrators to prevent standard and guest users from changing the Lock Screen image. Check out the steps for disabling the Lock Screen in this post.

Disable Lock Screen App Notifications For All Users

Unlike its predecessors, Windows 8 is optimized to run on both PCs and tablets. Just like the iOS and Android operating systems, Windows 8 also provides you with app notifications right on the Lock Screen. For instance, if you have unread messages, it will send the notification on the lock screen, enabling you to quickly read the message. In the PC Settings menu, there are options to turn the Lock Screen notifications On and Off, but it is applicable only on the current user and other PC users can view their notifications. If you want to disable the Lock Screen notifications for all PC users, the Local Group Policy Editor lets you do it. Follow our guide to disable Lock Screen app notifications for all users in Windows 8.

Enable Account Lockout Policy And Set Lockout Threshold & Duration

The User Accounts feature lets administrator and standard users create multiple user accounts for other PC users. It equips each PC user with a facility of saving their private information like account passwords, financial information etc., without worrying about data theft attacks. Just like any OS, Windows 8 also lets you protect your User Account with a password to prevent others from accessing your data. However, you might have noticed that if you keep entering the wrong password while trying to log in to your account, it gets locked after some attempts. You have to wait for some minutes before you can make another attempt to log in to your PC. Using the Local Group Policy Editor, you can enable the account lockout policy and customize both the account lockout threshold & the account lock-out duration. This article explains all the steps required to change the settings related to account lockout policy.

Disable Sync Settings For All Users

You may know that Windows 8 can be used with both a local account and a Microsoft account, but the advantage of using the latter is that all of your settings, including background, theme, internet history, shortcuts etc, can be easily synced with other devices running Windows 8. For instance, if you have Windows 8 installed on both PC and tablet, you don’t have to manually tweak the settings on both devices, instead, you can just turn the Sync feature on to automatically sync settings, internet history, Start Screen background, color scheme etc., with other Windows 8 devices. However, if you don’t want your devices to sync the settings, you can disable sync from the PC Settings for your user account. You can also enforce system-wide level settings to disable the Sync feature for all users, you may follow the steps from our guide to disable Sync feature for all user accounts.

Restrict Account Users From Changing Personalization Settings

The Personalization dialog box was first introduced in Windows Vista. It basically collects all the UI and screen related settings and show them in one location, so that users don’t have to open different menus to change screen and Windows UI settings. If you’re a system administrator, and are looking for a way to restrict your PC users from changing Personalization settings, then you can use Local Group Policy Editor to disable the Personalization dialog box for all users. You can check out our guide on disabling different Personalization settings.

Prevent Users From Changing Internet Settings

The problem with some system wide settings, such as the internet settings, is that when you change them in one user account they get changed for all users profiles. If you are a system administrator, you can prevent other users from changing the internet settings from the Local Group Policy Editor. This article guides you through the process of restricting users from accessing Internet Settings in Windows 8.

Enable Windows Store On Windows 8 To Go PC

The Windows To Go feature of Windows 8 Enterprise edition allows users to boot the Enterprise edition of the operating system from a USB flash drive. It proves to be quite useful in instances where you need to run Windows 8 temporarily on a system and don’t want to go through the hassle of installing it on your PC. Even though, it offers a complete OS environment from the external USB drive, you cannot use the Windows Store to update installed apps and install new ones, as it is disabled by default in Windows To Go workspace. The fact that it is disabled by default does not mean that Windows Store is not available at all; You can gain access to it by enabling it from the Local Group Policy Editor. Check out our guide on enabling Windows 8 Store on Windows To Go Workspace.

Windows Registry Hacks

Change The Maximum Number of Tile Rows On Start Screen

The Start Screen of Windows 8 displays shortcuts to the installed apps in the form of colorful tiles. The tiles can be used to quickly access your favorite programs. If you install a news app, its live tile will display the latest headlines. You can move the tiles around, create groups for similar types of tiles and resize the tiles. When you open the Start Screen, Windows 8 detects the resolution of your monitor and decides the total rows of tiles that will be displayed on the start screen. There is no default option to control the maximum number of rows, so, if you want, you can not have a fewer number of rows. However, a simple registry hack allows you to control the maximum number of rows that will be displayed on the Start Screen. In order to set a maximum limit for the number of tile rows, navigate to the following registry key.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Grid

Right click in the main window, select New, and create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value. Now,  rename it to Layout_MaximumRowCount. and then open the key to set the custom maximum number of rows. You can restart or log off your computer to implement the changes. On a monitor with 1920 x 1080 resolution, you can get up to 6 rows of tiles on the Start Screen.

Set Border Size of Desktop Windows

You may already know that Microsoft has dropped the Aero, and Windows 8 wraps windows in non-transparent borders. This move was aimed at making the operating system faster and more efficient by removing heavy UI elements that consume too much of system resources. You can still change the color of Windows borders to match your theme, but since the transparency is no more there, large borders mean that more screen space will be blocked by the active window. By default, there is no simple way to set a custom border size, however, you can change the border size of windows from the Windows registry. To change the border size, first open Windows Registry Editor and locate the following registry key.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

Now, look for the “BorderWidth” key and open it. By default, the value is set at –15. You can choose any value from 0 – 50 for the windows borders.

Set Custom Desktop Icon Vertical & Horizontal Spacing

One of the features that most Windows enthusiasts miss in Windows 8 is Windows Color and Appearance. As the name suggests, it is a UI related settings dialog box that allows you to change the size and colors of desktop elements. One of its options allow users to change the vertical and horizontal spacing between the desktop icons. In Windows 8, you can change the default values of vertical and horizontal spacing using the Windows registry editor. In order to change the icon spacing, head over to the following registry key.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

Now, from the right side, look for the keys named “IconSpacing” and “IconVerticalSpacing”. By default, the value of both keys is set at –1125. You can increase this number to increase the space between desktop icons.

Windows 8 Start Screen Animation Registry Hack

The start Screen in Windows 8 can be customized using the Personalization options included in the PC Settings. It allows you to choose a tattoo to be displayed on the Start Screen and select the main color for the Modern UI. When you open the Start Screen, it displays the tiles in a specific animation.  Windows does not provide you with an easy way to change the speed or style of the animation, however, a simple registry tweak can be applied to enable and control the animation. Other than the tiles, this registry hack also work for the animations for User picture, Username, and the Start text (present at the left side of the Start Screen). In order to change the Start Screen animations, open the Windows Registry Editor and open the following registry key.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell\Grid

Now, right-click in the main window of the registry editor to create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and rename it to Launcher_SessionLoginAnimation_OnShow. Once created, open the key and change the value to 1. Close the registry editor and open the Start Screen. You will notice that the hidden animation is enabled.

As stated earlier, you can also control the animation by creating more registry keys. However, a small tool by WINAERO called Start Screen Animations Tweaker provides the front-end of these registry hacks, making it easier for you to tweak the animations without manually editing the registry.

Tips related to Windows 8 features

Bypass Windows 8 Start Screen On Startup & Jump Directly To Desktop

The biggest change in Windows 8 is the removal of Start Orb and introduction of the Start Screen. Now, when you login to Windows, instead of going to the Desktop, you are greeted by the Start Screen. It provides you with tiles for various apps, included Desktop, allowing you to quickly access the required app. A lot of avid Windows users are not happy with this huge change in the UI, and are annoyed by the additional step required to open the Desktop. You can find a number of tools that lets you skip the Start Screen and take you directly to the to desktop, however if you are not fond of installing additional software on your PC, you can manually change the Windows Startup behavior. Check out this tutorial to bypass the Start Screen and jump directly to Desktop after you log in to Windows 8.

Customize Windows 8 Win+X Menu

Once you get the hang of all major changes in the UI of Windows 8, you will start noticing the small ones. While Windows doesn’t offer a number of features that were present in previous versions of Windows, it offers some brand new additions. Amongst all the new additions, Win+X menu is the most significant one. In Windows 7, the Win+X shortcut is used to access the Windows Mobility Center, but it can now be used to access a special menu that appears at bottom left corner of the screen. The Win+X menu in Windows 8 lets you quickly access some useful System Utilities, such as Programs and Features, Mobility Center, Network Connections, Power Options, Device Manager, Task Manager, Run dialog box etc, but it doesn’t allow users to customize this menu. In this article, you can find two simple ways to edit the Win+X menu in Windows 8.

Turn Off SmartScreen Filter For Windows 8

In Windows 8, Microsoft has introduced a brand new security feature called SmartScreen. It warns users about the potential threats and temporarily prevents installation of those third party apps that are considered as unsafe. It is a good feature for enhancing your computer security, since there is a possibility of your computer getting infected with a virus after installing a third party app from an external, untrusted sources. However, it can get quite annoying for some users, who do not like a prompt appearing on their screen every time they install a third party tool. If you’re power user who install a lot of third-party tools, you can choose to disable the SmartScreen filter by following the steps from our guide.

Create Custom Refresh Point In Windows 8 With Recimg Tool

In case your Windows 8 PC is not running smoothly, the Refresh Your PC feature of Windows 8 lets you refresh all the settings of your computer without making any changes to your personal files. During the refresh, your files and personalization settings will not be changed, as it only reverts your PC settings to the default state, and the Windows Store apps will remain intact (third party apps will be removed, however). Although, Refresh Your PC feature quickly takes your PC to the default state, it doesn’t allow you to create a custom restore point. Using a command line tool called Recimg, you can create a custom refresh point in WIM (Windows Installer Image) format. It actually saves the current snapshot of your PC and lets you restore your PC to specific custom refresh point. This enables users to to retain all their settings, files, and desktop applications after using the Refresh Your PC feature. In this post, we have explained all the steps required to create, and restore, a custom refresh point using Recimg command.

Create Wireless Ad Hoc Internet Connection In Windows 8

We have talked about a lot of features that were available in Windows 7, but are missing from Windows 8. One of the most used features of Windows 7 is support for creating SoftAP or Ad-Hoc network connection. Windows 8 doesn’t provide an easy way of creating ad-hoc connection to turn the device into a virtual router for sharing internet with other devices, but using the Network Shell console, users of both client and server versions of Windows 8, can easily create SoftAP connection. It allows users to take advantage of the hosted network (Virtualization) feature for creating a virtual wireless connection. The Hosted network plays a vital role in creating a virtual wireless adapter and a lot of applications that create a virtual Wi-Fi hotspot use the same method to create virtual router. In order to create a virtual Wi-Fi hotspot, it is necessary that your network adapter supports virtualization. You can follow our step-by-step guide to create a wireless Ad-Hoc internet connection (SoftAP) in Windows 8 using the built-in netsh utility.

You can also use a third party tool to create the Wi-Fi hotspot. Previously, we have featured some tools that allow you to do that, such as WiFi HotSpot Creator. It turns your system into a virtual Wi-Fi router, allowing you to share your internet connection with other devices, like laptops, tablets, and smartphones. It also supports WPA/WPA2 PSK-based security mode for the ad-hoc/SoftAP connection.

Another hotspot utility worth mentioning here is Connectify. It turns your computer into a Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing Wi-Fi enabled devices in your vicinity to connect to your PC’s virtual Wi-Fi router to share the  the internet

Enable Hibernate Option In Windows 8

Hibernation comes in handy in situations where you want to quickly access your PC, and prefer not to cold boot the system. Instead of rebooting or shutting down the PC, when you put your computer in hibernate mode, the system is powered down, but the current state of Windows is saved to the hard disk. When you turn on the computer back from hibernation, it returns to exactly the same state. The Hibernate mode is not enabled in Windows 8, and users are required to manually enable it from System Power Settings  By default the Power Options in Windows 8 (accessible from the Settings Charms) include only  Sleep, Shutdown and Restart options. If you want to enable and add Hibernate mode to the list of Power Options, all you need is to follow the steps from this guide.

All the above mentioned Local Group Policy Editor tweaks, Windows Registry hacks and tips will allow you to use Windows 8 to its full potential without installing any risky software on your computer. If you have any other useful tweaks that we’ve missed in our list, drop them off in the comment section below.

Want to know what makes Windows 8 tick? Read our Windows 8 review and guide.

To learn how to move around faster in Windows 8, check out our compilation of Windows 8 hotkeys.

Fawad Mir and Usman Javaid contributed to this post.

Read Top 20 Windows 8 Tweaks, Hacks & Tips by AddictiveTips Team on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Whenever Microsoft rotates the generation wheel of their operating system to rejuvenate it with new enhancements, people take some time to get accustomed to the newest member of the family. Just three years back, Microsoft launched Windows 7, which to many, was deemed as the best iteration to date. Features like Libraries, Jump List, Aero Snap and Aero Glass gained instant popularity. And to be honest, it was what Vista should have been in the first place. However, time has finally arrived for Windows 8 to take over its predecessor’s job – a job that doesn’t seem any easier this time around, as Microsoft has tried to make this latest version a desktop/tablet hybrid. Windows 8 brings a slew of changes to the table, in terms of OS usage experience as well as user interface, with an all new Start Screen, Modern UI (Windows Store) apps, tablet support, a revamped Windows Explorer (now called File Explorer) and what not. In short, the new OS is full of surprises. But does it deserve a place on our computers? Let’s find out.

If you haven’t used Windows 8 yet, prepare yourself for a lot of surprises. Whatever you have learned about using Windows in the past years, a lot of it might get redundant in this version. Along with the UI changes, or enhancements, the operating system comes packed with a bunch of new features. In what follows, we will briefly discuss the most significant ones.

Start Screen

All the preceding versions of Windows were designed to immediately take you to the desktop after Windows logon. However, no longer such is the case in Windows 8, as whenever you sign in to your account, you’re presented with an all new Start Screen that is designed to arrange all your apps as Tiles – yep, a term that sounds familiar, especially if you’re a Windows Phone user. Your User Profile name appears at the top right of the screen, clicking which reveals further account-related options. Akin to Windows Phone, some of the tiles are dynamic – which means they swivel around various visual information such as news, podcasts etc.

Since Windows 8 fully supports touchscreen devices such as tabs and ultrabooks, these blocks provide better interaction via touch screen than selecting miniscule icons. One thing that didn’t fancy us however is that, you may somehow end up making the Start Screen look cluttered later down the road. The reason being, almost all the apps that you install pin their own tile to the Start Screen, making it feel clunky and less ergonomic. The Start Screen is loaded with various stock apps, such as Calendar, Mail, People, Messaging, Desktop (yes, Desktop is an app now), Maps, SkyDrive etc., and is scrollable across left and right of the screen.

Clicking the miniscule (-) button at the bottom right zooms out the tiles, so that you can easily categorize the apps into groups. In order to group multiple apps in a container, right click the apps section and select Name group option from the bottom to give the selected group an appropriate name.

The bottom menu, which slides up upon right-clicking anywhere on the Start Screen, contains an All apps option that when clicked provides a list of all installed and system applications. While in Start Screen, you may access a couple of Tiles options by clicking Settings in the Charms Bar. It allows to toggle Administrative tools on/off and clear personal info regarding the tiles.

Charms Bar

Charms Bar is one of those features that makes Windows 8 stand-out from previous versions of Windows. It’s been added to provide universal access to context-sensitive options. Moving the cursor to the top or bottom right of your desktop, or using Win+ C hotkey combination opens the charms bar at the right side of screen, containing options like Search (within the current app), Share (current items, such as news articles with contacts from Mail or People apps), Start (open the Start Screen), Devices (manage devices such as secondary monitors, printers), and Settings (related to the active app). Along with the bar, an information panel also appears at the bottom left area of the screen, showing you the current date and time, Wi-Fi connection and battery status.

The fact that each option of Charms Bar is context-sensitive greatly increases its usability. For instance, if you open Charms Bar in Windows Store, you can search the apps, share them with other people, and view its settings without opening any other dialog box. Having the options related to each app accessible directly from inside the app makes it easier for users to configure it according to their preferences.

Start Search

Start Search is like a detour to quickly access files or apps that you’re looking for. You can either access it from Charms bar, or simply type an app, system settings or file name on Start Screen, to bring forward this menu. It lists down various categories to the right – including a list of apps. Your search results appear to the left, from where you can choose your desired item. It’s worth mentioning here that if you right click an app from the list, further app related options are revealed at the bottom. These options include Unpin from Start, Pin to taskbar, Uninstall, Open new window, Run as administrator and Open file location.

Desktop

Even though it’s ripped down various notches, the good ‘ol Desktop is still there (you can access it by clicking Desktop app tile from the Start Screen). It looks the same as it was before, with the absence of Windows Start Orb, thus entirely eliminating the Start Menu from existence. As Start Menu is replaced by the Start Screen, Microsoft decided to not include it altogether. So, the Desktop that we all knew and loved, doesn’t feel the same as it used to in previous versions of Windows. If you hover the mouse pointer over the bottom left corner of the screen, you will see a Start Screen thumbnail preview, clicking which, takes you back to the Start Screen. Not much is already visible on Desktop, so you might need to fiddle around a bit to find some hidden functions, for instance, moving the mouse to the top or bottom corners to the right side of the screen reveals the Charms bar, a sleek bar that provides context-sensitive options like Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings.

Windows Store

With the release of Windows 8, Microsoft is trying to get into the app business. Previously, users had to buy apps directly from developers and 3rd party vendors, but now, with the introduction of the Windows Store in Windows 8, users can buy apps without having to visiting third-party websites. From the pervious experience with app markets for other platforms, such as Mac App Store and Google Play Store, you may know that it is beneficial for both developers and users, since developers have one place to market their products and users don’t have to roam around the internet looking for required apps. Moreover, using the Windows Store to download apps also ensures that the software is free of viruses and other malicious content. Like any other app store, Windows Store also features both free and paid applications for users. The main page contains several categories of apps, each one with direct access to featured apps, top apps and new releases. The main page of each app allows you to directly install the app to your computer.

Since the Search Charms provides context-sensitive options, it also works with Windows Store. When you are on the main page of the store, just start typing and the search bar will automatically appear in the right side of your screen. Alternatively, you can use Win+Q hotkey to open Search Charms for finding the required app from the Store. You may narrow down the search results by viewing items related to only a certain category, price of the app, and sort them according to different criteria.

Pressing Win + I opens the Settings Charms, which allows you to manage your Billing Method and PC information, set Preferences, App update options and change Permissions.

Ribbon Based File Explorer

By now, you must have heard about the Office 2010-like Ribbon inspired Windows 8 File Explorer. Ribbon is Microsoft’s own UI legacy already seen in their Office Productivity Suite, it uses the tabs to bring all the necessary options upfront, so you don’t have to fiddle around with menu bars and context menus in order to find the required options. Needless to say, the Windows 8 Explorer’s Ribbon is both intuitive and dynamic.

Apart from the four sticky tabs that always remain visible, it offers a couple of context-sensitive tabs, which appear when you select a special item. The Home tab provides some conventional Copy, Paste, Cut options we all know for long – along with Select all and Select none for batch file selection. It’s good to see that Microsoft has moved View properties to a separate tab, making folder customization a breeze. Similarly, if you’re inside Computer folder (as seen in screenshot below), the Home tab shows a completely different set of options related to this folder. For instance, you can access your network computers, open “Uninstall or change a program” utility and so on.

Context-sensitive tabs come into view when you tinker around with different types of files. For example, if you are working under a directory that houses a lot of image files, Windows Explorer will activate Picture Tools Manage tab on the ribbon. It makes the job a tad easier, let’s say, to rotate images, run slide shows or set the selected image as desktop background. Likewise, Computer window displays context-sensitive tab for mounting ISO files as a virtual disk and accessing other ISO-related options.

Task Manager

Task Manager is something that didn’t receive much love in previous versions of Windows, but with Windows 8, it looks like Microsoft had a change of mind. The very first thing that you will immediately notice about the new Task Manager is its compact design, giving casual users an overview of all active apps.

The extended Task Manager can be accessed via “More Details” toggle. It has been particular developed to provide you with a bigger picture of the Windows’ current operations. The extended view houses Processes, Performance, App History, Startup, Users, Details and Services tabs. The Processes tab behaves more like its predecessor, the only change being the included Disk and Network columns. The Performance tab on the other hand is completely overhauled. It shows dynamic line graphs to present detailed information regarding CPU, Memory, Disk, Bluetooth, Ethernet and Wi-Fi usage.

App history is something new in the arsenal. The complete application history is preserved under App history to conveniently switch over to any previous application. Likewise, the Startup tab helps in managing processes and applications that run at startup. It must be noted that System Configuration console, casually known as msconfig utility, doesn’t carry the start up items, and it redirects you to Startup tab to manage the startup programs. The Users tab has remained quite unchanged, letting you manage all the active user accounts, while Details tab includes all the details related to running processes including PID, User name CPU & Memory usage etc. The right-click context menu of Details tab also contains Analyze wait chain, a feature which was accessible from Resource Monitor in Windows 7. Read our complete review of Task Manager.

Enhanced Filename Conflict Resolution & Copy/Move Dialog Box

The file copy/move dialog in Windows 8 has also been reworked from the ground up. Not only does it feel more responsive, it also includes the much-needed Pause button to temporarily cease the file copy/move operation. Along with the new file copy/move dialog, the revamped file conflict resolution  dialog box will also please all those who often transfer data from one location to another frequently. If you aren’t familiar with the term already, it pops up when one or more files are moved or copied to a location, where files with identical names are already present.

Following the same trend of previous OS versions, the file copy/move dialog is kept quit compact. Clicking “More Details” reveals the remaining items like ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival), name of item being transferred and a dynamic graph that plots both transfer speed and total progress. Most noteworthy feature however, is the Pause button at the top right that lets you pause and resume the file transfer operation.

In Windows 7, file conflict resolution dialog box contained move and replace file, move all file while keeping existing ones and cancel copy/move operation. Microsoft has made this dialog box more powerful and snappy in Windows 8. Whenever you copy or move a single or multiple files, it lets you manually specify the files that you want to copy or move. In addition, you can select Choose the file to keep in destination folder option to bring up File Conflicts window. This is an extended options window where you may easily select the items that should be moved to the destination folder. Furthermore, you can click Skip <number of> files with the same date and size option to avoid them from moving to the target directory. This window shows both the host directory and the target directory. In short, Windows 8’s copy and move feature is more intelligent than its antecedents.

Switch List

Switch List is the alternative, or rather the replacement of the Alt+Tab feature found in the previous versions of Windows. Now, Alt+Tab only works in the Desktop applications, letting you switch between files, folders and other open windows. To switch between Windows Store apps, you need the “Switch List”. You can access it by moving your mouse pointer to the upper or lower left corners of your screen, or simply using the Win+Tab hotkey on your keyboard. This brings up the list of active apps on the left side. It also shows you the current state of the app by displaying the thumbnail of the last action you performed on it. You can cycle through them by holding down the Windows key and repeatedly pressing the Tab key, or directly open the app via clicking its thumbnail. Since Windows 8 only suspends the Windows Store apps, Switch List provides a quick way of switching among the active apps.

PC Settings

In the previous versions of Windows, users would open Control Panel to make system wide changes to installed hardware, connected peripherals and other major system components. Windows 8 still has the Control Panel, but a lot of new settings, as well as some old ones, have been shifted to a new system settings menu called “PC Settings”.

In order to access PC Settings menu, open the Charms Bar, click Settings and select Change PC Settings from the lower right corner. It contains a number of configuration settings, organized into different categories. For instance, the Personalize category includes options related to the Lock Screen, Start Screen and Account Picture, allowing users to change the background image, select apps for notifications on lock screen and so on. Some of these settings are specifically added for tablets, while others are designed for PCs. Settings applied by a user can be synced with all Windows 8 machines using the same Microsoft Account, meaning that you can have the same experience on all Windows 8 devices.

The Devices category deals with the connected devices. The Wireless section contains toggles for Airplane mode and Wireless devices, the Ease of Access section includes contrast options, while the HomeGroup tab allows you to set permissions for sharing content with other homegroup members, such as Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Printers and Devices. In short, PC Settings offers a centralized systems console to let you easily personalize your accounts and set everything according to your preferences.

User Accounts And Sync Settings

Windows 8 comes across as a fitting successor to Windows 7 in terms of managing user accounts. Unlike the previous operating system, it gives you the option to make either local account or use the recently introduced Microsoft Account (Windows Live or Outlook both qualify). While the latter requires an active internet connection to create the account, it carries a number of dazzling advantages. For example, it lets you synchronize your settings, such as shortcuts, application settings, internet history, passwords etc., with all your Windows 8-powered devices. Not to mention, even if you create an offline account amidst the initial account setup process, you may easily switch to Microsoft account later. User accounts are managed under PC settings, which can be accessed via the Charms Bar. The Users section handles the operation of adding new users or convert existing local accounts into Microsoft accounts.

The configurations under Sync your settings are only made available when you’re logged in to Windows through Microsoft account. It includes a number of sync parameters, allowing you to choose what to sync with your account.

Lock Screen

Just like many other features packed in Windows 8, the Lock Screen is one that has increased utility compared to the ones included in the previous version of Windows. The Personalization category in the PC Settings menu has a separate section for changing the lock screen related options. It allows you to set a custom image as the background of the Lock Screen, something which was missing in Windows 7. You can choose from the high quality images available by default, or browse for an image stored in your computer.

Scroll down to view the Lock Screen Apps section of Lock Screen settings. Here, you can choose different apps to run in the background and show quick status and toaster notifications when the screen is locked. Moreover, you can choose different apps to display detailed status right on the lock screen. For instance, if you choose the weather app or the calendar, current weather of a selected location or details about an upcoming event will be displayed on the lock screen.

The app details are displayed in the bottom left corner of screen right next to date and time. Moreover, simple notifications for unread content, such as, new emails, tweets, messages, etc, are also displayed on the lock screen. The new Lock Screen is optimized for both desktop and tablets, and has certainly a lot of features compared to the previous versions of Windows.

Refresh & Reset Your PC

The Refresh option is more like a Windows repair function, which checks Windows registry, system files and other critical system components in order to diagnose any ongoing issue. Upon finding any issues, it initiates the repairing process. This feature doesn’t remove any personal files and Windows applications, or reverts any system settings, however any applications that you may have downloaded and installed from external sources (internet, optical media, etc) are automatically wiped out. In order to Refresh Your PC, click Get Started option under “Refresh your PC without affecting your files” section. It will show you the changes that will be made amidst the process. Clicking Next will begin the initial PC Refresh preparations, simply sit back and wait for the process to complete. When done, it will take you to Start Screen.

Akin to Refresh, the “Reset Your PC” option is also accessible from within the PC Settings. This feature is designed to erase all your personal files, including videos, photos, documents, music, etc, and user applications without requiring your input. This is an excellent feature if you want to restore your system to factory defaults. Since it actually performs a clean Windows 8 installation, you’d be required to enter the Windows 8 activation key. Another noticeable aspect of Reset Your PC is that it lets you specify whether you want to remove files from the whole drive or just the active partition of the disk where Windows is installed. Read our complete review of Reset & Refresh Your PC feature.

Storage Spaces

Want to create a large storage pool and connect other home PCs with the storage pool to easily share and transfer data? Unlike previous Windows versions, where one needs to manually manage multiple storage mediums, Windows 8 eliminates the need of deploying an expensive disk storage management solution by providing Storage Spaces. For those who are not familiar, it offers one-stop solution for managing multiple, large storage devices connected to your system. With Storage Spaces, you no longer need to buy expensive storage media solutions for organizing your data across multiple external disks.

It provides an extendable virtual space that automatically handles all underlying physical storage mediums. You can keep adding physical drives to the storage pool until the set limit of virtual disk is reached. The main advantage of using this method of managing storage space over others is that the storage pool size is not limited by the total size of your physical drives, instead, you can have a single drive of a massive capacity that lets you store and access all your data from a single location, and adding an extra storage disk to the storage pool is as easy as plugging it in USB/SATA port.

The Storage Spaces feature is aimed at helping the users in maintaining large storage mediums. Another noteworthy aspect of this feature is that you don’t have to mount the drives whenever you want to use them. It attempts to implement a RAID model with an enhanced data mirroring feature, allowing you to have an automatically created backup of data in case of a disk failure. The virtual disk is handled by Windows 8 like any normal local hard drive connected to the computer. Read our complete review of Storage Spaces feature.

Windows SmartScreen

SmartScreen is one of the security feature of Windows 8 that is incorporated into both Desktop environment and Internet Explorer to help you protect your system from malicious apps and phishing websites. While it adds an extra layer of security to Windows, it also deploys a real-time virus detection system to prevent users and external requests from executing malicious scripts as well as visiting compromised websites. In order to keep you safe from viruses/malware and other threats, this new security filter scans the files for known threats as soon as you begin downloading them from the internet.

Perhaps, the most noticeable aspect of SmartScreen is that it checks for potential issues that are beyond the reach of Internet Explorer’s virus identification feature. Similarly, when you attempt to visit a comprised website, it checks the source URLs and website’s pages against a number of reported phishing websites and online malware distributors, and informs you about the potentially dangerous content.

Although, Windows 8 doesn’t provide an option to manually check the downloaded applications for infections, you have the option to push any website into the Smart Screen’s radar. Internet Explorer offers an excellent option to manually check the website for malicious code and phishing attempts. It basically sends the current website’s address to Microsoft in order to check the website against the list of all known phishing websites. Upon detecting any malicious activity, it immediately ceases your browsing session and shows you the warning that the website contains threats and has been blocked.

File History (Backup & Restore Tool)

Backing up data and restoring to the original location is not easy, unless you’re using a smart backup and restore application, developed particularly for this very purpose. Being an avid Windows user, you may be aware of all the excellent data backup tools available out there, which make data backup, sync and restore operations a breeze. File History is one of the reasons why you won’t need third party data backup applications. It comes with an efficient data monitoring system that quickly identifies the changes made to backup folders and copies the latest changes to the target directory.

With features like keep saved versions of files for a specified amount of time, total size of offline cache, and number of copies of each file, File History makes it quite easy for even novice users to create and customize their data backup jobs. The Restore feature is also brilliant, and needs nothing except a click to restore the exact file version that you want, at the original location. Read our complete review of Windows 8 File History feature.

Airplane Mode & Metered Connections In Network Settings

Since, Microsoft has decided to release the same version of the operating system for both PC’s as well as tablets, one can find some options that seem irrelevant to a particular device. A significant example of this is the Airplane Mode and Metered Connections that you can find in Network settings. Just like the Airplane mode in your smartphone, the one included in Windows 8 also disables all the wireless connections of your device. Open Charms Bar, select Settings, and click the active internet connection icon to reveal the Network related settings. At the top, you will be able to see the toggle to turn Airplane Mode on and off.

If you are using internet connection with limited bandwidth, or a data connection on your tablet, it is advisable to keep a close eye on how much bandwidth is being used. By default, clicking a connection shows you its Estimated Usage since the last time you reset the counter. You can also choose any network connection as a Metered Connection, which prevents automatic download and update of device software and apps for new devices.

The Download Over Metered Connections option can be turned on and off from the Devices category, accessible from the PC Settings.

Better Application Window Management & Multi-Monitor Setup Options

We all know that multi-monitor setup equips users with a better multitasking workstation, and it seems that Microsoft learnt a thing or two from their past experience. People who have the luxury to connect more than one display to their PC will love to take advantage of Windows 8’s Taskbar management options. Windows 7 didn’t expand the Taskbar across all the display monitors, but the latest version of Windows successfully does that. If you hop onto “Taskbar Properties”, you will notice Multiple displays section under Taskbar tab. By enabling “Show taskbar on all displays” option, you will be presented with three additional settings. “All taskbars” is the default option that displays pinned applications on all the screens. The “Main taskbar and taskbar where window is open” option keeps pinned apps on primary display and shows running apps on all taskbars. Lastly, the “Taskbar where window is open” only shows the running app on the screen where it’s being displayed. This is quite handy to separately manage multiple instances of a single application, such as, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.

Built in Hyper-V Manager

Unlike its predecessors, Windows 8 features a built-in hypervisor and virtualization manager called Hyper-V, which enables users to create, configure, manage and run virtualized server environments without having to separately use the Server version of Windows. The Hyper-V client offers the hypervisor technique to run multiple guest operating systems on a host PC. For those of you who are planning to upgrade to Windows Server 2012, you will find the Hyper-V Client enabled by default. Although it’s disabled in client versions of Windows 8, you can use the “Turn Windows features on or off” feature (accessible from Control Panel -> Uninstall or change a program window) to enable the Hyper-V client on Windows 8 PC.

After enabling the Hyper-V option, you can access both Hyper-V Manager and default Hyper-V Virtual Machine Connection from the Start Screen.

With the options to configure and use multiple virtual server environments, Windows 8 makes it easy for users to manage their virtual machines without having to rely on third-party tools. Not only does it provide a powerful hardware virtualization technique, it also enables you to manage multiple virtual machines running different operating systems at a time. The latter lets you effortlessly transfer data and migrate critical programs to the required virtualized server environment.

Windows 8 Startup Menu (Boot Options)

The Windows Startup Menu (boot menu) has been completely revamped, providing users with extra system troubleshooting options to quickly diagnose and fix the system startup problems. If your Windows starts throwing exceptions while performing even basic tasks, you should access the Startup Menu and put your PC through a number of tests to diagnose the issue. The main screen lets you enter into Troubleshoot mode, which houses a wide range of options to fix a diverse range of startup problems.

Windows 8 offers two simple ways to access the startup menu; you can either use the PC Settings page or press F8 during system startup to enter into boot menu. This screen provides a number of options to troubleshoot Windows before it even loads. If you’ve dual booted Windows 8 with another version of Windows, you need to click “Change defaults or choose other options” to access the advanced tools menu. This takes you to the Options screen, from where you may choose default operating system and explore other options. As we stated earlier, Windows 8 lets you Reset or Refresh PC, you can perform the said tasks from Startup Menu as well. In order to access these options, all you need is to click the Troubleshoot button.

Apart from Refresh and Reset, the Troubleshoot screen lets you select Advanced options, from where you may access System Restore, System Image Recovery, Automatic Repair, Command Prompt and Windows Startup Settings. The Automatic Repair option identifies and diagnoses basic startup problems that might be keeping your PC from booting. Similarly, Command Line Interpreter utility is accessible through Command Prompt tile. In addition, you also have the liberty to tweak several boot options from Startup Settings.

Resetting Windows to factory settings was a tiresome procedure in previous versions, but with Windows 8, you no longer need to perform tedious file and app cleaning operations. Microsoft has managed to concise this process to as little as a few steps by offering Reset Your PC feature. Both the Refresh and Reset features are accessible from General section in Windows 8 PC settings (you can click Settings followed by Change PC settings in the Charms Bar to access the said section).

Conclusion

If you have managed to stick with us through the entire review, you might have already formed your own opinion about the new Windows, but here’s what we think: Microsoft has created an OS that is not only robust, but super-snazzy as well. Tablets aficionados will find themselves at home thanks to various slate-friendly features, such as Lock Screen notifications, Live Tiles and support for gestures. In addition, the infamous Start Screen, assisted by the Switch List and Charms Bar, provides easy navigation and control throughout the OS, hence proving to be a commendable addition. However, one can’t simply judge each element separately, without regard for its effect on the entire OS. Anyone who has been using Windows for a long time, must have noticed that the Start Screen looks and acts like an entirely separate part of the system, and that there are only few options to interact with the desktop. One of the annoyances we found while using the Start Screen was its inability to move items to the desktop or currently opened folders via drag & drop. Then again, using the Start Screen on a Windows 8 tablet might force us to think otherwise. Moreover, the Start Screen and the new Modern UI aren’t the only new things in the OS. Revamped utilities like File History, Storage Spaces and Task Manager made us wonder why these features were missed in previous versions of Windows.

Overall, Microsoft has surely surprised the world with their latest operating system. The huge shift from the classic style of Windows to the new UI has raised a lot of questions from users and critics alike. On one hand, there lies the risk of alienating the current user-base, while on the other hand, it is an opportunity for Microsoft to grab a spot in the tablet market, and at the same time, move its users forward, beyond the terms ‘desktop’ and ‘mobile’ to an operating system that somewhat merges the two worlds.

So what’s your take on Windows 8? Have you found any solid reasons to upgrade to the new OS? Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Waqas Ahmed , Fawad Mir and Usman Javaid contributed to this review.

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So, fire away! Tell us what you like about the new theme, and what you think is missing. Feel free to drop suggestions regarding areas that you think have room for improvement.

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Over the past few months, there has been a lot of buzz about Windows 8, ever since Microsoft initially showcased it last year and released a developer’s preview, which we extensively covered for you. Today, at MWC 2012 in Barcelona, Microsoft is releasing the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 and as always, we will be providing you with an in-depth coverage of everything Microsoft’s latest operating system optimized for both PCs and tablets has to offer.

Update: Windows 8 Release Preview is now available for download. It adds Bing-powered Metro apps, a slightly revamped UI, stripped down Flash support for Internet Explorer 10 and greater stability.

Update 2:  Windows 8 RTM has been released for MSDN and TechNet subscribers. The final, public release is scheduled for the 26th of October, 2012.

Update 3: The final, public version of Windows 8 is now available for purchase. While most of the new features remain the same, for the few changes and a complete perspective on the final build, read our Windows 8 review and guide to new features. The guides below provide a a detailed look into each individual feature.

Purchase Windows 8

The much-anticipated Windows 8 is probably the most major release to Microsoft’s desktop operating system till date, especially when it comes to significantly changing the way we interact with our computers. It incorporates the excellent Metro UI from Zune and Windows Phone, into major parts of the entire operating system, which is a big shift from the old desktop interface. Therefore, there will be a lot of new features, as well as new ways to utilize the old features.

The Consumer Preview has significant changes (100,000 according to Microsoft) from the Developers Preview, and it reflects the end product that Microsoft will be shipping to the end users more accurately.

Today as well as over the coming weeks, we will be bringing you detailed coverage of all that has changed, and will be updating the links right here in this post.

See our complete coverage below.

• Windows 8 Release Preview Product Key
  When installing Windows 8 Release Preview, you will be asked for a product key.
• Windows 8 Switch List Helps Navigate Between Running Applications
  Forget Alt+Tab windows switching. Windows 8 has a new way to switch between apps and windows, called Switch List.
• What Is Windows 8 Storage Spaces & How To Create Virtual Storage Pool
  In Windows 8 you can now merge multiple hard disks to create a virtual storage pool called Storage Spaces.
• Windows 8 Charms Bar: System Wide Access To Search, Sharing, Settings & Basic Actions
  The Charms Bar is like the new Start Menu of Windows 8. All basic control and action functions can be found here.
• All You Need To Know About Windows 8 Store [Review]
  Learn more about Windows 8 Store and grab some free apps along the way.
• How To Resize, Group & Manage App Tiles In Windows 8 Start Screen
  Don’t like the default app tiles in Start Screen? You can now resize and group them for better management.
• Hands-On With Windows 8 Remote Desktop
  In Windows 8 Start Screen, you will find a brand new Remote Desktop app. It just works.
• How to Enable Windows 8 Safe Mode
  Did something go wrong? Worry not, you can boot in Safe Mode to fix any issues.
• Where (The Heck) Is Computer In Windows 8?
  Computer (also called My Computer) is the first place users visit. We tell you how to make it easily accessible in Windows 8.
• Airplane Mode & Metered Connections In Windows 8 Network Settings
  Some great new networking features that were not available before. Do check them out!
• Windows 8 PC Settings [Complete Guide]
  Find out what’s new in PC Settings.
• Bypass Windows 8 SmartScreen Filter To Run 3rd Party Desktop Apps
  For security reasons, Microsoft does not allow third party apps to run. You can bypass the SmartScreen to run any apps you want.
• Add Bluetooth Devices In Windows 8 Without Installing 3rd Party Software Or Drivers
  Bluetooth devices can be added to the Windows 8 machine without requiring any third-party drivers or applications.
• How To Remove Multiple Metro App Tiles From Windows 8 Start Screen
  Want to remove multiple app tiles from the new Start Screen at once? We show you how!
• Windows 8 File Sharing: How To Share Users & System Folders On Network
  All you need to know about file sharing and its set up in Windows 8.
• Set Default Browser In Windows 8 For Links From 3rd Party/Desktop Apps
  Default programs do not work in Windows 8 as they used to in earlier versions of the OS. To make a third-party browser truly default, follow this guide.
• Where Is The Start Menu In Windows 8?
  Microsoft has decided to remove the Start Menu from Windows 8. Learn more about it.
• Bring Back The Start Orb/ Menu To Windows 8 Using ViStart 
  Unhappy with the Start Screen and want the old Orb with Start Menu back? Get ViStart in action!
• Download Our Windows 8 Metro Wallpapers
  We created a collection of Metro-themed Windows 8 wallpapers for our readers. Check them out!

Don’t forget to check out our previous guides (updated to reflect new changes).

• How To Install Windows 8 On VirtualBox
  The complete guide to installing Windows 8 on VirtualBox with correct settings. It works on both Windows and Mac.
• What’s New In Windows 8 Desktop, Start Search, And Start Menu
  Learn about the brand new Windows 8 Desktop, Metro inspired Start Search and Start Menu.
• The Complete Guide To Windows 8 Explorer, New Ribbon Tools And Options
  The Windows Explorer gets a Ribbon treatment that gives quick access to common options. Learn more about the new features of Ribbon Explorer.
• The Complete Guide To Windows 8 Task Manager, New Features And Options
  The Task Manager has been totally revamped. It is better than ever with new features and options.
• The Complete Guide To Windows 8 PC Settings
  You can now access PC Settings from Charms Bar. We dive deep into the new features and options found inside PC Settings.
• How To Refresh Or Reset Your Windows 8 PC [Complete Guide]
  You will find two new options in Windows 8, both of which serve a very important purpose; Refresh and Reset. These options have been applauded by everyone, we test them in details.
• All About Windows 8 FileName Collisions And Copy/Move Dialog Box
  The brand new Filename Collisions dialog makes it easier for users to select which files to move or keep. The Copy/Move dialog box helps users easily check the transfer speed and pause it at any time.
• The Complete Guide To File History Backup
  Superior alternative to Previous Versions feature, File History is Windows 8 native file backup and restore utility. We explore its features and options.
• The Complete Guide To Windows 8 Startup Menu
  The Windows Startup Menu, also called Boot Menu gets Metro treatment in Windows 8. We check out every option to find out what’s new.
• Sync Windows 8 User Settings Between PCs & Tablets via Windows Live ID
  Syncing is now possible in Windows 8, provided you have Windows Live ID. Once you set up a Windows account using Windows Live email address, you can sync PC settings with other computers running Windows 8 under the same Windows Live ID.
• Quick Overview Of Windows Lock Screen
  The Lock Screen can now display application notifications, status badge, battery, network status, and more. We did a quick overview of the lock screen to find out what makes it unique.

More articles, guides and tips to follow. Stay tuned!

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UndoClose supports two hotkey combinations; Ctrl+Shift+F and Ctrl+Shift+A, to open last closed folder (in Windows Explorer) and application, respectively. The hotkeys can be used multiple times. For example, if you close VLC Player, Notepad and iTunes, press Ctrl+Shift+A hotkey three times to launch VLC Player, Notepad and iTunes again.

UndoClose sits in the system tray after being launched and silently starts monitoring all folders and applications that are closed. It then helps you restore them using the hotkeys.

If the pre-defined hotkeys come in conflict with other global hotkeys, you can change them from Settings. To access Settings, click the system tray icon. You will also find all recently closed folders and applications with their complete source paths. You can open them by double-clicking the items in the list.

You can watch how it all works in the video walkthrough below.

The application is built to actively keep log of all the apps and folders you close, and therefore, it consumes 35 MB of system memory. It’s worth mentioning here that memory usage depends upon the number of apps and folders you close during the session. UndoClose is a portable app that works on Windows 7 only. Both 32-bit and 64-bit OS are supported.

Download UndoClose

Changelog:

Version 1.1 – Now works with all Libraries (main folder, default Windows libraries, custom user-made libraries), Computer, Recycle Bin, Control Panel (Category view), and Network.

Version 1.0  - Initial Release

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It will help you quickly organize images, documents, audio files etc., into folders, without having to go through the hassle of creating separate folders prior to moving the files. All you need is to drag the file(s) on top of another file, and the application will ask you to enter the name of the folder that you want to create. Once specified, a folder will be created in the same location and the files automatically added in it. When you run the application for the first time, click Install to register the file extensions.

Once done, you can start creating folders. The app is registered for all extensions by default, but since Windows and some other apps register themselves for specific file extensions, you may have to perform some manual associations. To register manually, enter the file extension and click Register.

It will add the specified file type in Registered File Extensions list. When you want to unregister a file type, select it from the list, and the click Unregister.

You can drag multiple files over any file to quickly group them up in a folder.

When you drag the file over another, it will ask you to specify the output folder name. Just enter the name and then click OK to create folder in current location.

The screencast below will help you better understand its usage.

The application can be uninstalled using the Uninstall option available on main interface. It will unregister all the file extensions, and then remove the application. Smart Folders works on Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. Both 32-bit and 64-bit OS are supported.

Download Smart Folders

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What about locking the drives after unlocking them? Windows 7 does not provide any easy option to lock the drives. Users have to lock the drives one by one via the command line.

Meet BitLocker Drives Unlocker (BLDU), a portable app we are releasing to the public free of charge that makes it easier to unlock and lock your BitLocker encrypted drives in Windows 7. All drives locked with BitLocker are listed on the main interface, just enter their passwords and hit Unlock. To lock the drives, select one from the drop-down list (at the bottom of the window) and hit Lock. Or just click Lock All to lock all drives together. It’s that simple! If you have same password for all drives, tick the Same password for all checkbox. You can also run it on system startup. In short, BitLocker Drives Unlocker is the fastest way to unlock and lock your Bitlocker encrypted drives.

BitLocker Drives Unlocker has been tested on both Windows 7 x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) systems.

Platform: Windows 7 (32/64-bit)
Requirement: .Net Framework 3.5 (already included in Windows 7)
Price: Free

Download BLDUv1.2

Changelog:

v1.2 – Added support for locking Bitlocker unlocked drives. Read review here.

v1.1 – Changed name from BitLocker Drive Unlocker to BitLocker Drives Unlocker.

v1.0 – Original Release

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Microsoft’s idea for merging the MSE update with Windows Update is perhaps the biggest downside of MSE and the only workaround until today was to manually grab the latest virus definitions. Since MSE virus definitions are updated almost daily, the manual route was quite tiresome. This is where MSE Update Utility comes in.

From the main window you can select the update intervals, there are four options given – Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Startup. I would recommend going for either Daily or on Startup.

Updating the virus definitions during startup is the best way to keep the system secure. It will automatically update the definitions and notify you when they are complete.

By default it is checked to run on startup, you can always uncheck this option later. MSE Update Utility is not for everyone, but if you fall in any one of the category below then it will come surely handy:

• Users in corporate office environment where the network administrators have disabled the Windows Update.
• Those having difficulty updating MSE using Windows Update due to some problem.
• When Windows Update is disabled by a virus.

Downloads:

MSE Update Utility Installer

MSE Update Utility Zipped

Mirror for Installer (Software Informer)

Update: The app has been updated to version 1.1, various fixes have been implemented. For full details, go here. The FAQ below has been edited to better reflect the changes.

Update 2: Those users who are uncomfortable using this tool can try out a Task Scheduler method which uses MSE’s own command line utility to look for latest virus signatures.

Update 3: The app is still v1.1, but we have managed to fix the exception error. Please note that it will work only with US Short Date Format, to read more about it, go here.

Update 4: Software Informer was kind enough to feature MSE Update Utility. They’ve been added to mirrors for downloading the application.

Note: This is the first second stable release. If you would like to see some additional features, drop a comment below. It requires .Net Framework 3.5 to run.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. The software wont update the virus definition?
A. Please make sure that the software is run with Administrator Privileges. This has been fixed, the software will indeed update the virus definitions even if you are not running with Administrator Privileges.

2. The software wont run on startup even though I have it enabled to run on startup?
A. Please disable your User Account Control (UAC) from the control panel. Disabling UAC was quite foolish for us to say, we have fixed this as well.  If you want to run an app during startup, please make sure you run the program as Administrator before checking the “Start during startup” option. You need to run the app as administrator because the app adds a key to the registry.

3. Where did the app get installed?
A. Straight in the C drive. You can now select any destination where you want to install the app.

4. The app shows the definitions have been updated but MSE still shows old definitions?
A. Exactly, MSE will actually show the updates a few minutes after the app says update complete.

Special thanks goes to Haseeb Ahmed for his help in programming the app!

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