any good ways to hide a folder, either through desktop or metro? If you wanted to keep pictures of the significant other protected, are there any good apps to do that?

2/11/2013 5:52:02 PM

^ PM them to me. I'll keep them safe

2/11/2013 6:05:22 PM

Quote :

"Whats the reason MS didn't include silverlight on their metro browser? Is there a technical reason?"

MS Didn't include ANY plugins in their metro browser. No Silverlight, no Java, no anything else. It supports Flash because Microsoft built it natively into the browser.

^^Who do you want to hide them from? You can lock down the permissions on the folder (only your account has ANY access), but that's about it for built in permissions.

If its super sensitive photos, you might consider encrypting them with something like BCrypt

2/11/2013 11:28:21 PM

or install something like http://www.truecrypt.org/

though i don't know if that's really what you're looking for

2/12/2013 8:58:47 AM

http://www.bluestacks.com/getyourappsback/index.html
Run Android apps on Windows 8

^,^^ I'm not as concerned about instances where someone would be trying to access them as much as instances where someone borrows the computer to check something. I wouldn't want them to accidentally come across pictures they shouldnt see or have pictures show up in the tile. iOS has a lot of photo locker apps, I was hoping there was something similar.

Bcrypt and truecrypt look a lot more complicated than I need, I don't understand how to use them

[Edited on February 12, 2013 at 12:17 PM. Reason : .]

2/12/2013 12:15:44 PM

^ How good is that thing?

2/12/2013 12:35:22 PM

haven't tried BlueStack yet, I'll try it out tonight

2/12/2013 12:53:09 PM

True crypt is easy to use. Setting up a file container seems pretty complicated at first, but it really doesn't matter what settings you pick, as you just want password protected spaces, and not protecting nuclear launch codes.

Once its set up, select the file that serves as your container, mount, type your password, and it appears as a seperate drive. I've used it at work to transfer drawings of entire facility and its process flow (pretty sensitive stuff for the company's business). Never had issues with it.

Also.... Have you thought about setting up a guest account and making friends use that?

2/12/2013 6:14:29 PM

on the Dell XPS 12 i7 8GB it works well enough I guess if there is an app you really need to use, but its not smooth enough to use often.

2/12/2013 6:22:10 PM

I've been using Bluestacks for 6-8 months. Its pretty awesome, but very very hardware dependent for decent performance (particularly on the GPU).

2/12/2013 8:48:18 PM

I'm now running Windows 8

It is gr8

Now I'm thinking about getting Start8

2/24/2013 12:37:00 PM

^free alternative (link from pg. 11) http://www.iobit.com/iobitstartmenu8.php

2/25/2013 11:00:31 AM

sorry, I didn't look very closely and thought they were still referring to Start8

2/25/2013 12:14:25 PM

start menu 8 (the iobit software) seems a little buggy now and then (on one of my machines, the menu will sometimes hang before doing anything)...but it could be machine- or settings-specific

overall, worth saving $5, IMO

2/25/2013 1:10:21 PM

Start8 works like a dream, and it has a 30-day trial version in case you'd like to see how well it works

On another issue, I haven't figured out a way (not even by hacking the Registry or theme files) to make both the active title text and the clock white, or to independently set the colors for the taskbar and active title bar, so I've been looking for a color that is as far away from both white and black as possible without looking too garish, and after a lookaround in Adobe Kuler among all the colors with L=0.5 in CIELAB space (and then shifting the saturation to make it a bit lighter), I think the best one is the azure #3898FF (HSV 211,78,100; LAB 62,7,-59); the reason I made it a bit lighter is that the translucent taskbar still has a bit of alpha-blending with my black background, even at highest intensity (alpha D9), making a slight gradient with the more solid blue #205893 (HSV 211,78,57; LAB 37,4,-38) in the middle. Below is my second desktop, so no clock or icons.

I'm a bit intrigued now by how Kuler skews the color wheel to give more space to the oranges and less to the blues than a typical HSV color picker would and by the hue-dependence of the L in LAB space, like if you start with the near-indigo #0022FF (HSV 232,100,100; LAB 35,72,-104) and change the L parameter from 0 to 100, the hue stays at 240 for a while (the B in RGB), shifts to 232, then sharply shifts back and slowly moves to 300 (the M in CMYK) and stays there as the color becomes an off-white.

I originally eyeballed it, started with the dark violet #180052 of the Windows 8 setup screen (HSV 258,100,32; LAB 7,35,-44), and shifted the brightness and saturation to make the taskbar #4C3294 (HSV 256,66,58; LAB 29,37.-50), but then I thought that I could find an even better color with CIELAB, which no Microsoft product supports (it's either RGB or HSV), and that's when I re-discovered Kuler: https://kuler.adobe.com/#create/fromacolor
(also purple taskbars are gay amirite)

2/25/2013 1:55:24 PM

what a strange post

2/25/2013 11:59:23 PM

Ever see Windows 8...on weeeeeeed???

2/26/2013 1:13:07 AM

I've been using .

[Edited on February 27, 2013 at 1:03 AM. Reason : deleted possible malware lnk]

2/26/2013 1:39:41 AM

they're the same people who make that shitty Crawler Toolbar

2/26/2013 6:33:03 AM

weird, i figured if it was on niniteone then it was good to go. haven't had any problems with it.

2/26/2013 4:15:06 PM

Based on the logo, I think you're referring to this product: http://www.classicshell.net/

2/26/2013 7:24:10 PM

Whoops.

That makes me feel a ton better. I wonder how I came upon the Crawler POS. I think I googled Classic Start instead of Classic Shell and just linked the first hit.


Definitely ^ that one. Going to PM a mod and get that other link removed incase it's malware.

2/26/2013 11:28:49 PM

Windows 8 froze when I was typing in something in search, now keeps hanging on reboot... The fuck.

2/28/2013 6:09:46 PM

what is this alt-tab along the side action called? it's not working for me and its hard to search for a solution because i don't know what exactly to search for.

3/6/2013 4:24:59 PM

That's not really alt-tab, that's your app switch list. Move the mouse to the upper left corner and then down to access it.

3/6/2013 11:50:29 PM

it wasn't working with the hot corner or by pulling from the left side, i know how it was supposed to work. it is working now though, i have no idea why. weird.

3/7/2013 6:35:30 AM

Trying to use DirectX for a Desktop App. They completely changed the DirectX SDK so every tutorial/free engine ever made online is broken to hell except for the shitty one released by MS themselves.

It won't even let me install the original DirectX SDK. Bleh. It's so easy to use XAML to create games for Metro but I don't want to fucking make a metro game, dammit.

3/7/2013 9:45:40 AM

nm, was able to install VS2010, then uninstall the C++ redist, then install the DirectX SDK and all is good. Can run old DX11 programs from VS2010 instead of the new VS2012 bullshit.

3/7/2013 8:31:28 PM

I for one am surprised that you could even install VS2010: When I upgraded to Windows 8, the compatibility assistant said it wasn't compatible.

3/7/2013 8:52:49 PM

<shrug> It's Express. I'm too cheap and against stealing software for Professional.

3/7/2013 10:39:45 PM

i've installed vs2010 on three win8 machines with no problems.

[Edited on March 7, 2013 at 11:24 PM. Reason : what's wrong with vs2012? you some kinda luddite or something?]

3/7/2013 11:23:37 PM

Maybe they're two different programs, the way IE10 for Win8 and Win7 are two different programs.

3/8/2013 7:34:48 AM

Quote :

"what's wrong with vs2012? you some kinda luddite or something?"

They embedded DirectX into windows.h to make metro and phone programming "easier" but got rid of DirectXMath.h and D3DXCompiler.h . So if you want to use any old DirectX apps you have to port them which is a pain in the ass. In VS2012 you *cannot* link to the old DirectX SDK.

I like VS2012 and I still have it installed for C# apps, but I'm trying to learn and write Desktop C++ DirectX applications.

[Edited on March 8, 2013 at 9:12 AM. Reason : clarification]

3/8/2013 9:11:09 AM

Update with the Atom powered tablet: I can go all day on a single charge, getting 8-10 hours on it with regular but not frequent use. Charging with the 2A USB charger is slow, but at least I don't need to buy anything extra to charge in the car.

I understand Windows RT even less now, I don't see the need for Windows on ARM with these Atom chips, they work great.

3/11/2013 9:58:38 AM

I've got the Acer Iconia W510 and with the keyboard dock I get the advertised 18 hours of straight usage (video, web, dev work, etc.). these atom processors aren't too bad. I guess the price point of ARM processors and the rate at which they are updating them was enough to make MS decide to make RT.

3/11/2013 4:57:05 PM

^^Have you tried http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chuckw/archive/2012/11/26/visual-studio-2012-update-1.aspx

3/11/2013 4:58:17 PM

Today I installed and ran AutoCAD on an Atom tablet. I wasn't working with a large file, just a 2D architectural drawing, but it was usable. I'm really loving this thing.

3/11/2013 5:59:55 PM

Ok, I'm finally digging the music integration with Windows Phone 8. I just created a playlist on the computer, then a while later it was on my phone without ever plugging it in. You don't ever have to manually sync it it just pulls all the tracks you list as "My Music" during its regular Windows Live sync.

3/13/2013 8:59:42 AM

Yeah, you don't want to ever manually sync it, some people have weird problems with duplicate songs or songs showing up under the wrong album when they do that. Just let your live account take care of it.

3/13/2013 9:30:47 AM

The only downside is you have to go through later and tell your phone to download the tracks if you don't want to stream them.

3/13/2013 9:56:33 AM

can you swipe right and download the entire playlist in one go like an album? i don't have a wp8 phone to check.

3/13/2013 10:26:19 AM

Negative. And the only options when you hold down on it are the standard ("add to now playing", "pin to start", "add to kid's corner", "delete").

3/13/2013 3:41:07 PM

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/04/11/windows-8-blamed-for-biggest-pc-shipment-plunge-ever/?intcmp=features

4/11/2013 12:55:42 PM

not because of the UI though, because everyone new it was coming early last year and didn't want to buy an obsolete device, and then nothing was available with new features at launch. all the launch devices got delays to 1st or even 2nd quarter '13 because of power management issues with the atom processors.

RT is definitely a flop though, its just unnecessary with low-power processors

[Edited on April 11, 2013 at 1:14 PM. Reason : new = knew]

4/11/2013 1:14:23 PM

^ so by that logic, we should see a huge surge from all those people who waited for windows 8?

4/11/2013 1:31:57 PM

This same sensationalist "PC is dead" bullshit made the rounds from Gartner's report too. Turned out that Gartner says "Ultrabooks" aren't PCs .

And this data from IDC is equally alarmist. Will the PC market SHRINK due to the growth of tablets and handhelds? Absolutely. Will it DIE? Hell no it won't.

This is declining GROWTH, not declining BASE. Every office worker still has a PC, they just also have a tablet+phone more and more often. This BASE isn't going to disappear.

Where the declining BASE will occur is in home use, which is only ~20% of the total PC market. That will definitely largely evaporate over the next 5-7 years as tablets take over.

Yes, it looks like we're at the end of the "computer on every desk" era of growth, but it doesn't mean the end of the use of desktop and laptop PC's.

4/11/2013 4:00:50 PM

http://www.wral.com/research-firm-pc-sales-plunge-as-windows-8-flops/12327417/

They are blaming the acute drop in PC sales on Windows 8.

It was kind of a douchebag move on part of Microsoft to not put some type of "classic mode" in the OS for people that do not want to take time out of their day to learn a new OS.

4/11/2013 4:22:55 PM

Oh, well good thing Microsoft's tablets are doing so well.

4/11/2013 4:23:36 PM

a) Computers are lasting longer than ever, in part because the speeds processors have gotten to make the need for a new computer further and further apart. It's akin to car manufacturers making better cars, and in a down economy people hold on to them longer and they've lasted longer and being manufactured better.

b) Windows 8 UI is such a change from the norm, it just amplifies (a). Even if people don't need a new computer they are inclined to buy new to have the latest OS IF it's seen as an improvement. (Mac/iPod/iPhone has taught us that). In one fell swoop MS has asked everybody to upgrade to a touchscreen monitor on their desktop and the UI was made for touchscreen without any REAL alternative to go back to the Start menu. And made a UI that should have PROGRESSED (over a few OS iterations) into what it is now, instead of in one single move changing the entire UI.

We had this same debate when Office 2007 came out with the ribbon menu, but at least then it didn't require a new monitor. While I'm not saying I don't like the direction Windows 8 is going, dropping users off a cliff is not the way to do it.

The only sign you should be looking for at this point is a decline in market share for Microsoft. PC shipments are not a good indicator for numerous reasons, most mentioned by Noen.

[Edited on April 11, 2013 at 4:37 PM. Reason : .]

4/11/2013 4:28:08 PM

^Won't happen (declining MS PC Market Share) anytime soon. If you look at the cycles, most enterprises are in the early to middle stages of migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7. It will be another couple of years before the business side fully adopts Win7.

By then, hopefully Windows 8+ or Windows 8++ will be out and will provide the next enterprise upgrade cycle target. (Dos - > Win 3.1, skipped win2; Win 3.1 -> Win95, skipped all the Win 3.1x crap, Win 95 -> Win NT4, skipping 98. NT4 -> Windows XP, skipping 2000. XP -> 7 skipping Vista.)

It's a pretty common skip pattern. Most business leases are for 3-5 years. The combination of a shitty economy, commoditization of hardware, and Microsoft's Platform shift focus to tablets and consumers are basically the perfect storm for a stagnant PC market for the next couple of years.

[Edited on April 12, 2013 at 12:21 AM. Reason : .]

4/12/2013 12:21:10 AM