Windows 8: Get Future
Features on Windows 7 & Vista
Windows
Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
Windows 8: Get Future
Features on Windows 7 & Vista
Windows
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Contents
Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
5 Get the Windows 8 Look and Feel with a New Theme
5 Add a Windows 8-style Overlay Menu to Your System
7 Boost the Performance of Your PC to Windows 8 Levels
8 Add the Windows 8 Ribbon Interface to Explorer
9 Integrate Cloud Storage to Access Your Data on the Move
10 Find Software Fast with a Windows 8-style App Store
12 Take Control of Runaway Processes to Prevent Errors
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Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
With the information in this report you can:
• Add a Windows 8-style ‘tile’ interface to Windows 7 & Vista
• Take charge of out of control applications the Windows 8 way
using Process Hacker
• Boost startup times to Windows 8 speeds
No Need to Wait for Windows 8: Get the Essential
Features Today!
Windows 8 is still a while off yet, but leaks from Microsoft and their associated
developers give a pretty good idea of what new features will be included.
However, if you’ve just bought a Windows 7 system, there will probably be little
in Windows 8 that makes the upgrade worthwhile for you. A far cheaper option
is to stick with your existing system, but install just the Windows 8 features that
you need. Since the Windows 8 features have been leaked, many developers have
been working to produce freeware alternatives that give you the same capabilities
on your Windows 7 or Vista system. We’ve collected together some of the best in
this free report, so that you can try out Windows 8 without having to commit
yourself to a new PC.
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Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
Get the Windows 8 Look and Feel with a
New Theme
Windows 8 will likely look reasonably similar to Windows
Windows 8 will
7 in the Desktop mode, but with a few differences
look very similar to including, most probably, a redesigned Windows logo. The
Windows 7, but
first thing you should do to give your Windows 7 system a
with a few
touch of the Windows 8 magic is to install a new theme
additions.
pack, which includes various Windows 8 desktop
backgrounds and colour schemes.
Add a Windows 8 You can download the Windows 8 Theme Pack for
Windows 7 (unfortunately there is no equivalent version
theme to your
Windows 7 system. for Vista) from http://tiny.cc/8ynzbw. Once you have done
so, simply double-click on the Windows-vNext.themepack
icon and the theme will be applied to your system.
Configure the
theme.
By default, the Windows 8-style theme will automatically
change the desktop every 30 minutes. If you’d like to
change the desktop picture manually, or alter the time delay
between picture changes, follow these steps:
1.
Click Start > Control Panel > Personalization.
2.
Click Desktop Background.
3.
If you want to permanently use one of the desktop
backgrounds, untick the option Shuffle and select
the image you’d like to use. If you’d like to speed up
the image rotation, select the delay using the dropdown list.
4.
Click Save changes and close the control panel.
Add a Windows 8-style Overlay Menu to
Your System
Windows 8 will
also run on
tablet PCs.
It seems likely that Microsoft will release a single version of
Windows that runs on tablet PCs, desktop machines and
everything in between. One of the biggest changes in
Windows 8 will be the touch-sensitive tablet interface,
which appears to have been taken wholesale from the
Windows Phone operating system.
This will most likely sit alongside the usual desktop
interface, and allow you to control your computer in an
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Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
Add a tablet
interface to your
Windows 7 or
Vista system.
entirely different way. The so-called ‘tile view’ of Windows
8 will allow you to launch applications and so on, and a
similar effect can be added to your Windows 7 or Vista
system using a third party tool called Rainmeter (available
here: http://tiny.cc/90nzbw) along with an extension called
Omnimo (available here: http://tiny.cc/91nzbw).
To apply the tweak, follow these steps:
Start Rainmeter.
1.
Download and install Rainmeter.
2.
Once the installation has finished, choose to launch
the application.
3.
Download Omnimo and choose to save the Zip
archive to your desktop.
4.
Extract the Omnimo zip file to your desktop, then
double-click on the file SETUP.rmskin.
5.
When prompted, tick the options Apply theme and
Launch Rainmeter after install, then click Install.
Now that both of the tools are installed, you should be
prompted to configure Rainmeter. If you are not, click Start
> All Programs > Rainmeter > Rainmeter. When the
configuration wizard starts, proceed as follows:
1.
Select the default options and click the arrow on the
right-hand side.
2.
Click English.
3.
Click the Windows 8 Start Screen theme (middle
icon) across the top.
4.
Click on your monitor’s screen resolution (the correct
option should already be selected).
5.
To switch to the Windows 8-style tiled interface,
simply click on the Rainmaker (teardrop) icon in the
System Tray.
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Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
Various
applications are
available here.
You can search
Google here.
You can shutdown
or re-boot your
PC using these
buttons.
Get the Windows 8 ‘Tile’ interface on your PC
By default you will see a set of tools on the left-hand side
of the screen, and a number of news items on the right. You
can fully customise the tile interface by right-clicking on
the Rainmaker (teardrop) icon in the System Tray and
choosing to configure Omnimo.
Boost the Performance of Your PC
to Windows 8 Levels
Older Windows
versions took a
long time to
start up.
Windows 8 will
feature faster
startups.
Older Windows versions started all of the background
applications before the Windows desktop was loaded,
meaning that the startup process could take some time.
Microsoft introduced a new capability to Windows 7
whereby some startup services are delayed until the desktop
has actually been loaded.
Windows 8 may extend this capability further, so that any
startup program can be delayed, but you don’t have to wait
for the Windows 8 release. You can add the same
functionality to your Windows 7 or Vista system with a
small tool called Startup Delayer, which can be downloaded
from here: http://tiny.cc/93nzbw.
To use the tool, follow these steps:
1.
Click Start > All Programs > r2 Studios > Startup
Delayer > Configure Startup Delayer.
2.
Click on the Startup Applications tab.
3.
All of the startup programs are shown under the
Normal Startup heading. To configure a startup
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Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
application to be postponed until the desktop is
loaded, drag the application from the Normal
Startup section to the Delayed section.
4.
Close the window when done.
Click on this tab.
Drag applications
from here to the
top section of
the screen.
Boost performance by delaying startup programs
Add the Windows 8 Ribbon Interface to
Explorer
The ribbon
interface is being
used on more and
more applications.
Get a Windows
8-style Windows
Explorer.
It seems that Microsoft are adding the ribbon interface to
more and more of their applications. The ribbon interface
was first seen in Office 2007, and replaced the toolbar at the
top of the window with a new bar that included buttons for
practically every option, at the same time doing away with
the traditional File menu.
Well, it looks like Windows Explorer is set to be updated in
Windows 8 so that all of the Explorer options are available
through the new ribbon bar. But if you can’t wait for
Windows 8 to be released, you can get an Explorer
replacement featuring a ribbon bar by installing STDU,
which can be downloaded from here: http://tiny.cc/z5nzbw.
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Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
STDU has a ribbon
interface across
the top.
Click on this
tab to see a
preview of your
selected file.
Replace Windows Explorer with STDU
As well as allowing you to browse through your hard drive
and copy, move and delete files, STDU also allows you to
preview many different types of file – just click on the
Preview tab at the bottom of the left-hand column and
you’ll see a preview of any files you select in the right-hand
panel, if the file type is supported.
Integrate Cloud Storage to Access Your
Data on the Move
Access data from
anywhere.
More and more, the focus of computing is shifting away
from the desktop and towards so-called ‘cloud’ computing,
where applications and services run on servers belonging to
third parties which are accessed via the Internet.
These might be online email services such as Hotmail, or
storage services such as DropBox, which allow you to store
files on an online drive, and access them from any Internet
connected PC or share them with other people.
Connect a
Windows Live
SkyDrive to
your system.
Microsoft have recently released their own file sharing and
storage offering, called Windows Live SkyDrive, and it is
expected that this service will be tightly integrated with
Windows 8, so that you can access your SkyDrive files
directly from Computer. Fortunately, you can still use
SkyDrive with Windows 7 and Vista.
First of all you need to sign up for a SkyDrive account. If
you already have a Windows Live account (e.g. to access
Hotmail) then you can use this. Otherwise you will need to
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Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
create an account as follows:
1.
Open your web browser and navigate to:
http://explore.live.com/windows-live-skydrive.
2.
Click on the button Get SkyDrive – it’s free.
3.
Fill in the form to create a new Windows Live account
(if you already have a Windows Live account, click
Sign in and follow the prompts to sign in).
4.
Once you’ve filled in the form, click I accept.
You’ll be taken to your SkyDrive account. You can drag-andYou can drag-anddrop files from Windows Explorer on to the web page to store
drop files on
them in your SkyDrive, but it is better to integrate SkyDrive
to your browser.
directly with your PC so that you can access it like a normal
drive in Windows Explorer. To do this, follow the steps below:
1.
Download and install SD Explorer Base from
http://tiny.cc/66nzbw.
2.
Once installed, click Start > Computer.
3.
Click on SkyDrive Explorer.
4.
Enter your Windows Live username and password.
5.
Tick the options Remember me on this computer
and Remember my password.
6.
Click Sign in.
You can now access your SkyDrive files and folders exactly
as you would a normal drive, using Windows Explorer.
Find Software Fast with a
Windows 8-style App Store
Add new
applications to
your system via an
app store.
The phone and tablet PC market has brought the idea of an
‘app store’ to wide recognition. Rather than having to track
down and download the applications you need via the Web,
you simply use the app store icon on your phone or tablet
to download and install new applications, and pay for them
if they are commercial tools.
Windows 8 will almost certainly feature a Windows app
store to allow you to download and install new applications
on your PC, but you needn’t wait for Windows 8 to be
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Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
released, since there are several major app stores available
for Windows 7 and Vista right now.
Install Avenue on
your system.
The Avenue app store is one such tool with a wide-range of
available applications, and you can download and install it
from here: http://tiny.cc/07nzbw. First you need to create a
user account:
1.
When you first run Avenue, follow the wizard to set
up the application.
2.
On the main window, click Register to create an account.
3.
Fill in the form and then click Create account.
Once your account is created, searching for new
applications is simple:
1.
Enter the application name or a keyword describing
the type of application you need into the Search field.
2.
Click on the application that you’d like to install in
the main window.
3.
Click Get now and the application will be downloaded.
4.
Click Go to my apps to see the application you have
downloaded. Once the download has completed, the
application’s installer will be launched automatically.
Search for new
applications here.
Click on an
application for
more details.
Look here for
updates to your
software.
You can download a range of popular
applications from Avenue
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Windows 8: Get Future Features on Windows 7 & Vista
You can also use the category links on the left-hand side of
the screen to browse through categories of applications if
you are not sure exactly what you are looking for. The
Updates button shows any available updates for the
applications you have installed.
The next time you need a new application on your system
don't bother searching the Web – simply fire-up Avenue to
browse and search for applications and automatically
install them.
Take Control of Runaway Processes to
Prevent Errors
The Task Manager The Windows Task Manager allows you to stop applications
will be extended in that have crashed, and is an essential troubleshooting tool
when a frozen application has locked up your PC. The
Windows 8.
capabilities of the Task Manager are being improved in
Windows 8, with the Resource Manager and Task Manager
components being integrated, so that you can see exactly
where your performance is being dragged down, and then
take action to deal with the problem applications.
Add a free
extension to
Windows 7/Vista.
Terminate a
whole tree of
applications.
You can get the similar capabilities on your Windows 7 or
Vista system using a freeware tool called Process Hacker,
which can be downloaded from http://tiny.cc/w8nzbw.
With this tool installed, you can view all of the running
tasks, and see how much CPU and memory they are using.
Right-clicking on an application will bring up a context
menu, from where you can choose to Terminate the
individual component, or Terminate Tree, which will kill
all of the related processes too. If you find that a particular
application has frozen and won’t respond, sometimes the
only cure is to use the Terminate Tree option to kill the
whole chain of related applications.
Windows 8 will start shipping with new PCs in the next few
months, but if you have a Windows 7 or Vista system there
is very little need to upgrade. By following the steps in this
free report you can add most of the notable Windows 8
features to your existing system for free, so why not give it
a try!
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