Category: From the Help Desk

How to shut down your new Windows 8 computer

Posted on by admin

It really happened. I kind of thought it might, and addressed this once before, but I hoped it wouldn’t. Microsoft failed so badly at explaining Windows 8, people actually need to search the internet to figure out how to do it. If you’re reading this, and you came here asking how, DO NOT FEEL BAD! It isn’t your fault at all. Microsoft changed things too much and just assumed we would all just figure it out. So, if you’re asking how do I shut down Windows 8? Here’s how:

  1. Bring up the Charms Bar (the menu on the right). Here are 3 ways to do it:
    -On a computer with a mouse, place your pointer in the upper or lower right corner of the screen.
    -With no mouse, only a keyboard, you can press “Windows Key + C” to bring up the Charms Bar.
    -With a touch interface, swipe in from the right hand side of the screen.
  2. Click Settings – yes, the cog/gear icon.
  3. Click Power.
  4. Click shut down.

Setting primary, secondary and more DNS addresses through command line – how to

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Have you ever noticed that, sometimes when you’re on DHCP, you can have more than 2 DNS addresses? Perhaps you have a need to set 3 or 4 – or maybe, you need to set your primary and secondary DNS servers statically through command line. Well, don’t you worry, there’s a command to do just that.

Even if your primary is already set, I’ve had the best luck setting it again, then setting your secondary DNS. For this example, I’m going to use Google’s well known public DNS servers, but you can use your own internal IP addresses, your ISP’s DNS servers, OpenDNS, whatever works for you. Simply open a command prompt, and enter the following commands.

This first command sets your primary DNS server:
netsh interface ip set dns "Local Area Connection" static 8.8.8.8

Here, we set the secondary:
netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" addr="8.8.4.4" index=2

If you need to set a third, fourth, and so on, all you need to do is change the index number at the end of the line:
netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" addr="208.67.222.222" index=3
netsh interface ip add dns name="Local Area Connection" addr="208.67.220.220" index=4

To verify the settings took, you can check your DNS settings with a quick command of ipconfig /all and check how many and what DNS servers you are showing. If you show a strange hexadecimal value, try resetting the primary DNS entry with the different command at the top again, then the second, third, and so-on…

Windows 8 apps can be downloaded on multiple computers (VIDEO)

Posted on by admin

Hey everyone – sorry for the lack of news lately, I’ve been enjoying a brief holiday vacation. But I wanted to get back to the grind and give a word of advice to new Windows 8 users. I’ve already seen interest in the App Store on Windows 8, but people are asking “if I buy a game or app on one computer, do I have to buy it on another?” You’ll be thankful to know that, no, you don’t have to spend your money over and over for apps you’ve already purchased in Windows 8. This holds true as long as you use the same Windows Live ID / Microsoft Account on each of the computers. If, for some reason, you have used different Microsoft Accounts, then the Store cannot see your purchases and synchronize them. Buy once, download many!

It should be noted that apps of the same title that have been purchased on other platforms, such as Windows Phone 7 or Xbox 360, do not transfer. This was a bit of a let down, as my quest to have this question answered began with the game I show in the video, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, which I already own on Xbox 360 (along with Hydro Thunder Go on WP7). Here’s hoping that, eventually, this will all be a thing of the past, and I will finally begin to grow a catalog of applications – but at least you can rest easy knowing that you won’t have to spend a fortune getting apps on both your “work” and “play” computers!

Windows is 27 years old today

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It’s Tech Tip Tuesday. It’s November 20th, 2012. 27 years ago today, Windows 1.0 was shipped. For just a geek trip down memory lane, here is the official version log / change log for versions 1-3 (essentially, anything before Windows 95). It’s too bad that the official Microsoft “history of Windows” page hasn’t even been updated with relevant Windows 7 or Windows 8 information, yet. Still, I thought it would be fun to read through the official “change log” of the earliest versions of Windows that only some of us even remember!


Version Date Requirements
------- ---- ------------

1.01 11/85 - MS-DOS version 2.0
- Two double-sided disk drives or a hard disk
- 256K of memory or greater
- Graphics-adapter card

1.03 8/86 Requirements

- MS-DOS version 2.0
- Two double-sided disk drives or a hard disk
- 320K of memory or greater
- Graphics-adapter card

Changes:

- MS-DOS version 3.2 support
- Enhanced keyboard support
- AT&T 6300 and AT&T 6300 Plus support
- 14-, 18-, and 24-point sizes added to
TimesRoman and Helvetica fonts
- Generic/Text Only printer driver added
- PostScript printer driver added
- .WRI extension used for Windows Write files
(version 1.01 used .DOC extension)
- Support for all features of the international
version

DDL 1/87 Windows Device Driver Library Volume 1

Additional support for display devices,
printers, and pointing devices added

1.04 4/87 Requirements

- MS-DOS version 2.0
- Two double-sided disk drives or a hard disk
320K of memory or greater
- Graphics-adapter card

Changes

- IBM Personal System/2 support
- COMM.DRV revised to support ept port for IBM
3812 Pageprinter
- HP downloadable soft font support

2.03 11/87 Requirements

- MS-DOS version 3.0
- Two double-sided disk drives or a hard disk
- 512K of memory or greater
- Graphics-adapter card

Changes

- Overlapping windows instead of tiled windows
- LIM Version 4.0 expanded memory support
- Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) support
- SMARTDrive disk-cache program included
- Revised .FON format for screen fonts
- NEWFON.EXE included to convert 1.x font
format to 2.x font format
- Revised Paint file format
- CVTPAINT.EXE included to convert 2.x
Paint file format to 1.x format
- About command moved to File menu from System
menu
- Printer Timeouts option added to Control
Panel
- Mouse Acceleration option added to Control
Panel
- Warning Beep toggle added to Control Panel
- Notepad About command reports
- Remaining Free Space
- 3812 Pageprinter no longer supported

2.10 5/27/88 Requirements

- 512K Memory
- MS-DOS version 3.0 or later
- One floppy-disk drive AND one hard disk (note
that a hard disk is now required)
- Graphics adapter card (the box notes: IBM
EGA, IBM VGA, IBM 8514, IBM CGA, Hercules
Graphics Card, or compatibles)
- Use of the Microsoft Mouse is optional
- Packaged with 5.25-inch 1.2 megabyte
disks OR 3.5-inch 720K disks, plus an
order form for free 360K 5.25-inch disks

Changes

- New HIMEM.SYS driver allowing the use of the first
64K of extended memory to store part of Windows,
giving approximately 50K additional conventional
memory inside Windows
- Support for approximately 65 more printers than
version 2.03, bringing the total supported
printers to approximately 127
- Support for additional computers
- Support for additional display devices

2.11 3/13/89 Requirements

Same as Version 2.1

Changes

- Accounts for memory freed by XMS when computing
the maximum swap size allowed
- Increased minimum bankable memory required for
large frame EMS
- Setup program no longer terminates when
incompatible driver is encountered
- Setup corrected to permit set up on 512K machine
with MS-DOS version 3.3
- Updated COMM.DRV to solve handshaking problems at
9600 bits per second (BPS)
- Updated HPPCL.DRV driver that supports LaserJet
series IID, Olivetti LP 5000, Toshiba
- PageLaser 12, and Intel Visual Edge
- Updated PSCRIPT.DRV driver that supports
Olivetti LP 5000 in PostScript mode
- Printing speed increased
- Windows/386 WINOLDAP.MOD modified to support high-
resolution displays

Additions

- AppleTalk library (must accompany the new
PostScript driver)
- Toshiba 24-pin printer driver
- 8514/a driver for Windows/386
- /E switch to adjust large frame EMS threshold

3.0 5/22/90 Requirements

2.11 requirements plus the following:

- MS-DOS 3.1 or higher
- 640K Conventional Memory
- 256K Extended Memory

Changes

- Windows runs in protected mode -- direct extended
memory access
- 386 enhanced mode virtual memory provides more
memory than physically in RAM by swapping blocks
of RAM to the hard drive.
- Color palette managed by Windows 3.0
- Device-independent color bitmap support
- Improved network support
- New dialog boxes, system fonts, and menus
- Graphical environment
- New HIMEM.SYS XMS (spec. 2.0) driver. 16 MB
support
- EMM386.SYS expanded memory manager
- 32 printer drivers supporting 170 different
printers -- including HP LaserJet III series
- MS-DOS programs run in a window
- Three mode operation (real, standard, 386
enhanced).
- Icon-based Program Manager
- Tree-structured File Manager
- Asymetrix Daybook 1.0a bundled

3.00a 10/31/90 Requirements

Same as Windows 3.0

Changes

- Maintenance release of 3.0 focusing on very
specific problems with:

Networking
Dynamic Data Exchange
Low-memory conditions
Setup
Extended character support for printers

- Retail package shipped with Windows Q&A booklet

3.00a
Multimedia Fall
Extensions 1991 Requirements

Multimedia PC (MPC) Specifications:

- 80386 sx or dx IBM compatible
- 2 megabytes RAM
- VGA or higher (16 color minimum)
- 30 Megabyte hard drive
- CD-ROM (with audio output support)
- 2-button mouse
- Audio hardware

Changes

- Available only through hardware OEM
- New device drivers to connect with specific MPC
hardware.
- Introduced Media Control Interface (MCI)
- Enhanced Control Panel includes screen saver,
video driver icon (Drivers), joystick control,
driver installer, event based sound control,
and MIDI mapping control
- New Accessories: MPC Alarm Clock, Media Player,
- Sound Recorder

3.10 4/6/92 Requirements

- MS-DOS 3.1 or later
- IBM compatible 80286 or higher (386 recommended)
- 640K Conventional memory
- 256K extended memory (XMS v 2.0 or higher)
- 1024K extended memory recommended on 80286
- 2048K extended memory recommended on 80386
- 5.25-inch (high density) or 3.5-inch floppy
drive
- Fixed drive with 6 megabytes free (10 megabytes
recommended)
- EGA, VGA, SVGA, XGA, 8514/A, or Hercules video
card or 100% compatible card, and monitor
- Mouse recommended

Changes

- Available in upgrade or full package (upgrade
does not require earlier version)
- Improved Setup program offers express, custom,
network, and troubleshooting setup
- Computer-based Windows 3.1 tutorial
- Consistent dialog boxes
- Improved online Help
- OLE Drag and drop, OLE support in many applications
- Improved File Manager
- Improved printer support through use of
UNIdriver
- New video drivers support MS-DOS graphics in a
window
- WD1003 virtual hard drive controller
- Virtual memory changeable in Control Panel
- Standard and enhanced mode operation only
- TrueType scalable font support
- Includes multimedia extensions (inclusions)
- Includes new SMARTDrive version 4.0, HIMEM XMS
manager 3.0, new EMM386.EXE
- Standard mode can now run with EMM386.EXE running
- Documentation includes "Getting Started" manual
- 266 different types of printers supported

3.11 12/31/93 Requirements

- Same as version 3.1

Changes

- Certificate of Authenticity
- More sophisticated hologram and an MS (3M) sticker
on box
- An 800 number to call (in the United States &
Canada) and check for product legitimacy
- Updated drivers
- Five updated core files
- NetWare support files (from Novell)