Access Advanced Boot Options In Windows 8

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If the operating system in your computer is Windows 8 and your system is equipped with UEFI instead of BIOS, then you would know that your computer would turn on in about seven seconds. The boot time in Windows 8 computers are so fast that you may not get enough time to get into the advanced boot options menu.

Boot Menu features

Boot menu is an extremely helpful feature, especially when your computer gets into troubles. The boot options menu allows you to access various features like System repair, different safe mode options, boot logging, last known good configuration, low-resolution video mode, and directory services restore mode etc.

Setback due to the fast boot

With the launch of Windows 8, a large number of people have migrated to it using the Windows 8 transfer packs and other upgrade options. Most of these users whose computers have SSD devices in them are really amazed by this boot time. Remember that the boot time of earlier versions of Windows were more than double compared to Windows 8. Therefore, now with this extremely fast boot time, people find it difficult to get to the advanced boot menu options, unless their systems have BIOS instead of UEFI in them.

Solution  

                   windows 8 support

Microsoft has come up with the solution. It has now completely redesigned the way the Windows 8 gets to the boot options. With the new architecture, your computer gets into the boot menu if it fails to boot properly twice. Now you can enter the advanced boot options menu in a number of ways. One is to go to the ‘System settings’ in Windows 8 and then selecting ‘Advanced Startup’. Another option is to restart your computer and while it restarts, press and hold the shift key on your keyboard. Once you enter the boot menu, you can make necessary changes or log into the computer in safe mode, safe mode with command prompt or safe mode with networking. You also have the options to change the boot device priority in the advanced boot menu options.

If you were using an earlier version of Windows like Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 and have just upgraded to Windows 8 using a Windows 8 transfer pack, then it will be a joy to watch your computer turn on within seconds. Now with the redesigned of boot options by Microsoft, you will not find it difficult to get to the advanced boot options menu.

Review On Windows 8 Market Share

Windows 8 apps

Right from the release of the latest Windows platform by Microsoft, Windows 8 gained both positive as well as negative reviews. Though Microsoft guarantees that the latest operating system performs faster than any other Windows versions, some traditional users rate it lower. Users find it difficult to adapt with the new features, which look good on touch screen devices, but unfriendly (as per the users) on desktops. Those who moved on with Windows 8, rate the operating system higher experiencing it’s faster performance, new user interface, the advanced graphics, and features like Cloud apps, live tiles on desktop, Windows 8 transfer, speedy boot, Windows live syncing etc.

Windows Market share

Both Windows 7 and Windows 8 were released in the month of October, three years apart, to gain the December holiday season & attract most of the buyers. Windows 7 attained a 9 percent of market share of the desktop operating system by five months. But the December holiday season could not grab much attention towards Windows 8, resulting in a mere increase of 0.41 percent in the market share. Windows 8 has achieved only a 2.67 percent of the market share in the past five months.

As per Net Applications, & the data collected from its vast network of around 40,000 websites & 160 million visitors, Windows 8 is showing a very slow & minute growth on the graph of market share per month. Also, when compared to Windows Vista standing at 5.17 percent, Windows 8 stands just at the half way.

         Windows 8 Metro UI

With regard to Windows market share, Windows 7 leads the market share with 44 percent, unchanged for the past six months, while Windows XP declining with a continued fall of half a percent per month.

Windows 8 developed for PCs and tablets equally face ups & downs in establishing in the market. Where Android devices & iPads have dominated the market of Tablet PCs over the past, Windows 8 still lags behind to offer users with a better experience. The good news for Windows 8 is that, it has overtaken recent versions of Apple’s OSX, with OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion standing at 2.61 percent.

Windows 8 may have a gradual growth, but it promises the best to users who desire for a change. With the Windows 8 transfer feature & developed apps, which work on desktops, tablets & Windows phone, Windows 8 will soon change the trends of the cyber market. Let us hope the best for Windows 8.

Methods To Access Advanced Startup Options In Windows 8

Windows 8 Advanced Startup Option

Many people who’ve done the Windows 8 transfer are now wondering if they’ve made a mistake trading in the familiarity of Windows 7 for the added features in Windows 8. But then there’s the Advanced Startup Option feature, using which, users can access all the repair tools in Windows 8 including System Restore, Command Prompt, Reset Your PC and Refresh Your PC.

Normally, users will find ‘Advanced Startup Option’ popping up automatically after two successive startup errors. Nevertheless, if any user wants to access this option to fix other concerns, this is possible. Users can manually access this option using the following three methods.

Method 1: PC Settings

• Open the charms bar by swiping from the right.
• Highlight ‘Settings’.
• Navigate to the bottom of the charms bar and click on the option. ‘Change PC Settings’.
• On the left side of the PC Settings window, look at the options which is vertically listed. Highlight ‘General’ from here.
• Navigate to ‘Advanced Startup’. You can find this at the bottom of the list.
• Restart your PC now.
• You will get an alert to wait until the ‘Advanced Startup Options’ appear.

Method 2: Shutdown Command

• Navigate to the command prompt.
• Enter the shutdown command in the field as “shutdown/r/o”.
• Hit on the ‘Close’ button when you receive the message that says ‘You’re about to be signed off’.
• This will take several seconds of time, during which you won’t see anything on the window. Once PC is closed, you will find a message saying ‘Please Wait’.
• Keep on waiting for few more seconds until ‘Advanced Startup Options’ menu gets displayed.
  

  Windows 8 special features

Method 3: Boot from your Windows 8 Installation Media

• Get a Windows 8 installation DVD or flash drive and insert it into your computer.
• Wait until you get the prompt to boot from the DVD or Flash drive, and proceed accordingly.
• When the Windows Setup screen gets displayed, hit on ‘Next’.
• Navigate to the bottom of the window to find the ‘Repair your computer’ link and select it.
• This step will display ‘Advanced Startup Option’.

With the above list of methods, you should have been able to access the ‘Advanced Startup Option’ during your Windows 8 transfer. Contact an expert in case of any further concern.

Installing Windows Media Center In Windows 8 Pro

Installing Media Center in Windows 8

Windows Media Center is a program developed by Microsoft, which allows users to manage as well as play music & videos. It also offers an option to stream and record live videos. The program was first introduced with Windows XP Media Center edition, but it really came into the limelight in the Windows Vista, which really brought out the software’s strengths. The application was further developed and included with Windows 7 pack, and is available as an add-on for Windows 8 Pro computers.

Windows Media Center can also be downloaded and installed from the official Microsoft website, available free for a limited period for genuine Windows 8 Pro users. There are many third party websites, which offer downloading Windows 8 and Windows Media Center free. You can try Windows Media Center with Windows 8 Pro by opting any of the options. Just sign up for the Windows Media Center and you will receive a license key through mail.

Installing Windows Media Center

Follow the guidelines below to install the utility in your system running on Windows 8 Pro.

Windows 8 Pro support for Media Center

• Before you start the installation procedure, go to your email inbox, and copy the license key to your computer.
• On the desktop of your computer, access the Charms bar, either dragging your mouse pointer to the upper right corner of the screen, or by using the Win + C hotkey. Search “Add features.”
• Highlight “Settings” in the search results, and select “Add features to Windows 8.”
• Enter the product key as received in the mail and wait until the verification process completes. Windows will automatically download and install the Media Center to your computer.
• Restart your computer when the installation is complete. Run Media Center either from the Start screen, or by searching for it.
• When you launch Media Center for the first time, it will instruct you to set up the program. Click “Continue” on the window, and opt for either an Express setup (to go with the default settings), or custom setup.
• After the setup is complete, you can start with organizing your media libraries with the Media Center.

Microsoft skipped providing support for this utility in the starter pack of Windows 8, but the program functions without any issues in Windows 8 Pro. While it is always better to opt for genuine Windows platform, downloading Windows 8 Pro from any third party websites also will not hinder installing the add-on to your computer.

Install the utility on your Windows 8 Pro computer and enjoy the features of the best media management suite for Microsoft Windows.

Improved Features Of NTFS In Windows 8

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Windows 8, the new operating system from Microsoft is loaded with features and enhancements. The new long awaited operating system has come out with significant improvements not only in its interface but also in file systems. Windows 8 transfer helps transfer files and documents with more ease and security. NTFS or commonly known as NT File System is a type of file system. NTFS file system maintains and arranges files on your hard disk. NTFS contains transaction logs and this can be handy if a disk failure occurs. NTFS comes with improved and added features with the launch of Windows 8. Some of the improved features of NTFS in Windows 8 are listed below.

• Improved Metadata Integrity – NTFS uses the ‘flush’ command instead of the ‘forced unit access’ for all actions. This ensures that the metadata does not become inconsistent due to reasons like power failures. With this feature, now we can depend more on the SATA hard drives.
• Detect Corruption – The new enhanced feature of NTFS in Windows 8 detects any irregularity in the metadata.
• Self-healing feature – With the self-healing feature, you do not have to run the chkdsk to fix corruptions. This feature was launched in Windows Vista and now with Windows 8, the NTFS feature of self-healing has improved a lot with fixes to more and more issues available online.
  

      windows 8 support

• Verify the corruptions online – The spot verification service added in Windows 8 is a great method to check if the corruption is irregular or if there is a real error with your hard disk. The system file sets off this background service when doubts a corruption in the hard disk.
• Scan – When the file system detects a corruption, it initiates an online scan. This scan runs in the background and does not interfere with the other programs, which are running on the system. When the scan is finished, a detailed log of the issue is prepared and kept for rectification.
• Accurate and speedy rectification – The ‘Spotfix’ operation, can fix the corruptions found in the above step in seconds. This is an important added feature of NTFS in Windows 8.

The above-mentioned online features of NTFS file system allow you to scan even large volumes of data that can be checked without fail. The file system downtime is considerably low and it incurs only when it is necessary. This downtime is relative to the detected corruptions.

All these features increase the NTFS uptime. With all these enhanced features, more and more people use Windows 8 transfer packs to try out this feature rich operating system.