Get Windows 8 RTM Startscreen SDK for XP, Vista and 7

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

We have seen many transformations to the Windows Operating System, and each one has its own beauty and impresses with its own applications. 

Microsoft as we all know, has released Windows 8 RTM (Build 9200), with lots of new features, GUI changes and interesting enhancements including Boot & Login screen, Start menu, Ribbon in Explorer, Metro Theme & Apps etc. You can take a look at all these new features in this detailed review.

If you are still using Windows XP, Vista, 7 or even older Windows 8 versions, and you don't want to install this latest OS, but still want to enjoy some of the new features, here are the interesting news for you: 

Our friend PeterRollar, who is well known for his amazing and famous Windows transformations, released "Windows 8 RTM Startscreen SDK" that you will definitely enjoy.

It's about time to bring this new Windows feeling to your old and perhaps boring OS and desktop. All this with the help of AveDesk 1.3, an application which makes desktop prettier and more usable. As you can see in the above screenshots, the change looks very close to Windows 8 RTM, so Peter has made a great work with his skills, that might worth your attention.

"This is probably the most complete and most similar transformation from older Windows to Windows 8 you can find in the web."

Why SDK (Self-Development Kit)?

"Because you can use it as it is, or modify it to your likings. Build your own personal startscreen if you want."

Windows 8 Versions already included in the pack:

- Developer preview

- Consumer preview

- Release preview

- RTM

*Basic knowledge of manual customization needed. 

So what are you waiting for? Check it out and let us know what you think. Share this post with your friends and help them and others, to have some fun too. 
Subscribe to our Newsletters for more updates! 

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*by andreascy*

How to change the icons of Metro Tiles in Windows 8

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Microsoft is offering many advanced, sophisticated tools and applications in the form of its new upcoming operating system Windows 8. 

One of the main differentiating features of windows 8 is its new style of the start menu. It contains programs in a style of metro tiles instead of the usual menu or list that its predecessors featured. In this tutorial, we will show you some basic features and modification of metro apps. The extent of customization that can be done in Windows 8 is simply mind boggling. It won't be wrong to say that the sky is the limit.

Follow this step by step guide to learn how to change the icons of metro tiles in Windows 8.

1. Open up the Start Menu :

In the first step, move the cursor towards the bottom left corner of your screen. Once the "Start Menu" appears, click on it to open the windows 8 "Start Screen".

2. Open the File Location :

Once the start screen has opened, right click on any app icon to select it. Now click on the "Open file location" button from the menu located at the bottom of your screen.

3. Open the File Properties :

Once you have clicked on the "Open file location" button, a new explorer window will appear in front of your screen, showing you the location of the selected app. Now right click on the selected app's shortcut and select the "Properties" option from the drop down menu.

4. Click on the Change Icon Button :

A properties panel will appear right in front of your screen. In this panel, move over to the "Shortcut" tab. Now click on the "Change Icon" button which is located at the bottom of the properties panel.

5. Choose an Icon :

Now in the next step, choose the icon you want from the menu and click on the "OK" button to replace it with the existing one. After replacing the icon, click on the "Apply" button to apply these changes and click on the "OK" button to exit.

6. View the New Icon :

After changing the icon and saving your settings, press the "Windows" button on your keyboard to open up the "Start menu". Once the start screen appears, you can see that your selected app will now be displayed with a different icon. 

Video demonstration :

*by andreascy*

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Modifications and Customizations

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

As we all know Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Public Beta) Build has been released, which comes with many improvements, over the previous Developer Preview Build, of Windows 8. It supports Start Screen customization and there are many improvements in Windows Explorer ribbon UI, etc.

Among these improvements there are things we still don't like and we need to change, bringing back the good old usability. Also we may need tips, tricks, and resources, to work with Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

AskVG and Andreas Christodoulou (known as andreascy) published some interesting Modifications and Customizations that you will definitely enjoy! 

AskVG :

Yet another way to remove RibbonUI from Windows 8 Explorer without Breaking Paint and Wordpad Apps

Hidden secret "Exit Explorer" Option in Windows 8 Taskbar

The Best Way to Get Rid of Windows 8 Explorer Ribbon

How to Disable New Ribbon UI and Get Old Toolbar Back in Windows 8 Explorer?

Customize New Quick Access Menu (Win+X Menu) in Windows 8 – Add, Remove, Rename or Move Shortcuts and Much More

Right Click Context Menu Adder 2.0: Free Portable Utility to Add Program Shortcuts, Website Links, Files or Folders in Windows 7 and Windows 8 Desktop Context Menu

Windows 8 allows you to remove "Favourites" from Windows Explorer Navigation Pane

Hidden Secret Trick to Enable/Activate "Aero Glass" in Windows 8 "AeroLite" Theme

How to Enable Good Old Start Button (ORB) and Start Menu in Windows 8?

Add Cascading Menu for Restart, Shut Down, Hibernate and Other Power Shortcuts in Desktop Context Menu of Windows 7 and 8

Windows 8 Hidden Secret Features and Useful Hotkeys

How to Remove Watermark (Build Number Info) from Desktop in Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Public Beta)?

Start8: Download Freeware to Get Start Button (ORB) and Start Menu Back in Windows 8

Andreas Christodoulou (andreascy):

Animated ExplorerFrame V.5 for Windows 8 Consumer Preview (8250 Build)

How to Change the Icons of Metro Tiles in Windows 8

Are you reading this? Good. Keep going! 💪

*by andreascy*

Animated ExplorerFrame V.5 for Windows 8 Consumer Preview (8250 Build)

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

METRO.SIMPLE.CLEAN & ANIMATED : 

- For Windows 8 Consumer Preview - Beta (8250 Build tag) x86 and x64 bit : 

Inspired and produced by : 

andreascy (http://andreascy.deviantart.com)

Check also older versions : 

V.1 for Windows 7 x32bit and x64 bit (Non SP1, SP1)

V.2 for Windows 8 M2 (7955 Build) 

V.3 for Windows 8 M3 (7989 Build)

V.4 for Windows 8 Developers Preview

1. Thank you :

First of all i want to thank all of those who inspire me, respect my work and give me the strength to continue what i do !!

2. Important :

Don’t forget to make backups of your old files first !!!! 

3. Instructions :

This is for the x32 and x64 bit System. Explorerframe.dll files that are provided are animated with 2 types of animations (rectangular and position), so select one of the two provided files and replace the old file in System32 folder of Windows directory. This can be done after taking ownership of the old file, renaming it to explorerframe.dll.bak and make the replace with the new file.

4. Taking ownership :

To take ownership of files and folders in Windows 8 Consumer Preview you can use the provided tweak that will give you the option to take ownership when you right click on a file or folder or drive. When you use take ownership on a folder, it will take ownership of all the files and subfolders inside the folder too. So simply merge the .reg file provided in the specific folder. You can also remove it if you want using the other .reg file

After this you must refresh explorer : 

BE CAREFULL :

FORGET THE OLD WAY OF REFRESHING WINDOWS EXPLORER AND I MEAN THE WAY BELOW THAT WAS WORKING UNTIL THE DEVELOPERS PREVIEW :

(a) Run task manager, stop the process of windows explorer, make a 

new task, write explorer and hit enter or go to run command and write "TSKILL EXPLORER"

THIS WON’T WORK NOW AS IT WILL FREEZE YOUR PC AND EXPLORER WON’T STOP FROM RUNNING SO DO THIS..AFTER THE REPLACE OF THE EXPLORERFRAME.DLL JUST RESTART THE PC..AFTER THE RESTART CHECK THE ANIMATIONS..TRUST ME IT WILL WORK!!!!!! ;)

Animations can be shown on the below things :

(a) Windows explorer icons (any preview type selected it has a different animation style)

(b) Shell texts

5. Support - Testing - Bugs :

Fully tested by me and proved its stability on its fast animation speeds especially if your PC is well built and fast. Bugs not found and i believe this version will be stable too as previous builds like Developers Preview, Windows 7 etc..

6. Download Link :

http://andreascy.deviantart.com/art/Animated-ExplorerFrame-V-5-Released-287879053

Enjoy it and thx again for all this support! 

P.S : For any problems, questions etc. feel free to contact with me and tell me what went wrong. 

ATTENTION : 

This is a registered and copyright property© copyright - All Rights Reserved. 

MCN : W3PJ7 - ADRL5 - FSTRH (MyFreeCopyright.com Registered & Protected) 

*by andreascy* 

Microsoft Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Public Beta) Released. Download Now!

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Here's what we know so far...

It's not been a long time when Microsoft released a free Developer Preview build of its upcoming OS "Windows 8" to public. We all were pretty much excited to give it a test drive. Some of us liked it but some of us got disappointed with it. There are many things which have been changed or added in Windows 8 such as new "Start Screen" which has replaced the good old Start Menu in Windows 8, Microsoft Office 2010 like Ribbon UI in Windows Explorer and many other things.

Today Microsoft has released a free Consumer Preview build of Windows 8 to public. You may consider it as a public Beta build, Microsoft has decided to call it as Consumer Preview build.

Since its a Beta build, you should get better performance and lesser bugs compared to the previous Developer Preview build. There are many noticeable changes in this Consumer Preview build such as removal of Start button, a little bit modified Ribbon UI in Windows Explorer, new login screen, better Start Screen, etc.

Interested people can download Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Beta) build using the following download link:

Download Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Public Beta)

Download Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Public Beta) ISO Images

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Setup will check to see if your PC can run Windows 8 Consumer Preview and select the right download. Setup also features a compatibility report and upgrade assistance. Built-in tools for creating an ISO or bootable flash drive are available for some previous versions of Windows (excluding Windows XP and earlier).

So, what’s new in the build?

Some of the more noteworthy improvements include OS-wide spell check (this is huge, it’s a feature that has been requested by a lot of people for years), the replacement of the Start button with what is called a "Start preview thumbnail" – which displays a preview of the start screen on top of an interface that allows you to cycle through all of your open apps – and the introduction of "Flyout" notifications. 

One thing that I found to be quite humorous is that Microsoft actually added a feature called "boot forward"; see, due to the vastly improved boot times in Windows 8, it would be tough or impossible to pull up a boot options menu (i.e by pressing F8). They actually had to implement a feature that lets you set boot options prior to restarting.

It would appear that Microsoft finally hired a plumber to solve their constant leak issues as, surprisingly, there have been no Windows 8 build leaks during the interim period from September to now (of roughly five months).

Also, little information has unofficially trickled out since; much of what we learned about the OS during that period is thanks to the notoriously long Building Windows 8 blog posts by Steven Sinofsky.

For further support  check also Microsoft's:

Windows 8 Consumer Preview FAQ's

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Forum

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Compatibility Center

*by andreascy* 

Featured Windows 8 Metro Wallpapers Collection

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

We heard you might like a great Collection of Wallpapers for Microsoft's latest Operating System Windows 8, so here's a little present. Visit the links below and get your own versions, from the creators profiles, on DeviantArt, and for FREE.

We want to thank these artists for their creativity, talent, and their offer to our most active followers and to the entire THE OFFICIAL ANDREASCY community! 

Wallpapers Collection

By Taiketsu0099:

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

(i)

(j)

(k)

By Andreas Christodoulou (andreascy):

(a)

By PegasusKnight:

(a)

By LordReserei:

(a)

By Draganja:

(a)



By frosbe:

(a)

By Silviu-Eduard:

(a)

(b)

By CianDesign:

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

By Bogas04:

(a)

We hope you like them. Share this post with your friends and family and make sure to send us your own creations and suggestions for our future topics. 

Bookmark us for more. 

📌

*by andreascy*

Microsoft News : Download now Windows 8 Consumer Preview Product Guide for Business

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Microsoft released a detailed guide to the new and improved features in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. In the document, they talk about AppLocker, BitLocker, Windows To Go, measured boot, Client Hyper-V.

From the download page :

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview Product Guide for Business provides a detailed look at the many new and improved features in Windows 8. The guide is designed as an accurate source of information that can help businesses understand how Windows 8 enables users to be ready and productive practically anywhere, allows for a personalized user experience, and provides IT with more secure, easy-to-manage intelligent infrastructure.

It's begun.

You can download the document (Windows-8-Consumer-Preview-Product-Guide-For-Business.pdf 555 KB) here

*by andreascy*

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Screenshots: Build 8250 Has Been Compiled

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

We already know that Microsoft would be releasing Windows 8 Consumer Preview on February 29 at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. Various sources on the web are reporting that Microsoft has compiled the public Windows 8 Consumer Preview Build, 8250. They are saying that this will be the final build that will be released next week. 

Tom Warren at the Verge already reports that the final build of Windows 8 (8250) is expected to get signed off on this coming Friday. More significant is the news of a download time: Microsoft will unveil its Windows 8 CP work during a special event at MWC in Barcelona next Wednesday. We are told that the company will release the preview to the public at the beginning of the event, which kicks off at 3PM CET (9AM ET). Build 8250 includes a number of preinstalled games and apps, as well as the new Windows 8 logo. 

A reader of THE OFFICIAL ANDREASCY sent us a tip that the Bing Windows 8 start page is up again. Time to start your engines...

Once you are ready to install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, you may need to get new hardware to install it on. Now Microsoft have said that Windows 8 will work on any hardware that can run Windows 7, so you should be able to install the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on your current PC.

Even if you're not in the software industry, your sector is also likely seeing technological disruption -- tell us what you want to read about next. You’ll be the first to hear about it!

*by andreascy*