Merits And Demerits Of Windows 8

           Features Of Windows 8

Windows 8 was released in the market about a year ago and we have heard many reviews, both good and bad about the operating system.

Merits of Windows 8

In this post, we will find out some of the best features of the operating system and some of its disadvantages so that you can go for a Windows 8 upgrade after evaluating these features.

Speed

The major advantage of a Windows 8 operating system is its speed. If you have the required hardware configuration on the computer, Windows 8 would be the fastest of all Windows operating systems. Another important factor that needs a special mention is the boot time of Windows 8. It takes only less than thirty seconds to view the metro interface once you press the power button.

Security features

Windows 8 comes with a preinstalled antivirus program called Windows Defender. This antivirus program receives latest malware updates from Microsoft and it works round the clock to ensure your computer’s protection. This also avoids the troubles of purchasing a third party antivirus program for your computer. The family safety feature in the operating system allows you to restrict your child’s activities on the internet. The operating system also comes with a phishing filter.

Battery Life

Another advantage of Windows 8 operating system can be experienced with laptops and other portable devices that run on the operating system. Since the operating system uses lesser hardware resources to operate, laptop users can get longer battery life.

Touch interface

If you want to harness the features of your touch screen monitor, then Windows 8 is the operating system to go for.

Demerits of Windows 8

Some of the demerits of this operating system are as listed below.

No Start button

            Windows 8 Installation

This might be the biggest demerit of the operating system. Even though Microsoft avoided the Start button due to the introduction of the metro interface, most of the users were unhappy and they found the desktop interface lacking a Start button almost irrelevant.

No desktop boot

With Windows 8 operating system, you can no longer boot to your desktop interface. The operating system automatically takes you to the modern metro interface. You need to press the Windows icon on the keyboard to go to the traditional desktop window.

We have only pointed out some of the merits and demerits of the operating system. If you need further assistance on this operating system, or have any queries regarding Windows 8 upgrade, then you may contact our technical support team.

Bankwest Takes First Step Forward

Bankwest Upgrades To Latest Windows OS

Bankwest is the first organization in Australia who will have a Windows 8 upgrade. In a month the organization will start moving its 4000 plus staff to new standard operating systems based on the Windows 8 OS. This is the first major Windows 8 migration occurring in Australia to be undertaken over such a scale, and pushes the bank way ahead of its competitors in terms of new upgraded technology.

Currently on the Windows XP operating system Bankwest had been running a pilot program for Windows 8 for quite some months now with about 80 staff members connecting to a new SOE from their fleet of Dell laptops and 20 on a virtual desktop pilot program.

This move was largely taken to mitigate risks as Microsoft, the developers of both Windows XP and Windows 7, will be withdrawing all forms of support including security upgrades and regular updates from April 8th, 2014 onwards. The pilot program has been extremely useful in discovering some additional improvements such as a faster boot-up time as well as lowered licensing costs for third party programs and applications, which cone as default functions in the new Windows 8 OS. This new migration is greatly beneficial for the staff at Bankwest many of whom share PCs. Once the SOE is released they get great advantages from the multi-session feature within Windows 8.

Currently only one customer service agent at Bankwest can log into any given PC at a time, however under the new Windows 8 SOE users have the ability to block another’s persons session by log in while the original session remains active when the first users would like to use it again.

Bankwest To Start Windows 8 Deployment In A Month

Bankwest are also going to reduce the licensing fees for software that was sued to connect employees on the corporate Wi-Fi networks as soon as they unplug from a fixed network connection. This feature is exclusive only to the Windows 8 operating system.

CTO of Bankwest Nick Lewins told iNews that the bank would have migrate to a newer operating system much earlier but delayed to see if both applications and peripheral vendors could ensure that the new SOE would suit the company’s investment in Activity-Based Working. Following the Windows 8 upgrade, Bankwest will be leaving behind the obsolete Windows XP OS and use the latest technology in their offices. This is a cue to other companies as well to migrate to Windows 8 sooner. Once Windows XP loses support having a quick Windows 8 upgrade may not be very successful.

Panasonic Releases Windows 8 Pro ToughBooks

       upgrade to Windows 8

A slow but steady transition to Windows 8 operating system is taking place all around the world although there was reports initially that Windows 8 suffered many problems. Despite some of the drawbacks in Windows 8, the reality is that there is no better operating system that Windows 8 to replace the old Windows operating systems. Hence, the Windows 8 upgrade is welcomed by most of the device manufacturers.

Panasonic upgrades its ToughBook series notebooks to Windows 8 Pro

The latest device manufacturer to launch Windows 8 operating system devices in the market is Panasonic. The manufacturer announced recently that it released the first batch of its ToughBook series of notebooks running on Windows 8 Pro OS. One of the main reasons for this is that Toughbook has integrated an advanced camera technology in it. Experts believe that Windows 8 Pro would improve this feature and provide the users with a better experience.

It seems that Panasonic is ready to release more products for the Windows 8 Pro platform. In a recent press release, the company said, “With this latest upgrade, business customers can continue to benefit from the rugged and ergonomic Toughbook platform and its comprehensive range of peripherals, whilst taking advantage of the latest improvements in user functionality and the enterprise benefits of the Windows 8 operating system. The latest camera upgrade to the Toughbook devices ensures it functions seamlessly in the Windows 8 environment and is optimized for features such as web conferencing.”

Microsoft would benefit most from Panasonic’s Windows 8 upgrade

        Windows 8 Pro

Unsurprisingly, the fact is that the deal would benefit Microsoft the most. Being a very popular and customer-friendly device manufacturer, Panasonic has millions of loyal users across Europe, America and Asia. Rarely has it come across dearth of demand for any of its products. But, Microsoft recently encountered a lack of demand for its Windows 8 operating systems in many parts of the world, especially in Europe.

Now, with Panasonic’s Windows 8 running Toughbook series of notebooks, Microsoft would benefit the most as the European customer base for Panasonic products might now consider buying the Windows 8 notebooks from Panasonic.

Hope you found the information provided in this article useful. For more information about this new series of notebooks, visit the official Panasonic website online.

New Price For Microsoft Exchange Announced

      Microsoft Exchange price

Microsoft is known for its software applications that are useful for many business and personal purposes. Recently, the latest version of the Exchange groupware was unveiled by Microsoft and it offers some reductions regarding the price of the software. Moreover, the fees regarding the usage of per client license fees are also reinforced. Now, the Microsoft Exchange 5.0 Enterprise edition released costs only $3,549, which was about 4000$ before. Similarly, the Microsoft Outlook price is also expected to be reduced. The Exchange Enterprise edition is embedded with 25 client licenses and server software.

The price for the standard edition of the Microsoft Exchange 5.0 Enterprise edition was unchanged and it still costs only $999. This package includes five client licenses. The company said that, you need to pay only for the server software, if you have upgraded from the version 4.0 and this costs $839 and $349 respectively.  In the latest release, the tech giant Microsoft has included the support for protocols used for messaging like the SSL security protocol, NNTP for news reading, the LDAP directory protocol, SMTP and POP3 protocols. In addition, the ability to store HTML documents in their original form is also being added by the Microsoft in the latest release. This will help in removing the need for the conversion of data.

For getting access to Exchange data through a web browser, the Microsoft still charges some fees. Unlike Microsoft’s competitors like Lotus Development and many web-based software developers, Microsoft requires client access licenses if you are using an Exchange public folder with the internet browser regardless of whether you have a server with email boxes. This move has surprised Tom Austin, the Gartner Group analyst and he asked, “Why are they charging for what the competition gives away for free? Microsoft is establishing an interesting but dangerous precedent.”

       price for Microsoft Outlook

He says that that if a company wants to give access to the business partners and suppliers to their data stores, they would have to pay thousands of additional dollars as deployment costs. However, the new pricing was defended by Greg Lobdell, the Exchange product manager and said that the new pricing associated with the product was the company’s effort to take the business goals of the company to the new realities. He said, “We are trying to figure out a business model that works.”

It is expected that the new Microsoft Exchange price might cause the Microsoft Outlook price to come down. To know more about Microsoft Outlook price, visit the Outlook support page online.

Windows 8 P C Smooth Transition To Windows 8.1

Windows 8 Upgrade

There is a free update to Windows 8.1 through Windows Store. This new upgrade comes with several new features. For starters, users gets back the Start button to application. A direct boot facility to the desktop becomes available. The update is free to any existing users of Windows 8 PC, but for users yet to buy Windows 8 applications, they have to get it on additional payment.

You can initiate a few steps to prepare your Windows 8 PC for the smooth update to Windows 8.1. Usually a major update needs a lot of things to be taken care of while you’re doing it, but this one doesn’t pose those kinds of requirements.

Back up For Personal Data

A latest backup of your files has to be made. The chances of losing the data in your files are improbable, but since you do not want to take a risk, it is always better to have a backup. If you haven’t done this before or even know what it is, this involves copying your data to an external device. There’s even the option to take backups automatically of your personal files in Windows 8.

Create a System Image

In cases of system failure, which are not usual, you will want to recover your system. What you can do is recover your system with the help of a system image. This is quite simple. You can get back your system to the earlier condition. You have to create system image anyhow before you attempt installing the Windows 8.1 update. You have to create a USB recovery drive.

New Windows 8.1 Drivers

Windows 8 Smooth Transition To 8.1

With the upgrading, your system will require new Windows 8.1 drivers to be used to function best with the new application of 8.1. Check for a preinstalled system tool that checks for and updates drivers and if that is absent, check out your PC’s support site for this.

Ensure that you do a few steps to make your update to Windows 8.1 is smooth. Are you sure that you can do the update installation on your own. Do you feel that you do require a professional hand to help you? System updating is not that task for you to get help but if you cannot do it by yourself, take help.