Are you serious about SQL Server 2012?

If the answer is yes, I recommed that you download immediately the SQL Server 2012 Developer Training Kit. This can be installed from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27721



Before you install the KIT you need to install the Web Platform Installer 4.0. You can get it from the same link. Read the previous post here for installing Web PI 4.0: http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2012/12/you-can-get-lots-of-stuff-from-web.html

Note that the KIT's executable may not necessariloy show up in WEB PI4.0!!

When you run the Kit related exe (http://download.microsoft.com/download/D/0/9/D098DCF2-1888-4624-920B-B2DE71B2728F/SQL2012DevTrainingKit.WebInstaller.exe) file you will download the kit.

On this computer it was installed in the default folder "C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Web Platform Installer\WebPlatformInstaller.exe". Note that you have to allow Activex on your IE and you may get this warning, better pay attention to it and enable it.

When you run this program you will find the default.htm, the starting point of your journey.
C:\SQL2012UpdateForDevsTrainingKit\Default.htm

Default.htm opens out like this. You can learn a lot, not just DBA, but also development and of course BI.

Good luck.

Aloha from Honolulu

You can get lots of stuff from Web Platform Installer 4.0

You have already used or read about (http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2010/06/get-these-web-development-tools-for.html) WPI 3.0. Now you can get WebPI 4.0 which offers many more programs for Windows that you can download and use. Some may require you to agree for license terms, agree if you want them. Download this tool from the link in the first screen shot.

Here is a screen shot of Microsoft's Web Platform Installer's home page. Most of the applications you can download are free. Here are some screen shots of what you can find and get from WebPI4.0. They fall into three main categories, Spotlighted items, Products and Applications.

 

The Spotlighted items are here:

 

Products related here:

 

 

Applications related here:

Enjoy!
 

Microsoft makes it easy to customize Lightswitch themes and Shell

You really need your own shell and themes to present your company to public via Lightswitch. Microsoft's earliest offering in Lightswtich was a stnadard theme and shell. Of course users clamored and extensions were provided so that customers can build their own themes and shell.

Most recently Microsoft has released source code for the Cosmopolitan Shell and theme. You can download the source code here(http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/LightSwitch-Cosmopolitan-8848d1d2).

Microsoft has made it easy to build custom shells and themes with the above release. Now you can use it as a template and make some minor tweaks easily without going into a lot of hazzle. If you want to know how it was done earlier you can read my book on Lightswitch which describes step-by-step how to accomplish it.

In order to build custom theme you need at a minimum the following:

Visual Studio 2012 (Professional or above)
Visual Studio 2012 SDK
Lightswitch Extensibility Toolkit for VS 2012

Read more from Joe Binder's blog here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/lightswitch/archive/2012/12/13/the-cosmopolitan-shell-and-theme-source-code-is-released.aspx

SQL Server Data Tools gets updated

In December 2012 SSDT got updated. Here are some details:

If you are planning to use Visual Studio 2012 you are better off installing the December 2012 update. The December 2012 update to SSDT relates to what you have on your computer in terms of Visual Studio version.

1. If you already have Professional, Ultimate or Premium Edition of Visual Studio 2012 and agreed to install SSDT during installation then the machine will have an earlier version of SSDT. This update will replace the version with the latest.

2. If you do not have Visual Studio Professional or above SSDT will install the Visual Studio 2012 Integrated Shell. This Shell perform very much like the BIDS in the past and you will not be able to do programming as it neither include any Visual Studio programming languages such as VB or C# nor does it support the various types of projects that you can create with the non-shell, full versions of Visual Studio Professional and above. This December update updates the functionality of Express SKUs of Visual Studio 2012. The following are the improvements over the previous version:

Database Unit Testing

Integration of SSDT Power Tools

Updated Data-Tier Application Framework

Bug fixes

If Visual Studio Professional or above is present, SSDT will be integrated with the existing VS program. However SP1 must be manually installed before installing the update.

If VS Professional or above SSDT is not present SSDT installs only the Visual Studio 2010 Integrated Shell.  SP1 must first be installed before installing the SSDT (However when the blogger used the web installer the SP1 was already in place). The shell as the name suggests contains only SSDT related items and does not include programming languages such as VB and C#.

Program installed in July 2012 using web installer

 

The following are the improvements over the previous version:

Database Unit Testing

Integration of SSDT Power Tools

Updated Data-Tier Application Framework

Bug fixes

 

The platforms that support the updated SSDT are:

Windows Vista SP2 or above

Windows 7 SP1 or above

Windows 8 RTM

Windows Server 2008 SP2 or above

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or above

You can download SQL Server data tools for Visual Studio 2012 from this link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/jj650015

Additionally you can get an ISO image or download SSDTSetup.exe to create an administrative install point if there is no internet access. For details visit the previous link.

 

Visual Studio 2012 RTM comes with Lightswitch and other enhancements

*VS2012 allows designing and building UIs with Blend
VS2012 RTM has Blend which can be used to build Windows 8 App using:
1. HTML  project type for JavaScript
2. XAML project type supporting code development using C#, VB or C++
VB provides more project options with Blend to create Windows 8 apps.
Designing screens for Window 8 apps is a breeze with Blend support

*Lightswitch is part of VS2012. You can create both HTML5 and Silverlight based apps
  LightSwitch+HTML5 works with any browser.

*Use OData protocol to feed Lightswitch application

For example: You can access the famous Northwind from a ODATA endpoint at
http://services.odata.org/Northwind/Northwind.svc
With any of the authentication methods.

* Ability to create multiple Solution Explorer windows and move them on to connected monitors.

*IDE has grown so much, there is even a search feature to search the IDE for objects

Follow Jeff Cogswell's article + Slide from which this post is generated here:
http://www.eweek.com/developer/slideshows/visual-studio-2012-rtm-comes-chock-full-of-enhancements/

Window 8 seeks Fed's patronage

At a recent Microsoft Window 8 reception Microsoft displayed Windows 8 for federal audience and it appears federal IT was looking for a secure and innovative platform. The event was hosted by FedScoop in Washington D.C., to more than 250 government and Fed executives.
Windows 8's 8 features that may be most appealing to government are:

* The new 'Metro' interface with touch capability across all foot prints
* The Charms bar hidden but avialable
* The Windows runtime providing a sandbox environment
* Windows to Go, OS on a USB stick with full security
* Windows store for apps distribution
* Access to File History doing away with backup & restore
* Reset and Refresh features to handle troublesome system situations
* Desktop available as an app

Let's hope this will ramp up the sales!!

Read more if you need more...
http://fedscoop.com/microsoft-debuts-windows-8-to-federal-it-community/

Breaking news: T-SQL in SQL Server to query SQL Azure Federations

Aloha from Bengaluru,


Microsoft has come up with an easier solution to scale out.

SQL Azure Federations is the answer.

With T-SQL you can:

* Use T-SQL to create federated tables and migrating data from on-premises to SQL Azure
* Manage SQL Azure Federations by splitting the root member table using T-SQL

Details are here:
http://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/tip/Split-root-table-with-T-SQL-in-SQL-Azure-Federations

Authored by Roger Jennings - a.NET developer and writer

Do you need to upload 2GB files?

Aloha from Bengaluru

Microsoft SkyDrive has just released the stuff that helps you to upload 2GB files. That's hefty!!

You can also pick and choose files that you need (Selective Sync) from SkyDrive as well as better organize your uploads. SkyDrive also has a SkyBin. You don't need it, send it to SkyBin and, you want it, get it restored.

Web, Mobile and Desktop (WMD, not that WMD) boundaries are disappearing. They are all one and the same, your stuff, but just 3 avataras.

Note: SkyBin is the blogger's construct.

Organize

Share / Sync

Skybin (Recycle bin on SkyDrive)

Microsoft beefs up Azure Support

Aloha from Bengaluru

This is a much needed item for one and all interested in developing; porting to Windows Azure. The level of support of course depends on how much you are willing to pay or, how long are you willing to wait. I like the developer pricing although we have to wait and see how effective the support is. I hope it has improved,
; in the early days of Windows Azure it was not that great. Here is the Wait / Price support matrix for different levels.

Pricing

Lenovo dabbles with Yoga

Yoga is not only for the health conscious world wide, it is also coming to a nearby PC Store.
Lenovo unvieled the latest of their products to hit the US Consumers anytime soon. They are (http://www.eweek.com/mobile/lenovo-tablets-ultrabooks-laptops-are-all-about-windows-8/),

• The IdeaPad Yoga 13 (Windows 8 Pro)
• Yoga 11 (Windows RT)
• ThinkPad Twist
• IdeaLab Lynx

The Yoga products 11 and 13 can open 360 degrees, Here is a copied schematic picture of the possible openings from the eWeek site(http://www.eweek.com/mobile/lenovos-windows-8-lineup-could-help-it-reach-top-pc-spot/). Is it 360 degs or a little less, I wonder.

The touch-centric Windows 8 a game changer is behind all these new products.  Wall Street talking heads say Microsoft's Windows 8 will not help the bottom line because of PC problems. We just have to wait and see.

I close this post with a prayer to Patanajali who placed Yoga on an easy to access format.

Yogena cittasya padena vacam   |
malam  sarirasya ca vaidyakena |
yopakarottam  pravaram muninam |
patanjalim  pranajaliranato'smi|
Om Shanti,Shanti, Shantihi.

 

Breaking News: Packt finished publishing its 1000th Book

Aloha,

Packt is celebrating and I have been a part of this success story. Particpate in the celebration and get a free eBook to mark this occasion.

Just go to Packt's web site and register yourself if you are not already registered. The rest is simple.

 

If you are looking for jump starting your SQL Server / Applications you search for eBook versions of my books shown here:

Good luck

Mahalo

 

Windows Azure SQL Database Service Update

In a recent update to the Azure SQL database service the following features were added:

• Support for linked servers-
• Distributed Queries against the database-local & Azure databases
• Support recursive triggers
• Support for DBCC Show_Statistics

Firewall configuration at database level (previously at Server level)-You get better control

Firewalls can be set up at the portal or through T-SQL-makes life easier.

 

If you want to look at earlier service updates you can find them in my book:

 

 

Links to linked server, distributed queries etc. here,

 

MySQL Linked Server | Jayaram Krishnaswamy

jayaramkrishnaswamy.sys-con.com/node/1060191

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MS Access Linked Server, comparing providers | Jayaram ...

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Latest Articles in the Category SQL

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Mitigating the FBI Green DOT MoneyPak Virus

This was quite bothersome virus which froze the screen with its own screen purporting to be from FBI warning you of some dire consequences, unless you send $100 to them on recieving which they will unclock your computer.

I got this on my Laptop which was dual boot Win7/Win8. I could access Win8 but not WIn7. Win7 got infected.

The first thing I tried was to restore it to an earlier point. I chose a point some 3 days earlier to the day I encountered this frozen screen. It did not do any good. It came right back.
I searched the web here and there. At least I knew it was a scam. I did read someone got so scared he was contemplating committing suicide, may be he was doing something illegal and felt that he may be caught.

Then I got hold of Norton 360 6.0 and scanned the whole system on the Win7 side. It had no clue. It found some 7 non-consequential cookies which it removed. I called up Norton and chatted for a while. Well, they told me that Norton 360 6.0 should do the job but they would provide a technicain with whose help I could remove the bug. The cost was $99.99 for this service. I was not prepared to part with the money and I wanted to try other options. I also downloaded few others, but I was not quite sure they would do the job.

These are some related sites where you may find some help:
http://www.spywareremove.com/removefbigreendotmoneypakvirus.html
http://www.zimbio.com/Remove+Malware/articles/9kb7G7Lpj5K/Uninstall+FBI+Green+Dot+Moneypak+Virus+Effective
http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-360/MoneyPak-FBI-virus-Green-Dot/td-p/808830

My advice, forget about Norton, don't pay them $99.99 not even $9.99, send me a $1 for my advice.

If anyone is interested I can provide the transcript of the chat.
Here is my fix:
I went back and restored the computer to a date in August 2012. It's gone and I am rid of that ransomeware. MSFT has a good thing in its SYSTEM Restore.

BTW, when you choose to restore choose the OS that is infected, in case you have multi-os on your computer.

Cute Windows 8 Phone from HTC

Competition is heating up. HTC launched two NFC supported phones Phone 8x (for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon) and Phone 8S with Windows 8 with screen resolution of 1280x720 (8x) and 800x480(8c).

Both use the Snapdragon S4 processor from Qualcom's system on a chip (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdragon_(system_on_chip)#Snapdragon_S4). Some say that 8x almost indistinguishable from Lumia 920,http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57516060-94/htc-windows-phone-8x-vs-nokia-lumia-920-specs-and-more/ (competition heating across the board at all levels!).

HTC is third behind Apple and Samsung in the market share in North America (http://www.hartware.de/news_55910.html).

 

Research in Motion goes for Microsoft's exFAT

This deal will be one of several taht Microsoft signed with others such as, Panasonic, Sony and Cannon (all Japanese). The motivation for RIMM is to be able to face Apple and Google squarely in the face and of course it aligns with Microsoft's wish as well.

exFAT created for flash drives has better specs than the FAT system (which is not all that fat, could not stiffle the pun) in terms of file sizes (32 exabytes vs 32GB), formatting size, files in a directory limits all eliminated. Vista was not popular but exFAT was made its debut in Vista SP1. You may ask why not NTFS but NTFS has overheads for its special structure not suited for a small footprint.

exFAT is not just for Microsoft windows you can use it on MAC as well for models later than with SnowLeopard (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2790170?start=0&tstart=0)

Well, good luck to you RIMM.


Get a some more tech info here:
http://www.on-time.com/rtos-32-docs/rtfiles-32/programming-manual/in-embedded-applications/

Of course there is a lot on Wikipedia as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT
 

Troxell's 3rd Annual Education Day in Honolulu

The advances in the Internet; Video & Audio, and computer software have made it possible to address the growing need of Interactive presentation with preconfigured, easy to use array of hardware and software solutions.

Troxell (www.etroxell.com) brought several vendors of these together at their 3rd Annual Education Day in Honolulu  (9/14/2012) at the Hawaii Community college.

I interacted and spoke with some of the vendors and reviewed the demos. I would say the gamut of devices available was very impressive. I gleaned talking to them that quite a lot of them were sold to schools and I wonder how come our education system is not all that we can brag about. One of them made a very interesting comment. He said, 'some of them have the required devices, but they are not sure how to use them as quite a lot of them are not computer savvy'. Well if the school is going to drop dollars in purchasing they should at least train some people to use them'.

When I was growing up, we just had black board and chalk (it was actually called chalk-piece which the teachers once in a while used as a projectile to alert an inattentive student). Years later the 'Magic lantern' made its debut. Then came the slide projectors.

Even in recent years some of this technology has not made its way to the meeting rooms in technology presentations; you still hear the audio system making more noise than delivering signal with the hapless speaker seeking some desperate help. I am sure the audio-video systems in many of the hotels that provide venue for the various events need a complete overhaul.

I interacted with some of the vendors and enjoyed the demos:

FrontRow (goFrontrow.com)-Giving every student a front row seat.
The demo of a public address system such as those used in seminars and technical talks was quite impressive. The main speaker microphone and optionally four from the audience can all call up the same system and the whole audio interaction captured and saved for archival purposes. Sound reproduction was excellent and above the general din.

NEC (necdisplays.com)-Large screen LCD Displays, Desktop LCD Monitors and Multimedia Projectors

ELMO (www.elmousa.com): Document Camera [a digital magic lantern] (wireless slate/tablet). I was pleasantly surprised that they are still in business. I knew some people at ELMO in Nagoya eons ago.

OWI -Incorporated (Private schools and Charter schools may get a free class room media system-call them, info@owi-inc.com or 310-515-1900)

SP Controls, Inc.  (www.doceri.com or www.spcontrols.com)-Professional iPad interactive whiteboard and screen cast recorder

Optoma (www.optomaUSA.com)-Environment friendly (LED) projectors were on display-I may even buy a TL50W that you can carry in your coat packet. For a small device it was quite good.

Samsung (www.samsungPresenterusa.com)-High Resolution Digital Presenter

Lumens Integration Inc.(www.myLadibug.com), HD document camera (cute looking) with lot of interactive software.

Hitachi- LCD projectors

Smart Technologies (www.smarttech.com)-Interctive white board, Integrated porjectors etc.

Musings on Apple minus NFC on iPhone5

Looks like Apple is satisfied with Passbook for now and has not gone for NFC. What are they thinking? Do they want to shore up passbook against a more useful NFC Technology. Despite Apple not choosing NFC, it will be a thing that is sure to come and stay. Apple says NFC adoption is slow but how long did it take to go from desktop to smartphone? Proxama (http://www.proxama.com/products-and-services/)has taken upon itself to provide an interface to NFC from iPhone5 could only be a temporary fix. Follow the full story here. here:http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9231257/iPhone_5_Why_no_NFC_

SmarterPhones than Apple such as those from Google,Microsoft,Nokia have accepted to support NFC including many wireless carriers.

Read previous NFC posts here:

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2012/05/will-nokia-bundled-with-nfc-steal.html

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2012/07/e-komo-mai-windows-8-phone.html

ATIV S is just the tip of the iceberg

Here is some brief  info gathered from Samsung's site: http://www.samsung.com/global/ativ/


ATIV S with Windows 8 debutted recently is just the tip of the iceberg and soon more of it will be visible and available. A rather serious contender for the Apple's hegemony.

ATIV Tab, a tablet that runs a great marathon with Windows RT and what its makers call 'outstanding mobility'

ATIV Smart PC - a tablet and a notebook PC combo that morphs easily from one to the other.

ATIV SmartPC Pro designed for Windows 8 with Full PC Experiecne with Intel Coe i5/i3 processor, clam shell design with a full qwerty.

Watch these stocks: MSFT, NOK 

Even Mad Money Cramer likes MSFT and says Steve is going to resurrect MSFT

Over 1 billion ID database

Have you heard of Aadhaar?

If not, read the following:
The following is copied over from:
http://uidai.gov.in/what-is-aadhaar-number.html

"Aadhaar is a 12 digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India on behalf of the Government of India.

This number will serve as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in India.

Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, who is a resident in India and satisfies the verification process laid down by the UIDAI can enrol for Aadhaar.

Each individual needs to enroll only once which is free of cost.

Each Aadhaar number will be unique to an individual and will remain valid for life. Aadhaar number will help you provide access to services like banking, mobile phone connections and other Govt and Non-Govt services in due course.


Some other information about Aadhaar:
Aadhaar will be:
Easily verifiable in an online, cost-effective way
Unique and robust enough to eliminate the large number of duplicate and fake identities in government and private databases
A random number generated, devoid of any classification based on caste, creed, religion and geography"

I guess building Pyramids was a lot easier!! Crime should come down. Identity theft can become more difficult. Any big brother watching issues, I know not. Well it is just identifying scheme nothing to do with any other activity such as entitlements etc.

The technology used which is open source can be viewed here:
http://uidai.gov.in/aadhaar-technology.html

Progress so far:

Samsung courts Windows 8 Phone

The talking heads on CNBC were all talking about it. Looks like Windows 8 is drawing more admirers. Samsung has unveiled Ativ S with Windows 8 (related story here: http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0831/Samsung-unveils-the-Ativ-S-the-first-ever-Windows-8-phone)
I have a Windows 7 Samsung' Focus and I will get a Windows 8 when it becomes generally available.

Can it beat the Android handsets? You bet, I am confident that it will. Microsoft stocks as well as that of Nokia will go up in a matter of mere 2 months. If you do not own them, now may be the time.

The new phone has a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED screen, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and an 8-megapixel rear camera paired with a 1.9-megapixel front-facing one. The phone will come in 16GB and 32GB flavors. It's 8.7mm thick.

Read the 10  things that Windows 8 phones does better than iPad here including how Internet Explorer 10 will best the Chrome:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0305/Ten-ways-Windows-8-outshines-the-iPad/1.-Windows-8-is-More-Personal-Than-iOS

Get Visual Studio 2012 and .NET 4.5 now!

Free trial versions of Visual Studio 2012 Express or Free Trial versions of Visual Studio 2012 can be downloaded from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/downloads

Note: Express for Windows Phone
      Express for windows Desktop will be available later this fall.

.NET 4.5 can be downloaded separately as well from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/net

If you are going to buy, packaged products should be hitting the market soon.

Windows Azure SDK for .NET – June 2012 has been updated to work with the new release as well.

Visual Studio 2012 launch event is about a fortnight from now. Watch the count down here:
http://www.visualstudiolaunch.com/vs2012vle/Home

How is your App work going?

Do you wish to work with Metro Style Apps?

Step 1: Install Windows 8 Enterprise.

Step 2: Download and Install VS2012 Express

Download from here to your Windows 8 Downloads folder.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516.aspx

Double click the executable in your download shown here:

Installation starts

You can proceed after agreeing to license terms.

You should get a Developer License. Read info on this modal window

It's easy to get a license.

From here you can Start a new project, Open an existing project etc.

You can use C# to develop your project.

These are the templates available out off the box. You can choose to develop with any of these.

If you prefer you can use JavaScript and HTML5

Or you can use Visual Basic if that is your strength.

OK, You can use C++

In each of these languages you have the choice to start from a Blank or use prefab templates.

I tried here to create an extremely simple APP using JavaScript that has ,

A splash screen

A button which when clicked changes the text in a textbox

A tool-tip that shows some text when you hover over the text box

A logo for the APP. The image for the logo (Copy right of Microsoft) I copied from the Windows 8 Screen and used it. The name of the APP is AppJayAug20. It's only on my local machine in test environment.

The default.html which has most of the stuff is here.

That's all folks.

Mahalo

Installing Windows 8 RTM Enterprise Evaluation

In the previous post you saw how you can create a drive partition in your lap top running windows 7 Home Premium.

If you have follow this link:

http://hodentek.blogspot.com/2012/08/windows-8-rtm-is-out-go-grab-it.html

In this post you will review installing the evaluation edition of Windows 8 RTM

Go to this link for downloading both x32 and x64 bit versions

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx

Complete the online form on this link that gets displayed here.

https://profile.microsoft.com/RegSysProfileCenter/wizard.aspx?wizid=518B9627-D97E-4AB5-8126-B50862B8CC8A&lcid=1033&ci=393


You need to register and all that. There is no need for a PRODUCT KEY for this software.

After downloading the file shows up in your CD burner software as shown here:

After inserting a blank disc (I used a 4.7GB RWR) in your CD drive, click OK.

 Now you have the disc with the files shown here:

Now double click the setup file  in the above. The Windows 8 installation activities start.

First there is a lot of time taken up in copying temporary files. This is then followed by installation. You need to be connected to the internet as there may be some new updates. If you bear with this and hang on you will come to a screen which says that your Windows 7 Home Premium cannot be upgraded but you have a Custom Install option. You hit that button which then comes to the screen (taken with a camera) where you will be asked to choose a drive to install as shown here:

The program will be installed to the Windows 8 partition created in the previous
Post.

When the installation is completed (the computer is booted couple of times) the following screen shows up where you can choose the operating system you want to work with. If you choose Windows 8 the computer starts and boots to Windows 8 operating system. You personalize your computer by choosing a color scheme and a name for your PC.

Next you will configure your Wireless access to Internet. You better have your encrypted password to access the internet via your Wi-Fi router. After which you will be asked whether you want a Custom Settings or an Express settings. I chose the Express settings option.
The Windows 8 user interface is quite different from the previous versions and Microsoft hints you here to move your mouse to the any corner of your display to see some navigation menu as shown here.

The screen display goes through a spectrum of colours. During this phase the APPS are installed.


















When this is completed you will see your display as shown with all the apps. These are the APPS that are created during the installation. You will be automatically authenticated to the registration address you provided at the time of registration. My access to Windows 8 is via my Live ID.

You have successfully installed Windows 8.

• To see the navigation menu you need to move your mouse to a corner.
• To shut down the computer you need to access the Settings (by moving to the corner of the display with your mouse (What’s wrong with a right click and a contextual menu? I Ask). From settings you need to access  Power and then shut down or restart.

Looks like tapping (Gesturing) the touch pad seems to work. This computer does not have a touch screen, more about it in my future post).

Mahalo,

Jayaram

p.s: Camera pics are not in focus, too many cups of coffee.

Note added after the post:

I regret I did not check immediately after the installation, but my Windows 7 clock has been adjusted to   Pacific time. I am not sure if I am the only one. I have not altered the computer in any other way.