50 Facts and New Features you need to know about Windows 8

Windows 8 is an approach of Microsoft to deliver a single centric OS for Tablets and PCs and later on for Mobile devices also. At BUILD Windows conference, Microsoft showed up the latest advancement they made in Windows 8. After watching the features of Windows 8, many got stunned and amazed. Being still in its development phase, Windows 8 is nevertheless delivering satisfaction to its users.

In this first of the series of 100 things, I am going to tell you about 100 things which I come to know about Windows 8 till now. This series will be divided in two parts comprises of 50 things in each.

So here are the first 50 things which you should know about Windows 8:

1. Windows 8 has a specially designed touch based interface that is easy to use on touch based devices.

2. Windows 8 has both the Metro UI and the conventional Windows Desktop Interface which lets you easily manage the gap of paradigm shift which technology is taking in coming years.

3. The all-new start screen is intended for Windows 8 which comprises of applications in live tiles form,. These let you use your favorite applications in a single tap or click.

4. Using Windows 8 PC, power can be saved like any other mobile device and delivers a high battery power holding time.

5. As demonstrated at the Build Windows 8 conference, by Steven Sinofsky, even a three-year old laptop with Windows 8 installed, booted in just 8 seconds.

6. No other Tablet has drive encryption feature till now; Windows 8 is the first to drive encryption feature for a tablet.

7. Windows 8 offers commendably cross-platform tools to write apps for all hardware even on phones.

8. Antivirus included in Kernel; providing you the security, you never had before and even the system will not boot if it detects an infected USB drive plugged in the system.

9. Windows 8 boots in just eight seconds which is inconceivable for any other PC or Phone OS(including Mac OS X Lion, iOS or Android).

10. Windows 8 gets booted even faster than a monitor can turn on.

11. No extra efforts required to provide hardware acceleration to the apps, Hardware acceleration is available for by default.

12. You can even boot Windows 8 using 256TB hard drive or SSD. (256TB is not available in market till now).

13. Windows 8 is laden with Near Field Communication which lets you share and connect to devices near you.

14. A tablet with Windows 8 on it can even run Visual Studio. Time for developers to go fancy.

15. You can easily switch between Metro UI and Aero UI just by hitting Windows key.

16. In Windows 8, the task manager has been Reimagined as App Monitor and Process Monitor.

17. Windows 8 sports two version of Internet Explorer 10, one is specially designed for Metro UI and tablets.

18. Windows 8 even supports pen based input on touch devices.

19. Windows 8 lets you access your hard drive remotely from anywhere in the world just through Browser and SkyDrive, using your Windows Live ID.

20. Windows 8 lets you connect remotely to other computers just through Windows Live.

21. Each application in Windows 8 tracks its own data usage also which can be viewed in a system wide report.

22. Windows Assessment Console run performance benchmarks for your applications without any requirement of third-party tool.

23. Allows you to hibernate fast even after replacing the battery, requires only 8 secs to come back.

24. As soon the Start Screen appears you can use the keyboard instantly to speedily search and start the applications.

25. Additional applications can be easily found by clicking on the search charm. 

26. New Windows offers New Keyboard Shortcuts.

·         WIN+Q for application search.

·         WIN+W for settings search.

·         WIN+F for files search.

·         WIN+I for “settings” charm.

·         WIN+O for rotation lock.

·         WIN+C to bring up simple “Start menu” and time/date.

27. Windows 8 is also fully compatible with the older shell keyboard shortcuts like WIN+D activates desktop, WIN+R opens Run, WIN+L locks user. WIN+E opens Explorer.

28. In mouse mode, you can activate the options/charms by moving the mouse to the bottom left edge (where the Windows button used to be).

29. In mouse mode, right clicking activates in-app options instead of a common context menu.

30. The application tiles can be selected by using the keyboard arrow keys and page up/down. Enter key starts the selected application.

31. Check the “settings” charm in applications to reveal app-specific settings.

32. Enable the “high contrast” mode in Control Panel -> Ease of Access to see a dark themed Start screen.

33. Windows 8 Support system-on-a-chip (SoC) platforms from Intel running on x86 architecture and from NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments on ARM architectures as well.

34. Windows 8 comprehends native support for ISO and VHD files and images.

35. Windows 8 will have native support for USB 3.0.

36. You can develop Windows 8 apps in HTML 5, JAVA Script, CSS3 also.

37. It will have Native Hyper–V support.

38. Windows 8 has new Office Ribbon Style Windows Explorer.

39. Windows 8 includes a 128-bit architectural display instead of 32-bit operating system.

40. Windows 8 has the same system requirements as of Windows 7.

41. Disk defragmenter in Windows 8 is capable of handling SSD drives and let users to perform the TRIM command easier than in Windows 7.

42. Windows 8 loves Ambient Data.

43. On the Start Screen, Live tiles keeps updating constantly.

44. Windows 8 supports biometric and facial recognition for user verification.

45. Windows 8 offers improved PC gaming platform, later on may also get integration of Xbox Live.

46. Windows 8 offer one of the most exciting features called history vault that provides an automatic backup of files and documents.

47. With Portable Workspace user can create a portable image or a clone or whole backup on any external drive with at least 16GB of available storage capacity.

48. Windows 8 also integrates Immersive browser to get more web on to the screen by reducing many options.

49. With Windows 8 experience the new mode of shutting down and starting up the Windows with the feature called Hybrid boot.

50. Another great feature introduced in Windows 8 is Genuine Center, through which you’ll be able to enter or change your license key and view the status of your license’s genuineness.

In my next next post titled … you guessed it … 50 more things and features you need to know about Windows 8, I will share with you 50 more nuggets about Windows 8. 

So stay tuned!

Source : http://www.thewindowsclub.com/