Windows 8 is the current release of the Windows operating system, produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablets, and home theater PCs. Development of Windows 8 started before the release of its predecessor in 2009. Its existence was first announced at CES 2011, and followed by the release of three pre-release versions from September 2011 to May 2012. The operating system was released to manufacturing on 1 August 2012, and was released for general availability on 26 October 2012.
Windows 8 was introduced with new advancement to compete with the working OS and Android. It can be used with tablet giving a great look, having compatibility with USB 3.0, cloud computing and low powerARM architecture.
Features:
- New features and functionality in Windows 8 include a faster startup through UEFI integration and the new "Hybrid Boot" mode.Windows 8 also adds native support for USB 3.0 devices, which allow for faster data transfers and improved power management with compatible devices, along with support for near field communication to facilitate sharing and communication between devices.
- Windows Explorer, which has been renamed File Explorer, now includes a ribbon in place of the command bar. Storage Spaces allows users to combine different sized hard disks into virtual drives and specify mirroring, parity, or no redundancy on a folder-by-folder basis.
- Task Manager has also been redesigned, including a new processes tab with the option to display fewer or more details of running applications and background processes, a heat map using different colors indicating the level of resource usage, network and disk counters, grouping by process type.
- Additional security features in Windows 8 include two new authentication methods tailored towards touchscreens (PINs and picture passwords), the addition of antivirus capabilities to Windows Defender (bringing it in parity with Microsoft's Security Essentials software) SmartScreen filtering integrated into the desktop, and support for the "Secure Boot" functionality on UEFI systems to protect against malware infecting the boot process. Parental controls are offered through the integrated Family Safety software, which allows parents to monitor and control their children's activities on a device with activity reports and safety controls.
- Windows Store apps; according to Microsoft developer Jensen Harris, these apps are to be optimized for touchscreen environments and have smaller scope in relation to desktop applications. Apps can run either in a full-screen mode, or be docked directly to the side of a screen. They can provide notifications and a "live tile" on the Start screen for dynamic content. Apps can use "contracts"; a collection of hooks to provide common functionality that can integrate with other apps, such as search and sharing. Apps can also provide integration with other services; for example, the People app can connect to a variety of different social networks and services (such as Facebook), while the Photos app can aggregate photos from services such as Facebook and Flickr.
Removed Features:
- Aside from the removal of the Start menu, several notable features have been removed in Windows 8. Support for playing DVDs has been removed from Windows Media Player due to the cost of licensing the necessary decoders (especially for devices which do not include optical disc drives at all) and the prevalence of streaming services such as Netflix. For the same reasons, Windows Media Center will no longer be included by default on Windows 8 as well, but the software (which also includes support for DVD playback) can be added back through the paid "Pro Pack" (for the base version of Windows 8, which also upgrades the system to Windows 8 Pro) or "Media Center Pack" (for Windows 8 Pro) add-ons. Windows 8 will still support third-party DVD playback software
- File History, the new backup feature of Windows 8 described above, replaces Backup and Restore, the former backup app, and Previous Versions, a component of Windows Explorer that saves previous versions of changed files. Backup and Restore is deprecated but will continue to work on preset schedule on computers that upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8. Previous Versions no longer protects local files, although it is still available to access previous versions of shared files stored on a Windows Server computer. Shadow Copy, the subsystem component based on which these worked, however, is still available for other software to use.
Review:
So, my review is that you should definitely go for buying a windows 8 product cd and install it.
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