How To Disable Windows 8 Automatic Maintenance Or Change Its Time

Microsoft reiterated that Windows 8 has been built upon the solid foundations of its predecessor. Well, there is no denying this fact, because apart from looking stunning, Windows 8 includes several robust features under the hood that make it fast, stable and snappy, just like the previous version. One of the refreshing additions to this feature-set is automatic system maintenance (also called Regular Maintenance), which checks for software updates, system diagnostics and security scanning tasks, on regular basis. This option ensures that maintenance tasks are performed at a specified time, provided you’re not around and the system is idle. In what follows, we will guide you through the process of changing time settings to run the daily maintenance task, whether to allow the schedule maintenance to wake your machine, as well as disable this feature if you don’t need it.

Change Scheduled Maintenance Time

To change time settings for automatic system maintenance, click the Action Center icon in the System Tray followed by ‘Open Action Center’. Alternatively, you can access the Action Center from the Control Panel.

In the Action Center window, click the arrow beside Maintenance to expand its settings, and then click ‘Change maintenance settings’ under the Automatic Maintenance section, as demonstrated in the screenshot below.

Here, you can choose the maintenance time according to your liking. Windows 8 sets this time to 3:00 AM by default, but you can change it to any other time. Furthermore, you can enable/disable the optional ‘Allow scheduled maintenance to wake up my computer at the scheduled time’. When done, click OK to apply the changes. If prompted by the UAC, simply click the Yes button.

Disable Automatic Maintenance

Apart from changing time parameters, you can also disable the Automatic Maintenance option altogether. This can done from within the Windows Task Scheduler utility. To do so, press Win+W to call the Search Charm and type “task scheduler” or “schedule tasks”. Selecting Schedule tasks from the left will launch the Task Scheduler window.

Task Scheduler is Window’s native utility that allows various system or user applications to be launched or triggered automatically at a user defined time. It houses three navigation panes. The left pane lets you select the task, the center pane contains information regarding the selected task, while the right pane contains further pertaining actions.

From  the left pane, navigate to:

Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > TaskScheduler

Right click ‘Regular Maintenance’ from the center pane and select Disable from its context menu.

That’s it! You have successfully disabled Regular Maintenance.

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Krento Is A Nifty Windows Widget & App Launcher With Multiple Skins

How about embellishing your desktop with some fancy stones? Okay, I kid, but apparently that’s what this new application called Krento is all about, though the ‘stones’ in question are quite functional, rather than merely cosmetic. It’s a fascinating Windows freeware that amalgamates the essence of an app dock, an application launcher and a widgets creator by letting you add fancy looking shortcuts for applications, folders, files and website URLs for instantaneous and quick access. Furthermore, you can add Toys (Windows Vista-like desktop gadgets), customize skins and do much more, all in an aesthetically pleasing interface.

Once installed, the application adds a pulser icon near the Taskbar and double-clicking it activates Krento’s main UI. Alternatively, you can click the mouse scroll wheel button to launch the app.

Krento displays a widget on your desktop called Circle. A number of varying application and miscellaneous stones – basically the shortcuts that revolve around the orbit of the circle – can be added, ranging from a shortcut of your favorite web browser to a web link of your Facebook account. You can create as many circles as you want, albeit the application displays only one circle at a time. In addition, there is no practical limitation regarding the number of selected stones either. The bar at the center of the circle contains navigation buttons for Applications, Settings, Select Circle, Default and Power Management. It’s worth mentioning that the stones can be revolved via the mouse scroll wheel.

Krento comes with two stock circles out of the box  - Desktop and Default. However, you may add additional circles via hitting ‘Select Circle’ on the main widget and clicking ‘Create new circle’. You can specify a circle’s name, icon and a mini description according to your preference.

Likewise, a wide-array of stones can be added to the selected circle. The options include regular or special system folders (Documents, Pictures, Music), Recycle Bin, system power options (Restart, Shutdown, Standby), system utilities, Control Panel, URLs of social networking and other sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yahoo, Wikipedia etc.), and much more. To add a stone, hit  Ctrl + A and choose your desired stone from the list.

The software also features an application search panel that can be triggered from the center bar on the main UI. The search function helps in quickly opening an application via entering its name in the search field and then clicking its icon within the console. If a keyword matches multiple items, it displays all the pertaining results. This can come handy as a quick app launcher similar to Launchy or Executor.

You can also right-click the widget and select additional options and actions from the context menu. These sllow you to select a circle, delete or modify an item, add a stone, move to the next or previous circle, change the current skin, and access the app’s options.

There’s a wide variety of skins to choose from including Aero Royale, Aero Touch, Astro Grey, Bloosom and Krento Brushed, just to name a few. Just click a skin and it will be applied in a jiffy.

Upon right-clicking the Pulser, you will be be presented with context menu that has options to install new stones, toys and Krento skins. Toys are basically gadgets for Calendar, Clock, CPU usage etc. that you can add to the desktop.

Krento’s Settings window allows you to configure a host of different parameters under General, Tuning and Circle sections. You can toggle auto startup behavior, specify launch hotkey for both the keyboard and mouse, change circle location and default language, modify the size, transparency and radius of the circle, and so on.

Krento’s eye candy seems dated by today’s standards when we compare it to modern user interfaces but for those who are fond of UI elements from the past decades or just want to use it as a productivity tool, it can come quite handy. It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Download Krento

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Turn Off App Switcher & Charms Bar Hot Corners In Windows 8

Hot Corners is one of the major new features in Windows 8. They are basically the four corners of the screen that bring App Switcher, Charms Bar and Start Tile into focus when you move the mouse pointer over their pertaining areas. App Switcher appears when you move the cursor to the top-left; likewise Charms Bar resides on the right edge and appears when the pointer touches the top or bottom-right corners. However, both the top-left and right corners can be quite distracting and annoying under certain circumstances. We have covered a few tools to disable these corners, but if you’re looking for a way to prevent the Charms bar and Switcher from appearing via hot corners without entirely disabling them with a tool, a simple registry hack can do this job.

The screenshot below demonstrates how the Switcher corner blots out Firefox’s orange button and prevents you from accessing any settings if you hover your pointer too close to the corner. Since App Switcher can be accessed from the bottom-left corner as well, this registry hack can remove this hassle by disabling the top-left corner only.

First, you need to open the Registry Editor. To do this, open Start Screen, type ‘regedit’ and press enter. Once Registry Editor is open, navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell

Right-click ImmersiveShell and select ‘New’ followed by clicking ‘Key’ from the context menu.

After creating the key, name it ‘EdgeUI’ (without the quotes) and press enter. Next, you need to create a new DWORD value within the EdgeUI key. Right-click the said key and then click New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the newly created value ‘DisableTLcorner’ (again, without the quotes).

Follow the aforementioned steps again to create another DWORD value, this time renaming it as ‘DisableCharmsHint’ (without the quotes).

Double click the DisableTLcorner value, enter 1 in the Value data field and click OK. This will disable the top-left App Switcher corner, though you may still access it from the bottom-left corner after moving the curser in upper direction from there.

Now, double click DisableCharmsHint and enter 1 in Value data before clicking OK. This will prevent the Charms bar from appearing when the curser touches the top and bottom-right corners. You can still access Charms Bar via moving the curser downwards or upwards from these corners.

After modifying the DWORD values, close the Registry Editor and restart your PC for the changes to take effect. The top-left corner won’t keep you anymore accessing anything now, such as the Firefox button. Likewise, the Charms to the right won’t distract you in tasks like closing a desktop window.

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Manually Download & Install Windows Phone Apps Through SD Card

It was a big deal when Microsoft announced that Windows Phone 8 will have SD card support, since WP user had been asking for this feature for a long time since the launch of Windows Phone 7. Although WP8 devices have been around for more than a month now, not a lot of people have gotten around to getting really familiar with everything their phone’s SD card can do. You might not know, for instance, that the card is not only for media files, but can also help you in installing large apps that you don’t want to download directly on your phone. This feature can come handy if you don’t have Wi-Fi or high speed data connection on your phone, and the app you want to install is really large. The process is quite easy, especially since WP8 assist you in every step along the way.

The method can be quite useful for sharing large apps with your friends, or deploying them on multiple devices in the same household or organization. Here’s how it works regarding paid and free app:

• If the app is available for free on Windows Phone Store, you will be able to install it with no issue.
• If the app is paid on Windows Phone Store and you have already purchased it in the past, you will be able to install it with no issue.
• If the app is paid on Windows Phone Store and you don’t own it already, you will be able to install the free trial, or purchase it and install the full version.
• If the app is not found on Windows Phone Store, you will not be allowed to install it, even if it is completely free.

As you can see, this method will not allow you to sideload third-party apps that haven’t been published on Windows Phone Store. Still, the app won’t be downloaded to the phone; Windows Phone Store will only be used to verify its authenticity due to Microsoft’s anti-piracy measures, and to make sure apps that haven’t been approved by Microsoft don’t make their way to Windows Phone devices to avoid the spread of malware.

That said, here’s how to install apps to Windows Phone devices using their XAP files.

Instructions

1. Make sure you have an active Wi-Fi or cellular data connection on your phone, as it will be required for authentication purposes.
2. From your computer, go to the Windows Phone Store by entering the following URL in the web browser:

   http://www.windowsphone.com/store

3. Using the search bar provided in the top-right corner, look for the app you want to install.
4. On the app’s dedicated page, scroll down and find the option marked ‘Download and install manually’. It is available in the column below the main installation button at the left of the screen.
5. Click this option. Depending on your browser settings, it will ask you to save the XAP file, or automatically start downloading it.
6. Connect your SD card to the computer using a card reader, and transfer the downloaded file to it. Alternatively, you can connect the card to the computer before downloading the file, and save the file directly to it by specifying the appropriate download location.
7. Once the download is complete, remove the card and insert it into your WP8.
8. Go to the WP Store hub (formerly Marketplace) on your phone and select the SD card option from its main page.
9. The Store hub is smart enough to distinguish between media files and XAPs, and only display installable files when the card is accessed from it. Make sure your phone has an active data connection, and tap the correct XAP file.

Unlike in iTunes, you won’t be asked to sign in to any account when downloading the file on a computer, as all verification is done on-device.

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Customize Windows 8 Installation & Create Unattended Setup ISO

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Windows 8 is not just about its new and fluid Modern UI; the installation time and the amount of disk space consumed by the OS has also been greatly reduced compared to its predecessor. However, this fast installation does come at the cost of less customization options; in fact, there are hardly any. You cannot choose the components to be installed or leave out the ones not required. If you’ve been looking for a way to customize your Windows 8 installation, WinReducer 8 is what you need. This freeware lets you customize Windows 8 setup from scratch via creating an ISO file from an existing installation disk or ISO. Furthermore, it lets you create an unattended Windows 8 installation ISO, so you won’t have to sit in front of your computer during the whole setup process.

WinReducer 8 is a portable application, and its downloadable ZIP archive contains both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the tool. After extracting the files, simply execute the appropriate version for your computer.

The application is currently in alpha, though everything it offers works as advertised. The main interface is minimal, and pffers ‘Open’ and ‘Change Mount Folder’ buttons. Note that if you are using an ISO file of Windows 8 setup, you’ll need to extract all the files from the ISO package into a separate folder before proceeding. You can use your favorite comressed files utility for the purpose; we recommend the free and excellent 7-zip.

Open to select the said directory, point to the disk drive with your Windows 8 installation disc or choose the folder where you extracted the ISO’s contents, select your Windows 8 edition and click Mount.

Sit back and let the application fetch all the information contained within the ISO or physical disc, after which it will let you customize the setup.

The tool will let you select any unwanted features that you want to exclude. Simply mark the the components that are not required such as Accessories, Drivers, Fonts, Languages, Themes, Services etc., under the Components Reducer tab.

The Customization tab helps you make further optimization and tweaking, for instance you can remove the Charms bar, hide desktop icons, remove files and settings from Windows Explorer, clean unneeded files and so on. Likewise, it allows you to select a default Lockscreen, Wallpaper, and custom theme.

The Unattended feature of the tool is a big time saver. It lets you specify your Windows 8 serial number, so you don’t have to enter it each time you performing the installation. In addition, you can select a custom background image for the setup program, provided the image dimensions don’t exceed 1024 x 786 pixels.

Once everything is in place, apply your changes and let the tool work its magic based on your selection.

Lastly, select ‘Save in WIM file and create a new ISO’. You may also change the destination folder, ISO name, and ISO label before hitting Save to create the ISO.

Testing of the tool was carried out on Windows 8, 64-bit edition.

Download WinReducer 8

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Disable Windows 8 App Notifications Or Change Their Duration

Microsoft’s decision to release the exact same interface for both the PC and tablet versions of Windows 8 has its pros and cons. On one hand, this means users won’t have to learn two different types of operating systems to use different devices, while on the other, it makes certain features seem redundant, depending on the device you are using. While Windows 8 offers default settings to enable or disable some of these features, there are a lot that cannot be toggled without the use of third party tools. One particular feature, Windows Store app notifications, however, is something that can be tweaked according to your liking using native options. You can either change the time that an app notification stays on the screen, or disable Lock Screen and app notifications altogether. In this post, we will explain how you can alter both settings.

Disable Lock Screen & App Notifications

App notifications can be easily disabled from the Notifications category in PC Settings. Open the Charms bat and choose Settings > Change PC Settings to access the PC settings app. From the left side, select the Notifications category to reveal all the related options. At the top, there are ‘Show app notifications’, ‘Show app notifications on the Lock Screen’ and ‘Play notification sounds’ toggles. In order to complete turn off all types of notifications for all apps, just turn off the Show app Notifications option.

Other than turning off notifications for all installed apps, you can do so selectively as well. The lower part of the Notifications settings screen allows you to turn off notifications for individual apps of your choice.

Change Visibility Duration Of Notifications

The duration that each notification stays on the screen can be changed using the settings available inside he Ease of Access Center. Open the Start Screen, type “ease of access center” and select Settings from the right side to see it in the search results.

Once on the Ease of Access Center window, scroll down and look for the ‘Make it easier to focus on tasks’ option.

Again, scroll down and look for ‘Adjust time limits and flashing visuals’ section.

Under ‘How long should Windows notification dialog boxes stay open’, open the drop down menu to choose a time of your liking. The available options include 5, 7, 15, and 30 seconds, as well as 1 and 5 minutes; 5 seconds is set by default. Click OK to save the changes.

This how-to applies to both Windows 8 and RT.

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How to Easily Change Window Border Width & Padding In Windows 8

Content before chrome – that’s one of the two principles of Microsoft’s ‘Metro’ design language. Yet when you look at the Desktop in Windows 8, there are still plenty of places where chrome can be further reduced for better looking content.  Heavily padded windows borders are a good example of that. We have previously discussed how you can change window border size in one of our earlier posts on thebest Windows 8 tweaks, hacks and tips but that method involves heading deep down into the dreaded Windows Registry and manually changing values stored in oddly-named variables – something certain people feel is a little too risky, even though it isn’t if you follow the instructions properly. If the idea of editing your computer’s registry makes you uncomfortable, fret not! We have found a useful little app called ‘Tiny Windows Borders’ that lets you change the dimensions of your windows borders with sliders. Now that sounds much safer, doesn’t it?

Tiny Windows Borders is a portable app that doesn’t require any installation. All you have to do is download it from the link provided at the end of this post, extract the contents of the zip file using your favorite tool, and launch the extracted TinyWindowsBorders.exe file. You will be presented with this interface:

All you need to do now is simply play around with the two sliders for Border Width and Border Padding until you find a setting for both that works for you, and then click ‘Apply’.

I personally reduced Border Padding all the way down to 1 unit. It looks perfect to me, but then it’s a personal choice.

Download Tiny Windows Borders

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Scroll Inside Inactive Windows With Mouse Wheel

People with large monitors or a multi-monitor setup normally have a lot of windows open on their desktop. In order to view information from different sources, we need to switch between different windows and scroll up and down through the information visible on them. If you are a Mac user, you can scroll the inactive windows without first bringing them into focus. Windows on the other hand, does not have this feature. If you want to scroll up, down, left or right, you have to first select the window and bring it to the front. This causes your currently focused window to get out of focus, which you might not want. That’s where Mouse Hunter comes to the rescue. It is a third-party tool that simply allows you to scroll the content of even those windows that are not in focus. Instead of clicking a window to bring it to focus, you just have to move your mouse pointer over it and viola! Moreover, it lets you scroll the windows horizontally using the same scroll button. Keep reading to find out more about Mouse Hunter.

Once installed, the app runs quietly in the system tray. Upon first start, the Settings window pops up, allowing you to specify the default application behavior. The options are divided into two sections: Main and Smart Mouse Wheel. The Main section deals with options like choosing to Start Mouse Hunter with Windows, Show Information Balloon on Start, Start Mouse Hunter as Disabled, and Write Log File. The log file can help with debugging or reporting any issues and clicking the Open button in front of the Write log file option, you can view its contents without having to navigate to the application folder.

The Smart Mouse Wheel section contains options to set the button behavior. The ‘No scroll is middle button’ option can be confusing at first glance, but it basically means that once enabled, a window cannot be scrolled if the middle mouse button is pressed. The next two options allow you to easily enable horizontal scrolling by using the scroll wheel in combination with the SHIFT or CONTROL keys, while the last two options let you do the same using the left or right click buttons of your mouse in combination with the scroll wheel. Once you have configured the options the way you want, click OK to save the settings and you are good to go!

Mouse Hunter works on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Download Mouse Hunter

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Cinelab - A Simple Video Editor For Windows 8

Almost every major modern computer platform offers some kind of video editing feature. If you have been following us for a while,  you must have come across our coverage of dozens of video editing tools for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac OS X. Today, we are bringing you video editing application for Windows 8 called Cinelab. While not exceptionally feature-laden, the app allows you to edit and merge your video clips into a single seamless file. The output file is processed and converted to MP4 format, and then saved to the directory of your choice. The interface looks clean, simple and easy to use, and is fully optimized for Windows 8 PCs and Windows RT tablets.

To download Cinelab, open Store app from the Start Screen and highlight the Search Charm. Type ‘Cinelab’ in search and press enter. From the search results, select the app and then click or tap Install.

Upon launching Cinelab, you will be presented with its dark UI. At first, the app displays only a single tile with a small ‘Add Clip‘ button to its right. Clicking or tapping this button allows adding additional video clips in form of tiles. The interface also contains three more buttons at the bottom named Rewind, Play and Review. The Play button starts playback of the selected video as a Live tile, while the Rewind button starts the video from the beginning.

You can tweak some application-specific settings by clicking Settings in Charms Bar, followed by Export Options. You can make video and audio quality adjustments, specify average video bit rate in kbps, and toggle Audio Export.

Editing a clip is fairly easy. The selected clip shows a mini slider using which you can crop your desired video section. You can drag a video clip left or right in order to adjust the sequence of the final clip. You can also right-click anywhere on the screen to bring up additional navigation controls at the bottom. This includes Clone (to duplicate the selected tile), Select All, Clear Selection, Remove, Undo, Make Movie, New, Load and Save. The Save button enables you to store your project, so you may pick up the editing from where you left off. Clicking ‘Make Movie’ begins the conversion process.

Cinelab is available for free at Windows Store. However, the free version only allows merging up to 7 clips. To add more clips, you need to purchase an in-app Pro license. Testing was carried out on Windows 8 Pro, 64-bit.

Download Cinelab-Download

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How to Bring Back Windows 7 Explorer Toolbar In Windows 8

The latest installment of Windows from Microsoft comes with a lot of new features. The user opinion is divided, with some welcoming the new direction Windows is heading towards, while others complaining about deviating this much from what they have been using. To learn about the changes in the OS, check out our detailed review of all the new features introduced in Windows 8. Ever since the Consumer Preview of Windows 8 came out, people started getting an idea of the magnitude of changes they will have to face, such as the replacement of Start Menu with the Start Screen, and Explorer toolbar with the Ribbon UI. Developers are still coming up with tools that let users get back the feel of the previous versions by reintroducing the Windows 7 UI elements that are no longer present in Windows 8. Previously, we have covered several tools that bring back the Start Menu, and today we have a tool called Ribbon Disabler that disables the Ribbon UI and brings back the old Explorer toolbar.

Even though, the Ribbon UI contains a lot more options than the Explorer toolbar, the simplicity of the latter makes it a preferred choice for some users. When using the Ribbon UI, all file and folder-related options are divided into different tabs. Selecting a file, folder, drive or any other element brings up its relevant options in the top bar. However, the sheer amount of available options can sometimes prove to be confusing.

That’s where Ribbon Disabler comes in by allowing you to disable the Ribbon UI and replace it with the Explorer toolbar, all in just a single click. To do this, simply launch the tool. click the Disable Ribbon Explorer button, log off and log back on.

When you log back in, you will see the Ribbon UI replaced by the Explorer toolbar, complete with all the options found in the default Explorer toolbar from Windows 7.

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