Windows 8 Screenshots Leak, Show New Features
Several Windows 8 screenshots have leaked in the past, but they never revealed any new features of the upcoming Microsoft operating system. Some may have shown minor user interface changes, like the option to enable reboot after updates have been download and installed, but in general, nothing spectacular was shown.
This changed today with the leak of three screenshots on a Chinese Windows 7 website. What are those leaked screenshots showing?
The first Windows 8 screenshot shows the System Tray area of the taskbar. Notice the profile picture on the right of the tray icons? This icon indicates the logged in user. It is likely that it will load a user profile page of some sort when clicked on, maybe even offer fast user-switching capabilities. Interesting in this regard is the ability to log in with Windows Live ID credentials. It is not clear yet if those are somehow stored locally, or if an Internet connection is required to log into the operating system.
Linking the Windows Live ID could hint at additional features that are related to backups and online storage. Imagine how cool it would be to have all your profile data in the cloud if you want it, so that you could log into any other windows 8 operating system in the world. Windows 8 would pull the data from the cloud and you could use your desktop and tools. While this may or not be included, there will certainly be options to protect systems if it is implemented.
The second screenshot shows a window where user profile icons can be selected. Take a look at the second and third, notice that they are videos? It appears to be possible to use video avatars in Windows 8.
The last screenshot shows the taskbar again, this time during a driver installation. Notice the progress bar in the background of the icon? It is very similar to the progress bar that is displayed when files are moved or copied in Windows 7. It is likely that Windows 8 will show progress bars for all kind of installations and activities.
The article mentions other features. Windows 8 will feature a hard reset option to reset the operating system to factory default settings in two minutes. The Windows 8 installation will use considerably less time. The process has been reduced by the factor 2.5, or from 25 minutes to 8 minutes on Microsoft's test system (with 24 GB ram, 2TB hard drive, 8-core cpu).
Another addition is the Windows 8 app store which will be directly accessible in the operating system.
The faster installation time could be a blessing, provided that it does not only install a thin client but the full operating system.
Your take on Windows 8 so far? Let me know in the comments.
Advertisement
What mental age of reader are you targeting with the first sentence? 10?
Why not write an article on how to *avoid* upgrading from W10 to W11. Analogous to those like me who avoided upgrading from 7 to 10 for as long as possible.
If your paymaster Microsoft permits it, of course.
5. Rufus
6. Ventoy
PS. I hate reading these “SEO optimized” articles.
I used Rufus to create an installer for a 6th gen intel i5 that had MBR. It upgraded using Setup. No issues except for Win 11 always prompting me to replace my local account. Still using Win 10 Pro on all my other PCs to avoid the bullying.
bit pointless to upgrade for the sake of upgrading as you never know when you’ll get locked out because ms might suddenly not provide updates to unsupported systems.
ps…. time travelling?
written. Jan 15, 2023
Updated • Jan 13, 2023
This happens when you schedule a post in WordPress and update it before setting the publication date.
Anyone willing to downgrade to this awful OS must like inflicting themselves with harm.
I have become convinced now that anybody who has no qualms with using Windows 11/10 must fit into one of the following brackets:
1) Too young to remember a time before W10 and W11 (doesn’t know better)
2) Wants to play the latest games on their PC above anything else (or deeply needs some software which already dropped W7 support)
3) Doesn’t know too much about how computers work, worried that they’d be absolutely lost and in trouble without the “”latest security””
4) Microsoft apologist that tries to justify that the latest “features” and “changes” are actually a good thing, that improve Windows
5) Uses their computer to do a bare minimum of like 3 different things, browse web, check emails, etc, so really doesn’t fuss
Obviously that doesn’t cover everyone, there’s also the category that:
6) Actually liked W7 more than 10, and held out as long as possible before switching, begrudgingly uses 10 now
Have I missed any group off this list?
You have missed in this group just about any professional user that uses business software like CAD programs or ERP Programs which are 99% of all professional users from this list.
Linux doesn’t help anyone who is not a linux kid and apple is just a fancy facebook machine.
Microsoft has removed KB5029351 update
only from windows update though
KB5029351 is still available from the ms update catalog site
1. This update is labaled as PREVIEW if it causes issues to unintelligent people, then they shouldn’t have allowed Preview updates ot install.
2. I have installed it in a 11 years old computer, and no problems at all.
3. Making a big drama over a bluescreen for an updated labeled as preview is ridiculous.
This is probably another BS internet drama where people ran programs and scripts that modified the registry until they broke Windows, just for removing stuff that they weren’t even using just for the sake of it.
Maybe people should stop playing geeks and actually either use Windows 10 or Windows 11, but don’t try to modify things just for the sake of it.
Sometimes removing or stopping things (like defender is a perfect example) only need intelligence, not scripts or 3rd party programs that might mess with windows.
Windows 11 was a pointless release, it was just created because some of the Windows team wanted to boost sales with some sort of new and improved Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft cannot support one version well let alone two.
Windows 11 is the worst ugly shame by Microsoft ever. They should release with every new W11 version a complete free version of Starallback inside just to make this sh** OS functionally again.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released a statement regarding the “unsupported processor” blue screen error for their boards using Intel 600/700 series chipsets & to avoid the KB5029351 Win11 update:
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/MSI-On–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–Error-Message-of-Windows-11-Update-KB5029351-Preview-142215
check out the following recent articles:
Neowin – Microsoft puts little blame on its Windows update after UNSUPPORTED PROCESSOR BSOD bug:
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-puts-little-blame-on-its-windows-update-after-unsupported-processor-bsod-bug/
BleepingComputer – Microsoft blames ‘unsupported processor’ blue screens on OEM vendors:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-blames-unsupported-processor-blue-screens-on-oem-vendors/
While there may be changes or updates to the Windows 10 Store for Business and Education in the future, it is premature to conclude that it will be discontinued based solely on rumors.
My advice, I left win 15 years ago. Now I’m a happy linux user (linuxmint) but there is Centos, Fedora, Ubuntu depending on your needs.
motherboard maker MSI has recently released new BIOS/firmware updates for their Intel 600 & 700 series motherboards to fix the “UNSUPPORTED_PROCESSOR” problem (Sept. 6):
https://www.msi.com/news/detail/Updated-BIOS-fixes-Error-Message–UNSUPPORTED-PROCESSOR–caused-BSOD-on-MSI-s-Intel-700-and-600-Series-Motherboards-142277