Windows 8 Hacks: Tips & Tools for Unlocking the Power of Tablets and Desktops

Preston Gralla

Nov 2012 · "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

About this ebook

Windows 8 is quite different than previous Microsoft operating systems, but it’s still eminently hackable. With this book, you’ll learn how to make a variety of modifications, from speeding up boot time and disabling the Lock screen to hacking native apps and running Windows 8 on a Mac. And that’s just the beginning. You’ll find more than 100 standalone hacks on performance, multimedia, networking, the cloud, security, email, hardware, and more. Not only will you learn how to use each hack, you’ll also discover why it works.

• Add folders and other objects to the Start screen
• Run other Windows versions inside Windows 8
• Juice up performance and track down bottlenecks
• Use the SkyDrive cloud service to sync your files everywhere
• Speed up web browsing and use other PCs on your home network
• Secure portable storage and set up a virtual private network
• Hack Windows 8 Mail and services such as Outlook
• Combine storage from different devices into one big virtual disk
• Take control of Window 8 setting with the Registry

Ratings and reviews

Tell the truth in your title, please. This is simply how to use Windows 8. Hacks imply that you are making modifications to make it work in ways not intended by the original programmers. Everything I read here involved software native to the operating system. This tells you how to use it, not hack it.

Highly recommended for all (y)

Good

About the author

Preston Gralla is the author of more than 40 books that have been translated into 20 languages, including Galaxy S 5 The Missing Manual, Windows 8 Hacks, NOOK HD: The Missing Manual, Galaxy Tab: The Missing Manual, The Big Book of Windows Hacks, How the Internet Works, and How Wireless Works. He is a contributing editor to Computerworld, a blogger for ITWorld, and was a founding editor and then editorial director of PC/Computing, executive editor for CNet/ZDNet, and the founding managing editor of PC Week.He has written about technology for many national newspapers and magazines, including USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News (for whom he wrote a technology column), PC World, and numerous others. As a widely recognized technology expert, he has made many television and radio appearances, including on the CBS Early Show, MSNBC, ABC World News Now, and National Public Radio. Under his editorship, PC/Computing was a finalist for General Excellence in the National Magazine Awards. He has also won the “Best Feature in a Computing Publication” award from the Computer Press Association.Gralla is also the recipient of a Fiction Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife (his two children have flown the coop). He welcomes feedback about his books by email at [e-mail].