1. What Is Windows 8.1 Preview?Introducing Windows 8.1| 00:00 |
Windows 8.1 Preview was released as part
of Microsoft's annual developer conference
| | 00:05 |
and as a free preview for anyone that
currently is running Windows 8 on their system.
| | 00:10 |
Users of Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, and
Windows RT can install Windows 8.1 preview.
| | 00:16 |
Windows 8.1 preview isn't final release
software But it's a preview of what is to
| | 00:20 |
come later in the year when 8.1 ships.
In Windows 8.1 there are several new
| | 00:26 |
features on how you can work and manage
with your start screen that contain all of
| | 00:30 |
your applications.
The Start button has also returned to the
| | 00:33 |
desktop and there are some enhancements to
the onscreen keyboard when you use 8.1
| | 00:37 |
with tablets and touchscreen devices.
Search has been greatly enhanced in
| | 00:41 |
Windows 8.1 tying in with Bing with the
overall operating system to help bringing
| | 00:45 |
together in multiple formats and websites
to your search results directly into the
| | 00:49 |
operating system.
SkyDrive is integrated more fully into the
| | 00:52 |
operating system and performs file sync
seemlessly with Windows 8.1.
| | 00:57 |
Also your entire SkyDrive cloud storage is
available on your computer even if your
| | 01:02 |
computer's drive is smaller than your
online storage.
| | 01:04 |
It can pull down files from the cloud
seamlessly through the file storage or
| | 01:09 |
through the SkyDrive app.
In Windows 8.1 you can also display more
| | 01:13 |
than two modern uy applications at the
same time.
| | 01:16 |
You also have more options in how you want
to display these apps side by side.
| | 01:21 |
The number of apps you can display at the
same time varies based on the screen size
| | 01:25 |
and the pixel density of your system.
The PC settings app now includes many more
| | 01:29 |
options for customizing your system
without needing to go to the desktop
| | 01:33 |
control panel.
There also are more applications that are
| | 01:36 |
bundled with the system for Microsoft.
And there's been a complete refresh of the
| | 01:40 |
Xbox Music app that comes with Windows
8.1.
| | 01:43 |
Finally, if you're running Windows RT, the
operating system now comes with Outlook to
| | 01:48 |
complement the existing built-in Word,
Excel, PowerPoint and Window apps that are
| | 01:52 |
part of the system.
This is only part of Windows RT, which is
| | 01:56 |
the special arm based version of the
operating system that runs on devices like
| | 02:00 |
the Surface RT tablet.
These are some of the new major
| | 02:03 |
enhancements that are part of Windows 8.1
Preview.
| | 02:06 |
There are more improvements and features
that are planned for the final release as well.
| | 02:09 |
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| How to get Windows 8.1 Preview| 00:01 |
In this movie, I'll show you how to update
your Windows 8 system to Windows 8.1 Preview.
| | 00:06 |
From a Windows 8 computer, go to the
website preview.windows.com.
| | 00:12 |
From there, you can click on the Get It
Now button.
| | 00:15 |
In this example, I'm going to be doing
this from a Windows RT machine.
| | 00:18 |
If you are running Windows 8 or Windows 8
Pro, you'll automatically download the
| | 00:22 |
right version for your system.
When you click Get It Now, you'll then get
| | 00:26 |
the update.
One thing to note though is that the
| | 00:28 |
update is not actually Windows 8.1.
But instead will provision your computer
| | 00:33 |
to be able to download Windows 8.1 from
the Windows store.
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Note the recommendation to create a USB
recovery drive if you want to revert to
| | 00:41 |
the original version of Windows 8 later if
you wish to uninstall the preview.
| | 00:45 |
When your click Get The Update, you'll be
prompted to download and open an application.
| | 00:50 |
Click Open and the file will download and
then open up in desktop mode of Windows 8.
| | 00:56 |
You may see a request to approve the
install.
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Click OK to install the application.
You'll first see a security warning
| | 01:02 |
that'll ask you to confirm the install.
Click Open.
| | 01:06 |
The installer will then analyze your
system and initialize the installation.
| | 01:10 |
Next, it'll ask if you want to install the
update, and click Yes to continue.
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The installer will then go to work,
installing and updating your system with
| | 01:19 |
this update.
Again, this update isn't Windows 8.1
| | 01:22 |
itself, but will provision your computer
to be able to download from the Windows store.
| | 01:27 |
When it is done, you'll then need to
restart your computer.
| | 01:31 |
Click Restart Now to reboot and to
continue the installation.
| | 01:34 |
When you next boot your computer and go to
the Start screen, you'll see a
| | 01:38 |
notification that you can get the Windows
8.1 Preview for free.
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Click on the Go to the Store button to
begin the update.
| | 01:46 |
You'll then be presented with a Store page
to download either Windows 8.1 RT, Windows
| | 01:51 |
8.1, or Windows 8.1 Pro.
Click Download to begin.
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The download is over 2 gigabytes in size,
so make sure you're on a network that can
| | 02:00 |
support the download.
The Windows store will then begin and
| | 02:04 |
install the operating system.
When you're done, your system will reboot,
| | 02:09 |
and you will then be able to configure
your system.
| | 02:12 |
When your computer reboots you will then
be able to start personalizing your system.
| | 02:16 |
At first you can give your computer a
name, and a color to personalize the start
| | 02:20 |
screen and other aspects of the operating
system.
| | 02:22 |
I'm going to go ahead and give this a
quick name of My Computer.
| | 02:28 |
I'm then going to click next.
It will then ask what type of settings you
| | 02:32 |
wish to work with your computer.
The Express settings are listed here.
| | 02:36 |
If you wish to customize these, you can
click on Customize.
| | 02:39 |
Otherwise I'm going to go ahead and click
on Use Express Settings.
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Next it's going to ask you to connect this
PC to your Microsoft account.
| | 02:48 |
A Microsoft account is a free account that
you can create either here or through the
| | 02:52 |
websites of Outlook.com, SkyDrive.com or
on the Microsoft website itself.
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I'm going to go ahead and enter in my
Microsoft ID and then put int he password.
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Then I click Next.
When you create your Microsoft ID, you
| | 03:07 |
have a way of securing your account
through various modes.
| | 03:10 |
You can be asked to confirm this computer
through using a text message.
| | 03:15 |
Or you'll get a code on your cell phone
the that you then enter into your computer
| | 03:18 |
to confirm your account.
There also are other options, including
| | 03:22 |
getting an email to your email address.
Or if you have the Microsoft authenticator
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application linked to your Microsoft ID,
you can use that on your phone to then
| | 03:31 |
secure the computer.
I'm just going to go ahead and click text,
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and then I'm going to click next.
And then I'm going to get a text message
| | 03:39 |
on my cell phone which I can then enter
here to secure my computer.
| | 03:44 |
Once you've entered that in, click next to
continue.
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SkyDrive is also a way in which you can
take your photos, documents, and PC
| | 03:51 |
settings and synchronize them across
various computers.
| | 03:54 |
Or access them online through
SkyDrive.com.
| | 03:58 |
If you wish to have your camera role and
PC settings synced to the cloud, click on
| | 04:03 |
Use skydive.
It will then create your account on your
| | 04:07 |
computer, which is linked to your
Microsoft ID.
| | 04:10 |
Your computer may need to restart a couple
of times in order to get everything set up
| | 04:14 |
in your computer for Windows 8.1 preview.
When your computer reboots it's then
| | 04:20 |
going to set everything up on your
computer.
| | 04:22 |
Including making sure that all of the
built in applications are configured and installed.
| | 04:26 |
This will take a few minutes in order for
everything to get set up and ready.
| | 04:31 |
When everything's installed, you then have
access to the Windows Start Screen and
| | 04:35 |
your account is now linked to your
Microsoft ID.
| | 04:37 |
And you can begin using Windows 8.1
preview.
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2. Sampling the New Features of Windows 8.1Exploring Start screen enhancements| 00:00 |
In this video, we'll take a look at some
of the new enhancements that have been
| | 00:03 |
added to the start screen of Windows 8.1
preview.
| | 00:08 |
As you can see, there are multiple sizes
for the various live tiles that are part
| | 00:12 |
of the start screen.
We currently have the basic normal tile,
| | 00:16 |
the wide tile, and then there are two new
formats.
| | 00:20 |
The large tile and then also the small
tile.
| | 00:23 |
On a touchscreen, you can push and hold on
any one of these tiles to then customize
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its options.
With a keyboard or mouse, right click on a
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tile to be able to access its various
properties.
| | 00:38 |
From here down at the bottom you can then
click on resize.
| | 00:43 |
You then have the option of creating a
small tile, a medium tile, a wide tile, or
| | 00:49 |
a large tile.
Not all tiles will be able to support the
| | 00:56 |
large format.
All tiles can support the small, normal
| | 01:00 |
and wide format.
I'm going to create this back to the way
| | 01:04 |
it was.
In addition, I can select multiple tiles
| | 01:09 |
and then be able to move them all at the
same time.
| | 01:13 |
You'll that now it shows the number of
tiles that I'm moving, and when I drop
| | 01:16 |
them, you'll see that they now position
the right locations.
| | 01:20 |
In addition, while I'm in this selection
mode, I can also name the group of each of
| | 01:25 |
these various tiles.
In this case I'm going to create a simple
| | 01:28 |
name here called General tools.
When I click outside of this, it then
| | 01:35 |
applies that name and gets me back into
the normal mode of the start screen.
| | 01:40 |
Now, in addition there are multiple ways I
can now customize the start screen.
| | 01:43 |
If I move over to the right hand side with
my mouse and access the charm list I can
| | 01:48 |
then access the settings.
Personalize allows me to customize the
| | 01:53 |
colors of my start screen.
I'm going to go ahead and click on personalize.
| | 01:58 |
And you'll see that there are various
background I can now use to apply to my
| | 02:02 |
Windows start screen.
I can click through any one of these to
| | 02:05 |
apply these onto the screen, and you'll
see that the colors that are now available
| | 02:11 |
as synchronize to these various
backgrounds.
| | 02:14 |
If I wish to customize any of these, I can
go ahead down to the background color,
| | 02:19 |
select a color down here at the bottom and
then select a various hue or shade.
| | 02:26 |
All these colors are then reflected in the
dynamic background that's part of Windows 8.1.
| | 02:32 |
Something that's been added into Windows
8.1.
| | 02:34 |
Is the ability for your desktop wallpaper
to now be displayed as part of the start
| | 02:39 |
screen itself.
In this case, this lower right hand option
| | 02:43 |
is the desktop wallpaper.
If I click that, and that applies my
| | 02:47 |
desktop wallpaper to my start screen.
I click out of this, the settings will
| | 02:51 |
disappear, and when I click to the desktop
you'll see the start screen now just hides
| | 02:58 |
instead of changing the entire view of the
background of the start screen.
| | 03:02 |
To go back, I can now go down here to the
lower left hand corner and click the Start
| | 03:07 |
button, which is now back on Windows 8.1
preview.
| | 03:10 |
When I click this, it then displays the
start screen again.
| | 03:14 |
Also as part of the new start screen is
being able to access all the applications
| | 03:17 |
on your system.
With your mouse, if you move down to the
| | 03:21 |
bottom you'll see a down arrow.
Using your fingers, if you have a
| | 03:24 |
touchscreen, you can swipe up the start
screen to display all the applications
| | 03:29 |
that are installed on your system.
The applications here are displayed in a
| | 03:33 |
horizontal format showing all the Apps
that are installed on your computer.
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If you have your Microsoft account linked
to multiple computers, this will also
| | 03:42 |
display applications that you have
installed or purchased on other computers,
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but haven't installed on this one.
You can then unclick and then install
| | 03:50 |
those applications.
In addition, you can change the way that
| | 03:53 |
these are displayed.
By default, it's showing them by name, but
| | 03:58 |
I can also show this by date installed.
By the ones that I have the access the most.
| | 04:04 |
Or by various categories.
In addition, if I wish to assign a
| | 04:08 |
particular app I can then move to the
search field and then find the application
| | 04:13 |
that I wish to launch.
These features allow you to customize your
| | 04:18 |
start screen in many more ways than
previously available in Windows 8.0.
| | 04:23 |
To recap, you now have the ability of
displaying tiles at larger or smaller
| | 04:27 |
sizes to have more variability of how you
wish to customize your start screen.
| | 04:31 |
You can also customize the colors that are
used as part of the dynamic start screen backgrounds.
| | 04:36 |
Or you can use your desktop background to
create a more seamless experience between
| | 04:39 |
your start screen and your desktop mode.
In addition, you can access all of your
| | 04:44 |
applications and organize them by various
formats.
| | 04:47 |
And also see applications that are
installed on other computers.
| | 04:50 |
But aren't installed on this computer that
you're currently working with.
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| Using the Search charm| 00:00 |
In Windows 8.1 preview, Search has been
completely redone.
| | 00:04 |
Integrating search results into Bing to
give you more curative results for various searches.
| | 00:08 |
To access the search, I'm going to go
ahead and open up the Search charm.
| | 00:14 |
From the Search charm, I can now search
from various locations.
| | 00:17 |
Right now it's saying everywhere.
I can also limit this to just Settings,
| | 00:21 |
Files, Web Images, or Web Videos.
I'm going to keep this set on Everywhere.
| | 00:26 |
I'm going to search for something pretty
basic.
| | 00:30 |
Let's look up Billy Joel.
And then I'm going to press the Enter key.
| | 00:35 |
Bing is then going to pullback a number of
new search results for me that are created
| | 00:39 |
in this app-like experience that combined
both images, music,albums, videos and
| | 00:46 |
other aspects that are part of Billy Joel.
As you can see, it's now showing his age,
| | 00:51 |
his birth date.
I can access top songs form Xbox music.
| | 00:55 |
If I have the Wikipedia application
installed, I can link directly to that app
| | 00:59 |
to read a biography on Billy Joel.
I can listen to any one of his popular songs.
| | 01:04 |
And if I scroll to the right, I can see
other information including albums,
| | 01:09 |
images, videos, and also websites that
show previews of each one of the different sites.
| | 01:16 |
Search also has some other enhancements as
well.
| | 01:19 |
If I go ahead and click no the Search icon
up here, I can then also search for
| | 01:23 |
applications on my computer.
From here, I can access the Control Panel
| | 01:27 |
as well as any other popular options or
other things that are related to the
| | 01:31 |
Control Panel.
Let me look up something around Printer Settings.
| | 01:36 |
With Printer, I've been able to access
Device Settings.
| | 01:39 |
After typing, I can press the down arrow,
and open up the Device Settings.
| | 01:44 |
As you can see, Search has been greatly
expanded to give you more research results
| | 01:48 |
that are better integrated into the
operating system.
| | 01:51 |
I can also search for files, system
settings, or other information anywhere on
| | 01:56 |
the Internet via Bing.
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| Adjusting settings and customization| 00:00 |
Another enhancement in Windows 8.1
Preview, are the increased number of
| | 00:04 |
settings you can access to customize your
computer.
| | 00:06 |
To access these settings, I'm going to
move my mouse over to the right hand
| | 00:11 |
corner and access the charm for settings.
To access the PC settings, you click on
| | 00:16 |
change PC settings at the lower half of
the screen.
| | 00:21 |
When you access the PC settings, you now
have many more options, including being
| | 00:25 |
able to access your PC and devices, to
change background, slideshow for the start
| | 00:30 |
screen, lock screen applications, and also
be able to access your camera from the
| | 00:35 |
lock screen.
Features that were part previously of the
| | 00:39 |
Control Panel, are now available in this
PC settings application.
| | 00:43 |
Including being able to customize your
Display, working with Bluetooth devices,
| | 00:49 |
accessing the various Devices of your
computer, customizing the Mouse or
| | 00:53 |
trackpad, Changing typing settings,
adjusting how applications can switch and
| | 01:00 |
how you can navigate to various aspects of
Windows 8.1 through the corners.
| | 01:05 |
Customizing your screen and sleep
settings, changing how Autoplay works with
| | 01:09 |
various devices and basic information
about your computer.
| | 01:13 |
In addition, you can now search for
various settings inside of the PC settings app.
| | 01:18 |
For example, if I want to access my
Bluetooth settings, I can just start
| | 01:22 |
typing bluetooth and click on the
bluetooth settings, which will then take
| | 01:26 |
me to that part of this application.
With the expanded options that are part of
| | 01:31 |
the PC settings application, you now no
longer have to go back to the control
| | 01:35 |
panel that's part of the desktop.
| | 01:36 |
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| Exploring SkyDrive enhancements| 00:00 |
In Windows 8.1 preview SkyDrive is
integrated much deeper into the Operating System.
| | 00:06 |
Lets go ahead and launch the SkyDrive
application.
| | 00:10 |
When linked with your Microsoft ID you now
have access to seven gigabytes of storage
| | 00:14 |
with SkyDrive.
When you navigate with SkyDrive, you can
| | 00:17 |
access the various folders of your
Skydrive account.
| | 00:20 |
I'm going to go ahead and do pictures.
In this folder I've got some travel
| | 00:24 |
pictures that I can then access on my
computer.
| | 00:26 |
If I right-click one of these files,
you'll see that the option down here says
| | 00:31 |
to make if offline.
By default, SkyDrive files are located
| | 00:35 |
only in the cloud.
And now the option of making this
| | 00:38 |
available offline.
By clicking this button, it will then make
| | 00:42 |
this file offline, so I can access it if
I'm not connected to the Internet.
| | 00:47 |
It's now downloading the file, and as you
can see, it's now available offline.
| | 00:51 |
SkyDrive is also integrated into the
desktop.
| | 00:54 |
I'm going to go back to the Start screen
and then access my desktop.
| | 00:59 |
From here I'm going to open up the File
Explorer.
| | 01:03 |
Within the File Explorer you'll see that
there's a section here for SkyDrive.
| | 01:07 |
All the files for SkyDrive, whether
they're locally on my computer, or
| | 01:11 |
available only in the cloud are now
available in the File Explorer.
| | 01:14 |
If I go into my Pictures folder you'll see
that the same images that were in my
| | 01:18 |
SkyDrive app are now available inside the
File Explorer.
| | 01:23 |
I can go ahead and take that file and if
you look at the bottom its available offline.
| | 01:28 |
The other images are available online
only.
| | 01:31 |
Now even though they are available online
I can take these, and double-click them,
| | 01:36 |
to open it up in SkyDrive.
And download the file so that I can access
| | 01:40 |
it here in the application.
Now the file hasn't actually been
| | 01:44 |
downloaded to my local machine.
It's only accessing the file in the cloud.
| | 01:48 |
From the desktop, if I wish to access
these files locally, I can right-click and
| | 01:53 |
say, make available offline.
We'll then download that file and now it's
| | 01:58 |
available offline.
What's nice about this is if I have a
| | 02:02 |
computer that has maybe a small hard
drive.
| | 02:05 |
I can still have all my SkyDrive files
available to me regardless of the size of
| | 02:09 |
my local computer's hard drive.
Now, after I've downloaded a file from
| | 02:13 |
SkyDrive, if I wish to make it available
only online.
| | 02:17 |
I can right click on the file here and
say, make available online only.
| | 02:22 |
That will then remove the file from my
local machine, sync it back to SkyDrive
| | 02:27 |
and make it available only online.
I can also do this from the SkyDrive app.
| | 02:32 |
If I right click on this available offline
folder I can now say, make this online only.
| | 02:39 |
I can use this to save space on my local
machine, but still have access to all the
| | 02:44 |
files when I'm connected to the internet
with SkyDrive.
| | 02:47 |
You can also access some of the settings
to SkyDrive from the PC settings application.
| | 02:51 |
If I go down to Settings and go to Change
PC Settings, I can access settings for SkyDrive.
| | 03:00 |
It first shows me the amount of storage I
have and how much of that is used.
| | 03:04 |
If I wish to buy additional storage I can
click the Buy More Storage button.
| | 03:08 |
I can then access settings for files.
By default when I save files it will allow
| | 03:13 |
me to save them directly into skydive.
When I'm working with local applications
| | 03:18 |
they'll save them so that they are
available offline so that they are also on
| | 03:21 |
my local computer.
Using the Camera Raw, if I'm taking
| | 03:25 |
pictures with my computer, I can have
those files be uploaded automatically to SkyDrive.
| | 03:30 |
I can also toggle on whether or not I want
videos to be uploaded to SkyDrive there
| | 03:34 |
taken with the camera app.
Finally I can access the Sync settings and
| | 03:39 |
all the various personalization options
that I put on to my computer.
| | 03:42 |
To synchronize across all the computers
that are linked to my Microsoft ID.
| | 03:46 |
This includes settings for my computer as
well as back up for settings that aren't
| | 03:50 |
necessarily synced between computers.
Personalization of the Start Screen, the
| | 03:54 |
appearance, desktop personalization.
And other settings including My Favorites,
| | 04:00 |
Open Tabs, Pages, Histories, and Settings
for the web browsers.
| | 04:04 |
Then other settings including Files
Explorer, Mouse, Printer and others.
| | 04:08 |
Now if I'm working with a metered
connection, for example a tablet that
| | 04:11 |
might have a SIM card installed or if I'm
tethered to a mobile hotspot or through
| | 04:16 |
internet sharing on my phone.
I have the ability to check that and
| | 04:19 |
change whether or not these settings are
synched over these metered connections to
| | 04:23 |
preserve band wish on my mobile account.
| | 04:24 |
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