Windows 8 Start Screen Editor: Change Background Image & Color Of Windows 8 Metro UI

Windows 8 Start Screen Editor: Change Background Image & Color Of Windows 8 Metro UI:

Windows 8 Start Screen Editor is a Windows 8 tweak that allows users to change the background image and color of the Windows 8 Metro UI. It provides simple options to change the Windows 8 Metro color (including color for the logon screen and other Metro elements), and/or to add an image for the Metro start screen. After this portable application is launched, it shows the default green background color with green shade texture of Windows 8 start menu (on the main interface of the app). You can either change only the background image, background color or both.

If you do no wish to add an image to the Metro Start Screen, then click Don’t use background image option. If you select a start screen image, make sure that it is in PNG format, and the height of the image is double the height of screen resolution to fill the entire screen. After you have selected desired options, click Patch. This will ask you to log off your computer, after which the changes will take effect.

The below screenshot demonstrates the changes applied to the Metro UI, with the help of Windows 8 Start Screen Editor.

It is advised that you create a system backup before performing this task, so that you can revert the changes (if required). For more information regarding backing up Windows 8, see our post: How To Refresh Or Reset Your Windows 8 PC [Complete Guide].

Download Windows 8 Start Screen Editor

[via intowindows]

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WinUSB: Create Bootable Windows Installer USB In Ubuntu Linux

WinUSB: Create Bootable Windows Installer USB In Ubuntu Linux:

WinUSB is an Ubuntu application for creating a Windows USB installer for Windows Vista and Windows 7. Like other applications that enable creating installer USBs, you can create a bootable (installation) USB from an ISO disc image or a DVD. While other tools like Unetbootin can perform similar tasks, however, WinUSB is much simpler than other competitors, and delivers a two-click solution for creating a Windows installer USB. This may be a blessing for users who may require creating a USB installer for Windows for dual booting it with Ubuntu or other Linux distributions. Similarly, you might require installing Windows on another system, but do not have Windows installed on a computer to utilize tools such as the Windows 7 USB DVD Tool.

To create your bootable installer disc, select an ISO image or CD/DVD disc, and click Install.

This will create your Windows Vista/7 installer USB. It is worth mentioning here that the tool might also work with Windows 8; however, it has not been tested. Having said that, the developer has mentioned that the supported images include, “Windows Vista, Seven+.” You can install WinUSB either from the Deb package given at the developer’s website (for Oneiric, Natty, Maverick and Lucid), or from the PPA given below.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:colingille/freshlight
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install winusb

Since WinUSB also works from the command line, you can create a Windows 7 or Windows Vista USB installer by following the command line format given below:

sudo winusb --format <iso path> <device>

Once the USB is formatted using the above method, install a Windows partition and edit the Master Boot Record:

sudo winusb --install <iso path> <partition>

[via WEBUPD8]

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RT Se7en Lite: Create Customizable Windows 7 Installation Disk/USB

RT Se7en Lite: Create Customizable Windows 7 Installation Disk/USB:

It can be difficult for common users to understand the complex process of creating an unattended installation disk (that requires for no manual interference during operating system installation), add custom wallpapers, themes, screensavers and other components to a Windows 7 disc. RT Se7en Lite is an application that simplifies the process of adding such features and creating an unattended installation disc/USB for Windows 7. Read on past the break for details on this useful little tool.

At startup, select a source for your Windows 7 installation package, e.g., an ISO file, and extract it to a destination folder. Make sure that you have ample space on your hard drive, as the Windows temp folder is also used by this application during the Windows 7 installation media creation process.

Once done, the Task tab will become clickable. Head over to Task and select the changes that you wish to perform. Selecting each option will allow you to make changes in the respective tab. For example, when you click Un-Attended, the Un-Attended tab will become active. Other options include ISO Bootable, Customization (both being important options), followed by Un-Attended, Tweaks, Components and Integration (optional). For detailed instructions, you can also refer to the step by step guide on the right side of the program in Task.

After selecting your desired features, click each respective tab and make appropriate changes. For example, you can add custom screensavers, themes, wallpaper, logon screen, gadgets, documents, sample, music. media sounds etc, from the Integration tab.

Once you have made all configurations, head over to the ISO Bootable tab and select a burning option (Direct Burn, Create Image, Burn Image, Erase RW or USB Bootable). Click Make ISO to proceed further.

This will burn your custom image to the selected media device.

The supported operating systems for RT Se7en Lite include Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 – SP2 and Windows Server 2008. For complete system requirements, we recommend that you check out the developer’s instructions here.

Download RT Se7en Lite

[via intowindows]

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What Are Physical & Logical Bad Sectors Of Hard Drive And How To Repair Them [Guide]

What Are Physical & Logical Bad Sectors Of Hard Drive And How To Repair Them [Guide]:

Amongst the list of potential hard disk faults and errors, bad cluster is one that doesn’t make it completely non-functional. Hard disk bad cluster, casually known as bad sector, is a small sector which doesn’t respond to read and write requests, and therefore, the device software, which is operating the hard drive, reports it as unusable sector. Bad sectors are usually categorized into two broad types; Physical bad sectors and Logical bad sectors. The former type of clusters on disk need to be mapped out to continue read and write operation on disks, whereas the logical bad sectors are usually reported by the operating system due to its inability to access the cluster on hard disk. In this post, we will briefly discuss each type of bad clusters, and look at some tools that may help you repair bad sectors on hard disk.

Physical Bad Sectors

Talking of physical bad sectors, it’s one of those sectors in hard disk that are physically damaged, and neither OS/disk controller can access them nor any type of read and write operations can be performed. In contrast to logical bad sectors, there are only a few chances that your hard drive will develop physical bad sectors. These type of bad clusters may develop when hard drives are manufactured. As you may know, there are millions of sectors on a hard drive (even billions, depending upon the capacity of storage medium), checking each sector on hard drive for bad sectors and resolving the issues with area having bad sectors is not only time consuming but cumbersome as well. For this reason, bad sectors are mapped out using numerous translator algorithms. It must be noted that physical bad sectors can not be repaired. They can only be mapped out of hard drive via specialized low-level disk repairing utilities. Once mapped out, disk controller or operating system doesn’t attempt to access those sectors for reading and writing data. Since physical bad sectors can’t be mapped out using conventional hard disk diagnostic and repair utilities, it’s recommended to buy a new hard drive, and send the hard disk with physical bad sectors to its manufacturer for recovering data from usable sectors.

Logical Bad Sectors

Unlike physical bad sectors, logical or soft bad sectors may develop on hard drives on account of many reasons. The logical bad sector is a sector which suddenly becomes inaccessible to disk controller software or OS. When an OS attempts to read / write data to logical bad sector, it takes quite a long time to complete the requested operation, and even if the operation gets completed with no apparent issues, users face problems while reading the data written on logical bad sectors. However, unlike physical bad sectors, this type of bad sectors are totally repairable. There are a wide range of hard disk repairing utilities available out there that can detect the areas with bad sectors and attempt to repair them. Unlike physical bad sectors, when logical bad sectors are repaired, users can read and write data to area of hard drive where logical bad sectors were existed. There are various reasons for the occurrence of logical bad sectors on the hard drive, including virus/malware infection, improper shut down, use of low-level disk format utility and more. A logical bad sector may also develop on a hard drive when a user attempts to save the recovered data from the drive where it’s being read from.

The modern storage mediums have an in-built spare sector pool that can help repairing logical bad sectors. The pool is responsible for replacing the bad sector (if developed on a hard drive) with usable, good sectors (in the pool), allowing user to seamlessly read and write data without facing any issues. However, the number of sectors designated to spare sector pool is limited, and if it runs out of spare sectors and then the hard disk develops a bad sector, user can fix them by either re-mapping the logical sectors with physical sectors using hard disk remapping utilities, or using zero-fill programs like DBAN, KIllDIsk etc., to fill the entire hard disk with zero bytes.

Checking Hard Disk For Bad Sectors

Just like its predecessors, Windows 7 comes with a built in disk utility called Check Disk to scan disk for discrepancies, and especially bad sectors. This utility also claims to repair the logical bad sectors via deep, thorough scan mode. While attempting to repair the bad sectors, it may ask you reboot the PC to check those portions of the hard disk which are not used while Windows is running. Additionally, it needs complete access to your PC, and therefore, can automatically quit any on-going process. If you frequently face read / write errors, BSoDs and other like issues, it’s advisable to deep scan each disk partition to check the presence of bad sectors. You can access Check Disk from the disk’s Properties dialog. Just right-click the drive you want to check for bad sectors, select Properties, head over to Tools tab, and then hit Check now.

This will launch Windows’ native Check Disk utility, allowing you to fix file system errors, and scan & recover bad sectors it found during the disk check process. As mentioned earlier, if it finds bad sector on your hard drive, you may require rebooting the system in order to fix them.

Check Disk offers a limited set of disk repairing mechanisms, and hence, you can’t rely upon it. After it successfully repairs all the bad sectors on hard drive, you should check each disk partition for potential read and write issues via a third-party disk utility, say, H2testw. The application has been designed to check both external and internal storage mediums for read and write errors. It will help you identify the type of exception your hard drive throws while reading and writing data.

DiskView is another tool that is worth a try. This small application shows a graphical map of your disk, allowing you to visually analyze each sector of disk and also to locate all damaged sectors. Not only does it show each cluster on the disk, it also helps you check the data written on each cluster. In short, it will give you a detailed insight into data distribution across the specified disk partition.

Performing Sector-By-Sector Disk Cloning

Before you perform advance disk repair operations, it’s highly advisable to backup all the data on external hard disk. Since a hard disk with bad sector doesn’t allow backing up all disk volumes, you can’t use conventional hard disk backup utilities to carry out the operation. What you probably need is an application that can clone each hard disk sector. We have previously reviewed HDD Raw Copy Tool that lets you perform sector-by-sector disk cloning. It’s been built to scan each sector of specified hard disk volume for data, and copy it to target drive. Unlike other disk backup tools, it first erases everything from target drive before initiating disk cloning operation. So, it’s advised to use an already empty storage medium.

HDD Raw Copy has the ability to auto-skip bad sectors, and therefore, if it finds a sector that cannot be copied to an external drive, it will automatically read the data from next sector and copy it to destination disk. This feature makes it different from other disk cloning tools, which prompt user to first repair the bad sectors to continue the disk cloning operation. Moreover, it attempts to make an exact copy of specified disk, without changing the basic disk structure and folder hierarchy.

Repairing Bad Sectors

As mentioned earlier, physical bad sectors are irreparable, and they can only be mapped out to prevent reading and writing data to them. However, logical bad sectors can be repaired by using numerous techniques. Earlier, the low-level format was considered to be one of the best solution, but with modern disks, it’s strictly not recommended. What you can try is zero-filling the drive. The zero-filling, as name suggests, is an operation that fills each sector of disk with zero bytes, attempting to reinstate the original state of the disk. This, in result, may repair all the non-addressable bad sectors, and the OS can then start reading and writing data to them.

Filling zeroes on entire disk requires you to unmount the hard drive, and then perform the operation using MSDOS utility. However, you can also use Ubuntu Live Disk to perform zero-fill operation over entire hard disk. In our guide to clone hard drive using Ubuntu Live Disk, we used dd command to create an IMG file of hard disk partition to specified location. Apart from writing disk headers, cloning a disk drive, copying files etc., it can be used to write entire disk with zero bytes, enabling users to repair the bad sectors on hard disk.

For those who don’t know how to create an Ubuntu Live Disk, check our post here to create an Ubuntu 10.10 Live Disk. Once created, reboot your PC in BIOS menu to change the boot priority. Navigate to Boot menu and set external hard drive as first boot option. Now, save the changes made to BIOS and reboot the system. It will take you directly to Ubuntu boot menu. Select Run Ubuntu from this USB option to begin loading Ubuntu 10.10. Once Ubuntu is loaded, open Terminal from Applications –>Accessories menu.

Now, mount the drive that is to be filled with zero bytes, from Places menu. You will need to note down the disk identifier of your hard drive. For this, open Disk Utility (accessible from System –> Administration menu), select the mounted hard drive from left sidebar to view the complete disk information in main window. You will find the disk identifier in right sidebar.

The syntax of writing zeros to disk via dd command is as follows.

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<disk identifier> bs=8M

If the hard disk identifier is /dev/sda, enter the following command to begin writing zeros to hard drive.

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=8M

DBAN is another utility that does the job quite efficiently for SATA and IDE disks. It is a bootable disk wipe application to completely wipe the hard disk in order to make data irrecoverable. One of the methods it supports is Quick Erase that allows writing zeroes to disk. Using the interactive mode, you can select this method, and then select the drive on which zero bytes are to be written. All you need is to download the DBAN ISO package and burn it to CD/DVD using Windows native disc burner.

Once the image is burnt to CD/DVD, reboot your system into BIOS, and set CD/DVD as first boot option from Boot menu. Once boot priority has been defined, reboot the system to load DBAN. On the main page, press Enter to start DBAN in interactive mode.

The Interactive Mode lets you choose the method you want to use for wiping disk data. First, select the drive using spacebar on keyboard, and then press ‘M’ to select the method.

As mentioned earlier, the Quick Erase method allows writing zeroes to entire hard disk. Just select the option, and then press F10 to begin the process. The time it takes to write zeroes to entire disk depends upon the size and speed of your hard drive.

---

The logical bad sectors can be recovered using above mentioned tools, but this doesn’t mean that you can continue using your hard disk for a long time. When bad sectors (physical or logical) start developing on your hard drive, it is, infact, an indicative of buying a new hard drive to stave off any imminent damage to your storage medium. However, you should take preventive measure to protect your hard drive from bad sectors. It’s recommended to always shut down your system properly, schedule an automatic disk defragmentation to prevent hard disk wear and tear, keep your anti-virus/anti-malware application updated with latest virus definitions, and always use your hard disk manufacturer’s provided disk diagnostic utilities to fix hard disk-related issues.

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APK puts Windows 95, 98 and XP, plus Linux on the EVO 3D

APK puts Windows 95, 98 and XP, plus Linux on the EVO 3D:

And here you thought Microsoft bringing Windows 8 to ARM was big news. Turns out, a member of the xda-developers forum has managed to make an APK that puts a variety of Redmond's x86 operating systems on the HTC EVO 3D and its 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon silicon -- Windows 95, 98, XP and even your favorite flavor of Linux are all available for the three dee-equipped handset. All you need to do is install the Bochs Pentium emulator APK and the OS disk image of your choice, modify a couple files, and you'll be doing yesteryear's desktop computing on a handheld in no time. Feeling nostalgic? Detailed instructions how to do it yourself and the necessary files can be found at the source link below, but all we want to know is: does it do the blue screen of death or the force close dance when things go awry?

APK puts Windows 95, 98 and XP, plus Linux on the EVO 3D originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink xda-developers, Ubergizmo | xda-developers forum | Email this | Comments

Tutorial and Step by Step Guide to Creating Boot Animations

Tutorial and Step by Step Guide to Creating Boot Animations:

Boot animations are one of those unique items on the short list of things that every single Android device has in common. Turning on the device, seeing the splash then seeing that little animation can mean a lot to some people.

Now, the power to make your very own boot animation is easier than ever with a step by step guide from XDA Senior Member Skullmonkey. The guide is pretty long, but relatively easy to follow and includes everything from recommended software to pro tips like using Notepad++ instead of Microsoft Notepad due to Windows formatting causing errors in the script you’ll be writing.

The requirements and recommendations are pretty straightforward and include:

-Each frame must be 480*800 px (thats 480 pixels wide by 800 pixels tall).

-Each frame must be saved in a .png format. (If you are using Photoshop, File > Save for Web & Devices to reduce the file size drastically.)

-Each frame needs to have some numarical value.

+Recommended would be something like frame0001.png, frame0002.png, frame0003.png, etc.

+Try to keep it under 300 images total

This tutorial is written for those who have the HTC EVO 4g, but the process of creating images and packaging them can be universal as long as you change the packaging from how it’s done on the OG EVO to whatever you’re device is.

For those interested in making some boot animation magic, you can find the full tutorial, suggestions, download links to the recommended software and discussion in the original thread. As per the norm, don’t forget to make a full backup of your device before you start testing, just in case something goes wrong!

How To Transfer Files & Settings From Windows 7 To Windows 8 [Step-by-Step Guide]

How To Transfer Files & Settings From Windows 7 To Windows 8 [Step-by-Step Guide]:

Migrating applications, personalized system and application settings, and other important data from old PC to new PC isn’t only time consuming, but also a wearisome task, as one needs to make a list of all the installed applications, Windows components, User Profile folders, System settings including Personalization, Color Management, Fonts, Accessibility, Keyboard and Mouse settings etc., and then manually transfer the settings and data to new PC. In the past, we’ve covered numerous applications such as Backup Utility, Backup Folder Sync and DataGrab, which let users effortlessly backup User Profile folders without having to manually transfer Documents, Pictures, Music, AppData, Roaming and other important folders. Applications like Special Folders Manager not only makes it easy to create copy of Users profile folders, but also help restoring them at their original locations with a click, but what if you want to migrate entire system including Settings, Applications and data saved in local drives from old PC to new PC?

In this post, we will take a look at the easiest way of migrating Windows 7 system and user settings, local drives, and other required data to new PC running Windows 8. Although Windows 8 final Version is yet to be released, the steps involved in migrating data from Windows 7 to Windows 8 would probably not change.

To begin, login to Windows 7 PC, and launch Windows Easy Transfer from Start Search. Windows Easy Transfer is Windows 7 native utility that allows you to copy files, system and user settings from one PC to another. It presents an easy wizard that guides user through the process of selecting files and system & user settings, and transferring all the selected files and settings to another PC.

The Files and Settings Migration instructions are divided into two parts, saving Windows 7 files & settings to external drives, and transferring saved settings and files to new PC running Windows 8.

Save Files And System & User Settings To External Hard Drive

After launching Windows Easy Transfer wizard, click Next to choose the type of target location, where all the specified settings and files will be saved. You can use Easy Transfer Cable, Network location, or External hard disk to move the settings to your new PC. The first two options require connecting your new PC to old PC in order to send the files and settings. However, if you’re planning to upgrade your PC to Windows 8, select the third option that moves your system settings along with files to external hard drive. We will use an external hard drive to save the settings, and then move them to Windows 8 PC. Just plug-in the external hard disk, and then Select An external hard disk or USB flash drive option to proceed.

Now, select This is my old computer option to transfer files and setting from current PC.

In this step, it shows currently logged-in User profile and Shared Items options, allowing you to choose the folders from both User Profile and Shared locations. You can customize the default folder and file section by hitting Customize. The Customize link present in User Profile section lets you pick Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Program Settings and Windows Settings, whereas the Shared Items section’s Customize link will open a Shared Items menu, allowing you to choose the shared items that are to be moved.

In order to manually pick User profiles’ folders, and files from hard drive partitions, click Advanced to open Modify your selections dialog. It presents a simple file browser to select the Windows folders and local volumes which are to be transferred. After the Windows folders and local volumes are selected, click Save.

Window 7 Easy Transfer wizard saves all the settings, user folders, and files from hard disk partitions in a MIG file. It also lets you apply password-protect this file from unauthorized usage. Once you’ve selected the files, it will ask you to enter the password to secure the transfer process. Clicking Save will prompt you to specify the external hard disk folder where your files and settings are to be copied. It’s worth mentioning here that USB drive/External hard disk formatted with FAT-32 file system does not support saving file larger than 4GB. So, before you select the external hard disk destination, make sure that it’s formatted to NTFS file system.

When the destination folder is selected, it will start copying the settings and selected folders. The time it takes to complete the copying process depends upon the volume of selected data.

Once copied, open the destination folder to verify the copying process. Now, eject the external hard disk, and move to PC running Windows 8.

Transfer Settings And Files On New PC Running Windows 8

Now that you have saved the system & user settings, and files from old computer in Windows Easy Transfer file (Windows Easy Transfer –Items from old computer.MIG), it’s time to restore all the files, user profile folders, shared items at their original position. Just like previous Windows versions, Windows 8 comes with Easy File Transfer utility to help you move the data from old to new PC, and to restore the saved data in MIG file to original locations.

To get started, open Windows Search from Windows 8 Start hover menu, enter easy transfer in search bar, and then click Apps. Now, launch Windows Easy Transfer utility from main window. If you don’t find the Windows Easy Transfer, first install Windows update to install all the additional Windows 8 components.

In Windows Easy Transfer wizard, select An external hard disk or USB flash drive option to restore data and settings saved in MIG file.

In next step, choose This is my new computer option.

It will now ask you to plug-in the external hard disk where the MIG file is saved. Plug-in the external hard drive and select Yes to specify the Windows Easy Transfer file.

On selecting the MIG file, it will ask you to specify the password. Enter the password to restore the data, and click Next.

Once access is granted, it will ask you to choose what to transfer from old PC. At this point, you can select the files and settings that are to be transferred to your new PC. Click Customize under User Profile and Shared Items sections to select the folders. However, if you want to customize the drive map options, click Advance Options. It will open a separate dialog to tweak with map user accounts and local drives settings. Once you’ve selected the settings and folders, hit Transfer to begin the settings and data migration process.

While transferring files and settings from your old PC, it may ask you to enter the password of your old PC to transfer the protected content. Once correct password is entered, it will immediately restore the system and personalization settings of old PC including user account details, desktop theme and numerous other settings.

After all the files and settings are restored from old PC, you can take a look at the files that were transferred during the process, and applications which you might want to install.

Clicking See what was transferred option will open Windows Easy Transfer Reports utility, letting you view the transferred user accounts, documents, documents, program & system settings.

The Program report tab shows the list of applications that you need to install on new PC. You can view detailed information of listed applications by clicking More information.

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There are numerous third-party migration utilities available out there, but none provides as easy a way of migrating data from old to new PC, as Windows native data transfer utility. The Windows Easy Transfer Reports maintains a log of transferred data and settings in a separate file. When you want to view previously transferred files and settings, open Windows Easy Transfer Reports from Windows 8 Start Search, and choose the required report from View Report pull-down menu.

Want to migrate installed applications with saved settings to new PC? Check out PickMeApp.

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