Category Archives: Tips

Windows 8 – Windows 10 Start Menu

Posted on by Creative IT

Where is the Start menu?

The Start screen replaces the Start menu in Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10 and Windows RT.

How to Use it

Open Start by swiping in from the right edge of the screen (or if you’re using a mouse, pointing to the upper right corner of the screen and moving the mouse pointer down), and then tapping or clicking Start. Update: 8.1 has returned the Start Button – but still no Menu. The version that came out with Windows 10 will serve the needs of most, but many will prefer the older Windows 7 style Start Menu.

Well, fortunately you have a few options:

1. Suck it up and get used to Windows 8/8.1 or make do with the new Windows 10 style Start Menu.

2. If you are using Windows 8/8.1, upgrade to Windows 10

3. Add a Windows 7 style Start Menu using Third Party software.

Since you are reading this, I doubt you are willing to suck it up, and so it’s Third Party software that you want.

Stardock Start8 and Start10

Cost: Free to try for 30 days, and then $4.99. Or you can jew Start8 with a simple search of tehPARADOX.com Online Sharing Community or half a million other places around the net.

System Requirements: Windows 8/8.1 or Windows Server 2012

Where to Get it: http://stardock.com/products/start8/

http://www.stardock.com/products/start10

What is Start8/Start10?

  • Windows 7-style Start menu with Windows 8 enhancements
  • Search for Windows 8-style (Modern UI) apps
  • Pin desktop and Metro apps to the start menu
  • Jump List support
  • Unified Search for apps, settings and files
  • Boot directly to the Windows 8 desktop
  • One click access to shut down, devices, music, documents, and videos
  • Optionally disable the desktop Windows 8 “hot spots”
  • Supports WindowFX 5.1 start menu animations
  • Includes .ADMX template (in GroupPolicy folder)

Start8 – A Start Button for Windows 8

 

Lee-Soft ViStart 8.1

Cost: Free

System Requirements: Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista or XP

Where to Get it: http://lee-soft.com

ViStart 8 has all the functionality the Windows 7 Start menu has and then some more. ViStart 8.1 is completely skinable and there are already a lot of extra start menu skins and start menu buttons available to customize your Windows look that you can download from the lee-soft.com website.

  • The original features of the windows 7 start menu
  • Boot directly to the windows 8 desktop
  • Advanced search (includes also windows “metro” apps and displays them in a separate category)
  • Search & start “metro” apps directly from the start menu
  • Pin “metro” apps to the start menu
  • Switch button in the start menu to switch to the “metro” app desktop
  • Custom start buttons “there is a selection of free start buttons on the lee-soft.com website)
  • Completely skin able “ you can give your start menu a custom look”
  • Free skins “ there is a special gallery with free skins on lee-soft.com to customize you start menu”

ViStart – A Start Button for Windows 8

What is USB OTG?

Posted on by Creative IT

Short for USB On-The-Go, an extension of the USB 2.0 specification for connecting peripheral devices to each other. USB OTG products can communicate with each other without the need to be connected to a PC. For example, a digital camera can connect to a PDA, or a mobile phone can connect to a printer or a scanner, as long as all the devices are USB OTG-compatible. USB OTG grew from the increasing need for portable devices to be able to communicate with each other as the culture of technology moves away from a PC-centric world.

One of the important features of USB OTG is that the standard does not require a host PC in order for the devices to communicate. USB OTG devices, known as dual-role peripherals, can act as limited hosts or peripherals themselves depending on how the cables are connected to the devices, and they also can connect to a host PC.

 

For a list of products available in the USB OTG category, see http://www.usbonthego.com.au

Win32/Phorpiex Virus

Posted on by Creative IT

Spread via Skype and Facebook

Win32/Phorpiex stands for a family of worms that are distributed through removable drives and IM (instant messaging) programs. These worms also permit backdoor access and control. The presence of this malware may be evidence by certain system amendments in removable drives, in particular, by the presence of hidden files, together with shortcuts that appear as folder icons. Another way of how this scam can be spread is via instant messaging programs. Through their backdoor functionality, Win32/Phorpiex examples can be commanded to spread either themselves or other viruses through instant messaging software. When commanded by hackers to do so, the malware checks if any of the instant messaging programs are running on your system. Today there’s a large number of such viruses being spread via Skype as well. In the majority of cases, this virus infects the Skype program and may cause the occurrence (appearance) of strange popups (messages) that prompt the user into opening the link allegedly having some picture of user. The tricky way the virus sets out this statement makes users click the link, thus installing the malware into the system.

There are various variations of such messages with links about alleged pictures of user, and they can be received in various
countries of the world where this virus is popular. Here’s some examples:

In Armenian:
• նայել այս նկարը
In Belarusian and Ukrainian:
• подивися на цю фотографію
In Bulgarian:
• Погледнете тази снимка
In Chinese:
• 看看這張照片
In Dutch:
• ken je dat foto nog?
• kijk wat voor een foto ik heb gevonden
• ik hoop dat jij het net bent op dit foto
• ben jij dat op dit foto?
• dit foto zal je echt eens bekijken!
• ken je dit foto al?
In English:
• tell me what you think of this picture i edited
• this is the funniest photo ever!
• tell me what you think of this photo
• i don’t think i will ever sleep again after seeing this photo
• i cant believe i still have this picture
• should i make this my default picture?
In German:
• wie findest du das foto?
• hab ich dir das foto schon gezeigt?
• schau mal das foto an
• schau mal welches foto ich gefunden hab
• bist du das auf dem foto?
• kennst du das foto schon?
In Greek:
• ματιά σε αυτή την εικόνα
In Hebrew:
• להסתכל על התמונה הזאת
In Italian:
• ti piace la foto?
• hai visto questa foto?
• la foto e grandiosa!
• ti ricordi la Foto?
• conosci la persona in questa foto?
• chi e in questa foto?
In Japanese:
• この写真を見て
In Korean:
• 이 사진을 봐
In Latvian:
• Ieskatieties šajā attēlā
In Lithuanian:
• pažvelgti į šį vaizdą
In Maltese:
• iħares lejn dan ir-ritratt
In Portuguese:
• olhar para esta foto
In Romanian:
• nu imi mai voi face niciodat poze!! toate ies urate ca asta.
• spune-mi ce crezi despre poza asta.
• asta e ce-a mai funny poza! tu ce zici?
• zimi ce crezi despre poza asta?
In Russian:
• посмотри на эту фотографию
In Spanish:
• creo que no voy a poder dormir más despues de ver esta foto. mirá.
• esta foto es graciosísima! que decis?
• mis padres me van a matar si ven esta foto mia, que decis?
• mira como saliste en esta foto jajaja
In Thai:
• ดูรูปนี้

We strongly urge users to be extremely careful with any links that prompt you to open them in order to see some picture or video claiming to be of you. Instead, we recommend you to avoid clicking them at all and scan your system with the help of a legitimate and powerful security application such as ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

See http://www.virusradar.com/en/Win32_Phorpiex

For more information: https://www.google.com/search?q=virus+%22i+don%27t+think+i+will+ever+sleep+again+after+seeing+this+photo