To follow this guide you will need a flash drive that’s 8GB or larger  and a copy of the Windows 8 installation DVD or equivalent ISO image. The flash drive will have to be formatted, which will erase everything currently stored on it.  So please ensure that you have backed up all the important files stored on your flash disk.

Step 1: Download Windows 8 Consumer Preview from Microsoft.

Windows 8 comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. If you don’t have a copy of the installation disk you can download download the Windows 8 ISO images directly from Microsoft here

Step 2: Download the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool from Microsoft.

The Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool is what enables the magic to happen. This free tool from Microsoft will prepare the flash disk, copy the Windows 8 installation file s onto it and make the flash drive bootable. There is no Windows 8 version of this tool yet, but the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool does work for Windows 8. Download the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool here

Step 3: Install the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool on your computer

Double-click the downloaded Windows7-USB-DVD-tool to run the installer. Then click Next (see picture below)

Follow the on-screen instructions, click Next, followed by Install

When the installer finishes, click the Finish button.

Step 4: Run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool USB installer

Once installed there should be icon on your desktop. Simply double-click the icon the launch the application.

Note: Windows UAC may give you a warning message, when you run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Click Allow to continue.
 

Step 5: Choose the location of your Windows 8 ISO file.

The tool will want to know where your Windows 8 ISO file is located. Please note that the tool only accepts ISO images, so it is recommended that you convert your image to ISO if it’s in a different format.

Click the Browse button and navigate to the folder where you had stored the Windows 8 ISO. Then select the Windows 8 ISO image and click Next.

Step 6: Choose the media type.

You can use this tool to burn the ISO file to a DVD or a USB device. Since we are interested in a bootable USB flash drive, select the USB device option

Step 7: Select your USB device.

Ensure your USB flash drive is plugged in to your computer. Select the correct device from the drop down menu, and click Begin copying

Step 8: Format the USB flash drive or erase it.

Your USB flash drive may not be formatted or may not have enough space on it. Simply click Erase USB Device

Just to make doubly sure that you agree to lose all the data on your device, Microsoft will ask you a second time. Once you are sure, hit Yes

Step 9: Let the USB tool finish.

The utility will format your USB device, get all the data from the ISO file, and copy it onto the flash drive. It will also make the USB flash drive bootable at the same time.

Now simply wait for the process to complete and then remove the USB drive from your computer. You will then have in your hands a bootable USB flash drive that you can use to install Windows 8 on just about any computer. This concludes the guide that teaches you How to install Windows 8 from a USB Flash Drive.

Tip #1: Disable Unneeded Services

The more services your Windows 7 computer runs the more resources it consumes. You can disable unneeded Windows 7 services by following the steps below. For a list of Windows services you can read Windows 7 services you can safely disable.

- Click Start. In the search box type services.msc and press Enter.
- You will now see the Services window.
- Right-click on a service that you wish to set to manual or disable and click Stop.
- Once the service is stopped, right-click on the service again it and click Properties.
- In the Startup type, you can either set the service to Manual, if you would be using it later, or Disable it, if not needed.
- Once done, you can close the window.

Tip #2: Disable Unwanted programs from running at system Starting up

Having too many applications running at system startup will adversely affect performance in Windows 7.  You should disable applications that you do you don’t need to run at startup. You can learn how to disable unneeded applications from running at system startup by following the steps below.

- Click Start. In the search box type msconfig and press Enter.
- In the System Configuration window click the Startup tab.
- Go through the list of applications that run at startup and untick the ones that are unneeded. Unticking them will disable them from running at system startup.
- Once you’ve disabled the processes, click OK.

Tip #3: Adjust Visual Effects for Best Performance

Windows 7 is visually beautiful. Those wonderful aesthetics come at a price…increased system resources. You can fortunately adjust these visual effects in Windows 7 to a more basic level. This means you wont have Windows Aero for example but it does mean improved performance. Follow these steps:

- Click Start. Then right click on Computer and click Properties.
- In the System window that pops up, click Advanced system settings.
- In the System Properties window, click Advanced. Under Performance click the Settings button.
- In the Performance Options window select Adjust for best performance and click OK.

Tip #4: Disable Desktop Widgets

The windows desktop sidebar contains various widgets that make your desktop look ultra cool and sleek. Widgets can include clocks, weather forecasts, new headlines and currency rates. These shiny widgets do come at the expense of consumed system resources. Disabling the windows gadget platform will make your system run faster. To disable the windows sidebar follow these steps

- Click Start. In the search box type programs and features and press Enter.
- In the Programs and Features window, click Turn Windows features on or off.
- In the Windows Features window, untick Windows Gadget Platform and click OK.

Tip #5: Disable Windows Search Indexer

The Search Indexing service in Windows 7 continuously keeps track of the files folders and applications on your computer so that they can be found quickly when you perform a search. This feature is highly useful  but only if you perform frequent searches on your system. It unknowingly eats up your system resources. What you need from windows 7 is maximum performance from it then i would certainly recommend you to disable this resource hogging Windows 7 Search Indexing Feature.

- Click Start. In the search box type services.msc and press Enter.
- You will now see the Services window.
- Scroll down the list of services until you locate Windows Search.
- Right-click Windows Search and click Stop.
- Once the service is stopped, right-click on the service again it and click Properties.
- Set the Startup type to Disabled.
- Once done, you can close the window.

Tip #6: Adjust Power Options

The default power management configuration in Windows 7 is Balanced. This conserves power at the expense of performance. If you are not concerned with battery usage and power consumption on a laptop or are using a laptop, you can change the setting for gain maximum performance. Follow the steps below.

- Click Start. In the search box type power options and press Enter.
- In the Power Options area change the Power Plan to High performance.
- You can then close the window.

Unnecessary Windows 7 Services

ActiveX Installer (AxInstSV) – If you use Internet Explorer do NOT disable this service. If you use another web browser like Firefox, Chrome or Opera, you can safely disable this service.

Application Management – If you are not connected to a Windows Domain, or if you are on a local network you can safely disable this service.

Bluetooth Support Service – If you do not use any bluetooth device you can safely disable this service.

BitLocker Drive Encryption Service – If you do not use Microsoft’s Encryption Software you can safely disable this service.

Encrypting File System (EFS) – If you have not encrypted your hard drive, you can safely disable this service.

BranchCache – If you are not connecting to a Server 2008 network over a LAN or WAN, you can safely disable this service.

Certificate Propagation – If you do not use smartcards, you can safely disable this service.

Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) – If you are not on a local network or use internet connection sharing, you can safely disable this service.

IP Helper –Provides advanced tunneling protocol features. The majority of people can safely disable this service.

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service – Unless you connect to remote iSCSI devices, you can safely disable this service.

Netlogon – If not connected to a domain, you can safely disable this service.

Parental Controls – Unnecessary service. You can safely disable this service.

Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator – This is a legacy service and provides no functionality to Windows 7. You can safely disable this service.

Remote Registry – If not on a domain, you can safely disable this service.

Remote Desktop Services UserMode – Unless you use Remote Desktop, you can safely disable this service.

Remote Desktop Services – Unless you use Remote Desktop, you can safely disable this service.

Remote Desktop Configuration – Unless you use Remote Desktop, you can safely disable this service.

Secondary Logon – Enables starting of applications under alternate credentials. Unless explicitly used, you can safely disable this service.

Smart Card – Unless you use Smart Cards, you can safely disable this service.

Smart Card Removal Policy – Unless you use Smart Cards, you can safely disable this service.

Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service – Shares your media library with other users on your network. Unless you use this feature, you can safely disable this service.

Windows Update – This service should be disabled, unless you don’t like the idea of updating manually.

Windows Firewall – If you already have a third party firewall software, you can safely disable this service.

Quality Windows Audio Video Experience – Unless explicitly used, you can safely disable this service.

Windows Media Center Receiver Service – Unless explicitly used, you can safely disable this service.

Windows Media Center Scheduler Service – Unless explicitly used, you can safely disable this service.

There are of course cloud storage services that extend beyond simple web based email. These are file storage services. There are loads of them and new ones spring up almost weekly. This article gives you a list of The Top 5 Free Cloud Storage Services:

Sugar Sync (Visit)

- 5 GB of free storage.
- Works with Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Kindle.
- Files accessible via web browser.
- Upload/sync via email.
- Versioning with ability to restore

DropBox (Visit)

- 2 GB of free storage
- Works with Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, Android, Blackberry
- Works even when offline. You will always have your files, even when you don’t have a connection.
- Differential transfers.

Microsoft Skydrive (Visit)

- 25 GB of free storage.
- Share links of shared files with friends and family.
- Create and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint files online using your web browser even without having Microsoft Office installed.

Box (Visit)

- 5 GB of free storage.
- Share links of shared files with friends and family.
- Share big files quickly and easily

MiMiedia (Visit)

- 7 GB of free storage.
- Automatic backup of files.
-  You can listen to music, view videos and photos.
- Supports Windows only. Accessible via iPad and iPhone

This conlcludes our list of The Top 5 Free Cloud Storage Services

Download Windows 8 Consumer Preview here

The Windows 8 transformation pack, contains the following:

• The new fish boot screen.
• A brand new login screen.
• New start screen.
• New Windows 8 Logo
• New start button.
• Custom metro visual style.
• New desktop backgrounds.
• Taskbar user picture tile.
• Metro caption buttons (minimize, maximize and close buttons).
• New window borders.
• New shell style.
• New installer.
• New add mosaic feature.
• New about Windows box.
• Metro navigation buttons
• Supported on both 32bit and 64bit OS and lots more.

Download [12MB]

- Ensure that your flash drive is plugged into your computer’s USB port.

- Click Start -> Computer

- Locate your Flash Drive and right click and select Format

- In the Format window select the file system you want to flash drive to use. Th default is FAT32. A common file system used is NTFS. If you’re unsure which option to choose then leave File system setting at its default.

- Click Start to begin for format of the USB flash drive. The format will now begin.

That’s all there you have to do to format a USB Flash Drive

RDP or Remote Desktop Protocol is disabled by default in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. This protocol enables you to remotely connect to a computer using the Remote Desktop Connection client that is built into Windows.

- Click Start

- Right-click Computer and click Properties

- In the System window, click Remote settings

- In the Remote tab, in the remote Desktop section select either Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure) OR Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (more secure) and click Ok

That’s all you need to do to Enable Remote Desktop (RDP) in Windows 7.

Various types of viruses, trojans and malware are known to modify Windows system files and policies to the point where you can’t recognize your own desktop anymore. The legacy of these malicious programs often remain long after the infection has been cleaned. One common reported problem the “Task Manger has been disabled by your administrator” issue.

NOTE: The Task Manager exe is located in C:\Windows\System32\taskmgr.exe

Follow the steps below to permanently resolve this issue:

METHOD 1
Re-enable Task Manager from the Windows Registry

- Press the Windows Key + R (This brings up the Run dialog box)

- In the Run dialog box type type regedit and click OK (This launches Registry Editor)

- Navigate to the following location in the registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\System

-In the right side pane double click “Disable TaskMgr” at set the value to 0

- Close registry Editor and restart your computer

METHOD 2
Re-enable the Task Manager using the Local Group Policy Editor

- Press the Windows Key + R (This brings up the Run dialog box)

- In the Run dialog box type type gpedit.msc and click OK (This launches Local Group Policy Editor)

- Navigate to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Ctrl + Alt + Del Options

- Double-click Remove Task Manager in the right hand pane and ensure it is set to Disabled or Not Configured (see pic below)

- Close Local Group Policy Editor and restart your computer.

The above steps will fix the Task Manger has been disabled by your administrator error.

- Open Outlook 2010 and select the File >> Info (See picture below)

- Click Automatic Replies (Out of Office). (If this option is grayed out, you are not connected to an Exchange server and will not be able to use this feature)

Fill out the information as needed. The email server will take care of the rest the rest while you’re away.