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Tag Archives: Windows 8

How to get access to free Microsoft beta exams

17 Sep

When Microsoft creates new (versions of their) software, they also create new exams to become certified. Part of this process includes testing the exams, determining the passing score, getting feedback and improving the exams based on the feedback (deciding which questions to use, removing questions, re-phrasing, etc.). More information can be found here.

To get feedback, Microsoft offers access to these beta exams for free. They do this publicly using by example the born to learn blog or privately using mail to select subject matter experts (SME) based on their profiles on Microsoft Connect. So if you’re interested in taking beta exams, update the information on the Microsoft Connect site to get private invites to the latest beta exams that are relevant to you. More information about the invite procedure can be found on the Born To Learn blog. Also keep in mind that public invites might be limited using a first-come, first served principle so check on a regular basis.

Advantages and disadvantages of taking beta exams:
+ It is free if you received an invite. Nowadays you can also take beta exams if you haven’t had an invite, but then you need to pay for the exam.
+ You have a chance to become one of the first people to become certified for the new software.
+ If you pass a beta exam, you passed it legitimately because there are no answers to download online.
+ Even if you fail the beta exam, you’ve still learned a lot about the new (version of the) software.
– In general there are no books available yet and you have to get all your information from hands-on experience, blogs, technet, websites, etc.
– The time frame you have to prepare for the exams can be (very) limited. For example with the last invites for the Server 2012 beta exams I had only 2 weeks to prepare for multiple exams.
– After you’ve taken a beta exam, it might take 2-3 months before you get the result.

Beta exams I’ve taken recently include those for Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, System Center 2012 and Office 365. I expect the next beta exams to cover mainly Office 15/Office 2013 related products like by example Sharepoint, Exchange, Lync. So if you’re interested in these beta exams be sure to keep a close eye on the beta exams and start working with and learning about the products already.

I hope this was informative and that it well help you and/or your company gain a competitive advantage.

 
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Posted by on September 17, 2012 in Cloud, Exchange Online, ICT, Learning, Lync Online, Microsoft, Office 365, Private cloud, Public Cloud, Sharepoint Online, System Center Configuration Manager 2012, Windows, Windows 2012, Windows 8

 

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Windows 8 – GUI (Graphical User Interface) help

14 Aug

For those people unwilling to read the entire post, here’s a direct link to my own list of operations and a description of how to perform them using specific input methods.

Context

In the past the Windows user interface has been changed. In hindsight I would classify these changes as evolutionary (Windows 95, 98, XP, Vista, Windows 7). I did however notice that a lot of people still had and many still have trouble working with it. Most people however are currently able to perform those things they want to be able to do. With Windows 8 however, a lot has changed and people need to re-learn how they can do what they want to do. I think this will be intimidating for many people and will probably also prevent people from upgrading for some time. This video should give new users an idea of what the new interface looks like. You can also check other links on this page. Also check this video to get an even better feeling of how to use the new user interface. If you are willing to spend some more time on getting used to Windows 8, you can also check the videos from Lynda.com Windows 8 Consumer Preview First Look. With this blog post I hope I can:

  • Help people understand what has changed without going in too much detail.
  • Provide insight in what options there are to fully leverage potential/productivity.
  • Provide practical tips and tricks to help people enjoy using Windows 8.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on August 14, 2012 in ICT, Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8

 

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Windows 8 – Installing Windows 8 apps (formerly known as Metro apps)

14 Aug

Context

With Windows 8, the Windows store has been introduced. Using the store you can search, browse and install published Windows 8 apps. Apps in the store can either be free or paid and incldues trial options. Apps also need to allow you to install them on a minimum of five Windows 8 enabled devices without additional payment/fees.

These apps are tied to your account and can be installed on multiple devices you own provided you use the same account. This may come in handy when you by example:

Showing apps tied to your account and installing them

  1. Go to the Windows store
  2. Toggle the AppBar by right clicking, pressing windows key + Z or swiping down from the top of the screen.
  3. Select “Your Apps” 
  4. Choose from the dropdown box: “Apps not installed on this PC”
  5. Select the apps you want to install and select the “Install” button.
 
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Posted by on August 14, 2012 in ICT, Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8

 

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Windows 8 – Sideloading application example (Wordfeud)

13 Aug

Context

One of the negative aspects of working with new technologies is that sometimes you miss some stuff that what available with older versions.

As an example, the Pinball FX2 game/app was in the store of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, but was not available in the Windows 8 Release Preview. Another example is Wordfeud which was available in the store of the Windows 8 Release Preview, but is not (yet) in the store of the Windows 8 RTM.

[EDIT]

Apparently you can also:

  1. Go to the Windows store
  2. Toggle the AppBar by right clicking, pressing windows key + Z or swiping down from the top of the screen.
  3. Select “Your Apps” 
  4. Choose from the dropdown box: “Apps not installed on this PC”
  5. Select the apps you want to install and press the “Install” button.

[EDIT]

During my time with Wordfeud in the Windows 8 Release Preview I did however see that the developer provided the files to sideload the application. Sideloading means that you can install apps directly without going through the Windows store. More information about sideloading can be found here.

For sideloading Wordfeud, perform the following actions

  1. Run Windows Powershell as administrator
  2. Enable powershell script execution using: set-executionpolicy remotesigned
  3. Download the latest Wordfeud build from http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13365029/WordfeudMetro/index.html
  4. Extract the files to a folder by example : C:\WordfeudMetro_1.0.0.9_AnyCPU_Debug
  5. From within Windows Powershell go to the folder using: cd C:\WordfeudMetro_1.0.0.9_AnyCPU_Debug
  6. Execute the Powershell script by typing: .\Add-AppDevPackage.ps1

For removing the sideloaded Wordfeud, perform the following actions

  1. Run Windows Powershell as administrator
  2. From within Windows Powershell remove the application using: Get-AppxPackage | where PublisherId -eq csykjp4qexh44 | Remove-AppxPackage
 
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Posted by on August 13, 2012 in ICT, Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8

 

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Windows 8 Consumer Preview first impressions

03 Mar

As most of the IT people already know, Windows 8 Consumer Preview has been released which can be used until January 15, 2013. More information and download links can be found here: http://preview.windows.com/

Even though there are a lot of changes as shown in this article, the main areas I’m interested in are:

  • Metro interface
  • Powershell 3.0
  • Hyper-V 3.0 on the client

As a side note, the Pinball FX2 game has been included, which is one of my favourite pinball games. The Sorcerer’s Lair Table will be free for all Windows 8 users and more pinball tables are expected in the future.

Besides the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, a beta for the Windows 8 Server has also been released, which I will cover at another time.

Metro interface

Since I don’t own a Windows Phone 7, the Metro interface is new to me. I have to say it did not take that much time getting used to, but I did find this video invaluable to getting started:
http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Windows-Blog/Windows-8-Consumer-Preview-Demo

My first impression about the Metro interface is that it looks nice. I’m still in doubt about how useful it will be, but this all depends on the applications being created so it’s a bit early to tell.

Also as a long time Windows user I often find myself reverting to desktop mode. In desktop mode another thing to get used to, is that there is no start menu. By creating desktop shortcuts or  pinning documents to the taskbar this works fine, but it still feels strange.

Powershell 3.0

With Powershell 3.0 some of the major improvements include:

  • Much improved Integrated Script Editor (ISE)
  • More cmdlets (pre-defined commands)
  • Simplified use

For some more information about some of the new or improved feature you can also check:
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/powershell/index_v3.htm
http://jdhitsolutions.com/blog/2012/02/powershell-3-0-easy-rider/

Hyper-V 3.0

Windows 8 will be the first client OS where you can install Hyper-V. This is great, because as a Microsoft administrator I want to test new operating systems and applications using a virtual testing environment for that. I could of course dual-boot my PC with both a client OS and a server OS, but this is inconvenient. I could also use VMware workstation or any other virtualization solutions, but this causes additional overhead since it is not a type 1 hypervisor. Also Microsoft provides pre-configured environments in the VHD format, which would require additional effort to get them to work correctly in other virtualization solutions.

One of the downsides of the new Hyper-V 3.0 however is that you need a 64-bit processor with Second Level Address Translation (SLAT). With Intel support for this is through a technology called Extended Page Tables (EPT) while with AMD it’s called Nested Page tables (NP). For intel it requires you to have an Intel Core i3, i5, i7 or newer. You can also check with coreinfo if your CPU is supported.

Since my current pc does not meet this requirement, I have not been able to check Hyper-V 3.0 yet. Due to a misstake by Dell however, I expect to be able to test it on my new laptop next week.

For more information regarding new and improved Hyper-V features, please check this article at WindowsITPro.com.

 
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Posted by on March 3, 2012 in Windows, Windows 8

 

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