Introduction

If you’re new to Windows 8, you probably noticed that the OneNote app looks and feels very different from other versions of OneNote. How do you search? What happened to the menus? The new Windows is designed to avoid distracting you with commands you don’t need, but all that change can be a little intimidating at first. Fear not! In this blog post, we’ll teach you how to use the OneNote app from the Windows Store. These tips and tricks can be applied to most other Windows Store apps as well.

OneNote Blog – Tips and tricks for the OneNote Windows Store App

OneNote app for Windows in the Windows Store

Description

Take notes that save to the cloud so you have them when you need them.
Fast and immersive, OneNote has been reimagined for Windows 8. Whether you draw, type, click, or swipe, this app will shine on your Windows 8 device. On the go? Use a browser or one of the many OneNote mobile apps to get to your notes when you need them..

Features

• Make lists — Quickly write up to-do lists with check boxes.
• Draw and write — Use your device’s pen to draw in your notes as you would on paper.
• Take pictures — Take photos with your device’s camera to put in your notes.
• Customize formatting — Organize your notes with tables, bullets, colors, and more.
• Search — OneNote works with Windows 8 search, so you can always find the notes you’re looking for.
• Snap view — Need to reference another app or website while taking notes? OneNote can snap to the side of your screen so you can use both apps at the same time.
• Paper — Take notes on a white background or change the background of your notes to grid or ruled lines.
• Share — With Windows 8 share, you can quickly email notes to friends or send information from other apps directly into OneNote.

OneNote app for Windows in the Windows Store

The following steps apply to the Windows 8 app. I’ll add steps later for the desktop program available to other versions of Windows.

1. Start the Skype app.

2. Select one of your contacts. It doesn’t matter whether they are online or not.

3. On the contact screen, select the plus sign. (This is why I consider this a hidden feature.)

4. Select Send Video Message from the popup.

5. On the recording screen, you see yourself. Comb out those eyebrows. To begin recording, select the red button (middle).

Note: The first control, which looks like a camera with arrows switches between two cameras on those computers so equipped, such as most laptops and tablets.

6. You have up to 3 minutes recording time. I found that a 13 second message took a minute or more to upload at the end of recording.

7. To stop recording, select the only control available, a white circle with a red dot. There are no options to pause and resume recording. (Expect that in the future.)

8. A preview of your video appears after you stop recording. Use the play button (>) to review the video. The two controls to the right of 00:13 mute the volume and display full screen (respectively). Compare the figures immediately below and above this paragraph. The image is as if you were face to face with your recipient (my right side is to your left). That may be as it should be, I find that disorienting.

9. Select Send if you intend to do so.

10. The file takes a little time to upload. The recipient’s Skype app or program will notify them, if it is running or when they start the program. This notification may go unnoticed.

11. If you choose Cancel instead of Send, a popup gives you the option to re-record or to delete the message.

Pretty cool, huh?

Skype for Windows 8 updated to include video messaging preview | ZDNet

Skype said the new version of its software (Skype 1.7) is now available to download with a new video messaging feature that allows people to leave video messages for others while they aren’t online.

Each message can be up to three minutes long and can be viewed for up to 90 days for free users. Premium users have no message expiration date.

If the person being sent a message to is using an older version of Skype, instead of showing it within the program they will receive a link to view it in a browser.

Free Skype users will get 20 free video messages while premium members will be able to send unlimited video messages.

Skype for Windows 8 updated to include video messaging preview | ZDNet

The World Wide Web project

World Wide Web

The WorldWideWeb (W3) is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents.

The World Wide Web project

Know Where Your Keyboard Shortcuts Come From | Windows.AppStorm

Control-C to copy. Control-V to paste. Control-X to cut. Proficient PC users know about these and other keyboard shortcuts for Windows. Ever wonder about the history behind them?

Know Where Your Keyboard Shortcuts Come From | Windows.AppStorm

• Canon PowerShot SX50 HS
• Sony DSC-HX300/B
• Sony DSC-HX50V/B

Birding with a Point & Shoot Camera.by Stephen Ingraham on January 15, 2013

Take this web page for example. If you are viewing it in the modern version of Windows 8 (not the desktop version), you can print with the following steps:

Charms > Devices > [select your printer] > Print

[display the Charms using a swipe from the right edge with touch, or moving the mouse pointer into the upper-right or lower-right corner, or by pressing Win+C (Win+K is a shortcut directly to devices; Ctrl+P goes directly to print in many programs)].

The following screenshot shows the options for my printer; I can’t select pages to print in Internet Explorer and many other modern apps. If I continue, I’ll print 11 pages. Note that you can preview the print job by selecting the > on the right edge of the page preview.

There are two workarounds to this problem:

(1) Print to XPS > Open in Reader > Use Readers’ custom print option
(2) Open the document in a desktop program, most of which support selecting pages

Workaround #1: Using Reader

Windows 8 installs a “printer” called Microsoft XPS Document Writer.

When you select the XPS printer, a file is created automatically in your Documents folder. A notification pops up (the duration of which is controlled in PC Settings > Ease of Access – make notifications stay on screen long enough to be useful). Select the popup notification, if you can. If you are prompted with which app to use, select Reader (XPS Viewer is a desktop program, but OK to use, if you prefer)

If you miss the popup notification or want to print later, open Reader and select the document in Reader.

The app bar in Reader features a Print button, although you can also use the standard technique of Charms > Devices.

Reader’s print options include Pages which defaults to All Pages. Select that option, then select Custom, which in turn reveals a Range option into which you can enter a page number (see the next screenshot).

To print more than one page, enter pages separated by commas, such as “1,4” to print just those pages or print all the pages in a range using a dash, such as “1-4”. Then, select Print.

Although this may seem like a lot of steps, they aren’t difficult. However, we can hope that print options will become more consistent as Windows 8 evolves.

Workaround #2: Using a desktop program

On the desktop, the print dialog box includes an option for selected pages. In the case of Internet Explorer, you can easily open a web page in the desktop version of IE. Starting from the modern version of IE, display the app bar, then select the wrench button, then View on the Desktop.

The web page opens in the desktop version of IE. Select the gear icon to the right of the star (below the x – see a picture really is worth a thousand words), then Print.

I recommend selecting Print Preview next, although you can go directly to Print. If you use Print Preview, select the Printer icon on the preview screen to get to the next dialog box.

In the Print dialog box, select Pages, the enter individual pages separated by commas or a range separated by a dash. Then Print, and you’re done.

Bonus tip: If you just want to print this one blog entry (or another), the desktop version of IE lets you select text first, then go through the Print steps using the Selection option. However, it may be even easier just to select the title of the one blog entry you wish to print to open that entry alone in the browser. Then just print any old way, although this particular entry may be several pages long. (Surprises are one reason I like to preview before printing.)

» N.M. motel where Microsoft began being redeveloped | ABQ Journal

(AP) — A Route 66 motor lodge in Albuquerque where Bill Gates and Paul Allen lived while launching Microsoft Corp. is being redeveloped into apartments as part of a neighborhood revival project.

Officials broke ground Thursday on the redevelopment of the Sundowner Uhuru Apartment Complex, one of many projects sought to help revive a once busy area of Albuquerque.

The federally-funded project will create 70 apartments for veterans, the homeless, mixed-income residents, and residents with special needs.

The Sundowner was built in 1960 during the heart of Route 66 tourism.

Gates and Allen later lived at the Sundowner Motel when they wrote a version of the programming language BASIC for the Altair 8800 computer, invented in 1975 by the Albuquerque-based company MITS. The motel was used as a base camp in the mid-1970s before the pair moved Microsoft to the Seattle-area.

Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry says the motel was “ground zero” for the personal computer revolution and needs to be redeveloped for history.

» N.M. motel where Microsoft began being redeveloped | ABQ Journal

Bing apps get updated

The Bing team announced today several major updates for the Bing app which include News, Finance, Weather, Sports, Maps and Travel. [mjh: the Weather app is not yet out, but the others are available.]

Bing apps get updated

I noted the following when the essential apps, including Mail, People, Calendar, and Messaging, were updated near the end of March, 2013:

Windows 8 App Updates for Readers » PC Training & Consulting Weblog

Updates affect all users, hopefully for the better in the long run. However, readers need to take care with updates because screens and options change which may affect some of the steps and illustrations in the book. (See below for an example.) If you want every screen and step in the book to agree with what you see on your computer do NOT install any app updates through the Store app until you complete Chapter 9, which includes the steps to install updates. In this respect, if you follow the book in order, you avoid some problems unless someone else installs these updates for you.

I regret any inconvenience readers may experience. Over time, software changes. Problems are fixed and features are added. Check the book website (www.win8mjh.com) for updates. Please feel free to write me directly with questions, comments or suggestions (mark@mjhinton.com). peace, mjh

Windows 8 App Updates for Readers » PC Training & Consulting Weblog

As a replacement, I bought the Seagate Backup Plus 1 TB. I also bought the Seagate Backup Plus 4 TB for network backups. Amazon and Costco have them for similar prices. I like the 1TB drive because it is portable and doesn’t require a separate power source — that’s ideal, to me. I can take it with me anywhere. I can hide it if I don’t take it with me. A backup is for recovery from theft as well as disaster.

Windows 8 introduced File History, a desktop utility that continuously backs up your data files, including versions of files over time. Be aware that File History is OFF by default in Windows 8. (When you connect a new external drive, you may see a notification for selecting what to do with that drive. That’s one way to turn on this feature.) Also, because File History copies data files, it will not help you with problems with Windows, programs, or with data in unidentified locations, such as an external drive (unless you add that drive). Always practice restoring files from any backup before you are desperate.

The most likely use for File History is to restore one or a few files that you can’t recover from Recycle Bin or that have become corrupted or, perhaps, which you have edited in some way you regret (say, cropping a photo). In Chapter 15 of Windows 8 for Seniors, I provide steps for turning on this feature, configuring it, and using it to restore a few files at a time.

This was my real-world opportunity to see if File History can restore an entire data drive. In other words, is File History a reasonable substitute for a separate backup program? In short: yes.

I plugged in my new drive. On the Start screen, I typed File History and selected the Settings category, then File History, which opens on the desktop. Next, I simply selected the Restore button at the bottom of the window (curving arrow). Normally, you don’t want to do that without first selecting the file(s) you intend to restore. (You can step down through folders in File History, back through previous dates, and also search by filename.) With nothing selected, everything is — it doesn’t matter if that makes sense or not. Naturally, restoring 400 GB of data takes a long time — roughly 16 hours with USB 2, but this drive supports faster USB 3. A different backup utility might be faster, but it could hardly be easier.

I’ve been burned before and lost data forever. I won’t rely solely on File History, but I do appreciate its convenience. I also use a file backup utility called Allway Sync, which can back up files as they change, much like File History. I also do an image backup (duplicating the content of a disk) using Macrium Reflect. These backups go to two or three different drives on my network. Some data is irreplaceable. peace, mjh

Follow the link below to see PC Advisor’s overview of File History.

How to use Windows 8 File History: Time Machine backup for Windows – PC Advisor

File History allows you to make automatic back-up copies of your files onto an external hard disk or network drive. It works with folders and files stored in your Windows libraries – which include your Documents, Music, Photos and Videos folders – as well your Favourites and Contacts and files on your Windows Desktop. [plus your SkyDrive folders -- mjh]

How to use Windows 8 File History: Time Machine backup for Windows – PC Advisor