Whenever you switch to a new operating system there are always a few new things to learn – and with Windows 8, the learning curve has increased considerably with the new user interface and built-in store adding a new dimension to Microsoft’s long-running OS. One of the key differences in Windows 8 is the approach to social networking.

As befits a new operating system, over the past few weeks we’ve featured many articles about how to use and tweak Windows 8. With the focus largely on tweaking. After all, when so many developers have gone to the lengths of making tools to make the new operating system more customizable, it would be a shame to overlook this, especially when so many potential Windows 8 users seem to want to make changes.

I recently purchased a new Windows Phone 8 device (the Nokia Lumia 920) and discovered a much-improved mobile operating system compared with the previous Windows Phone 7.5. However, as much as I am enjoying the new phone, its increased speed and wider selection of functional apps, there is one thing that is a bit of a [...]

As mobile devices become more and more prominent as productivity tools, so an increasing number of apps offering solutions become available. Earning my living as a freelance writer, I’m particularly interested in word processing on my Android tablet, which I use as a proxy laptop computer. Thanks to a selection of useful apps – native and third party – I’m able to work from just about anywhere!

As a long term user of Windows Phone 7, the decision to upgrade to Windows Phone 8 was made all the more difficult by Microsoft’s revelation that they wouldn’t be completely abandoning the older release. Instead, the older devices would be receiving an upgrade to what is called Windows Phone 7.8, an update that begins rolling out in December 2012.

It’s been ten years since I took my first IT job, and in that time I’ve collected a bunch of tools that have proved invaluable to me in resolving issues with computers, hard disk drives, printers and other corporate hardware. While I work purely freelance these days, I still maintain a collection of devices and gadgets that can be used to assist with quickly resolving problems that might arise.

Public wireless networks are becoming more and more prevalent within towns and cities, providing an excellent alternative to running up a large data usage bill on 3G or 4G. Often public Wi-Fi is “free”, perhaps afforded to customers of a particular shopping chain or Telecoms Company, or anywhere else where a transaction might have already been made. Managing Wi-Fi on an Android tablet is largely straightforward, particularly on the most recent versions.

The problem is that not all businesses “trading” at Christmas are reputable. While you can trust your shopping center chains and online giants, there are plenty of businesses operating both in plain sight and behind the scenes that are trading not in gifts, but in data – your data. Specifically, I’m talking about email addresses, and the remarkable number of ways that scammers can farm them over the Christmas period.

If you’ve been turned onto sepia, black and white and the authentic effects of old cameras thanks to apps like Instagram, you might have considered heading for your parents’ old box of photographs to see what can be scanned and saved to your computer. Unfortunately, this is where the headache starts! You might find, for example, that the photos are dirty or dusty; that they’re creased or blemished; that there are too many for you to scan in one go.

What happens when you start up your PC? In most cases (and putting it very simply), after the power switch has controlled the flow of electricity to the motherboard and the fans have started up, your hard disk drive will be initialized and the boot section read. From here, the operating system will load up from the hard disk drive. But what if you don’t want it to? Then, you would need to change the boot order for your computer.

Considering the cost of a new smartphone, most of us are extremely casual about how we treat them. But keeping tabs on your smartphone isn’t difficult. Keeping it safe from the possibility of theft is even simpler. The following practical tips should explain exactly where you have been going wrong. You need never worry about a lost phone again!

You took one look at the headline and thought “this guy is crazy”, right? That’s pretty much what I thought at first, but as the week progressed I found myself struggling with apps, multi-tasking and spending too much money in cafes (and I only went once!). What’s worse is that this article was my idea. Anyone else could have taken it, but it fell to me. Perhaps the rest of the team were trying to tell me something; perhaps I should have heard the alarm bells ringing?

Although things are getting better (some printer manufacturers have radically reduced the cost of ink) as far as the owners of many sub-$100 printers are concerned, the price of ink is staggeringly close to the price of the printer. This underlines the manufacturers’ attitude to the devices – that they’re consumables, intended to last just a couple of years before being replaced. There are several ways in which you can force your printer into sharing a bit more ink with you.

As you’re probably aware, the new Nintendo Wii U has just been launched, which pushes the already low cost of the Nintendo Wii even further down. The result of this is a games console that can be used as the main interface for your home theatre system that can be picked up for under $50 and has access to a wide selection of TV playback services.

The HP TouchPad is a remarkable piece of kit. This tablet computer with its dual core CPU was released with a buggy version of the webOS operating system back in mid-2011 and failed to capture the imagination of app developers, leading to HP dropping the device within weeks of its launch. The ensuing firesale resulted in tablets being picked up brand new for under $100 on both sides of the Atlantic.