If you aren’t too excited about the new Windows 8 features, then you should be, because from the older operating systems, Windows 8 will be one of the biggest upgrades by Microsoft as far as its operating systems are concerned…
Microsoft released a consumer preview for Windows 8, which allows users to download the operating system online and use it to give important feedback. Most people will think, well here is another version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, which will have just a few tweaks here and there, but nothing more. Well, not this time. The Windows 8 features are quite amazing, and it can easily be said that this operating system is one of their biggest upgrades from previous versions.
So what’s so special about Windows 8? Quite a lot…
- For starters, even the chips in tablets and phones will support Windows 8 along with PCs and laptops. Which means that, the same version of the operating system will be available across all devices.
- Windows 8 is a revolution as far as passwords are concerned. The new feature is vital especially to tablets and touchscreens, where entering long and complex passwords is a task. Windows 8 allows pictures and gestures for user authentication. Meaning, you can choose an image and a gesture on that image like circling an object, or tapping an area, or drawing a line between two points, as your password.
- Now you can take your Windows 8 around with you even on a pen drive. The enterprise version will allow you to take your whole operating system out with you on a flash drive or any portable device, which is like taking your whole computer out along with you, without actually doing it physically.
- With Windows XP and Windows Vista, or any previous versions, one thing that was inevitable was the speed of the operating system slowing down with the passage of time and usage. Windows 8 has a solution, or in fact two, ‘refresh’ and ‘reset’. A ‘refresh’ allows you to reinstall Windows, retaining all your personal data and settings. A ‘reset’ deletes all your data and settings, resets your OS to the absolute initial stage, making it as good as new.
- We all get bugged by those frequent warnings about updates and the computer needing to restart. Well none of that now with Windows 8. Now all updates will be consolidated to one single date. Meaning, all updates and restarts will wait till the month’s security release, giving you just one restart for the month.
- All of us copy files from one drive to another, or from one device to another, and we all know how inaccurate the estimates that are displayed are. With this OS, firstly if you have multiple file transfers going on, it consolidates all of them into one display pop-up, but with a detailed view available. Also, individual transfers can be paused or canceled.
- Last but not the least, Windows 8 has a new boot process called ‘Secure Boot’. This will ensure that the operating system has not been affected by any sort of malware.
You can be sure that there will be some more goodies available besides these features when the final version is out for everyone to use. As time goes by, these Windows 8 features will only excite more and more people, till the final OS is available for general use.