how to Upgrade the Graphics card on MacBook Pro 15

Hi guys,
I was wondering if there´s a way to replace/upgrade my graphics card.
On the System preferences I see that I have two graphic cards. One of those is integrated and the other one is using a PCIE connection, that's the one that I want to change.
Is that possible? Anyone did it?
Thanks you guys and thank you iFixit!!

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How to upgrade the graphics card on a Mac

can you upgrade the graphics card in a Mac, and give your gaming performance a boost? In most cases, unfortunately, the answer is no, but in this article we discuss the small number of situations when you can upgrade a Mac's graphics card.

Can you upgrade the graphics card in a Mac Pro? 

In the vast majority of cases, you won't be able to upgrade the graphics card on your Mac. There are exceptions, but even then it's not trivial or recommended for most users.
The only Mac with a clear graphics upgrade path is the old Mac Pro. (The new Mac Pro released in 2013 is partly upgradable but you can't install a new graphics card.) It's easy to get excited at this stage because post-PowerPC Mac Pros have their graphics cards in an easily accessible PCI-e slot. And the PCI-e form factor is popular in PC motherboard manufacture.

Older, PowerPC-era Mac pros used AGP graphics. Again, fairly widely supported in the world of PCs. The problem isn't the availability of cards that fit into the slot your Mac Pro might have - it's driver support.
Support for your chosen graphics card must be built into OS X, limiting you to a narrow band of hardware. You're effectively stuck with cards built around an ATI Radeon architecture or nVidia Quadro - and only those certified for use in a Mac.

In Macs that support video card expansion, the nVidia Quadro is the hardest-working replacement for your existing card.
To give you an idea of cost, the Apple store currently carries just three graphics upgrade kits for older Mac Pro models. The ATI Radeon 5770 and 5870 were the last cards to ship in the pre-2013 Mac Pro; the 5870 now retails at £379 and will run in any Mac Pro with a PCI-e 2.0 slot. That should enable you to give a 2009 Mac Pro an appreciable boost.
Apple also sells two nVidia Quadro cards: the 4000 at £779 and the K5000 at £1,829. The price is justified by high-end workstation output. 
Ensuring you have the right card is the hardest part. Fitting a video card in a Mac Pro is actually fairly easy. It's similar to upgrading RAM - you remove the old card, slot in the new one and secure it. With nVidia cards you'll need to install drivers but otherwise it shouldn't be long before you're ready to enjoy faster graphics and higher screen resolutions.

If you’re upgrading a Mac Pro that’s a little, but not too much older, a compatible ATI Radeon card can breathe some life into your machine.

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Upgrade your MacBook to an SSD

There are, with about MacBook professionals (exclusive by the Retina display models) only 2 modifications that you can make without voiding your Apple warranty or AppleCare extended warranty – upgrading the random access memory and upgrading the drive in the disc drive bay. If you’ve already upgraded your RAM and simply want more accelerate, you may want to consider upgrading your old hard drive with a SSD (Solid State Drive). Many people come to the MacBook Pro forum asking about SSD upgrades, so this user tip is applicable to those, primarily, who have already made the decision to upgrade. Note that I only recommend using a SSD in 2009 and later MacBook Pros with a 3.0Gbps to 6.0Gbps interface speed – and I recommend buying a 6.0Gbps SSD regardless of the fact that models with a SATA II interface won’t be able to use the full-negotiated speed of 6.0Gbps. Why? Because you may want to upgrade your Mac sometime in the future… although you'd likely be upgrading to a Retina model these days. But you may still want to use the SSD in an enclosure or in another machine.



Before you buy…

Before you purchase a SSD, there are a few questions that you need to ask:



What capacity do you need?

It’s just my opinion, but the bigger the better. Now you may want to install a 120-128GB SSD and simply use it as a boot device and as a place to store your most frequently used applications. This is certainly the least expensive approach. But most people will want to store much more than that on an internal drive save, perhaps, for large iTunes libraries and large photo/movie libraries. There are numerous advantages to a larger drive, however. If you do photo or video editing, the SSD makes a super-fast scratch/working drive for individual projects. You can always store your hefty data on an external drive, of course, but for working projects I recommend using your fast internal SSD. Currently, SSDs come in basically three usable sizes: 120-128GB, 240-256GB and 480-512GB. But Crucial is now shipping a 960GB M500 drive that sells for under $600. So decide, first, how much storage you can actually utilize before making any buying decisions. And Samsung now has a 1 Terabyte EVO drive - priced at about $800+ but which can be found for under $650. Decisions, decisions! See here for an excellent review of the Samsung 840 EVO 1TB drive. Crucial also has two high-capacity SSDs - the older 960GB M500 and the recently released 1 Terabyte M550, which sports faster speeds than the M500 series but is still available at a reasonable price. I would recommend any of these three drives, now, for those wanting the higher capacity. See a review of the M550 series here.



Which drive should I buy?

Unfortunately, there are no Consumer Reports articles out for SSDs on MacBook Pros. There is, however, a very good “information and buyers guide” website - Sean’s SSD Buyer’s Guide and Information Thread. It’s chock-full of information about how SSDs work, what technology individual manufacturers employ, and includes not only a ‘buyer’s guide’ but an almost endless thread containing users experiences. Beware, though, as it is primarily geared towards Windows users. Still, that shouldn’t stop you from reading much of the information there. One thing that I always look for in an SSD, too, is the “Mac-friendliness” of the drive – e.g., can the firmware be upgraded using a Mac or must it be upgraded on a Windows machine? Unfortunately, the majority of SSDs fall in the latter category. That, alone, may not be a showstopper for you in determining which brand of SSD to purchase, but it should at least give you pause.



Getting everything in place…

Before you begin your MacBook Pro surgery, here is a checklist of things you should have on hand:

    SSD of choice
    Enclosure for external drive (can be found at Amazon or OWC, prices range from $8-20, usually, for a USB 2.0 kit will all cables)
    Toolkit that includes a Phillips #00 screwdriver, a Torx T6 screwdriver, and, possibly, a spudger – I recommend this kit - http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/TOOLKIT11/ - from OWC
    Carbon Copy Cloner (we’ll get into how to use this in a moment)



Start the process…

There are two ways to go about getting the data from your old drive to your SSD. The first is to install the SSD into your enclosure and make your clone before installing the SSD. The second is simply to install the SSD into your hard drive bay and your old hard drive into your enclosure and boot from the enclosure. No one way is better than the other. We’ll examine both ways here:


Install the SSD into your USB enclosure and plug it up. Use Disk Utility (Applications>Utilities folder) to format the SSD, erasing it and formatting as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” with a single GUID partition. Then use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your hard drive to the SSD. If you are running Lion or Mountain Lion, choose the option to copy the Recovery Partition to the SSD. After the clone is complete, restart your computer whilst holding down the option key and select the SSD as the boot drive. You’ll know in a few seconds if your clone was successful.


Alternately, you can just go ahead and install your SSD into your MacBook Pro (endless number of DIY videos online – see OWC’s Installation Videos - http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/) and put your hard drive into the USB enclosure and boot from it. Then just boot from the enclosed drive and use Disk Utility to format the SSD and clone the contents of your hard drive onto your SSD as noted above.


Either method should work just fine. Be sure to visit the OWC video installation page, or the numerous videos on YouTube, about installing the drive into your MacBook Pro.



You’re almost finished…

Now that you have your cloned SSD in your hard drive bay, you should be able to hold down the option key and boot from the SSD. The first thing you’ll want to do is to go to System Preferences>Startup Disk and select your new SSD as your startup drive.


I would also recommend using Trim Enabler to enable TRIM on your new SSD. Not sure what TRIM does? See this Wikipedia article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM. Note that with every .1 upgrade to OS X you will have to enable TRIM once again. I just make it a habit when I update my system. Some may ask of TRIM is necessary these days since most SSDs use proprietary garbage collection. I can only say that I still enable TRIM just in case... and Apple's SSDs utilize TRIM as well.



Up and running…

You should be up and running now, enjoying the many benefits of a SSD – particularly speed. You shouldn’t have any problems if you’ve followed these instructions.


The only problem that some people have run into, in my experience, has been with a faulty SATA cable (affecting 2009 models more than any other). If you’re having problems such a ‘beachballing,’ slow speeds, etc., look at replacing your SATA cable first – it’s the most likely culprit. You’ll also want to make certain that you stay up to date with SSD firmware updates – these cannot only eliminate ‘bugs’ in the firmware, but may also make your SSD operate more efficiently.



Retina model?

The newest MacBook Pros, of course - the Retina models - already come with a SSD installed. Until recently, though, you really couldn't upgrade your flash storage. Now, on certain models, you can upgrade the flash storage (although you'll void your warranty if you crack the case, so buyer beware). Both Other World Computing and Transcend produce flash storage modules so that you can upgrade your storage to up to 1 terabyte. Note that both the OWC and the Transcend modules will only work with 'older' Retina models or MacBook Pro Airs - not the newer models that have a PCIe interface. Still, having these options available is more than you could have hoped for previously. Will there ever be PCIe based flash storage available? Only time will tell. Not much else to say about Retina models.


Final note…

I do not recommend placing your SSD into the optical bay of your MacBook Pro – your start-up drive is meant to be in the hard drive bay and that’s where you want to install your SSD. Installing another SSD or a hard drive into your optical bay is beyond the scope of this user tip. And also note that this tip covers only one method – my preferred method – for getting your data to your SSD.

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How to partition your drive before installing Windows 10

So you're interested in trying out Windows 10? Well, you're in luck. Microsoft released a Technical Preview of the upcoming Windows operating system that is free for anyone to download and install. There are a few different options for getting Windows 10 on your device. You can simply install it on a secondary PC over your existing Windows operating system, you can use a virtual PC emulator to test it out or you can partition your hard drive and install it on your primary PC. This guide will show you how to do the last of the three.
While using a virtual PC to install Windows 10 may be easier, performance may take a hit because you are splitting your memory between two operating systems. Creating a hard-drive partition, which will split the hard drive into different storage volumes, will let you experience Windows 10 as it was meant to be. The best part about this method is that once it's all said and done, you can simply delete the partition and return your PC to normal.

Open the Control Panel, click on System and Security and select Administrative Tools. Double-click on Computer Management and under the Storage submenu, click Disk Management.
Right-click your primary drive (in most cases this will be theC volume) and select the Shrink Volume option from the list. If you are installing the 32-bit version of Windows 10 you will need at least 16GB, while the 64-bit version will require 20GB of free space. On my 700GB hard drive, I allocated 100GB to Windows 10, which should give me more than enough space to play around with the operating system. Remember that 1,000 megabytes is roughly equivalent to 1 gigabyte (technically it is 1,024MB to 1GB).

You should now see an "unallocated" amount of storage appear next to your C volume. Right-click it, select "New Simple Volume" from the list and click on the Next button. You can assign the drive any letter you please; I simply selected D. After clicking Next a third time, you will come to the Format Partition section. Make sure NTFS is selected for the file system and choose a name for the partition. I went with the name "Windows 10." Click Next one last time and then on Finished. You should now have a blank drive to install Windows 10 on.

To get things back to normal, right-click the partition and select "Delete Volume" from the list. Then, right-click the C drive and select Extend Volume.

You can find a step-by-step guide for installing the Windows 10 Technical Preview on your PC by clicking this link. Just be sure that you are installing the preview on the newly partitioned drive; in my case that is the D drive. You don't want to install it on your primary C drive.

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best way to completely wipe your Android device

The best way

to completely wipe

 your Android device

 

Best way to completely wipe your Android device

A study from security software vendor Avast has suggested that the factory reset option built into the Android operating system isn't effective in eradicating your personal data from old devices. The firm purchased 20 used Android smartphones on eBay and was able to recover more than 40,000 photos, 750 emails and text messages, and 250 contacts, along with the identities of four of the previous device owners, and even a completed loan application. To make matters worse, Avast employees were using readily available data recovery software to get the job done.
While Avast and other companies like it offer data deletion tools, there are other steps you can take to securing your personal data when performing a factory reset.

Step 1: Encrypting

I recommend encrypting your device before you are getting ready to wipe it. The encryption process will scramble the data on your device and, even if the wipe doesn't fully delete the data, a special key will be required to unscramble it.
To encrypt your device on stock Android, enter settings, click on Security, and select Encrypt phone. The feature may be located under different options on other devices.

The best way to completely wipe your Android device

Step 2: Perform a factory reset

The next thing you will want to do is perform a factory reset. This can be done on stock Android by selecting Factory data reset in the Backup & reset option in the settings menu. You should be aware that this will erase all of the data on your phone and that you should backup anything you don't want to lose.

The best way to completely wipe your Android device

Step 3: Load dummy data

Following step one and two should be enough for most people, but there's an extra step you can take to add another layer of protection when erasing your personal data. Try loading fake photos and contacts on your device. Why you ask? We will address that in the next step.

Step 4: Perform another factory reset

You should now perform another factory reset, thus erasing the dummy content you loaded onto the device. This will make it even harder for someone to locate your data because it will be buried below the dummy content.
Still feeling a little paranoid? Repeat steps three and four as many times as you like. As I mentioned above, though, for most people simply following steps one and two should be enough. Without the encryption pin, which is overwritten in the initial factory reset, it will be almost impossible to unscramble your data.
Then again, you could always take a hammer to your phone or toss it in the toilet. You know, if you aren't interested in selling it.

Tags: Android Update, Security, Phones, Android

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Get started with Instagram's Hyperlapse app

Get started with Instagram's Hyperlapse app

Creating a time-lapse video using your iOS device just got a lot easier (without the help of iOS 8, mind you). On Tuesday, Instagram released a stand-alone app called Hyperlapse. The app is currently only available for iOS devices; sorry Android users, you'll need to wait until Google makes some API changes to the gyroscope and camera, according to Wired.

Upon launching the app for the first time you're walked through some example time-lapse videos, and then asked to grant permission for the app to access your Camera and Microphone. Obviously lacking is the need to connect the app to your Instagram account. That's right, Hyperlapse isn't directly tied to your Instagram account -- its primary job is to help you create videos.

Capturing

Recording a video through the android app is exactly what you'd expect from an iOS camera app. A tap on the white shutter button starts recording, with another tap to stop recording. Just under the shutter button you'll notice two different time indicators. The time on the left is the total time recorded, while the time opposite represents the time-lapse length at the default 6x setting.

You won't find an option to enable or disable the stabilization feature - it's baked in and on at all times. And after viewing a video in its "unstabilized" format, you'll be happy the app is designed this way.

Editing

Immediately after tapping the shutter button to stop recording, edit mode is launched. A slider allows you to adjust the speed of the video. With options ranging from 1x to 12x speed, you have complete control over how fast or slow the video plays back. Just keep in mind adjusting playback speed directly impacts the length of your video.

To view your video without the included stabilization feature, touch the screen as your video plays; "Unstabilized" will display along the bottom of the screen, showing you just how much better off you are when recording video within the app.

Sharing

Selecting the checkmark will save the video to your Camera Roll, followed by prompting you to share the video with either Instagram or Facebook. But as you already know, you can share content from your Camera Roll through various services.

Tapping on the red "X" will give you the option to delete the video, or save it within the app for editing later. Tap on the blue circle on the record screen to access your saved videos.
If you have a Hyperlapse video you're quite proud of, share a link to it in the comments. I have a feeling our Instagram feeds are going to be overrun with this feature for at least a few weeks.

Tags: Mobile Apps, Photography, Tablets, Phones, Mobile, Facebook, Instagram

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How to run Windows XP programs in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8

Microsoft has killed support for Windows XP, but that doesn't mean you have to get rid of all your old software. Here we show you how to run Windows XP programs in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Also see: Windows 10 hands-on review and Windows 10 release date, price and new features.

If you still have a few legacy applications that require Windows XP or you just want to test a program to make sure it works on the legacy operating system, it’s relatively simple to install and run it in a virtual PC environment. Also see: How to install a virtual machine.

Windows XP is no longer available to buy and although there are illegal copies to be found circulating the internet, you can download a pre-built virtual PC directly from Microsoft, which you can be confident will be malware-free. Microsoft provides these virtual machines to help developers test old versions of Internet Explorer, but they provide a full XP environment in which you can run any programs you wish.

Virtual PCs are available for a number of platforms, but we’ll use Oracle’s free VirtualBox software in this example. Once you have VirtualBox installed and working, go to modern.ie and select ‘VirtualBox on Windows’, then scroll down to Windows XP. Download the three files listed under IE8 and save them to a folder on your hard drive. Once they have downloaded, run the file called part1.exe and it will extract a file called IE8 – WinXP.OVA. Double-click this file to import it into VirtualBox and your Windows XP virtual PC will be installed.

You can now launch Windows XP from within VirtualBox and install any software you wish. The operating system is time limited to 30 days, but it’s possible to activate it for permanent use if you are in possession of a valid key


tags:

How to run Windows XP programs in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8

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Best Ways To Download Paid Android Apps For Free

 Android and IOS are the two most popular operating systems in Smartphones these days. IOS and Android are also the toughest competitors of the smart phone world. But from the last few months Android operated Smartphones marked a successful record with more sales than IOS. Some of the most popular makers of Smartphones like Samsung, LG, HTC and Sony uses Android OS. In addition to that it is maintained by Google itself.

1 File sharing 

File sharing Websites The best way to download Android apps for free is through file sharing websites. The file sharing on these websites is done by Android users who download or buy paid apps and upload them in file sharing websites. The best popular file sharing websites are:

www.4shared.com , www.mediafire.com and www.filecrop.com  and Out of them all 4shared is best and most popular and i will prefer it as it’s the easiest.

Steps to download paid app from these websites- Go to any of these websites and type the app name you want to download for free and add the extension of “.apk”. For example if you want to download ADWLauncher EX ( a paid app in Google play), type adw launcher ex .apk and press enter.The results will then be viewed.

From the results click the latest uploaded file and download it.
Once the .apk file is
downloaded, transfer it to your phone with USB cable and install it on your phone.

Note: You can also download 4shared app from market instead of searching apps in web.

2 BlackMart Alpha app 

BlackMart Alpha is an Android app itself. To use this app for downloading paid apps for free you need to search for BlackMart Alpha in the above mentioned file sharing sites. Search results will appear.
Download this application. Transfer and install it on your smart phone. After installation, open the
BlackMart Alpha app. A same design will appear as Android market app on your
smart phone.

A list of apps will appear in this app. You can also use the search option to search and download a paid app. Search results will appear. The price of the specified or searched app is struck out. Click on download and install it directly on your smart phone for free.

Note: You can download any app but don’t update any app from BlackMart Alpha as there are chances that it might corrupt that app.

3 Paying for app in Android market

The last tip which is most reliable and the best way to download the paid app is by paying for an app in Android market. To use this

option you should have a good file explorer app like ASTRO File Manager and ES File Explorer.
Install ES File Explorer or ASTRO File Manager. Go to Android market and purchase any app. Within the 15 minutes of trial period you can get the full refund if you cancel the order.

The app gets downloaded on your smart phone. Open ES file explorer and click on Options > Manager
> App Manager. Go to list of installed apps

and press on the app you just purchased and click on backup. The app backup will be made in backup folder of your SD card.

Once the backup is made, cancel the order and install it from the backup folder again. Your money will be
refunded after you cancel the order.

So these were the best ways to download any apps for free.

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How to use iphone 6

  iPhone 6 wow !!!

Apple’s new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus both sport large screens which can make using them with one-hand a bit problematic. With that in mind, we want to show you how to easily use the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus with one hand.

Before the arrival of the iPhone 5 in 2012, the iPhone had always used a small 3.5-inch display. Even as Android manufacturers shifted to massive displays for their flagship smartphones, Apple held firm. Even last year’s iPhone 5s came with a small 4-inch Retina Display. This year though, Apple finally caved and delivered the large screens many consumers have been craving for years.

Last week, Apple released the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, two new flagships that replace the iPhone 5s as the company’s flagship iPhone. Both are in possession of powerful features including massive Retina HD displays. The iPhone 6 sports a 4.7-inch display while the iPhone 6 Plus comes with a much larger 5.5-inch display. These new displays are fantastic for gaming, watching video, and using iOS 8 but they come with a cost.


That cost? Ease of use. Apple’s 3.5-inch and 4-inch iPhones are extremely easy to use with one hand, the larger iPhone 6 models will take some adjustment. Apple of course was, and is, aware that people want to use their phone with one hand. Even large screen smartphones like the iPhone 6 and the massive iPhone 6 Plus. So, it baked in a feature that’s going to help many of you use the iPhone 6 and even the iPhone 6 Plus with just one hand.

iOS 8, the iPhone 6′s operating system, comes with a feature called Reachability (We’ve also seen it referred to as One-Handed Mode). Reachability is a small iOS feature that’s tucked away inside iOS 8′s settings. The feature is turned on by default though many iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users are not aware of its presence. Here, we’re going to show you how to use Reachability for better one-handed use and we’re going to show you how to toggle it on or off in case you want to do that. Let’s start with how it works.
Reachability is extremely basic but it’s going to help many of you access what you need with just one hand. To use the feature, simply tap on the home button twice. Do not press it down, simply tap on it. Once you do that, you should get a screen that looks like the one below.


Whatever is on the screen will be pushed down so that you can easily access the upper right hand corner with your thumb. Applications like Google Chrome store vital functionality in the top right corner and Reachability will allow for easier access with one-hand. To get out of the iPhone 6′s one-handed mode, you can double tap again or simply tap on something on screen.

 If you find yourself double tapping on accident, there is a way to quickly, and easily, turn the feature off. To turn off Reachability, head to Settings > General > Accessibility > Toggle On/Off Reachability. You’ll need to scroll down a bit to find it but it’s there. Once it’s turned off, you will no longer have access to the one-handed mode.

This is a feature that is going to be extremely useful for those of you that are in possession of an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus and small hands. It’s not perfect by any means but it has the potential to be come a part of your daily routine. It has already become part of ours.

haw to use iphone 6  and iphone 6 plus

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samsung galaxy s10

samsung galaxy s10

samsung galaxy s10
samsung galaxy s10
samsung galaxy s10
samsung galaxy s10

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samsung galaxy s10
samsung galaxy s10
samsung galaxy s10
samsung galaxy s10

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Windows 9 release

Windows 9 Threshold: All you need to know about the next Windows

When is the Windows 9 release date and how will Windows 9 differ from Windows 8? Read on as we explore potential Windows 9 release dates, leaked Windows 9 screenshots and how the Windows 9 Start Menu looks set to change, hopefully for the better. (Last Update: 16 Sep)

Windows 9 is the most important software release in Microsoft's history. Among the many things Microsoft needs to sort out is the Windows 9 Start Menu, but there's more to it than that. There are also debates about how Microsoft will sell Windows 9, with some kind of subscription model a possibility.

Whatever Microsoft has planned, we don't have long to find out what it is. Official invites have gone out to 'Join us to hear about what's next for Windows and the enterprise' on 30 September.

Microsoft's ambition for Windows 9 is apparently that it needs a "deeply personal, universally human way of operating". For one thing, this will likely mean integrating Microsoft's Cortana digital assistant.

Windows 9 Release Date: When is Windows 9 coming out?

There are a few schools of thought on the Windows 9 release date. One suggests it's planned for April 2015. This is a reasonably safe bet for a few reasons, including Microsoft's desire to shorten the gaps between releases, and the fact the original report came from respected Microsoft reporter Paul Thurrot.

Reasons against this theory include that there was no serious mention of Windows 9 at the BUILD 2014 conference, Microsoft's annual developers conference. Microsoft did show a sneak peek of a new Start Menu, but not much else.

Another view suggests Microsoft is actually planning a much earlier launch. Renowned Russian pirate group WZOR, a notorious source of verified Microsoft tips in the past, recently tweeted that it believed the Windows 9 launch was coming much sooner, with an RTM (Release To Manufacturing) release towards the end of this year.

If this were the case, however, we'd expect to have heard a lot details by now, and it's possible WZOR's sources referred to the expected Windows 8 update planned for later this year and not Windows 9 itself.

More recently, reports suggested that Windows 9 will be delayed later into 2015 due to another update to Windows 8.1. This would push the Windows 9 release date to June 2015 as opposed to the planned April 2015.

Hopefully, Microsoft's 30 September event will clear all this detail up.

SEE ALSO: Surface Pro 3 vs Surface Pro 2

Windows 9 Start Menu: What will it look like?

Most of the discussion about Windows 9 thus far has focused on the Windows 9 Start Menu and what changes Microsoft is expected to make to it. Indeed, Microsoft has fueled this by releasing the following early concept of what the future Start Menu will look like.

SEE ALSO: Android 5.0 release date, news and rumours

The Start Menu is returning in a serious way – it won't just open the full 'Modern UI' as seen in the most recent Windows 8.1 update. Instead, it looks as though Microsoft will integrate elements of that UI, such as Live Tiles, into it.

Windows 9 Beta/Preview: When will the Windows 9 Preview be released?

As noted earlier, a Windows 9 Beta this year is looking increasingly likely. This would give Microsoft plenty of time to gather user feedback ahead of a full release, and hopefully generate some goodwill from hardcore users who could influence regular consumers.

Like previous Windows previews, we'd expect the Windows 9 Preview to be open to everyone with the usual caveats that you need to know what you're doing to install it. Fundamentally, though, the main changes are likely to be visual rather than structural, so it's unlikely to have any problems with drivers and other common snags from previous Windows betas. If you can run Windows 8 smoothly, the Windows 9 preview should be fine.

Windows 9 Features: Could Cortana be a key part of Windows 9?

Cortana, in case you mised her/it, is the digital assistant that Microsoft introduced to Windows Phone 8.1. Recently, two separate reports confirm that the system is coming to Windows 9. This would essentially add voice search, and other voice activated interactions, right into Windows 9.

This idea is also consistent with a recently leaked poster (see below) that refers to the need to make Windows 9 "deeply personal". Adding a personal assistant like Cortana seems like a good way to kickstart that idea.

Windows 9 Price: Could Windows 9 be subscription based?

We don't know this for certain yet, but it's reasonably clear that Windows 9 will see a change in how Microsoft sells Windows 9 and that the Windows 9 price may be significantly lower than previous releases.

The two sources for information on this topic are WZOR (again) and respected journalist, and Microsoft expert, Mary Jo Foley. WZOR believes the base operating system will be free, with certain features costing extra as part of a subscription. This could take the form of enterprise features costing extra in a similar manner to Office 365.

Foley, meanwhile, believes that Windows 9 will be free, but only without the desktop. This is somewhat consistent with current Microsoft policy whereby products of a certain size or price are effectively exempt from the licensing fee, though how Microsoft would charge for desktop versions and what it would charge remain up for debate.

These two ideas aren't necessary mutually exclusive, either, and clearly show that discussions within Microsoft are ongoing.

As noted earlier, a recent leaked Microsoft document refers to 'Windows 365' and thus adds further fuel to the idea that Windows could have a subscription-based future. It seems unlikely, to us at least, that Microsoft would make such a radical change immediately, making the WZOR  assertion of a subscription for certain features far more likely.

Windows 9 Screenshots: What else is new?

The above screenshot is the only official concept for a future Windows release at present, but it includes a few more clues than just what the Windows 9 Start Menu will look like.


Here you can see a Metro app and Desktop app on the desktop

Chief among these clues is the ability to pin 'Metro' apps to the taskbar and open them inside traditional desktop Windows. Arguably this is a more serious and more useful change than an updated Start Menu.

One of the many criticisms of the Modern Start Screen seen in Windows 8 is it forced people to use full screen apps when it wasn't necessary. This idea works fine on a tablet, but it doesn't make much sense when you're using a 24-inch (or more) monitor. This change would allow more users to enjoy the benefits of these apps without the drawbacks.

What we want to see in Windows 9

Besides what we already know to be coming, there are few things we'd really like Microsoft to sort out for Windows 9

Better support for High DPI monitors
Currently, Windows 8 is rubbish on high DPI displays, such as the 3,200 x 1,800 resolution display found on the Samsung Ativ Book 9 Plus or the 10-inch, 1080p screen on the Surface Pro 2. One these devices, desktop apps often have implausibly small text or UI elements, which completely defeats the object of having nice, crisp high DPI screens.

Fewer hidden UI elements
One of the more irritating habits of Windows 8 was using hidden elements, such as hot corners, to access certain features. Again, many of these ideas worked great on tablets, but were an utter pain on laptops and PCs.

More Metro apps
An obvious one, this. Even now the Windows Store lacks a little depth beyond the big names, and it's an area that needs to improve. Unifying the app process between Windows Phone and Windows 9 would help this, and it's widely believed to be what Microsoft is working on.

Reduced OS size
Windows remains a somewhat bloated operating system. That's fine if you're using an old-school PC, but on an Ultrabook or tablet with limited space, handing over 30GB or so to the OS is a major pain.
Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/windows-9-release-date-beta-preview-start-menu-screenshots#BZbbrGH0H8Bt42VK.99

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iphone 6

iphone 6

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