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.
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.
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
LG G3 review: The perfect flagship phone for early adopters
The Good
The
LG G3 has a great camera, a brilliantly sharp display, a snappy
quad-core processor, and a flat UI that makes Android 4.4 look good.
LG's flagship has also improved on the previous model -- the new G3
comes with a removable battery and microSD card slot, both things the G2
lacked.
The Bad
The new
QHD display with its 2,560x1,440-pixel resolution is quite a power-hog,
so the phone will barely last you a day without a charge.
The Bottom Line
Possessing
the right blend of features and design, the G3 finally gives LG the
right phone with which to challenge Korean rival Samsung.
If you need access to programming tools on your Mac, there are several ways to go about installing them.
Part
of OS X is its powerful command-line interface, where a competent or
even novice programmer can make use of a number of tools for configuring
and customizing the system, and make programs and scripts
While OS X ships with a number of common commands, by default Apple
does not include those that are used for checking out, compiling, and
otherwise managing code for developing applications.
If you need these tools for some reason, then there are three ways you can get them on your Mac.
The first is to install Apple's XCode developer suite, which is
available via the Mac App Store for free. However, installing this will
also include XCode itself, and despite its benefits, some people may not
wish to have the entire Xcode suite installed on a system. The command line tools are available as standalone installer packages from the Apple Developer Web site.
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET
The
next option is to download the latest command line tools from Apple's
developer page. To do this, you simply need to log into the downloads section of the Apple developer site using an Apple ID. Here you can search for "Command Line Tools" to view all versions of the tools from Lion through Mavericks. These can then be downloaded as .dmg disk images and mounted, and you can then run the enclosed installer.
The last option is perhaps the easiest, which is to use the system's
ability to install the command line tools on demand. This is done by an
application in the Macintosh HD > System > Library >
CoreServices folder called "Install Command Line Developer Tools."
However, this program cannot be launched independently. To run, this
program must be invoked by a service or application that calls for the
use of the developer tools.
Install command line developer tools in OS X
In
most cases, standard developer commands like "make," "gcc," "cc,"
"svn," "git" or Apple-specific tools like "xcode-select" or "xcodebuild"
or "xcrun" will require these tools, so running these in some form will
spur the system to launch the "Install Command Line Developer Tools"
program.
Therefore, to install these tools, simply open the Terminal, type
"make" or any desired common developer command, and press Enter, and
then when prompted you can install the developer tools (an approximate
100MB download from Apple), and be up and running.
When installed, the developer tools will be placed in the Macintosh
HD > Library > Developer directory, which you can peruse to see
what exactly has been installed. To uninstall these tools, simply remove
the "Developer" folder from the Macintosh HD > Library directory.
If
you need to boot to a secondary hard drive on your Mac, you can do so
using several different means. For most PC systems, you will need to
press F12, or another F-key, or perhaps the Escape or Delete keys when
booting your system in order to select an alternative boot drive. To do
this on a Apple computers, you use the Option key; however, there may be
some constraints.
Generally you can start up or reboot your Mac,
and simply hold the Option key once the screen goes black so that when
it reboots it will show you the boot menu. However, if you do this with a
wireless keyboard you may not see the menu and instead the system boot
normally. This is because holding down the key before the Bluetooth
keyboard on your Mac initializes will prevent it from recognizing the
key as pressed. Bluetooth controllers are initialized once the boot
chimes sound; to ensure your Mac goes to the boot menu, press and hold
the Option key immediately after hearing the boot chimes, not before.
This same approach goes for other boot modes as well (Safe Mode, Single
User mode, Verbose mode, etc.).
When you have invoked the boot menu properly, a gray screen will
display that shows available boot volumes. For systems running OS X 10.7
or later, you should see the default Macintosh HD partition, along with
a Recovery HD volume; for systems running 10.6 or earlier, you should
see only the main boot volume, unless you have multiple valid operating
systems installed.
At this point, you can attach external hard drives, flash drives, or
optical disks that contain valid operating systems, and when recognized
they should appear alongside the current boot options.
You can then boot to the desired disk by selecting it with your mouse
and clicking the arrow button, or by using the arrow keys to navigate
the menu, pressing Enter to select the desired volume.
Any Mac that shipped with an optical drive can boot to a disc in that
drive by holding the "C" key at startup. While most recent Macs
supporting this feature have shipped with DVDdrives, the C stands for
CD-ROM, as it was implemented when Macs came with only CD drives. For
those without optical drives, you can use an external USB DVD drive to
insert a boot DVD and have it appear on the standard boot menu for
access.
For systems configured with OS X 10.7, 10.8, or 10.9, you can boot
directly to the recovery drive by holding Command-R. Additionally, most
systems shipped after 2010 support Internet Recovery, which can be
invoked by holding Option-Command-R. Keep in mind an Internet connection
will be required for this recovery, which will download an
approximately 650MB image file from Apple.
Note that selecting an alternative boot disk from the default one
using this method will only be set for the current boot session.
Restarting the system will revert back to the default boot disk. To
change this, you will need to use the Startup Disk settings that are
available either in System Preferences, in Apple's Boot Camp drivers for
Windows, or in the Recovery partition
Consumers are one tiny step closer to being able to take their phones to another carrier when they switch service providers.
Members
of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday unanimously voted to
approve a bill that will make it easier for consumers to unlock their
cell phones. Once unlocked, wireless subscribers can then take those
phones to a different wireless operator.
This bill, along with a bill passed by the House of Representatives in February,
would repeal a 2012 decision by the Library of Congress that made cell
phone unlocking a violation of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright
Act. The DMCA, which prohibits Americans from "circumventing"
technologies that protect copyrighted works, gives the Library of
Congress the authority to grant exemptions. Last year, the Library of
Congress opted not to renew the DMCA exemption for cell phone unlocking,
which it had granted in 2006 and 2010.
The change caused a stir in the wireless community, and an online petition garnered some 114,322 signatures and won approval of President Obama.
"With
today's strong bipartisan vote in the Judiciary Committee, I hope the
full Senate can soon take up this important legislation that supports
consumer rights," Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the committee chairman,
said in a statement.
Unlocking a cell phone is important for consumers who travel abroad
and for those who want to take their devices to other carriers. The
reason why is that most devices sold in the US through wireless
operators have a software lock on them which prohibits them from being
used on another operator's network. The ban on unlocking put a roadblock
in the way for consumers who wanted to use their devices on other
networks.
That said, wireless operators have always unlocked
devices upon request, although in recent years they have gotten more
stringent regarding their requirements. Now most wireless operators
require customers to own their devices outright before they are able to
request an unlock code.
This requirement hasn't gone away in
either bill. Wireless operators are only required to unlock devices that
are fully paid for. In other words, if you are still under contract
with your carrier and you bought a device at a subsidized price, your
wireless operator doesn't have to unlock your phone. And in many
instances, the carrier won't.
The Senate bill that has moved out
of committee is similar to the House bill that passed earlier in the
year. But it has one key difference. The House bill only applies to
individuals looking to unlock a single device. It specifically prohibits
companies from unlocking cell phones in bulk. This is important because
there are many companies that resell cell phones or unlock devices for
consumers that would be protected under the Senate version of the bill.
Consumer
activists said they are pleased that Congress is responding to the
public outcry regarding this issue. And they are happy that the Senate
bill offers more flexibility in unlocking, so that consumers can get
help from third-party "unlocking" sites.
"This is critical for
those who need technical assistance to unlock their device," Laura Moy,
staff attorney for Public Knowledge, said in a statement. "We are also
pleased that a recent amendment to the bill removed language about bulk
unlocking, which -- like individual unlocking -- has nothing to do with
copyright law."
The wireless industry supports both bills. And in December, the Federal Communications Commission reached an agreement with the top five wireless operators in the US regarding unlocking. A new law would ensure that this right is protected.
Even
though operators have agreed to unlock devices and Congress is working
to ensure that right becomes law, other technical roadblocks will keep
most consumers from truly being able to take their devices with them
when they switch carriers.
The reason why is that not all US
wireless operators use the same network technologies or the same radio
frequencies to offer their service. For instance, AT&T and T-Mobile
have built their networks on a technology called GSM. Phones designed
for these networks are the most flexible, because GSM is the same
technology that is used throughout the world. And wireless users can
switch carriers on unlocked GSM devices simply by swapping out a SIM
card.
It's not as simple for wireless customers on Verizon or
Sprint, which use a technology called CDMA for their basic voice
service. This technology does not use a SIM card, so even if the device
is unlocked, a Verizon customer can't slip in a Sprint SIM card and get
voice service on Sprint. The device must still be "provisioned" on the
new carrier.
In a few years, the landscape will hopefully change
as more operators move to the next generation of network technology: 4G
LTE. But even then, the transition may not be completely seamless and
devices made for different carriers may not be interchangeable.
There
are two reasons for this. First, even though all four major US wireless
operators are deploying 4G LTE, the technology is mostly used for data
services. Voice service on these networks still uses the older GSM or
CDMA technology. And second, even though these carriers are all
deploying the same 4G LTE network technology, they're using different
radio frequencies to deploy the service. Until the carriers overlap more
in terms of the spectrum they are using to build the service, we are
still likely to have incompatible devices among carriers.
Wireless
operators are beginning to deploy voice over LTE services, and some are
deploying LTE on the same spectrum bands, which means the future looks
bright for true device interoperability.
And someday if companies
don't put any software locks on devices, then we'll truly be able to
take any mobile device to any wireless carrier. But that's a long way
off. For now, consumers will have to be satisfied with this initial baby
step.
today, I wrote about Memory Diag, a Mac app that helps you optimize system memory to help you through periods of sluggish behavior. Memory Clean
is another such free app that takes a slightly different approach to
monitoring memory resources. If you could combine the two, you might
have the perfect memory optimizer for OS X. But because the technology
does not exist to combine these two apps, let's take a look at how
Memory Clean goes about its business and how it differs from Memory
Diag.
Memory Clean
Like
Memory Diag, Memory Clean installs an icon in the menu bar. By default,
the icon features a small dial graphic showing the amount of free
memory your Mac currently has at its disposal. In preferences, you can
hide the dial graphic while keeping the dynamic free memory figure. You
can also change the number to display as a percentage, and you can add
Memory Clean to the Dock and have it start when you log in.
Advanced
preferences let you set a threshold level for when your free memory
goes into the red. That is, at what point you'd like Memory Clean's
number in the menu bar to turn red to alert you that you are running low
on memory resources. There is also a box to check to have the app
autoclean your Mac's memory when it falls below that threshold.
Memory Clean
I
don't have any scientific or anecdotal evidence to support the
following advice, but I would counsel you against enabling Auto Clean.
Like Memory Diag, Memory Clean is most effective after you close an
intensive app because it cleans up the caches that the application left
littered across your Mac that can fragment your memory and slow down
performance. I would get in the habit of running Memory Clean in such
instances rather than having it automatically kick in when memory
resources are running low and your system is feeling sluggish. When
Memory Clean cleans your memory, your already slow system will proceed
to get even slower. Better to quit any demanding apps to bring your
system back up to something resembling full speed before running Memory
Clean to optimize performance further.
To run Memory Clean, click
its icon in the menu bar. A window will appear to show dynamic figures
of your Mac's current active, wired, inactive, and free memory. Click
the Clean Memory button to initiate a scan to free up more memory. The
scan takes between 15 and 30 seconds to run, in my experience.
Alternatively, you can right-click the menu bar icon to access via a
small pull-down menu the same stats and clean-memory command, along with
the app's preferences. Memory Clean While
both Memory Clean and Memory Diag perform the same service, each boasts
a useful feature the other lacks. Memory Clean keeps me better
informed. It shows me the exact number of MBs of memory I have free at
any given time, turning red to give me a clear warning when memory
resources are scarce. Whereas Memory Diag does a superior job of
diagnosing which apps are memory hogs. It lists the offending app(s) so I
can easily eradicate any problems.
Google Play Edition smartphones
are great but they are limited to certain models and typically sold in
the US. However, you can make your own by installing the Nexus 5Android 4.4 KitKat launcher so here's how to do it. Read: The 28 best smartphones: The best phone you can buy in 2014.
Either you want to make your own Google Play Edition smartphone or
you don't particularly like the software provided on your handset.
Whatever your reasons, you can get the vanilla Android experience
offered on the Nexus 5 by following our guide. For this article we've
used the Huawei Ascend P7 so certain screens may look different on your phone.
How to install the Nexus 5 Android 4.4 KitKat launcher
Step One
In order to install the Nexus 5 launcher, you'll need to tweak a
setting on your phone. In the Security section of the settings menu,
tick the box which says 'Unknown sources'. This allows the installation
of apps not from the Google Play store.
Step Two
Before you download and install the Nexus 5 launcher, check you have
the latest version of Google Search via the Play store. If there's an
available update, download and install it. Step Three
Now you're ready to download the Nexus 5 launcher so head to http://j.mp/1btMZku on your smartphone and select ok on the warning.
Step Four
Once the apk (application package file) has downloaded open/run it by
clicking on the download notification in the drop down bar. Select
'Install' to, er, install the Nexus 5 launcher.
Step Five
You've now got the Nexus 5 launcher and, in a way, your own Google
Play Edition smartphone. Hit the home button and select the Google
launch from the list and click 'always'. Click through the welcome
screens showing you the new interface and you're done.
If you don't like the Nexus 5 launcher, for whatever reason, you can get things back to normal by performing a factory reset.
Google has released a beta version of Android L, the as-yet unnamed next release of the mobile operating system. Anyone can install this on their Nexus 5 or Nexus 7, but it’s unwise to do so if it’s your main smartphone or tablet.
As Google states, “The Android preview system image is not a stable
release, and may contain errors and defects that can result in damage to
your computer systems, devices, and data. The preview Android system
image is not subject to the same testing as the factory OS and can cause
your phone and installed services and applications to stop working.”
So, you have been warned, but the good news is that you can uninstall
the Android L preview and revert to factory settings. Just make sure
you have backed up everything that you can’t afford to lose before you
install Android L, since the process will wipe your device.
We’ll explain step by step how to install the preview on a Nexus 5,
using Windows 7 or 8, and also how to go back to the original software
that your device shipped with.
How to install Android L
Step 1. Download the minimal 2MB installer from this XDA thread this XDA thread which includes the Android ADB and fastboot tools.
You need these to install the Android L image, and this is the
quickest and easiest way to install the tools without downloading the
entire Android SDK, which is huge and contains stuff you don’t need to
get Android L.
Follow the instructions (don’t change the installation path when
asked where to install it) and you should end up with a command prompt
window:
Step 2. Download the appropriate file for your device:
You will also need a utility such as 7-zip which
can extract the files from the .tgz archive. In fact, you’ll need to
unzip the files twice, as there’s a .tar file inside the .tgz file.
Extract the files to the same folder as the Minimal ADB and Fastboot,
which is c:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot.
Once extracted you should have a list of files as per the image below.
Step 3. Head to Settings, and scroll down to About
phone at the bottom. Scroll down to Build number and tap it 7 times.
This unhides the developer options, which aren’t displayed in Android
4.2 and later. In the Developer options menu, enable USB debugging.
Step 4. Download the Google USB driver from here here and extract the zip file somewhere. Step 5. With your Nexus connected via USB and
powered on, go to the Control Panel and click Devices and Printers. You
should see your device in the list. On our Windows 8 machine, it was
listed as ‘MTP’ under Multimedia devices. Right-click on it, and choose
properties. Click on the Hardware tab, then select the Nexus 5 in the
list, and click Properties. Now update the driver, pointing Windows to
the folder where you extracted the Google USB driver. Once done, it
should report the device as Android Composite ADB interface. Plus, you
should get a prompt on your device’s screen asking “Allow USB
debugging?”. Tick Always allow from this computer and tap OK.
Step 6. Now, Power off your device, and leave it
connected to your computer’s USB port. Now start it using the
appropriate key combination to put it in “fastboot” mode.
For the Nexus 5, that’s by holding down the volume up, volume down
and power buttons simultaneously. You should see a screen like the one
below
Alternatively, you can leave your device on and type adb reboot-bootloader to restart in fastboot mode.
Step 7. If the LOCK STATE says locked (which it should) then type
‘fastboot oem unlock’ at the command prompt, without the quotes, and
press Enter. You’ll see a screen like the one below. To change from no
to yes, use the volume rocker, and to select the option, press the power
button.
This WILL erase your device, so make sure you’ve backed everything up first.
Step 8. With the bootloader unlocked, you can now install the Android L firmware. Simply type
flash-all
and the process will begin. You will see alternating downloading… writing…. erasing… on your device’s screen.
Step 9. When the process finished, you should lock
the bootloader again for security. Start the device in fastboot mode (as
in Step 6), and then type fastboot oem lock
Locking the bootloader won’t wipe any data, but if you unlock it again, it will erase the device of all user data and settings.
How to uninstall Android L and return to factory settings
Reverting to the version of Android you had before installing Android
L is pretty much the same process as you’ve just completed.
Step 10. First, download the correct version of Android KitKat for your device from Google's images page
You can choose which version of KitKat you want.
Step 11. Then, extract it as in Step 2 above. You’ll
need to delete the Android L files from the c:\Program Files
(x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot folder before copying the extracted files
there. These are the files to remove (in case you forgot which were
which). Step 12. Repeat step 6 to 8, and you'll have a box fresh Nexus 5 (or 7).
If
someone you know uses his or her Mac regularly, then you can tackle the
system with a quick change that might give you a chuckle or two this
April Fools' day. Simply take a screenshot of the display, and then set
it to be a full-screen image in Apple's Preview program.
Granted this
trick is nothing new, but can easily be done in OS X, in the event you
need to jump in, perform the prank, and jump out without being detected:
Take a full-screen screenshot First, press Shift-Control-Command-3 to save a screenshot of the display to the clipboard.
Make a new image in Preview
Open the Preview application (Press Command-Space and search for it in
Spotlight), and then press Command-N to make a new image.
Set the image to be full-screen Press Control-Command-F to toggle full-screen mode on the current image (the screenshot).
With
this setup, the display will look the way they left it, but nothing on
screen can be clicked or moved. Instead, the mouse cursor will turn into
a crosshair and click-dragging will create a selection box. Of course,
the person will find out the issue when they try to access menus and the
real menu bar drops down from the top of the display, but until then it
may be fun to see the confusion ensue.
