V. I. K. I.

It was such a beautiful dream. The openness of Google, matched with the control of Apple. Quality and quantity, optimized apps that anyone would be free to make. All married together with a bold sense of style and the massive branding power of Microsoft, there was no way that Windows Phone 7 could lose. And yet here we are: 2015. Five years after the dream once started, yet all that is left to do is pinpoint when it became a nightmare; how did it all go so wrong? As Windows Phone is laid to rest once again, soon to be born anew as Windows 10 Mobile, it is certainly a pertinent question. In 2010, the mobile world and its trends were not quite so set in stone as they now are. Apple, having started the smartphone revolution (at least according to some), was focused on the success of its newest device form factor, the iPad, regarded by many as an over-inflated phone . Android, now arguably the undisputed lord and master of the mobile space, was a mere chit, weak legged a...

The Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 10 contains headers, libraries, and tools you can use when you create apps that run on Windows operating systems. With the Windows SDK, you can begin building Universal Windows apps and desktop apps for Windows 10. This SDK also supports building Windows apps and desktop applications for Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008. Download Standalone Installer for Win10 SDK  If you using Visual studio 2015 ?!?! Need Internet Connection ( Data consumption around 5 GB) Control Panel -> Programs and features -> select Visual studio 2015 -> Change In setup dialog -> Click modify -> Select the required packages and Click update. What's in the kit Windows Headers, Libraries, and Metadata The SDK includes versioned folders for headers, libraries and metadata. This will allow future releases of the ...

Windows 10 comes with .NET framework 4.5 pre-installed, but many apps developed in Vista and Windows 7 era require the .NET framework v3.5 installed along with 4.5. These apps will not run unless you will install the required version. When you try to run any such app, Windows 10 will prompt you to download and install .NET framework 3.5 from the Internet. However, this will take a lot of time. You can save your time and install .NET Framework 3.5 from the Windows 10 installation media. This method is much faster and does not even require an Internet connection. Here is how to install it. To install .NET Framework 3.5 in Windows 10, do the following: Insert your Windows 10 DVD, or double click its ISO image, or insert your bootable flash drive with Windows 10, depending on what you have. Open 'This PC' in File Explorer and note the drive letter of the installation media you have inserted. In my case it is disk D: Now open an elevated command prompt and type the following ...

Open Command Prompt by Start -> Run and type “ cmd “ On the Command Prompt, type “ net stop wuauserv “. This is done so that you will terminate the windows automatic update service to allow us to delete the cache files Still on the Command Prompt, type “ cd /d %windir% ” or “ cd\windows “ Type “ rd /s SoftwareDistribution “ Thats it, the cache has been purged. Now we need to restart the windows automatic update service again. To do that, type “ net start wuauserv “ Or go to this link: http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=971058

Even though installing updates in Windows is an easy process, the mechanism in the background that manages it all is fairly complicated. There is also a lot of misinformation on the Internet about how to deal with problems relating to Windows Update. One of the biggest misconceptions is that all Windows updates can be installed at once by simply deleting the SoftwareDistribution folder stored in C:\Windows . This is completely wrong. Yes, you might save some space (anywhere from 500 MB to several GB’s), but deleting the folder will not remove any installed update. In addition it’s a bad idea to delete the SoftwareDistribution folder unless it is absolutely required. There is a subfolder called DataStore that has a large database of all the Windows Updates available. This database will probably be a couple of hundred MBs in size. Deleting this database simply removes the Windows Update history for the computer. To prove this to myself, I did a test. I opened  Control Panel , cl...

We all have pet peeves. Some are rational, others may appear irrational to others. I am not sure where this registry trick falls into, but shortcut arrows on the desktop drive me crazy. There is just something about making an otherwise nice desktop icon busier with those arrow overlays. This easy step by step guide shows you how to get rid of them! What arrows? In case you do not know what I am referring to let me explain. Since the days of Windows 95 whenever you placed a shortcut on the desktop for app or document, an arrow is placed on the lower corner of the icon. I get why it is there, at least for documents (you do not want to delete the original), but I think it makes less sense for apps. We just do not install apps to the desktop, so I am unsure why I need to be reminded "hey, this is a shortcut, not the real app". Also since the days of Windows 95 there have been third-party apps to get rid of these arrows. Windows 10 is no different. Due to security reas...

How to enable 'Hey Cortana' in Windows 10 Tap or click the search area in the  task bar Tap or click the notebook button Select Settings Toggle On the option, Let Cortana respond to "Hey Cortana" How to enable the Dark Theme for Windows 10 Enable the Dark Theme We should caution that modifying your registry, which is what we are doing, could cause problems should you touch something you are not supposed to touch. So read these directions carefully. Having said that warning, this is very easy, and it takes you just a few minutes to accomplish. The difficulty level is medium , only because you are modifying the OS registry by hand. 1. Open up the registry editor Type in the search bar Regedit. Select 'Yes' when it asks for permission. 2. Change key #1 Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Themes\ Personalize by double clicking each "folder" aka key 3. Missing Personalize? You may not ha...