Hiding Files and Folders in Windows 8 is similar to that in earlier versions of Microsoft Operating Systems. The Windows Explorer of Windows 8 provides quick and fast way to hide file(s) / folder(s) with one click. In earlier version of Windows, hiding files and folders was done by specifying hidden file attribute in properties window of file or folder. The Ribbon Interface of Windows 8 provides quick way to hide and un-hide files and folders. the given below screenshot displays the View Tab of Windows 8′s Explorer with Hide Selected Items Selected.

Hide Files and Folders in Windows 8

Hiding Files from the view of Windows Explorer simply changes the file / folder attribute to hidden and Windows Explorer displays or hide files and folders with hidden attribute. The Hidden files are not even listed by the dir command on the command prompt by default. Lots of System Files are marked as Hidden as the Software Developers do not want users to view / delete them. Yes this way of hiding files and folders is not a secure way of hiding files and folder, however as everybody has different needs and for many purposes this way to hide files and folders from Windows Explorer View does the required job.

There is another way to hide files from prying eyes in Windows Explorer. In case you change file extension of any given file, the file will not open automatically in the default program. Let’s say for an example you have a video file with .wmv file extension which you want to be kept secure on your computer. There are multiple ways to secure your file in which you can either hide it using Windows Explorer, Change it’s File Extension or zip it with a password. All these ways try to prevent unauthorized access on a Windows Computer.

Changing File Extension is really easy and quick in new Windows 8 Explorer. New Ribbon Interface of Windows 8 Explorer provides quick way to view or hide file extension. Have a look at the screenshot below which displays a Windows 8 Explorer window containing some files with their file extension displayed. By default Windows Explorer is setup not to display file extension, however it can be changed easily from the ribbon interface of Windows 8 Explorer. Keyboard Shortcut to Rename File remains as F2 as in older versions of Windows Explorer.

Windows 8 Explorer way to Change File Extension

In the above screenshot an image is selected and hence the Windows Explorer displays Picture Tool as the highlighted tab. This Way to change file extension works with all file types and is as easy as changing file name. Note the checkbox File name extension and note that it is checked in the Windows 8 Explorer Window. When File Extensions are being displayed by Windows Explorer, you can quickly change the file extension by renaming it.

Once you have decided which file’s extension you wish to change, select it in the Windows Explorer, navigate to the View Tab, Check the CheckBox labelled File name extension and finally issue a File Rename Command. By default Windows 8 Explorer will select the file name only and you would need to manually change the file extension. Note that this file extension changing way does not changes file type. File Extension Changer can be sued to change File Extension of Multiple Files easily and quickly. Yes Explorer of Windows 8 also supports bulk file rename methods where you can select multiple files and rename them in one step.

Whenever you need to enable or disable Windows Key(s) on your Keyboard, you can do that easily and quickly with Daanav Keyboard Disabler. Disabling of Windows Key(s) in Windows 8 is supported by the Operating System itself and can be configured by doing registry manipulations. Registry Database is a complex database and any incorrect changes to Registry can disrupt various features of Windows 8 itself or of any other Applications. Windows 8 provides an inbuilt Keyboard Filter Driver which is a sophisticated Keyboard Keys Mapper. The keyboard Inbuilt Filter of Windows 8 looks in registry database and decides whether to remap keyboard keys or not. The Daanav Keyboard Disabler allows you to disable Windows Keyboard key(s) by mapping Windows Key(s) to non-existing keyboard keys.

Disable Windows Keys on Keyboard Interacting with Windows 8

In order to Disable Windows Key(s) on Keyboard, download the free Daanav Keyboard Disabler, Install and Run it. The Software Application when started opens up UAC prompt and asks for Admin Access for the Application. Daanav keyboard Disabler needs Admin Access as it needs to modify Registry which would affect all users of the Windows 8 Computer. Once you have selected which keys you want to be disabled, you can close the Application and the application does not needs to be in memory in order to block selected Windows Key(s) from the Keyboard.

Normally Keyboards have two Windows Keys and the Daanav keyboard Disabler allows you to disable Left Windows Key on Keyboard and Right Windows Key from Keyboard separately. The Windows Key(s) on Windows 8 Computer is used along with various Keyboard Shortcuts and also to switch between Desktop and Windows 8 Start menu.

Windows 8 has Flash Player pre-installed and you do not need to download Flash Player on a Windows 8 Computer. Updates to Flash Player are optional to have. The Flash Player can be updated from it’s Control Panel icon as displayed below. There are lots of websites like youtube which use Flash Player to play video content and prior to Windows 8, almost everybody needed to download Flash Player in order to view videos. Flash Player does has a update check mechanism and by default it is set to update itself automatically.

Flash Player Control Panel Icon in Windows 8

The above screenshot was captured on a 64 bit Windows 8 Computer and hence the Flash Player Icon in the Control Panel displays Flash Player (32 Bit) as the name of the icon. In case you are using 32 bit version of Windows 8, the Flash Player icon on Windows 8′s Control Panel will just display Flash Player as the icon name. In order / modify settings of the Flash Player, you would need to click on the Flash Player Icon and it will open up the Flash Player Settings on your Windows 8 Computer as displayed in the screenshot below.

Screenshot of Flash Player Settings Manager

In the Flash Player Settings Manager, there are no OK, Cancel and Apply buttons. You can simply modify any of the settings and close the Flash Player Settings Manager and your changes will be saved automatically. In order to manage the Update Settings of Flash Player, you need to navigate to the Advanced tab and manage Flash Player Updates. There are lots of other new features in Windows 8 apart from pre-installed Flash Player which can prompt you to upgrade to Windows 8.

Windows 8 is offering lots of new features and few of them are listed below. New Start Menu, Windows 8 Style Applications, Windows 8 Store, Backup Service in Windows 8 Storage and many other new features of Windows 8 are offered by Microsoft. Multiple Display Users of Windows will find the new Multiple Monitor Taskbar one of the most useful functionality of Windows 8. This post talks briefly about few of the new features of Windows 8 and provides related screenshots for you to decide whether you wish to upgrade to Windows 8 right now or even download a free trial of Windows 8 from Microsoft Website.

Screenshot displaying Multiple Display Configuration for Windows 8 Taskbar

The above screenshot displays Windows 8 Taskbar properties with multiple displays connected to a Windows 8 computer. The Taskbar properties will appear different when only one display device is connected is to the Windows 8 Computer. In case you do not use multiple displays with your Windows computer, the above Multiple Monitor Taskbar may not be very appealing to you and read on to find out what’s new in Windows 8.

Windows 8 Start Menu

The new Windows 8 Start Menu is one of the biggest changes from earlier versions of Microsoft Windows. You can launch Windows 8 Store to download Windows 8 style applications. There are lots of Windows 8 style applications available on Windows 8 store and many of them are free and there are paid software applications as well on Windows 8 Store. You would need to have UAC enabled in order to access Windows 8 Store. This new feature of Windows 8 can be of use to almost everybody and behind this Windows 8 Start menu, there is traditional Desktop with traditional Windows Applications.

Windows 8 Storage Spaces

Windows 8 offers multiple ways to backup your data. The Storage Spaces in Windows 8 can be launched from Windows Control Panel and offers backup services. All you need to do is connect extra hard disk drives and setup your backup pool and storage space to let Windows 8 take care of your data backup needs.

Windows 8 Shortcut Menu

Windows 8 displays a Shortcut menu to launch various inbuilt utilities like Command Prompt, Task manager, Windows Explorer, etc to manage various tasks in Windows 8. This Windows 8 Shortcut Menu can be launched by doing a right click at the bottom left corner of the Primary Monitor on a Windows 8 Computer. This Shortcut menu of Windows 8 can be useful for system administrators and for all users of Windows 8.  You can alternatively use Windows 8 Shortcuts to launch various day to day tasks in Windows 8 just like other versions of Windows 8.