Windows 8 users prefer third-party antivirus to bundled tool

Microsoft's Security Essentials (MSE) remains a hugely popular consumer antivirus product but new figures suggest that its Windows 8 successor, Defender, is losing out to third-party alternatives.

Security tools firm OPSWAT has carried out market share analysis of antivirus clients using numbers from its AppRemover tool in the past, but the latest stats are derived from its new security assessment application, Security Score, released in June.

This time the firm divided its results into three categories; the most popular vendors overall, the most encountered individual products and the most encountered individual products that had real-time protection enabled (or not), coming up with some interesting numbers.

Not surprisingly, the frequency of Microsoft's Security Essentials (the standard Windows antivirus client) and Windows Defender (which was upgraded to succeed it on Windows 8) topped the list at a combined 25.8 percent, just ahead of Avast Software's 23.6 percent. A clutch of other familair vendors scored under 10 percent, including AVG, Symantec, Eset, Avira, and Kaspersky.

The top individual product was in fact Avast's Free Antivirus with 19.5 percent, followed by MSE on 18.3 percent, with the Windows 8-only Windows Defender on 7.7 percent.

There were some limitations to this element of the study, starting with the small installed base of Security Score due its recent release. However, the numbers it generated chime with past OPSWAT products share results that used larger data sets.

More interestingly, when the company logged the number of occurrences of each vendor where real-time protection was not enabled (i.e. where the software was present but inactive or disabled), they found that two thirds of Windows 8 users were using a second program for real-time protection.

Windows Defender comes enabled on every install so users who choose to supplement it are making a positive choice to do so. By contrast, MSE on Windows 7, Vista, and XP was far more likely to be enabled, 98 percent of the time to be precise.

"RTP status can be seen as a metric for product usability and/or effectiveness; if a user views an antivirus product as effective and easy to operate, the user is more likely to have that product actively running on his or her machine," concludes OPSWAT's researchers.

It could also be the case that Windows 8 users are confused about the level of protection offered by Defender or even whether, given its self-effacing design, it is present at all. A study by OPSWAT from 2012 found that antivirus programs were often poorly configured.

On cloud backup use, OPSWAT found Google's Drive on 22.5 of systems, Dropbox on 19.5 percent, and Microsoft's SkyDrive (soon to have its name changed) on 15.4 percent. The top ten vendors accounted for more than 83 percent of the market, which suggests that this particular market is now too mature for outsiders to make headway.

Switch to Mac: How to find your favorite Windows features in OS X

I made the jump from Windows 8 to Mac OS X a few months back, when I started carrying a Macbook Pro for work. Let me tell you, the scariest part of moving from a Windows PC to a Mac is the prospect of losing access to the tools and utilities you use on a daily basis. What I realized, though, is that many of the features and tools I relied on in Windows are also available in OS X. You just have to know where to look.

Surface RT, now starting at $349 at Microsoft Store Canada As I discovered, software is rarely an issue: The lion’s share of your favorite programs have Mac analogues, and the growing popularity of subscription services like Office 365 and Adobe’s Creative Cloud make it easy to seamlessly transition your software licenses from a Windows PC to a Mac. You can also bring most of your Windows peripherals with you, though you might have more fun exploring the wonderful world of Apple accessories.

For me, the real struggle was trying to translate all the everyday tasks I found so simple in Windows but so confusing in OS X. When you don’t know where to go to adjust volume levels or capture screenshots, every day can be an exercise in frustration. (Unconsciously reaching for the Start menu every five minutes certainly made me feel like a huge rube.) So I did what any good tech geek would do: I ventured out into the unknown and made myself a translation guide for all my basic tools, shortcuts, and gestures. And now I want to share them with you.

This short video walks you through some of the most common Windows tasks—including changing your settings, taking out the trash, and jotting down notes—on OS X so you can translate your Windows skills to a new Mac with minimal hassle. Becoming an expert in anything takes time—but hopefully this will help you feel a little more confident when navigating the waters of OS X. 

Dell drops $299 Windows RT tablet, cheapest offer now $479

Shoppers who tried to buy a Windows RT tablet at Dell's website Friday morning would have seen one listed for US$299. By the end of the day the cheapest tablet came bundled with a keyboard for $479.

Buy One, Get One Free Dell made several changes to the RT offers on its website. By Friday evening it had eliminated all the options for a standalone tablet and now only sells the product, called the XPS 10, bundled with a keyboard.

In some ways it bucks a recent trend. Dell has been lowering prices for its Windows RT tablet since May, after the company admitted it was selling poorly. When it was introduced last October, the XPS 10 was priced at $499, and it had dropped to $299 in May.

Dell is apparently trying to up-sell customers to breathe a bit of life into its XPS 10 business after poor sales, said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates

Student Exclusive: Save an additional 10% off Surface Pro and Surface RT at Microsoft Store Canada Selling the tablet bundled with a keyboard suggests Dell views it as a device for creating content rather than just consuming it, perhaps because Windows RT is designed to provide some "laptop-like" capabilities, Kay said.

"It seems like the direction they are going in. It's a better idea if it's a bundle," he said.

Earlier Friday, a tablet with 32GB of storage priced at $299 was listed as "out of stock." IDG News Service inquired about the product to see if it was still on sale, and shortly afterward, the listing disappeared from the site. Later in the day, a standalone XPS 10 with 64GB of storage also disappeared.

Dell never replied to requests for comment about the changes.

The only models listed on the site by late Friday came bundled with keyboards. And, somewhat confusingly, the bundles with the 32GB and 64GB tablets were listed for the same price -- $479. That's apparently because the 64GB device comes with a steeper discount offer.

There's also an LTE version of the 64GB XPS 10 listed on the site, priced at $579 with a keyboard.

Apart from the storage and connectivity, the other tablet features are the same. They all have a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and a 10.1-inch screen that displays images at 1366 x 768 resolution. Windows RT is Microsoft's version of Windows 8 for ARM processors like the Snapdragon.

Keyboards are expensive as an accessory and can be more profitable for Dell than the tablet itself, and Dell could use all the financial help it can get right now, Kay said. On Thursday, it reported quarterly profits that were down 72 percent.

Bundling the tablets and keyboards together could also be Dell's way of clearing out its XPS 10 tablets and accessories, he said, though it was unclear if that was Dell's goal.

The price changes come at a time when other vendors are distancing themselves from Windows RT. Lenovo has stopped selling the Yoga 11 through its website, Asus has said it was moving away from the development of RT tablets after the failure of its VivoTab RT. Microsoft dropped the price of its Surface RT tablet last month from $499 to $349.

Microsoft plans to announce the successor, Windows 8.1 RT, on Oct. 17. Dell has said it is committed to Windows RT, and the OS got another potential boost with reports on Friday that Nokia will release an RT tablet, though analysts called the idea "bizarre."

Dell will likely not abandon Windows RT because it has a close relationship with Microsoft, Kay said.

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Rumored Nokia Windows RT tablet plans called bizarre

If true, reports that Nokia plans to release a tablet running Microsoft's failed Windows RT OS are "bizarre" and "highly surprising" according to analysts who think the company should focus on its struggling smartphone business.

The Finnish phone maker is going to launch the tablet in September, according to The Verge. The plans, if they turn out to be true, are surprising for a couple of reasons, said Informa Telecoms & Media analyst Malik Saadi.

"First of all the OS has been a flop, there is no doubt about that. So the choice to go with Windows RT is bizarre," Saadi said.

Just 200,000 Windows RT tablets were shipped during the second quarter, according to IDC.

Secondly, putting out a tablet at this point makes little sense because Nokia is still struggling make its Windows Phone-based smartphones a success. Even if sales are improving, Nokia still needs to focus its efforts on that task, according to Saadi.

Student Exclusive: Save an additional 10% off Surface Pro and Surface RT at Microsoft Store Canada
"At this stage it is really risky for Nokia to enter the tablet market," Saadi said.

CCS Insight's director of research Ben Wood agreed on both points.

"I have to say I find it highly surprising that Nokia would want to launch a Windows RT tablet ... A more important priority is a smartphone with 5-inch plus screen," Wood said.

The only reason it might make sense is if Nokia has a large order from an operator for such a product, according to Wood.

The report comes as Microsoft's few remaining partners on Windows RT seem to be backing away from the OS. That makes a product from Nokia even more difficult to understand, Wood said.

Last month, Lenovo discontinued online sales of the Yoga 11 convertible with Windows RT, which made analysts question the vendor's commitment to the OS. Asus has said it is pulling back from Windows RT to focus on Windows 8 tablets running on Intel processors.

If Nokia is dead set on putting out a tablet, it should also choose Windows 8 over Windows RT, according to Saadi.



During the second quarter, the number of tablets running regular Windows increased to 1.8 million, according to IDC. To date, Android has been far more successful than the Windows 8 platform. However, Microsoft-based products are starting to make notable inroads on the market, it said.

The number of Android-based tablets increased year-on-year by over 160 percent to 28.2 million during the second quarter, while Apple shipped 14.6 million iPads, a 14 percent decrease.

Overall, the worldwide tablet market slowed down during the second quarter as total volumes fell by 9.7 percent from the first three months of the year. However, the 45.1 million units that were shipped in the second quarter was a 59.6 percent increase from the same quarter last year, according to IDC.

Nokia would not comment on the reports.

Windows 8 comes to open-source PCs with GizmoSphere board

The market for x86 open-source PCs is now a two-horse race, with GizmoSphere releasing schematics and design documents for hobbyists to build from scratch a Windows 8 computer based on open design.

The barebones PC runs on an Advanced Micro Devices G-series embedded processor, and the design documents were made available just a few weeks after the release of MinnowBoard, the first open-source PC based on an Intel x86 processor. Intel and AMD have been PC adversaries, and that now moves to the open-source hardware space.

The Gizmo board originally started shipping in January, but the design was partly closed. The board has been available as part of the US$199 Gizmo Explorer Kit sold through online retailer Semiconductor Store. Schematics, designs and other information about the board are available on GizmoSphere's website.

GizmoSphere's design documents go into detail about the components, manufacturing information and where parts were bought. Using the information, hardware makers and developers can replicate the board from scratch.

The Gizmo is compatible with Windows 8 and older versions of the OS, including Windows 7 and XP, making it a possible PC replacement. It could also be useful for developers who write applications for Windows operating systems. However, a Windows OS license would need to bought separately.

Student Exclusive: Save an additional 10% off Surface Pro and Surface RT at Microsoft Store Canada Most open-source boards, including the MinnowBoard, run Linux, which will also run on Gizmo. The Gizmo board supports Ubuntu Linux and the Android 4.1 OS code-named Jelly Bean.

The Gizmo has an AMD 64-bit G-series G-T40E dual-core CPU running at 1GHz, 1GB of DDR3 memory and 1MB of cache. Gizmo claims its board provides 52.8 gigaflops of performance. By comparison, the MinnowBoard has a single-core 32-bit Atom E640 processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM and 512KB of cache. The Gizmo's integrated Radeon HD6250 graphics supports DirectX 11. It also has a DisplayPort outlet and does not support HDMI, which is a feature on MinnowBoard.

Other Gizmo features include a VGA, USB and Ethernet ports. The board does not enable UEFI boot firmware, which is one of the key features on MinnowBoard.

Raspberry Pi is the most popular, and perhaps well-known, open-source PC and finds use as a media player and in a wide range of products, including jukeboxes and aquatic vehicles. Besides hacking, open-source PCs are used to develop and test applications for mobile devices, electronics, embedded products and PCs.

Windows XP migration: Reassess your desktop IT strategy

The cost of PCs has remained pretty stable over the past year, but people are expected to pay a big premium for hybrid devices. Is it time to rethink desktop IT?

PC market share data shows businesses are buying fewer laptops and desktops. PC shipments in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) declined 16.8% in the second quarter of 2013, compared with the same quarter last year, according to Gartner.

Samsung-series-5-chromebook-290px.jpg

Apart from the immovable deadline of 8 April 2014, when Windows XP support ends, businesses have little incentive to buy new hardware.

In June, Computer Weekly asked analyst Context to compare how prices of PCs had shifted in the past 12 months.

The perception was that the prices of standard specification machines had skyrocketed since the introduction of Windows 8 in 2012, due to devices incorporating touchscreens and SSD drives, which are part of the Windows OS system requirements.

A standard specification was selected: Context looked at a laptop device running a 2.5GHz processor – chosen because it was the most common standard specification for mainstream laptops at the time – and equipped with an integrated graphics card (see table below).

In the enterprise space, Windows 8 appears to be cheaper than equivalent consumer grade PCs, said Marie-Christine Pygott, senior PC analyst at Context.

"It is cheaper in business. This could be because PC manufacturers are trying to push Windows 8 into businesses," she said.

In the notebook market, the Context analysis showed that Windows 8 notebooks are, on the whole, slightly cheaper than equivalent Windows 7 notebooks.

The situation is different in retail, however, when looking at the distributor selling price: "The take-up in retail is slow due to the poor take-up of Windows 8."

There is a lot less functionality on traditional notebooks, because they do not have touchscreens, but hybrid devices are fairly expensive.

Prices in retail are set to drop over the next month due to retailers discounting for the "back to school" season, said Pygott, but for now buyers can expect to pay around £800 for an Intel Core i5 hybrid device. For instance, a convertible device such as the Lenovo Yoga costs £780 on average, she added.

These figures illustrate the purchase price. PCs run Windows and Windows requires patching, anti-malware software and the hundreds of desktop applications that make up the corporate software image in a typical enterprise, so this must be taken into account when calculating the total cost of ownership.

But is there an alternative, especially given that many businesses will need to refresh desktop IT to migrate away from Windows XP?

Now here is the crunch for corporate IT: the consumer does not care about the OS when they are buying a device. Why not consider a non-Windows enterprise desktop?

Pygott said cheap Android devices, such as the Google Nexus tablet, are doing quite well. For a full-size desktop or notebook device, Google offers Chromebook and its desktop cousin, the Chromebox, which provide a browser-centric user interface based around a Linux variant called Chrome OS.

The consumer does not care about the OS when they are buying a device. Why not consider a non-Windows enterprise desktop
The Chromebook (and Chromebox too) is an internet browsing and email PC. It represents a new genre of non-Windows, pared down device. Pygott expects it will eventually replace the netbook.

Mark Ridley, CTO of Reed.co.uk, has rolled out Chromebox devices to the job site's 100-strong sales team. They are using a desktop Chrome OS machine to access Salesforce.com and Google Apps. Ridley said these devices are considerably cheaper than Windows PCs.

At Grass Roots Group, CIO Danny Attias has deployed Google Enterprise across the company. He said third-party apps from the Google Play store are being used as core business applications. This suggests that companies are willing to use non-Windows business software, paving the way to devices such as the Chromebook becoming part of the corporate desktop environment.

In fact, a Forrester report titled It’s Time To Reconsider Chromebooks urges IT departments to take a closer look at the Chromebook as an alternative to a PC running Windows.

Certainly, Chromebooks offer a cheap alternative to Windows. HP's Pavillion Chromebook costs around £250, but when Computer Weekly spoke to HP, the device was only available in retail. But this will change as more corporates see the benefit of such devices to provide low-cost computing with a low maintenance requirement.

A browser-based user interface means no applications need to be installed on the desktop. There is no need for IT administrators to patch machines. In theory, security can be handled at the internet gateway, so the IT environment becomes easier to manage.

According to the report’s author, Forrester analyst J P Gownder, chromebooks require very little configuration: "Pilot users say any given device can be configured for a new user in under 15 minutes.” Perhaps this is why 20% of the IT decision-makers in large enterprises questioned by Forrester said they would consider deploying the Chromebook.

But organisations have a massive Windows legacy. Dale Vile, research director at Freeform Dynamics, recommends IT managers use the Windows XP migration as an opportunity to reassess their desktop IT strategy.

“Some users in the workforce may be classed as super-users who are dependent on MS Office, but these may be a small minority. Others, like sales and marketing, may have a dependency on PowerPoint. It is fairly easy to work around this and provide alternatives,” he said.

Android tablets still rule, while Windows continues to slip

Both Apple- and Windows-branded tablets lost market share in the second quarter, each retreating in the face of increased pressure from Android, a market research analyst said last week.

In preliminary estimates for the quarter ending June 30, U.K.-based Strategy Analytics pegged Apple's share of the global tablet market at 28.3 percent, a dramatic decline from 47.2 percent the year before. When so-called "white box" tablets, which are almost exclusively powered by Android, are excluded, Apple's share fell to 40.4 percent from 48.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013.

Windows' share of the branded tablet market also slipped in the second quarter compared to the first, falling to 6.4 percent from 7.4 percent. With white-box tablets included, however, its year-over-year share jumped nine-fold, from a paltry 0.5 percent in 2012's second quarter to 4.5 percent in 2013.

Windows tablets had only one way to go when compared year-over-year, as Windows 8 and Windows RT, the two tablet-appropriate operating systems from the Redmond, Washington company, were not released until late in the third quarter of 2012.

By any measurement, Android solidified its first place position. Of the entire tablet market, including white-box units—which comprised 37 percent of all shipments—Android's share climbed to 67 percent from 2012's 51.4 percent. Strip out the white box tablets and Android's increase, while on a slower pace, was still impressive: 52.9 percent in the second quarter, up from 43.4 percent in the first three-month stretch of 2013.

Peter King, an analyst with Strategy Analytics, attributed Apple's share decline to a lack of new tablet models, echoing others who have pointed out that the Cupertino, California company has not released a new tablet or even refreshed an existing tablet since late in 2012.

"We may see Apple get back on track later this year if, as everyone expects, they launch new models," said King in an interview Tuesday. "We may start to see a bit of fight back in them."

Windows' problem in tablets has also been well documented.

Strategy AnalyticsApple- and Windows-branded tablets lost share in the second quarter to Android, which has a lock on the fast-growing low-priced part of the market.

"They screwed up in terms of sales and marketing," said King, referring to the 2012-13 launch of the Microsoft-made Surface RT and Surface Pro. "They excluded the vast majority of the world from buying it. People want to see a tablet, feel it, touch it, want their friends to buy it."

Instead, Microsoft sold the Surface RT in 2012, and—starting in early 2013—the more expensive Surface Pro, primarily online with a bit of help from its small-sized U.S. and Canadian retail chain.

Microsoft still overwhelmingly relies on its hardware partners for Windows-powered hardware. They have also been dogged by sluggish sales, and virtually all have either declined to support Windows RT or abandoned the scaled-down OS designed exclusively for tablets.

Nor have Windows tablet prices been competitive. "The $349 is where they should have started," said King, of this month's $150 price cut to the Surface RT line, a move that forced Microsoft to take a $900 million charge against earnings as it accounted for the discount and the overstock that drove it.

Microsoft has taken corrective steps, including the Surface RT price cut and a deal with the U.S. electronic retail chain Best Buy that will balloon the number of outlets selling Surface.

"Microsoft will be back," said King, ticking off the company's strengths, including a large war chest and this fall's free Windows 8.1 upgrade. "But for them, it's 'Okay, back to the drawing board,'" he added, noting that in the meantime Microsoft will have lost 12 months in its fight to claw out a significant share.

Some of the factors involved in the decline of share in Apple- and Windows-marked tablets, however, will not be easily addressed.

Android tablets, especially the cut-rate white box units, have a stranglehold on the low-priced segment. "Outside the U.S. and Europe, sales are driven by the low-cost models, not because they're great, because they're not, but because people [in those markets] don't have as much disposable income," said King.

The cutthroat price war in tablets has prompted analysts to call for Apple to consider discounting the iPad mini, the company's $329 7.9-inch tablet, to $249.

Minus cost cuts and discounts—far from a given by either Apple or Microsoft—there's no chance either company will shove Android aside as the share leader, said King, parroting other analysts who have said Google's operating system will remain dominant for the foreseeable future.

Strategic Analytics based its early tablet estimates on polls of vendors, publicly-released data and supply chain checks. Its numbers represent "sell-in," or tablet shipments, not final sales.

Windows 8 adoption slows; boost sought with update

Windows 8's user share growth slowed significantly in July, hinting at further trouble for the struggling operating system, new statistics from an analytics company show.

The operating system's user share grew by the smallest month-over-month amount since its launch in October 2012, said Web measurement vendor Net Applications. At the end of July, Windows 8 accounted for 5.9 percent of all systems running Windows, an increase of three-tenths of a percentage point compared to June.

From November 2012 through July 2013, Windows 8's user share grew by an average of six-tenths of a point each month, with lows in February and April of five-tenths and a high in June of nine-tenths of a percentage point.

July's increase was about a third of June's.

The slowdown is most likely tied to the continuing problems of the personal computer industry, which has seen five consecutive quarters of contracting shipments. The consumer side of PC sales has been especially hard hit, as customers opt instead for tablets in lieu of new PCs, either letting their current machines age even more or forgoing purchases entirely.

By IDC's estimates, PC shipments fell 11 percent in the second quarter compared to the same period the year before. Consumer sales have tanked even more, as businesses accounted for the majority of purchases.

Windows 8 has been hit particularly hard by the downturn in consumer computer sales, since enterprises have been hesitant to migrate, leaving only individuals and very small businesses willing to take the plunge and run the radically-changed OS.

Microsoft hopes to turn around Windows 8's fortunes with the free Windows 8.1 upgrade, planned for launch this year. Windows 8.1 is to hit "release to manufacturing," or RTM, a Microsoft label for a finished product, later this month.

Meanwhile, Windows XP—the operating system slated for retirement in April 2014—continued to resist elimination: XP's July user share was 40.6 percent, the same as in June.

Net Applications measures operating system share by tracking unique visitors to some 40,000 websites operated by its customers.

Google Drive blurs the line between Windows and the web with new desktop shortcuts

Google's unrelenting march into Microsoft's turf continues.

A mere two weeks after the release of the Chrome App Launcher for Windows—Google's backdoor into the offline world, basically—the company has announced that when Windows users install the desktop version of Google Drive, it will automatically dump shortcuts for Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Drive on your desktop, along with one for your Drive-based online storage.

Double-clicking on one of those icons opens up the associated web app. After signing in to your Google account you're free to powerhouse through your productivity tasks, and all your work will automatically save to the cloud, the Google Drive team explained in a Google+ post. These simple desktop links could prove handy indeed for non-techies or people who chose to live their lives in Google's free, cloud-connected ecosystem, especially if you configure the Drive family of apps to work offline.

Google
While default shortcut dumps are evil incarnate and should be cast back into the depths from which they spawned, Google's move is actually pretty savvy. Not only do the shortcuts reinforce the fact that Drive is a full productivity suite rather than a simple cloud storage box, but like the Chrome app launcher, they also keep Google's service in your face. Plus, the shortcuts further muddle the increasingly blurry line between the desktop and the open web.

“For quite some time, we’ve had a dichotomy between web apps and native apps, and one of the things that sets them apart is the ability [for native apps] to be launched from the desktop and have a degree of persistence and independence from the browser,” Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research, told PCWorld when the Chrome App Launcher was released. "…People want to interact with their web apps as easily as they do with their desktop apps."

The Chrome App Launcher helps to break down those walls, and now, so will these Drive-related shortcuts.

And Google? Well, Google makes its money by tossing ads at your eyeballs when you're on the web. Check out PCWorld's Chrome App Launcher analysis for the full scoop on what Google stands to gain by dumping web apps on your desktop, and look for the Google Drive installation tweak to roll out sometime in the next week.

Review: Start Menu Reviver gives Windows 8 a modern UI-style Start Menu

How you'll like Start Menu Reviver largely depends on what you want out of a Windows 8 Start Menu. If you want something that mimics the Windows 7 Start Menu exactly, you're better off with Stardock's Start8 or Iobit's Start Menu 8. If you want something that's more of a melding of Windows 8 and a start menu, Start Menu Reviver might be what you seek.

By default, Start Menu Reviver looks like an Ease of Access application for the sight-challenged, but you can reduce it to a normal size.
When you first install Start Menu Reviver, it defaults to its large size. It's handy for touchscreens, but on a monitor or laptop screen, it looks like an Ease of Access feature for the eyesight-challenged. You can select a size that is more in keeping with the aspect ratios employed throughout the desktop. Start Menu Reviver sits on the task bar approximately where you'd expect to find it, but a little to the right. As with other Start Menus for Windows 8, you can change the icon to suit your taste.

In a column on the left of Start Menu Reviver resides a list of common Windows programs (desktop and modern UI) such as Task Manager (modern UI version), Network (desktop), Run (desktop), and the user name (which actually takes you to User Account Control rather than the user folder the way that most Start menus do). To the right are My Computer, Internet Explorer (desktop), a link for the modern UI, and a bunch of other tiles representing both legacy and modern UI apps. You can freely arrange—and even resize—the tiles, just as with the Modern UI.

Start Menu Reviver's tiled UI fits well in the Win8 modern UI.
Start Menu Reviver has the usual search box at the bottom. However, this is where I first noticed that there's no tabbing between fields or sections as there is in a normal Start Menu. It can be considerably faster navigating when you can use both the mouse and the keyboard. Not everyone is touch-oriented yet.

Start Menu Reviver lacks the fine control over switching between the desktop and modern UI that the competition offers. You can have the Windows Key invoke Reviver rather than the modern UI, but that's about it. Start8 and Start Menu 8 both allow you to take the modern UI out of the mix entirely.

Start Menu Reviver is free, and it's nice that Windows 8 users have another choice when it comes to putting back the Start Menu that Microsoft so thoughtfully decided you no longer need. It's not my top choice, but not everyone works the same. Give it a spin along with the others and share your opinion.

Twitter tosses power users a bone in Windows 8 app update

Windows 8 socialites rejoice! Twitter recently beefed up its Windows 8 app, extending functionality for power users and adding the ability to follow specific people or lists from the Start Screen.

Available now in the Windows Store, the biggest addition to Twitter for Windows 8 is the ability to add multiple accounts. Most Twitter fans won’t have any use for the feature, but power users will welcome the upgrade, as will anyone who needs to maintain separate personal and professional accounts.

To sign-in with multiple accounts, you just swipe down from the top or bottom of your tablet, or right-click on a PC. In the drop-down bar that appears, tap the user icon in the top right corner. This will switch the icon to a plus sign and a second tap brings up an account credentials entry window, allowing you to add another account. You can also sign-up for a new account from this page, but in my tests, adding a new account hung every time I tried to choose a Twitter username.

Switching between accounts is as simple as swiping down or right-clicking again, and then tapping on the account you want to use.

The latest Twitter update also brings Twitter lists to the Windows 8 app, and the ability to pin user profiles or Twitter lists to the Start Screen. Pinning is a great addition if you don’t want to miss any updates from a specific users or set of users. Twitter lists aren’t confined to your own lists either; you can pin any Twitter list you can find to your start screen.

Pinned lists and profiles are relegated to small tile status on the Start screen.
Say, for example, you wanted to pin blogger Robert Scoble’s Tech Pundits list. You’d navigate to Scoble’s list inside the Twitter app, swipe down or right-click, and then select the option to “Pin to Start” in the lower left corner. Pinned profiles and lists appear as small tiles with live updates. The only downside is you don’t have the option to upgrade your pinned tiles to a more reading-conducive larger-sized tile.

Twitter’s new update for Windows 8 also addresses some bugs and overall performance issues, such as faster response times. Many users posting comments on the Windows Blog say the new update has fixed their stability issues that were causing numerous crashes with the previous version of Twitter. Users have also noticed several unannounced features such as user tagging when composing tweets, improve responsiveness to touch, and more frequent feed updates.

It’s good to see Twitter continuing to update its Windows 8 app as it is one of the few truly useful social networking apps available right now in the Windows Store.

Researchers demo exploits that bypass Windows 8 Secure Boot

The Windows 8 Secure Boot mechanism can be bypassed on PCs from certain manufacturers because of oversights in how those vendors implemented the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) specification, according to a team of security researchers.

The researchers Andrew Furtak, Oleksandr Bazhaniuk and Yuriy Bulygin demonstrated Wednesday at the Black Hat USA security conference in Las Vegas two attacks that bypassed Secure Boot in order to install a UEFI bootkit—boot rootkit—on affected computers.

Secure Boot is a feature of the UEFI specification that only allows software components with trusted digital signatures to be loaded during the boot sequence. It was designed specifically to prevent malware like bootkits from compromising the boot process.

According to the researchers, the exploits demonstrated at Black Hat are possible not because of vulnerabilities in Secure Boot itself, but because of UEFI implementation errors made by platform vendors.

The first exploit works because certain vendors do not properly protect their firmware, allowing an attacker to modify the code responsible for enforcing Secure Boot, said Bulygin who works at McAfee.

The exploit is designed to modify the platform key—the root key at the core of all Secure Boot signature checks—but in order to work it needs to be executed in kernel mode, the most privileged part of the operating system.

This somewhat limits the attack because a remote attacker would first have to find a way to execute code in kernel mode on the targeted computer.

The researchers demonstrated their kernel-mode exploit on an Asus VivoBook Q200E laptop, but some Asus desktop motherboards are also affected according to Bulygin.

Asus released BIOS updates for some motherboards, but not for the VivoBook laptop, the researcher said. He believes that more VivoBook models might be vulnerable.

Asus did not respond to a request for comment sent Thursday.

The second exploit demonstrated by the researchers can run in user mode, which means that an attacker would only need to gain code execution rights on the system by exploiting a vulnerability in a regular application like Java, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Office or others.

The researchers declined to reveal any technical details about the second exploit or to name the vendors whose products are affected by it because the targeted vulnerability was discovered recently.

The issue that makes the kernel-mode exploit possible was discovered and reported to the affected platform vendors over a year ago, Bulygin said. At some point, after enough time has passed, the public needs to know about it, he said.

Several other issues that can be used to bypass Secure Boot have also been identified and their disclosure is being coordinated with Microsoft and the UEFI Forum, the industry standard body that manages the UEFI specification, Bulygin said.

“Microsoft is working with partners to help ensure that secure boot delivers a great security experience for our customers,” Microsoft said Thursday in an emailed statement.

Despite these vendor implementation problems, Secure Boot is still a huge step forward, Bulygin said. To install bootkits now, attackers first need to find a vulnerability that would allow them to bypass Secure Boot, while on legacy platforms there was nothing to stop them, he said.

AWS adds SDK support for Windows app developerssupport,Windows,developers

Amazon Web Services has updated its .NET software development kit (SDK) so that developers can now host Windows Phone, Windows RT and Windows Store apps on its services.

AWS enhanced its Microsoft toolset by updating its .NET SDK, giving Windows developers similar capabilities to the already-available SDKs for iOS and Android in AWS.

The update, which was announced in a blog post on Thursday, provides two new enhancements for .NET developers.

Firstly, it means that .NET developers can now connect their Windows apps to AWS services like S3 and EC2.

Secondly, AWS added support for its “task-based asynchronous pattern”, which uses “the async and await keywords and makes programming asynchronous operations against AWS more easily to do.”

The updated SDK is currently only available as a preview for developers.

The latest SDK additions build on several recent updates from Amazon designed to attract Windows workloads to its cloud, including AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell, AWS Visual Studio toolkit, and new guidance for running Exchange Server in AWS.

Q&A: Installing Windows Updates, Automatic or Manually

Q. I have Windows 8 set to update itself automatically, but it doesn’t always work and I end up having to click around and install some updates myself. Why?

A. Like earlier versions of the operating system, Windows 8 can check to see if software updates for your computer are available from Microsoft — and then install them for you so you don’t have to remember to do it yourself. Security updates and other software patches deemed important or critical are typically installed automatically when Microsoft pushes them out. (The company often releases the updates on the second Tuesday of each month, but it can happen as needed).

But even if you have the automatic updates option turned on, not all the software Microsoft sends you will install itself. Certain types of updates, including fresh versions of programs that have new user agreements or terms of service statements, require your attention because you are asked to read the legal fine print — or at least click the Agree button — before you can install the software.

Some updates, like feature enhancements or updated device drivers, are considered optional and not critical to a program’s ability to function. When an optional update is ready, you usually get an alert that it is available if you want it, and Windows leaves it to you to do the installation yourself.

Restoring Scroll Bars on a Mac

Q. I just got my first Mac laptop and am confused by the lack of scroll bars on the sides of the Safari browser and other windows. The scroll bars seem to appear sporadically, so how do you get around the Web on this system?

A. Recent versions of OS X keep the scroll bars on the Safari browser and other windows hidden unless you need them — like when you are already scrolling. While the lack of scroll bars makes for a cleaner look, many people find it disorienting because of the inconsistent behavior and inability to see just where they are within a Web page.

If you would prefer to have scroll bars visible at all times, you can change the setting. To do so, go to the Apple menu and choose System Preferences, or click on the System Preferences icon in the Mac’s Dock. In the Personal area, click the General icon. In the box, next to “Show scroll bars,” click the button next to “Always.” Close the System Preference box when you are finished.

If you are reading long articles on the Web, you can scroll down one screen at a time within the page by tapping the Space bar on the keyboard. To go back up to previous screens, hold down the Shift key while pressing the Space bar. 

Microsoft must stick with Windows RT, analysts say

Microsoft's massive $900 million Surface RT gaffe may have been, as one analyst put it, "an absolute abomination" in operations, but the company will not—cannot—give up on the ARM-based platform, experts contend.

"They haven't given up, not yet," said Frank Gillett, an analyst with Forrester Research. "Maybe in a year or two if, in fact, they're still struggling, but this is a determined company with a lot of cash and a large market presence."

Last week, Microsoft took a $900 million charge against earnings to account for a drop in the value of its remaining Surface RT inventory. As explained by Amy Hood, the company's new CFO, in a call with Wall Street Thursday, the charge accounts for a 25 percent to 30 percent discounting of the tablet as well as a write-off of an unspecified quantity of components and accessories, likely including some already-purchased parts that have not yet been used to assemble more devices.

But the company, which has repeatedly confirmed that it will remain in the hardware business, gave no hint that it would either dump the Surface RT specifically or scale back its plans to become a devices-and-services vendor.

Analysts don't see any other move for the Redmond, Washington giant, whose decades-old core business—selling operating systems and applications for personal computers—is slowly draining away as consumers reject PCs in favor of tablets and smartphones, markets where Microsoft continues to struggle to reach double-digit shares.

"It really doesn't matter if they wrote down $100 million or $900 million, they still need ARM as a hedge against Intel, a guarantee that they can go to lower price points," said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

Microsoft invested in Windows RT, the scaled-back cousin to Windows 8, because it needed an operating system that would run on devices powered by ARM-licensed processors. Most tablets, including Apple's iPad and the vast bulk of those based on Android, run an ARM processor.

And it will continue to support Windows RT, and roll out its own "hero" devices based on that OS, to keep Intel's feet to the fire, Moorhead argued.

"Microsoft thinks that if they don't hold something over Intel's head, they won't see solutions in the future as competitive as Bay Trail which, at least on paper, looks very competitive for holiday 2013 Windows 8-based tablet," Moorhead wrote in a blog post today (subscription required).

The firm also needs to stay in the ARM game for other reasons, Moorhead continued, including the lower prices of ARM processors and the eventual merging of the Windows Phone and Windows code.

"They see ARM-based SoCs [systems on a chip) from someone like Rockchip or Huawei providing that cost reduction necessary to enable them to charge more for software or lower the product street price," Moorhead said.

Intel's business model is much more predicated on high-margin silicon than is ARM or its licensees, a factor that makes it difficult for Microsoft and its hardware OEM partners to compete on price against Android tablets with Windows 8 devices that require Intel CPUs.

windows rtWindows RT
Likewise, Microsoft will keep working the Windows RT side of the street because ARM, whose processors power virtually every smartphone, is critical to the company's phone strategy. With Microsoft bullish on its ability to merge the code bases of Windows Phone and Windows on the desktop, it would be idiotic to walk away from Windows RT.

"The code is going to merge for mobility at some point," said Moorhead, referring to Windows Phone and Windows in general—Windows RT specifically. "What good would it do them to abandon ARM [on Windows RT] now when they would have to come back to it in a few years anyway?"

Although Windows 8, Windows RT and Windows Phone share a kernel, they do not share a complete code base; apps written for Windows 8 and Windows RT, for example, cannot run on Windows Phone 8, and vice versa. A "write-once-run-many" model would give Microsoft an advantage even Apple doesn't enjoy, as its iOS apps are incompatible with OS X.

"We will have one technology base to enable us in core areas, as opposed to two, or more," Ballmer said during the call, referring to, at the least, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, but also Windows RT and perhaps even Xbox tossed in for good measure.

"The best way to get to one technical base or one technology base is to make sure that we're pulling together things and having people collaborate where they need to, not duplicating efforts," Ballmer said last week in explaining the corporate restructuring that brought all client operating system development under one roof: the Operating System Engineering Group led by Terry Myerson, who formerly headed Windows Phone.

Analysts have said that Myerson's group—and the accumulation of all client OSes under his control—was logical, although long overdue, if Microsoft intends to create a single operating system that would run on smartphones, tablets, traditional PCs and all the cross-breeds in between those categories.

Gillett took a different tack in explaining why Microsoft could not dump an ARM-based Surface tablet, even if it discards the first-generation Surface RT, as seems it is doing with the recent discounts.

Windows phones
"They're firmly a hardware company," contended Gillett, pointing to the massive reorganization last week to support the year-old devices-and-services strategy that CEO Steve Ballmer has committed the company to. "They don't need to play in the entire ecosystem, but they must have so-called 'hero' devices, one that show what their software can do."

Gillett saw the write-down as just one example of a much larger transition of Microsoft from packaged software to devices and services, the former exemplified by the Surface line, the latter by the push toward Office 365 subscription and other software as a service (SaaS) efforts.

"Even if Microsoft is making all the right decisions in the transition, it's still a fundamental shift," said Gillett. "No matter what, it's a messy process, although it's even harder if they're struggling."

Microsoft will move on, in other words, after the Surface RT flop, seeing it as not a company-killer or even a reason to change its strategy, but as one of several obstacles it will encounter in the coming years. "This is early in the [Surface] product cycle," Gillett observed "This is just the beginning of at least a two-year slog."

"What this really shows is that being an OEM is tough," said Moorhead of the Surface RT overstock. "It's certainly a lot tougher than Microsoft thought it was. Can you imagine what would happen if Dell wrote off $900 million [because of an operational blunder]? Their stock would get destroyed.

"[Microsoft's handling of] this is an absolute abomination," Moorhead said. "I don't think this is a surprise to many, that Surface RT didn't sell well, but what is a surprise is the magnitude of the write-down."

Lesson learned, or so one would hope.

Should you keep using Windows XP?

Mae Watson's aging computer still works fine. She asked if she should give up XP before next spring.

Microsoft will stop supporting Windows XP on April 8, 2014. That's less than nine months away.

The end of support means the end of updates--even security updates. When an exploit is found after that date, too bad; it will not get patched. Gradually, Windows XP will become less and less secure.

And it may not be all that gradual. Malware authors love to use outdated software as a path into your PC--and the more people there are using an outdated program, the more they love it. Besides, an outdated operating system makes a more tempting target than an out-of-date .pdf reader. A year from now, it will be hard to pick a more tempting target than Windows XP.

Long-time readers might accuse me of inconsistency. I covered this subject back in 2011, and gave very different advice, suggesting that an upgrade was a good idea but not an absolute must. "After 12 years, there may be little left in XP to patch. Besides, malware written in 2014 probably won't be designed to exploit an old and outdated OS."

I was wrong. It looks like a great many people will still be using XP next year and beyond, making it all the more dangerous.

Now that I'm telling you not to stick with XP, what should you do? Here are some suggestions:

You could buy a new PC. That will certainly solve the problem, and your new computer would almost certainly be better than your current one. Unfortunately, this is the expensive choice.

Or, for considerably less money, you might be able to upgrade from XP to Windows 8 (or to Windows 7 if you can find a copy). I say "might"because your hardware may not support a newer operating system. To find out, download and run the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant. This will tell you what you'll need to change before the transition.

Click for full image
Finally, you can switch to Linux, which won't cost you a thing. You can try Ubuntu  Linux--the most popular variation and the one I recommend as a Windows replacement--before you make the decision to give up Windows. It installs like a Windows application, giving you a dual-boot system where you can choose either operating system.

Review: Generate better-looking Windows 8 start tiles with OblyTile

One of the biggest selling points of Windows 8 is the tiled start page, which looks pretty and enticing to use. But one of the drawbacks of that page is that, when you install a third-party program (i.e. something not from the Windows App Store), that program's start tile usually comes out looking like a mess. Small portable app OblyTile lets you generate better-looking tiles and make the start page a pleasure to look at again. And if you hate tiles, you may like what OblyTile can do for your standard desktop, too.

Upon opening the app, you can view the manager that shows your list of installed apps. Just choose the one you want to install the tile for.

  The reason why a third-party tile looks strange is because it pulls the default logo from the program's installation folder. Most of these logos aren't optimized for the Windows 8 tile menu. They may be too small, too low-definition, or both. The key is to get a logo or icon big enough and high-def enough to stand on the tiled start page.

Although OblyTile will generate new tiles for you, it doesn't actually supply the icons. I recommend websites such as the Icon Archive, where you can download high-quality icons for free.

Alternatively, you can choose a file, a folder, or a website URL and enter the path of the program or website manually.

  OblyTile doesn't require installation. Once you're in the program, you can either manually search for the desired program on your PC or open up the Manager on the right-hand side, which generates a list of your installed programs. The Manager can also make a list of your current program shortcuts and offer you the ability to convert those shortcuts into tiles.

OblyTile's interface is very straightforward. If you go the manual route, enter in all the details, navigate to both the installed folder and the icon on your PC, choose your background color and title text color, then click "create tile."  Your old tile on your Windows 8 start page will then be deleted and in its place the new tile will be inserted.

The tiny old Angry Birds icon is on the left, and the bolder new one is on the right. You can also, if you want, have shortcuts to Windows 8 apps (such as Mail, Skydrive, Bing, and so on) put on your desktop, and OblyTile will use the default Windows 8 icon. This is especially useful for people who want to use these services but hate the whole tiled start page concept.

This app is really something that Microsoft should be offering users by default, if they want users to be using the tiled start page extensively. Half an hour with OblyTile transformed my Start tiles into something more visually appealing and as a result, I am now more likely to use it. Are you listening

Q&A: Choosing a Windows Recovery Plan

Q. I noticed the hard drive on my Windows PC has a huge amount of space reserved as a “recovery partition.” Do I need this if I already run a backup of my files every night on an external drive?

 
A. The recovery partition is an area of the hard drive created by your computer’s manufacturer. The partition can take up several gigabytes of space on the drive, but it is typically where your PC’s maker has installed troubleshooting tools, system utility programs and a copy of the operating system in an untouched, right-from-the-factory state. If you do not have another way to restore your computer’s copy of Windows without using the recovery partition, you may want to keep it around in case you ever need to reinstall the operating system from scratch.

 
Depending on the type of backup program you use, you may have copies of your personal files and settings on the external drive, but would need Windows installation DVDs or a disk image of the recovery system to get fully up and running if your hard drive ever encounters serious problems. (Some programs, like Macrium Reflect or Carbonite Mirror Image, do copy the operating system, applications and all the files on the drive to create a complete backup for times when you really need a full recovery from a hardware disaster.)
Check your computer’s manual or manufacturer’s Web site for information about the recovery options for your model and anything you need to keep in mind about the warranty if you decide to delete the recovery partition. Over the years, companies have changed the recovery tools provided. Instead of a set of Windows CDs or DVDs included with a new computer, the manufacturer may have simply put everything on a recovery partition, including a disc image you can use to restore the PC to its original factory state; some versions of Windows also include tools for creating your own USB recovery drive.

 
On an older computer that you have personally updated with a newer version of Windows than the one it originally had, the recovery partition and factory-state replacement system is outdated and can be deleted — just make sure you know where you put those newer Windows discs and have your backup program up to date to restore your personal files.

 
Managing Sidebar Icons in Mac OS X

Q. I used to have a shortcut link to the Applications folder on the list on the left side of any Mac folder I opened, but it’s not there anymore. How can I get that back?

 
A. The Mac OS X “Sidebar” — that vertical list of folders, connected devices and shared disks that appears on the left side of open Finder and folder windows — can be purposely customized or accidentally altered. You can easily put things back to your liking, however.

 
Click the Finder icon in the Mac’s Dock (or on the desktop background), go to the Finder menu and select Preferences. In the Finder Preferences box, click the Sidebar tab to see a list of the default items you can display and turn on the checkbox next to Applications. You can turn off items you do not want to see on the side of your folder windows here as well. Click the Finder Preferences box when you are done.

 
You can add shortcuts to the files, folders or programs you frequently use by dragging their icons into the Favorites area of the Sidebar; in OS X 10.8, hold down the Mac’s Command key while dragging the icon onto the Sidebar. To remove an icon from the Sidebar, hold down the Command key and drag the icon out of the window. You can also rearrange the vertical order of the items in the Favorites area by dragging the icons into new positions in the list. 

It’s Time for Small Businesses to Move to Windows Server 2012 Essentials

Last week, Dell stated that it has discontinued selling Windows Small Business Server. Microsoft is no longer making the popular small business platform, but thankfully Microsoft didn’t just pull the plug and leave small business customers with nothing to fill the void.

Windows Small Business Server (SBS) may be coming to an end, but it’s not really dead—just rebranded. Microsoft officially moved it into the Windows Server family, and changed the name to Windows Server 2012 Essentials. It’s basically the entry-level offering for Windows Server 2012.

For Loyal fans of SBS, though, moving to Windows Server 2012 Essentials is more than just a name change. Customers often balk at change of any kind, but in this case some are upset that major features and capabilities their businesses depend on are lost through the transition to Windows Server 2012 Essentials.
Windows SBS was a great platform because it contained all of the elements a business might need in one box—the server operating system and management tools, along with Exchange Server and SharePoint Server. The problem with SBS, though, is that it maxed out at 25 licenses, and was a dead-end that didn’t provide an easy path for companies once their needs grew larger than what SBS could handle.

The biggest complaint about Windows Server 2012 Essentials is the lack of Exchange and SharePoint. They’re not integrated with Windows Server 2012 Essentials itself, but Microsoft enables customers to run applications on premise on a separate server (physical or virtual), or connect with the services online using Office 365 or a hosted version.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials running on the right hardware can provide small business customers with everything they need to continue managing an entire IT infrastructure in one box. It may not be as simple to set up, but Windows Server 2012 Essentials offers greater flexibility for small business customers to choose on premise or cloud-based solutions, migrate from one to the other, or rely on a hybrid of both. The management is still done through Windows Server 2012 Essentials, though, so administration is still simple and doesn’t require an entire IT department.

The move to Windows Server 2012 Essentials recognizes that small business customers often turn into medium business customers, and some even eventually become large enterprise customers. Windows Server 2012 Essentials lays the foundation, and gives customers the freedom to grow smoothly from 10 users to 10,000 and beyond. 

Microsoft should yank Windows RT for Windows RT's own good

Okay, Microsoft. You had your fun fling with ARM processors, serenading your newfound love with glitzy dubstep ads full of creepy dancing schoolgirls. Thin and light tablets packing a—gasp!—free version of Office? Freedom from Intel and AMD's x86 processors? Sanctity from traditional Windows malware? How dreamy.

But the honeymoon is over, and reality ain't happy with the frivolous romp. Thursday, Microsoft announced that it took an accounting hit to the tune of nearly $1 billion—yes, with a B—thanks to the steep discount it had to apply to the millions of Surface RT tablets lying around unsold. The dream has become a nightmare, and not just for Surface.

Microsoft, it's time for Windows RT to take a vacation.
The writing has been on the wall for Windows RT for a while now, but this week really crystallized that its time is not now.

By all accounts, the Surface RT was the star of the Windows RT show. In fact, stats from AdDuplex consistently showed it as the best-selling Windows 8/RT device period—but that doesn't mean it sold well from a pure numbers standpoint. After Microsoft moved a reported 900,000 Surface RT tablets alone in the fourth quarter of 2012, IDC reported that all Windows RT tablets combined only managed to ship 200,000 units in the first quarter of this year. Yep, the Surface RT is sinking fast.
That's bad. Nope, that's horrible.

But while Surface RT is the juggernaut when it comes to ARM-powered Windows slates, it's not the elephant in the room. That distinction goes to just how fervently third-party manufacturers are avoiding Windows RT.

Lenovo's Windows RT hybrid is gone, replaced by a Windows 8 model. Many of the biggest names in PCs have taken a pass on the operating system: HP, Samsung, Acer, and Toshiba all respectfully (or not-so-respectfully) bowed out of this particular race.

Even some tentative early supporters are starting to pull back. Lenovo unceremoniously dumped the RT-sporting IdeaPad Yoga 11 this past Wednesday, mere weeks after launching the IdeaPad Yoga 11S, which took the original Yoga 11's superb physical design and imbued it with an Intel Core processor and the full-blown version of Windows 8. The few Windows RT tablets left are all getting steep price cuts, from the Surface RT to the Dell XPS 10 to the Asus VivoTab RT.

Nope, iTunes isn't coming to Windows RT anytime soon—and it’s not the only big-name software missing. And who can blame the manufacturers for fleeing? Windows RT simply isn't a compelling option right now. It doesn't run classic desktop programs, only modern-style Windows apps—and the Windows Store still doesn't have anywhere near a full catalog of apps,  despite recently hitting the 100,000 app milestone. There are still glaring Windows Store no-shows. Major software developers have been as slow to support Windows RT as hardware manufactuers.

Windows 8.1 will make the modern UI more useable, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still so new and different. The mixture of “different” and “no apps” isn't one destined for stardom.
"But wait!" you shout at your monitor, no doubt shaking your fist. "You just argued that Windows RT is crucial for the Windows ecosystem even if its sales stink, Brad!"

I did! And it is! But here's the thing: Windows RT's mere existence is the boon, not the tablets themselves. Windows RT is important, but actually selling Windows RT hardware is not.

The threat of ARM infiltration prodded Intel and AMD into creating much more energy efficient x86 processors, and tablets running on Clover Trail+ chips now offer full desktop software compatibility with all-day-plus battery life. Clover Trail's impending successor, Bay Trail, promises just-as-long endurance with much better performance, while Intel's flagship "Haswell" Core PC processors were built with a focus on energy efficiency. The availability of long-lasting, fully backwards compatible Windows 8 slates puts an even bigger damper on Windows RT's prospects.

IntelIntel has come up with a new thermal specification for CPUs that will operate in tablets and notebooks with detachable displays.

  Likewise, ARM support is now baked into the modern UI, right alongside x86 compatibility. Any modern-style app will run on both types of processor just fine. Meanwhile, the modern UI and apps run on the Windows Runtime application architecture, a variant of which also powers Windows Phone. Microsoft makes no bones about the fact that Live Tiles are its future, a dedication driven home by CEO Steve Ballmer's decision to unify all OS development within a single division under the One Microsoft umbrella.
The biggest benefits Microsoft gained from Windows RT—ARM integration and better power efficiency—occurred at its genesis, not from its day-to-day sales (or lack thereof).

Microsoft's all-in, but Windows RT needs a time out. All this points to one thing: Microsoft should call time-out for Windows RT.

Microsoft definitely needed to create Windows RT. The company was on the verge of missing the tablet train completely. It needed to keep Intel honest while broadening its technical horizons to embrace ARM. The Surface RT was the first Microsoft-made PC. I could go on.

But now that the creation is done, it's time to pull back and let the concoction bake. Windows RT doesn't make sense right now. Nobody wants it. Intel's latest mobile processors rock battery life that rivals the endurance of ARM chips. The modern UI is still in its infancy, and Windows RT's entire existence revolves around an app store that's still relatively barren.

Meanwhile, reports of high Surface RT return rates abound. The headlines are filled with articles about billion-dollar Surface RT write-offs and manufacturers fleeing the OS. Nothing good is being said about Windows RT. The brand—and the very concept of using the modern UI as an exclusive computing interface—is being damaged irreparably, and for what? Windows RT tablets aren't selling, and from a strategic standpoint, Microsoft has nothing to gain by letting the horror show continue.

Michael HomnickPutting Windows RT on hiatus would give Microsoft time to nurture the Windows Store and more closely connect RT with Windows Phones. It's time to yank Windows RT. If Microsoft blazes the trail and lets the Surface RT fade away, third-party manufacturers will follow suit. And rather than being a disaster, a lack of available hardware would only give Windows RT room to grow, as odd as that may sound.

The vocal complaints about the OS's neutered nature would cease, as it wouldn't be in the limelight. But that doesn't mean Windows RT development would stop. Far from it! Since the modern UI is also found in Windows 8 proper, its wrinkles would continue to be smoothed out over time. More importantly, the Windows Store will continue to fill with apps that work on ARM and x86 processors alike, especially once a critical mass of PC users inevitably upgrade to Windows 8.

Time could heal Windows RT's early wounds. After the modern UI and the Windows Store have a few years to blossom, Microsoft could reintroduce Windows RT in a much more viable form than it is today—one less conducive to complaints and returns.

And, until then, Microsoft could stop swirling fruitless billions down the drain.
Sources have told PCWorld that the Surface RT isn't dead, nor should it be in the long run. But for its own good, Windows RT should definitely take a short-term break.