IT DEVICES

How to Burn an ISO File using Mac OS X

Looking for a way to burn an ISO image file to a CD or DVD on your Mac? Luckily, just as you can <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/windows-8/mount-an-iso-image-in-windows-8/" target="_blank">mount and burn ISO images files in Windows 8/10</a> without additional software, you can also do the same thing in OS X.
There are a couple of different ways you can burn an ISO image in OS X
 and it really depends on what version you have installed. For the last 
several years, you could use Disk Utility to mount the ISO image and 
then burn it to a disc.

However, with the latest release of OS X, 10.11 El Capitan, Apple has
 removed the burning functionality from Disk Utility. You can still burn
 ISO images in El Capitan, but you have to use Finder instead. The 
Finder method also works on older versions of OS X too.

Lastly, you can use Terminal and the hdiutil command
 to burn an ISO image to disc if you are comfortable using that tool. In
 this article, I’ll show you all three methods for burning ISO images in
 OS X.

<h2>
Finder Method</h2>
The Finder method is now the most universal method for burning ISO 
images in OS X since it’s supported on pretty much all versions. It’s 
also extremely easy to do. First, open a new Finder window, navigate to 
the location of your ISO file and then single click on it to select it.

Now go ahead and click on File and click on Burn Disk Image at the bottom of the list.

If you don’t already have a disc in your drive, you’ll be asked to insert one. Then just click the Burn button to start the burn process.

Another quick way to burn the ISO image file is to just right-click on the file and choose Burn Disk Image. As long as you have a disc in the drive, the burn process will start immediately.

<h2>
Disk Utility Method</h2>
If you are running OS X 10.10 or lower, you can also use the Disk Utility method to burn your ISO image. Open Disk Utility by clicking on the Spotlight icon (magnifying glass) at the top right of your screen and type in disk utility.

Now click on File and then Open Disk Image.

The ISO image will show up in the left-hand side along with the list 
of hard drives, etc. Click on the ISO file and then click on the Burn button at the top.

Pop your disc into the drive and click the Burn button to start the 
process. As mentioned earlier, this no longer works on OS X 10.11 El 
Capitan.

<h2>
Terminal Method</h2>
Lastly, if you love using the Terminal, you can type a simple command to burn the ISO image file.

<pre>hdiutil burn ~/PathToYourISO/filename.iso</pre>
I would suggest copying the file to an easy location like your 
desktop and renaming the file to something short too. In my case, I 
copied the file to my desktop and renamed it to just ubuntu.iso. I 
navigated to the desktop by typing in CD Desktop and then typed in hdiutil burn ubuntu.iso.

If you have a disc in the drive before you run the command, the burn 
process will start automatically. Otherwise, it’ll ask you to insert a 
disc. Those are all the ways you can burn your ISO image on a Mac 
without third-party software!

TIPS How to Burn an ISO File using Mac OS X

Looking for a way to burn an ISO image file to a CD or DVD on your Mac? Luckily, just as you can mount and burn ISO images files in Windows ...

3 Ways to Get Rid of Viruses, Spyware and Malware

3:17 PM Unknown 0

Viruses, spyware, malware, etc., 
all have one thing in common: they all suck. They slow down your 
computer, corrupt your files, illegally steal your info, and more.
You have probably seen those ads online advertising a service that 
will scan your computer for free and magically clean your computer as 
well as make it 20 times faster. Well, those websites will scan your 
computer, which is true, however, the majority of them will charge a 
large fee to get rid of all of the errors found in the scan. In 
addition, a lot of them are fake and will actually install more malware 
and spyware onto your computer.

Basically, though, the services use a simple antivirus 
scanner/remover. There is far better software out there that is 
available to you for free. By following the tips in this article, you 
should be able to remove most types of virus, spyware, or malware from 
your computer.

Obviously, not all malware is created equal and some items are far 
harder to remove than others. In those types of instances, you best 
option is to perform a clean install, which is the only sure-fire way to
 ensure that all remnants of the infection are gone.

<h2>
Method 1 – Scanning</h2>
There are thousands of different programs out there in the 
spyware/virus removal category, many of which are free. The thing to 
remember is that different virus removal programs will bring different 
results and none of them are 100% completely accurate.

For example, you can scan your computer with one virus removal 
program, remove the viruses and then turn around a scan your computer 
with a different program, which will catch even more viruses that the 
first program didn’t pick up.

So the best thing to do when you have a nasty infection with multiple
 viruses, malware or spyware on your system is to run multiple programs.
 However, a lot of these newer viruses are smart and prevent you from 
running anti-virus or anti-malware tools inside Windows.

In order to get around this, you have to either scan the system 
before the operating system boots up or you have to get Windows into 
Safe Mode and start the scanning process there. To get started, read my 
post on how to <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/restart-safe-mode/" target="_blank">reboot Windows 7/8/10 into Safe Mode</a>.

Once you are in Safe Mode, you need to run several scanning programs 
one after the other until no more instances of infection are found. So 
which programs should you choose to run? Luckily, I’ve already written 
an article on the <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/software-reviews/free-spyware-adware-removal-software/" target="_blank">best free anti-spyware, anti-malware and anti-virus programs</a> currently out there.

In my opinion, you should run SUPERAnti-Spyware first, then MalwareBytes Anti-Malware followed by Spybot and Ad-Adware. Of course, you’ll need an Internet connection for this, so make sure that you enable Safe Mode with Networking.

If you have a really smart virus, it will even disable your Internet 
connection by changing settings in Windows. In that case, read my post 
on <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/cannot-connect-to-internet-in-windows/" target="_blank">troubleshooting Internet connection</a>s and it should fix your problem.

With thorough scanning, most cases of infection can be cleaned 
completely. It’s a tedious process and requires a bit of technical work,
 but it usually gets the job done.

<h2>
Method 2 – Rescue Disks</h2>
In addition to the Safe Mode method, you should also scan your 
computer before Windows even has a chance to boot up. You can do this by
 using an offline virus scanner or pre-boot scanner.

The way this works is that you will have to use another computer to 
download an ISO image file from an anti-virus company like Microsoft or 
Kaspersky and then burn it onto a disc. You will then boot to this disc 
instead of your normal Windows install and run the anti-virus software 
from there.

Since Windows is not running, the infection can’t interfere and you 
have a much better chance of being able to remove it. This method is 
really the only way to get rid of a really nasty virus or malware 
infection via scanning.

There are a couple of rescue disks that I recommend using. The first 
one is from Microsoft and is called Windows Defender Offline. Check out 
my previous article on using <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/use-windows-defender-offline-tool-to-fix-an-infected-pc/" target="_blank">Windows Defender Offline</a> to scan your computer.

Again, just like with the scanning software, you should try multiple 
rescue disks to ensure that the virus or malware has been removed. The 
other ones I suggest using are:

<pre><a href="http://support.kaspersky.com/us/viruses/rescuedisk" target="_blank">Kaspersky Rescue Disk</a></pre>
<pre><a href="http://www.bitdefender.com/support/how-to-create-a-bitdefender-rescue-cd-627.html" target="_blank">Bitdefender Rescue CD</a></pre>
<pre><a href="http://www.avira.com/en/download/product/avira-rescue-system" target="_blank">Avira Rescue System</a></pre>
Note that some of these allow you to download an EXE file and install
 the files onto a USB stick, which you can then boot up from instead of a
 CD/DVD. As mentioned, this is a bit more technical, but all the sites 
have guides on how to create the disks and then use them.

<h2>
Method 3 – Clean Install</h2>
A clean install is not the most fun thing to do, however, it is the 
one guaranteed way to get rid of viruses, spyware, and malware. It’s 
pretty straight-forward: when you do a clean install, you 
delete everything on your hard drive. Therefore, no more viruses.

Some of the time, viruses will not infect items like pictures, text 
documents, videos, or MP3 files. A good thing to do is to scan all your 
personal data and if there are no viruses found, copy that to an 
external drive. In this way, you can perform a clean install and 
not lose anything important. Obviously, you’ll have to reinstall all 
your programs, etc., but sometimes you have no other choice.

Performing a clean install is not at all as hard as it may seem, it’s
 just time consuming because you have to wait for Windows to install. 
Also, with Windows 8 and Windows 10, the process is even easier because 
you don’t even need to have your installation CD/DVD anymore.

Check out my previous post on how to <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/restore-windows-to-factory-settings/" target="_blank">restore Windows to factory settings (reinstall Windows)</a>. That article covers Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

If you have trouble using the built-in reset feature in Windows and 
you don’t have your original Windows disc with you, check out my post on
 <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/download-windows-10-8-7-install-usb-flash-drive/" target="_blank">how to legally download Windows</a> and install it on a flash drive.

As long as you have your original product key or in the case of 
Windows 10, as long as it’s the same computer you had Windows 10 
installed on before, you can just boot up from the USB stick and 
reinstall Windows.

Finally, once your computer is clean and running well again, check out my post on <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-protect-your-computer-from-hackers-spyware-and-viruses/" target="_blank">how to protect yourself from viruses and malware</a> in the future. The safest way to keep your computer free of viruses, however, is to <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/free-software-downloads/convert-pc-into-virtual-machine/" target="_blank">create a virtual machine</a> and do everything shady inside of that.

Softwares Troubleshooting 3 Ways to Get Rid of Viruses, Spyware and Malware

Viruses, spyware, malware, etc., all have one thing in common: they all suck. They slow down your computer, corrupt your files, illegally ...

What is BD-R, BD-RE, BD-XL and Ultra HD Blu-ray?

3:17 PM Unknown 0

Even though most people still 
have CD and DVD burner drives in their computers, you’ve probably bought
 a movie that is in Blu-ray format. Due to the cost, you’ll only see 
Blu-ray drives installed on custom PCs or on higher-end machines from 
companies like Dell or HP.
If you like watching movies on your computer and you have a high-end 
monitor, then it might be worth the extra cost. However, most people 
spend money on more expensive HDTVs and therefore most Blu-ray discs 
you’ll buy today are for movies. Most Blu-ray players are stand-alone 
devices or they are bundled with gaming consoles.

If you want to start using Blu-ray discs to store large amounts of 
data physically, then your best option is to simply buy an external 
Blu-ray burner online. You can get a decent Blu-ray burner that can 
write at 14X speed for around <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Internal-Rewriter-WH14NS40/dp/B007YWMCA8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1452627318&sr=8-4&keywords=blu+ray+burner" target="_blank">$50 on Amazon</a>. These cheaper ones will let you burn 25 GB and 50 GB discs. If you spend a little more (around $110), you can get an <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Super-Multi-External-BE14NU40/dp/B00ACOQF2Q/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1452627318&sr=8-9&keywords=blu+ray+burner" target="_blank">external Blu-ray burner</a> that supports BD-XL discs, which go up to a whopping 128 GBs.

In this article, I’ll talk about the different Blu-ray formats and 
some of their technical specs. Blu-ray discs are a great way to quickly 
and cheaply backup large amounts of data that would otherwise require a 
really large cloud storage plan or large external hard drive.

After I bought an HD camcorder back in 2010, I suddenly had hundreds 
of gigabytes of data sitting on my computer. The first solution was to 
copy all that data to a 2 TB external hard drive. That worked great and I
 still do that, but one of my external hard drives failed and I lost a 
lot of video. Storing all that data in the cloud was too expensive and 
slow, so I started burning Blu-ray discs.

The great thing about discs is that they won’t fail on you if you 
take care of them. As long as they don’t get crushed, my data will be 
safely stored on those discs for a very long time. It’s just another way
 to keep your data backed up in case of hard drive crashes, which still 
happen more often than you would think.

Another great reason to buy them is for watching your movie 
collection on your HDTV. If you have a Xbox One or PS4 console, you can 
burn your movies onto a Blu-ray disc and play them directly. This is 
actually a lot easier than trying to <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/software-reviews/7-programs-to-turn-your-pc-into-a-streaming-media-center/" target="_blank">stream your content from your computer or NAS</a> to your HDTV, which requires a gigabit connection between all your devices.

<h2>
BD-R, BD-RE and BD DL</h2>
When Blu-ray first came out, there were really only two types of discs: write and rewriteable. BD-R discs are write-only and BD-RE are rewriteable. The standard size for these discs are 25 GB and they only have one layer. These cost about $1 per disc.

After a while, the dual layer Blu-ray discs started to appear. Just 
like dual layer DVDs, these Blu-ray discs could hold double the amount 
of data as regular discs or 50 GB in this case. These discs are 
significantly more expensive at more than $2 per disc.

A BD-RE DL (50GB and rewriteable) disc is even more 
expensive coming in at around $3 per disc. So how long does it take to 
burn one of these Blu-ray discs? Well, it all depends on the speed of 
your burner and the size of the disc. Here is a chart from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray#cite_note-204" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>:

<h2>
BD-XL TL, BD-XL QL, and BD-XL DS TL</h2>
Now let’s get to the newer stuff where the really big sizes start to 
come in. In 2010, BD-XL discs were announced and they come in two 
flavors: triple layer (TL) and quadruple layer (QL). A BD-XL TL disc can
 hold up to 100 GB of data and a BD-XL QL disc maxes out at 128 GB.

Along with the bigger size comes a bigger price! The BD-XL TL discs 
start around $10 per disc. It doesn’t seem like the QL discs ever gained
 any traction because I can’t even find a place that sells them. Seems 
like the 100 GB discs are the most popular when talking about BD-XL.

BD-XL DS (double-sided) TL is another specification that has been 
approved by the Blu-ray Disc Association, which will support up to 200 
GB, but it will only be cost-effective for commercial uses like data 
centers, cloud computing, etc.

For consumers, the most you can get with Blu-ray is a BD-XL burner 
and a BD-XL TL disc, which can store up to 100 GB. That’s still a lot of
 data on one disc!

<h2>
Ultra HD 4K BD-ROM</h2>
Lastly, the Blu-ray Disc Association announced at the end of 2015 
that new 4K Blu-ray disc format will support Ultra HD 4K video up to 60 
frames per second. If you haven’t heard about UHD yet, Google it.

Basically, 4K TVs are selling like crazy nowadays, but you might have come across a few that are saying to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/technology/personaltech/ces-4k-television.html" target="_blank">hold off until 4K UDH</a>
 sets become available. That’s because these new 4K TVs will support 
high dynamic range, which allows them to show more colors, more details,
 and better highlights.

Unfortunately, these high dynamic range 4K sets aren’t coming until 
2016 and will most likely be way more expensive than your $700 Vizio 4K 
set. However, according to the people who have seen it, 4K with high 
dynamic range makes a significant difference over 1080p, whereas a lot 
of people say that it’s hard to see the difference between a current 4K 
set and 1080p, especially on TVs less than 65 inches in size.

Of course, you’ll have to blow up a lot of money. In order to enjoy 
this awesome resolution, you’ll need a 4K TV with high dynamic range, a 
native 4K Blu-ray player coming in 2016 and the new <a href="http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=18238" target="_blank">4K UDH Blu-ray discs</a>, arriving on March 1st, 2016.

There are currently 4K Blu-ray players on the market, but they are 
not native 4K, meaning that they simply take a 1080p signal and upscale 
it to 4K. A native 4K player will set you back at least $400 to $600 in 
2016, but will offer true 4K resolution (as long as you buy the new 4K 
Blu-ray UHD discs too).

Hopefully, this gives you a little more background into Blu-ray 
technology and where it is going. For most people, it’ll apply to their 
movies and TV sets, but also for those who own Blu-ray disc drives on 
their computers.

Mobile Gadgets What is BD-R, BD-RE, BD-XL and Ultra HD Blu-ray?

Even though most people still have CD and DVD burner drives in their computers, you’ve probably bought a movie that is in Blu-ray format. ...

Lost or Forgot Administrator Password in Windows?

3:16 PM Unknown 0

It’s happened to all of us at 
some point or another: you go to log onto your computer and you type in 
the password and you get a Password Incorrect message. You try again and
 it doesn’t work. Then you type it in really slowly to make sure you 
didn’t mess up any character and it still doesn’t work!
You’ve forgotten your password! It’s never fun forgetting a password,
 especially if you have a lot of important data on your computer. 
Luckily, there are tools and methods that allow you to get access to 
your data without ever needing to know what the original password was.

In this article, I’m going to talk about the different ways I have 
learned to regain access to a local account in Windows. Note that there 
is really no easy solution to this problem; you will have to open 
command prompts, type strange things and pray a lot.

If you are using a Microsoft account, it’s actually a lot easier to reset your password! Just visit the <a href="https://account.live.com/password/reset" target="_blank">Windows Live password reset page</a> and follow the instructions.

<h2>
Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Reset Password</h2>
There are actually two ways you can go about resetting a password for
 a user account in Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Both methods work on both 
operating systems, which is really convenient. The first method uses the
 Windows 7 or 8.1 installation DVD and the second method involves using a
 third-party tool. If you don’t have your install CD/DVD, then use the 
second method.

<h3>
Method 1 – Windows DVD</h3>
Go ahead and grab your installation disc for Windows 7 or 8.1 and pop
 it into your CD/DVD drive. Restart your computer and boot up from the 
disc. Note that you might have to <a href="http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/change-boot-order-xp-vista/" target="_blank">change the boot order</a> in your BIOS before the system will boot from the disc.

For Windows 7, the first screen will make you pick your language, 
keyboard, etc. Just leave those as default and click Next. For Windows 
8, it will be similar. On the next screen, you’ll see a Repair your computer link at the bottom. Click on that link.

On the next screen for Windows 7, System Recovery options should find your Windows 7 install. Click on the Use recovery tools radio button and then click Next.

Finally, click on Command Prompt to open the command prompt. For Windows 8, after you click on Repair your computer, you’ll need to click on Troubleshoot.

Next, click on Advanced Options at the bottom.

Finally, click on Command Prompt at the far right.

Now you should be at the command prompt whether you were using 
Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. Now we have to type in two simple commands.

<pre>copy c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe c:\</pre>
<pre>copy c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe c:\windows\system32\sethc.exe</pre>
Don’t worry about what the commands do, just hope they work. If you 
get an error message like cannot find the path, etc., then use a 
different drive letter than C. For example, type in the same commands, 
but replace C:\ anywhere with D:\. I had this problem on Windows 8.1 and using D:\ fixed it. Close the command prompt windows and choose Continue if using Windows 8.1.

Now you can go ahead and reboot your computer and don’t boot to the 
DVD. Actually, after you run the commands, you can take out the disc and
 then reboot. When you get to the Windows login screen, go ahead and 
press the SHIFT key 5 times.

A command prompt box should pop up on top of the login screen in 
Windows 7 and 8.1. Here you have to type in one final command to reset 
the password for the user account:

<pre>net user "User Name" newpassword</pre>
Note that you don’t need to use the quotes if the username is just 
one word like John. Since my username is two words, I had to use the 
quotes. The password can be anything you like. Once you have done this, 
close the command prompt window and type in your new password to log 
into your account! It works!

<h3>
Method 2 – Third-Party Tool</h3>
If you don’t have a Windows installation DVD, you can download a free tool called <a href="http://pogostick.net/%7Epnh/ntpasswd/" target="_blank">Offline Windows Password & Registry Editor</a>.
 Scroll down to the section that says Download and choose either the ISO
 image or the USB install. If you can boot your computer from a USB 
stick, that would be easier since you have to <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-create-mount-and-burn-iso-image-files-for-free/" target="_blank">burn the ISO image to a CD/DVD</a> if you download that.

Again, you’ll have to change the boot order on your computer in order
 to boot from CD/DVD or USB drive. When you boot up to this tool, you’ll
 see the following screen. This method is definitely a little more 
technical-looking, but it’s really not hard. Mostly, you just have to 
press Enter.

On this screen, just press Enter. You’ll see a bunch of stuff scroll 
across the screen and then it’ll end with a prompt for Step 1, which is 
to choose the installation. It should find this for you 
automatically and will have Select:[1] at the bottom. Just press Enter here also.

For Step 2, it will ask you to choose which part of the registry you want to load. In our case, it’s the Password reset [sam] option, which is 1 and already selected. So again, just press Enter.

For Step 3, you have to choose which hive to work on. Again, the option we need, Edit user data and passwords, is 1, so just press Enter again. Like I said, it looks scary, but mostly it’s pressing Enter.

Finally, at step 4, we actually have to type in something. Here, we 
need to select the username that we want to clear the password for. 
Instead of typing the username itself, type in the RID value that is listed to the left of the desired username.

In my case, the RID associated with my user name (Aseem Kishore) was 03e8. So I typed 03e8 and pressed Enter.

Now, you’ll be asked what you want to do with that user. The first option is Clear (blank) user password, so type in 1 and then press Enter. This time around make sure you actually type in the number 1
 instead of just pressing Enter. It should be very fast and you’ll see 
some stuff written that won’t make any sense. Don’t worry about all of 
that, just look for Password Cleared written somewhere. If you don’t see if, don’t worry, just keep going.

We have one last thing to do before we are done. At the prompt, go ahead and type in q to quit and then type in q again to quit one more time. After the second time you type in q, you’ll see that it says Step 4 – Writing back changes. Here you have to type y to write the changes.

You should make sure that it says EDIT COMPLETE. This means that everything was written correctly. When it asks you if you want to do another run, type in n
 for no. Now you can restart your computer by pressing CTRL + ALT + 
DELETE. You may need to remove the CD/DVD or USB stick in order to boot 
to Windows normally.

That’s about it. If everything worked OK, you should be able to login into Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 without a password!

<h2>
Windows 10 Reset Password</h2>
The procedure for Windows 10 is very similar to that of Windows 8, 
but requires slightly different commands. To get started, follow the 
instructions I have above for Method 1 under Windows 7 
and 8.1 until you get to the command prompt. Follow the directions for 
Windows 8.1 as those are the same for Windows 10.

Once you get to the command prompt, type in the following commands:

<pre>move d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe.bak</pre>
<pre>copy d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe</pre>
Close the command prompt and then click on the Continue
 button to load Windows normally. Go ahead and take out the CD/DVD or 
USB drive before you reboot. At the login screen, you have to click on 
the ease of access icon at the bottom. This will pop up a command prompt
 window.

Now at the command prompt window, we use the same command like we used for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

<pre>net user username newpassword</pre>
Again, you’ll need to use quotes around the username if it is more 
than one word. For example, if the user name is Aseem Kishore, you would
 type in:

<pre>net user "Aseem Kishore" newpassword</pre>
Now close the command prompt window and simply type in your new 
password and you will be logged into Windows 10! It’s amazing that this 
trick works, but I tested it out and it worked like a charm.

Hopefully, this will get you back into your Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or
 Windows 10 computer. Note that if you don’t have an installation DVD, 
you can download them from Microsoft. Check out my previous post on <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/download-windows-10-8-7-install-usb-flash-drive/" target="_blank">downloading Windows 7, 8 and 10 legally</a>.

TIPS Lost or Forgot Administrator Password in Windows?

It’s happened to all of us at some point or another: you go to log onto your computer and you type in the password and you get a Password ...

How Many Computers Can You Install Windows 7, 8, 10 On?

3:14 PM Unknown 0

One common question that I get all the time is How many computers can I install Windows on? If
 you read around, you’ll get all sorts of different answers. However, 
for legal purposes, it’s best to stick with what Microsoft states in 
their end-user license agreements.<div class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="KonaBody">
There are always ways you can get around the limits, but that’s not 
the point of this article. In this article, I will list out the official
 installation options for Microsoft for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows
 10. Skip down to the section you are interested in.

<h2>
Windows 10</h2>
With Windows 10, things are very different than previous versions of 
Windows. As of now and until July 29th, 2016, you can upgrade any 
Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 PC to Windows 10 for free. After that, no one 
is really sure what’s going to happen.

Apparently, you’ll have to pay for the upgrade, but after letting 
people upgrade for free for a year, it’s going to be a tough sell to 
start making people pay for it. After the July 2016 date, the price for 
the Home edition will be $119 and the Pro edition will be $199.

So if you want to install Windows 10, it’s best to do it before that 
date. It’s also worth noting that when you do the free upgrade, you’ll 
stay at the edition that is closest to what you had.

Above is a table that explains which version of Windows 10 you will 
have depending on which version of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 you 
currently have. In order to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro, you 
still would need to pay $99, which is what Microsoft is currently 
charging.

Another thing to note is that if you upgrade Windows 7 or Windows 8 
to Windows 10 or if you have an OEM version of Windows 10, after July 
29, you will not be able to move that copy of Windows 10 to another 
computer. Right now, you could reinstall Windows 7 or 8.1 on another 
computer and then perform the free upgrade to 10. If you have a retail 
version of Windows 10, you will be able to move it to another computer 
even after July 29th.

If your Windows 10 license is based on a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 
license (even a retail license) and you have to replace the motherboard 
on your computer, Windows 10 will no longer be activated. It only works 
with the current hardware on that computer. This can be problematic 
because if you have gotten the free upgrade to Windows 10 and then you 
replace a bunch of parts on your computer after July 29, 2016, you will 
end up with a non-genuine version of Windows.

You’ll then be asked to pay for the upgrade! There are only two 
solutions at this point that I know of: either don’t replace any major 
parts on your computer or if you have to because of a bad motherboard, 
etc, then call Microsoft, explain your situation and they will give you a
 new code. Microsoft’s Vice President of Engineering has publicly posted
 on Twitter that you’ll need to contact support in these types of 
situations.

In terms of virtualization, Windows 7 was great because you could 
install one copy on your computer and use the same key to install a 
virtual copy of Windows, which I explain below. However, with Windows 
10, Microsoft has reverted back to the old way. In the <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms/Retail/Windows/10/UseTerms_Retail_Windows_10_English.htm" target="_blank">new license agreement</a>, a virtual copy of Windows 10 needs its own license key.

<pre>(iv) Use in a virtualized environment. This license allows you to install only one instance of the software for use on one device, whether that device is physical or virtual. If you want to use the software on more than one virtual device, you must obtain a separate license for each instance.</pre>
<h2>
Windows 7 and 8.1</h2>
For Windows 7. it depends on what version on Windows 7 you have. You 
can either have a pre-installed copy that came with your computer (OEM),
 a retail version bought from a store, or a Family Pack bought from 
Microsoft.

The number of computers you can install Windows 7 on is the same 
regardless of the edition of Windows you have: Ultimate, Home Premium, 
Starter, Professional, etc.

Here’s the lowdown on the whole licensing thing and the official text from the End User License Agreement for Windows 7:

INSTALLATION AND USE RIGHTS.

<pre>a. One Copy per Computer. You may install one copy of the software on one computer. That computer is the “licensed computer.”</pre>
<pre>b. Licensed Computer. You may use the software on up to two processors on the licensed computer at one time. Unless otherwise provided in these license terms, you may not use the software on any other computer.</pre>
<pre>c. Number of Users. Unless otherwise provided in these license terms, only one user may use the software at a time.</pre>
<pre>d. Alternative Versions. The software may include more than one version, such as 32-bit and 64-bit. You may install and use only one version at one time.</pre>
So that pretty much states how many computers you can install Windows
 7 on! ONE! Now if you have the Family Pack, you can clean install or 
upgrade up to 3 PCs. Note that for Windows 7 retail versions, you can 
also uninstall Windows 7 from one PC and install it on another, though 
you may have to give Microsoft a call when activating it.

The one caveat that is pretty welcome is the fact that you can 
install one more copy of Windows 7 on the same licensed machine in a 
virtual machine. However, it has to be on the same computer. Here is the
 official text:

<pre>d. Use with Virtualization Technologies. Instead of using the software directly on the licensed computer, you may install and use the software within only one virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system on the licensed computer. When used in a virtualized environment, content protected by digital rights management technology, BitLocker or any full volume disk drive encryption technology may not be as secure as protected content not in a virtualized environment. You should comply with all domestic and international laws that apply to such protected content.</pre>
So that means you can install <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/install-windows-8-in-a-virtual-machine/" target="_blank">VirtualBox</a> or <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/free-software-downloads/convert-pc-into-virtual-machine/" target="_blank">Hyper-V</a> and
 pop in your Windows 7 DVD and install another copy there for free! This
 is the only part of the license agreement that is different than 
previous versions of Windows.

For Windows 8.1, the rules are pretty much the same. If you have an 
OEM version of Windows 8.1 or a version that was upgraded from Windows 
7, you can only use that version on that one computer. If you need to 
move it to another computer, you’ll need to call Microsoft and explain 
the situation.

If you have a retail version of 8.1, you first have to deactivate the
 license on the computer and then use the product key on the new 
computer to activate. The product key can only be used to activate one 
PC at a time.

For virtualization, Windows 8.1 has the same license terms as Windows
 10, which means you cannot use the same product key in a virtual 
environment. Apparently, only Windows 7 allowed you to install another 
copy in using virtualization software without getting another license.

Hopefully, this article help explains how you can install different 
versions of Windows on your computers. It’s complicated and I didn’t 
explain every detail and caveat, so feel free to post a comment if you 
have questions. Enjoy!

</div>
</div>

TIPS How Many Computers Can You Install Windows 7, 8, 10 On?

One common question that I get all the time is How many computers can I install Windows on? If you read around, you’ll get all sorts of di...

How to Upgrade to a Higher Edition of Windows

3:13 PM Unknown 0

So most likely, if you bought 
your computer from Amazon or Best Buy or some other online 
website/store, the version of Windows that is included with the computer
 is going to be the basic version: Starter or Home or Home Premium. In 
the case of Windows 10, it’s just Windows 10 and not the Professional 
version.<div class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="KonaBody">
Why would you want to upgrade to a higher edition? Well, the 
Professional or Ultimate versions of Windows basically have more 
features that power users might use like the ability to <a href="http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-join-domain/" target="_blank">join a domain</a>, <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-encrypt-your-computers-hard-disk-data-and-files-for-free/" target="_blank">Bitlocker encryption</a>, <a href="http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-8/remote-desktop-into-windows-8/" target="_blank">remote desktop</a>, <a href="http://www.online-tech-tips.com/free-software-downloads/convert-pc-into-virtual-machine/" target="_blank">Hyper-V virtualization</a>
 and more. So if you have decided to make the move from Starter to Home 
Premium, Home to Professional, or Professional to Ultimate, how do you 
go about doing it?

In this article, I’ll show you how to upgrade your Windows edition in
 Windows 7, 8.1 and 10. Note that you can currently upgrade a 32-bit 
version to another 32-bit version and same for 64-bit, but you cannot 
upgrade from a 32-bit OS to 64-bit.

<h2>
Upgrade Windows 10 to Higher Edition</h2>
For Windows 10, there are basically just three editions: Home, 
Professional and Enterprise. When you upgrade from Home to Professional,
 you can downgrade or revert back within 30 days unless you run Disk 
Cleanup and remove previous Windows installations. You only have 30 days
 because that’s how long Windows keeps the previous version of Windows 
before deleting it.

Also, for Windows 10, you can’t upgrade directly from Pro to 
Enterprise. You have to buy it directly from Microsoft and usually with a
 volume license. If you have Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 Enterprise, you 
can upgrade that to Windows 10 Enterprise.

To upgrade Windows 10, click on Start and then Settings.

Now click on System and then click on About. At the bottom, you will see a Change product key or upgrade your edition of Windows link.

This will take you to the Activation screen where you will see a Go to Store link at the bottom.

This will load the Windows Store app and allow you to purchase the upgrade for $99.99.

Once you buy it, Windows will start the process for upgrading Windows
 10 Home to Pro. It takes just a few minutes and you’ll just have to 
restart your computer once after it has finished.

<h2>
Upgrade Windows 8.1 to Higher Edition</h2>
As of October 2015, <a href="https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3107057" target="_blank">Microsoft no longer sells upgrade</a>
 packs to Windows 8 or 8.1 Home to Windows 8 or 8.1 Pro. Basically, no 
one really uses Windows 8 anymore and therefore they are trying to get 
everyone upgraded to Windows 10.

If you try to go to Control Panel, Windows Update, click on Add features to Windows 8.1, and then click on I want to buy a product key online, you’ll get a message saying that no products were found in your region.

The only place you can get a Windows 8.1 Pro upgrade is from a third-party seller like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-8-1-Pack-Upgrade/dp/B00EDSI7K0" target="_blank">Amazon</a>
 for a whopping $137! That really doesn’t make a lot of sense 
considering you can upgrade Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 for free until 
July 29th, 2016. At that point, the Home edition will be $99 and Pro 
will be $199.

Note that Amazon only sells a keycard, which will contain the product
 key for Windows 8.1 Pro. To use it, you’ll follow the steps above, but 
choose I already have a product key to enter the new key.

<h2>
Upgrade Windows 7 using Windows Anytime Upgrade</h2>
For Windows 7, once you upgrade to a higher edition, you really can’t
 revert back without some serious registry hacking, etc. This really 
shouldn’t be a big issue, but it’s good to know. Also, for Windows 7, 
you can upgrade from Home Premium to Ultimate without having to upgrade 
to Professional first. You can basically skip editions.

Click on Start, then type in anytime upgrade into the search box and click on Windows Anytime Upgrade to get started. Note that Windows Ultimate will not have this feature since it’s at the highest edition already.

Now just follow the instructions to upgrade to a new edition of Windows 7. First, click on Go online to choose the edition of Windows 7 that’s best for you.

In the same dialog, you’ll get a list of the different versions along
 with a nice table of features for each. This is also a great way to 
compare the different versions of Windows 7 and actually see what the 
differences are.

You can also click on the tabs across the top to see the features of 
each version separately. Once you buy a new version and have an upgrade 
key, click on Enter an upgrade key.

That’s pretty much it! After you enter your key, Microsoft will 
confirm it and all the new features of the higher edition will be 
available immediately! No need to download anything or install any extra
 software. Enjoy!

</div>
</div>

TIPS How to Upgrade to a Higher Edition of Windows

So most likely, if you bought your computer from Amazon or Best Buy or some other online website/store, the version of Windows that is inc...