Windows To Go is a new feature of Windows 8 that allows enterprises to provision a full corporate environment that will boot from a USB drive.  Once the instance of Windows 8 is booted it functions and is controlled by standard enterprise management tools such as SCCM and Active Directory group policies.  Work at home and disaster recovery are the primary use cases as Windows To Go can transform any PC into a corporate PC with your application stack, all on a USB drive. Windows To Go is also perfect for trying out Windows 8 on your primary machine without destroying your current OS.

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Windows 8 introduces a new touch paradigm that is different from other touch devices on the market. To help you get started I have outlined the basics of touch on Windows 8 that are used throughout the new Metro interface. Not all touch gestures are compatible with every Metro application; some are up to the developer to implement when appropriate. 

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The Windows Developer Preview is a pre-beta version of Windows 8 for developers. These downloads include prerelease software that may change without notice. The software is provided as is, and you bear the risk of using it. It may not be stable, operate correctly or work the way the final version of the software will. It should not be used in a production environment. The features and functionality in the prerelease software may not appear in the final version. Some product features and functionality may require advanced or additional hardware, or installation of other software.

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Port 3389 is the home of the remote desktop protocol that powers Remote Desktop Services on all modern versions of Windows.  If your system has Remote Desktop enabled, it is listening for connections on port 3389.  Since this port is both well known and can be used to attack accounts, it is low hanging fruit for script kiddies and bots looking for an easy target.

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The Microsoft Camera Codec Pack enables viewing RAW image files taken by more than 150 cameras from Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus, Pentax, Leica, Minolta, Epson and Panasonic. The codec pack enables viewing of the files in any image viewer that is based in Windows Imaging Codecs (WIC) such as Windows Explorer, Photo Viewer and Windows Live Photo Gallery.  

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The default flower user picture is displayed for new accounts and on various logon screens throughout the OS.  Customizing this picture requires a simple file copy and doing so will allow you to personalize your PC or even display a corporate logo.

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Microsoft included a batch rename feature in the latest version of Windows allowing you to select multiple files, right click on one and select rename. All of the selected files will be renamed with the name you provided and a number. This functionality works well for basic files but does not provide any flexibility in exactly how the files are numbered and also does not allow the file extension to be changed.

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The Adobe download manager is part of the normal install of Adobe Reader and Flash that allows Adobe to bundle additional software with their products. After the download manager is installed, Reader/Flash along with other software (Adobe Air) can be downloaded and installed. When dial-up Internet connections where common download managers provided a valuable benefit. Now with more stable broadband Internet connections and modern content distribution technologies bundled download managers, such as the Adobe download manager, seem to be used more to spread the install of unwanted software.

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