Category: Articles – Technology

EV Code Signing, also called Extended Validation Code Signing, is a new code signing method that is supported by the new Microsoft Windows 8 operating system and by the Internet Explorer 9 and Internet Explorer 10 web browsers. It’s considered to be a safer method than traditional code signing because a hardware token and a PIN code is involved in the code signing process.

Also the identity verification and authentication process is more rigorous. The process is similar to the process of getting EV SSL certificates. On the negative side is that EV Code Signing is more expensive than traditional code signing.

Read our article about EV Code Signing
If you want to know more about the EV Code Signing technology you can read the following informative article on our website:

> Extended Validation (EV) Code Signing

The “Windows protected your PC” message is displayed by the Windows SmartScreen function in Microsoft Windows 8 when you try to run an application (app) or run a setup package, downloaded from the Internet, that Windows do not recognize, or consider as unsafe. This is to protect you against malicious software (malware) which is very common on the Internet today.

In the informative Windows SmartScreen – Anti-Malware Protection in Windows 8 article on our website we discuss this warning message, and Windows SmartScreen, in detail.

How to remove the warning message
Although this protection is very good and can prevent that malware is installed in your computer, there may be situations when you want to have this function turned off. If you for example are a software developer and frequently download your newly compiled software from the Internet, this message may be somewhat annoying. But it is possible to turn off Windows SmartScreen and stop this warning message from appearing.

In the following article we show you, step by step, how to disable Windows SmartScreen in Microsoft Windows 8:

> How To Disable / Turn Off Windows SmartScreen in Windows 8

Every time you download a file from the Internet there is a risk that your computer gets infected by virus or another malware. But web browsers and operating systems are getting better and better in their effort to protect a computer against viruses / malware, and in Windows 8 there is a feature named Windows SmartScreen that helps protect your system against malicious software that has been downloaded from the Internet. Windows SmartScreen is reputation-based protection system, and how it works is described in this article on our web site:

> Windows SmartScreen – Anti-Malware Protection in Windows 8

Many users that have tested Windows 8 were very surprised the first time they run Windows 8. It differs a lot from previous versions of Windows, and the first thing many wondered was: where is the Start button?

The truth is that there is no Start button anymore! It has been removed! And there is no Start menu either. In this article you can read why:

> Why Were the Start Button & Start Menu Removed in Windows 8?

The article also informs you about how to bring back the Start button (and Start menu) by using third party software.

In Windows 8 there are two different types of apps that can be run on the operating system: a Windows Desktop app and a Windows Store app. But what is the difference between these two app types? We will give you the answer in this article:

> Windows Desktop App vs Windows Store App: What’s Difference?

A traditional Windows application (desktop app) is installed in the Program Files folder on the hard disk, as you know. This is true also for Windows 8. But where is a Windows Store app (Metro-style app) installed?

You will find the answer to this question, and other related questions, in this new article on our web site:

> The ‘Program Files\WindowsApps’ folder in Windows 8 explained

A few months ago Microsoft released Windows 8 and software developers had once again a new operating system to take into account for their applications and installation of applications. One big difference from previous Windows version is that there is now two different running environments to consider: an environment for traditional desktop applications (Windows Desktop apps) and one environment for the new simpler touch-optimized apps (Windows Store apps).

Different installation methods
The installation method is very different dependent of you want to install a Windows Desktop app or a Windows Store apps. In the following two articles on our web site we describe how to install an application / app in Windows 8 in both environments:

> How to install a desktop application / desktop app in Windows 8
> How to install a Windows Store app in Windows 8

Note. An “application” and an “app” are the same thing. Since the release of Windows 8, Microsoft has started to call “applications” for “apps” in their documentation. An application that is run on the traditional desktop is named “Windows Desktop app” and an app of the new touch-optimized kind (former Metro-style app) is named “Windows Store app”.

We have published two new Spanish articles on our international web site. It is the article The ‘Program Files (x86)’ and ‘SysWOW64’ folders explained and the article The ‘Program Files’ folder in different languages that have been translated to Spanish. These two technical articles informs about some important folders in 32 and 64 bit Windows, that is good to know if you install program files and other types of binary files in these systems. Below are direct links to the two Spanish articles:

> Explicación de las carpetas ‘Archivos de programa (x86)’ y ‘SysWOW64’
> La carpeta ‘Archivos de programa’ en distintos idiomas