Tech2 Touch

Author: Aniruddh

  • How to boot to Desktop mode in Windows 8.1 when signing in

    When Microsoft launched Windows 8, it was major change in the Windows operating system. It is optimised for touch screen. The new metro style menu are not feels good on non touch screen device. There was no way to booting to desktop without any third party application.

    The new Windows 8.1 update brings in this feature. This features enables to directly boot to Desktop mode.  Apart from this there are many other bug fixes and feature enhancement also part of this update. This post, we will learn how to directly boot into desktop mode when signing in.

    Steps to Boot to Desktop Mode in Windows 8.1 Pro

    boot to desktop mode

    • First start the windows. Once the system boots, click on Desktop tile or hit Windows Key+D shortcut key
    • Right click on any open area in taskbar, then click on properties.
    • In the newly opened dialog box, Click Navigation tab.
    •  Now check mark the option “When i Sign in or Close all applications on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start”
    • Click on the apply and then Ok. Reboot the system. You will booting into the desktop mode.
    • If you want to go back to start-screen booting, then repeat the same procedure and uncheck the option in the 4th step of above.

    Thats it. Now you are no longer see the start-screen when you  switch on your PC. If you want load start-screen, then hit start button in the left bottom corner or Windows shortcut key. If you have any problem following this do leave a comment.

  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Tips And Tricks

    Samsung Galaxy S4 is the flagship smartphone with powerful processor and beautiful design. Once you have such a powerful smartphone, you are eager to know what you can do with that and how to do it. So in this post, I will show you some of the Samsung Galaxy S4 tips and tricks.

    Samsung Galaxy S4 Tips and Tricks

    1. Swiping down with two fingers to get the access to Quick Setting Panel: To use this feature, just swipe down from the status bar with two fingers. Then touch and hold to access settings. You can rearrange icons by long tapping and icon and drag it to required place.
    2. Adding TV Remote control to notification panel for quick access:  Go to Application screen and then Watch On and then Settings.
    3. Setting WiFi Timer: Using this feature, you can save cellular data, as the phone will try to connect to available Wi-Fi networks for a specific period of time.  You can enable this by Setting->Connection->WiFi->Advanced->Wi-Fi Timer.

    Samsung Galaxy S4 Tips And Tricks

    4. Taking screen Shot or Print screen on Samsung Galaxy S4: You can take screen shot or print screen on Galaxy S4 by two ways. One is default android way and another is new hand swipe feature.
    To take screenshot on normal way, just press Volume down+Menu key at time. The screen shot will get saved in the gallary. Another way is by Hand swipe.  To take screen shot by hand swipe, just go to Settings->Motion. Scroll down and find Hand Motion. Then Palm Swipe to Capture. Enable that by ticking the check box. Now close the menu and shape your hand like you are “Chopping” the screen. Set your hand on either side of the screen. Then horizontally swipe across it. You can move it either way. There is no restriction on it. If you have done it correctly, then you will hear camera shutter and recieve a notification that a picture has been saved to the gallery.
    5. Samsung Galaxy S4 Tethering: Tethering of Samsung Galaxy S4 is very easy. You can easily use Galaxy S4 as modem to connect to internet from PC using USB tethering or through WiFi Hotspot. I have written detailed post on this in Tethering of Samsung Galaxy phones.
    6. Downloading mobile PC suite for Samsung Galaxy S4: Like any other Galaxy devices, Samsung Galaxy S4 too supports PC suite Samsung Kies desktop application and Kies Air mobile app. You can refer my on earlier How to download free Mobile PC suite for Samsung Mobiles for download instruction.

    Hope these Samsung Galaxy S4 tips and tricks helps. Share your feedback in the comment section below.

  • Update Sony Xperia Z Ultra to Latest Firmware

    As we all know, Sony has starting seeding firmware updates to its Xperia Ultra smartphones which brings new features such as Mobile X-reality engine, and few improvements to enhance the user experience. Sony Xperia Z Ultra has 6.4 inch Full HD display screen and powered by 2.2GHz Quad Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with 2GB of RAM. The internal storage of the device is 16GB and it supports microSD card upto 64GB.

    Update Sony Xperia Z Ultra Tips and Tricks
    Sony Xperia Z Ultra

    Coming back to the firmware update Sony Xperia Z Ultra,  the last update which was named as 14.1.B.510. It is one of the major update from the Sony. The new Xperia Ultra Update brings support for Sony’s mobile X-Reality engine which promises to increase the overall playback quality of locally stored media files such as photos, movies by adjusting the sharpness, saturation, contrast, noise reduction and even reproduction of lacking pixels. There many more new features and improvements also comes along with the update. Below are the few of them. The total size of this major update is 770MB.

    • Overall performance increase and improvements in battery life.
    • New stock widgets – Clock, Alarm Clock and Calculator among others.
    • Multiple small apps can now be opened at once.
    • Refreshed design as far as the messenger and e-mail apps are concerned.
    • Superior Auto mode added to the camera appearance.
    • One-handed text input now possible.
    • Background UI has gone white-grey.

    How to Update Sony Xperia Z Ultra Smartphone to Latest Firmware

    1. You need to download and install the Sony Xperia PC Companion PC suite.
    2. Connect yout device to PC using the USB cable. Ensure that your phone is charged at least 75%.
    3. If there is update you will get a notification. Click on that. Continue to follow the on screen instructions to complete download and installation.
    Note: If update is smalll in size, you can update your Sony Xperia smartphone through Over The Air(OTA) feature too.

  • How to Use Samsung Galaxy Phone as modem to connect to Internet from PC

    Samsung has wide range of Galaxy smartphones such as Galaxy Star, Galaxy J Series, Galaxy On Series, Galaxy A series, Galaxy M Series and flagship Galaxy S series and Galaxy Note series. All these phones are running on Android operating system.

    All the Android smartphones running on Gingerbread or later versions support USB tethering and WiFi tethering feature. WiFi Tethering is nothing but sharing the internet connection with other WiFi enabled devices such as tablets, laptop etc. Similarly USB tethering is sharing the internet connection through USB cable. There is also Bluetooth tethering option.

    You may like to read:

    In this post, I will show you how to use Samsung Galaxy Smartphones as modem through USB tethering as well as through WiFi tethering. This method of using the internet from PC through smartphone works on all the Samsung smartphones running on Android OS such as Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4 mini, Galaxy S3 Mini, Galaxy S advance, Galaxy S duos, Galaxy S Duos 2, Galaxy Y, Galaxy Y duos, Galaxy Core, Galaxy Quattro, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S5, Galaxy Grand Prime, Galaxy Alpha, Galaxy J5 etc to name few. Let is start learning on how to use tethering on Samsung Galaxy Phones.

    Use Samsung Galaxy Phone as modem

    Use Samsung Galaxy Smartphones as WiFi Hotspot

    As said earlier, Samsung mobiles can be used as modem to connect to internet from PC with WiFi adaptor or WiFi enabled devices. To make to use Samsung mobiles as wireless modem please follow the steps given below.

    1. To start with, enable the data connectivity on your phone by Going to setup->More Settings->Mobile Networks and enable Use Packet Data. Do note that, the internet charges from your network provider will be applies.
    2. Now goto  setup->More Settings once again. Tap on to Tethering and Portable hotspot.
    3. Move slider to right next to Portable Wi-Fi hotspot. This enable the WiFi hotspot on your Samsung Device.
    4. Tap on  Portable Wi-Fi hotspot  to configure the Network SSID and password for your WiFI hotspot.
    5. Now your device WiFi network will be accessible from the other WiFi enabled devices using the Network SSID and password you have chosen.

    Use Samsung Galaxy Smartphones as Modem using USB tethering

    For using Samsung mobiles as modem, you need to install Samsung  Drivers on your PC. Samsung does not provides standalone Driver for mobile. However, you need to install Samsung Kies PC suite to get the required Samsung Drivers. I have already written a post on the same. You can read that for that  from How to download free Samsung Kies PC suite.

    1. Once you have installed Samsung Kies, Connect the Samsung mobile to PC via USB cable. It will take few seconds to install and configure the required drivers for your device.
    2. Once it is done, follow the 1 and 2 steps mentioned above
    3. Enable USB tethering by selecting the check box.
    4. Now you will be able to access internet from your PC using your smartphone as modem.

    These are some of the ways to share smartphone internet with other devices such as Tablets, laptop etc.

  • Sony Xperia PC Suite Free Download Connecting Sony Smartphone to PC

    Sony PC Companion is PC suite for Sony Xperia Smartphones just like the PC suite for Samsung Mobile, Samsung Kies. It is a collection of apps or utilities bundled in a single package.  This help in connecting your Sony Xperia smartphones with PC effectively. It provide many apps such as Xperia Transfer which is a toll for moving content from an iPhone to Sony Xperia smartphone. Using PC companion PC suite you can back up and restore your phone content, manage your contacts and calenders.  There utility called Media Go which will be useful for transfer and managing the media files. We will have all the available Sony Xperia PC Suite.

    Sony Xperia PC Companion

    System Requirement for Sony Xperia PC suite PC Companion

    • Internet broadband connection.
    • Intel® Pentium® 4, 3.6 GHz or equivalent AMD processor.
    • 5GB free hard disk space.
    • 2 GB RAM.
    • 1 available USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 port and USB cable.
    • Microsoft® Windows XP™ SP3 (32 bit), Vista (32/64 bit) or Windows 7 (32/64 bit) or Windows 8/8.1 (32/64 bit) and Windows 10.

    You can even download install Sony PC companion on Mac systems.

    Sony Xperia PC Suite-PC Companion Download for Windows

    1. You can download the Sony Xperia PC suite from clicking here. The size of Sony PC suite is 27 MB.
    2. Run the downloaded file and follow the on screen instructions to complete the installation.

    Sony Xperia PC Suite-PC Companion Download for Mac

    For Mac systems, you need to download the bridge file. Sony Bridge for Mac is a PC suite for Xperia smartphones on Mac systems.  Using this, you can update your smartphone Android firmware,  transfer media between your phone and iTunes, iPhoto or a custom folder on your Mac. Separate files can also be transferred between your phone and Mac by using drag and drop in a file browser. You can also backup and restore your phone content (availability depending on phone model). If you’re new to Sony devices, and your previous phone was an iPhone, you can use Xperia Transfer to move your content from the iPhone to your new Sony device.
    System Requirements for Sony Bridge Pc suite for Mac Systems

    • MacOS version 10.6 or later.
    • 1 GHz Intel processor (64 bit processor required for phone software update).
    • 512 MB RAM.
    • 60 MB hard-disk space for program installation.
    • iTunes 7.0 or later (recommended).
    • iPhoto version 08 or later (recommended).
    • Java SE 6 required for phone software update.

    Sony Bridge PC Suite download and installation instruction for Mac System

    • Download the application to your Macintosh computer by clicking here. Make a note of which folder you download it to. The size of download is 9.8MB.
    • When download is complete, installation may start automatically. If not, locate and double-click the “Sony Bridge for Mac.dmg” file.
    • When prompted, drag the Sony Bridge for Mac icon into your Applications folder.
    • Eject the disk image. It is not needed once the application is installed.
    • Sony Bridge for Mac is now found in your Applications folder. Double-click to start.
    • The application will start with the same language settings as your computer. To change language settings, see the computer manual.
    • Please read the End-User Licence Agreement carefully. Click Agree to continue.

    Sony PC Companion compatible devices:
    Most of the Xperia smartphones are compatible with Sony PC Companion PC suite. To name few, Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia L, Xperia M, Sony Xperia C, Xperia C4 Dual, Xperia C5 Dual, Xperia M5, Xperia Z5 etc.