Windows Phone 8 Tips & Tricks that you will love

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Windows Phone 8 is an amazing and a beautiful mobile operating system. Listed among the most powerful mobile operating systems, Windows Phone 8 comes with lots of built-in features that will make your days work easy. Here are some of the tips and tricks that you will love.

Windows Phone 8 Tips & Tricks

1. Text reply to an incoming call

Windows Phone 8 comes with a useful and a rich feature that allows you to send text replies to the caller directly from the call answer screen. In case if you are busy or unable to answer the call, just use this feature to send a text reply so they won’t think you are ignoring them.
It comes with two quick replies already, they include – “I’ll call you back” and “Please text me”. In addition to this you can even add custom replies to do this go to Settings > Applications > Phone and tap Edit replies. You can add up to four custom replies.

2. Assign names to mailbox

If you use a lot of email accounts and have configured them on your phone, it will be difficult to identify any particular one. To help with this Windows Phone 8 allows you to assign custom names to your mailbox instead of traditional ‘Hotmail’ or ‘Gmail’.
To assign it go to Settings > System > Email+Accounts. Select the account you want to rename, then assign a name to it.

3. Increase text font size

If you are visually impaired and are unable to read the small text from threaded message or email accounts, don’t worry, there is a way for that. Windows Phone 8 offers a new accessibility feature that can increase the font size which will help the visually impaired users to read the text easily.
To increase the text size, go to Settings > System > Ease of Access. Use the text size slider to increase the font in emails or text messages. Alongside there is also a screen magnifier. When it is switched on, you can tap the screen with two fingers to zoom in.

4. Customize lock screen icons

Windows Phone 8 gives you ability to customize the lock screen. This customization allows you to change the order and line up of quick status notification icons on the lock screen.  Even the third-party app icons like Skype or Google News app, etc are supported. To do this, go to Settings > System > Lock Screen, then select a slot under Choose apps to show quick status. Assign the order as you want.

5. Change email signature

Any email sent from your phone usually goes with ‘Sent from my Windows Phone’ signature. With Windows Phone 8 you can now change this signature to whatever you want.
To do it go to your mailbox, tap More menu (the three dots), select Settings and you will see a signature text box. Change it with whatever you want.

6. Customize Internet Explorer address bar button

Another useful trick in Windows Phone 8 is the ability to change the Internet Explorer’s address bar buttons. The default button provided is the refresh button, you can change it with tabs button as well.
To do it go to Settings > Applications > Internet Explorer and choose an option from ‘Use address bar button for’.

7. Selectively hide contacts

With Windows Phone all your Facebook friends appear into the contact list which makes it difficult to search for your personal pals among those unwanted ones. There is a handy way to get rid of this, with Windows Phone you can selectively hide contacts.
To hide contacts go to, Settings > Applications > People> Filter my contact list. Select a contact to filter from the list, you can select as many as you want. These contacts are not deleted from the phone, they appear when you search for it.

8. Keep backup of your photos

If your phone is your primary camera, then you can make life easier by
Automatically upload photos and videos to SkyDrive. To do so, in Settings, go to Applications > Photos+camera. Under Auto upload, tap SkyDrive and you’ll see options for uploading scaled-down images and full-resolution photos and videos over a Wi-Fi connection.

9. Power Saving

To save power and extend battery, especially when it is low, Windows Phone 8 has some great features like the Battery Saver. Read more about Windows Phone 8 power saving tips.

10. Set up a Kids Corner

Know of any more? Please do share. http://jahsent932.blogspot.com/

Windows Phone Privacy Settings

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Smartphone adoption has increased substantially in the last few years. We use the Smartphones to talk, text, click pictures, access the Internet, check emails and more. We usually have a lot of our personal information stored on our Smartphones and hence it is imperative that we take certain steps the Microsoft privacy experts are concerned greatly about the safety and privacy in your Windows Phone. In this article we will discuss about the privacy settings in Windows Phone 8.1.

Privacy Settings in Windows Phone

Location services on Windows Phone 8.1

Locations services are always very useful. It helps adding locations to your photos, post your locations on social networking website and  more. To use the location services on your Smartphone, you first need to allow the app to access your device’s location. You can always turn in ‘ON or Off’ at your own preferences.

Screen Lock

A screen lock comes first when we talk about our phone’s privacy settings. To lock the screen of your Windows Phone, go to Settings >
Lock Screen and go to the Password option at the bottom.

To turn location services on or off

You can turn the location services ‘On or Off’ from your phone settings. Settings > Location > Turn On/Off. You can also show or hide the location icon on your device. Hiding or showing the icon won’t make any different to the location services.
Using the location services might be risky at times. The location app might sell your location data to the advertisers who then might deliver ads to your device according to your location. In worse case, sharing your location on social networking website may lead some serious criminal activities like spying or stalking.

Internet Explorer 11 for Windows Phone

While using Internet Explorer on your Windows Phone, it is important to keep the privacy settings intact. Never forget to delete the search history, and for better protection start using SmartScreen Filter option.

• Go to Internet Explorer->More
• Tao on the ‘Delete history’ tab. It will delete all your search history, browsing history, cookies, saved passwords and temporary internet files from your device.

Tap on ‘Advanced Settings’ and adjust the settings like this:

• Allow access to your location
• Get suggestions from Bing
• Show pictures
• SmartScreen Filter
• Send a ‘Do not track’ request
• Manage storage
• Reading style
• Block cookies from specific websites
• Allow websites to store files on your phone

Don’t Save Passwords

Saving the passwords may let others intrude in your privacy. From the Settings option of your Windows Phone go to Applications > Internet Explorer > Advanced Settings and check on ‘Don’t Remember’ under Website Passwords.

Cortana Settings

With a few settings, you can have total control over your personal assistant Cortana. To open Cortana, simply tap on the search button of your Windows Phone or you can launch it from the Cortana icon on your phone.http://jahsent932.blogspot.com/
Cortana Settings tab is on the upper right corner on your Windows Phone screen.
Turn Cortana On or Off

Just open Cortana’s Notebook Turn Cortana off > Settings, turn Cortana off Cortana’s Notebook, and then restart your phone.
Manage data in Cortana

• Tap on ‘Delete Phone Data’ to clear data from Cortana’s Notebook.
• Tap on Manage Cloud Data to clear the saved places, Cortana data, and interests.

Look for flights
Cortana can help you looking for suitable flights and gives you a detailed information on your flight’s progress. Furthermore, Cortana also sends you an alert when your flight is delayed.
To let Cortana detect your flights automatically, you need to check ‘Track flights and other things in your email’ on your phone check box.
The default Windows Phone settings are safe, but going through these settings and hardening them may help you making your Windows Phone safer and private.http://jahsent932.blogspot.com/

Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows Computers

While most of us are already aware of obvious keyboard shortcuts like “Alt+F4” and “Ctrl+C”, there are some obscure shortcuts which most of us tend to overlook. These keyboard shortcuts are not only useful for the average PC user but for advanced users as well. This article contains many such amazing keyboard shortcuts which if used properly could save a lot of time and effort. So let's get started.

Windows key+D: This shortcut is the keyboard equivalent of “Show the Desktop”. It is useful for quickly minimizing every open window when someone walks in and you are doing some private work.

Ctrl+Shift+Esc: This shortcut directly starts the task manager. While Alt+Ctrl+Del was used to bring out the Task Manager in Windows XP and earlier versions, in Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7, it just brings up the lock this computer screen.

Ctrl+Click: This shortcut is useful for opening a link in a background tab. This is useful when you have to load a page without leaving the current one.

Alt+Print Screen: takes the screenshot of the current active window as opposed to just Print Screen which takes the screenshot of the entire screen.

Shift+Click for Yes to All and No to All: If you have a lot of dialog boxes asking yes and no question, just shift+click Yes or No on one to yes all or no all.

Ctrl+C on an error dialog box to copy its contents: Suppose your computer is giving an error message and you want to copy its contents to send to the support guy, what do you do? Just press Ctrl+C while the dialog box is highlighted and its contents will be copied to your clipboard.

Ctrl+T: This keyboard shortcut opens a new tab in internet browsers.

Ctrl+Shift+T: Reopens the last closed tab.

Ctrl+Shift+N: This shortcut opens a new incognito window in Google Chrome.

Ctrl+Shift+P: Opens a new private window in Mozilla Firefox.

Alt+Enter after writing the domain name in the address bar of your browser to insert .com automatically.

Shift+Enter inserts .net domain name extension.

Ctrl+W: This shortcut closes the current tab in your browser quickly.

Ctrl+Backspace: This shortcut deletes the last word you have typed. It is useful in case you typed in a wrong word and want to delete it quickly.

Ctrl+Left or Right Arrow key: This shortcut allows you to move the cursor one word at a time instead of the default one character at a time.

Ctrl++: This shortcut allows you to zoom in web pages in web browsers. Useful when text on a web page is too small to read properly. Ctrl+Scroll wheel can also zoom in documents, file thumbnails and icons in Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

Ctrl+-: This shortcut does the reverse of the previous shortcut.

Ctrl+0: Reset the webpage's zoom.

Windows key+M: Minimizes all the open windows.

Ctrl+L: This shortcut allows you to quickly jump to the address bar of your web browser.

Windows key+Pause/Break: Quickly open the system properties dialog box.

Ctrl+Shift+Delete: This shortcut opens the option to delete your browser's history, cookies, cache and other details that it stores while you browse the internet. This shortcut is extremely useful for the privacy conscious.

Windows Key+L: This shortcut locks your computer.

Ctrl+H: makes the history appear.

CTRL+B: Bold CTRL+U: Underline CTRL+I: Italic.

Alt+Select: This shortcut allows you to select rectangular blocks of text in Word processors, something that is not possible with simple select.

F2: Allows you to rename the selected file.

Holding Shift while inserting a device with removable storage prevents automatic run.

Ctrl+F: This keyboard shortcut opens the Find option in any program.

Ctrl+S: If you are working on a software and want to quickly save your progress, this shortcut will come in handy.

Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+End: Useful for quickly going to the top and bottom of a page.

Ctrl+P: Useful for printing the current page.

Space Bar: While viewing a web page in a browser, pressing space bar moves the page down.

Alt+Tab: Useful for quickly cycling between running applications. Press along with Shift to cycle backwards.

Ctrl+Tab: Cycle between tabs in your browser.

Ctrl+F5: Clears the cache and refreshes the current tab.

Shift+Right click: Open alternate right click options.

Alt+Double click: Open the file's properties. Alt+Enter can also be used for this.


These are some keyboard shortcuts that I found extremely useful. If you know some more useful keyboard shortcuts, do mention them in the comments.http://jahsent932.blogspot.com/  for more on tricks and tips

Block internet access for specific apps on Android with net blocker

Today we are introducing an amazing app that will let you block internet access for specific apps on your Android phone,This app will prove to be very helpful for the users who want to use free browsing offers from their operators like reliance is offering free Twitter this IPL season but other background apps will eat up your balance and internet data,so it will be of no use to enjoy free data/offer,Net blocker app acts in your favor to help you block internet access for the specific apps on your mobile.

Using the net blocker app you can block access on app basis,gprs/3G/4G basis,WiFi basis,and sort out all the apps that are blocked,

To begin using this app just download it from here ,after downloading open it and have a look at the instructions,press back button and you will have a list of apps installed on your phone,to block the internet acres click on any app and block its internet,WiFi access or both ,once you have blocked it a notification will tell you about the blocked apps,use it to remove the block,check the apps that are blocked from both wifi and mobile data access from ‘block all nets’ section,similarly browse blocked mobile data and wifi apps individually from next sections.

Once an app is blocked from internet access,it can no longer access internet on your device even if you open the app,it will close/disconnect the internet connection,it would be more useful to block mobile data access and allow wifi,to access all apps via wifi,Now you can easily avail free data ,browsing offers from various operators browse Twitter for free on reliance and also airtel’s upcoming project “Airtel zero” that will provide free access to selected apps.follow our main blog at http://jahsent932.blogspot.com/

Backup contacts and messages to SD card on Windows Phone 8.1

Microsoft has recently launched “Contacts + Message Backup” Windows Phone utility application which is essentially a settings app that enables one to make backup of all contacts and messages present in phone. The app helps one to save their existing contacts in VCF format and messages like SMS and MMS in XML format to the SD card. The backed up data can be later restored to same or another Windows Phone.

Backup Windows Phone contacts & messages to SD card

Backup your data
Follow these steps to backup your contacts and messages to SD card on your Windows Phone:
Step 1: Download and Install “contacts+backup” application from the Windows Phone store. The application is currently available for Windows Phone 8.1 and above.
Step 2: Once the installation is complete, the application doesn’t show up in the Apps List of your phone. You will have to find the “contacts+message backup” option in the “settings” app on your Windows Phone.

Step 3: Launch the “contacts+message backup” app which is present inside settings. The landing page comes with 2 options – “backup” and “restore” option. You can choose the option, depending on your requirement – If you are taking backup for the first time – click on the “backup” option. If you want to restore data from backed up data hit on “restore“.
Step 4: In order to proceed with backup, in the backup page – check on the options which you would like to have a copy of. Choose one or more of the following options – Contacts, SMS and MMS. After the selection, tap on “backup” and the backup process gets initiated with a progress bar showing the status. The time taken to backup your contacts and SMS depends on how big is your contacts list and SMS log. Wait until the backup process finishes. If you want to quit backing up, tap on “stop“.
Step 5: The created back up would be saved with the current timestamp and would be stored in a folder called “backup+restore” in the SD card which is attached to the phone. You can anytime view these backed up files in the SD card using the Files app. All your contacts would be saved in .VCF format and SMSs/MMSs would be stored as an XML file.

Restore data

In order to restore the saved data from SD card to same or another Windows Phone – follow these steps:
Step 1: Launch the “contacts+message backup” application present in the settings app (the same way you did for backing up data).
Step 2: In the landing page of “contacts+message backup“, choose the “restore” option which opens up the “restore” page.

Step 3: By default, the latest backed up file would show up in the contacts, SMS and MMS section of restore page. The dropdown which is present holds all the versions of backed up data – you can pick the file from which you want to restore data. Also note that there is a cautionary message stating that you might not be able to rollback sometimes.
Step 4: After selecting the required backup files under contacts, SMS and MMS, tap the “restore” button to start restoring your selected data back. The time of restoring data depends on how big your backed up files are.
A known issue in the app has been reported for dual SIM phones that allows app to restore all the messages to message store of first sim/slot present in the phone.follow us at http://jahsent932.blogspot.com/

Tips to keep Hackers out of your Windows computer

When it comes to the Internet, there is nothing called 100% security. One of the best method to keep Hackers out of your computer, would be to turn off Javascript and Flash as these two are widely used to inject malicious scripts into your system.
But that may be impractical for some, as the Internet relies on Javascript and Flash for quite a few features or functions – from logging in to websites, to browsing, serving search functions and more. Turn off Javascript and you will find that you cannot do much on the Internet. So how do we keep hackers away? Here are some tips to prevent hacking without having to restrict yourself by turning off Javascript and Flash.

Keep Hackers out of your computer

Apart from following the basic steps like keeping your Windows operating system and software up-to-date, keeping your Firewall turned on, using a good antivirus software or a Intenet Security Suite, here are a few precautions you should follow.

Turn off JavaScript and Flash

If you can disable JavaScript and / or Flash, good! It will make your system more secure. There is also a Group Policy setting to disable Java.

Use a strong password for user and online accounts

Easy passwords make it easier for anyone to log into your account and take it over. In most cases, the hackers will change the password after taking over your machine so that you cannot log in. What happens afterwards to reclaim the machine is a tedious process. It is always recommended to use strong passwords, that contain alphanumeric characters and also include special characters.
You can force it on the Windows users to harden the login password policy and create a strong password. You can also make it possible that the account is locked down after three attempts. Read our article on restricting login attempts.
For online accounts, I will recommend using a password manager software such as LastPass that generates secure passwords and stores them safely so that you can use them without having to remember each. Further, it is better to have different passwords for different sites so that if one account is compromised, others are still safe. The first among all tips to prevent hacking is to use a strong password.

Remove crapware

You never know what kind of programs are installed on your computer when you buy a new one. Lenovo presented a good example by installing Superfish that made it possible for cybercriminals to initiate Man in the Middle Attacks. A new computer comes with plenty of software that you won’t ever need. The first step after getting a new computer is to remove all crapware and the programs that you won’t need. There are certain third-party crapware removal tools that let you decide what programs to keep and automate the removal of crapware. You can use any such program or you can remove unwanted programs and toolbars manually. The manual method is safer though it takes some perspiration on your part. If you see a program that you can’t understand, it is better to consult someone and then remove it.

Choose your web browser wisely – Use security addons

Web browsers are the medium that allow us to connect to the Internet and interact with it. There are many browsers out there in the market. Choose your browser wisely. It should be able to protect you even as you are surfing. For example, Internet Explorer has SmartScreen Filter that tries to check out the reliability of websites. If you are using Google Chrome, you will find add-ons that tell you if a website is reliable. Likewise, for Firefox, NoScript allows you to browse securely by blocking unwanted scripts. You can allow scripts only on the websites you want. Further, make sure that the browser is always up to date, as it is a common vector, hackers use to compromise systems.

Use HTTPS as far as possible

HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. HTTPS is an advanced version that has an S appended to the protocol and means that the connection to the website would be “secure”. By “secure”, it means “encrypted”. One cannot simply make it HTTPS. For a website to become HTTPS, it has to pass a variety of tests that examine if the website is indeed as secure as it is meant to be. Almost all social networking sites provide HTTPS. All e-commerce stores also provide HTTPS. With HTTPS, you are protected better than just a HTTP connection that may or may not be secure.
To make sure that you do not forget using HTTPS, you can set up Group Policy in Windows 8.1. There are plugins available for browsers that make sure the websites are forced to load the HTTPS version always so that your login credentials and bank or card details are safe. One such plugin is “HTTPS Everywhere” and it is available for browsers based on Google Chrome and Firefox. For Internet Explorer, well, it is being retired with Windows 10 and I hope the new ‘Spartan’ browser will have something similar sooner or later.

Use Two-Step Authentication wherever possible

Most websites these days provide you with two step authentications. That is, in addition to logging in with your user ID and password, you have to enter additional information that is sent to a personal device such as a phone. Bank websites, cloud storage, etc. give you the benefit of two-factor authentication. Some social networking sites and email service providers too offer you the feature. This helps you stay safe because even if someone is able to crack your password, he or she may not be able to get access to your account as the second step is usually related to a personal device, most often, a phone, to which a PIN is sent. Unless the hacker also has access to the phone, the login attempts will fail and you will remain safe.
Two step authentication may be a little irritating when using multiple devices or clients to access the accounts. For example, if you are trying to login via your Phone and the message is sent to phone, you have to quit the app to check the PIN. This becomes frustrating sometimes. In such cases, you may have to create an app password for each client or device, so that it becomes easier to operate from devices like phone or tablets. Check out an example of securing OneDrive account using two-step authentication. As they say, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Swith off Computer or Internet connection

Lastly, always turn off your Computer or switch off the Internet connection. This is because, with the growth of high-speed Internet connections, many users opt to keep their computers on all the time, even when they are away from the machine for a long time. Such “Always On” computers are more susceptible.

Use common-sense

Do not download email attachments from unknown senders. These days you also have to be very careful what you download and where you download from. Such and more such rules also need to be followed. Stay alert at all times. The online world can be as bad as the offline world!
There is no sure-shot protection against hackers and malware. These tips to prevent hackers are just few of the many precautions you need to take when computing.
If you wish to share any more tips to prevent hacking and hackers, please do share or follow our main blog at http://jahsent932.blogspot.com/

How to stay safe on public computers

When on public computers, you do not know what software is installed on the machine. Though you can browse through the program files, there may be spyware or keyloggers installed. If the owner of the Internet Café is unscrupulous, he could install a keylogger to spy on his customers. He could read chats emails and even sensitive data for that matter. If you have to use them, be very careful about what data you are sending over using those machines and what Digital Footprints you are leaving behind. Here are some of the must-follow practices while using public computers.
1. Log out Properly
More than often, we simply close the window out of habit. The next person who happens to open the URL/site, will automatically be directed to your account – whatever it is. Then, you are totally dependent on the mercy of the person who accessed your account. There are high chances of the person messing up with your account – social, commercial or office accounts.
Always remember to log out properly after the session is over. If you are using Facebook, for example, see that the Remember Me button is not checked. Several sites have such buttons. Make sure it is unchecked before logging in. After the session, log out and close the window.
2. Do not save information to local disk
Use your own pen drive to download information files you want. You should never download anything to the local hard disk when on public computers. Much worse than downloading anything to such computers is forgetting to remove them before walking away. Even if you do delete them, they will land in the Recycle Bin, and would be easily retrievable. And even if you do empty the Recycle Bin, there are always ways one can retrieve the deleted files.
Always carry a pen drive when going to use public computers. If you need to download data or information files, save them to the pen drive and never on the local hard disks. Alternatively, if you have to store information and if you do not have a pen drive, you can email them as attachments to your own email ID so that you can get back to them later. And after sending the email, delete those information files that you saved to local disk.
In the eventuality that you have to download anything to the local disk, and you have forgotten to get your own pen drive, make sure you have deleted all those files and emptied the Recycle Bin, to say the least.3. Delete browsing tracks
There is InPrivate or Incognito mode in browsers that makes sure nothing is stored on local disks. You can use it while browsing the Internet. That way, no history of URLs you visited nor will any cookies be stored on the local device after you close the browser. If you forgot to use Incognito mode, you may delete the browsing history personally using the Tools option in the browser. All browsers have a setting that enables you to delete the browsing history and cookies. People using the same computer after you, cannot tell what you were doing.
Another good method is to use your own portable browser on a pen drive. There are some good portable browsers such as TOR (The Onion Router). Though a bit slow, it won’t leave any tracks of what you were doing on the Internet.
If it is not a wired connection, but WiFi, you are at a greater risk, as the dangers of using a Public or Free WiFi are much higher. You need to protect yourself much more against hackers who may hijack your data connections to know what you are doing. All they need is a simple device that is easily available on the Internet and elsewhere. Read our article on how to stay safe when on public WiFi.
4. Sensitive Data
I would not recommend shopping on public computers as you do not know what all things the computer is capturing. Likewise, do not send any sensitive data using public computers. It would be better to prepare the data files beforehand on a personal computer and then send it directly as an attachment to avoid any keyloggers. Another method is to write the information using hand, getting it scanned at the café and sending it over with an email as an attachment.
There is no guarantee that the public computer you are using is totally clean as mentioned in the beginning of the article. You have to be very careful about what you are sharing when working on a public computer.
5. Avoid being snooped on
Snooping can be done when you left the public computer unlocked for a smoke or something else. Or it can be someone who is standing behind you. If you sense someone is looking over your shoulders, press WinKey+D to hide all the windows and show the desktop. When you are leaving a computer momentarily, do not forget to lock it by pressing WinKey+L. Make sure it has a password protection by moving the mouse or hitting the spacebar to unlock. You can always ask the café owner to type in the password for you. The best idea is to close all the active windows and clear browsing history before you leave the computer even temporarily. Leave the computer mid-session only if it is too necessary.
Now read: Stay Safe Online & Protect Personal Information While Browsing.
Stay safe and follow us on http://jahsent932.blogspot.com/ for more