Competitive Edge Technology, Inc. WayWired 307.739.9700

Windows 8 VPN Setup

WayWired — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 19:48:12 +0000

Windows 8 VPN Get Connected

The VPN client in Windows 8, like the operating system itself, has been optimized for touch devices. This optimization makes creating a VPN connection, and connecting to corporate networks, faster and easier. The VPN connection icon now appears in View Available Networks, along with other network connections. Creating a VPN profile requires only the server information. Windows auto-discovers authentication methods and tunnels while connecting, making the VPN experience seamless.

The following sections describe how to set up and edit VPN connections using Windows 8:

Creating a new VPN connection
Connecting to a corporate network using an existing VPN Connection
Editing connection properties
Deleting a connection

Creating a new VPN connection

In Windows 8 you can use the Get Connected Wizard to create a VPN profile. To launch the wizard, type vpn inSettings, and then click Set up a virtual private network (VPN) connection.

Figure 1: Launch the Get Connected Wizard

In the wizard, you will provide the internet address of the Remote Access VPN server to which you will connect, and a name for the new connection. You can use an IP address or the fully qualified domain name of the Remote Access server. If you have a computer running Windows 8 with VPN already configured, you can view the server settings by viewing the connection properties, as shown in Figure 8. The destination name is the text that will be used for the VPN connection name (profile name), as shown in Figure 2. Note that you can click Remember Credentials which saves your credentials on the first successful connection attempt. This creates a new Discovery Profile which the client can use to connect to VPN.

Figure 2: Get Connected Wizard Screen 1

Discovery Profile

Figure 2 shows the only information needed to create a VPN profile. Authentication and tunneling protocols are negotiated and configured during the first successful connection attempt for username/password based VPN deployments. Once these protocols are negotiated, you can edit these settings in Connection Properties.

Connecting to a corporate network using an existing VPN connection

To connect with an existing VPN connection

Open Charms by moving the cursor to the top or bottom right corner of your computer screen. It can also be accessed by using the Win+C hotkey.Figure 3: Charms Bar
Click Settings and then click the network icon displayed in the right-hand corner of the screen, as in Figure 4 below.Figure 4: Network icon location
In Networks click the VPN connection that you want to use and then click Connect.Figure 5: Connect to VPN

Once you click Connect, a new connection is negotiated with the server using the saved credentials. If you have not previously checked Remember Credentials while creating the connection, you will be asked to provide credentials.

Figure 6: Specify VPN connection credentials

When you select Remember my credentials while creating your connection, you won’t be asked for the credentials in further connection attempts. You can clear the cached credentials by right-clicking the connection and selecting Clear Cached Credentials, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 7: Clear cached credentials

Editing connection properties

You can edit a connection that you have already configured by right-clicking the connection and then selectingConnection Properties.

Connection Properties has four tabs described below. You can access Connection Properties by clicking View Connection Properties in Networks.

Figure 8: Connection Properties

Connection Properties Tabs:

General – Change the VPN server hostname or IP address. Additionally, configure an interface to public network.
Options – Configure PPP Settings and enable/disable caching of credentials.
Security – Configure tunnels, authentication, and encryption settings.
Networking – Configure transports (or protocols). The most common protocols are TCP/IPv4 and TCP/IPv6.

Deleting a connection

In the Start screen, click Search in Charms, type vpn and then click View Network Connections under Settings.

Figure 9: View Network Connections

Right-click a VPN connection and then click Delete, as in Figure 10 below:

Figure 10: Deleting a connection

Adding Gmail accounts to W:indows 8

WayWired — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 19:44:13 +0000

Well, you have to have a Microsoft account, but after that it is pretty easy:

Full article

The Windows 8 Mail e-mail app has a nice, clean interface and works with a variety of e-mail accounts, including Gmail and Yahoo! Mail. Here’s how to add them to Windows 8 Mail:

Step 1: Make sure you’re logged in to Mail with a Microsoft account. If you’re using a local account to log in to Windows 8, you’ll need to log in to Mail with a Microsoft account before you can add other e-mail accounts.

Step 2: From within Mail, use the Win+I shortcut to quickly get to Mail settings, then click on Accounts.

Step 3: Click on Add an account, then choose the e-mail provider you want to add.

(Credit: Screenshot by Ed Rhee/CNET)

Step 4: Enter your log-in credentials for the e-mail account you’re adding, then click Connect.

That’s it. What do you think of the Windows 8 Mail app? Do you see yourself using it or are you going to stick with the Web client?

Bar T 5 Web Reservation System

WayWired — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:29:24 +0000

“Everything worked great this summer. Thank you so much for the system you built. It works great and is very user friendly.. That is nice when I have to train new crew each summer.”

Top 10: Windows 8 Keyboard and Mouse Survival Guide (from windowsitpro.com)

WayWired — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:17:45 +0000

So you make the plunge into Windows 8 and before you know it, you’ve been thrown from the frying pan into the fire. Designed to accommodate traditional keyboard and mouse interfaces as well as newer pure touch interfaces such as tablets, Windows 8 is very different from any of the preceding versions of the Windows desktop OS. Finding your way around Windows 8 with a touch interface is fairly intuitive. However, it can be a challenge with the mouse and keyboard. Plus, you can’t just spend your time struggling to find stuff—you need to be productive right away. In this column, I’ll give you the top 10 tips you’ll need to survive the move to Windows 8.

1. Find the corners—You might question exactly how intuitive invisible hot spots in the corners of the screen are, but knowing about them is vital to getting around in Windows 8. On the Start screen, the most important hot spot is in the upper right corner and clicking it displays the Charms menu. The lower right hot spot accesses the Start screen, and the upper left hot spot displays the desktop. On the desktop screen, a hot spot in the lower left (close to where the Start button was) switches you to the Start menu. Alternatively, the Win key quickly toggles between the Start screen and the desktop.

2. Use Win+X—This shortcut is the catch-all key combination where you’ll find everything important that doesn’t fit on the new Start screen. Use Win+X to launch a command prompt or an administrative command prompt. Other menu options include Programs and Features, Power Options, Device Manager, Disk Manager, Computer Management, Control Panel and File Explorer. Everything launched from the Win+X key combination runs on the desktop.

3. Use the other shortcut keys—Perhaps somewhat ironically for a graphical OS, Windows 8 relies on many shortcut key combinations. You just learned about Win+X, the most important shortcut key. Some other useful keystroke combinations include: Win+C opens the Charms bar, Win+I (that’s i) opens the Settings charm, Win+K opens the Connect charm, Win+H opens the Share charm, Win+Q opens the Search pane, Win+Tab cycles through running apps, and Win+Z opens the app bar.

4. Use Search—Search is now an essential way to start programs from the Start menu. The Start menu is flat and doesn’t display all the programs on the system. However, you can launch programs using Search from the Start screen just by typing the program name. For instance, to run Paint, just type Paint. You’ll see a list of results on the left side of the Start screen, and you can run the desired program by clicking its name.

5. Customize the Start screen—Unlike the old Start menu, the Windows 8 Start screen isn’t static. It can automatically display the status of different apps continually (which I honestly find annoying, but it could potentially be useful if there were something that I wanted to get automatic updates about). When you install programs, their tiles are added automatically to the Start screen. To add your own tiles to the Start screen, press Win+Z, select All Apps, then right-click the application you want to add. You can change the Desktop theme by using Settings, Personalize, Start screen. You can pin programs to the taskbar by right-clicking on the desired program.

6. Closing Apps—Windows 8 apps don’t always work like you expect. One prominent example is closing apps. While it’s easy to start an app just by clicking its tile on the Start screen, once the app is opened you’ll quickly see there are no close or minimize buttons in the upper right corner like a Windows desktop program. To close an app, move the mouse pointer to the top of the screen until it becomes a hand icon, then left click, hold, and drag down. The app will minimize, then you can drag it off the bottom of screen. Alternatively, you can press Alt-F4.

7. Enable Administrative Tools—If you’re a Windows IT Pro reader, there’s no doubt that you’ll want to use the Windows 8 Administrative Tools. To enable Administrative Tools, open Settings either using the upper right corner hot spot or by pressing Win+I (i). Next, select Tiles and move the Show administrative tools slider to the right. The Start screen will be populated with many of the familiar administrative tools you know and love.

8. Make RDP Windows 8 friendly—If you remotely connect to a Windows 8 system (or Windows Server 2012) via RDP, you’ll find the experience is less than awesome because the default RDP settings don’t capture the local hot key combinations that are used elsewhere in Windows 8. To allow RDP to send the Win hot key to a remote Windows 8 (or Windows Server 2012) system, go to Remote Desktop Connection options and select the Local Resources tab. In the Keyboard drop-down menu, select On the remote computer, or if you run RDP in full screen (which I don’t), select Only when using the full screen.

9. Get over it—There are some things you’re just not going to get—at least not with this first release of Windows 8. Start button: gone. Aero: gone. Recent Items: gone. Windows Media Center: gone (technically you should be able get it as a paid add-on for Windows 8 Professional). DVD playback: gone (that’s right, you need Windows Media Center or a third party program for this function—VLC is a popular option). Windows DVD Maker: gone (but you can still burn data files by opening the drive from Windows Explorer).

10. If you don’t want to get over it, use Classic Shell—Yeah, I know it’s not really a Windows 8 tip, but it might help you survive the move to Windows 8. If you really miss the Start menu, you can get it back with the free Classic Shell. You can download Classic Shell from SourceForge.

Jonathan Schechter – 1% for the Tetons

WayWired — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:11:26 +0000

Dear Tom,

A quick note to say how deeply grateful I am for who you are and how you go about doing business. Simply put, I wish all my professional relationships were as rewarding as the one I have with you. Which, as I think about it, is a pretty odd thing to say about my computer repair expert for, without meaning any offense, calling you up to say “help” is never something I want to do. When I must call, though, I never fail to be impressed by your responsiveness, conscientiousness, and thorough professionalism. Then throw in that I enjoy simply hanging around you (even when my computer is acting up), and as I say, I wish all my professional relationships were as good.

The Closing Company

WayWired — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:40:48 +0000

Hi Tom,
What a lovely day yesterday working on my cleaned up computer. Chrome is great. Thanks for the great work and good advice.
….
You rock!

Yvette Betancourt, Vice President and Licensed Title Agent. The Closing Company