HOW TO: Run Android Apps on Windows

With BlueStacks, you can run your favorite Android Apps on your Windows computer. Although a number of apps have their Windows version, some other apps are only available on Android. One example is WhatsApp.*

By installing BlueStacks, you can run Android apps as a "window" on your Windows PC. You can also make it full screen, setup Play Store and install other Android apps on it. It uses resources of your PC, which means Android apps and run faster, have more RAM and storage resources to run your apps. For some apps, like simulation games, this is important.

To download the free beta version, go there - http://www.bluestacks.com/. Although it is a beta version, it runs quite stable on my Windows 7, really worth a try!

*To install WhatsApp, you need to provide your phone number for activation, which will not work on a normal PC; but, after the activation timeout, then you still have an alternate method to activate it. However, note that your WhatsApp can only be installed on ONE machine.

SOLVED! IE, "Page Cannot be Displayed"

Just upgraded my laptop to Windows 8.1, with built-in IE 11. Weird, my Chrome browsing web pages working fine, but Internet Explorer can't browse to any pages, with the error message "Page Cannot be Displayed".

Ping test, working fine. On IE, even using IP address, will return the same error message "Page Cannot be Displayed". Reviewed IE settings, reset to default settings. Same.

This reminds me of the "WinSock" problems... with some research, different individuals offer their "Winsock Fix" apps... well, be honest, I'm not comfortable with those "tools"...

Then, come across two simple commands, which actually fixed my problem!

SOLUTION: 

netsh winsock reset catalog
netsh int ip reset reset.log hit
These two commands reset winsock entries, and the TCP/IP stack. You need to REBOOT your computer. After reboot, IE works fine as before.

No need to re-install IE or downgrade / re-install your Windows. Just two commands!!

SOLVED! Windows 7 Not Install, "Starting Windows..."

Many new models of laptops are with BIOS settings default to Windows 8. Some of the drivers for come with your Windows 7 disc may not work properly with these settings.

SOLUTION: Restart your computer, go to BIOS setup. Different brands use different keys, e.g. Lenovo, press ENTER key, while for HP, press F10. Check for the option, like "CSM", "Legacy" mode for booting. Enable these options and try installation again.

Example:
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Unable-to-Install-Windows-7-without-CSM-support-enabled-in-BIOS/ta-p/1038089

SOLVED! - "Windows cannot read the product key from the unattended answer file"

When I was installing the just downloaded "Windows 8 Consumer Preview" ISO file, mount it to my VMware Player, this is the error message I got. Setup will not continue, but loop back, restart.

To solve this problem, follow this steps:

• Power off your VM
• Go to Virtual Machine Settings
• On the Floppy item under Hardware tab, uncheck the option "Connect at power on". Also, I have set the floppy to "Use Physical Drive". Save your settings.
• Power on your VM

Yes, the latest version of VMware Player supports even Windows 8. So, why risking your PC to test Windows 8.

After reading a brief introduction of Windows 8 on Microsoft website, I'm still very confused of what Windows 8 is like... So, I decided to download and test run Windows 8 on a new VM. The first thing notice, Windows 8 has a tight link with Live and your SkyDrive. The user interface, very different... more like Android Tablet style... very much touch screen style.

The Windows key now plays a very important role - returns to Home page (above).

I love the full screen mode, for the Internet Explorer; also the Reader, which now displays 2 pages of PDF at the same time - what a wonderful feature!

However, this is just a Preview release. So, many of the features are not accessible - music, video, Maps app (I'm outside US), Finance, even the games are all not available... how disappointing!