PowerShell And Group Policy To Remove Apps In Windows 8

Microsoft Windows 8 has become the first choice operating system for many across the world. Despite the initial lacklustre reception for the operating system, many users now prefer Windows 8 to other Windows operating systems, thanks to the timely Windows 8.1 update that Microsoft released recently. Unlike its predecessor operating system, Windows 8 has an entirely different appearance and settings. There is totally different procedure to install or uninstall a program or app in Windows 8. Obviously, one of the major concerns of Windows 8 users is about uninstalling apps. Is there a simple way to uninstall Windows 8 app? Having used Windows 8 for almost a year, I have found out a couple of short-cuts to uninstall programs in Windows 8. I am more than happy to share that with you.

Removing the Windows 8 app via PowerShell

PowerShell 3.0 is a Windows 8 utility. It features nine cmdlets in order to help users manage apps in the operating system. Among these, two are designed for the removal of Windows 8 apps (Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage and Remove-AppxPackage). If you are currently logged on your Windows 8 machine, you can use Remove-AppxPackage to get rid of any of the Windows 8 apps for your user account. If you want to remove the program from your machine, you will need to use Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage.

If any of the programs you want to remove is defended by another program or application, you will not be able to remove them with PowerShell (Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage or Remove-AppxPackage). In such circumstances, you will need to rely on Group Policy to uninstall programs.

How to uninstall Windows 8 apps using Group Policy

PowerShell logon script enables the removal of Windows 8 apps from all user accounts. You may employ Get-AppxPackage-name*|Remove-AppxPackage for the removal of programs. Group Policy processes your command synchronously by default. There won’t be any problem with a user logging on while the process is going on.

Hope the above instructions helped you remove the Windows 8 apps without any confusion. Since most of the Windows 8 features an entirely different ecosystem when compared to the previous Windows operating systems, it is recommended that you get familiar with it as well as its settings. You may visit the Windows 8 help forum or contact the Windows 8 help desk for more details.

How To Sign Up For A Windows Live Account

Windows Live Messenger is the newer version of MSN messenger and is the instant chat tool from Microsoft. Windows Live Messenger is a part of the Windows Live Essential package, and allows you to stay in touch with your friends and loved ones using text chats, video chats etc. The program also allows you to send files as attachments.

You can add contacts to the program and the users of Windows Live Messenger will be listed on the program. You may click on the contact name and initiate chat with the person. Even if the other person you wish to chat with is not online, you have the options to send offline chats. The other person would receive the chat when he is online again. All these features make it one of the best chat tools in the world.

Now, you cannot use this program just by installing it on your computer. You need to have a valid username and password for Windows Live id. Therefore, once you download and install this program in your computer, you will need to sign up for a Windows Live id. In this post, we will help you to sign up for a Windows Live id.

Steps Involved

• According to Windows Live help center, you can sign up for a Windows Live id with a few simple steps. Let us go through these steps below. 
• Launch your internet browser and browse to the official web page of Windows Live. Select the option Sign up in the page. This will launch a new page where you will find fields to fill in different details. 
• Enter a username in the corresponding field that you wish to have for the account. If the username is unavailable or already used, you will be notified immediately. 
• In the field for Password, type a password for your new account. Make sure that the password is strong and it contains a combination of alphabets, numbers, symbols etc. This will make your password difficult to crack by hackers or other intruders. 
• Choose your Country from the drop down list and then your State. Choose your gender and then enter the characters shown in the box to the corresponding field. 
• Select the option I Agree in the License Agreement section and this will create your new Windows Live id. 

With the new Windows Live id, you can log in to the chat tool and start chatting with your friends. For additional assistance, you may contact Windows Live help center or our technical support team.

How To Use Windows Upgrade Assistant In Your Computer?

Although it has been quite some time since Windows 8 was launched, many users still find upgrading a difficult prospect. According to the technicians at Windows tech support, most users who call about Windows 8 upgrade issues are facing compatibility issues on their systems. Hence, using a Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant is recommended. This program checks if your system is compatible to run Windows 8, before installing the operating system.

Since, Microsoft has announced the end to support for Windows XP by April, 2014, it has become somewhat essential for users to upgrade to Windows 8. It is not necessary that the system you own be compatible to all the features of Windows 8. So, it is important to use the Windows Upgrade Assistant in your system and check if your computer can run the required Windows 8 features.

You can try the following instructions to use the Windows Upgrade assistant in your computer before you install Windows 8:

• In the first step, you need to go to the Windows 8 upgrade site, and check the option to download the Windows Upgrade Assistant. On the page, you need to click on the blue Download Upgrade Assistant button. According to the Windows tech support, since the file size is just about 5MB, it won’t take a long time for the download to get completed.
• After downloading the program, you need to run the upgrade assistant. For this, double-click on the option Windows8-UpgradeAssistant.exe. The program would start checking your computer for compatible apps and devices.
• After the scanning is finished. You would get a list of all the apps and devices from the Windows Upgrade Assistant that are compatible as well as those which are not. This would make it easy for you to upgrade to Windows 8.
• In the next step, you need to click on the See compatibility details link, which would provide you more detailed information about the compatibility of your computer.
• If it shows that your computer is compatible to run Windows 8, you can go back to the main screen and then click on the Next option. If it does not, then you can exit the upgrade assistant.

By following these steps, you should be able to run the Windows Upgrade assistant in your system. For more information, please contact our technical support team.