WINDOWS 8 FEATURES FOR BUSINESSProvided by the minds @ Laptop Magazine

Realistic Expectations

Many are predicting a not-so-happy ending for the business community. “Businesses will choose to drag their feet on adopting Windows 8,” said Al Gillen, IDC’s vice president of system software, “for the simple reason that they don’t want to be the ones to find out what problems exist in the product.”

But are these low expectations proof that business leaders should avoid Windows 8 altogether?

See our eight Windows 8 features that may compel you to move sooner rather than later for your next OS:

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New OS

Touch-Friendly Interface

Versatility of a Desktop

Enterprise & Small Business Features

8 AWESOME BUSINESS FEATURES

Laptop power plus tablet convenience• According to studies by NPD and Vertic, the financial, health care, education and government industries are increasing their tablet usage, thanks to the need to take quick notes, make presentations on the fly, execute research online and send emails.

• Converting workflow to a slate interface improves employee response time, increases team decision-making time and quickens resolution of critical issues.

• A Windows 8 device puts that performance enhancement into business users’ hands, while simultaneously giving them a device that can easily transition into a laptop for traditional productivity assignments.

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Office, evolved• The new suite includes plenty of touch-friendly interface tweaks for Windows 8 machines. Those perks join much improved tools for better workflow management and team collaboration too.

• Microsoft’s new set of Office 365 Web apps lets users create, edit and share documents online, giving business users a built-in architecture for managing and editing documents through the Web.

•Excel, PowerPoint and Word 2013 documents, users can add comments to files, and readers who want to respond to those comments can do so directly in the document or they can email, IM, text or even video chat with team members (via Microsoft’s corporate communications client Lync or via Skype).

• Road warriors or work-anywhere employees will also be pleased with Microsoft Lync which includes the ability to host audio and video meetings complete with screen sharing and high-definition video streaming.

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Better virus protection and securityIn Windows 7, Microsoft Defender guarded against invasive spyware and pop-up ads, but it lacked protection against anti-virus threats such as trojans, worms and bot-net attempts.

With Windows 8, Defender gets a bolder shield to protect against all of the above, right from the operating system’s first launch.

•The new Defender provides only basic anti-virus defense, but will likely save IT managers or small business owners the time to pay for and install third-party virus protection from McAfee or Norton.

•Trusted Boot and Measured Boot are two new protections against Rootkits that attack during the PC boot process.

•Enhanced BitLocker. can now render whole hard drives unreadable to un-credentialed users, which moves beyond scrambling particular pockets of data such as previous versions of Windows

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Improved performance and smarter backupsWindows 8 not only launches much faster than its Windows 7 forebear, it uses a new boot-up bridge called the Unified Extensible Interface (UEFI) to access graphical drivers before the operating system is fully active.

• Introducing the Refresh Tool: Windows users can essentially reinstall the OS while maintaining their own settings, document libraries and customizations.

•New feature called File History saves a running timeline of all files — just like Mac OS X’s Timeline feature — to make backing up important documents and data an automated process. That’s sure to save IT managers time.

More efficient wireless connection managementRather than simply search out the nearest Wi-Fi network, the manager measures each signal’s throughput and chooses the source with the strongest bandwidth instead.

•Connection Standby Mode – Allows updating while asleep.

•Airplane Mode – Help save battery life and prevent unwanted drain.

• Data Meter – Avoid overage fees by keeping track of your usage and save the company

Wi-Fi Manager

Connection Standby Mode

Usage Tracking

OS Integrated Drivers

Analyzes Strongest Bandwidth

Exchange ActiveSync built-in

Outlook 2013 has built-in support for Exchange ActiveSync, the email solution that makes it very simple to connect email accounts to Android, iOS or Windows Phone devices.

•ActiveSync ingrained in the OS and Outlook, savvy end-users or small business managers should have no problem connecting multiple email inboxes, syncing calendars and managing contacts on Windows 8 laptops or tablets.

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Windows to Go makes Windows 8 plug-and-play on any PC

Windows to Go, available only in Windows 8 Enterprise, allows you to put all the power of Windows 8 on a USB key. The bootable OS image includes support for any apps added to the image by support staff.

You’ll also love hibernation mode and access to the host computer’s storage drive.

Better Support for Virtualized systems and remote desktop support

For Windows 8, Microsoft offers multiple virtualization options, including a tool to use Windows XP as a virtual OS on a Windows 8 machine.

• The PC-within-a-PC tool is especially. For instance, with Microsoft Server 2012 and a technology called User Experience Virtualization, employees can access a remote, server-side and virtual copy of their Windows 8 desktop, even if the local machine runs Windows 7.

•Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) creates multiple virtual PCs on one physical computer. So, if an office has an equipment crunch, one laptop can be assigned to several users, each with their own distinct virtual desktop that is complete with independent customizations, settings and personal setups.

Plus, because Windows 8 runs Hyper-V, the evolutionary upgrade to Windows Virtual PC (via Microsoft Server 2012), there’s roughly no slow-down between the actual interface and the virtual one

WINDOWS 8 FEATURES FOR BUSINESSTo learn more about Windows 8 and the latest technology for business

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