Media Center yanked from Windows 8 Release Preview, here's how to re-enable it

Microsoft has already said that Windows Media Center will be available to Windows 8 users as a separate, paid for add-on, rather than being integrated into the OS as was the case with the last two releases of Windows. Although it was still present in the Consumer Preview, if you’ve already installed the new Release Preview build you may have noticed that the media center software is nowhere to be found.

Fortunately, there is a way to enable Media Center in Windows 8 Release Preview for free so users can continue testing it in the interim. Also, if you want to play DVDs on Windows 8, Media Center or a third-party app are required, as Microsoft decided not to include DVD and Blu-ray playback by default anymore.

Here are the instructions as detailed on a Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview FAQ:

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
(If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, and then click Search.)Enter add features in the search box, and then tap or click Add features to Windows 8.Tap or click I already have a product key.Enter this product key: MBFBV-W3DP2-2MVKN-PJCQD-KKTF7 and then click Next.Select the checkbox to accept the license terms and then click Add features.Your PC will restart and the Windows Media Center tile will be pinned to the Start screen.

This is the same procedure users will need to follow when adding Media Center to the final version of Windows 8 — save for the fact that you’ll need to pay for the license key. Microsoft hasn’t revealed exactly how much the upgrade will cost yet, besides saying that "it will be in line with marginal costs".

View the original article here

Read more »

Posted in: Center,heres,Media,Preview,reenable,release,Windows,yanked

Media Center yanked from Windows 8 Release Preview, here's how to re-enable it

Microsoft has already said that Windows Media Center will be available to Windows 8 users as a separate, paid for add-on, rather than being integrated into the OS as was the case with the last two releases of Windows. Although it was still present in the Consumer Preview, if you’ve already installed the new Release Preview build you may have noticed that the media center software is nowhere to be found.

Fortunately, there is a way to enable Media Center in Windows 8 Release Preview for free so users can continue testing it in the interim. Also, if you want to play DVDs on Windows 8, Media Center or a third-party app are required, as Microsoft decided not to include DVD and Blu-ray playback by default anymore.

Here are the instructions as detailed on a Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview FAQ:

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
(If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, and then click Search.)Enter add features in the search box, and then tap or click Add features to Windows 8.Tap or click I already have a product key.Enter this product key: MBFBV-W3DP2-2MVKN-PJCQD-KKTF7 and then click Next.Select the checkbox to accept the license terms and then click Add features.Your PC will restart and the Windows Media Center tile will be pinned to the Start screen.

This is the same procedure users will need to follow when adding Media Center to the final version of Windows 8 — save for the fact that you’ll need to pay for the license key. Microsoft hasn’t revealed exactly how much the upgrade will cost yet, besides saying that "it will be in line with marginal costs".

View the original article here

Read more »

Posted in: Center,heres,Media,Preview,reenable,release,Windows,yanked

Media Center yanked from Windows 8 Release Preview, here's how to re-enable it

Microsoft has already said that Windows Media Center will be available to Windows 8 users as a separate, paid for add-on, rather than being integrated into the OS as was the case with the last two releases of Windows. Although it was still present in the Consumer Preview, if you’ve already installed the new Release Preview build you may have noticed that the media center software is nowhere to be found.

Fortunately, there is a way to enable Media Center in Windows 8 Release Preview for free so users can continue testing it in the interim. Also, if you want to play DVDs on Windows 8, Media Center or a third-party app are required, as Microsoft decided not to include DVD and Blu-ray playback by default anymore.

Here are the instructions as detailed on a Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview FAQ:

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
(If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, and then click Search.)Enter add features in the search box, and then tap or click Add features to Windows 8.Tap or click I already have a product key.Enter this product key: MBFBV-W3DP2-2MVKN-PJCQD-KKTF7 and then click Next.Select the checkbox to accept the license terms and then click Add features.Your PC will restart and the Windows Media Center tile will be pinned to the Start screen.

This is the same procedure users will need to follow when adding Media Center to the final version of Windows 8 — save for the fact that you’ll need to pay for the license key. Microsoft hasn’t revealed exactly how much the upgrade will cost yet, besides saying that "it will be in line with marginal costs".

View the original article here

Read more »

Posted in: Center,heres,Media,Preview,reenable,release,Windows,yanked

Virgin Media censors Pirate Bay in UK, results in 12 million more visitors

The UK High Court ruled last week that several of the country's Internet Service Providers (ISPs) must censor access to The Pirate Bay, following up from a verdict in February saying that it was guilty of sharing copyrighted material on a massive scale. Ironically the move already appears to be backfiring, with the popular torrent site announcing that the media coverage surrounding the events of its censorship has resulted in over 12 million more visitors from the UK public over the course of the last week.

As part of the High Court order, ISPs Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin Media were ordered to block access to TPB. It's worth noting however, that BT is still considering their position. Virgin Media responded first by blocking the domain for its customers two days later, spawning thousands of posts on multiple social networking services from those looking to bypass the court's ruling.

Despite not opposing the court order, Virgin Media did comment that "as a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders addressed to the company but strongly believes that changing consumer behavior to tackle copyright infringement also needs compelling legal alternatives, such as our agreement with Spotify, to give consumers access to great content at the right price."

TPB responded in their usual fashion. "Thanks to the High Court and the fact that the news was on the BBC, we had 12 MILLION more visitors yesterday than we had ever had before," a Pirate Bay insider said in a statement to TorrentFreak. "We should write a thank you note to the BPI," he added.

The insider continued, "another thing that’s good with the traffic surge is that we now have time to teach even more people how to circumvent Internet censorship." The rogue torrent sharing service also has multiple domains which aren't yet on the block list. Whilst writing this article I'm able to access the site through my Virgin Media internet connection by simply using a different URL, which kind of side-steps the point of censoring it in the first place.

View the original article here

Read more »

Posted in: censors,Media,million,Pirate,results,Virgin,visitors