Did you know that Windows 8 has some great ways of managing your user files? From adding additional folder locations in the Libraries to ultimately moving your user documents to another location. You can do all of these and more. Here's how to modify the default locations of user files and library properties in Windows 8.

Moving your personal folders has become more commonplace when you have two (2) or more disk drives in a computer. By moving the user files to another drive, you're freeing up space on the operating system's drive. This can be extremely beneficial if your operating system is installed on a Solid State Drive (SSD). When you move a folder to a new location, you change where the folder and files are stored. However, you'll still access the folder the same way you did before you moved it.

Also, instead of moving a folder, you might want to consider including another folder in one of your libraries. For example, if you have a large number of pictures, you can store those pictures in a location other than your primary hard drive and then include that location in your Pictures library. For more information, see below.

How to change the location of user files in Windows 8

There are six (6) user folders in Windows 8, which you can change their locations. They are Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos. You will need to create folders with the same name in the new location before moving any of them.

How to move a user folder to a new location

1. From the desktop, left-click on the File Explorer icon on the Taskbar or press the Windows logo key + E.
2. Navigate to This PC and expand it. If you don't see the Navigation pane go to the View tab, pull down the Navigation pane toolbar, and place a checkmark next to the Navigation pane.
3. Right-click the folder that you want to move, and then click Properties.
4. Click the Location tab, and then click Move.
5. Browse to the location where you want to move this folder. You can select another location on this computer, another drive attached to this computer, or another computer on the network. To find a network location, type two backslashes (\\) into the address bar followed by the name of the location where you want to redirect the folder (for example, \\mylaptop), and then press Enter.
6. Click the folder where you want to store the files, click Select Folder, and then click OK.
7. In the dialog that appears, click Yes to move all the files to the new location.

To restore a folder to its original location

1. From the desktop, left-click on the File Explorer icon on the Taskbar or press the Windows logo key + E.
2. Navigate to This PC and expand it. If you don't see the Navigation pane go to the View tab, pull down the Navigation pane toolbar, and place a checkmark next to the Navigation pane.
3. Right-click the folder that you previously redirected and want to restore to its original location, and then click Properties.
4. Click the Location tab, click Restore Default, and then click OK.
5. Click Yes to recreate the original folder, and then click Yes again to move all the files back to the original folder.

Note:
If you don't see the Location tab in a folder's Properties dialog, then the folder can't be moved. If you see the Location tab but can't edit the folder path, you don't have permission to move it.

How to modify library properties in Windows 8

We are all familiar with files and folders, but when Windows 7 came out, we got another way to manage them, Libraries. Libraries are where you go to manage your documents, music, pictures, and other files. You can browse your files the same way you would in a folder or view your files arranged by properties like date, type, and author.

In some ways, a library is similar to a folder. For example, when you open a library, you'll see one or more files. However, unlike a folder, a library gathers files that are stored in several locations. This is a subtle but significant difference. Libraries don't hold your folders/files. They monitor folders that contain your files, and let you access and arrange the items in different ways. For instance, if you have music files in folders on your hard disk and an external drive you can access all of your music files at once using the Music library.

Windows 8 has four default libraries: Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos. You can also create new libraries. If you don't see the Libraries in File Explorer, go to the View tab, pull down the Navigation pane toolbar and place a checkmark next to Show Libraries.

Here are some ways you can modify an existing library:

• Include or remove a folder. Libraries gather content from included folders or library locations. You can include up to 50 folders in one library.
• Change the default save location. The default save location determines where an item is stored when copied, moved, or saved to the library.
• Change the type of file a library is optimized for. Each library can be optimized for a particular file type (such as music or pictures). Optimizing a library for a specific file type changes the available options for arranging your files.

How to add a folder to a library

1. From the desktop, left-click on the File Explorer icon on the Taskbar or press the Windows logo key + E.
2. Open the library you'd like to change.
3. On the ribbon on top select Manage library.
4. In the Library Locations dialog box, click on Add, navigate to the folder you want to add to the library, and click on Include folder.
5. Click OK.

How to change a library's default save location

A library's default save location determines where an item will be stored when copied, moved, or saved.

1. From the desktop, left-click on the File Explorer icon on the Taskbar or press the Windows logo key + E.
2. Right-click on the library you'd like to change and click Properties.
3. Select the library location that you want as default and click on Set save location.
4. Click OK.

How to change the type of files a library is optimized for

Each library can be optimized for a particular file type (such as music or pictures). Optimizing a library for a specific file type changes the available options for arranging the files in that library..

1. From the desktop, left-click on the File Explorer icon on the Taskbar or press the Windows logo key + E.
2. Right-click on the library you'd like to change, and then click Properties.
3. In the Optimize this library for list, select a file type and then click OK.

It seems like every day, a new software exploit or vulnerability is found. Software vendors work hard at keeping their software secure, but it can take time to test and deploy patches. So what can you do to protect your computer? The Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) from Microsoft does just that.

The main window inside of EMET 5

EMET is designed to prevent attackers from taking control of your system. It works as 'shim' in-between your programs and the operating system. EMET looks for the most common attack techniques and will block and terminate any program it is monitoring. EMET works alongside your favorite anti-virus and anti-malware programs for layered security.

I have been using EMET as part of my layered security for years and have written a few blogs on it. With each version, Microsoft keeps improving it. Some of the improvements in EMET 5 include Attack Surface Reduction (ASR), Export Address Table Filtering Plus (EAF+), and 64-bit ROP mitigations. Here's is the current list of mitigations EMET currently looks for.

• Structured Exception Handler Overwrite Protection (SEHOP)
• Data Execution Prevention (DEP)
• Heapspray allocation
• Null page allocation
• Mandatory Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)
• Export Address Table Access Filtering (EAF)
• Export Address Table Access Filtering Plus (EAF+)
• Bottom-up randomization
• Return Oriented Programming (ROP)
• Attack Surface Reduction (ASR)

There are two (2) different ways to configure EMET, a Graphic User Interface (GUI) and a command-line tool. It is best to configure EMET through the GUI since the command-line tool doesn't allow access to all EMET's features. The built-in configuration wizard will enable you to use either the recommenced settings, keep previous settings (upgrade install), or manually configure EMET (new install).

Easily configure programs to monitor in EMET 5

Once you have EMET installed, it's pretty easy to add programs to monitor. Just open the program you want EMET to watch and then open EMET. On the lower part of the main window, you will see Running Processes. Just find the program you want to monitor in the list, right-click on it, and select Configure Process. You will have to restart any program you have just configured inside of EMET.

When it comes to getting the best performance out of your computer, nothing can beat a Solid State Drive (SSD). Right out-of-the-box, they are significantly faster reading / writing data than a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). But there are a few things that you have to do differently with an SSD. Here's how to safely optimize your solid state drive.

There are plenty of articles out there that will give you a ton of different tweaks you can use to speed up the SSD access time, from turning off disk indexing to disabling Prefetch and Superfetch. Some may work for you; some may not. Generally speaking, if you're running Windows 7 or higher, the operating system should recognize the SSD and modify its behavior accordingly. The following tweaks are entirely safe and will not harm your system in any way.

General SSD maintenance

SSDs operate differently from HDDs, and there are a couple of things you should never do to an SSD. Since SSDs have limited read/write cycles, any program that intensively accesses the SSD could shorten the drive's life span. Running a disk defragment program on an SSD is not recommended. And as far as Check Disk (CHKDSK) is concerned, you'll need to contact the manufacturer of your SSD to find out if they recommend it or not.

Microsoft started building in support for SSDs in Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2 and has expanded on it in Windows 8 / 8.1 & Windows Server 2012. Since the low-level operation of SSDs is different from HDDs, the Trim command was introduced to handle delete/format requests. To verify that Trim is on, you'll need to open an Administrative Command Prompt.

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 7

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 8

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 10

You can verify that Trim is enabled by typing the following into an Administrative Command Prompt:

If the command returns a 0, then Trim is enabled. If it returns a 1, then it is not. To enable Trim, type the following into the Admin Command Prompt:

SSD free space maintenance

SSDs do have one downside; their capacity can be smaller than HDDs. The capacity of SSDs is getting closer to HDDs every day, but the price for a 1 to 2TB SSD can be kind of expensive. If you have a smaller capacity SSD, maintaining an adequate amount of free space is necessary.

Now there are two scenarios for setting up computers with SSDs: Single-drive (SSD only) and Multiple drives (SSD + HDD). Laptops are usually single-drive, and desktops are almost always multiple-drive. Here are a few ways to maintain free space.

Single-drive (SSD only)

The options here are limited. You could store your files like documents, photos, and music to an external drive or the cloud to free up space. Here are a few more ideas.

Turn off Hibernation.
With the speed of an SSD, boot times will be relatively faster than with an HDD. You'll find that you can boot your computer just as fast as if you brought it out of hibernation. And since hibernation writes the system memory to disk, you'll free up the same amount of disk space equal to the total system memory. And if you have a lot of memory, this can free up a big chunk of space on your SSD.

Disable Windows hibernation and free up disk space

Turn off the virtual memory/pagefile.
Use this with caution! Technically, virtual memory is used when all of the system memory is full. If you have a large amount of system memory (16GB or more) and you don't run memory hog software like Photoshop, you should be alright disabling it. And you'll free up a few GB's of drive space in the process.

Managing Virtual Memory / Pagefile in Windows 7

Managing Virtual Memory / Pagefile in Windows 8

Managing Virtual Memory / Pagefile in Windows 10

Clean up the drive regularly.
Temporary files and browser caches are a few items you'll need to keep an eye on. Using a program like Piriform's CCleaner or Disk Cleanup that comes with Windows will take care of these files. Disk Cleanup can also be run as a scheduled task.

Free up more disk space with Windows 7 Disk Cleanup

Clean up your hard drive in Windows 8 with Disk Cleanup

Clean up Windows 10 with Disk Cleanup

Clean up and optimize your computer for free with CCleaner

Multiple-drive (SSD + HDD)

This is the optimal setup. Everything under a single-drive scenario applies here. Windows and program files need to be on the SSD. Almost anything else that Windows doesn't require for regular operation can go over to the HDD.

Move the virtual memory/pagefile.
Instead of turning it off, move it to the HDD (see link above).

Move personal files to HDD.
Your documents, photos, and music can take up a large amount of space on your drive. Get them off of the SSD and over to the HDD.

Modifying the default locations of user files and library properties in Windows 7

Modifying the default locations of user files and library properties in Windows 8

Modifying the default locations of user files and library properties in Windows 10

There are plenty of other tweaks you can do, like moving the location of your browser cache and temp folders to the HDD. You can find all of that information and more with a quick search on Google.

With the release of the Windows 8.1 Update, all new users have a new group of tiles on the Start screen: This PC (My Computer), PC Settings, Documents (My Documents), and Pictures (My Pictures). If you're a Windows 8.1 existing user or still running Windows 8, you will not see these added to your established Start screen; only new profiles get these. Windows RT users only get the PC Settings tile. Here's how to create the Windows 8.1 user group of tiles on the Start screen.

1. On the Start screen, left-click on Desktop.
2. Left-click on File Explorer on the Taskbar.
   
3. Right-click on This PC and left-click on Pin to Start in the context menu.
4. Right-click on Documents and left-click on Pin to Start in the context menu.
5. Right-click on Pictures and left-click on Pin to Start in the context menu.
6. Left-click on the Start button or press the Windows logo key to bring up the Start screen.
   
7. Bring up the search charm: Windows 8 - Press the Windows logo key + F or bring up the Charms bar and select Search. Windows 8.1 - Left-click on the Search button.
8. In the Search box, type PC Settings. In the search results, right-click on PC Settings and select Pin to Start.

The end of life for Windows XP has been and still is a major headache for consumers. You've got your old computer set up just the way you like it, and it's running fine. But there comes a time when you need to move to a newer and more secure operating system. Here's a couple of ways to move from Windows XP to Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1.

A screenshot of the website AmIRunningXP.com

Upgrade the operating system on your existing computer

The biggest problem with this scenario is that there is no way to do an in-place upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 or Windows 8 / 8.1. First is the different partition, folder, and file architecture. The second is that the majority of Windows XP installations in-use are 32-bit. Almost all versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8 / 8.1 in use are 64-bit. You can still get 32-bit versions of them, but with the 4GB memory limit, they are not very popular. If your computer was built within the last 5-7 years, it might be compatible with Windows 7 or Windows 8 / 8.1.

Windows 7 / Windows 8 / Windows 8.1 hardware requirements:

• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
• Free hard drive space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

How to upgrade your existing computer from Windows XP to Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1

1. Download the Windows Upgrade Assistant to check to see if the hardware in your existing system meets the minimum hardware requirements.
   Windows Upgrade Assistant
2. Check your existing hard drive for errors.
   Detecting and repairing disk errors in Windows XP
3. Defragment your existing hard drive.
   Using Disk Defragmenter in Windows XP
4. Do a complete backup of your existing computer to an external hard drive or network drive.
   Using Backup in Windows XP
5. Download and install PCmover Express. Transfer all of the users' documents and settings to an external hard drive or network drive.
   PCmover Express
6. Perform a clean installation of Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1, erasing the existing partition(s)
7. Set up your new user account(s) with the same name(s) as your old user account(s).
8. Attach your hardware (printers, scanners, etc.). To get the full functionality of your devices, you may have to install the manufacturer's software.
9. Install all of the programs you had installed on your previous version of Windows. This way, when you transfer your documents and settings, the file associations for your documents will be already set up.
10. Download and install PCmover Express to your new version of Windows.
    PCmover Express

Migrate from your old computer to a new computer

This, by far, is the easiest way to go. The only problem might be if your existing programs are not compatible with the version of Windows on your new computer. If you find that a program won't run right out of the box, you may be able to run it in 'Compatibility Mode' for another version of Windows.

How to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1

1. Download the Windows Upgrade Assistant to check to see if the hardware attached to your existing system meets the minimum hardware requirements.
   Windows Upgrade Assistant
2. Do a complete backup of your existing computer to an external hard drive or network drive.
   Using Backup in Windows XP
3. Download and install PCmover Express. Transfer all of the users' documents and settings to an external hard drive or network drive.
   PCmover Express
4. Set up your new user account(s) with the same name(s) as your old user account(s).
5. Attach your hardware (printers, scanners, etc.). To get the full functionality of your devices, you may have to install the manufacturer's software.
6. Install all of the programs you had installed on your previous version of Windows. This way, when you transfer your documents and settings, the file associations for your documents will be already set up.
7. Download and install PCmover Express to your new version of Windows.
   PCmover Express

Also, here's a series of articles I wrote a few years ago on my personal experience upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7.

Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 (Part 1)

Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 (Part 2 - Drive Imaging)

Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 (Part 3 - Hardware / Software Inventory)

Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 (Part 4 - Windows 7 Installation)

Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 (Part 5 - Applications and Settings)

Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 (Part 6 - Epilogue)