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How to use Tapatalk to post images in the Windows Central forums

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Taptalk

Every week we do a fun photography contest in the Windows Central forums. Each week we go with a different theme and get so many good entries into the contest. But without fail we also have a handful of readers who aren't sure on how to submit their photos from Windows Phone into the forums. Here's how you can use the excellent forum app Tapatalk to enter our weekly photo contests!

Install Tapatalk

Tapatalk is one of the best apps in the Windows Phone and Windows Store for interacting with forums. You can use Tapatalk to navigate and discover over 50,000 new online forums. We're one of those forums that support Tapatalk. Our current Windows Central app is unable to upload photos to the forums, and that's a feature to look forward in the future. For now, Tapatalk is the best way to upload photos to our forums on Windows Phone. So let's download it!

512MB RAM devices supported

QR: Tapatalk

Take a great picture

To enter the contest you're going to want to bring your best photo! We have a new theme each week so that everyone has a chance to shoot a subject they're interested in or passionate about. For example, animals are the theme this week. So snap a great photo of an animal with your Windows Phone. Have your pic? OK great! Let's upload it to the forums!

Using Tapatalk to upload photos to the Windows Central forums

Tapatalk how to

  • Go to the Windows Central forums in Tapatalk
  • Click the hamburger menu button in the top left
  • Tap Forums

Tapatalk How to

  • Tap Windows Phone Photography
  • Tap Photo Contests
  • Go into the most recent thread to find the most recent contest

Tapatalk how to

  • Tap the plus/+ button next to the quick
  • In the quick reply box, enter info about your photo (what we're looking, what Windows Phone you shot, how you edited)
  • Hit the paperclip icon in the bottom app drawer to select your photo
  • Hit inline image for the photo to show up in your forum post vs. being an attachment
  • Hit send

Wow. You just put a photo into the Windows Central forums. Congrats!

Tapatalk WOW

Have any questions on how to use Tapatalk to place photos into the Windows Central forums? Sound off below, and I'll do my best to help you out. Remember, you can use the steps above to put images anywhere in the Windows Central forums.


How to download and play Onigiri, Xbox One's first MMORPG

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How to download and play Xbox One's first MMO Onigiri

The Xbox One launched in Japan at the beginning of September this year. There it has struggled to against competition from the more popular Playstation 4 and declining interest in consoles from Japanese consumers. Despite those difficulties, Japanese software has started to trickle out for the Xbox One.

First there was the free Chaos;Child demo, and now the Xbox One even has an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) in Japan: Onigiri! The release of Onigiri is exciting because the game is free and not region locked. Anybody can download and start questing with friends, provided they don't mind a little legwork and a lot of Japanese text. We're here to help with a full guide to downloading and getting started in Onigiri, complete with video!

What's an Onigiri?

Onigiri is a Japanese food made from rice and seaweed. But the kanji characters the title is written in actually mean "oni slaying." The oni-slaying kind of Onigiri happens to be a popular MMO from Japanese publisher Cyberstep.

The game takes place in an ancient Japan populated by mythological characters and monsters. A race of gigantic monsters called the Kamikui once threatened the land and its people. The sun goddess managed to seal the monsters away for a time. But now one of the seals has broken and the Kamikui return to destroy the world. Only you, a young Oni (ogre) and your friends can protect the land stop the Kamikui.

The PC version of Onigiri is available to play right now in English; give that a try if you're not concerned with consoles. But we're all about the Xbox One and Onigiri's exotic Japanese Achievements, so that's the focus of this guide.

How to download Onigiri for Xbox One

Downloading Onigiri

Anyone can download the Japanese version of Onigiri, regardless of country of origin. The method for doing so does not involve fraud and should not be punishable by Microsoft. Plus, it's easy!

  • Press the Menu/Start button at the dashboard. Go to Settings and then System.
  • Choose Language and Location. Take note of where this option is found so that you will be able to change it back later.
  • Select Language, and then scroll all the way to the bottom and pick Japanese (written as three Japanese characters).
  • Press B or choose the right-most option to restart the console in Japanese mode.
  • Now that Xbox One is set to Japanese, it's time to download the game. From the main dashboard, scroll to the Store page at the right. Select the top-right option, which means Game.

How to download Onigiri for Xbox One

  • You might see a tile from Onigiri on the first Store page. If so, select it and skip ahead to "After Selecting Onigiri."
  • If the Japanese Xbox Game Store displays four main choices along the left, pick the top-most option (All Games). If you just see a list of recently released games, pick the ellipsis button (…) to launch the full games list. Scroll through the list until you find Onigiri.
  • After selecting Onigiri, pick the top option to download it, and then pick the default option to confirm the download.
  • You can monitor your download progress from the game's Store page, or exit and watch the download from the My Collection (Games and Apps) page.
  • Once the game has finished downloading, repeat the previous steps to return to Language and Location. Change your language and region back to their correct settings and restart the console again.
  • You can now enjoy Onigiri! If your Games list is sorted alphabetically, Onigiri will appear at the end of the list.

Creating your character

Before you actually play Onigiri, you need to create an account at the Cyberstep website (or through the PC Onigiri game client). Head to this page at the Cyberstep website and select "Sign Up" at the top of the screen.

  • Launch the Xbox One game and select the big yellow option "Log In."
  • Now enter your account information (email is the top option, password is the bottom one) and choose the yellow option to continue. You only need to enter your account info once.

Onigiri character creationAll English screens captured from PC version, edited by hand, or both.

  • Next you'll visit the Character Select screen.

Tips: Use the left analog stick to control the cursor like a mouse. The d-pad will jump directly between the various menu options. You can also click the tiny buttons near the character to zoom, toggle clothing, and rotate the character.

  • After clicking Select to finalize your character's appearance and voice, you'll name the character.

Onigiri character creation

Now you must select from five character types. These types have different balances of the five key stats. The stats affect weapon proficiency and play style. But keep in mind you can distribute stat points whenever you level up, so don't fret too much over your starting stats.

  • Power affects Katana, Axe, Odachi, and Spear proficiency.
  • Vitality affects skill with the Spear. It also increases your max HP, so don't neglect it.
  • Wisdom affects Wand proficiency, as well as max SP (Skill Points) and rate of critical hits.
  • Mind aids Staff skills, boosting the effectiveness of spells, and increasing Magic Defense, Max SP, and SP recovery.
  • Dexterity contributes to Bow and Twin Sword proficiency. It also boosts critical damage and reduces skill cooldowns.

Pick the blue button "Start Game" and you'll move on to the Character Select screen. See the screenshot for translations of the menu options. Multiplayer is MMO-style play, while Single-player prevents you from encountering other players. Onigiri has no PvP, so there is no downside to playing multiplayer.

Onigiri character select

Beginning the game

Onigiri Xbox One controls

  • Onigiri starts out with a single-player tutorial. See the image above for a description of the controls.
  • Your first task is to attack the Daruma enemy.
  • Hit the Daruma with your first skill.
  • Attack it with your second skill.
  • Move on to the Kappa enemy and block its attack.
  • Next you'll fight the Kani-bouzu (crab) enemy. Just defeat it to move on.

Onigiri tutorial boss fight

  • Finally, you'll encounter the Tiamat boss. Just attack it and roll to dodge as needed.

After saving Lady Shizuka, you'll move on to the first hub city Onigashima. You can now meet other players, take on quests, visit dungeons, and explore other areas.

Onigiri dungeon entrance

Tips:

  • Yellow arrows point to "main" story quests and their objectives.
  • Blue arrows point to optional side quests and their objectives.

Onigiri equip menu

Before entering the first dungeon (necessary for a story quest), you must equip a Magatama. Press Menu and choose either Equip or Status (and then the Equip tab) to select it. See the screenshot for help.

Onigiri level up ready

The large meter at the top-left corner of the screen is your experience meter. When it fills up, you will level up and a circular icon will appear beneath the experience and Partner meters. Press Menu and select the icon to distribute the stat points you have gained.

Menus

Press the Menu button to launch the main menu. From here, you can choose from four main categories of menus. We've included English screenshots to make menu navigation easier.

Onigiri My Character menu

Onigiri Story menu

Onigiri community party and friends menus

Onigiri Systemy menu

Onigiri Quit menu

Choose the blue X at the top-right corner of the screen to bring up the "Quit" menu.

Partners

You'll meet eight partner characters over the course of the game, starting with Lady Shizuka. Partners can be summoned into battle for a limited time, represented by a pink meter. After the summon time expires, the partner will leave and require a cooldown before the next summoning.

Onigiri Partner menu

To summon a partner, press Menu, pick Story, and then Partners. Select the top-right option to summon or dismiss the partner.

Your affection with a partner affects his or her effectiveness in battle, as well as the various NPC functions they can perform (weapon repairs, crafting, etc.). Increase affection by giving that partner gifts that he or she likes. Several Achievements are tied to reaching specific affection levels with each of the partners. Select the Heart icon to give gifts.

The second partner, purple-haired Yoshitsune is essential to your progress. She can repair weapons when they wear out; just choose the second option when speaking to her. The third partner, blue-haired Miroku buys and sells items. The top option when speaking to him is buy and the one below that is sell.

Onigiri for Xbox One

A vast mythological world to explore

Like other MMORPGs, Onigiri is a truly huge game. The lack of English text in the Japanese Xbox One version makes the game a little more difficult for English speakers to enjoy, but not impossible. With our guide and the Onigiri Wiki, you should be able to progress through the game without too much trouble.

Let us know if you decide to download the game, and how you like it. Perhaps one day we'll meet up in the game and go on quests together!

We'll have exclusive Onigiri news to share very soon. In the meantime, feel free to check out the replay of our Onigiri Twitch streaming session.

How to change the default search engine on Surface Pro 3 with Internet Explorer

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Search Providers

By default, entering a search on the Internet Explorer navigation bar on the Surface Pro 3 gives you Bing results. What if you want to use a different search provider? For example, maybe you want Yahoo search results, instead. Or Google. We'll show you in our quick how-to video.

  1. Launch the Desktop on your Surface Pro 3.
  2. Open Internet Explorer in Desktop mode. You can find it in your Desktop Taskbar by default.
  3. Tap the gear menu at the top-right corner of the Internet Explorer Window.
  4. Select Manage add-ons.
  5. Select the Search Providers category.
  6. Click the Find more search providers link at the bottom of the window.
  7. Select your preferred search engine on the Internet Explorer Gallery.
  8. Click the Add to Internet Explorer button on the page.
  9. Check the box that says make it your default provider and then click the add button.

That's it! Now just restart Internet Explorer for the changes to take effect. Which search provider did you select? Let us know in the comments!

How to change the language on Windows Phone 8.1

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Lumia 535 language

Have you ever held a Windows Phone device 8.1 with a language you didn't understand? Perhaps you purchased a device overseas, or someone accidentally changed your settings. I tried setting up a new Lumia 535 over the weekend, but it came out of the box with the Chinese language. Going through the menu was difficult, but I eventually found a way to change the language to something I understand. Want to know how I did it? Watch our quick how-to video.

  1. Go to settings. You can reach this by swiping down from the top of the display and tapping the gear icon on the right.
  2. Scroll down and look for language. If you do not recognize any of the menu items, there's a nice trick. Look for the time zone. It looks something like UTC -6:00. Language is the second item below that.
  3. Tap the plus sign
  4. Select your language and tap the check button at the bottom.
  5. Tap the button above the list of languages to restart the phone.
  6. Navigating through the menus should now be more manageable since it is now in a language you recognize. Next step is to go to settings, and then region. Select your country/region, and the regional format, and then tap the restart button.
  7. You may also want to take a look at the keyboard settings. Does it have your preferred language? Do you want to add another language? Check in settings - keyboard.

Change language

That's it! There are other ways to solve this problem like using another Windows Phone device with the built-in Bing Vision to translate the menus, or using apps like Bing Translator. Following the steps above is much faster and does not require another device.

Have you found yourself in this situation? How did you solve it? Let us know in the comments.

How to choose and use an external hard drive for your Xbox One

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How to choose and use an external hard drive with your Xbox One WD My Book

It's a new year, and Xbox One owners have likely picked up quite a few new games during the holiday season – perhaps even some of my favorite games of 2014. Some new-gen games take up lots of storage space when installed; Halo: the Master Chief Collection clocks in at 61.4 GB and Grand Theft Auto V is no slouch at 43.5 GB. That gets to be a problem when the Xbox One's built-in hard drive can only store 500 GB (less after OS and such) of data.

Sooner or later, you'll want to invest in an external hard drive for your Xbox One. Doing so will increase your storage capacity and even make games install and load slightly quicker. Installing an external hard drive is a snap, but you probably have some questions if you haven't made the jump yet. We're here to help with this guide to selecting and installing an external hard drive, complete with video!

Why an external drive and what kind should I get?

All Xbox One games must be fully installed to the console's hard drive before use - even retail titles. The Xbox One's built-in hard drive cannot be replaced or upgraded without voiding your warranty, so unless you're into the hardware mod scene, you're stuck with the stock 500 GB or 1 TB (1,000 GB) drive.

Luckily, the console supports the use of up to two external drives at once, making it easy to expand your storage space for games and other content. The external drive must be at least 256 GB large (so very large flash drives are an option) and support USB 3.0. Slower USB 2.0 drives are not supported because Microsoft wants to ensure that data will transfer very quickly between the Xbox One and the external drive.

When choosing a drive, your first consideration should be how much space you want. The console has no limit on external storage size, so the sky is the limit. 1 TB externals run in the $60 range, but I recommend thinking longer term and going with at least 2 TB. 4 TB drives are still relatively affordable for the space they offer ($150-ish), but 6 TB drives get pricey in the $250 range.

How to choose and use an external hard drive with your Xbox One

Your next decision will be whether to seek a drive that requires a separate power source or not. Some drives can draw all the power they need from the console's USB 3.0 port. Other drives include a power cord or AC adapter and won't operate without that extra power. AC powered drives tend to be faster than smaller drives that only need USB power, so I recommend going with the faster drive.

Hard drive speed can be roughly estimated by the drive's RPMs (rotations per minute). 7,200 RPM drives tend to be faster than 5,400 RPM drives. 10K RPM drives are even faster, as are hybrid drives and SSD drives. Theoretically, the faster the drive, the faster games will install, load, and save.

Hard drive speed makes a big difference with computers and some consoles, but it's less of a factor on Xbox One. The Digital Foundry evaluated a variety of drive types, including SSD, and found that high end expensive drives like hybrid and SSD provide little performance gain with Microsoft's latest console. That's bad news for people who like to trick out their equipment with fancier accessories. But it's good because you can get an affordable 7,200 RPM drive without feeling like you're missing out on big speed increases.

Finally, you'll want to choose between the three major hard drive brands: Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital. You can find negative reviews of any hard drive you browse online. Ignore individual negative reviews and look at the overall rating from customers. If most owners like the drive, it should be a safe bet. Then again, Seagate drives really do have a higher failure rate than other brands.

I chose a Western Digital 4 TB drive because the price was right. But here are several drives to get you started:

How to choose and use an external hard drive with your Xbox One

Installing your hard drive

With your drive in-hand, it's time to connect it to the Xbox One. The console doesn't have to be turned off when you connect the drive, although connecting and disconnecting peripherals while powered down never hurts.

Once you plug the drive in, the console will detect it after a few seconds and ask whether you want to set up the external storage device. Say yes and the drive will be formatted and wiped clean of any previously stored data. Note that you cannot share a drive formatted for Xbox One with any other platforms, so don't expect to swap the drive between Xbox One and Wii U or anything.

Next you'll name the external drive. This makes it easier to tell which drive you're interacting with when installing games, copying data, etc.

Having named the drive, the console asks whether you want to install things on it by default. Choose yes and any new game or app you download or install will be placed on the external drive instead of the internal one. This is actually a good idea because games do install and load slightly faster from an external drive than the internal one. Save your internal storage for a rainy day or low-priority apps and games.

Finally, the system will format the drive. Formatting my blank drive only took a few seconds.

How to choose and use an external hard drive with your Xbox One

Managing your new drive

With your external drive installed and formatted, you're ready to install and copy games onto it. Again, I recommend moving all but the lowest-priority games onto the new drive so that they can benefit from the performance increase it brings. The bad news is you can't simply tell the console to move your games at once; each game has to be moved individually.

To start moving games, head to the console's "My games and apps" menu. Just above the game and app tiles you'll see two sorting options. The first lists items by alphabet, recently used, or by size. The second allows you to list items by storage location: all, internal, and external. Until you get everything put into place, you'll want to select Internal.

How to choose and use an external hard drive with your Xbox One

Highlight a game you want to move, press the Menu/Start button, and select Manage game. From there, select the word Internal and choose to Move all. After a few seconds, the console will start moving the game to its new location.

The current requirement that we manually move each game individually is annoying, but you don't have to sit and wait for one game to move before starting to move another. Just select all of the games you want to move, one by one, and the Xbox One will continue relocating them on its own. It will even finish moving them in sleep mode.

How to choose and use an external hard drive with your Xbox One

After you're done moving your games, be sure to switch the "My games and apps" sorting back to All or external. The games and apps menu will now display the total combined free storage and percentage of used storage on the left side of the screen. Hopefully you won't run out of storage for a good long while!

All the Microsoft Band help and how-to videos you'll ever need in one place!

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Microsoft Band

While the Microsoft Band has been one of the harder products to get hold of in recent times, there's a good chance this past week has seen a whole bunch of new owners. That's because the Band went back in stock in physical Microsoft retail stores – and in many cases subsequently went out of stock again – giving more people a chance to finally grab one.

If you're one of them, or even if you've had one for a while and just want to tune up your knowledge, we've got a whole host of help and how-to videos to get you off and running with your new Microsoft Band.

The YouTube playlist below contains every Microsoft Band video that Windows Central has produced, including our initial unboxing and first impressions in case you're still on the fence about getting one. Any future Microsoft Band videos will find their way there, so bookmark the link below for a handy way to find them.

If you want to check them all out, right now, the video embed below will play them all one-by-one. So kick back, and enjoy!

How to add your Starbucks Card to your Microsoft Band

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Starbucks on Microsoft Band

Despite there being no official app for Windows Phone, you are able to pay for your Starbucks beverages using your Microsoft Band. In fact, Microsoft even throws you a $5 gift card when you buy your Band so your first drink is free.

But it's not immediately obvious how you use it, especially if you just opened the box. But don't worry, it's incredibly simple and we're here to walk you through it.

Here's what you need to do:

  • Open up the Microsoft Health app on your phone. The process is exactly the same whether you're using Windows Phone, iOS or Android.
  • Tap the Band icon in the top right to open up the menu.
  • Tap on "Manage Tiles."
  • Scroll down until you see the Starbucks option.
  • First, make sure the toggle for this tile is set to on.
  • Tap on the pencil next to the Starbucks icon
  • On the screen that opens up, simply enter the number from your Starbucks Card.

And that's all there is to it. There's no option to recharge the card with credit, but every time you want to pay at Starbucks with your card just tap on the tile on your Microsoft Band and you'll get a little barcode up on the display to scan. Oh, and that's not my actual Starbucks Card in the video!

For more Microsoft Band tips and tricks be sure to check out our dedicated page here

Know where your Country Variant Lumia comes from for OS updates #LumiaDenim

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About Windows Phone screen

The Lumia Denim update is hitting more devices each day, and a big chunk of those are country variants often marked as CV. Country variants are non-carrier phones, but even though they are SIM unlocked, they still feature region localization including default language, preloaded apps pertinent to that country and carrier network settings.

Because of this there is no such thing as a "generic" Lumia Windows Phone. Hong Kong, Mexico, Thailand, Norway, and others all have their own country variant of each Lumia model. These country variant Lumias are increasingly eligible for the Lumia Denim update, including the Lumia 930 starting today. However, not all of CVs are yet cleared, and if you bought your Lumia from a retailer, you might not know its region code.

Here is a simple way to check your region of your device, which you can then compare against the Lumia update page.

How to check your region on your Lumia

Getting the area code from your Lumia is relatively straight forward, however deciphering the info can be tricky sometimes. Here's how to get the information.

  • Settings
  • Extras + Info
  • More info button: Manufacturer Name, Mobile Operator

Another, similar method is this one:

  • Settings
  • About
  • Carrier

Under those areas, you should see an RM-9xx number followed by the region information, For example, on my Lumia 1320:

  • Manufacturer Name: RM-994_apac_Hong_Kong_210
  • Mobile Operator: 000-HK

This information suggests this is a Hong Kong variant of the Lumia 1320. Checking Microsoft's Update page reveals that the Lumia Denim update is available for my device. Sure enough, checking for an upgrade (Settings > Phone Update) does confirm one is available.

My Lumia 930 and Lumia 735 though are listed as CV GBIE, which translates to 'Country Variant, Great Britain, Ireland'. This version of the phone is commonly sold through retailers worldwide. Denim is not yet available for those phones, unfortunately. Finally, my other Lumia 930 is DK-IS (Denmark) but with a Mobile Operator listed as 000-33, which may be a developer version.

Update: You can decipher the region codes through Microsoft's website, found here: dev.windowsphone.com/en-US/OEM/docs/Customization/Registry_values_for_carrier-unlocked_phones

That is all there is to it! So hopefully you can now have a better understanding of why your phone is not yet getting an OS update, even though you see other Lumias that are getting one. As to why it takes so long for CV Lumias to get the update, seeing as there are no carriers in the way, your guess is as good as ours.

Remember, check Microsoft's own update page to see if Lumia Denim is ready for your phone! You can find that site here: www.microsoft.com/en/mobile/support/software-update/wp8-software-update


Guide: How to get and play Puyo Puyo Tetris for Xbox One

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Buy and play Puyo Puyo Tetris for Xbox One with our exclusive translation guide

In early December, the Xbox One got its first Japanese exclusive retail game: Puyo Puyo Tetris from Sega. That same month, Ubisoft plopped out another boring, generic Tetris game as a downloadable Xbox One title in English territories: Tetris Ultimate.

But in far-off Japan, Sega crafted a Tetris game that overflows with color, charming characters, a lengthy story-filled campaign, and tons of creative new game types. That's the Tetris we should have gotten, and sadly Sega seems content never to release it outside of Japan.

Luckily, importing and playing Puyo Puyo Tetris on non-Japanese Xbox Ones is actually really easy. And to make things even easier, Japanese Xbox guru @Lifelower and I have teamed up to translate nearly the entire game (minus the story itself)! Check out our exclusive guide to either get the most out of Puyo Puyo Tetris or find out what you're missing!

How to purchase and play Puyo Puyo Tetris

In Japan, Sega released Puyo Puyo Tetris for Xbox One, Playstation 3 and 4, Wii U, 3DS, and Vita. We're just concerned with the Xbox One version, although the guide should apply to 99% of the Playstation 4 game and most of the other versions' menus as well.

Puyo Puyo Tetris for Xbox One is currently exclusive to retail in Japan, so you can't buy a downloadable version by switching regions. But the retail release works perfectly great in any non-Chinese Xbox One (China's are region-locked), so getting the game is as easy as ordering it from an importer. It won't even cost more than a domestic retail game!

I recommend the following options. I have used them all to import games in the past, although I got this particular game from Play Asia.

The game comes in a regular Xbox One case, just like any domestic title. Simply install the disc and you're ready to play!

Main Menu

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Main Menu
  2. Adventure: Single-player story mode
  3. Dream Arcade Single-player: Play multiplayer modes against the AI
  4. Dream Arcade Multiplayer: Local multiplayer
  5. My Data: Personal records, options, and unlockables
  6. Internet: Online multiplayer
  7. Lessons: Non-interactive Japanese lessons about Puyo Puyo and Tetris mechanics. No Achievements, so don't bother with them.

Adventure

The main campaign consists of seven original episodes, each with 10 unique levels. Once you complete the first seven episodes and the credits finish rolling, you'll move on to the three EX episodes. The EX Episodes were originally sold as paid DLC on other platforms but are included free on-disc on Xbox One and Playstation 4.

Tip! If you die four times in a row on the same level, you can choose "Clear the level with help" (おたすけクリアですすむ) to skip the level.

Our Adventure Mode translations are too long for this article, so we split them off into a companion guide at GameFAQs. The Adventure Mode guide lists every level name, description, and star conditions. Please check it out and click the "Recommend" button.

Dream Arcade modes:

Dream Arcade is the local versus mode. To play Dream Arcade Multiplayer, at least two controllers must be connected before pressing A at the title screen.

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Dream Arcade Single-player
  2. Puyo Teto Mix: Puyo Puyo and Tetris pieces fall into the same field
  3. Swap: The Puyo Puyo and Tetris playfields swap out periodically
  4. Party: Items that can help you or harm your opponent fall into the field.
  5. Big Bang: Clear the field as many times and as quickly as possible. Whoever eliminates more pieces damages the other player.
  6. Tokoton: Play a variety of game types with special rules. Not available in multiplayer.

After selecting game type, you'll choose the mode:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Mode Select
  2. One Play: Play one game.
  3. Tournament

When playing single-player, you'll then select the number of computer opponents.

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Select the Number of COM (computer) players
  2. One COM player
  3. Two COM players
  4. Three COM players

If playing multiplayer, you'll select the overall number of players. Computers will fill in empty slots.

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Select the number of players
  2. Two players
  3. Three players
  4. Four players

Pre-fight settings (VS):

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Hard Drop: On or Off. Hard drop allows you to drop pieces instantly.
  2. Deco Settings: Change visual s and sounds (see below)
  3. Game Start
  4. Handicap Settings (see below)
  5. Game Settings

Deco Settings. See My Data section for more details.

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Deco Settings
  2. Background
  3. Puyo Type
  4. Tetrimino Type

Handicap Settings (levels of food spiciness)

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Handicap Settings
  2. Very Mild
  3. Mild
  4. Medium Heat (default)
  5. Hot
  6. Very Hot

Swap pre-fight settings:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Swap
  2. Swap Time Count
  3. Quick/Hard Drop: Set to Default in the screenshot

Party pre-fight settings:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Party
  2. Game Count: Default
  3. Item: Normal
  4. Quick/Hard Drop

To change how frequently items appear in Party, select Game Settings and then choose the following:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Items
  2. Normal
  3. Frequent
  4. Rank-based

Big Bang game settings:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Big Bang
  2. Charge Time Count: Default
  3. Starting Level
  4. Quick/Hard Drop

Tokoton modes (single-player only):

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Tokoton
  2. Tokoton Fever: Keep removing chain combo seeds until time runs out.
  3. Tokoton Puyo Puyo: Single-player Puyo Puyo. Just keep removing Puyos.
  4. Tokoton Tiny Puyo: Keep removing Puyos in the Tiny Puyo field.
  5. 40 Lines: Time attack for removing 40 lines.
  6. Marathon: Score attack for removing 150 lines.
  7. Ultra: Score attack for three minutes. Drop speed of Tetriminos won't increase.
  8. Rules for each mode. See descriptions above.

Tokoton Marathon settings:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Marathon
  2. Endless
  3. Starting Level

Post-game Point Results

Puyo Puyo Tetris Battle Results

  1. Post-game Point Results
  2. Basic Points
  3. Technical Points
  4. Screen Clear Bonus
  5. Total Points
  6. Current Points

Post-game menu

Puyo Puyo Tetris Post-battle Menu

  1. Play Again
  2. Arcade Select
  3. Character Select
  4. Quit Game
  5. Save the Replay!

My Data

My Data main menu:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. My Data
  2. Stats
  3. Theater: Listen to BGM, watch replays, etc.
  4. Option
  5. Shop

Stats:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Stats
  2. My Data
  3. National Puzzle League
  4. Club
  5. Tokoton Puyo Puyo
  6. Marathon
  7. Tokoton Fever
  8. 40 Line
  9. Tokoton Tiny Puyo
  10. Ultra
  11. Rank
  12. Rating
  13. My League
  14. Play Ratio

Achievements:

These come in three categories: general, Puyo Puyo-specific, and Tetris-specific. Here is the general Achievements screen.

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Stats
  2. Completionist Collection: General Achievements.

Theater: Sound Test:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Theater
  2. Sound
  3. Voice

Theater: Adventure Cinematics:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Theater
  2. Adventure
  3. Demo
  4. Episode 1
  5. Opening
  6. Staff Roll (credits)

Theater: Your Replays:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Theater
  2. Your Replays
  3. Dream Arcade Multiplayer: Party (Game type of the replay)

Theater: Everyone's Replays:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Theater
  2. Everyone's Replays

Options

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Options
  2. Basic Settings
  3. My Character
  4. Hometown
  5. Vibration
  6. Ghost
  7. Combo Animation
  8. Confirm Settings
  9. Change My Character

Hometowns for Basic Settings. These are prefectures in Japan.

Puyo Puyo Tetris Prefectures

  1. Not Set
  2. Aomori
  3. Miyagi
  4. Yamagata
  5. Fukushima
  6. Ibaragi
  7. Tochigi
  8. Gunma
  9. Chiba
  10. Tokyo
  11. Kanagawa

Controls

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Option
  2. Key Config
  3. Controls
  4. [Up: Quick/Hard Drop] [Left: Move Left] [Right: Move Right] [Down: Fast Drop/Soft Drop] [B: Rotate Right] [A: Rotate Left] [LB/RB: Hold] [Y/X/LT/RT: Not Set]
  5. Confirm settings

Deco Settings

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Option
  2. Deco Setting
  3. Background
  4. Puyo Type
  5. Tetrimino Type
  6. Confirm the setting
  7. You can set up deco settings for all rules.

Backgrounds for Deco Settings:

Puyo Puyo Tetris Deco Settings

  1. Puzzle Arena
  2. Forest of Puyo Puyo
  3. Tetris Palace
  4. Dream Game Center (arcade)
  5. Circus Plaza

Puyo types for Deco Settings:

Puyo Puyo Tetris Deco Settings

  1. Aqua
  2. Fever
  3. Classic
  4. Change Color
  5. Words
  6. Random

Tetrimino types for Deco Settings:

Puyo Puyo Tetris Deco Settings

  1. Default
  2. Block
  3. Stars [Studs]
  4. Random

League Settings:

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Option
  2. League Settings
  3. Puyo Teto Mix
  4. Swap
  5. Party
  6. Big Bang
  7. Confirm settings
  8. You can set up the battle rule for National Puzzle League.

Shop

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Shop
  2. Puyo Type
  3. Word
  4. You can choose "Word" type in Puyo Type setting.

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Shop
  2. Tetrimino Type
  3. Classical
  4. You can choose "Classical" type in Tetrimino Type setting.

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Shop
  2. Voice Change
  3. You can choose a different voice for the character (Ringo).

Internet

Internet Main Menu:

Puyo Puyo Internet

  1. Internet
  2. National Puzzle League: Matchmaking
  3. Club: Join or host a room of a specific unranked game type
  4. Players List: List of players who you've played against before.
  5. My Data
  6. Puyo Teto TV Station: Watch or upload replays.

National Puzzle League Main Menu:

Puyo Puyo Internet

  1. National Puzzle League
  2. Search Players
  3. Battle Rate Ranking
  4. League Settings
  5. Your current Rate ranking for National Puzzle League. Guest users' Rates won't be registered.

Search for Players:

Puyo Puyo Internet

  1. Standby
  2. Rank
  3. Rate
  4. My League
  5. Hometown: The prefecture you (supposedly) live in. See My Data section for prefecture list.
  6. Local Ranking
  7. Nationwide Ranking
  8. Greetings: You can communicate with other players using preset greetings.
  9. I'm Ready: Notifies other players that you are ready.

Greetings menu:

Puyo Puyo Internet

  1. Standby
  2. History: Greetings you've used before.
  3. Basic: Simple and general greetings.
  4. Pack 1-8

Club: Game Type menu:

Puyo Puyo Internet

  1. Club
  2. Puyo Teto Mix
  3. Swap
  4. Party
  5. Big Bang

Club Room Select: Browse open rooms or create your own.

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Room Select
  2. All: Choose a room tag to search clubs here, or choose "全て" to search all clubs.
  3. No Clubs: No clubs are online at the time.
  4. Number of Players (Setting)
  5. Room Tag
  6. Game Settings
  7. X: Refresh the list, Y: Create a room, B: Cancel, A: Confirm

Create a Room: Room Settings

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Room Settings
  2. Room Lock
  3. Don't Lock
  4. Lock
  5. Room Style
  6. Puyo Puyo/Tetris: Choose game rules (Puyo Puyo and/or Tetris) for the room.

Create a Room: Game Settings

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Create a Room
  2. Game Settings
  3. Swap Time Count (Swap game type only)
  4. Quick/Hard Drop
  5. Create with these settings
  6. Number of Player: 4 Players
  7. Room Tag: Anyone is welcome

Create a Room: Number of Players

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Create a Room
  2. Number of Players
  3. 2 Players
  4. 3 Players
  5. 4 Players
  6. Create with these settings

Create a Room: Room Tag Settings

Puyo Puyo Tetris

  1. Create a Room
  2. Room Tag Settings
  3. Anyone is welcome
  4. Beginners only
  5. Veterans only
  6. Puyo Puyo LOVE
  7. Tetris LOVE
  8. Create with these settings

Puyo Teto TV Station: Online replays

Puyo Puyo Internet

  1. Puyo Teto TV Station
  2. National Ranking
  3. 40 Line
  4. Everyone's Replay
  5. X: Profile, Y: Upload replay, B: Cancel, A: Confirm

Post-replay menu:

Puyo Puyo Internet

  1. Watch from the beginning
  2. Finish the replay
  3. Save the replay

That's all for our guide! The gameplay in Puyo Puyo Tetris is largely intuitive, but if you need detailed descriptions of game rules, check out the Puyo Puyo Tetris Wikipedia page. We've provided you with all the tools to get and enjoy Puyo Puyo Tetris on Xbox One. I hope you'll put them to good use!

Thanks to @Lifelower for his excellent translations, without which this guide would be far less detailed and awesome.

World at Arms: Windows Phone and Windows 8 Achievement Guide

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World at Arms Achievement guide

Over the weekend, we published a guide to importing Puyo Puyo Tetris for Xbox One. That guide stirred up old feelings in yours truly, as I wrote strategy guides for years before becoming a gaming journalist and critic. It turns out I had another guide in me, this time for Gameloft's World at Arms for Windows Phone and Windows 8!

World at Arms is a military-themed city building game with strategic battles against AI and human opponents. Many gamers are so over city builders, including me. But World at Arms is one of the better ones, especially now that it has Xbox Live Achievements. Our detailed guide will tell you how to get them all and dominate the online competition!

Tracking Achievement progress

World at Arms Achievement guide

When a game has grindy Achievements, it's nice to be able to track your progress towards those long term goals. Thankfully World at Arms lets you do just that. From your base, select the Xbox button from the right side of the screen. Your progress towards both the Xbox- and non-Xbox Achievements will appear.

Note that several Achievements have three stages of completion. You won't unlock the actual Achievement until you reach the third stage.

General Achievements

Ready for Duty (25)

Successfully complete training.

You don't need any help with this one. Just progress through the tutorial and complete the battle at the end of it. The Achievement will unlock when you return to base.

Wanted (10)

Set a bounty on 100 enemies.

World at Arms Achievement guide

This should come naturally over time if you actively play the game, but you can also grind for it as soon as you gain the ability to attack other players. Such grinding will only cost 10,000 coins total and a little time. From your base, hit the "Fight!" button at the bottom of the screen. The world map displays a selection of potential opponent to challenge.

If you'd rather not fight an opponent, you can select him or her and then choose "Set Bounty." The bounty can be as low as 100 coins, so you'll probably want to make that your bounty size until you reach the point that the default 1,000 coin bounty becomes inconsequential.

Don't just randomly pick players to place bounties on. Try to pick players whose Ground and/or Air stats are rated at four or five bars. Three bars means you have the potential to win the fight with no assistance, and four bars or higher means you'll need to call an ally and/or use powerups to win. Setting bounties on tougher opponents will remove them from the target list for a while, making it easier to find good targets for your actual attacks.

The game also notifies you when someone attacks or places a bounty on you, giving you the option to reciprocate with a bounty of your own.

Money Maker (10)

Collect 300,000 coins.

World at Arms Achievement guide

Coins won from battle, invasions, and quests do not count towards this Achievement. The only coins that matter are the ones you harvest from income-producing buildings at your base.

You'll naturally get this over time. Just check in as often as possible so you can reap the coins generated by your buildings.

You could hurry it along by building more income-producing buildings and/or boosters to increase the coins those buildings produce. Income buildings should not be your primary source of income, though; it should be battle and invasions. My advice is to just build income buildings as required by quests, and otherwise focus your construction efforts on oil and military buildings.

Energy Guzzler (5)

Accumulate 1,500 energy.

World at Arms Achievement guide

Your base has a pool of energy that comes from energy-producing power plants. Each power plant adds to your overall energy pool, and any building or defensive or offensive structure you construct depletes some of that pool.

Your energy pool just needs to be 1,500 or higher *before* building energy costs are factored in, not after. Continue building the most expensive power plants available at your current level whenever your base needs more power (which happens frequently enough) and you'll eventually unlock 'Energy Guzzler.'

Alternately, you could spend Medals on premium buildings like the Solar Power Plant. These tend to boost energy capacity much higher than standard power plants.

Following Orders (10)

Complete 20 social quests.

World at Arms Achievement guide

You'll unlock new quests as you complete previous quests, win new campaign missions, and level up. Quests should always be your priority since they pay out so much experience and other bonuses.

Social quests involve attacking or interacting with other players, and they always offer hearts (social currency) as one of their rewards. These can require you to invade the bases of players you defeat (great source of coins), use the Spec Ops building to beat other players (call for help or spend powerups if needed), provide assistance to allies who request it, and more.

To gain allies more easily, join a faction! As of this writing, the Windows Central faction has a few open slots (must be level 15 or higher to join us).

If the current social quest is simply beyond your means, you can spend medals to skip it. The skipped quest will still count towards the Achievement.

Moving Up the Ranks (25)

Reach level 20.

Most things you do will produce experience, including training units, constructing buildings, collecting coins and oil, winning battles, and more. Play a lot and do all of those things, but quests produce the most experience of all.

Prioritize every quest you have. If a quest requires certain units to be trained, then only make those units. You can make quests like that go faster by building more training facilities, etc. so that you produce more of the target unit at once.

Never eliminate all of your roads, because some quests require you to tap the vehicles that will only spawn when interconnected roads are present. If any quest truly seems impossible (extremely rare), consider paying medals to skip it.

Finance Manager (5)

Collect from your headquarters.

World at Arms Achievement guide

This is a completely un-fun and grindy Achievement. You have to collect coins from your headquarters building a whopping 5,000 times! Thankfully the building's coin award doesn't need to be full. Collect even one coin and it counts towards your goal. But doing this thousands of times is just grueling busywork.

You can put boosters around the base to make it produce coins a little faster. I basically collected from the building in between every other action, such as refueling the Prometheus, attacking other players, etc. Sometimes I'd sit and collect repeatedly while watching a show. It's a little embarrassing to have this one because it's so pointless and stupid.

Construction and training Achievements

Powering Up (10)

Construct 300 power-ups.

World at Arms Achievement guide

Somewhat early in the game, you'll unlock the ability to build the Weapons Workshop. Found under Military Buildings, it costs 3,500 coins to produce. Power-ups are really important for winning tough battles, and you'll often have to make them for quests anyway.

The key to producing lots of power-ups is make lots of Weapons Workshops. I'd make five early on and eventually go all the way up to ten. Just keep every Workshop busy with either the quickest or most useful power-ups, and eventually you'll have crafted 300.

City Architect (10)

Build 100 boosters.

World at Arms Achievement guide

Boosters are a category of structure that are either entirely cosmetic or provide boosts to nearby buildings. I don't find them as useful as buildings, so I suggest knocking this out early on with a little cleverness.

Expand your territory and move or sell any trees on the new property. Now build as much road as you can, until you fill the land up or hit 100 boosters. Sell the roads and repeat if necessary.

Air Supremacy (10)

Build 200 aerial units.

A few levels in, you'll unlock the Airfield. It costs 5,600 coins and grants the ability to build aerial units like planes and helicopters.

You should make at least six Airfields to start with, and eventually work up to 10. Aircraft take a long time to produce, but this will still come relatively quickly. Always be producing the best two types of aircraft you can. You could grind this out by making the fastest and cheapest units, but it's more productive to stick with the best and let it come over time.

Training Day (15)

Train 500 infantry units.

The Barracks building costs 300 coins and produces infantry. As with 'Air Supremacy,' you should make several of these buildings and work your way up to 10. Keep them all occupied with either the fastest or best infantry units you can.

You also need to make ground vehicles in order to stand a chance of winning battles, but there is no Xbox Live Achievement for ground vehicles. Whenever possible, send some or all high-quality infantry units into ground battles.

Safety First (5)

Build 100 defensive structures.

World at Arms Achievement guide

At level 20, you'll unlock the Development Facility. Found under Military Buildings, it costs 25,000 coins to make. The Development Facility can produce either offensive or defensive structures, but only defensive structures count towards the Achievement.

As with other building Achievements, you'll want to make a lot of Facilities to increase your defensive structure output. These won't be very important once 'Safety First,' unlocks, so sell all but two of them once you have it.

Make as many of the cheapest structure, the Watchtower, as you can. The game limits how many buildings your base can have by level, so you'll eventually hit the limit and have to start selling the Watchtowers you make. One Watchtower costs 4,500 coins to make and sells for 900 coins, making the final cost 3,600 coins per structure.

Combat Achievements

Flawless Victory (15)

Win a battle without losing any units.

This will come naturally as you play, but you can set it up intentionally by returning to the first campaign battle with high level units.

Sharpshooter (5)

Destroy 300 power-ups in combat.

World at Arms Achievement guide

During campaign and PVP battles, opponents will sometimes fire missiles or bombs at you. Quickly swipe their projectiles to protect your units.

This Achievement takes a while because enemies don't always fire power-ups. Just play a lot, working your way through the campaign and attacking players as much as possible. Stay alert, strike down all the projectiles you can, and you'll eventually get 'Sharpshooter.'

Increasing the Odds (5)

*Win a battle using 3 or more power-ups. *

You'll win power-ups from completing quests and events, so you can technically get this one before you unlock the Weapon Factory. Just go into battle and use three power-ups before it ends. Battles in which the enemy is rated at four or five bars are perfect for the use of multiple power-ups.

War Hero (5)

Win 375 campaign battles.

It takes a very long time to complete every individual campaign battle, as the oil cost and difficulty of each battle steadily rises. Thankfully, repeated battles count towards the Achievement.

If you hit a campaign battle that your units can't handle, or you just want to get this sooner than normal, grind the very first campaign battle. It only costs two oil per attempt and your high level units will win in a flash. Actually completing the campaign won't happen until your level reaches the forties or fifties, so a little grinding will save a lot of time.

Revenge! (10)

Attack 100 enemies who have attacked you.

World at Arms Achievement guide

You're at the mercy of other players for this Achievement, which can't be boosted with allies or faction members. Whenever someone attacks you, you'll see a notification near the top-left corner of the screen. You can also find the Combat record by hitting the Xbox button on the right side of the screen and then selecting Reports/Combat.

Only opponents who defeated you are eligible for Revenge. Whether you win or lose, you'll still gain credit towards the Achievement.

Actively attacking lots of players seems to increase the likelihood of you being attacked. Play a lot, take revenge whenever you can, and you'll likely get this after 6-8 weeks.

Don't Give Up (5)

Lose 1,000 infantry units.

Another very time consuming Achievement, unless you specifically grind for it. Infantry are ground units, so only Ground battles will help towards this one. Prioritize Ground when you attack other players and make sure you have good infantry to send on the attack. When playing naturally, you're looking at 1-2 months before you lose 1,000 infantry.

To specifically grind for this, attack other players using full teams of Militia, the cheapest infantry unit. You won't reap riches from kamikaze battles like this, but you'll get 'Don't Give Up' a lot quicker and make progress towards 'Warmonger' as well.

Blitzkrieg (10)

Attack 300 enemy players.

See 'Warmonger' below.

Warmonger (5)

Attack other players 1,000 times.

World at Arms Achievement guide

The last grindy battle Achievement requires you to attack a metric kilo of opposing players. This could take anywhere from 6-12 weeks if playing naturally. But you can follow the grinding strategy for 'Don't Give Up' to get it faster.

Whether you win or lose, every offensive attack will count towards the Achievement. The more oil you have, the more attacks you can perform per session. Build lots of oil production and storage facilities so you can stay in the fight.

How should you spend your medals?

World at Arms Achievement guide

Medals are the premium currency in World at Arms. Players will earn some medals for free by completing quests and through limited time events such as Conquests. You might also want to buy some medals to speed things along or show appreciation to the developers. In any case, you want to spend your medals wisely.

One good investment is the Prometheus robot, located along a mountain to the north of your base. The Prometheus costs 100 medals to unlock, after which it permanently becomes a part of your army. The Prometheus requires oil to use in battle, but if you continue to upgrade it (with coins and hearts) it will prove extremely useful in the long run.

The next best options for medal spending are premium oil storage and power plants. The premium versions of those buildings will boost your capacity far more than standard versions. Energy gives you the freedom to build more, while oil lets you launch more attacks and campaign battles. In the long run, these are the resources I most often run short of – especially oil.

Finally, huge spenders can unlock submarines early by extending their bases to the east and building up to the underwater structure at the northeast-corner of the map. All of the land on the eastern island costs tons of coins or medals to unlock. More real estate is always good, and you'll unlock another building or two as you expand your base along the island. But the coin and medal costs are difficult to justify, given that submarines unlock at level 29 anyway.

Earning Achievements on both Windows Phone and Windows 8

If you link World at Arms to your Facebook account, World at Arms will store its save data on the cloud and let you retrieve it from other devices. Game saves are shared between the Windows Phone and Windows 8 versions of the game. Players can earn 200 Gamerscore from each version, for a total of 400 Gamerscore.

Conveniently, any Achievements you earned in one version should pop when you log in on the other version. However, the save sharing is slow and buggy between the two games. You'll want to completely earn all of the Achievements in one version before you switch over to the other. Otherwise, you might find an older cloud save from one game overwriting your newer save from the other.

Time for war

That's all for our World at Arms Achievement Guide, boys and girls! Be sure to read our original review if you need more info. Keep building that base, and leave a comment to let us know that you found this useful.

512MB RAM devices supported

QR: World at Arms

How to manually switch Wifi between 2.4 and 5GHz bands on the Surface Pro 3

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How to manually switch Wifi bands on the Surface Pro 3

With Microsoft's recent firmware update for the Surface Pro 3, among the new bits and pieces was a new Marvell Wifi driver that lets you switch between 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands on the fly. For those of us using a dual-band router, the updated driver should help resolve any related issues.

Switching bands is easy, so long as you know where to look. Here's how to do it.

  • Using the universal search on the Start Screen, search for "Device Manager."
  • Open Device Manager
  • Find "Network Adapters" in the list and expand it
  • Tap and hold or right click on "Marvell AVASTAR Wireless-AC Network Controller" and open its properties
  • Along the top of the dialog box, open the Driver tab
  • Verify the version number is 15.68.3073.151 before continuing
  • Assuming all is correct thus far, hit the Advanced tab. This is where you'll change bands.
  • The dropdown "Value" box on the right will have options for 2.4GHz, 5GHz and Auto when the Property box on the left has "Band" highlighted.
  • Select your desired band, hit OK, and you're good to go!

One thing worth noting is that should you specify only 2.4GHz or 5GHz, your Surface will only connect on those bands. If you then leave the house and try to connect to Wifi elsewhere, it's worth making sure you've set it back to Auto to keep things running nice and smoothly.

For more Surface Pro 3 tips and tricks be sure to swing by our dedicated Surface Pro 3 page here

Thanks jlangner for the heads up!

How to install Windows 10 Technical Preview

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It's been only a few days since Microsoft talked about what's next with Windows 10, and slightly ahead of schedule a brand new release of the Technical Preview has been pushed out. Now that you have had some time to catch your breath and get to grips with what's new, you may be considering giving it a try yourself – and given the number of new Insider sign ups, there looks to be a lot of you!

We've put together a quick how-to below to get you on your way to Windows 10.

Before you begin

What is a Technical Preview? It means a beta OS, along with an emphasis on testing and feedback to Microsoft. The new preview expires on October 1, 2015. Most scenarios should have users directly updating from the Technical Preview to the final OS in mid-to-late-2015.

Before you charge ahead, there are a few things you will want to consider. First and foremost, this is a just preview, and along with that comes all of its flaws and imperfections, as well as what will surely be tons of updates to follow. For that reason, it probably isn't a good idea to install Windows 10 on your primary computer.

Computers running Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.0 and Windows 8.1 can all take the Technical Preview. RT devices like the Surface RT and Surface 2 cannot take advantage at this time.

During the installation, you can choose to wipe clean your current OS and start new with Windows 10, or just update the OS, keeping all of your files and settings. Most of us have done the latter with no installation problems or hiccups.

The earlier previews weren't optimized for touchscreen computers, but we've now seen a lot more touch-friendly activity unveiled such as Continuum. But that doesn't mean you're going to have a swell old time all round. Again, this is beta software, things will be broken and just all round janky. Microsoft needs your help making the bugs go away and the finished product better than ever.

And as a final consideration before installing, you should definitely read Microsoft's Frequently Asked Questions page. It is also highly advised that you create a recovery drive, just in case you want to revert back to your previous operating system. In most cases, including on the Surface Pro 3, installing the Technical Preview will overwrite the recovery partition with the Windows 10 image, making a system refresh ineffectual should you choose to revert.

Still here?

Well then, it seems you've decided to take the plunge. In that case, here is what you need to do:

  1. First, you need to sign up for the Windows Insider Program. It's quick and easy. Just follow the link, sign in with your Microsoft Account and accept the terms and conditions.
  2. Once you're in, you will be directed to download the disk image, also known as an ISO file. This is just under 4GB, so make sure you download it well before you are ready to start the installation.
  3. Next, you need to either burn the ISO image to a DVD, extract the files from the image or mount the image as a virtual drive. In Windows 8, you can mount an ISO file simply by right-clicking and choose Mount. From our experience, it is best to keep the ISO on the C:\ drive for installation, instead of using a USB device.
  4. Once ready, just double-click setup.exe and you are on your way
  5. The installation wizard will walk you through the necessary steps

The process of actual installation averages around 20 minutes, depending on the speed of the computer. The OS will install itself, rebooting a few times. Nearly at all times, a progress screen will be present, usually with a percentage indicator to keep you abreast of the process.

Windows 8.1 is smart. Should the Technical Preview run into problems during installation, it should rollback the installation and leave you with your current OS untouched. At this point, you can then try to diagnose what caused the setback.

Once you're up and running, be sure report your findings and share your thoughts in our new Windows 10 forums. Those forums are also a great spot to find help on this process should you have any problems.

Do you have any tips or advice to share with others on installing the Technical Preview? Comment below and let us know!

How to enable Hey Cortana on Windows 10 Preview and other cool shortcuts

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Cortana in Windows 10

If you are on the brand new build of the Windows 10 January Technical Preview and you are also in the US with US English enabled, you are lucky enough to have Cortana too. Cortana is Microsoft's increasingly universal personal assistant found on the phone and now Windows (she also powers Maps too in a future update).

Did you know Hey Cortana is also available? Found on the Lumia 930 and Lumia 1520 with the Lumia Denim update (see our demo), Hey, Cortana lets you call up the assistant just using your voice. The feature is disabled by default, but here is is how to enable it.

Cortana settings Windows 10

Enable Hey Cortana (Windows 10 Preview)

  1. Tap in the search area
  2. Tap the hamburger button in the upper left
  3. Select Settings
  4. Scroll down and select 'Let Cortana respond when you say "Hey Cortana"

Enabling Hey Cortana in Windows 10

Interestingly, unlike the current phone version, you do not need to say "Hey, Cortana" and then wait for her to acknowledge before sending your request. Instead, you can just blurt out in one stream "HeyCortanaWhatIsTheCurrentWeather" and she brings up the current forecast. This way is much more natural, although it may throw off those with Hey Cortana on the phone.

Cortana Keyboard Shortcuts

If you do not feel like using your voice and are a keyboard shortcut kind of person, remember these two:

  • Win + Q = Cortana's main screen with interests and news
  • Win + S = Right into Cortana's search engine

Both are very easy to remember and use, and for some who love their shortcuts, we are sure you'll get great use out of them.

If you do not yet have Cortana in Windows 10, don't fret as Microsoft is sure to roll out the service in later updates throughout the year.

Find any other neat tricks? Let us know in comments!

Thanks, @silviub88, for the shortcut tip!

How to disable Cortana from the task bar in Windows 10 Preview

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Windows 10

One of the prominent new features in the task bar in the Windows 10 Technical Preview is the Cortana search box to the right of the Start button. It's a really great tool to have close at hand, but, it does also use up quite a bit of real estate. So, it's understandable you might want to make it go away – especially if you can't use Cortana right now.

Fortunately, that's really simple.

Windows 10

The search box will be enabled by default when you fire up the Windows 10 Technical Preview for the first time. To make it go away, follow these steps:

  • Right click on the task bar.
  • Select the "Search" option.
  • You'll now see three new options for what to do. To make it go away altogether hit "Disabled."
  • If you still want to keep it but want more space on the task bar, select "Show search icon" and the box will be replaced by a little magnifying glass icon.
  • To make it all come back again follow the same steps but hit the option to enable the search box.

And that's all there is to it. Keep it locked to Windows Central in the days and weeks ahead for much more on the latest Windows 10 Technical Preview!

h/t to @DBaptistaSilva for the tip!

Here's how to enable the Spartan Edge rendering engine for IE11 in Windows 10

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Spartan rendering engine for IE11

When it comes to web browsers, Windows 10 gets a little complicated. Internet Explorer 11 is the default browser for now, but later Spartan takes over as it has the new Edge rendering engine (but it can fall back to IE11 for legacy sites).

The Preview 9926 build has Internet Explorer 11 for the browser, however it does have some bits of the new Spartan one coming later this year. Specifically, you can enable the new rendering engine in IE11, the same one that is found in Spartan.

Enable Experimental Web Platform Features

  1. Open IE11
  2. Type about:flags in the address bar
  3. Set 'Experimental Web Platform Features' to enabled
  4. Restart browser

According to AnandTech, who outlined how to enable this feature, a small number of testers already have this enabled by default. For the rest of you, you can force it to work all the time. However, keep in mind this is literally why it says experimental. As such, you are getting the new rendering engine (that can be fast) but you may also experience some other performance issues.

If you want to live on the edge, try enabling this feature to see the performance difference. Worse comes to worse you can set it back to Automatic or even Disabled, in which case you just use the old IE11 rendering engine.

Additionally, you can also enable the 'Set Custom User-Agent String' function, which may also help circumvent old IE-only content.

Source: AnandTech


How to manually enable tablet mode in the Windows 10 preview

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Windows 10

Continuum is Microsoft's fancy new way of switching between tablet and desktop mode in Windows 10 as and when the need arises, but what if you want to play around with tablet mode on your desktop PC? Well, no worries, as is often the case there's a manual way to do it so long as you know where to look.

Here's where to find it.

Tablet mode will basically go fullscreen full time, removing windowed apps and turning the Start menu into the Start screen. To turn it on or off, follow these easy steps.

Or if you want to do it the short, quick way, there should be a toggle by default in the action center in the bottom right hand corner of the desktop. But, personally speaking, I've been getting some issues where the whole bottom right corner of the screen will randomly disappear, so it's definitely useful to know where both options are.

The other way to find it is:

  • Click or tap the Start button
  • Open the Settings application
  • Click or tap on "System"
  • In the pane on the left of the screen scroll all the way to the bottom until you see "Tablet Mode"
  • Ensure the toggle is set to either on or off to your preference.

Simple. But the great thing is it gives everyone a chance to play around with tablet mode without the need to install it on a tablet.

For more Windows 10 coverage be sure to check out our dedicated page here

Use this shortcut to quickly launch the Windows 10 Feedback App on your phone

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Windows 10 Feedback for Phone

The Windows 10 Technical Preview for phone is now available, at least for some people. One of the most important things about using this early release is giving feedback back to Microsoft. After all, you are partly responsible for the future direction of this operating system.

Windows 10 for phones, like the desktop version, has a Feedback App built in. One way that you can quickly access the application anytime is to use this simple trick.

Windows Feedback App shortcut

  • Press at the same time Volume Down and the Power button 

The first few times you launch the app, there will be a pause, but it should get faster in time. Of course, you can also just initiate the app from the apps listing where it is listed as 'Windows Feedback' or pin it to your Start screen.

Windows 10 Feedback in Cortana

Other times when you are using the Windows 10 on the phone you may notice a small text message icon in various spots. For instance, in the above image you can see it in Cortana. Tapping this brings you to a new dialog screen in the Windows Feedback app to share your thoughts on the user experience.

So there you go! Make sure you take advantage of these tools so we can make Windows 10 better together.

Update: It has been brought to our attention that using this key combo method also takes a screenshot at the same time, which then allows you to add it directly to a new feedback post. Very cool!

Thanks, Johannes K., for the tip!

Windows 10 for phone lets you expand notifications in the Action Center

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Expand notifications in the Action Center

One of the more useful tricks in Windows 10 for phones is the ability to expand notifications in the Action Center.

When you get a list of emails or alerts, only a snippet is previewed, often cutting off much-needed information. Indeed, on Windows Phone 8.1, you often cannot see the whole Toast notification in the Action Center, making it a bit cumbersome.

Now, in Windows 10 you will have a little down arrow that can be tapped. When you initiate the arrow, the full snippet expands, revealing the entire notification. Even better, the OS dims the other notifications bringing the current one to the forefront.

You can even expand Toast notifications when they come in as they too have a the same down/up arrow.

This feature is but one of the many little changes in Windows 10, and we are happy to see it!

How to roll back from Windows 10 Preview to Windows Phone 8.1

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Roll Back Windows Phone

It has been a week since Windows 10 Preview for phone was released and you've probably realized that it is far from being finished. While you had fun checking out the Preview, you want to go back to a more stable build. If you want to roll back to Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft has made it really simple. You'll need a computer, your phone, a USB cable, and the Windows Phone Recovery Tool. Watch our step-by-step instructions on video.

If possible, make sure that your computer and phone are charged. Are you ready? Continue reading for the next steps.

  1. Download and install the Windows Phone Recovery Tool to your computer.
  2. Open the Windows Phone Recovery Tool and connect the phone to your computer with the USB cable. If your phone is not automatically detected, disconnect it from your computer and press 'My phone was not detected' at the bottom and follow the instructions on the screen.
  3. If the phone is detected, tap the phone model on the screen to continue.
  4. The next screen shows software versions. Tap the reinstall button at the bottom
  5. There's a disclaimer that suggests to backup your phone. Tap continue at the bottom.
  6. The recovery tool downloads and installs the firmware. This may take a while depending on your network connection. The installation files are about 1.7 GB. Make sure not to disconnect the cable.
  7. If all goes well, you get a message that says, "Operation successfully completed."

That's it! You should now be back on Windows Phone 8.1. We'll let you know if a new build for Windows 10 Preview for phone shows up.

What's the main reason you want to go back to Windows Phone 8.1 from Windows 10 Preview? Let us know in the comments!

How to use Quick Read on the Microsoft Band

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The latest Microsoft Band update released earlier this week added some new features and functionality. One of those things is the new Quick Read function. It's another option to scan incoming texts, emails and other notifications on your Microsoft Band. When enabled, notifications are displayed word by word in a large size. This is handy when you're in motion and rather not scroll down to read. We'll show you how it works in our hands-on video.

Quick Read seems to have been enabled automatically after the recent Microsoft Band update. To check if it's enabled on your band, go to settings, tap the Tools icon, and swipe towards the right until you see Reading Speed. You have options for Slower, Slow, Medium, Fast, Faster, and Off.

Quick Read works on Notifications, Text Messages, Email, Twitter, Facebook Messenger, and Cortana. Tap the action button on the Microsoft Band when a message or notification is on the screen to show Quick Read mode. Words then get displayed one by one at the speed rate you've picked in the settings.

Microsoft Band Reading Speed

When is Quick Read useful? It can be handy when you're on a treadmill and want to read your messages without scrolling. Other than that, we can't think of many other situations when it'll be needed. While Quick Read is a nice option to have on the Microsoft Band, we think it can be better. Instead of simply flashing messages or notifications on the screen word by word, we'd also like to have an option to have them slide like a news ticker.

Microsoft Band Quick Read

In addition to Quick Read, other notable new features in the latest Microsoft Band update are the virtual keyboard and the Bike Tile. Microsoft has also introduced the Health Web Dashboard so you can check your stats and insights from your computer's web browser.

How do you feel about Quick Read? Will you be using it frequently? Sound off in the comments!

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