Cloud computing isn’t new exactly, and Windows 8 hasn’t brought us something totally revolutionary in terms of cloud computing, but it does push us a few steps closer to a new world of computing by making cloud computing the basis of Windows 8. What is this “cloud computing”, you may wonder? It’s relatively straightforward. Typically you save files like documents and pictures on your hard drive. Or perhaps a flash drive. But with cloud computing, your files, programs and even settings and preferences are saved on a remote server that is accessed from any device or computer.

Simply sign into your Microsoft account on your Windows 8 machine and you can pull up pictures, music and files used on your laptop, your tablet or even your XBOX. Your internet browsing history may follow you from one device to another and files and pictures are accessible on any device – with changes saved on all of them.

Your new Passbook: Hotmail, XboxLive, MSN = A Windows Account

Over the last decade or so, you may have created numerous Windows accounts. You might know these as Hotmail accounts, Windows Live accounts and XBOX Live accounts. Windows 8 puts all of these accounts to use, and they all do basically the same thing. In fact, you don’t need to have all of the various accounts any more – you can streamline your accounts and your cloud computing using Windows 8. That being said, if you’re most comfortable with your current set-up and have multiple accounts across different programs and such, there is no requirement to condense accounts with Windows 8.

Programs Out: Apps In

It used to be that if you wanted something like Skype on your computer, you would download the program, which is large and takes up quite a bit of memory to run. Now, with Windows 8 you have the options of downloading the program as you would in Windows 7, or you may simply download the app to your computer, where it will show up among your various tiles.

Just when you think your latest Adobe update is going well you get slammed with an error. While there are endless possibilities for the variety of things that might have gone wrong, error messages do an excellent job of telling you about the problem – or at least giving you a number you can use to look up what the problem may be so that you have a prayer of solving it. Fortunately, in the case of Adobe Errors 1706 and 1714, no prayers are necessary – these are rather straightforward to solve.

Adobe Error 1706

You’ll know you’re looking at Error 1706 when Adobe says you are – literally. The message you’re likely facing says something to effect,

Adobe Error 1706 No valid source could be found for Reader {or some other Adobe software.}

So you know you’ve got a problem. You’ve got its name. Now to the solution!

Windows 8 seems to be everywhere you look these days – every new computer (with the exception of Apple products, of course) is running Windows 8, and you can easily update your computer to 8 by downloading the new software. And like all new things, Windows 8 has plenty to get excited about.

1. Touch-Screen Design

The first, and most prominent, change for 8 is the touch-screen design of the software. Tiles on the Start screen coordinate to various applications, programs and menus on the computer, and if you have the latest touch screen technology, you can treat your computer monitor much like an oversized cell phone or tablet – just touch and go.

Even if you don’t have the actual touchscreen, you can still enjoy the tiles at your Start menu. Load up your most common programs into the tiles and you can simply click and be where you need to be in no time at all.

If nothing else, Windows 8 should probably win an award on attractiveness. Take a walk through the new computer section at your electronics store, and you’ll see what I mean – screen after screen of cool buttons, pictures and squares. It’s a totally new world from the operating systems that you’ve been used to – or at least it looks that way at first.

Looking at Windows 8 shows you that this is a totally different animal than you’ve used in the past – except perhaps on your smart phone. Your Windows 8 screen does bear a striking resemblance to most smart phones with so many buttons and boxes to choose from. Those buttons and boxes do actually have a purpose, incidentally. They are called “tiles” and they all connect to different things, much like the icons on your old desktop did – only you have more options now.

Live Tiles

Chief among these various tiles you’ll find the “live tiles.” On the Windows 8 screen, some of your tiles stay the same all the time – your Internet Explorer tile, for example, with its distinctive big E. Then, there are other tiles that are constantly changing. The Trending tile, for example, updates frequently to show you what is popular right now – what is “trending” out on the web.