Revive the gadgets functionality in Windows 8 / 8.1 with Windows Desktop Gadgets 2.0

Desktop gadgets was introduced in Windows 7 but removed from the subsequent Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

I find desktop gadgets functionality pretty useful and handy in monitoring statuses and activities such as real time CPU usage, GPU usage, memory usage, network usage, hard disk usage, temperature readings, etc.

If you miss the fun of having desktop gadgets in Windows 8 / 8.1, you can get back that functionality by installing a 3rd party software called Windows Desktop Gadgets Revivied 2.0.

When it is up and running, you will get back the Gadgets option in Windows Desktop context menu and the Desktop Gadgets setting section in Control Panel's Appearance and Personalization. It behaves very similar to the desktop gadgets functionality in Windows 7. With it, you can now install those gadgets designed for Windows 7 into your Windows 8 / 8.1.

Get back the Start Menu in MS Windows 8.1 with the free IObit Start Menu 8

Microsoft has removed the Start Menu since version 8 of the Windows operating system. The Start button at the bottom-left corner of the screen now acts as a toggle between Windows Desktop and the Metro UI interface.

If you are using MS Windows 8.1 and you miss the Start Menu in previous versions of MS Windows, you can get it back with 3rd party software.

I use IObit Start Menu 8 to achieve this, as it is free, and very easy to customize and use.

This is what you can get with IObit Start Menu 8 installed in Windows 8.1:

The appearance of Start Menu can be configured to use the Default Theme, Classic Windows 7 Theme, or the Windows 8 Theme.

You can also select your favourite Start Button, as it is configurable.

Similar to the Start Menu in Windows 7, you can customize how the links, icons and menus look and behave on this Start Menu.

With this, you can get back your user experience in using Windows operating system the same style as before.

FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 soccer match schedule

The FIFA World Cup Brazil has just started and will last for one month until 13 July 2014.

You can look up to the schedule of all its matches in this website:
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html

The time shown on the webpage is Brazil local time. Just click on "change to your time" to switch it to your local time. Remember to adjust the date yourself because the date shown on the webpage will remain as the date in Brazil.