SkyDrive is a great cloud storage service that offers its users a variety of options for interfacing with it including a standard desktop application, a Windows 8 app and a web interface. With all of these options, it can be difficult to decide which application is right for you. Each app style has its strengths and weaknesses and they may not be apparent at first glance. We’ll walk through each of SkyDrive’s various interfaces comparing their features and discussing when each would be best to use.

Hey guess what Windows 8 users: when you’re using Microsoft’s newest operating system you don’t need to install virus protection... Oh god, we sound like those Mac elitists, don’t we? Well, we aren’t saying this due to an over-confidence in virus coders lack of interest in a comparatively small market share. We’re saying this because Windows 8 has a baked in antivirus that is sufficient to protect it against most malware threats. The Windows Defender you see in Windows 8 isn’t the basic malware scanner you saw in Windows 7. It is a full featured virus scanner with real-time protection. Read on and we’ll show you how to use it.

If you’ve spent any time looking at Windows 8’s Defender interface, you’ve likely noticed that it doesn’t include any options for scheduling a scan. While Windows Defender provides most of it’s protection in real-time, if you’re like us, you’ll want a back-up scan occurring regularly. Though the user interface does in fact omit a simple way to schedule a scan, this option exists within the Windows 8 Task Scheduler. Read on and we’ll show you how to get the job done.

Chatting has become a very large part daily computer usage for many people. Whether messaging on Facebook or with a chat client, you’ve likely spent a significant amount of time messaging with friends back and forth. Using separate clients to chat with contacts can get annoying, so Windows 8 has taken a step to try and make it easier. The Messaging app allows you to aggregate your contacts from both Windows Live Messenger and Facebook into a single utility. It provides a simple that works especially well with touch. Let’s see how it works.

One of the best features of SkyDrive is that you can download and install it on any sort of device you might have. There’s an app for a desktop computer, apps for mobile devices and even an app pre packaged with Windows 8 devices. But, did you know that, in order to experience all of the best features that SkyDrive has to offer, you don’t need to install anything? The web interface is a great way to experience SkyDrive and in this article I will share the reasons why this is the case.

Once your SkyDrive account is set up and in use, you may want to check out your options to make sure everything is configured the way you like it. While the defaults are fine for most, power-users may enjoy the ability to change default file formats and tagging permissions. This tutorial will show how to change them.

A SkyDrive group is a great way to share out files, documents and photos with a large amount of people. While that’s great on it’s own, groups can go a whole lot farther. Utilizing the communication features built in to SkyDrive groups, you can stay in contact with all of your group members with very little effort. You can send messages to everyone at once, schedule appointments that will sync with the calendars of its members and you can even have a group chat to communicate with everyone in real time using the Messenger. To learn how to use these great features, read on.

SkyDrive groups give the creator, or owner, a lot of power to change the way the group functions and how it is made up. You can alter permissions, disable features and even delete the group altogether if you want. Regardless of what you need to do, all of the group options are bundled together in a single location to make configuration simple.
In this tutorial we will cover in detail all the available configuration options so that the SkyDrive group works as you want it to.

Most SkyDrive users know the service as a cheap or free way to store and synchronize files online. While this capability of the service is useful, it isn’t unique. There are many cloud storage options that keep your files just as well. Where SkyDrive stands out is it’s additional features such as the ability to create groups. By combining a bunch of contacts into a SkyDrive group, you can make files available to everyone with one step. You can also use the group feature to contact your group members in a variety of ways. Whether you need to share a research project with a group, hand out assignments to a class or maintain file storage for a department, SkyDrive groups are a great way to go.

In previous tutorials we have shown how to add files to your SkyDrive using both the desktop application and the Windows 8 app, but did you know you could add files without installing any applications at all? Directly from your browser?
The web interface of SkyDrive doesn’t stop there either: you can edit, create, sort and manage your files online, without the need for external applications. Read on to learn all you need to know about working with files in the SkyDrive web app.

Storing your files on a SkyDrive is a great way to make accessing your data more convenient. Once your files are in the cloud, you can view or edit them using any device with Internet access. But what happens if you have a file you need but it isn’t on your SkyDrive. You may think you’re out of luck, but that isn’t the case. As long as you’ve got Fetch configured properly and the computer containing the file is on and connected to the Internet, you can find the file and upload it right from your account interface on the SkyDrive website. Read on to learn how to use this simple yet awesome feature.

While we’ve already covered the basics of configuring and using the Windows 8 Mail app in quite a few guides, there’s more to it. Once you’ve got your accounts set up and you’re receiving emails you may want to dig into the intricacies of this useful app. At first glance you may think there isn’t much more to the Mail app than folders and inboxes. This is a simple mistake to make as the features we’ll be covering here are hidden in menus that can only be accessed by right-clicking or swiping up from the bottom of a touchscreen device. Read on to see what these hidden menus have to offer.