The whole purpose of having a mobile device is for someone to be able to use it wherever they travel. Whether it is down the street at the local grocery store, or on the other side of the world
The
whole purpose of having a mobile device is for someone to be able to use it
wherever they travel. Whether it is down the street at the local grocery store,
or on the other side of the world, people carry their smartphones, laptops and
tablets with them like a kid does a stuffed animal. Your
position as an app maker hopefully allows users to improve their mobile
experience even more so. While some users undoubtedly end up using their mobile
device and its apps in the comfort of their home, defeating the purpose of a
“mobile” device in a sense, most apps aim to make a user’s life more
convenient away from home. Hopefully your apps does just that, but to double
check, here are a few ways to tell if your app is meant for the road.
Does It Use GPS?
One
of the best ways to know if your app is meant for use of the go is if it uses
GPS. Whether your app is designed to give directions, show the best coffee
house nearby, or simply allows a user to keep track of where their pictures are
taken, if it uses GPS for any of its service then most likely it is meant for
people on the move. The use of GPS is perhaps best fitting for any use away
from a person’s home. After all, people do not need to know where their home
is, it is only when traveling outside of it that they need, or like to use GPS.
Does It Provide
Reviews From Other Users?
When
it comes to buying something, or visiting a merchant, there is no quicker way
to tell the quality of such then by reading what other people already think
about it. As quick as possible, people want to know how much something cost,
how the customer service was, and if the user was satisfied in the end. These
are often the most distinguishing characteristics of a reputable product or
service that people like to know as much as possible about before hand. If your
app does any such thing in terms of letting users quickly gain insight from
other users about a potential purchase, then odds are it was made for busy
people on the go.
Does It Entertain?
While
people often need entertainment when bored sitting at home, they also often
need to occupy their downtime when traveling or waiting for something while
running errands. For such reason, entertainment can be a vital aspect for apps
designed for people on the move and having busy lives. Whether it is a game to
occupy a kid’s attention, or a news app for the business professional that travels
a lot, entertainment is key. If your app provides any sort of entertainment,
there is a good chance it is meant for people that often take to the road with
their mobile device.
Conclusion
Whether
your app uses GPS, provides a certain entertainment value to users, or lets
them read and rate reviews about products or services, it is probably meant for
people that live busy lifestyles. Of course, there is always the chance that your
app serves no purpose for someone on the go, however, if it meets one of the
aforementioned characteristics, then it probably is best suited for a busy
person with a busy life.
Having an existing user base for your mobile app is something that every app maker should cherish, however, such a feat still guarantees nothing. Moving forward, even with a solid user
Having
an existing user base for your mobile app is something that every app maker
should cherish, however, such a feat still guarantees nothing. Moving forward,
even with a solid user base, you should be weary that initial success only
lasts so long and it can be increasingly fleeting. Just because your app has
been popular in a certain market and has had good
download numbers, it does not guarantee anything in the future. In fact, unless
you make strides to branch out your app’s user base, then your initial success
may falter. For such reason, it is important to attract new users to your
mobile app by appealing to new markets. To help you do so, here are a few ideas
you can try when marketing your app.
Advertise In New Modes
Advertising
is one of the best ways to attract new users for your mobile app. What’s more,
trying out new modes of advertising is an even more proactive method of doing
so. For instance, if your marketing efforts have mostly consisted of
advertising through print, perhaps trying out some mobile marketing or other
online methods of advertising could help your app target new demographics. In
addition, if you have only advertised on social media, you could branch out to
other modes of online marketing, such as Google AdWords, or placement on other
mobile apps. Doing so, will allow your app to be offered to new audiences and
demographics in the hopes that it will entice them to download. In turn,
whether directly through sales, or from mobile advertising, your app will
produce more revenue, and subsequently increase profitability.
Think Outside The Box
When
offering your app to the mobile market, it will only hurt its performance to
limit its range of target markets. In other words, if you app’s target market
is business professionals from the age of 25 to 45, then it will likely be
limited to selling to only that demographic. However, if you think outside the
box in terms of marketing your app to additional demographics, such as younger
or older business professionals, or even those users outside of the business
world, then it will only elevate the reach of your app. Then, with only minimal
amounts of extra time, money and resources, you will have successfully extended
your target market and revenue potential. It may seem like a simple concept,
but you may also be surprised at the number of app makers and marketing experts
that sell an app short by not targeting its marketing toward other
demographics. It can be very easy to get stuck with only one target market,
especially if your app has had a significant amount of initial success. However,
you should always stride for more in relation to attracting new users.
Conclusion
Attracting
new users to your app may not seem worth the effort, or perhaps even entirely
necessary, however, the risk and reward provides an appealing ratio. There
really is not much risk involved in branching out your marketing efforts to
attract new users for your app. This is especially true if it already has a
solid user base. At the worst, your additional marketing efforts will fall
short, and perhaps you will lose a bit of money. On the other hand, you have
the potential to increase revenue and elevate your app’s profitability.
It goes without saying that the more impressive you want your app to be, the fancier and likely more expensive it will be. For such reason, it is crucial that you make a decision about the
It
goes without saying that the more impressive you want your app to be, the
fancier and likely more expensive it will be. For such reason, it is crucial
that you make a decision about the complexity of your app’s design. Whether you
want a very simple app, or you want one designed to perfection with tons of
stellar features and a flashy interface, you will undoubtedly need to decide so
during the design phase of your app. To help make the decision a bit easier, here
are a few things to actively consider when creating your mobile app.
Is Flashy Better?
In
terms of the flashiness of your app, it may or may not be entirely necessary
depending on the nature of your company. For instance, if your company is a
mobile enterprise that offers simple apps with the purpose of providing
business solutions, then you probably do not need a super fancy app that has a
ton of perks to offer the users of your app. This is not to say that business
professionals do not need or like flashy features on their apps, however, in
terms of their business dealings and daily work tasks, simple is often more
appropriate.
On
the other hand, if you are offering a gaming app for all ages, then you will
surely want to add on flashier features and graphics to attract users to its
gameplay. There is quite a difference between these two types of apps, and the
complexities of their programming. Quite simply, some apps are better off based
on their function, while others require the use of more visual displays to
attract and impress users. This is a great guide to use when deciding whether
your app needs flash or simplicity in its programming.
In
other words, if it is more like a business app driven on function, then you
should not worry so much about its flashiness and graphics. On the other hand,
if your app is leaning more toward a fun category without much of a functional
purpose, then you will likely want to add more flash and visually appealing
aspects in order to better entice users. With that said, there are always apps
that fall in between the two categories making it increasingly difficult to
design.
What About The Apps
In Between?
While
some apps make it blatantly apparent the complexity of their programing —
either flashy or simple — others fall into a sort of middle ground. For those
apps that do so, it is best to play it safe and edge on the side of a
conservative design. For instance, if your app is a social networking offering
designed for business professionals, then you may want to add a bit of a modern
feel to its design, but at the same time, you probably do not want to bombard
them with too many flashy features as not to be appropriate.
Conclusion
Designing
your app for the demographic that it is targeting is an increasingly difficult
task at times. Adding too much flash to your app may simply not be appropriate
for some individuals, while not enough may bore others to the point of not
using it. The key for the design process of your mobile app will be to
accurately target the appropriate amount of flashiness and simplicity depending
on the people that are going to use it most.
When developing a mobile app for your company, it is easy to lose sight of your target market. In the trenches of programming code and design layouts, it can be exceedingly easy to forget about
When
developing a mobile app for your company, it is easy to lose sight of your
target market. In the trenches of programming code and design layouts, it can
be exceedingly easy to forget about the actual users you are making the app
for. Whenever you find yourself doing so, try to regain your focus on the core
purpose of your app, and if all else fails, ask yourself one simple question:
Would you use your company’s mobile app?
Regaining Focus
When
you ask yourself, and subsequently answer the aforementioned question, try to
keep an open mind. In other words, while it is probably unlikely that you are a
Harley-Davidson riding biker in your spare time and you
do not own a mobile device, try to open your mind to think like someone that
does. Sometimes all it takes is adopting on a different persona in order to
fully gain the perspective of your target market. Every marketing genius that
has ever lived, made their living by getting in the minds of other people. So,
the next time you find yourself all wrapped up in your own thoughts and the
overwhelming task of creating a profitable mobile app, simply try on someone
else’s perspective. Doing so will surely shed new light on the project and give
yourself a much needed break from, well, yourself. With that said, sometimes trying
to take on the perspective of your app’s target market can weigh heavily on
your mind, in some cases, perhaps too much. For such reason, you may want to
look outside of yourself for inspiration — friends and family can be invaluable
in this regard.
Would Your Friends
And Family Use It?
After
trying on someone else’s perspective without avail try seeking advice from a
friend or family member. Loved ones are great resources to gain insight from,
especially if any of them are apart of your target market. For instance, say
your best friend, Rob, is a thirty-something bachelor with a college degree and
a well-paying job. In addition, he is a big sports fan. Coincidentally, your
app that is in the works is set to be a score tracker for various sports and
teams within each league. Although not an avid fan of sports, you can still
appreciate the games, but have been having trouble tapping into what design and
interface aspects your target market would want from your app. Needing insight,
you ask your friend Rob, who is a perfect representation of your target market.
He gives you valuable insight into what sports fans look for out of a score-tracking
app, which in turn inspires you to add several additional features to your app.
Conclusion
As
you can see, sometimes getting out of your own head and gaining insight from
someone else is all it takes to refocus the design phase of your app. So,
whether you are designing a sports app or a social media suite, try the
previously mentioned techniques to either branch out your perspective to your target
market, or find a friend or family member that fits the mold and pick their
brain for awhile. Both methods can be useful when different obstacles arise
while designing your app. Use your intuition to figure out which will serve
your project best, and if you fall short, then just keep trying different
angles until you finally gain the insight you have been looking for.
There are many things you can try to boost the sales of your mobile app. Some work better than others, while others simply do not work at all, or can conversely turn out to pay big dividends
There
are many things you can try to boost the sales of your mobile app. Some work
better than others, while others simply do not work at all, or can conversely
turn out to pay big dividends. While there undoubtedly will be a bit of trial
and error when selling your mobile app, there are a few
techniques that you can, and perhaps should, fall back on when looking to boost
your app’s sales. To help you do so, here are two such methods.
Get
Good Press
Positive
reviews and press are a vital part of getting the word out about your app. If
users and critics both have positive things to say about your app, and do so
when speaking to a large audience, it can add an incredible boost to your
sales. The more people that know about your app, and subsequently hear good
things about it, the more will likely download it. As you know, downloads lead
to revenue, and increased revenue hopefully leads to profits for your
company. Whether it is on an online
review site, or a print publication, good press is essential, and you should do
everything in your power to find such positive publicity.
The
challenge in getting good press for your app is negating any and all bad press
that it receives. In doing so, the best way to override such negativity is to
immediately seek out a positive review or feature in a publication. While you
may want to consider hiring a publicist or PR expert to navigate your app’s
publicity, there is also the option to do it on your own. It may be more
difficult to handle your app’s public relations on your own, but through social
media and developing contacts within the media it is possible to effectively
achieve good press for your app.
Get
Featured Placement
Whether
you place your app on all the mobile marketplaces, or only one, you want to aim
for prime placement everywhere it is sold. The more visible your app is to
potential customers, the more likely it is to sell and sell in high numbers.
Most app stores typically feature mobile offerings that have had success in the
paid or free category, or that are new and noteworthy. If your app does not fit
into one of these categories, then you should make sure it does in order to be
featured on the main page of at lest one mobile marketplace. For apps just
starting out, the best chance of getting featured is typically under the New
Releases or Noteworthy sections. If you make your case to the editors of a
mobile marketplace, and your app is appealing in one of the aforementioned
categories, then it should have a good shot at getting featured.
Conclusion
If
you are not a salesperson and have very little experiencing in the field, then
you are likely to struggle in relation to selling your app. There are obvious
things that you can do to improve yours app’s sales performance in the market,
like hiring a sales manager and team that will optimize its success in the
market. If on your own, however, it may be a bit more difficult, but you can
still be successful in selling your mobile app through simple actions such as
achieving prime placement on various mobile marketplaces and maximizing its
positive press coverage and reviews.
In a market full of mobile apps that extend to practically every possible use a mobile device can have, it is exceedingly difficult to differentiate your mobile offering from all of the others. While it
In
a market full of mobile apps that extend to practically every possible use a mobile
device can have, it is exceedingly difficult to differentiate your mobile
offering from all of the others. While it may seem as easy as simply saying
that yours is better than the rest, people are not that trusting, and certainly
are not so gullible. The goal for any mobile app, especially with fierce
competition in the market, should be to find separation from the rest of the
rival apps in its given category. There are several ways to do so, here are a
couple to try when conveying how truly special your app is to the mobile market.
What
Do You Have That The Rest Do Not?
In
order to tell users what your app has that the rest lack, you will need to do
more than just say so. More specifically, you will need to show them how
special your app is compared to the others in its category. Of course, getting
your app initially noticed is a big factor, however, once a user has downloaded
it and begins to explore its interface, the last thing you want is for it to
fall short. So, your goal when designing the app really should be to bring
something to the user experience that no other mobile does. This mostly means
evaluating the features that your rival apps have, and either improving upon
them, or introducing something entirely different for users to enjoy upon
downloading your app.
Making
Users See Your App In A New Light
Another
way of allowing users to recognize how special your app is compared to the rest
is by changing how they perceive it. Many times, especially after already
having used an app, users will get in a pattern of thinking a certain way about
it. This concept is similar to how you see something you use everyday, such as
your car or something along those lines. When an app finds a stale place in
someone’s mind, they are less likely to use it, and probably won’t enjoy it if
they do. For such reason, it should be your mission to change any stale
thinking that may exist in the minds of users relating to your mobile app. You
can do so by changing certain visual aspects of your app, such as its welcome
screen, general interface, and even the icon that holds its place on the mobile
devices of users. Simple visual improvements can make a big difference in terms
of how users see your app, and what’s more, if you are feeling like you need to
do more, then you can work on improving the features of your app so that it can
really impress users in a new way.
Conclusion
You
already know how special your app is, but users simply are not as trusting. In
many ways, you must earn their trust so that they know exactly what your app
brings to their experience on a mobile device that no other mobile offering
does. In addition, if you can change how they perceive your app, allowing them to see it as a fresh visual representation of the
purpose it holds, then you will be able to increase its reputation among users.
Little things like these will go a long way when showing the market how special
your app is to the user experience.
About half of the world’s companies will enact BYOD (bring your own device) programs by 2017 and will no longer provide computing devices to employees, a new Gartner report predicts.
Ultimately, only 15 percent of companies will never move to a BYOD model, while 40 percent will offer a choice between BYOD and employer-provided devices, according to the report by Gartner analyst David Willis, which was announced Wednesday.
While mobile computing helps make on-the-go workers more productive, the average cost of more than $600 per employee per year for company-provided devices has been difficult for many to shoulder, Willis wrote. This along with other factors, such as increased employee satisfaction, has helped drive the BYOD movement, he added.
So far, BYOD adoption is most common in companies with between $500 million and $5 billion in revenue, but there are significant differences according to geography, said Gartner. The U.S. adoption rate is double that of Europe, but the highest rate is in India, China, and Brazil, according to the report.
Still, while most IT executives surveyed by Gartner think well of BYOD, only 22 percent “believe they have made a strong business case,” according to the report.
Mobility projects “are often exploratory and may not have a clearly defined and quantifiable goal,” the report adds. “While there are many mobile applications with a provable return on investment, stumbling onto a breakthrough does not seem like the right strategy.”
Compensation expected
Meanwhile, although BYOD programs allow employees to use their preferred device, that doesn’t mean their employers don’t incur any costs.
“Workers with an essential need to use a mobile device in their business expect to be compensated for its use, just as companies typically reimburse for the incremental cost of mileage and travel expenses,” Willis wrote.
However, there are currently no standard practices for BYOD reimbursement, according to the report. Only about half of today’s BYOD programs provide some reimbursement, usually for the service plan associated with an employee’s device, and just 2 percent cover all costs, the report states.
Still, “no mobile worker is free,” Willis wrote. “More employees and more devices mean more security and management tool costs, more application licenses, more potential problems for an overtaxed help desk to deal with, and more confusion.”
Costs associated with that overhead “can easily exceed $100 per worker per year today,” he added. That figure will hit $300 by 2016,” largely due to license fees for mobile apps.”
Computerworld - BlackBerry and Samsung have separately launched security and management software with dual-personality features for their latest Z10 and Galaxy S4 smartphones, both designed to meet the demands of a growing BYOD marketplace.
Dual-personality software keeps personal and work data separate on a smartphone, allowing an IT shop to quickly delete sensitive corporate data from a worker-owned smartphone should the worker lose the device or leave the company.
The problems with both the Knox and Balance products apparently resides with delays in implementations of server-side software to give IT shops or wireless carriers the controls they need over users’ smartphones, analysts said.
BlackBerry jumped on Samsung’s delay and on Monday boasted that BlackBerry Balance “remains the market’s most trusted and secure BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) solution and is available now … Nothing is more secure than a BlackBerry device running on the BlackBerry platform. Nothing.”
Despite BlackBerry’s claims about Balance, analysts wonder how many carriers or enterprises have installed and activated the server-side software that supports Balance, called BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. BlackBerry didn’t respond when asked to comment on the number of BES 10 activations or how far along it has gone in working with carriers to support small business users of Balance that don’t have IT shops.
Aside from Balance capabilities, some BlackBerry Z10 smartphone buyers are raising a different question. They want to know when it will be possible to sync from their desktops all their Outlook contacts, tasks, notes and calendars to the new Z10 or the coming Q10.
The inability to fully sync with Outlook functions has outraged some users on various BlackBerry forums, including the BlackBerry Support Community Forums.
Whether you use one monitor or three, Windows XP or Windows 8, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, you’re bound to have windows on your desktop. And you probably juggle several of them at once.
Windows operating systems come with several built-in management features, but they’re very basic and don’t always play well with multiple monitors. To control a cascade of windows effectively, you need a third-party window manager. I tested five popular ones—some of them free, and most of them inexpensive.
WinSplit Revolution
The free WinSplit Revolution is a great starter program. Simple and lightweight, WinSplit Revolution helps you manage multiple windows by assigning hotkeys to different window positions, and by providing a more sophisticated window-snapping feature.
Set up an exact layout for each window-snapping position with WinSplit Revolution.
WinSplit Revolution’s settings are completely customizable, and they handle everything from hotkeys to window-snapping positions, so you can move windows around swiftly and tile them exactly the way you want on each monitor. You can also set keyboard shortcuts for additional actions such as moving windows between monitors and toggling always-on-top desktop position.
A virtual numpad (a small on-screen arrow pad) is available for users who don’t mind clicking, but find dragging…well, a drag. You click the numpad to snap windows to various available positions. Though the idea itself is good, I found that the numpad tended to disappear inexplicably and remain gone until I restarted the program; even attempts to restore it from the program’s settings were futile. And because the numpad sits immovably at the top-left corner of the screen, it sometimes gets in the way of other windows’ options.
You can activate WinSplit Revolution’s window-dragging-to-snapping function from the keyboard.
That quibble aside, WinSplit Revolution is a simple yet powerful program. For convenient window snapping, this app is your best option.
Mosaico
If your window management needs go beyond mere window snapping, however, the $10 Mosaico may be a better fit. Unlike WinSplit Revolution, Mosaico has an actual program interface, and you can use it to create different desktop snapshots for various situations. Once you’re happy with the way your windows are laid out, click the snapshot button to save the arrangement. You can save eight different desktop snapshots and restore them easily from the program’s snapshot browser.
Mosaico’s simple interface revolves around taking (and restoring) desktop snapshots.
When restoring a snapshot, Mosaico will open relevant programs if they’re closed, and will minimize others that aren’t part of the snapshot. It can’t, however, open specific documents.
Snapshots aside, Mosaico offers an enhanced window-snapping feature, accessible by clicking arrows on the program’s interface or by dragging windows around. To perform the dragging function, you must first either enable the ‘Arrange manually’ option in the toolbar or press the M key. Mosaico supports multiple monitors well, and it comes with a built-in button for moving windows between monitors.
Mosaico’s position previews make it easy to drag windows to an exact position on the screen.
Mosaico’s biggest weakness involves its imperfect state of Windows 8 compatibility. Though the program runs fine on Windows 8, I noticed some quirks, such as random display issues, and the program wouldn’t let me set custom keyboard shortcuts. These issues don’t occur on every Windows 8 system, however, and they should be fixed in the program’s next update. As Mosaico offers a 14-day free trial, you can try the program out to see how it works on your system.
Chameleon Window Manager
Besides the ability to snap and tile windows, you may need more-advanced features in order to tame your desktop—such as windows that always open on a certain monitor or in a certain size, or easy access to transparency or always-on-top toggles, or program windows that snap automatically to one side of the screen whenever you open them.
Chameleon Window Manager’s interface takes a little getting used to.
Chameleon Window Manager offers these and other features, in one or more of three packages: a very limited free version; a $25 Standard version; and a $30 Pro version. Surprisingly, only the Pro version offers certain basic features such as drag-to-snap, while the Standard version, too, includes some more-advanced features.
The custom title-bar buttons in Chameleon are reminiscent of a child’s drawing, but they work.
Chameleon Window Manager gives you a multitude of options to apply to all of your windows, to specific programs, or even to specific windows within programs. Unfortunately, the interface is cluttered and confusing, so you could spend quite a while setting up everything. For each window, you can dedicate various title-bar buttons to performing actions such as basic snapping, monitor switching, and transparency toggling. Though the buttons are primitively designed, they work. You can save your configuration or create multiple ones and switch among them.
Chameleon’s window-snapping layout is completely customizable.
These features look great on paper, but in reality Chameleon Window Manager performed very inconsistently for me. My settings worked only some of the time, windows became transparent when they shouldn’t have, and the title-bar buttons disappeared inexplicably. You could try the 30-day free trial and see how you fare, but competing programs in this roundup offer more-effective window management for the money.
WindowSpace
Instead of focusing on how a window behaves when it’s opened, WindowSpace lets you control windows with dozens of customizable keyboard shortcuts. The operations involved range from regular window snapping and moving windows between monitors, to fine-tuning a window’s position on the screen, resizing, rolling up, and toggling transparency.
WindowSpace’s interface is one big settings screen, and getting acquainted with it takes time.
Aside from letting you use keyboard shortcuts, WindowSpace can enhance each window’s title bar with additional context menu items and mouse actions that you can use to specify which menu items you want to add, and even how you want them to appear in the context menu. You can also set title-bar buttons such as Close, Minimize, and Maximize to perform new actions when right-clicked or middle-clicked.
Unlike the snapping function on most other window managers, WindowSpace’s Snapping tab doesn’t automatically send windows to corners. Instead, it concentrates on how windows behave when they’re positioned next to each other: Will they automatically snap to each other, for instance, or will they overlap? WindowSpace makes it easy for you to arrange your windows however you want.
In lieu of buttons, WindowSpace adds configurable context-menu items.
The program’s lack of a real interface—and the number of settings you need to ponder before you can start setting things up—can be confusing at first. Nevertheless, for fine-tuned control, WindowSpace is a solid option. It costs $25 after a 30-day free trial.
Actual Window Manager
The four preceding tools above are free or reasonably inexpensive, but each offers only one set of features. The $50 Actual Window Manager includes every imaginable desktop-management feature, and then some—if you can find your way through the complicated, confusing, and rather unattractive interface.
Actual Window Manager’s interface teems with countless options and tweaks.
Divided into nine different tabs, Actual Window Manager offers everything from specific window settings, a customized set of title bar buttons, and a configurable desktop grid for dragging and snapping windows, to keyboard shortcuts (dozens of them), window mirrors, virtual desktops, and a flexible Start-menu replacement. Unlike most Start menu replacements, Actual Window Manager lets you add just a Start button, and have the new Windows 8 Starts screen pop out of it, at full size or half size.
You can transform the Start screen’s Apps section into a functional Start menu.
The program ably supports multiple monitors, giving you full control of multiple taskbars and their content. It even offers control of wallpaper settings, resolution controls, and other options that you’d normally select and manage through Windows’ native settings. Actual Window Manager includes more options than I could use in a year, and the program’s confusing interface can make them difficult to discover, but everything is there for the finding. All you need is the will to spend $50, the need for abundant features, and the patience to figure them out. The 60-day free trial can help you there.
Create your own desktop grids and dividers in Actual Window Manager, and use them to arrange your windows.
Taming wild windows
Windows is a manageable operating system even without these third-party programs; but once you add their fresh and useful features to the mix, you may find that going back isn’t an acceptable option. Whether you use multiple monitors or just one, a desktop manager can work wonders for your workflow. Try one, and see how well it helps you tame those wild and unmanageable beasts called windows.
Anyone who works in an office will know that when it’s time to run to the bathroom, the chances of someone snooping around the computer increases. Whether it’s a nosy colleague looking for gossip or a boss checking up on your work, no one wants to be caught out checking Facebook on company time. That’s where a small program called WinLock comes in to save you.
You may say why not just lock the entire computer using the key combination WIN + L ? Why bother with WinLock? Well, perhaps you don’t want to lock the entire computer. Maybe a colleague will need to use your computer while you are away. Whatever the reason, you can now lock a window and make it disappear entirely from your screen, confident that no-one will be able to access it while you are away. This is a feature that should really be offered by Microsoft, by default. If you can lock an entire operating system, why not a single window?
Using it is extremely simple. Once you have downloaded the program, install it onto your computer and when you need it, run it. A small window will open up, with a text field for a password. The default password is 123 but you can easily change the default 123 password to something a lot stronger and a lot more memorable, then click the “Hide WinLock To Taskbar Tray” link to hide the program.
: In the main window, set your password for unlocking the window later.
When you want to lock a window—whether it is Windows Explorer or a browser window—just bring that window into focus and press the key combination CTRL + Space. Instantly, the window will disappear, not only from the screen but also from the Quick Launch bar at the bottom of your screen. To the casual snooper, it’s as if the program is closed.
Obviously if a snooper were to check the Windows Task Manager, they would see the program still running, so this is not a foolproof system by any means. But interestingly enough, shutting down WinLock via the Task Manager does not make your window come back, so you can be sure that no-one can circumvent the security that way.
When you want to bring the window back, just double-click the program’s icon in the taskbar tray and when the program’s window pops up again, enter your password. Your previously hidden window will re-appear. It’s as simple as that.
When you are ready to unlock your window, click on the program in the taskbar and enter your password. Your window will then reappear.
It goes without saying that this app isn’t totally foolproof. Anyone determined enough to break the encryption would be able to do so, given enough time and effort, and your corporate IT department will still be able to monitor your browsing habits if they want to. But if you are only using this in a casual office / family setting, to give yourself some privacy for a few moments while you step away from the computer, then WinLock is a no-frills alternative that should keep you safe from the office gossip.
Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor’s site, where you can download the latest version of the software.
Cell Phone Spy Software: How It Can Help You Protect Your Kids.
Do you remember a time when there were no cell phones? Probably not, but when I has in high school, we didn’t have them. You had to go to a phone booth to make a call and people were not reachable once they had left their offices or houses. Today, if I forget my cell phone at home, I would stop and go back to get it, and then use it to tell the person that is waiting for me that I’ll arrive late....Click Here To Lean More!
