Hidden things I found in Windows 8.1: Notifications and more

[Robert Carpenter]

Here are some system files that I found in the "C:\Windows\System32" directory:

"SlideToShutDown.exe" - There were lots of compaints from people who couldn't figure out how to shutdown/restart there computer using Windows 8. From the name alone, it sounds like this might be a new way to shutdown your computer using touch. Maybe holding the power button like you would do with a Windows Phone, and then sliding the screen down to confirm the shutdown?

"phoneactivate.exe" - No idea what this could be, but this file doesn't exist in the current Windows 8 system. This file is new in Windows 8.1 and the name suggest it has something to do with phone integration. What the word "activate" implies is left unanswered.

Edit: Looked into the file's code. This file actually has to do with how the Windows 8.1 license is activated by telephone. My guess is that this helps fix some of the telephone exploits people were using to activate illegal copies of Windows 8.

"EmbeddedAppLauncher.exe" - Not too sure about this one. Might have to dig into the actual code this file contains, but it could potentially be related to the "Kiosk Mode" that will restrict the operating system to running one single app.

"EscSetup.exe" - "ESC" is an acronym for "Enterprise Client Sync". The icon for this file is the same as Skydrive. This is without a doubt the business version of Skydrive for business users. Businesses will be able to have their own private file storage which will make it easier to share and store files across the business.

"CloudNotifications.exe" - This is the most important file in my opinion. Since Microsoft is focusing on the entire ecosystem, chances are that Microsoft's solution to a notification center will be integrated across all devices in the cloud. This file is proof of that. To the Windows Phone users, this file explains why a notification center will not be coming in the GDR2 and GDR3 updates. A unified notification center is a lot more work, and the windows "blue" updates are the updates that are catering to ecosystem integration. The GDR updates are more focused on fixes and improvements, not new features.

Edit: Did some digging into the CloudNotifications code. The system works off of Skydrive and the settings are located in the new Metro Control Panel.

"wifidisplay.dll" - The obvious functionality of this file is native Wifi-Display integration. If the new Xbox supports Wifi-Display, we could be extending our metro apps on our phones and computers to our TV with ease in the near future.

I have not seen any articles mentioning any of these files/features, so I hope they helped give some ideas to what we can look forward to in the Windows 8.1 update.

 

[froi francisco]

Nice find!

 

[YCSMD]

Nice finds!!
Sent from my HTC6990LVW using Board Express

 

[halamadridkimi]

oh **** awesome

 

[YCSMD]

Really stoked about cloud notifications and WiFi display.
Sent from my HTC6990LVW using Board Express

 

[Robert Carpenter]

Thank you to whoever took note of this and posted it on Winphoneviet | C for others to see. Glad to see others found it interesting.

 

[vlad0]

Very nice.. thanks!

I saw your post in the xbox section about the Wi-Fi direct integration.. cool stuff

 

[anon(4757114)]

Nice finds... Thanks.

 

[Robert Carpenter]

Now there is an extremely high importance to WifiDirect, since the Xbox One, the Xbox One controller, and Xbox One Kinect all use WifiDirect. I guess my predictions were correct.

 

[Adretheon]

Quik google search brought up this

Windows RT 8.1 leak suggests Windows Phone Blue will get VPN, Bluetooth 4 and LE support and much, much more | WMPoweruser

Looks like a lot of new features.

 

[stephen_az]

Quik google search brought up this

Windows RT 8.1 leak suggests Windows Phone Blue will get VPN, Bluetooth 4 and LE support and much, much more | WMPoweruser

Looks like a lot of new features.

I am sorry but that "article" represents little more than idle speculation. Windows RT can only be used to inform regarding Windows RT and Windows 8. It means absolutely nothing with regard to Windows Phone at this time - it is only people with too much time on their hands (who also want the 15 minutes of fame) who insist any convergence of Windows Phone and Windows 8/RT. Some things may happen at some point but claiming some false commonality of the OSs as a basis for extrapolation is just silly. Even if things were directly referencing a mobile OS, they could have no connection to any real (or yet designed) features. Microsoft has built elements and code into their flagship OS for potential future device compatibility for years.

 

[stephen_az]

Here are some system files that I found in the "C:\Windows\System32" directory:

"SlideToShutDown.exe" - There were lots of compaints from people who couldn't figure out how to shutdown/restart there computer using Windows 8. From the name alone, it sounds like this might be a new way to shutdown your computer using touch. Maybe holding the power button like you would do with a Windows Phone, and then sliding the screen down to confirm the shutdown?

"phoneactivate.exe" - No idea what this could be, but this file doesn't exist in the current Windows 8 system. This file is new in Windows 8.1 and the name suggest it has something to do with phone integration. What the word "activate" implies is left unanswered.

Edit: Looked into the file's code. This file actually has to do with how the Windows 8.1 license is activated by telephone. My guess is that this helps fix some of the telephone exploits people were using to activate illegal copies of Windows 8.

"EmbeddedAppLauncher.exe" - Not too sure about this one. Might have to dig into the actual code this file contains, but it could potentially be related to the "Kiosk Mode" that will restrict the operating system to running one single app.

"EscSetup.exe" - "ESC" is an acronym for "Enterprise Client Sync". The icon for this file is the same as Skydrive. This is without a doubt the business version of Skydrive for business users. Businesses will be able to have their own private file storage which will make it easier to share and store files across the business.

"CloudNotifications.exe" - This is the most important file in my opinion. Since Microsoft is focusing on the entire ecosystem, chances are that Microsoft's solution to a notification center will be integrated across all devices in the cloud. This file is proof of that. To the Windows Phone users, this file explains why a notification center will not be coming in the GDR2 and GDR3 updates. A unified notification center is a lot more work, and the windows "blue" updates are the updates that are catering to ecosystem integration. The GDR updates are more focused on fixes and improvements, not new features.

Edit: Did some digging into the CloudNotifications code. The system works off of Skydrive and the settings are located in the new Metro Control Panel.

"wifidisplay.dll" - The obvious functionality of this file is native Wifi-Display integration. If the new Xbox supports Wifi-Display, we could be extending our metro apps on our phones and computers to our TV with ease in the near future.

I have not seen any articles mentioning any of these files/features, so I hope they helped give some ideas to what we can look forward to in the Windows 8.1 update.

While interesting bits of information, I would be a rather cautious about over-speculating and saying things such as "without a doubt" since, unless you know the functionality is there it really is just speculation. I must also state again that there is no confirmation that Blue is really about ecosystem integration. That is unconfirmed speculation that has already been debunked on several fronts. Most importantly, Microsoft itself refers to Blue as the Windows 8/RT 8.1 update and nothing more. Of course the whole idea that updates would be on the same schedule (other than Windows 8/RT) was debunked months ago. Useful information but beyond that it is still speculation. At least on my front I would prefer less speculation since I could live with a few less tantrums when certain speculated features are not really present/functional when released.

 

[vlad0]

I think that the auto scaling is one of the most important additions to win 8

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/blue-automatic-desktop-display-scaling

 

[Robert Carpenter]

While interesting bits of information, I would be a rather cautious about over-speculating and saying things such as "without a doubt" since, unless you know the functionality is there it really is just speculation. I must also state again that there is no confirmation that Blue is really about ecosystem integration. That is unconfirmed speculation that has already been debunked on several fronts. Most importantly, Microsoft itself refers to Blue as the Windows 8/RT 8.1 update and nothing more. Of course the whole idea that updates would be on the same schedule (other than Windows 8/RT) was debunked months ago. Useful information but beyond that it is still speculation. At least on my front I would prefer less speculation since I could live with a few less tantrums when certain speculated features are not really present/functional when released.

How is any of this speculation? The files exist, there's no way to deny that. On top of that, I took it a step further and did what very few member here are capable of doing. I reverse engineered each file's source code to analyze their code and functionality.

You seem like you are being stubborn and conveying that "you won't believe it unless you see it". It disappoints me that I can take the time and use my experience to uncover features that no other tech site has reported on yet, and still have people like you argue it simply because they can't understand.

Downloading a leaked copy and looking through a list of files is one thing that few people did. But taking each file and reverse-engineering them? Show some respect.

Also, ANY system files found in Windows 8 will be found in Windows RT. The system are identical exact copies, simply compiled for two different architectures. That's why you can hack Windows RT to install and run full desktop applications.

 

[nMIK-3]

"CloudNotifications.exe" - This is the most important file in my opinion. Since Microsoft is focusing on the entire ecosystem, chances are that Microsoft's solution to a notification center will be integrated across all devices in the cloud. This file is proof of that. To the Windows Phone users, this file explains why a notification center will not be coming in the GDR2 and GDR3 updates. A unified notification center is a lot more work, and the windows "blue" updates are the updates that are catering to ecosystem integration. The GDR updates are more focused on fixes and improvements, not new features.

Edit: Did some digging into the CloudNotifications code. The system works off of Skydrive and the settings are located in the new Metro Control Panel.

So do you still think that the CloudNotifications.exe has something to do with a real Notification Center with real time sync abilities between Windows devices (meaning what everyone is expecting) or it is just some kind of Notifications service, just limited to SkyDrive?

 

[Robert Carpenter]

So do you still think that the CloudNotifications.exe has something to do with a real Notification Center with real time sync abilities between Windows devices (meaning what everyone is expecting) or it is just some kind of Notifications service, just limited to SkyDrive?

Definitely nothing limited to Skydrive. That's the beauty of Skydrive. Sykdrive is used for anything that is persistant across devices using the same Microsoft Account.

Logically, I don't really see a need for any Skydrive-specific notifications. What would Skydrive possibly notify you about? You're files being out of sync? Obviously it's plausible, but some of the code deals with things that wouldn't make sense for a limited system.

I found code dealing with the forwarding of notifications. Makes perfect sense, because there are obviously going to be notifications that you DON'T want synced across your devices.
I also found code dealing with Notification Queues, code dealing with notifications that have already been viewed on another device. (If you see a notification on one device, you don't want to be reading it again on a different device)

Looking at the system as a whole, the functionality is too broad and flexible to be anything limited to Skydrive. I just hope everything goes according to plan and it doesn't get pushed back for Windows 8.2

 

[nMIK-3]

Definitely nothing limited to Skydrive. That's the beauty of Skydrive. Sykdrive is used for anything that is persistant across devices using the same Microsoft Account.

Logically, I don't really see a need for any Skydrive-specific notifications. What would Skydrive possibly notify you about? You're files being out of sync? Obviously it's plausible, but some of the code deals with things that wouldn't make sense for a limited system.

I found code dealing with the forwarding of notifications. Makes perfect sense, because there are obviously going to be notifications that you DON'T want synced across your devices.
I also found code dealing with Notification Queues, code dealing with notifications that have already been viewed on another device. (If you see a notification on one device, you don't want to be reading it again on a different device)

Looking at the system as a whole, the functionality is too broad and flexible to be anything limited to Skydrive. I just hope everything goes according to plan and it doesn't get pushed back for Windows 8.2

Exactly my thoughts... And most importantly lets hope its a real Notification Center and not just an update, more advance solution based on the current on Tiles Notifications. I highly doubt it though, especially if you seriously consider the code evidence you provided. Lets keep our finger crossed. Hopefully this is another pleasant surprise that Microsoft is holding tight for Build and hasn't really leaked yet.