Windows 8, how to change a new account to administrator

I used a particular online account (for example, account1@hotmail.com) to sign in and use Windows 8. Account1@hotmail.com has administrator privileges.

When I sign in with account2@hotmail.com and go to the user account metro control panel I can't find an option to make it an administrator. You have to use the older desktop style administrator panel to switch the account from a standard user to administrator.

1. Windows key + X, and then control panel
2. Under users, there should be the option "Change account type".
3. Change account2@hotmail.com to administrator and you're done.

Article on automating your powershell reports

Automating PowerShell Reports, Part 1

For those of you stuck doing the really boring but necessary work on windows server, here is a good article on automating powershell reports. 

Do you trust the operating system that comes installed on your new hardware?

Brand-new hardware -- now with malware pre-installed! 

What Microsoft discovered is that electronics manufacturers' products were being compromised by insecure supply chains. In most cases, the manufacturers were buying, either knowingly or unknowingly, low-cost counterfeit software loaded with malware. Once the counterfeit software is installed, it's ultimately delivered to unsuspecting consumers.

Usually when I buy a new machine, I end up wiping the operating system of the system, and installing a fresh copy of an operating system. Sometimes its because I want to replace the original OS with Linux. Other times its mostly because I want to get a fresh install of Windows without the bloatware. Now there is another reason, though the article says the problem is mostly with vendors in China, its still safer to start fresh.

Visual studio 2008 TS uninstall

Visual Studio 2010 was released recently.  I wanted to uninstall 2008 and install 2010, but my installation of Visual Studio 2008 TS (full install) will not uninstall. Setup complains about components missing when I try to launch the uninstaller. The only solution so far has been for me to do a clean install of the OS on the system, and install Visual Studio 2010. Lots of hours wasted and I’m still not done yet. *Sigh*