Technical information

Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition
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✓ Now, the procedure: If Windows complains that
a newly inserted card isn’t formatted, right-click
its drive and choose Format. (This problem hap-
pens most often with brand-new or damaged
cards.) Sometimes formatting also helps one
gadget use a card designed for a different
gadget— your digital camera may be able to
use your MP3 player’s card, for example.
SkyDrive: Your Cubbyhole
in the Clouds
Storing files inside your computer works fine while
you’re at home or work. And when leaving your com-
puter, you can tote files on flash drives, CDs, DVDs,
and portable hard drives — if you remember to grab
them on the way out. But how can you access your
files from anywhere, even if you’ve forgotten to
pack them?
Microsoft’s solution to that problem is called
SkyDrive. Basically, it’s your own private storage
space on the Internet where you can dump your files
and then retrieve them whenever you find an Internet
connection. Romantic engineers refer to Internet-
stashed files as cloud storage.
The Windows 8 Start screen comes with the free
SkyDrive app, but you need a few extra things in
order to use it:
✓ Microsoft account: You need a Microsoft
account in order to upload or retrieve files to
SkyDrive. Chances are, you created a Microsoft
account when you first created your account on
your Windows 8 PC. (I describe Microsoft
accounts in Chapter 1.)
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