Tips & Tricks For Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 Newbies!!

Hello everyone and welcome to Windows Phone..let's begin  1. So whether you came from Android or not, you need to know that there's no "rooting" available for Windows Phone ..yet (except some Samsung WPs). And to be honest, there's a successful attempt of rooting a modern Lumia WP 8.1 but it involved buying special hardware and contains many risks. 2. Now you're asking yourself: what I am gonna do then? Well, you can developer-unclock your phone to transfer cracked apps to your phone. 3. Windows Phone uses XAP & APPX as applications and games extentions like APK for Android apps and games. #Let's start with the common problems:  1. Custom ringtone: the Microsoft website says that you need to connect your phone via USB and transfer your ringtones to the folder named Ringtones in your phone storage. Then in Settings open Ringtones + sounds, then tap Ringtone to see a list of your available ringtones. Your new ringtone will appear under Custom  in the list. WRONG!  Well, it didn't work for me and many people reported the same. What worked for me was download and using Ringtone Maker. Period. 2. Installing apps from storage: you can download an app with your PC from the WP Store. Just scroll down the required app page and click on "Download and install manually". Your phone MUST have an SD card. - Transfer the app's XAP file to your SD card. You could place it anywhere. - Restart your phone and make sure you have an internet connection available. - Launch Store and tap on ... to view the short menu and you will find "Install local apps". 3. Your phone is lacking Windows Phone 8.1 update?: launch Store and look for -Preview for Devolopers- app, download and launch the app and the rest is easily explained within the app. 4. Cortana isn't available: change your region to United States, restart and you will have her. - Let me know about others and will update the post. #MUST-have apps:  1. All-in-one player: QuickPlay Pro which I use it as an MP3 player only because it has folder playing feature. CLICK HERE! Note: there's no cracked XAP available for this app and so I decided to support the developer and buy the app. There's a free ad-supported version but folder playing is a PRO feature. CLICK HERE! 2. Battery saver: Windows Phones come with a battery saver app but it lacks a lot of features and that's why there's Juicy. It's the best lightest battery app for WP. CLICK HERE! Note: Again there's no cracked XAP available and I had to buy it. You could still try the app for 3 days free. Note 2: A FREE option available is Battery. CLICK HERE! - Let me know about others and will update the post. #Developer-Unlock your Windows Phone 8:  - I have only tested this on Windows 8.1 PC. - This process requires: Visual C++ 2010 Express Edition which can be found HERE! - This process requires: Visual C++ 2012 which can be found HERE - This process requires: Windows Phone 8 SDK Tools Lite CLICK HERE! (64.5 MB) & Windows Phone 8.1 SDK Tools LiteCLICK HERE! (94.1 MB) - This process requires: Chinese Hack Tool UCWeb.com_ZombieZoom_aiyingyong_pc_v4.5.exe (12.15 MB, Downloads: 23)  - This process requires Windows Phone Tools 2.83 UCWeb.com_ZombieZoom_WindowsPhonePowerTools.application (2.2 KB, Downloads: 14)  1. Install both Visual C++ versions first then both Windows Phone SDK versions. 2. Install Chinese Hack Tool and after finishing the installation, close the window and do not launch it yet. 3. Connect your phone via USB to your PC, go to My Computer and rename it Lumia 920. 4. Make sure your phone is connected to the internet and screen unlocked then launch the Chinese Hack Tool. 5. You should see something like this:  6. Click on the blue button and wait till it finishes. 7. If your phone is developer-unlocked, it will be colorful and not grey as shown in the previous picture. Note: This trick gives you max 10 unsigned cracked apps to be sideloaded. Note 2: If you want to sideload more apps, simply install your cracked apps and move them to your SD card and remove it. Then install more apps, reinsert your SD card and move them. Repeat the process whenver needed. #Sideload cracked apps to your phone:  1. Install Windows Phone Tools 2.83, connect your phone and launch it. 2. Select "Device" from the drop-down menu and click on "Connect" then browse for your XAP files and add them. 3. Click on "Install" to install them. Note: It takes time depending on the size of the XAP file. Note 2: It can only install cracked XAP files. Unmodified XAP files fail in installation.