If you are new to Windows Phone 8 & 8.1 or you would like to see what it is like as you are considering buying a Windows Phone handset then Windows Phone 8.1 Online Emulator From Microsoft is a great place to start. It is also useful to those still exploring or who just want to know their device better.
This is not a very clear thing, to be frank, so a couple of links to help:
Back up my stuff | Windows Phone How-to
Backup feature and privacy FAQ | Windows Phone How-to (United States)
The standard calculator in Windows Phone 8 seems rather basic, however rotate your phone 90 degrees clockwise and you get the "hex and logic" mode, rotate the other way, 90 degrees anti-clockwise and you get a "scientific" mode. Very nice but far from obvious. Oh and this also works on Windows Phone 7.5.
It is very easy to launch IE11 on Windows Phone and the latest version will sync tabs etc from Windows 8. However it is not so obvious if you can get an "In-Private" tab, well you can, as follows:
The place to start with this is Sync my Windows Phone | Windows Phone How-to. However if you just want to sync your phone with your computer see one of the following links:
I have never personally had an issues with Windows Phone 8 software update but if you do have issues, one option might be Support - Software Recovery - Nokia - USA however I would ask Nokia Care (NokiaHelps) on Twitter first.
If you want to check whether an update is available or what the latest update is for your handset then see Software update for Lumia with Windows Phone 8 - Nokia.
There are several options here, depending on how bad things are, so I will start with the easy, least serious options and then progress, however please think carefully before doing a hard reset! There is also a Microsoft article Your Windows Phone 8 doesn't work or respond as expected which covers some of this and is well worth reading. So first off:
This will clear some issues, if your phone is usable:
There are two ways to do this, you could take the battery out but this is not possible on a lot of Lumias, so you just wait for the power to drain. This is also an option if your phone is stuck or frozen. Once the phone's battery is flat, connect a charger, the Windows key should flash, leave it a bit longer and then you can turn your phone on. Don't panic if you can't turn it on immediately, this is normal, the phones like a bit of charge before they will start.
This should work whatever state your phone is in:
This option comes with a warning, which is that this will wipe your phone of all your data.
If these problems occurred during a software update and you are still having issues then Nokia have recently released Nokia Software Recovery Tool which will help load the latest firmware onto a troublesome device. You can also consult Solutions to update issues on Windows Phone | Windows Phone How-to (United Kingdom) which may help.
The Nokia S40 link also covers Windows Phone 7.5 and 7.8 and the first link connects to all the others:
Just hold the Power and Volume Up buttons at the same time.
This was not as easy to setup on Windows Phone 8 as Windows 8, somehow. The trick is to login to Windows Phone (United Kingdom) or the correct version for your region. Then click on the phone icon in the top right and select "My Family" from the drop down list, from here you can add a child. This assumes they have logged into their Windows Phone with their Microsoft account. The key lesson for me was when it says they are associated with another family, then they are! Too many Microsoft accounts is a bad thing. However once this is done, all is good.
Microsoft released MS-DOS Mobile | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United Kingdom) as an April Fool in 2015. However there are a number of commands you need to know to have all the fun!
If you want to watch either because you don't have a Windows Phone or Microsoft have removed the app then just watch 16 hidden MS-DOS Mobile commands - YouTube. The commands are as follows:
I have had issues with the OneNote app quitting when opening a particular page. On investigating the "sync" was failing. First try doing a Soft Reset. If that does not help then you can just delete the OneNote file but I couldn't figure that out! However you can go to Settings --> Applications --> Office and then click "Reset Office", which will remove all local copies of Office files. Bit of a sledgehammer, but it worked.