WIndows 8. Like, dislike, hate? Who cares?

[Merc14]

I appreciate this thread you started because I, like others, am having my doubts about Win8.

One of my main doubts was because this OS is clearly oriented towards touchscreens and regular laptops and desktops are being pushed away in a dark corner. Or so it seemed.

I searched if it was easy to switch to the desktop layout instead of the metro style. You write it;s just a click of a button, but when i searched the net i found all these overly complex ways to do it. For example: Going into the registry and changing a value, or even deleting certain .dll files. So i have to wonder, why are they putting all those complex ways out there if it can just be done by a click of a button, or is it less user-friendly than that?

Also, someone wrote they had immens problems with installing a SATA drive. So im wondering if this Win8 version could have other driver and install problems.

And usually, according to Windows tradition and my bias, you always have a stable version and then the next version is total crap, and after that they bring out a stable version again. See Win xp - Vista - Win7.

The registry changes you are seeing are folks that want to launch directly to the desktop and never see Metro. Seriously, you click on the desktop tile and you are there or hit Windows key + D. I usually put my computer to sleep so when it wakes up I am at desktop anyways and rarely see teh metro UI.

Another good shortcut is Windows Key + F brings up the search where you can type in anything you want to find.

This version is rock solid and I have no idea what the problem is with installing a SATA drive. I suspect that they are installing a new drive and boot is getting shifted to that drive.

It is different, however, and the metro ui seems unnecessary on a desktop, like they are forcing the issue but it is not a hard system to lean. I know that moving to Apple is a much more radical change but people do it all the time.

Edited December 4, 2012 by Merc14

[Render]

The registry changes you are seeing are folks that want to launch directly to the desktop and never see Metro. Seriously, you click on the desktop tile and you are there or hit Windows key + D. I usually put my computer to sleep so when it wakes up I am at desktop anyways and rarely see teh metro UI.

Another good shortcut is Windows Key + F brings up the search where you can type in anything you want to find.

This version is rock solid and I have no idea what the problem is with installing a SATA drive. I suspect that they are installing a new drive and boot is getting shifted to that drive.

It is different, however, and the metro ui seems unnecessary on a desktop, like they are forcing the issue but it is not a hard system to lean. I know that moving to Apple is a much more radical change but people do it all the time.

Alright, thanks for the additional info!

[Merc14]

I have officially given up offering Windows 8 to any but the really needy. The underlying system is awesome and one of the best OS's ever but the UI is beyond my power to defend. Maybe on a tablet or phone but not on a desktop. Too hard to offer my trusting customers this UI. Good luck MS. I like the OS but I am a geek and therefore not a great sample set. You guys were an awesome sampling and did help my decision process. thanks

Edited December 26, 2012 by Merc14

[little_dreamer]

Well, I bought a laptop on sale with Windows 8. Boy, what a learning curve! I miss my Start button and Programs menus. It kept having to reboot many times due to an error. Seems to be more stable now. I can't imagine running Win 8 in a corporate environment yet.

Though there are some decent free games from the Microsoft store. I'm just a casual game player. Solitare and things like that.

[Eldorado]

I have officially given up offering Windows 8 to any but the really needy. The underlying system is awesome and one of the best OS's ever but the UI is beyond my power to defend. Maybe on a tablet or phone but not on a desktop. Too hard to offer my trusting customers this UI. Good luck MS. I like the OS but I am a geek and therefore not a great sample set. You guys were an awesome sampling and did help my decision process. thanks

I'm still impressed and grateful for your tip , mate!

A geek also (a desktop system-builder hobbyist), I've messed about with it and reinstalled via the disk image and it reinstalled superbly. Not a single driver or personal setting had to be sorted.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Eldorado

[Merc14]

I'm still impressed and grateful for your tip , mate!

A geek also (a desktop system-builder hobbyist), I've messed about with it and reinstalled via the disk image and it reinstalled superbly. Not a single driver or personal setting had to be sorted.

I may be rethinking this whole thing because I am starting to see reasonably proced touchscreen monitors appear. Newegg has a 21.5" Viewsonic for $316. Touch changes everything when considering Win 8 for your everyday user.

[Merc14]

Article wityh links tio everyrthing you want to know about how to optimize windows 8

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2023340/ultimate-windows-8-starter-guide-must-know-tips-apps-and-utilities.html#tk.nl_pwr

[Classified Document]

Thanks for starting up this thread Merc. I didn't know Windows 8 even existed up intill a little while ago. Now, I know a few interesting things about the OS thanks to you guys.

I might consider switching to 8, but I want to see how it plays out first. Wait till it gets a few updates etc.

[Merc14]

Thanks for starting up this thread Merc. I didn't know Windows 8 even existed up intill a little while ago. Now, I know a few interesting things about the OS thanks to you guys.

I might consider switching to 8, but I want to see how it plays out first. Wait till it gets a few updates etc.

Just be aware that the $39.99 deal for Windows 8 Pro ends on January 31st. I just bought a 120Gb SSD for my main shop desktop and am going to upgrade it to windows 8 this week.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Merc14

[Merc14]

Just installed Windows 8 Pro on my desktop with a new 120GB Kingston Hyper-X SSD I got for $99 at Newegg. I turned my RAID 0 2x150GB Raptors into a RAID 1 for real time storage and then installed Win 8 on the SSD. My desktop specs are Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 overclocked to 2.9GHz on air with 8GB of Corsair DDR2-800 memory. All I can say is wow, this thing is fast and this is some older equipment. I haven't upgraded because the rig is rock solid and still very fast and now with an SSD and Win 8 it is smokin' hot.

For those that care, I have the SSD as the OS and programs disk, the two raptors in RAID 1 for storage and I set the My Pictures, My Documents, My Videos and My Music defaults to the RAID 1 to keep that data off the SSD. I have a 640GB on line as well for more storage and a 1TB in an external for backing everything up. I leave the external off 99% of the time to keep it isolated. Most of my other equipment is used, believe it or not, from benchmarking buddies that were moving up or souldn't getthe stuff fast enough (I always did). I had the Q6600 on water and overclocked to 3.6GHz daily for years. It is now running at a 500MHz OC (2.9GHz) on air which is plenty for what I do now. Memory is cheap so load up. Using a Radeon 5750 a buddy gave me for building a computer for him. Case is a Lian Li a customer gave me for swapping her to a smaller Lian Li she bought that I had recommedned to begin with. I installed a USB 3.0 card in a PCIe slot and hooked it to a f3.5" bay card reader with a USB 3 slot on it.

7.2 on the Windows Experience Index but win 8 has a top score of 9.9 compared to Win 7's 7.9 but still, pretty damn good I'd say.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Merc14

[Bonecrusher]

I'm sorry but Windows 8 or anything similar can seriously damage your laptop.

It's those stupid,pointless updates that they insist you download every time.

Well being the smart alec that I am I decided to halt the downloading process when it was halfway through.

I just wanted to go to bed so they foisted this update on me just as I was about to switch off.

It was the worst thing I could ever do because it fried my laptop and cast me in the Internet wilderness.

It wasn't totally fried because I had to stick this attachment on my laptop but the broadband was at a snail's pace.

But there wasn't really any point because it felt like I was catching flies when all I wanted was a super fast connection.

However there is a downside for not being on a laptop or PC and having to rely on a tablet.

I can't cut and paste links,videos and pictures or utilise the smileys here.

I'll just got to count my blessings I can do anything with it.

So in a nutshell I dislike any Windows system even though in reality I'm very limited as to what I can do.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Medium Brown

[Merc14]

I'm sorry but Windows 8 or anything similar can seriously damage your laptop.

It's those stupid,pointless updates that they insist you download every time.

Well being the smart alec that I am I decided to halt the downloading process when it was halfway through.

I just wanted to go to bed so they foisted this update on me just as I was about to switch off.

It was the worst thing I could ever do because it fried my laptop and cast me in the Internet wilderness.

It wasn't totally fried because I had to stick this attachment on my laptop but the broadband was at a snail's pace.

But there wasn't really any point because it felt like I was catching flies when all I wanted was a super fast connection.

However there is a downside for not being on a laptop or PC and having to rely on a tablet.

I can't cut and paste links,videos and pictures or utilise the smileys here.

I'll just got to count my blessings I can do anything with it.

So in a nutshell I dislike any Windows system even though in reality I'm very limited as to what I can do.

All operating systems do updates and interrupting them can sometimes corrupt the operating system. Nothing was fried or mechanically hurt, the OS was corrupted. Do a system restore to just prior to the update and then run the update again.

BTW, the updates aren't pointless, they are either fixing bugs or plugging vulnerabilities. ALso, the OS doesn't seriously damage your laptop, it is what makes your laptop run. without an OS you can't do much. ALso, that tablet you are on does updates to its OS as well and if you interrupt it you will corrupt it as well.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Merc14

[Bonecrusher]

All operating systems do updates and interrupting them can sometimes corrupt the operating system. Nothing was fried or mechanically hurt, the OS was corrupted. Do a system restore to just prior to the update and then run the update again.

BTW, the updates aren't pointless, they are either fixing bugs or plugging vulnerabilities. ALso, the OS doesn't seriously damage your laptop, it is what makes your laptop run. without an OS you can't do much. ALso, that tablet you are on does updates to its OS as well and if you interrupt it you will corrupt it as well.

If only I had these pearls of wisdom five years ago....

But I must have been hanging about in the wrong company at the time.

I'm not denying the usefulness of these OS's but the time-consuming nature of the updates.

I havn't really got the patience of a saint so I do the first thing that comes to mind.

And I certainly corrupted it with the efficiency of a computer virus.

I did notice though after downloading previous OP updates the pop-ups diminished.

Tbh I should have more faith in these updates because it's giving me subtle hints.

However I'm more interested in the actual browser for your Internet than the OP.

Atm,it's not actually asking me on my tablet to download anything.

But it does need re-booting now and again through the settings app.

[Merc14]

If only I had these pearls of wisdom five years ago....

But I must have been hanging about in the wrong company at the time.

I'm not denying the usefulness of these OS's but the time-consuming nature of the updates.

I havn't really got the patience of a saint so I do the first thing that comes to mind.

And I certainly corrupted it with the efficiency of a computer virus.

I did notice though after downloading previous OP updates the pop-ups diminished.

Tbh I should have more faith in these updates because it's giving me subtle hints.

However I'm more interested in the actual browser for your Internet than the OP.

Atm,it's not actually asking me on my tablet to download anything.

But it does need re-booting now and again through the settings app.

Windows makes a restore point just prior to installing a major update just in case teh system is shut down in the middle. You can restore to that point in about 5 minutes. The pop-ups indicate a possible malware infection.