Windows eight on a desk top PC

[Schnuz]

OK then to get the ball rolling I thought I would ask a quick question:

Windows eight for a desk top computer; does anyone like it?

I mistakenly bought a new PC (forced too as the old PC died and I needed the logging fix ) without researching windows eight . How difficult can it be I thought ? I've used many different versions of windows and some had irritating quirks, mainly due to the work PC's running a different version but all of them had a “revert to previous style” so I wasn't constantly moving the mouse to the wrong area . Windows eight however doesn't have that option and the whole thing is, in my and quite a few other people's opinion, pants for a desk top computer .

I'll leave it there for now so as not to bias any opinions (unless you may have read some of my frustrated posts ).

Answers to the usual address (I would have done one of those poll thingies if they are still available but if changing an opperating system has me flummoxed for the most part so I have no chance with that ).

Cheers

Schnuz.

Hahaarrgghh yeah goin' to PIRATEMANIA VI 2013? The only MEGA PIRATE event in the UK to attend? More details to follow as it hasn't been arranged yet [:D].
Hahaarrgghh, be seein' yah thar yah filthy landlubbers!

[JeremyR]

Out of interest, how do you shut the blasted thing down? Apparently that stumps most people. I've had a 30 second look at it in a computer shop but I didn't want get in trouble

My immediate gut instinct impression though was that they were desperately trying to force us to move to tablet style devices... Like they're suitable for desktop computing needs...

[ferreter38]

I do wish MS would stop mucking about with operating systems... Win 7 I like, but even then they keep banging out up-dates every couple of weeks.

I've got a problem with my laptop - Acer partitioned a 160Gb hard drive I've now only got less than a Gb on my "C" drive. I've transferred loads of files to my expansion drive but I reckon all these flaming up-dates have nearly brought "C" to a stand still

[JeremyR]

Running Disk Cleanup (it's in the start menu) on the C: drive should remove any unneeded windows update install files, etc. If you've never run it before and have had it a while, that may get you a surprising amount of space back, especially if there's loads of stuff sat in the temp dir and recycle bin.

If by partitioned, you mean that some of the space on your drive is unallocated, you can put it into a secondary partition via disk management (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management) although you don't want to mess with that if you don't understand what you're changing because it'll render the contents of the drive unrecoverable if you do the wrong thing.

[Schnuz]

Out of interest, how do you shut the blasted thing down? Apparently that stumps most people. I've had a 30 second look at it in a computer shop but I didn't want get in trouble

My immediate gut instinct impression though was that they were desperately trying to force us to move to tablet style devices... Like they're suitable for desktop computing needs...

Ha ha sir, well done!

One of my bug bears on the system.

It took me two days to work that one out (and a bit of time on t'interweb ). It turns out there are several shortcut key combinations that can be employed but the best alternative to an actual shut down option a key click away is to set the options for pressing the power button . You can press and hold the power button, not the best option as it forces a shut down but if you dig into the options you can set the power button to turn off when pressed . That was quite a few precious hours of my life that I won't get back .

Cheers

Schnuz.

Hahaarrgghh yeah goin' to PIRATEMANIA VI 2013? The only MEGA PIRATE event in the UK to attend? More details to follow as it hasn't been arranged yet [:D].
Hahaarrgghh, be seein' yah thar yah filthy landlubbers!

[PopUpPirate]

I've got it on here (Laptop PC) and whilst it works fine, it's a backwards step. A mouse is SO much more accurate and controllable than a swipe of a finger, yet the mouse interface has been abandoned for a big thick stick. Big fail really. It's not like it's painful to use, it's just more awkward.

[ferreter38]

Windows 8 is not for me then - I always use a mouse on my laptop and netbook. Hate the flipping touch pad thingy, can't get on with it at all.

[JeremyR]

And by peculiar twist of fate, here I am sitting on a brand new desktop (kid's Christmas pressie... just making sure it works, you know ) running Windows 8. Turns out that Windows 7 PCs have become extremely hard to find locally. I don't know whether MS insisted they be pulled or there was a run on them but they're well and truly gone.

Anyway, quickly discovered an essential pro-tip for people who hate the god-awful start menu (and it is, absolutely bloody awful - took me ten minutes to find the control panel and another ten minutes to get out again...). Anyway, press WindowsKey+X anywhere (even in The Interface Formerly Known As Metro) to open a power user menu with options for pretty much everything they've made difficult to find...

Turns out that my cunning plan to get Windows 7 downgrade rights won't work so that's forcing me to stick with this monstrosity for now. I might well buy a Win7 license for it, though... I'm not liking this thing very much...

[Schnuz]

And by peculiar twist of fate, here I am sitting on a brand new desktop (kid's Christmas pressie... just making sure it works, you know ) running Windows 8. Turns out that Windows 7 PCs have become extremely hard to find locally. I don't know whether MS insisted they be pulled or there was a run on them but they're well and truly gone.

Anyway, quickly discovered an essential pro-tip for people who hate the god-awful start menu (and it is, absolutely bloody awful - took me ten minutes to find the control panel and another ten minutes to get out again...). Anyway, press WindowsKey+X anywhere (even in The Interface Formerly Known As Metro) to open a power user menu with options for pretty much everything they've made difficult to find...

Turns out that my cunning plan to get Windows 7 downgrade rights won't work so that's forcing me to stick with this monstrosity for now. I might well buy a Win7 license for it, though... I'm not liking this thing very much...

That's excellent , hadn't found that short cut . I ended up down loading a program called StartMenu8 http://goo.gl/lLw4h which slows the start up process a little but by passes the metro screen and gives you a resemblance of the start button back (and it has improved since I first downloaded it .

Cheers

Schnuz.

Hahaarrgghh yeah goin' to PIRATEMANIA VI 2013? The only MEGA PIRATE event in the UK to attend? More details to follow as it hasn't been arranged yet [:D].
Hahaarrgghh, be seein' yah thar yah filthy landlubbers!

[androidandy]

I made a choice (should be a mistake) to upgrade to Windows 8. After preparing my Sony Vaio, (because they have their own interface on top of Windows 7), to make it ready for the upgrade, the download failed from the Microsoft website. Loads of people are having problems so eventually i got the DVD.
Started the update (having done a backup) and about 2 hours later I had a laptop with Windows 8.
I have regretted it ever since.
Internet Explorer opens full screen, no menu bar, not found the option to turn it back on.
Having to go back to the Metro screen to turn it off, then read the halpful hint above about reprogramming the power button.
After 3 weeks of struggling I searched Google for "Make Windows 8 like Windows 7" and found a useful article that involves downloading a small program that allows you to bypass the Metro screen.
My laptop now looks like Windows 7 with the 'benefits' of being Windows 8 (still wondering what they are)
At least geocaching isn't affected by it

[ferreter38]

I had been thinking about getting a new laptop but will wait for Windows 9

[JeremyR]

I have regretted it ever since.
Internet Explorer opens full screen, no menu bar, not found the option to turn it back on.

MSIE is afflicted by multiple personality disorder in Win8. If you open it from the Metro start menu, you get that horrible fullscreen 'pretending I'm a tablet' rubbish. If you start it from the desktop environment you'll get something a bit more familiar. I'd be remiss if I didn't suggest dumping it entirely for Firefox or Chrome, though

I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and I still just don't 'get' Metro. It's a powerful, beastly quad core machine with a huge amount of ram. It has a 20 inch, 1900x1080 monitor. It has a keyboard and a mouse. It is not a sodding iPad! I don't want to be assaulted by an explosion in a rainbow factory every time I boot it up. I want to be able to see more than one application at once on all that screen space. Just because the screen is big, doesn't mean you have to bump the font size up to 48pt. I don't want to have to go through a stupid two-step 'swipe like' gesture to open the start menu. I don't want an app for weather on my start menu to fill the entire bloody screen with wasted space if I should be so unfortunate as to click on it. I want to be able to minimise or close an application from right there, not have it just disappear somewhere (god knows where, there's no taskbar in Metro after all). I want to feel like all the programs I need are on-hand, not some awkward process away - Metro screws up my work flow. Bottom line: It is *not* a tablet PC, Microsoft. Stop pretending it is...

(so yeah, sticking in the desktop environment too... I wonder if MS will get the picture from the use data showing people don't like this Metro carp.

[clotguy]

I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and I still just don't 'get' Metro. It's a powerful, beastly quad core machine with a huge amount of ram. It has a 20 inch, 1900x1080 monitor. It has a keyboard and a mouse. It is not a sodding iPad! I don't want to be assaulted by an explosion in a rainbow factory every time I boot it up. I want to be able to see more than one application at once on all that screen space. Just because the screen is big, doesn't mean you have to bump the font size up to 48pt. I don't want to have to go through a stupid two-step 'swipe like' gesture to open the start menu. I don't want an app for weather on my start menu to fill the entire bloody screen with wasted space if I should be so unfortunate as to click on it. I want to be able to minimise or close an application from right there, not have it just disappear somewhere (god knows where, there's no taskbar in Metro after all). I want to feel like all the programs I need are on-hand, not some awkward process away - Metro screws up my work flow. Bottom line: It is *not* a tablet PC, Microsoft. Stop pretending it is...
.

... and breath

[ferreter38]

I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and I still just don't 'get' Metro. It's a powerful, beastly quad core machine with a huge amount of ram. It has a 20 inch, 1900x1080 monitor. It has a keyboard and a mouse. It is not a sodding iPad! I don't want to be assaulted by an explosion in a rainbow factory every time I boot it up. I want to be able to see more than one application at once on all that screen space. Just because the screen is big, doesn't mean you have to bump the font size up to 48pt. I don't want to have to go through a stupid two-step 'swipe like' gesture to open the start menu. I don't want an app for weather on my start menu to fill the entire bloody screen with wasted space if I should be so unfortunate as to click on it. I want to be able to minimise or close an application from right there, not have it just disappear somewhere (god knows where, there's no taskbar in Metro after all). I want to feel like all the programs I need are on-hand, not some awkward process away - Metro screws up my work flow. Bottom line: It is *not* a tablet PC, Microsoft. Stop pretending it is...
.

... and breath

I get the impression that Jeremy doesn't like Windows 8

[JeremyR]

Whatever gives you that idea?

I just dislike that it's all fancy looks and design over actual usability. It's like they sent all their HCI people on a very long walk off a short pier...