Who is using Windows 8?

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  • prowla
    prowla Posts: 13,126
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    bertie1989 wrote: »
    So your saying i need to choose my OS on these things you listed? I always customized windows 7 and got rid of the aero theme! and my current windows boarder buttons are smaller then stock.see here http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/4820/61000757.jpg
    You can choose you OS on the colour of the box if you like; I was just listing them as eye candy items that have been downgraded in Windows 8 over Windows 7.

    In Windows 7 you had the choice, dependent upon the PC's graphics performance. On Ubuntu Linux you have a similar chice. But in Windows 8 you don't - the "upgrade" OS has had the feature removed, apparently in the interests of making it look the same as a smart phone.

    How did you change your buttons size?
  • prowla
    prowla Posts: 13,126
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    Jemma-T wrote: »
    Windows 8 has been an excellent operating system.

    Saying that I've had to make it look and feel like W7 to be useable using the excellent Classic Shell http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

    Happy paying just £15 for it (had been using the beta version for several months).

    The biggest benefit (and why I can't go back to W7) is it can copy files to and from other drives without constant faffing about. It just does it. As you'd expect.

    They have excised the excellent Microsoft Security Essentials options AFAIK and replaced it with the not much use Windows Defender. A real step back.

    AVG does the job though http://www.filehippo.com/download_avg_antivirus/
    So, if I have 6 computers, would I need to spend £90 to reinstate a feature on them that Microsoft decided to remove in the new OS?
  • prowla wrote: »
    You can choose you OS on the colour of the box if you like; I was just listing them as eye candy items that have been downgraded in Windows 8 over Windows 7.

    In Windows 7 you had the choice, dependent upon the PC's graphics performance. On Ubuntu Linux you have a similar chice. But in Windows 8 you don't - the "upgrade" OS has had the feature removed, apparently in the interests of making it look the same as a smart phone.

    How did you change your buttons size?

    Ok i agree you dont have the choice out of the box but there is various mods and tweaks out there. Yes they did remove some eye candy, but the way i see it you can easily customize to the way you want it to look.

    Like i said in a previous post, check out deviant art, great community with lots of windows 8 stuff on there.

    Let me make this clear, I did say before i thought windows 7 was a great OS;), im not bashing either they both have pros and cons.Windows 8 works well for me, in no way am i saying it will work well for others.

    We could go round and round for hours with this debate like all others posted else-ware on the web:p

    I personally upgraded because my little money earner on the side is to fix up other peoples pc's. I need to know how windows 8 works as already i have people asking me for opinions etc

    I have always seen choosing an OS as a personal choice.
    • You want a simple pc windows is for you
    • you want to get a headache every time you want to do a simple task Linux is for you
    • you have to much money to spare Mac OSX is for you:p
  • Lum
    Lum Posts: 6,460
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    edited 19 December 2012 at 10:16PM
    prowla wrote: »
    So, if I have 6 computers, would I need to spend £90 to reinstate a feature on them that Microsoft decided to remove in the new OS?

    Nah, use StartIsBack which is $5 for a 5 computer licence or $3 for a 2 computer licence, so it'll work out at around a fiver to do that.

    I thought classic shell was free anyway, the £15 is a donation?
  • booler
    booler Posts: 1,365 Forumite
    penrhyn wrote: »
    They have in fact renamed MSE as Windows Defender ...
    EeeeeK! :eek: Does Martin Lewis know about this?
    "Some folks are wise and some are otherwise." - Tobias Smollett
  • prowla
    prowla Posts: 13,126
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    Lum wrote: »
    Nah, use StartIsBack which is $5 for a 5 computer licence or $3 for a 2 computer licence, so it'll work out at around a fiver to do that.

    I thought classic shell was free anyway, the £15 is a donation?
    Sure - I was really just thinking it is daft that MS took out a chunk of functionality (somewhere in the BETA process) and now there are people providing add-ons to put something similar right back again (some free and some not).

    And of course, with these add-ons, there is a risk that any MS update that comes along could disable them.

    So why get a new version of the OS and then commit yourself to a process of continually tweaking it?

    Me - I think I'll wait til Windows 9, or maybe if MS release an official retro-fit.

    As I mentioned I have a number of machines and I've no plans to move any of them to Windows 8.

    I've no plans to upgrade any, and as for Tablets, I think it's pretty obvious that the iPad will continue to be the better offering.
  • booler
    booler Posts: 1,365 Forumite
    Having read the comments in here I think I will continue to suffer with seven meanwhile.
    "Some folks are wise and some are otherwise." - Tobias Smollett
  • Lum
    Lum Posts: 6,460
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    The way I see it, if you're currently on 7 and all you really use it for is a facebook+forums machine there probably isn't much point upgrading, particularly once the half price offer expires.

    If you're an enthusiast, tweaker and/or gamer then Windows 8 does offer some advantages that are worth the 25 quid.

    However if you're on XP (and possibly Vista) and/or are looking to buy a new machine then you shouldn't be put off by the changes in Windows 8, if you're prepared to either learn the new UI or follow my guide for how to make it behave like traditional Windows again. Seeking out a Windows 7 machine/licence now will have you buying older kit that's been sat in a warehouse and probably paying extra money for the privilege. Certainly more than the £2 it will cost you to buy StartIsBack for Windows 8!
  • chunter
    chunter Posts: 2,000
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    What is the actual advantage of Windows 8 if you actually do work on a computer. Seems MS are trying to turn your computer into some sort of idiot's-computer-tablet. Talk about misjudging the market.
  • Lum
    Lum Posts: 6,460
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    First of all, I've removed all the tablet crap. My computer boots to the desktop, I have a start button, that start button behaves exactly like it did in Windows 7.

    The differences for me are:

    Faster boot and shutdown times: My laptop and desktop both boot about 30s quicker
    Desktop is instantly responsive: Previous versions of Windows have always chugged a bit after the desktop appears as services and background tasks start up in the background. This doesn't happen in 8.

    Better multiple monitor support: Finally you can get a taskbar on both monitors and configure it to only display icons for apps actually running on that monitor. Previously this needed a paid app.

    Better task manager: Handles the display of multiple CPUs a lot better, and also shows you which apps are responsible for network traffic etc.

    Better file copy: Now all the copies you have going on are shown in one window, and it's a lot better about retrying before giving up. Also when it needs to prompt you about overwrites, it prompts you with all of them at once, giving you the option to scroll through the list and tick which action you want it to take on a case-by-case basis, then fire it off. No more starting a 1 hour file copy, going for lunch and coming back to see it's copied 3 files and then wants to know if you want to overwrite or replace thumbs.db

    Less bloat: They have removed a lot of legacy and bundled stuff, all the drivers for really old kit that few people still use are moved to Windows Update instead. This is also true for bundled software like Outlook Express. This is now a separate download, though admittedly they did a lot of this in Windows 7 too.

    Better performance in gaming: I have no idea why, but my games get better framerates in 8 compared to 7, and this is comparing a fresh install of both.

    More aggressive power management: It's probably only a few quid saving in electricity bill for a home desktop, maybe a bit more useful on laptops, but for corporates with thousands of desktops it's a significant saving and better for the environment too!

    Fully functional AV and antispyware out of the box: Security Essentials is now built in (and renamed back to Windows Defender). You can still replace it with your own AV (I recommend NOD32) but that risk window where a home user needs to go out onto the internet unprotected and find themselves an AV is fixed by this change.

    The downsides are:

    The Metro UI is a load of crap: Need to spend a bit of time tweaking your system to remove and avoid it.

    The new flat window theme isn't to everyone's taste: There are some nice tweaks you can do, and if you're willing to patch uxtheme.dll then there are a lot more choices of theme, including recreations of the XP Luna and Royale themes if that is your thing.

    It's £25, and going up to £50 soon.
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