Windows 8.1 a hero or a zero

spacey2012

I wonder if someone took a backhander to convince people to buy Apple products ?
A mess like that could not have been so accidental IMO.

The Old saying of if it's not broke, well windows 8 takes a working machine and completely breaks it.

Lum

Just updated from 8 to 8.1. I'm a desktop-only user who uses a start menu replacement and never really looks at Metro. I was generally happy with 8 after applying a bunch of tweaks to make it behave like a desktop.

First impressions:

• After that 3gig download there seems to be no way to burn a CD or a USB key. I have three machines to do, am I really going to have to download 9 gig?
• On first boot, I was prompted to log in on a slightly different screen, and then told I had to sign into or create a Microsoft account and that after doing so I would sign in with my Microsoft account from then on. There is no obvious way to skip this... erm, no. Go away Microsoft.
• To skip it, cancel out of that screen, and instead of logging in click "I'm not <username>" This then drops you to the standard login screen and you can carry on using a local account.
• Some of my settings were reset. Nothing major. My window border size was back to the default really thick border. Fixed with TinyWindowsBorders that I still had on my system from my initial Win8 install. The other setting I lost won't apply to 99% of people, this is the custom colour profiles I had for my monitors. They were still installed, just not active, had to turn them on again
• "My Computer" has been renamed to "This PC". Given that back when I first used the Win95 beta in 1994 I always thought that "My ...." sounded a bit naff, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I'd kind of gotten used to it so it feels a little odd. The cynic might also suggest that it reflects a change in thinking, that you no-longer own the computer, they do.
• All of my devices and peripherals still work. Only exception is my Origin B2 USB cradle, but given that thing is only supported in XP and for Vista, 7 and 8 I've been running fudged together drivers that I made myself, this is to be expected.
• The new start menu does indeed just take you to metro. You'll still need StartIsBack or Classic Shell or whatever.
• My custom themes still work. This is a huge surprise given that I'm running a hack to allow custom themes.

I guess in conclusion. This is little more than a service pack, and other than that Microsoft Account rubbish, it's only slightly more irritating than installing a service pack.


Therefore my conclusion is the same as it was for Windows 8:


If you are currently on 7. 8 (and 8.1) were only worth it when the price was £25. There are performance advantages, but given the cost you'd be better off spending your money on something else if you want an upgrade, such as a nice SSD.


If you are currently on XP or Vista, and are prepared to put up with the learning curve and/or the need to install start menu replacements etc. then upgrade.


If you are currently on 8, there's no reason not to upgrade other than some temporary disruption. It's basically Windows 8 SP1.

penrhyn

Nicely put.
They featured a new Facebook app, only to use it as another excuse to create a Microsoft Account, I'm now paranoid that Microsoft is secretly uploading all my stuff. All this stress has caused my tin foil helmet to fall off!

Owenmclove

@Lum huh, I thought they were now offering a 'please don't ever show me metro' option. Perhaps I dreamt it!

Lum

Owenmclove wrote: »

@Lum huh, I thought they were now offering a 'please don't ever show me metro' option. Perhaps I dreamt it!

Nope that was widely misreported by the media back when they said they were going to put a start button back and give the option to boot to desktop.

If you don't want to ever see Metro, you'll still need to follow the tweak guide I wrote on this forum last year.

savemoney

I am still toying with whether to get windows 8.1 currently use win7 but am off to buy a new pc from scan very soon and windows 8.1is now shipping with it along with win7 if I want that instead. Dont see point in new metro is a retro step I think for pc's fair enough might do for some tablets

jobdone1

Further my post's and serious frustration at trying to find and download windows 8.1 i have learnt the following,

The only way i found the download on windows store is to ensure the system is fully up to date with windows update then BINGO update appeared. AHHHHHH. I hope this helps fellows users i am not saying that is why it appeared but did after updating.

grumpycrab

penrhyn wrote: »

As far as Im concerned, its still schizoid and a total mess.

I don't think anybody should be expecting anything remarkable about this service pack.
Certainly there should be no hurry to install it.

JJ_Egan

Like many after day one an install of Classic Shell metro ceased to exist in day to day use .

st999

If you don't want to ever see Metro,

Try this
http://www.howtogeek.com/166445/