Windows 8.1 - Love it or loathe it?

Spirit_2

I have a new Lenovo ideapad which comes pre loaded with Windows 8.1.


So far it is an appalling user experience and I cannot fathom my way around it.


I was advised to download 8.1 to the desktop rather than use the pre-installed App, however nothing has improved.


Posters on another thread are describing going back to windows 7 or installing something that makes 8.1 look like an earlier version.


What do Techie board posters think?


Example problems - no top RH X to close anything, the screen keeps resizing (when I use ctrl - to make smaller or use the touch screen to make smaller its just gets big again).

NiftyDigits

Take a look at Classic Shell

JJ_Egan

As above and we are due 8.2 soon .

RumRat

Well, firstly, the problem is yours not Windows 8.1. Because you don't understand it and have difficulty in finding your way around, doesn't make it bad.
As posted, you can add Classic shell or one of the many other start menu replacements to make it look like the old OS. However, IMO, that is just hiding away from learning something new.
It is, in fact, a very good OS and better than W7.
Still, any excuse for lovers v haters thread eh?;):)

Syman

I have found that given time Win 8.1 can be very intuitive. At first i found it virtually impossible without using the touchscreen. But some 2 months later, it is fairly easy to navigate wherever i need to. Occasionally use the touchscreen still, but that is just a convenience thing.

I would suggest that anyone getting Win8 to try it for a few months before writing it off.

Johnmcl7

I'm a fan of Windows 8, I think the main problem with it is that defaults everything to the touch interface even though it may not be suitable but you can change the defaults back to the desktop interface so you can mostly ignore the touch interface.

I like a lot of the improvements and you can keep these improvements while having it look and behave much like Windows 7. I think it needs a lot of work on the touch side though as I find I keep wanting to use a physical keyboard and mouse although that's partially because what I'm used to.

John

Bollotom

I'm with Rummers on this one. It's a good system once you sort it out as you want it. No real need for 3rd party start buttons as 8.1 has it's own. 8.2 is also on the horizon so try to explore the OS and enjoy it. :cool:

pogofish

When it first came out I hated it but now I've had a few months working with it I must admit I like 8.1 a lot - And I was a fan of W7 before.

There are a few things I dislike about W8 in general - The way it handles WiFi profiles for one but in other ways its great - Peripherals that refused to work properly on W7-64bit now work perfectly under W8/8.1 64 bit and have been given a whole new lease of life.

Mobeer

Dislike it (and Windows 2012). There is just no value in having 2 user interfaces on 1 computer, and everything I do is in the desktop.

Customising the Start Screen helps, as does practice, but I'd much rather have 7 or Vista. Friends use Stardock Start8 and it looks like a must have for Windows 8, if you are allowed to have it.

kwikbreaks

Mobeer wrote: »

Dislike it (and Windows 2012). There is just no value in having 2 user interfaces on 1 computer, and everything I do is in the desktop.

Spot on.

Why did MS do it this way? To try and use the desktop as leverage to boost their failing mobile product?

Desktop computers are not phones or tablets. With a non-touchscreen desktop why on earth would I want such an interface and the nonsense of the one at a time in view apps. Modern? Hardly IMO. We started out with one application at a time back when a top level machine had 640KB of memory and maybe a couple of floppy disks if you could afford the second one.

Esqui

Love it! It's fantastic, and there really is no need to install anything like classic shell. I'm sure we're all capable of choosing programs in a full screen menu instead of a small one in the corner. Everything else is pretty much the same as 7 now in terms of switching and closing programs

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

I'm a fan of Windows 8, I think the main problem with it is that defaults everything to the touch interface even though it may not be suitable but you can change the defaults back to the desktop interface so you can mostly ignore the touch interface.

Since the 8.1 April update, it detects if you have a touchscreen or not and if you don't, it enables the more mouse and keyboard-friendly features, such as automatically booting to desktop (although I switched back!), always showing tabs in IE and showing the top bar.


Windows 8.0 seems very unwieldy with a mouse and keyboard, so 8.1 is an essential addition.