Windows 8

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Windows 8

Postby Liz » Thu Jan 09, 2014 3:58 pm

Has anyone got windows 8?

I had to buy a new laptop at the beginning of the year, and it had windows 8 on it. I couldn't get on with it at all, I tried, and I do have quite a bit of patience, but in the end asked my computer chap if he could do anything.
He has now put Windows 7 on it for me, I get the odd thing from windows 8 popping up but I am so much happier now.
No doubt there will come a time when I shall have to have something new, but for now I am happy :)
I live where its booooootiful
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Re: Windows 8

Postby Andere Richtingen » Thu Jan 09, 2014 5:44 pm

Almost a year ago, I replaced a fairly temperamental lap-top running XP with a new one running Windows 8. It took about a week of carpet-chewing and hair-pulling before I adjusted and now I wouldn't change back if you paid me a banker's bonus. At the same time I got it, I also bought a copy of 'Windows 8 for Dummies' which proved invaluable as I battled my way through the first few days with the new system. Once I'd learned how to customise the Start screen and the desktop to suit my taste and usage, the PC felt like it was working for me rather than the other way round! I'm a writer, researcher and photographer and my lap-top is my daily tool so it has to be reliable and very usable.

I think the mistake Microsoft made with Win.8 was in not offering two start-up options - one for the finger-pokery touch-screen users and one for mousers and clickers. Windows 8.1 is now available for download which claims to address some of the dislikes many users expressed. I shall reserve judgement on that until I've installed it and used it for a while.

My experience of Win.7 is quite limited as I have the 'basic' version on my netbook which is my spare computer and the one which goes travelling with me and tends not to get used for much serious work. If you're happy with Windows 7, that's fine but I would encourage anyone else just getting acquainted with Win.8 to ignore some of the press coverage and persevere. In a month or two, you'll wonder what the fuss was about - honestly! :)
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Re: Windows 8

Postby maggiemint » Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:27 pm

My old vista laptop packed up in December 2012 so I bought a new one with Windows 8 just before Christmas that year. It was a bit of a learning curve to begin with, but ran like a dream compared to the old one. After putting up with vista for all those years, I think anything would have been an improvement.

Like you Andere, I used the "Dummies" book and soon had everything running exactly the way I wanted. I upgraded to 8.1 in November.....not a lot of changes to be honest but you can now boot directly to the desktop if you want and ignore the start screen altogether making it more like previous versions, and the shut down is easier. I also like the search function where you can just start typing whilst on the start screen and all results will appear on the screen. I'm certainly not sorry I've got it.
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Re: Windows 8

Postby Monsy » Sun Jan 19, 2014 2:57 pm

I was reading this morning that Microsoft are getting rid of Windows 8 due to the bad reviews.
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Re: Windows 8

Postby Andere Richtingen » Sun Jan 19, 2014 4:47 pm

Monsy wrote:I was reading this morning that Microsoft are getting rid of Windows 8 due to the bad reviews.


There are always loads of rumours ...

They'll certainly be working on Windows 9 (or whatever they call the next iteration) but I suspect Windows 8 will have a much better take-up from next month when support for XP is finally withdrawn, especially among commercial users. And when people have become accustomed to using the new OS at work, then they'll happily make the switch when they upgrade their home PCs. It's a great pity so many were put off in the early days by the poor reviews. I know everyone's entitled to an opinion but it did seem to me that too many reviews were written by dinosaurs who just didn't like the new look and c.b.a to delve deeper to discover the improvements.
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Re: Windows 8

Postby Young Goat » Sun Jan 19, 2014 4:50 pm

News article here http://www.extremetech.com/computing/17 ... rain-wreck

It is as if they have two development teams that bring out operating systems alternately. One team develops rubbish (Windows 95, Windows ME, Windows Vista, Windows 8 ) and the other develops nearly perfect systems (Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows 7)
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Re: Windows 8

Postby Andere Richtingen » Sun Jan 19, 2014 5:14 pm

Interesting. Thanks for the link.
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Re: Windows 8

Postby Andere Richtingen » Tue Jan 21, 2014 1:00 pm

Young Goat wrote:News article here http://www.extremetech.com/computing/17 ... rain-wreck
..............One team develops rubbish (Windows 95, Windows ME, Windows Vista, Windows 8 ) and the other develops nearly perfect systems (Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows 7)


I've been meaning to ask, Young Goat, what is your experience of Windows 8 which has caused you to despise it so much?
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