Windows 8
 

Edit: It's OUT!
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is scheduled to be out at the end of the month. Will you be using it and what do you think of its impeding release?

I might give it a spin. Just have to do a complete backup.

I guess I'll be using it when I build my new computer, and that won't be for awhile. I most likely (99% sure) I won't be trying Windows 8 when it comes out because I have no way to back-up my files as of right now.

Also, I wonder whether the Windows 8 Consumer Preview will also signal the release of Internet Explorer 10 beta/Consumer Preview. It's almost time.

I'm likely to be bending the new UI to fit my old setup but other than that, it's very probable that I'll upgrade to Windows 8 as soon as it goes gold. I've tried betas in the past. Vista beta was my main OS. Things did NOT go well. XD

The new Windows 8 logo is now out! It looks like this:



It looks really similar to the very first Windows logo. I think they are trying to signify a reboot.

http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/...2_0B718CF2.png

$10 says that that logo is going to show up in the Consumer Preview.

Logos around the world have been getting simpler, less serious, ditching capital letters, adopting a handwrite-style font. It's something I noticed since the economic crysis began. Companies are trying to look friendlier to their customers.

Seems like everyone is trying to redefine themselves these days.

Got to say that I like the Segoeification happening across Microsoft. :)

Also, strange things do happen. Those with Windows Developer Preview can install this update to extend their use by almost a year. Who would have thought that Microsoft gives away pre-beta OSes that can be used for over a year?

Windows 8
 

Downloaded, installed, and fiddled with!

I've gotta say, I love Metro by itself, not as a replacement for classic Windows, but for what it is. From boot, you can actually configure the BCD-like OS selection screen, which actually works well with both mouse and keyboard. As for Metro, it seems to be a very nice, simple, touchscreen-enhanced interface. Obviously, as it's new, there isn't really a mouse standard for this, so it's a bit confusing getting used to all the new mouse gestures and controls. Right-clicking to bring up the HUD is a bit odd, for instance. As for the apps, they seem simple and functional enough. E-mail works well, and the Xbox Companion was a bit more powerful than I expected. Everything seems to synchronize quite well with Windows Live/Xbox Live, and there is a very convenient SkyDrive icon for fans of cloud computing. The file browser is a bit of a mess, and you cannot type to go directly to what you want. I could very easily see Metro being a standalone operating system. The only trouble with that would be zero backwards compatibility.

...And that's where my issues come in. The whole Windows Desktop experience is a kludge kept only to argue backwards compatibility with a familiar Windows interface. They just stuck it on there. Internet Explorer is screwed up; the Metro one is 64-bit, while the Desktop one is 32-bit, which means none of your cookies are synchronized, and you have to constantly thumb between Desktop and Metro if you have a few tabs in each. Windows Media Player is another mess. Why isn't it a Metro app?! It'd be perfect for Metro! The Ribbon is actually pretty decent for most programs; it just needs some getting used to. Windows Explorer actually looks a bit nicer than before. This is something Metro could use, rather than its clunky file browser.

Next problem is the lack of an actual Start Menu. If you use Metro as your Start Menu, it lacks practically all of the normal Desktop applications. The only way to access them is...well, I haven't figured out if there is a way beyond browsing/searching for them. From what I gather, installations actually do put icons on there, but I had a heck of a time trying to find Paint before I finally looked for it on the hard drive. Constantly flipping between Desktop and Metro is also a very strange experience. It's like flipping between Mac OS X Lion and Windows 7. The interfaces just feel so foreign to each other.

My personal opinion is that Metro should be a miniature lightweight Microsoft OS: Windows Metro. It'd use its own apps and be built similarly to Windows Phone 7. Sure, it might lack most of the familiar apps at first, but that's where the development could focus. People could make apps for the new Windows Metro, and Microsoft could ship that out to folks who want a full-screen experience for their various low-profile devices. For first party apps, how about Office Metro? Metro Media Player? Metro Draw? Metro Movie Maker? As for third party, Adobe Metro Suite? FL Studio Metro? Firefox Metro? Steam Metro? I honestly think this could work!

Final thoughts:
Windows 8 as a package? Complete mess.
Windows Metro on its own? Has a lot of potential.
Most surprising feature? Remote controlled Xbox 360

Note: Instead of looking for Windows Media Player, you might want to take a look at the Music and Videos apps on your Start screen if you're into media playback in the Metro environment.

A Metro Firefox is in the works, and it should be getting ready. Same thing goes for Chrome. I think many other companies would also give a Metro version of their apps a look-see, too.

I fiddled with the Music and Video apps. It really should all just be one app along with the Photos app.

I do agree that that should be the case, but then again, it's also this klutzy on my phone - separate apps for videos, music, pictures. Following the mobile norm?

Side note: The above sentence will cause a spelling fail in IE10.

I believe this is the relevant place to put this, as the game is for Windows 8.

Umm, what the heck? 1752?! It's extremely difficult to fake anything on Xbox.com, so this is definitely a Microsoft glitch.

Or maybe they're sending all the copies of the game into a black whole into the past!

I finally gave win8 a try. And I hated it.

The UI adds unnecessary clicks to getting anywhere, like having to slide up the picture to put user data in for logon, or explicitly having to select desktop. A lot of buttons are unnecessarily huge, like the items in task manager, and although those can be resized, much of everything else can not.

Things that used to take up only a small portion of the screen, such as the connected network list, now take up an entire side of the desktop. The popup menu at the bottom right of the screen has the same problems.

All in all it felt like the classic windows UI, with ugly solid colors and huge icons every here and there put into the mix. It looks and feels like a mongrel between classic windows UI and smartphone interfaces. I fully understand what Microsoft is trying to do here, but they either could have kept it 2 separate interfaces, with either users or the OS automatically choosing which is best depending on present input devices, or even have been kind enough to give us an API to customize our own interface, kind of like how MMO games have these days. Mixing both traditional and touchscreen/tablet support into the same UI is a BAD IDEA.

Windows 8 Release Preview
 

Seems like the Release Preview is out a bit earlier than expected.

You can find more information, and download Windows 8 RP here.

Hope it's not that much of a disaster in the making this time around. I'm downloading the 64-bit version right now. Hopefully, it won't be too long until when I try to install it on the laptop. (My desktop PC doesn't have virtualization support)

I decided I'm going to force myself to use Windows 8 as my primary operating system on my desktop. That should help me get used to it and decide whether or not Windows 8 deserves the front seat.

Taming the Windows 8 Beast
 

Well, I caved in yesterday and decided to pick up Windows 8. Here lies my experience with the fun new operating system.


Day 2
Attachment 4097Attachment 4098

Upon scouring UNLV's CS department's webpage for freebies, I noticed one item in particular that was free for students: Windows 8 Pro. I had just picked up a new 80 GB hard drive and partitioned 21 GB away for testing purposes, but I hadn't yet installed an operating system. Off to download!

Installation Date: November 11, 2012

The install took a relatively long time, but it was pretty typical of Windows. Once it was up, I lacked Wi-Fi, graphics, and sound drivers. I opted for a standard Windows account rather than using a Microsoft account. Afterwards, I connected a network cable, fired up Windows Update and let it run, which didn't take too long. I had to axe one of the drivers I accidentally installed, though. I hate when they install junk that controls "special" (useless) buttons on the keyboard.

With that, we're up and running! Time to clean up the Start Menu! I uninstalled most of the apps I wouldn't use (Sports, Finance, Travel, Music, Video, Photos, Camera--don't have one installed, and a couple others). Anything that could get use was merely unpinned. As for those that remained:

• Mail behaved pretty well, but it was annoying trying to find how the settings for Metro apps worked (click the settings button on the far right) so I could remove my first account from the app. I might use this one.
• Weather is quite convenient, so it's going to stay on there.
• SkyDrive will remain too, as I actually use it. (I think I'm going to use Dropbox as well, but that'll be for other stuff.)
• Games hasn't gotten much testing.
• Store obviously has to stick around.
• Maps won't get used much.
• Reader seems kinda drab, but it may stick around too.

Media was re-associated with Windows Media Player for now, and images were re-associated with Windows Photo Viewer. I opted not to use the Metro version of Internet Explorer, as it gives me the typical stuff that I see on a tablet: tabs go to sleep when they're not active; I'll be trying desktop IE10 for now. I pinned a few other common desktop apps to the Start Menu: Computer, Control Panel, Run, Command Prompt, Computer Management, Calculator, Notepad, Windows Media Player, and Internet Explorer.

With the initial setup complete, it's time to test a few apps! I only really messed with two new games: Wordament and Minesweeper. The former obviously works better with a touch screen (but it's still alright with a mouse/touchpad), while the latter is one of the slowest apps I've used on this thing. I simply cannot believe someone managed to make Minesweeper run as poorly as it does on here!

As for layout, I have my taskbar in classic Windows style, with small icons and large buttons for every window.

With that, I conclude my adventure for these last two days. I will continue writing soon.

Yours,
Cat

It seems like many people will not like it as much as they did at the start of 7. I am going to try it out with my laptop. I found since I bought my laptop so recently they will allow me to purchase Windows 8 for $14.99. I hope that I dont need any codes from the receipt; It has been in my wallet for so long some of the ink has faded.

EDIT: Make that $40.00 XD You will have to pay $40 if you dont have the promo code, but if you do they will ask for it at check out and then it will be only a $14.99 purchase.

After testing and playing with Windows 8 for some time, I have decided that I will not upgrade my machines to Windows 8. There just isn't enough that Windows 8 offers me to want to upgrade. The quirks that come along with the OS (pretty much the way the Start "Metro" UI functions) are also a bit much for my style of computing.

It just isn't for me.

My programming teacher has tried installing Windows 8 on his son's computer for testing purposes. He spent two hours getting Windows 8 to install, then when he was prompted to restart and he did so, Windows 7 booted up and Windows 8 was nowhere to be found.

...Solitaire is lagging. Of all games to lag, SOLITAIRE! :shock:

Maybe that's Microsoft's way of saying "No, no. Don't play any of those silly casual games! We have virtual pinball ready for you to play, so play that instead!"

If the built-in games were lagging...

What's the GPU in the laptop? Some GPUs don't even handle high-resolution 2D well because of fill rate limitations.

Well, if a GTX 690 can barely run Minesweeper past 30 frames a second, I don't think a laptop would have much of a chance running other games very fast. /sarcasm

OPEN MOUTH. INSERT FOOT. I fixed it. :roll:

http://victoryroad.net/attachment.ph...1&d=1352775645

I had to manually download the driver.

Ah.

The generic SVGA drivers for when Windows can't find a driver only barely gives you a display and is molasses compared to anything.

What in Arceus' name!?

(It is still fully playable.)

You are the only person I know who can screw up Solitaire.

Smells like VRAM corruption or misrepresentation.

Maaaaaaaybe that driver won't work, huh?

To be honest, when it comes to Windows 8, the best way to enjoy it is to use it on a proper Windows 8 computer, not something upgraded, because chances are the gestures may not work properly or hardware issues like that crop out.

Oy, I wish it wasn't so slow at shutting down. I hope yesterday's updates make it faster.

Think about trying out Windows 8 for real, now I've begun to think about whether to still get a Windows 7 laptop or just chip in for a Windows 8 one. Windows 8 feels wasted without a touch screen, to be honest.

Apart from the graphics drivers issues I mentioned before, Windows 8 runs absolutely wonderfully on this seven-year-old laptop. It does hog the CPU a little and therefore is a little bit of a battery hog, but that's nothing the power plans haven't been able to fix.

As for the desktop, well, the hard drive crashed a few hours ago, corrupting 'random' patches of files. After I rescue whatever little data I have on it (I use another drive for my actual data), I'll be sending it in for RMA and getting a replacement.


I will mention one thing I dislike: my wallpaper looks like garbage because Windows 8 compresses all wallpapers down (to prevent resizing on the fly when people load 15 megapixel images from their cameras) to mere kilobytes. Funny thing is my wallpaper is only 105 KB and already sized to exactly the screen resolution.

Hm, looks like somebody missed a spot.

I just noticed that today! I was wondering if it was on other upgraded computers or not. Suspicion confirmed!

Mine is a fresh install. There was never a copy of Windows 7 on this computer since I fully wiped the hard drive (last Saturday).

It's possible that Microsoft is large-headed enough to think that everyone who has a computer running Windows 7 would upgrade to Windows 8. It's not like they accidentally added that feature in there; it would be too large of a function for it to be an accident.

I absolutely must say, it's amazing how quickly this thing boots! That hybrid boot does wonderful tricks to an old laptop with an IDE drive.

Attached are a boot video running at normal speed and a print-out of the specs. Note the partition size being only 21 GB. It appears to work great, even on tiny hard drives. Of course, with the shift towards cloud (and tablet) computing, SkyDrive's built-in integration should complement a lot of that well, keeping multiple Windows 8 computers in sync. I actually don't sync my system settings, but some of you may enjoy that feature.

The new Metro Start Menu certainly does take a lot of getting used to, but once you add a few comfort things (like shutdown/restart links, command prompt, control panel, common folder links, and some of your favorite apps), it starts to feel a bit more usable.

Still, I've never seen a Windows OS boot this quickly on any of my computers ever, especially on one that's seven years behind the system.

Probably because you've always booted an OS with an HDD. If you were to happen to have an SSD and you put your OS and boot-up files on that, you'd boot up a lot faster.

Actually, you're semi-correct. Windows 8 introduces hybrid booting - even when you're shutting your computer down completely, on the next boot, the computer will not boot completely from scratch - it will know what will be the same anyway during the next boot and load some from the hibernation file.

Wow, another thing I've noticed. It boots up so quickly that I can have IE10 open before the Wi-Fi negotiations (talking to the router, processing your login credentials, getting an IP address, and whitelisting your MAC address for using the router) are finished.

As for shutdown, that seems improved a bit. (Seems it was slow before because of updates.)

I think the only thing that slows it down regularly is the real-time Windows Defender scans. If I open my Downloads folder (which contains most of the programs I've downloaded since buying a netbook two years ago), it lags a bit.

Well, it's official. My Windows 8 crusade on that laptop has officially ended. Sadly, my graphics card has found itself too outdated to do much beyond basic computer uses. Anything that requires directly piping the graphics card may or may not work, as made obvious by the Solitaire screenshot in a previous post. Portal 2, for instance, runs extremely well, but anything OpenGL-based doesn't, such as Minecraft. Interestingly enough, everything worked fine with 7 and should work fine again once it makes its way back onto that laptop.

I decided, among the graphics issues and a few other annoyances that I haven't brought up before, that it is time to throw in the towel.

These annoyances include:

• Assigning the default program requires opening at least one file of every type if at least two programs try to take over a given type. This can be averted through the Default Progams panel, but that thing only lists major apps.
• While the Metro Start Menu works pretty decently, I just like the 7 Start Menu too much. (I'd personally like the Classic Start Menu, which was the default from 95 through XP and still usable in Vista, more if it had the search bar too.)
• Windows Defender is a resource hog compared to Security Essentials. My Downloads folder nearly freezes Windows Explorer due to the sheer number of installers in there.
• Metro apps, apart from games, don't feel right as being full-screen. OneNote might be the one exception, but I strongly prefer OneNote 2010.
• This one is minor, but 8.3 support is disabled by default. This won't matter on my desktop (due to lack of 16-bit support on 64-bit systems), but I still have a couple 16-bit programs I like using, particularly Evolution Audio.
• Flash drives sometimes automatically pop up and sometimes don't. And sometimes they forget their drive letter and require manual assignment.
• When installing classic apps, you're sometimes left with a lot of clutter on the Metro Start Menu. I don't need twenty icons for rarely-used parts of Visual Studio.
• Overall, it feels kinda clunky, like they haven't finished ironing out small things.

I really am going to miss:

• The new Task Maanger
• Having the option of using Metro apps (to my knowledge, nothing exists to run them on 7 yet)
• The speed. I might try hibernation with 7 more often, though.
• The Up button in Windows Explorer

I will be installing 8 on my desktop, where I know all the hardware should work.

I guess the Service Pack 1 rule still stands today for Windows, huh? If I were to get a Windows 8 system, I'd rather wait until SP1. Then the platform should be mature enough.

Fun fact: I looked at some Toshiba leaflets on new laptops, and under "comes with Windows 8" section, some laptops list "Windows 7 Professional (as a downgrade from Windows 8 Pro".

Windows 8 comes with the new pc I hope to get and is there anyway you can downgrade without forking out extra for Windows 8 Pro?

You should be able to downgrade. Microsoft has a program going on where you can get a Windows 7 serial number for free if you got a computer with 8. I think you can still use both serial numbers, so I'd suggest dual booting.

That program exists?! Link, please. It will come in super handy!

Link for the brave Seems I was a little off on the details, though.

And for those who haven't tried 8, don't be jumpy. Make yourself use it for a week or two to at least see if you can get used to it. You know you'll have to use 8 at some point down the road anyway, so at least familiarize yourself with it now.

Yeah.

Looks like I'll be looking to just run with Windows 7 if possible if it's a laptop. They are getting rare when you're looking at new stuff, though.

I guess I will just put up with it, I guess some features arent so bad.

If people want to spend money on Windows 8 - let them. As long as I can still play games on 7, I'm perfectly content. Windows 8 should stay on phones and tablets though, the interface doesn't seem to be very friendly with non-touch screen monitors and/or all-in-one computers.

Which is the exact reason why I only use Desktop Mode on my Windows 8 laptop (which, ironically, is one of my Christmas presents).

Unfortunately, I see Windows 8 being more suited for being killer tablets. They really have radically changed from what we are used to.

I mean, the start screen is very awkward. Sure it looks nice, but I would love to easily access my program that I'm really quite familiar and used to.

Then again, I'll most likely get used to the Windows 8 interface sooner or later.

Today, a friend of mine, who has been opposed to Windows 8 thus far, talked to me and said Windows 8 isn't as bad as he originally thought. He found boot-up times to be faster and said there's even a slight increase in performance when it comes to gaming - about 1 to 2 frames increase, he said. The one thing he disliked is that there was no start menu, but he said someone made a start menu for Windows 8 that could be changed to be in the style of Windows XP, Vista, or 7.

The last thing he said was an upgrade is not necessary if you're running Windows 7, but if you don't have an up-to-date computer and need to make a choice, you might as well go with 8, he said.

I plan to eventually test Windows 8 on a Pentium III (pretty much the oldest thing it will run on). I'm really curious how well it'll run. :p

You don't have to do that at all. Cat, Windows 8 requires NX bit support to be present in the CPU starting from the Release Preview. Without it, Setup won't even install.

"1 GHz processor" now probably refers to netbook processors, not a PIII for Windows 8.

I think I should count my blessings as my laptop also has a Windows 8 version... and I got the original, Windows 7 version.

Specifically, NX, PAE, and SSE2. Hm, looks like I'll need to look more into the processors. I can't find much information online on the Pentium III and 4.

PIII never supported NX, and I'm pretty sure only the very late-generation models of P4 have PAE. As for NX... I do not know.

That said, I've begun thinking: for performance-per-MHz with a single core, does an Atom beat a PIII?

After all this time I finally. It is very much different from before, but I am liking the changes. The whole start menu thing is weird, haha, but it is kind of neat.

I guess I'm one of these people that never got through a full-screen start screen. I think I'm probably one of these guys that prefer the status quo if it doesn't change everything else.

Win 8 came with new PC yesterday. I think it's improved greatly but I don't like how you have to direct your mouse into the right corners to search for something on your pc.

Not really, just hit the Windows key and start typing and it'll give you a bunch of results. Unless you're talking about something else.

There is also a list of commands that might be useful to you.
Attachment 4303

Yikes! Windows 8 uptake is slower than Vista of all things. Let's hope that either this doesn't hold so that Microsoft can finally gain a proper foothold in the mobile space... or this bombs really hard so that Windows stays Windows.

Wow. I have seen a lot of people "upgrade" to a windows phone of the holidays. So it probably a matter of a switch to mobile dominance?

It's going to be very long while for Windows Phone to be something significant, but then again, BlackBerry's too far gone at this point.

And let's not mention how well WP is doing in Finland (over 20%, perhaps 30-40%?), and Europe in general. Then again, Nokia.

So, remember how the upgrade offer was going to end by the end of the month? Well, I suppose, "might as well as give Windows 8 a try", seeing as my laptop qualifies for $15 (in USD, of course), for the upgrade. That's just two days' worth of meals for me, so I figured, "Why not?".

I'm currently downloading the Windows 8 installation files off Windows Upgrade Assistant right now, while at the same time, I'm backing up all my Steam games. I've already made sure that all my personal files, computer hardware drivers, and the like are accounted for, and I have 5 recovery DVDs ready should Windows 8 does not install correctly, or just be a poor UX.

I hope I get lucky this time, seeing as the hardware that I use seems to be more suited for Windows 8 - a clickpad with multi-touch is certainly much better than just a standard trackpad.

Well, Windows 8 might need some getting used to for me.

The panel system made me look like this at first: :jchan:
But then I realized that there was that there was the desktop option so I was like: :D

I also like the emoticons that come with the touch keybard~
🍕 PIZZA
🍬 RARE CANDY
🚢 THE SS ANNE

I just found out that it only works on Internet Explorer.

I have no idea what stuff like this is for though. 🔠

Read this for more information about emoji: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoji

These have been quite popular on the iPhone as well.

Trust me you probably don't need the touch screen, I highly regret being stupid enough to waste my money on it instead getting a more powerful computer.

Ever since installing Windows 8 onto this laptop and trying to use it full time, I've decided that I now love Windows 8. It's such a breeze to do things once you get used to it, and shutdown/startup is incredibly fast, especially on a solid state drive.

I can't admit I feel the same but I'd probably be annoyed if I had to switch back to Windows 7.

It's been over a year and you're just now saying this.

Although I've felt exactly the same for a long time. Though the theme is flat colors everything is sleek and fast. I only really miss the old Start menu's convenience, but I oh so LOVE the new Start screen's personalization.

I don't know if it's just a thing with my laptop, but I wish it would open up two of the same program. I can't open more that one FamiTracker and have them side by side.

I used Windows 7 mostly since then. The laptop I had up until this spring didn't have video card drivers for Windows 8. When I got my new laptop (because the motherboard in the old one died), it came with Windows 8, but it was that typical "new laptop" mess, so I reformatted and installed both 7 and 8 for dual booting. Due to my familiarity with 7, I decided I'd use it for the most part and gradually try out 8.

However, I had installed all my programs on 7, so booting into 8 became infrequent, and it became somewhat annoying because every time required at least a few updates. One day, though, I decided to try using it for a few days just to see if it's worth the upgrade. I liked it a lot, but it started hanging all the time. After rebooting back and forth between the two OSes and getting several blue screens, I tested out the hard drive and found it was close to death. That night, I took the SSD out of my desktop I barely used and reformatted it. Due to its small size (60 GB), I could only put a single OS on it and still have enough space left for my files, programs, and future use, so I chose Windows 8. That was a week ago, and I've been using it steadily since.

Speaking if Windows 8, I've used my cheap upgrade licence I bought almost nine months ago and have been running Windows 8 on the laptop for quite a while. (Windows 8 Pro with Media Centre)
It's... unusually nice. Maybe it's because the boot times are... quite a bit shorter with hybrid boot. Or maybe it's because everything just got a whole lot flatter.

At least Office and Zune don't clash now.

I really like it, while I had it installed.

I guess the installation, and the overall setup of this computer was messed up somehow, or it was possibly illegally downloaded and installed without my knowledge (I bought this PC used). I began losing the ability to personalize Live Tiles, and then even the desktop. Just recently, it blue screens at boot, so I had to delete it and begin using Linux Mint 15 as my main OS.

Sucks, since I was really loving it. Maybe I'll buy another copy some other time, because I got so comfortable with it.

Hm, are there any stickers on it saying what OS it originally came with? If it came with Windows 8, you can easily reinstall it because most UEFI-enabled Windows 8 computers retrieve the serial from the BIOS at installation time.

The shell and hard drive DEFINITELY did not come with W8. It doesn't have any stickers at all, now that I think about it.

Not sure if this is relevant, but it also used the Award BIOS. Does that come with most W8 computers?

Probably is an older computer, then. I know a lot of people liked installing trials then forgetting all about it.

Windows 8.1 pretty much screwed up my laptop. >_> My network card refuses to work with the school's Wi-Fi, and it just so happens that they removed the listing of saved wireless networks. It consistently bugs (practically begs) you to use a Microsoft Account, so much that the No button is hidden after clicking the Yes button. It makes absolutely no sense, and it has the nerve to bug you every time you need to use your Microsoft Account for anything whether or not you'd like to use it globally. Next, it comes with a ton of bloatware, including everything that I already uninstalled from Windows 8. There's absolutely no way to remove the Metro Photos app, but you can steal its defaults. Also, SkyDrive doesn't work with a local-only account whatsoever. Finally, Logitech drivers like to crash at startup. A lot of things are reset to their default values, too. Is there anything else? Oh yeah, you can't remove it without wiping the OS.

As for things that are good about it, the Start screen is more organized and allows greater customization. Internet Explorer has also received a built-in update, which will probably be ported back to Windows 7 and 8. (Its primary feature, prefetch, is something I've always disabled due to hogging bandwidth.) The Mail app

I personally suggest not installing it yet.


Edit:
Really, Microsoft? Your workaround is using the Command Prompt? How the heck is anyone who isn't a Computer Science major supposed to figure that out?

I factory reset my laptop to its original configuration with Windows 7. 8.1 was fun while it lasted... But there is insufficient driver support for the hardware in my laptop, so the experience is wonky.

8 minutes just to boot also signals something serious. With the same app set and startup apps, in 7, for some reason, I can get to "ready" in 64 seconds.

There's something seriously wrong if it takes that long to boot. Except when installing updates or something, it has always booted in less than 20 seconds, even on my slower computers.

Edit: Now all my devices are failing repeatedly. I can't burn a CD, and I can't power up my external hard drive. Both are acting like they're not receiving enough power.

Edit 2: Looks like I was using a damaged DVD, but that still doesn't explain the hard drive.

At least Windows 8.1 works well with computers that are designed for it in the beginning.

For everything else, there's the proven 7. I guess you really should stick to the OS something came with.

Windows 8 itself works great with it. It's just that Windows 8.1 makes a complete mess of everything.

I received a message (ironically while using my lap top at school) about Windows 8.1 I'm certainly glad I checked back here and read what Cat had to say before I made my decision.

Pretty much everyone I know kept talking about how 8.1 was such an improvement over 7.

Really, people? The only thing it did for me was add a lot of useless functionality and make my computer reject my printer spooler (and probably a few other things that I haven't found yet, I haven't had it that long). For that matter, the only thing 8 did for me to begin with was update Task Manager. D:

Apparently the Windows 8.1 rollout was a disaster with regard to drivers - essentially, hardware manufacturers didn't have too much time to test, and Windows 8.1 came shipped with some common hardware unsupported.

Common hardware is right. My touchpad wouldn't work properly, and all my external Logitech products refused to work thanks to the broken drivers. I also just realized that I didn't finish my post above.

The 8.1 Mail app is probably the only good app on it, as it offers more features than the one in Windows 8. After switching back to vanilla 8, though, the Mail app here offers plenty of features for my desires.

I hate the task manager in Windows 8 because of how long it takes to open. When you've got a frozen window to kill and you're on the verge of punching your monitor, the last thing you want is the task manager taking a minute to open. That's actually the main thing that bugs me when I'm using 8, everything else potentially inconvenient about it, I've pretty much adjusted to.

Windows 8.1 is fine for me. How strange.

http://bgr.com/2013/12/09/microsoft-...-8-2-features/

Well, it's about time.

Anyway, I'm going to be installing Windows 8 and immediately adding Windows 8.1 on a fresh install. Wish me luck without drivers breaking things.

Could Windows 8.2 or 9.0 be basically Windows 7 + the things in Windows 8?

So Microsoft may not actually hate us?! </sarcasm>

It would be really nice to have my printer driver back, hopefully they decide to fix all that.

Really? 8.1 works just fine for me and on my laptop, it actually improved performance over regular Windows 8. :-|

Strike 2. Windows 8.1 doesn't like my other old laptop, either. This time, it's problems with the graphics drivers and mouse scrolling. What the heck...

Something tells me that given enough time they will all get sorted out.

Alright, I've finally gotten my original laptop back together (just need to replace the keyboard, and I'll be finished fixing it up). Windows 8.1 is on it now. This time, I waited until after updating it to install the drivers, and it hasn't complained yet. Heck, the touchpad is behaving too. Let's hope it remains happy.

I don't want to bother to make another thread so I'm going to ask here.

Is it possible for me to hook my old lap top to my new lap top so I can double the processing power?

In short, no. There might exist some program that allows you to run data over your network to process something as a do-it-yourself cloud, but it would only be for very specialized processes and definitely not something like gaming.