Windows 8, anyone use and like it

Gary Coyle

Gary Coyle

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Been using it for a week now and i think its pretty sleek and certainally seems less bloated than Win 7

Im using a couple of registry hacks and a program which brings back the start button (start8) and ive also got the quick launch from XP in use.

I boot to a traditional XP/Win 7 style desktop but do use the tiled win 8 just as much

i like it so far and have only had one driver issue, that was with my Lexar USB 3.0 dual slot card reader but a little bit of googling sorted that issue
 
Just got mine last night so I'll let you know in a few days
 
mine is coming tomorrow on my new pc so will have a play and update then
 
I quite like it. Recently bought a new notebook which has Win8 and a touch screen, along with a full sized keyboard. I'm even getting on OK with the touchpad (which I generally turn off and use a mouse instead!). Gradually tidying up the tiles and getting the tiles I don't use off the start screen. Not installed any traditional software yet but have raided the application store.
 
Nod said:
I quite like it. Recently bought a new notebook which has Win8 and a touch screen,
Click to expand...

Which one did you get?

I've pretty much decided a touchscreen ultrabook is what I want and a new Samsung 7 series Chronos that should be out soon looks tempting...
 
Been using Windows 8 since August and love it. I'm hoping the Blue update will allow Metro to work on multiple monitors, not just 1 at a time.

Keep an eye out for the Lenovo Helix if you want lots of power in a small space.

Just picked up one of these...

http://www.johnlewis.com/231740137/Product.aspx

Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook Can upgrade to 12Gb of RAM, has a normal 500Gb drive and 24Gb SSD, all the connections I need and is also touch screen. Picking it up tomorrow :)
 
Funnily enough installed 3 copies last night on new work machines, I won't be using them much but will be interested in how the staff get on with it as they have jumped from XP to Win8 - seems ok, the only issue I have is closing it down, can't seem to find a direct method of doing this, which is a minor irritation, but otherwise looks quite sleek and clever.
 
Windows + I takes you straight to the slide out screen which has the power option

Windows + C - CHarms

Windows + X - Admin shortcuts

Windows + D - Desktop

:)
 
Gary Coyle said:
Been using it for a week now and i think its pretty sleek and certainally seems less bloated than Win 7

Im using a couple of registry hacks and a program which brings back the start button (start8) and ive also got the quick launch from XP in use.

I boot to a traditional XP/Win 7 style desktop but do use the tiled win 8 just as much

i like it so far and have only had one driver issue, that was with my Lexar USB 3.0 dual slot card reader but a little bit of googling sorted that issue
Click to expand...

what hacks are those?
will be installing win8 on HTPC tomorrow...
 
Its the first time ive not enjoyed using a computer. Sure with time it'll get easier but at the moment its very challenging
 
Yv said:
Funnily enough installed 3 copies last night on new work machines, I won't be using them much but will be interested in how the staff get on with it as they have jumped from XP to Win8 - seems ok, the only issue I have is closing it down, can't seem to find a direct method of doing this, which is a minor irritation, but otherwise looks quite sleek and clever.
Click to expand...

Microsoft don't actually recommend this, they say to use the desktop power settings to go into power saving sleep mode after a period of inactivity and for you just to close the lid on laptops..

So far i'm loving it....
 
I run it on my desktop, as well as a Lenovo Ideapad Yoga convertible (and a Windows Phone 8 mobile). It's fine on the desktop after a day getting use to it....but really comes into it's own on a convertible.
 
PsiFox said:
Google "start8" from stardock
for one
Click to expand...

Yep, or I use "classic shell" which more or less does the same thing.

I think the metro interface thingy is great for a tablet or htpc but daft for a desktop.
 
yeah i think metro is good for touch screens not so good for normal use...

I have a good pdf of a windows 8 book, that teaches you all you need to know from start to admin jobs, its 39mb in size, is there any way i can post this up so others can read it without breaking rules??????
 
stick it on dropbox or some other file share site.

(I assume its not copyright material).
 
Craft said:
stick it on dropbox or some other file share site.

(I assume its not copyright material).
Click to expand...

Ooops yes - thought it would be ok if i'm not asking for money, but just read the copyright statement so sorry no can do.
But i can probably answer questions on how to get things done if anyone has any and i'll look in the book and post up...

covers all sorts from installing to backing up to recovery to usage etc etc
 
Metro has some really good features when used on a desktop, it just needs a little polish.
 
It is quite nice to be able to dock a metro app next to your desktop....sort of features that should be promoted a bit more.
 
does anyone else find the windows update process incredibly buggy?

locking out, high CPU and disk usage from the windows modules installer worker, not appearing to do anything for ages then eventually asking for a reboot.. etc etc.
 
I'm quite happy with Win 8 (I use it on two laptops and a PC), but I use it as far as possible just as I used Windows 7 and every other release before it. I don't use any of the Metro apps and I don't use third party apps to pretend that I still have Windows 7. I use normal desktop apps (Chrome, Lightroom, DPP, Office, WMP etc.) and have them pinned to my task bar. Then I operate in desktop mode all day long. I rarely get to see Metro in daily use. I don't miss a touch screen at all - my touchpad provide most, if not all the features of a touch screen and without having to reach up and stretch over the keyboard to accomplish things.

@Neil - no problems with Windows Update that I have observed on any of my machines.
 
No issues with windows update on windows 8 apart from when we has wsus running on server 2008
 
I LOVE how fast it starts up, my old laptop (Win 7) I used to leave on a lot more just because I did not want to wait ages for it to start again.

I have found my Win 8 crashing (freezing) a couple of times and when it does I cannot seem to get the task manager up to stop the offending program like I would have done in Win 7. But on the whole I do like it and even the start screen and apps are OK but I do use the classic shell programe
 
I've had a few problems with apps not updating and just sitting at pending/downloading
 
Yv said:
Funnily enough installed 3 copies last night on new work machines, I won't be using them much but will be interested in how the staff get on with it as they have jumped from XP to Win8 - seems ok, the only issue I have is closing it down, can't seem to find a direct method of doing this, which is a minor irritation, but otherwise looks quite sleek and clever.
Click to expand...

Move mouse/cursor to the bottom right hand corner of the screen, you should have a 'menu' appear click settings > power > shutdown

That is the simplest way I have found/been told
 
I've been using it on my pc since Christmas, when it was really cheap.
I don't mind the tiles but they are a bit pointless without a touchscreen.
It defaults to the desktop whenever you close a window anyway, so I've ended up using that all the time.
I'm pretty impressed with it though. It starts from cold in seconds and has yet to let me down.
I'm using the 'Clam shell' start menu, configured to look like XP, which it replaced.
 
ive had it a few days now on my new desktop and love it so far
combined with a new pc it is super fast
 
LR4 is flying compared to my old lappy.
Imports and exports take a tenth as long...
Superb
 
My Windows 7 install was creaking with age (mid 2009) and I was looking at either re-installing that or trying Windows 8. I went for the pro-update offer for £25 before the end of Jan. I'm also lucky enough to be able to get Office 2013 on a Home User Program through work for less that £10.

Despite one or two child-like mistakes while doing a clean install onto a new drive, (forgot to leave my old boot drive attached so it couldn't see the old license and wouldn't activate), everything went well.

I've since migrated it onto a new Samsung 840 SSD and it absolutely flies along.

The only thing I couldn't get along with was the new start screen, I made an effort to try but it drove me nuts. I'm using Start8 from Stardock now and normality is restored, only $5 too.

Overall impressions are positive but I can't help feeling that it is has a bit of a split personality. I run a dual (24") monitor set-up and the new Metro UI apps just don't work as a pradigm in this context. I can see it would be fine on a tablet or phone, but on a large screen a simple app taking over the entire screen real estate is just bloody annoying. The rest of the new UI I like though, nice and clean and modern. Using an aero glass enable Win 7 box feels a bit old now.

It still has a few rough edges with quirky behavior here and there but I'm sure this will all be sorted in time.
 
Been using it at work, my home PC and 2 laptops since August, love it and not looked back!
 
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