Windows Windows 8 Marmite thread... Because you either love it or hate it

For those who are interested, this is my start screen on my laptop.


Here are some things to know:
-> I put folders to the closest to where you show the start screen, for easy and fast access. and the least used programs at the end to the far right.
-> When you pin a removable drive, it stays pins even if the drive is removed. So if you pop a USB memory stick, you can access it there.
-> Adding a shortcut to Control Panel items to the Start Screen is a bit tricky. I went to the desktop looked on the web how to make a shortcut of a control panel item, and moved the shortcut to teh Start Menu folder, so that it shows in the Start Screen. That give you the ability to search for it, without going under "Settings" search term (or do Win+S) to look for access it.

 

Looking good!

There is one thing that I'm hoping someone knows the answer to:

If I buy the Windows 8 Pro digital download, will I be able to upgrade things like my CPU and Motherboard as I was able to with Windows 7 retail?

 

Has anyone worked out a good way of upgrading from Windows XP to 64-bit Windows 8 using the upgrade version?

I would like to know, I don't fancy spending £49.99 for a disc, although £24.99 would be doable...

 

You need to prepare the disk or USB flash drive on a 64-bit system. If you do it in XP, you'll end up with Windows 8 32-bit. If you don't have a 64-bit system in hand, your best bet is to order the disk I am afraid. Curiosity, don't you have an option in the 24.99 deal to order the disk for a few pounds more?

 

Disk versions start at £49 for upgrade goodbytes, they are not offering to send out a disk in the £25 deal at all that I noticed anyway.

You must create your own installer to use the upgrade either by USB stick or DVD it takes up aprox 1.8gb on a flash drive.

 

1) How do you put things like Sound on the start screen?
2) How do you group things under a title?
3) How do you add other news feeds to the start screen?

 

I did a search on the web how to make shortcut to a control panel element I wanted, and move the shortcut to the Start Menu folder, and it will appear in the Start Screen.

There is a better method:
There is this software that works, but you don't have all the control panel elements
http://www.trickday.com/2012/10/pin-any-files-and-folders-to-windows-8-start-screen/

Also, some control panel elements are executable found in C:\Windows\System32.

It's a question of time before someone does makes a tool that can pin all the control panel items. But those you can't find, just google search how to create a shortcut to them, and simply move it to the Start Menu folder.

To access the Start Menu folder, simply go to the start screen, and type: shell:start menu, and hit enter. (notice the space between "start" and "menu".

Ok that is easy. Microsoft showed it on the on the blog posts on Windows 8.
First you want to make your groups. So simply move the title outside of the current group, and a new group will be made.

At the bottom left corner of the start screen, where the scroll bar is, you have a "-" button. Click on it, and it will zoom out. Alternatively, you can hit the Ctrl key, and scroll down with your mouse, or pinch zoom-out on a touch screen.

At this view you can see all your start menu. Right-click on the group, and at the bottom you'll see a menu that show up, with a button, click on it, and you name the group.

Here they show you how to do it with screen shots:
http://www.howtogeek.com/108546/how-to-name-groups-of-apps-on-the-windows-8-metro-start-screen/

These are App store apps. I got CBC News (Canadian Broadcast Crop), and Toms Hardware. I would love to add Bit-tech.net, but they don't have an app yet. Once you install these apps, they will display live feed on their tile.

To change the size of a tile, simply right-click and at the bottom of the screen you'll have a button to make them Small (1x1) or Large (2x1).

 

Have you any idea on the answer to my question Goodbytes? You seem to know the stuff!

 

I haven't read Windows 8 license agreement yet. But I highly doubt it changed from Windows 7, else it would have been everywhere in the news.
The upgrade license is the same as retail license. So you can upgrade your computer and transfer it to a new computer without problems. So if you upgrade your motherboard, you should be good. Maybe a phone activate at worst, but it will be legal and fine.

If your previous version of Windows was OEM, than no mater, it will be upgraded to the new upgrade license of Windows 8 when you install and use Windows 8. It does not mean that now your previous version of Windows can be transferred somewhere else and use it, that still follow OEM license, but not 8. Technically speaking, you are not suppose to use your previous version of Windows anymore when you upgrade (unless you downgrade).

Here are some more Q&A's about the license agreement of Windows 8
http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-new-windows-8-license-terms-affect-you-7000003028/

 

That's excellent! Thanks!

Time to go and buy Windows 8 and give it a try! W00P!

 

It looks like you've figured it out I think but no, you only get given the matching version to the host os. A way round it may be to install a VM from iso? I can't see any reason why it wouldn't give you the version you're after although how would you start the x64 setup in an x86 OS? Hmm...

 

To run a 64-bit OS in a VM, you need a 64-bit VM, which won't run a 32-bit OS as 32-bit OS can't run 64-bit programs.

In order to upgrade to WIn8, assuming you prepared the disk or USB flash drive on a 64-bit system: you need to boot from the disk or USB drive to start the install process.

 

VMWare can do it just fine, btw.

 

-- DELETE

 

Ah! Good to know.

 

I saw that you can order the download for £24.99 with the option for them to send a disk as well for an extra £12 summat

 

If you order the download you can then burn it to disc through the update advisor (iso image) so why pay the extra?

Sent on my CM10 JB powered i9100 by TapaTalk 2

 

Ok, my biggest issue ? I can't put batch files or links to batch files on start screen. Any ideas GoodBytes ?

Edit: Nevermind - just place a shortcut in %appdata%\microsoft\windows\Start Menu\Programs\ and then it shows up in all apps, where you can pin it to start.

 

What you can and can't pin of the start screen is the same as the taskbar.

Try if this works:
-> Create a shortcut of the command prompt executable.
-> Access its properties

-> Under the Start in text box, put the location of your Batch file you want to execute, WITHOUT the file. Just the path of where the batch file is located:

-> Under the Target text box you should have something like this: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe, to it, add a space at the end, and type: /C <LOCATION OF BATCH FILE WITH BATCH FILE NAME>.

So in result, let's say I have a batch file called Demo.bat on my desktop, the Target text box will be:
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /C C:\Users\GoodBytes\Desktop\demo.bat
Hit OK, and move the shortcut to the start menu folder, which will in turn will add your item to the start screen automatically.

To access the start menu folder in a snap, simply:
-> open the start screen, and type: Shell:start menu, and hit enter. (notice the space between "start" and "menu").

Hope this helps.

 

Ah Goodbytes, we wuv you and your knowledge. :3

I'm loving Windows 8!