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

I have 32 bit Vista. This is what prompted my question in the first place.

I could ask around and see if anyone has a 64 bit windows I could use but given that I'm not particularly desperate to upgrade I think I'll spend my time doing other, more enjoyable things.

 

For those who are intrested, the registry trick in Windows 7 Upgrade to install it clean, works in Widnwos 8.

So basically, let's say you have a new HDD or SSD, you install Windows 8 Pro Upgrade directly. It will work, but fail to activate.
What you do is:

-> Open regedit, and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/
-> Set MediaBootInstall from 1 to 0
-> Open the command prompt as true Admin, and type slmgr /rearm > hit enter.
-> Restart your computer
-> Run the activation tool/wizard of Windows 8, and activate Windows 8. It should work.
​

 

PC Helps did a survey about Windows 8, stating on their press release:

These are their result:

Source: http://www.techpowerup.com/174810/Survey-Reveals-Companies-Early-Windows-8-Reactions-and-Plans.html

 

I've upgraded from Vista to Windows 8 on my trusty old dual Opteron 250. Needed the legacy drivers for my Radeon X1650 Pro (yes, it's that old) but it worked out fine.

I'm pretty chuffed. Boot time has gone from nearly 5 minutes (plus a lot of disk grinding in the background after) to about 1 minute. The visual look and feel is slick (I really like the themes and wallpapers --Microsoft has done an Apple and done some great artwork). The whole thing is elegant in its simplicity. The whole thing scales lovely on my 30" TFT, making it look clean and minimalist, with the ribbon popping up only when you need it, giving a clear and overseeable interface.

The Start Screen works fine for me, and even on the 30" TFT the apps (of which there are already a surprisingly useful selection) scale up well. No Start Button on the desktop took a bit of getting used to --or so I thought. I instinctively found myself going to the lower left-hand corner. Where the Start Screen icon popped up. And then it hit me: it's still there. All that crap about the missing Start Button and Start Menu is so much BS. There is a Start Button; it's just invisible. It is just a Start screen icon now that reveals itself on mouse-over. The Start Menu is simply a Start Screen now. Instead of having to burrow down cascading menus to get to an application it is now all there, right on the screen, easily accessible, with the added goodness of live tiles. I really cannot see how people can have a problem with Windows 8. It's frigging cheesecake on a disk.

 

Exactly! That is why I always say. Don't look at picture, and read sensational tabloids with shocking titles to get clicks, and actually use the product.

Also, if you want a reason why the start button is hidden:
Open a Metro App, and put it on the left side of the screen, and the rest show the desktop.
Like so:


Now try and hit the Start button, as if it was on the desktop... good luck. I know this, because it was a serious pain the dev preview of Win8. You actually had to aim precisely. And if you have a crummy touchpad... You'll trow your laptop across the room.

And obviously it can't be above the XBox Music app, it makes no sense.
So it had to go! Move mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen will show the start button as always.

 

Off topic:
Nexxo, we need a Windows 8 Modern UI Bit-Tech.net App.

It would be cool if:
-> Every articles have a link that you can hit which will open the web browser. This would be great for sharing on the desktop with not supposed apps like IM's or bookmarking in web browsers that don't have an official Modern UI app yet

-> If you scroll on the page that shows all the articles, an click on one, and then go back, it would be nice that it returns to the last position you where. If you have a look at news apps right now, I haven't seen one that does that, it's really annoying to scroll back.

-> Be able to post comments on an article within the app.

Please contact who ever is responsible about the above for us. Thanks

 

actually that's sifters job.

 

Well installed earlier, so far so good.. boot times are faster, all programs (bar Oxygen cant test that out till later in year as we can only get 30 day free trial) are working fine

One issue is BF3 where everytime I die or use map commands I get blackscreen issues but they'll all be resolved soon I hope.

 

Excellent.

Try running BG3 as true Admin, and set the game executable to run under compatibility mode set to Windows 7. See of that helps.

 

Had it running and PB in Win 7 compat. mode, will give Admin mode a go tomorrow when I get a chance.

To be fair the whole live tiles is growing on me, to start I saw it as a gimmick but now despite spending most of my time on the desktop area the ease of just moving bottom left and having all programs I need there (and more with a right click) makes things alot faster to be fair.

 

Anyone know how to disable Metro UI? I have used VIstart to get the old start menu back.
I just want to get rid of the Metro UI all together?

 

Use this: http://winaero.com/download.php?view.33

Good luck when you do split your screen with XBox Music or other Modern UI apps.

 

I installed Windows 8 on release and after trying the betas on and off, I am really quite happy. Only thing I keep doing is closing down programs instead of minimising but as I say, that is just me.

Has any had hands on on the Surface? I am probably going to get the ARM version for Christmas but was curious to see if anyone had any thoughts?

 

See the Surface thread in Hardware: Snips has one and so does one other member.

 

Umm.. this is seriously quick at booting sometimes. I've updated the bios and it offers some Windows8 extras (although it doesn't work, it complains the display card isn't compatible) as well as some new rapid/quick boot settings.
Basically, no sooner has the bios finished posting (which now happens a little faster) it's booted. It takes literally 2 seconds.
Colour me gob-smacked.
I must admit, I've installed the classic shell. While I agree the tiles are great, I prefer a more centralised menu where everything is, i.e. search, right-click to run as admin, list of programs installed. Familiarity I guess.

 

Eh ?
1) search - just start typing right on the screen. Surprise, search is right on the start screen.
2) right click to run as admin - did you actually tried to right click on a program or live tile in the list ? Yes, you get option to run as admin, the only difference is that it isn't a popup menu but a bar on bottom.
3) List of programs installed - press Windows + Q.

 

Thanks for the link Goodbytes. I installed that, but I'm still not happy with it. Now reinstalling Win 7 Ultimate again.

I don't like the idea of having live titles running in the back ground using up my resources. (Yes I know I can turn them off, but some apps still run and can't be turned off in Task Manager).

I do like change - But this to me is a backwards step, as I find certain normal desktop use take longer to do than using a normal desktop...Just my personnel preference I guess.

It is just me, or am I the only one who would have thought that using either ESC or Backspace when on the start menu would take you to desktop, especially when in one of the sub menus?

 

You hate live tiles running in background doing nothing on UI front and doing only minor stuff in background... And you switch to Windows 7 where you will have dozens of apps in the systray and in background, and in both cases you will have system services running in bacgkround doing much more load in one service than all of your live tiles combined.

Makes sense... not.

 

Someone's the grizzly bear this morning, eh?

I'll give the 'just type to search' a go, I didn't know about that.
Aha! I didn't see the run as admin button! Thanks for that.
As I said though, I prefer "move, click" rather than using keyboard shortcuts, but that's just me.

 

Must agree, Win8 can be a speedy little thing at booting - I've seen it get to the log in screen in less than 10 seconds!

I'm finding some bugs here and there that should get sorted over time - mainly crashing games and the other half managed to blue screen it (on that note, the new blue screen is rather funny).

I think my biggest bugbear is the UI when driven by a mouse...it just doesn't work that well. I'm having to learn keyboard shortcuts instead, or wish I had a touch-enabled device.