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So. I use XP Pro, very happy with it. Have 8 (now 8.1) on a laptop and even though I have spent considerable time streamlining it and making it look and work like XP...I hate it with a passion.Since MicroSlime said they were dropping support for XP, and are doing everything they can to kill off anyone using it, I decided to do an end run on them.This past June, I obtained a 2.1TB External Hard Drive, loaded Macrium Reflect, and made an image of the hard drive....OS and all, plus the Macrium ecovery Disc, and put it away.Fast forward to Christmas, exactly six months from the "image".Hard drive failed. Sector bad in boot area.Got a copy of MiniXP, saw that everything was there, so ordered a new Seagate 500GB IDE hard drive, got ready, tried to install the Macrium image.Wouldn't read the recovery disc.The 8.1 laptop loaded the disc, I could see the files, but would not work.Okay, I need to load Macrium on another box, make a new recovery disc...wait....my wife has 64-bit XP...my box is 32-bit XP..won't work. Can't do it off the 8.1 laptop.Wait! I have an ancient Dell Inspiron 5000e in the closet, where it has resided untouched for two years.XP Pro...32 bit.Tried to load Macrium..wait...need SP3. I had avoided that as the hard drive is 29.8GB, and RAM is 512MB.Loaded SP3. Took, seriously, over six hours.Sunday night about 2200, it was done. Loaded Macrium. Okay, now we're getting somewhere.Tried to make a disc...the old laptop could not find the built in (sort of) CD.Now what?Okay, loaded it onto a thumb drive. Took the thumb to the 8.1, copied directly onto a new CD.Took the CD to the box in question, loaded it...it opened the disc!Verify image...20 minutes.Loaded the image (took a while to figure out...NOT intuitive at all)...at 2355, it asked to reboot.Popped the disc, unplugged the external hard drive, and at 2359 local, it lives again!It took some help on the phone to find the Outlook Express e-mails from the last six months, been copying over..deleting duplicates...loading a new AV (much more friendly than the last POS AV program was to XP), and now I have my log-in data and I'm here!Almost three weeks on the 8.1 laptop and I was ready to tell people what I really thought about MicroSlime.Even found some masking add-ons for FF that lets weak websites think you're running 7 and FF34, instead of XP and FF12.Dave
 
I have an 8.1 laptop that I despise. But I also have a legit copy of Win7 that I bought through work. I finally managed to clear out the "secret" partition that 8.1 sets up and have loaded Win7. Now I need the drivers, which is requiring some hunting. No time this week, but I'll get there.....
 
The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite C855 or some such rot. I posted on the Toshiba forum two years ago that if they (Toshiba) had XP drivers for that unit, it would have had XP within two weeks of purchase.8 and 8.1 is a bigger overall failure than Vista was, by a long shot.Two years later, 10 is out in Beta. What does that tell you?
 
Ditto to all this. Have had 8.1 for over a year... and I always use the old-style desktop look. Can't stand the "tiles" approach that MicroSquish went to. Also, can't do or find many things like I used to. AND, don't like that I can't use Outlook Express and that means no more traditional newsgroups.
 
There is a hack out there to load OE onto 8. I have it saved somewhere. Caveat being the Morons at Microslime will probably overwrite the hack in a later update.
My 8.1 has Start8, green XP style start button, normal desktop, killed tiles, charms, hot spots, renamed "my computer" that goes where I want it to, desktop icon quick launch on taskbar, run command function separate, pictures inop, loaded Picasa, openoffice.org to keep from sending the slimeballs any more money, FireFox (IE is shut DOWN), Thunderbird (NO MS Accounts, NO live.com e-mail) SkyDrive (cloud) killed. Has had this since two weeks into the debacle of 8 on this laptop.
 
I might have seen the OE hack... but I heard of mixed results, and I didn't want to corrupt the messy Win 8.0 at the time.

I find I still go to the "charms" when needing to do a few things (related to the printer). I really must go to Firefox (and can't believe I've waited this long).
They sure have given bloat-ware new meaning.
 
And IE11 (as delivered) sux. I just want the silly thing to function intuitively...intuitively to ME.
I know how XP works. 8 and 8.1 don't do that.
I have done almost everything I can do to kill off the stupidity of 8 and 8.1 to give me something I am slightly more comfortable with.

I talked to a guy a year ago who worked on development of 8. I told him what I thought (and opened my laptop to show him something, and he yelled at me for still using XP......I said it's 8..he said no way...had to take the laptop and LOOK....boy, was he surprised). He asked what would I have done different?
I told him, based on personal experience and TWO computer manufacturers who publicly blamed the lack of PC and laptop sales on 8, that I would have released it as a PC/Laptop system, no touch screen, charms, hot spots or any of the other MSBS, THEN have an add-on for all the MSBS.
He scratched his head.
I wonder if that is what 10 will have.
 
Nothing to add other than I have a Windows 8 (now 8.1) laptop, it is by far the worst operating system I have ever experienced, the prior laptop is Vista, still works but for a dead screen (I have it wired to an old CRT in the basement) and it is a dream by comparison.
 
Just a shot in the dark, but are most of the negatives about Win8 due to its being *different* from previous Windows installations?

Are there lots of real problems and glitches in Win8 itself? or is it basically just very different, and we dont' have patience to learn it?

Tom
 
Bought this Toshiba laptop several months back, with 8.1 installed. Admittedly, it took a while to learn it (actually still learning, as I know I'm not using it to its full potential), but it's not bad; actually kind of like it. My desktop is still in storage due to our move and building a house, and I know it's going to be fun (!) to switch back and forth between it (Vista) and this one.
 
Mickey - what problems have you had with Win8? Not "learning curve" stuff - but things that actually don't work.
 
NutmegCT said:
Mickey - what problems have you had with Win8? Not "learning curve" stuff - but things that actually don't work.
Click to expand...

None, really. Internet Explorer was finicky, but I switched to Firefox and all's well.
 
NutmegCT said:
Just a shot in the dark, but are most of the negatives about Win8 due to its being *different* from previous Windows installations?

Are there lots of real problems and glitches in Win8 itself? or is it basically just very different, and we dont' have patience to learn it?

Tom
Click to expand...

Depends on what you classify as "glitches". If you like hot spots and charms popping out at you for no discernible reason, then, no, it's a "feature". If you go to documents and setting....and you are blocked from going there in any version of 8, then, no, it's a feature.

If you like non-decipherable icons that won't allow you to customize to make it more friendly to YOU, then, no, it's a feature.

If you haven't come across the floating black screens yet....consider yourself an immortal.

Want me to keep going?
 
Mickey Richaud said:
None, really. Internet Explorer was finicky, but I switched to Firefox and all's well.
Click to expand...

Like I said earlier...depends on what you classify as "glitches". IE is a biggie....FF is a fix.
Lack of a start button was a biggie...and even though the folks who brought you Vista claim 8.1 fixes that..it does not. It just adds an icon that takes you to a page where you can figure out (maybe) how to shut it off.

You folks ever try to load photos?
And get them out?
How much success have you had closing the application?

How freaking hard would it have been to put a simple "X" in the corner, instead of having to remember to find the "flag" key?
Remove photo program, install Picasa.

Dave
 
Not sure why you're having trouble closing an app. Not sure if it's relevant to your issue, but I just move the cursor up to the top of the screen and the "X" for closing appears.

And I have a Photobucket account for photos, which I've had for a while. Don't like it, but haven't tried another host; maybe someday... Haven't done any work with photos otherwise.
 
The provided MS photo software, on my 8 and now 8.1 box, has no..zero...nada way to exit until you figure out the hidden "feature" of the flag button. And, lo and behold, if you're using a keyboard without that flag....well, you get to find out the secret handshake hidden feature.
Every time I go to St. Arbucks and see someone trying to navigate a touchscreen 8, I just want to say "can I super-size that order?"
It's probably all part of the plan. Dumb down the kids, the only thing they can do is "swipe" or "tap" a screen....and you've got a whole generation of McDonald's employees.
 
TOC said:
........ It just adds an icon that takes you to a page where you can figure out (maybe) how to shut it off.

You folks ever try to load photos?
And get them out?
How much success have you had closing the application?

How freaking hard would it have been to put a simple "X" in the corner, instead of having to remember to find the "flag" key?
Remove photo program, install Picasa.

Dave
Click to expand...

These are some of my gripes too. If they had come out with Win8 first and then brought out Win7, 7 would have been cited as the greatest invention of mankind ever.

I can force myself to take longer with more steps in Win8 to get the same amount of stuff done quicker and easier in Win7, but why should I?
 
I won't pretend to understand its possible strength when it comes to code... but I see its only value in the ability to flick and touch tiles if you happen to have a touch-screen computer (or you are using it on a phone). But that's me.
I consider myself fairly adaptable, but I really and truly don't like that they did to the interface.
 
aeronca65t said:
These are some of my gripes too. If they had come out with Win8 first and then brought out Win7, 7 would have been cited as the greatest invention of mankind ever.

I can force myself to take longer with more steps in Win8 to get the same amount of stuff done quicker and easier in Win7, but why should I?
Click to expand...
Precisely.
One of the reasons I have drawn a line in the sand and said "no more MSBS".

First clue I had was many, many years ago with Updates on XP. I had set to "notify but do not download". Walked into my office as the box was rebooting. What? Everything I was working on was gone.
The Morons had decided WGA (Windoze Genuine Advantage) was to be re-written as a "critical update" to prove you had a legit copy (which I always have).
I figured out right then and there how to kill updates..dead.
It's a trick, but you can do it...and undo it.
Greed.
Billy needs to be the richest guy around...so sell more "new" OS to the gullible public, to heck with those who OWN their systems and want to keep going with them.

Not sure, but I read somewhere that the new MS Office..you don't own it, you rent or lease it.

Gotta have an invasive MS account, live.com e-mail, all your personal data on Billy's Cloud.
All that because of those stupid phones that all those folks absolutely critical to National Security HAVE to have to be contacted at a moment's notice...even while driving....and not enough storage to keep it all on-board.

I've got a SMART phone...and that's all it does. Flip the lid, make a call. Wife decided if I'm gonna drive and old Jag, I need it.
 
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