• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Windows 8

Share this page

NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
Bronze
Offline
I've been running the Consumer Preview version of Windows 8 for three days. Anyone else trying it?

Eight has a completely different interface from "old" Windows. Screen of my desktop resembles a tablet. Large "tiles" for each application, etc.

Only hassle was getting my audio to work. The Audiosrv service was stopped and couldn't be altered. Took some trial and error, but got it working fine.

Many of my older Windows and DOS apps work fine. Office2007 did not work at all - unable to load several dll's. Fortunately the old WordPad does work, and I'm about to try installing an Open Office suite - just in case.

If you're living on the edge, here's a link to an introductory video:

Windows 8 intro

Onward through the fog.

Tom
 
I jumped on 7 as soon as it was available for download. I have no plans to even look at windows 8. Just how often does MS think i need to update my operating system? Win 7 is as good and most likely better than XP. XP still rules in many many places. Windows 8 is going to have to wait. I can see no good reason at this point to update my machines just to fill MS coffers.

Soooo.. anyway. Tell us your thoughts on it.


m
 
Silent, am I correct in understanding that you will have no part of Windows 8??? Inquiring minds want to know.

Good Morning. Got coffee?
 
The tablet and it's look are the future, for better or worse. I've even read some predictions that personal storage, on the device, will largely become a thing of the past as "the cloud" takes over handling your data and apps. The internet may be becoming a giant mainframe with millions of practically dumb devices dependent on it if this vision comes true.
 
MikeP said:
The internet may be becoming a giant mainframe with millions of practically dumb devices dependent on it if this vision comes true.
Click to expand...

was going to say, isn't it already? :rolleyes:
 
I have 8 on my other computer and other than the stupid hateful tablet layout it was pretty good. No issues with installing drivers and it was up and running nice and quick. That being said I will not be switching my main computer to it when the production version comes out.
 
MikeP said:
I've even read some predictions that personal storage, on the device, will largely become a thing of the past as "the cloud" takes over handling your data and apps. The internet may be becoming a giant mainframe with millions of practically dumb devices dependent on it if this vision comes true.
Click to expand...

Gee, isn't that exactly what we had in the 70's?

I will never have ANY part of cloud-based storage. Having an understanding of how this stuff works enables me to understand exactly how impossibly insecure such technology will be.
 
I tried 8 for a while and dumped it! Can't stand it's format! Every time Microsoft comes out with a newer version of whatever, you have another learning experience to contend with. I don't like a cluttered screen and 8, to me, has one. Ok for some I suppose, but me, I like 7 and I'm sticking with it. PJ

PS I also have Linux in my other lap top.
 
Well, five days now using Windows 8 and no disasters.

I like the new "tile" interface; easier for my ol' brain to absorb than a screen full of shortcuts.

Windows-8-tile-homescreen.jpg


And if I just click the "Desktop" tile, I have the older Windows desktop with task bar, shortcuts, etc.

windows-8-desktop.jpg


I've installed several new apps, including LibreOffice (MSOffice work-alike), and Audacity (sound editing). So far so good.

Once I found the easy way to close the tiles, I haven't run into any more frustrations (famous last words). The default setting for Win8 is that when you open a tile (a "folder" or app), it remains open and you move between tiles by sliding (touch screen) or browsing (mouse or alt+tab).

Something I'd like to see: a way to actually *add* a new tile, and put specific apps inside it.

I save all my files on a separate drive - "just in case".

Onward through the fog!
Tom
 
Can you turn that tile interface off completely?



m
 
Tom,

Any reason why you went with Libre Office over Open Office. I have both on the Mac, but have not really tried Libre Office yet. But I need to learn to make a current merge document work that was previously designed in MS Office 2000 on the old PC.
 
"Can you turn that tile interface off completely?"
- you hit the Windows key, and you're back to the old Desktop.

Dave - I installed Libre just because that's the office suite I use on my Fedora (linux) laptop. No special preference over Open Office.

I have to say that I find Win8 more sparing of system resources when apps are running. I only have 1G ram and a 2.8MHz cpu, and the default setup seems to allow more apps to run without slowing the system, than my XP SP3 did.

Another improvement for me - on the Tiles screen, I can use the keyboard to type (for example) "print" and Tiles shows me any of the apps that relate to printing. Easier than the previous Control Panel, where you had to know what "category" specific things were in. Matter of fact, in Tiles, I type CMD and it shows me a Command window; if I want to use it, I just hit Enter. And I can start apps as a normal User (default), or by right clicking an app, I can run the app as Admin.

Also, more intuitive than XP (for me at least) for adding Windows printer and file sharing (from my Fedora laptop).

Win8 is still a work in progress, but so far I'm liking what I've experienced.

T.
 
And I was just getting used to Windows 98
 
Just an update - I've been using W8 since end February. Still very positive, other than the learning curve on the new "Metro" interface.

Big caveat: you can't install the W8 preview and later go back to your previous o/s. You install is *over* your current o/s. That's stated in the download and FAQ pages, but some folks rush to install and learn the hard way. Hate to say it, but "RTFM" ...

Only way to get back to your previous o/s would be to make a full disk mirror image before installing Windows 8. Then if you don't like W8, just restore your backup image.

I find W8 *very* smooth in operation, and NOT a ram or cpu hog. Minor detail (to me) is that non-W8 apps install and run through the traditional Windows desktop, altho' you can start them from the Metro start page.

Seems that W8 is an improvement - not a replacement - for Windows 7, plus adding the new Metro interface.

T.
 
How is it for "hard coding" LAN IP addresses, Tom? Talkin' Class-C, not the usual DHCP Plug-an-Pray, as in: Win 7 "Homegroup" poopware.
 
DrEntropy said:
How is it for "hard coding" LAN IP addresses, Tom? Talkin' Class-C, not the usual DHCP Plug-an-Pray, as in: Win 7 "Homegroup" poopware.
Click to expand...

I see no changes there; seems the engine IP and network mechanics as Win7.

T.
 
One month update.

Installed Win8 on my old Dell desktop. It's been running literally without problem, for the last 30 days.

Does its own updates at night, one requiring restart.

I'm using the Win8 built-in Mail for my gmail account, and its Pictures service for organizing aviation photos. Also using its Reader for pdf files, the latest LibreOffice for office type things, and the latest Opera for browsing. Win8's Internet Explorer (v10 ?) for me is just too slow. The "tiles" on the main "Start" screen all update in real-time, so you see new emails as they arrive in Mail, changes in stock values in Finance, etc.

I find the Metro interface more user-friendly than the old Desktop scheme; the Desktop would often clog up with many shortcuts and saved files. Unfortunately, if you install non-Windows 8 apps, they'll still run in the old Desktop interface, unless/until the developer creates a Metro interface for them.

Instead of having multiple app windows (old Desktop), you have full screen apps. You move from app to app with mouse or alt+tab, or with "swiping" if you have a touch screen.

I can't really compare Win8 to Win7, as I moved directly from WinXP to 8. Just remember, this Consumer Preview version wipes your hard drive - so don't expect to "go back" if you change your mind. But you can install Win8 on its own partition for dual boot.

Onward through the fog!
Tom
 
Back
Top