New Laptop Tips & Hints

Semantics.

It has that appearance and effect of an operating mode.

It causes a state change in the runtime behaviour of the operating system's window classes (including ones that are at that time owned by standard desktop applications).

It takes considerable effort to lay this out in a coherent manner if you want to use the system as a business tool and you don't happen to think in the same way as the designers of the start screen. This I can work around, on the other hand...

It's also inconsistent in it's behaviour as shown by your next point...

Because for many, there isn't a desktop alternative provided and when you have to resort to a "Modern" app (because that's all that's there) it then hides all the other data on which you are currently working.

Changing from multiple documents at a time to single document at a time is not a mild change.  It's a complete change in the approach to handling data.

If you don't like them then don't use them.

Some of the weather apps work really nicely. Live tiles rock.

The people app works great as a twitter reader.

And keeping it somewhat relevant. There is no Qobuz desktop app.

Adam,

Do you know any way to stop Metro from raising it's ugly head at inopportune moments?

I've limited it's indiscretions by carefully editing a whole load of file associations and installing other 3rd party applications (and accepting the security risk thereof), but it still tries to take over sometimes.

(And many of the 3rd party applications have other problems such as a complete lack of colour management).

The state change is only temporary while you start the application that you need.

With Windows 7 you could pin applications to either the task bar or the start menu. With Windows 8 you can pin applications to the task bar or the start screen.

Which applications were available with Windows 7 desktop that don't exist with Windows 8 desktop?

( don't get me started on colour management. I blame everyone.)

IBM

I Blame Microsoft

I strongly recommend that you install Start8 (http://tinyurl.com/lvvwylt ) as a start menu replacement.  You can arrange to boot straight into desktop mode, when it will look and behave just like Windows 7.  There's still the option provided to switch into metro mode for the Windows 8 apps, but you can ignore those if you wish.  When downloading applications like Skype and Adobe reader, you should choose to load the desktop versions rather than the Windows 8 apps.  I show people my PC and they just have to agree that it is more-or-less indistinguishable from Windows 7.

Why not just run Windows 7 ?

Do you run Skype in a window? I prefer it full screen.

Mostly.

But I think that the people like Adobe should be demanding the correct API's.

I find Windows 8 to be stable and faster than Windows 7.  There are also minor differences from 7 which are welcome and I do make use of a few Windows 8 apps.  So, I think it's the best of both worlds.  I generally think it best to run the latest versions of software, and I do prefer to run Skype in a window. 

I agree, it's the best OS from Microsoft. Faster and easier to navigate than Windows 7.

While I recommend that people install Windows 8 on a new PC, I don't think there are any really compelling reasons  to upgrade from 7 to 8,  I upgraded my three machines when Windows 8 was launched, and at the introductory upgrade cost of only 25UKP, it was a no brainer.  I now have Windows 10 on one machine.  

I agree witih all posts that suggest that W 8.1 is best for tablets, but that W 7 is best for PCs.

Wait and see what W10 turns out to be like.

In the meantime get at throwaway laptop and have fun using Ubuntu for free.

Don beautiful downtown York

Thanks for the info & the subsequent heavy stuff - very enlightening 

I am really impressed with Dell,  ordered on 27th (saturday & christmas holiday weekend)  

Auto e-mail ack. sent within seconds & then nothing (sunday)

Today (monday)  e-mail advising its moved from production @ 13:00 then shipped at 17:00 & I'm now advised it'll be delivered tomorrow a.m.

So this time tomorrow I will either be a happy Win8 user or slowly going doolally.

When you have questions then those of us that are happy Win 8.1 users will try and help.

The others will tell you to install classic shell and live in the past

Where are my programs? Press the start button (either the physical button on the keyboard or click the icon on the desktop). Then bottom left you should see an arrow pointing down.

How do I remove or add programs from the start screen or task bar? Right click the program icon.

Where is the power button? Top right on the start screen.

If you have time then http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/meet

   = thanks 

I might be past my sell by date,  but have never been & never will be accused of living in the past.  My glass is neither half full or half empty, its just the f###g designs all wrong & I am the one to get it sorted, my way.  So Win 8 - bring it on.   

Mike-B

Bananahead is right on the money.

Dave

For checking the weather, trivial surfing of the net, games and other things I can do on my phone or tablet: Exactly, absolutely on the money - for those uses the 'Modern' UI is brilliant.

I know a lot of people who use their PCs in that trivial way and for them I actually recommend Windows 8.x.  From his many posts, I believe Mike to be a more sophisticated user than that.

However, for serious research, content creation and systems use, the 'Modern' UI is a disaster.  Also, because you can't switch it off completely you're now forced to learn two new incompatible UIs (or run the risk of installing highly intrusive 3rd party code).  By the way, Win 8.1 classic is not the same as Win 7, even though it has a similar appearance; a lot of stuff is hidden in new places and it's much less usable for some disabled people.

If doing serious work on a PC is living in the past, then I'll live in the past, and I'll wait 'til Windows 10 comes out before I can move on to the future.  Incidentally I'm one of the few who preferred Vista to XP; I do actually judge an OS by how easy it makes tasks not by it's superficial appearance.

Of course both the start button and desktop still exist in Windows 8.

But there has only been a technical preview so far of Windows 10, and the consumer preview is likely to be somewhat different when shown next month (...rumours of a new web browser...).

Have you seen the start menu. Lot's of lovely new style tiles taking up half the screen.

The Modern UI is simply a bunch of tiles that you click on. Not exactly difficult to learn.

But if you find it difficult to pin programs to the task bar then maybe it is.

What research or content creation tools did you lose from windows 8 desktop that were available in 7 ?

S** this for a game of soldiers, I'm going to listen to some music.

How about Lt. Kije as he doesn't actually exist .

Huge

Bananahead was addressing your issues/concerns with Windows 8 far better than I ever could, hence my succinct post.

JFYI: I have listed below some of the applications I run. The appropriate tiles are pinned to my customized Start screen:

Mozilla Firefox (web browser) and Thunderbird (email)

Open Office (MS Office but free)

Adobe Photoshop Elements

DVD PixPlay (for producing slideshows)

Spotify

iTunes

dbpoweramp CD Ripper

devolo Cockpit (dLAN configuration software)

Qfinder (NAS access software)

Note: not an MS app in sight!

If there is more “serious work” I could be using my PC for please enlighten me.

Personally, useful as they are, I don't see a smartphone or tablet replacing my PC in the foreseeable future.

Over the years I have upgraded from Windows XP → Vista → 8 → 8.1. I missed out Windows 7 since I didn't think the benefits justified the outlay. I was, however, an early adopter of Windows 8.

Dave

Whichever one it is that has those huge animated tiles and stuff hidden on the edges is a freaking ergonomic distaster. My son has it on his laptop and every time he asks me for assistance I just about lose it, trying to figure out how to get even the most basic stuff done.

As you said earlier in the thread "Windows 8, no idea". No good asking me about Apple products except iPod Classic.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Unfortunately Bananahead seems to have answered issues that were close to the ones I raised, but not quite the same; but that's no matter.

To the best of my knowledge, the applications you list are all 'classic' UIs (am I right in this assumption, as I don't use some of them); so, for them Windows 8 has no advantage and is just change for changes sake.  It actually it has the same underlying kernel as Windows 7 with just a few tweaks and has the same fundamental reliability.

The problem still appears though when trying to use multiple data sources.  Opening 3 PDFs to get information, correlating these data to a couple of web pages and a couple of Word documents, then using the combined data to code a spreadsheet is a nightmare  The problem is that the PDFs are all presented full screen only (and each one separately!) in the 'Modern' UI, so they can't be displayed alongside any of the other data.

If you only use one application and one document at a time the 'Modern' UI works fine.  If you want to do more than that: tough, it's just not designed for that.

Huge

Have you taken your issues up with Microsoft? Your version of Windows 8 seems to behave a lot differently compared to mine. May be better than posting on a hi-fi forum.

Dave