Dave Posted September 25, 2013 Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 So I ordered myself a new laptop and it came yesterday... it has Windows 8 installed which is... taking some getting used to!! I think I'll end up getting on okay with it but it is going to take a while. Anyone else working with windows 8? How are you finding it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted September 25, 2013 Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 Had it, reinstalled win 7 8 Is great for tablets but not great on a Box PC While I had it I didn't use the tiles Just clicked straight to the old desktop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 25, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 Had it, reinstalled win 7 8 Is great for tablets but not great on a Box PC While I had it I didn't use the tiles Just clicked straight to the old desktop Yeah I'm finding myself doing that quite a lot! Seems as though they have the normal (ish) Windows behind it and they have just added the tiles over the top as a.... 'front' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterchillz Posted September 25, 2013 Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 Tried it once on a virtual machine when I had to run some tests on Win 8; totally hated it. Win 7 remains the best one, imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted September 25, 2013 Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 Bought it - good price from MS, have it installed in a VM. and just can't see myself using it...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazz Posted September 25, 2013 Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid_Wolf Posted September 25, 2013 Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 my new laptop has it, I want windows 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 Dare I say it... I'm starting to get used to it and I haven't even finished setting it up yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 Just looking at an alternative to Office (as I ain't paying £80+) Libre Office, going to download it and see what it's like, anyone else use it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidjk Posted September 26, 2013 Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 i usually always go for the latest version of windows, and i did with windows 8, tried it went back to 7. gave it another go went back to 7. i get the idea behind it. if you use a windows phone or windows table or a laptop or pc then the experience will be the same, but i like my desktop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 i usually always go for the latest version of windows, and i did with windows 8, tried it went back to 7. gave it another go went back to 7. i get the idea behind it. if you use a windows phone or windows table or a laptop or pc then the experience will be the same, but i like my desktop. Yeah it almost feels... unfinished I looked at downgrading but because of it being a new laptop etc, etc, I have to stick with it... I'm sure it'll be fine but it's definitly different lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted September 26, 2013 Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 There was something that bothered me about Libré Office, but Apache Foundation has put out there own version of Open Office that I use on my laptop. It seems to work without a hitch on both XP and Win7 - don't know about Win8 though. They've ( some techy type and MS themselves ) said a couple of times that Win8 is faster than 7 and more stable .... I just can't get far enough into it be able to tell. Comment?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robke Posted September 26, 2013 Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 (edited) I have it...hate it only use the old outlay with a start button aswell these tiles belong somewhere else..smallest room in the house... Edited September 26, 2013 by robke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted September 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 They've ( some techy type and MS themselves ) said a couple of times that Win8 is faster than 7 and more stable .... I just can't get far enough into it be able to tell. Comment?? It's hard to tell at the moment as my old PC was rubbish lol Will update as I start to get used to it though and let you know how it's going Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueWolf Posted September 26, 2013 Report Share Posted September 26, 2013 There was something that bothered me about Libré Office, but Apache Foundation has put out there own version of Open Office that I use on my laptop. It seems to work without a hitch on both XP and Win7 - don't know about Win8 though. Not quite right. Open Office used to be owned by Sun Microsystems and maintained by the community. Then Oracle took over Sun as Open Office as well. They had completely different intentions with the software. So much in fact that a huge portion of the community split of, forked (copied) the code and continued working on Open Office with their own ideas, this is currently known as Libre Office. A few months later Oracle decided they wouldn't be able to get any money of from Open Office now and decided to put their hands of it. It is currently maintained by the Apache Foundation which is a good a trusted company. I'm not sure how much Open Office has changed lately, but I know for Libre Office they really focussed on making it faster which really shows. Regarding Dave's question: Libre Office can replace pretty much entire MS Office. I have switched a people over who maintained their entire accountancy through MS Word and never had any issues with the transition. It's much faster, (imo) easier and you can guarantee that the files you save can still be be opened in the far future which you cannot guarantee with MS Word. Edit: Meant Dave, but wrote Andy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee&Falks Posted October 31, 2013 Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 I like it, and since upgrading to Windows 8.1 am quite enjoying it. Don't use many apps on the store so its just like a normal laptop OS for me with a few tiles I use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunc Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 Tried it on Marcs comp and can't say as I was that pleased with it happy with 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 I actually dont mind it. Best thing you can do with windows 8 for starter is not try using it like windows 7 by installing all the rubbish you can get for it. Get used to how windows 8 works instead of trying to work backwards. You can actually launch things a lot faster once your used to it, its more stable than windows 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 It might be more stable, but I've been trying to install 59 critical updates for a week now. I've reverted to the oldest recovery set I have, no joy. Tried to run SFC and get told I must run it as the administrator - well, I am using an administrator account and start a cmd prompt with "run as administrator" I might like it if I could ever get past trying to update the damn thing!! One of the oddest things I noticed was that even after I reverted to the oldest recovery point - I still had only 59 updates to go ... some of the recovery points I passed over were windows updates. Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned it's a mess and a disaster all rolled into one. Trying one more thing - there is one update that's required to be able to update 8 to 8.1 - so selected it by itself. Install, "please wait downloading" - that's interesting, there's no activity on the task manager showing a download, ho-hum .... , 5 minutes later still no download activity (the only internet activity is what I can see from HO), ho-hum ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted November 29, 2013 Report Share Posted November 29, 2013 oaky, I blew off the partition I had set up for Win8 and have finally reinstalled it. It's doing the upgrade to win8.1 (or at least downloading it) as I'm wandering around the web and looking around. First question - is Flash a prblem with Win8 - it doesn't seem to want to install?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted November 29, 2013 Report Share Posted November 29, 2013 oaky, I blew off the partition I had set up for Win8 and have finally reinstalled it. It's doing the upgrade to win8.1 (or at least downloading it) as I'm wandering around the web and looking around. First question - is Flash a prblem with Win8 - it doesn't seem to want to install?? Nope, however flash player is built into internet explorer, already built into Chrome .. For any other browser you need to go here http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed #5 Posted November 29, 2013 Report Share Posted November 29, 2013 For all of it's "advantages" I have never liked Chrome - and I realize it's just a preference thing but it's awkward. I was one of the first to use Opera - I even got it when the desktop browser was a "for pay" item!. Then when Firefox improved enough to compare to Opera in speed, it outdid Opera in options so I switched again. I've been with FF since version 7 or 8 up to the current 25. When other browsers get mentioned, I go take a look but have always, so far, fallen back to FF. After I redid the Windows 8 install, it did enough of the updates to offer me 8.1 which finally installed ( whew, my DSL wires had to be getting warm!! ) One thing I've noticed, both with 8 and 8.1 is that CPU utilization seems to be better - based simply on the fact that the processor gets nowhere near as warm as with windows 7. With Win 8 it was seldom hitting 40c while with Win7 I almost always in dangerous territory (70c+) One major dislike! When I initially installed Win 8 in it's own partition, I had a simple boot manager come up giving me the choice of OS, now it appears as if it loads some portion of win 8, gives me graphic boot menu and then reboots the entire machine to bring up the OS ... now that's a pain in the touchas! It does appear, however to be a faster os than win 7 ... partly, I think, to a simplification of the graphics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 For all of it's "advantages" I have never liked Chrome - and I realize it's just a preference thing but it's awkward. I was one of the first to use Opera - I even got it when the desktop browser was a "for pay" item!. Then when Firefox improved enough to compare to Opera in speed, it outdid Opera in options so I switched again. I've been with FF since version 7 or 8 up to the current 25. When other browsers get mentioned, I go take a look but have always, so far, fallen back to FF. After I redid the Windows 8 install, it did enough of the updates to offer me 8.1 which finally installed ( whew, my DSL wires had to be getting warm!! ) One thing I've noticed, both with 8 and 8.1 is that CPU utilization seems to be better - based simply on the fact that the processor gets nowhere near as warm as with windows 7. With Win 8 it was seldom hitting 40c while with Win7 I almost always in dangerous territory (70c+) One major dislike! When I initially installed Win 8 in it's own partition, I had a simple boot manager come up giving me the choice of OS, now it appears as if it loads some portion of win 8, gives me graphic boot menu and then reboots the entire machine to bring up the OS ... now that's a pain in the touchas! It does appear, however to be a faster os than win 7 ... partly, I think, to a simplification of the graphics. I think under the hood its practically windows 7 with performance improvements overall. Its definately a faster OS by quite a margin. If only they hadnt implemented the stupid start screen everything else is pretty much perfect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidjk Posted November 30, 2013 Report Share Posted November 30, 2013 well i upgraded to windows 8 again as i needed a 64 bit os to play a game, and i am getting used to it. it is faster. i think i will get used to it this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MirkoS Posted January 8, 2014 Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 Performance wise, Windows 8 is great and better than Windows 7. UI wise it's just terrible as a desktop OS. I myself run Windows 8 on my laptop, but I've installed Start8 which adds a service that includes a start menu similar to Windows 7's, also allows you to remove charms (annoying corner pop-ups), you can also configure it to completely mask Metro, basically boot directly into the desktop environment and avoid Metro apps or anything Metro as much as possible. Once you install either Start8 or StartIsBack (those are payed, but are quite good) you won't really be frustrated with it, at least I was until I installed Start8. Regards, MirkoS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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