Help Windows 8

[Edmond]

Do i have to install it after i've DL it?

 

[Yaka]

thanks for letting us know its still on offer, worked tho didnt have my usb stick handy so did iso file option

 

[Yaka]

Do i have to install it after i've DL it?

no it gives you the options of install, or save to media which is either usb or to an .iso file

 

[Edmond]

Just downloading it now, cutting it fine as the offer ends at midnight, gonna put it on disc for now

Or stick if i can get it on a 16gb

Actually it asks if you want to install later and puts it on the desktop, so i'll leave it there for the time being

 

[Scouse]

20 GB Free?!

I've got an old 64Gb SSD that's rammed to the hilt. There's no way I can clean up 18 gig off it to ram Win8 on.

I figured it'd wipe Win7, restart, install itself, bob's yer uncle. But needing 20gb free is wankz0r

 

[SheepCow]

Just downloading it now, cutting it fine as the offer ends at midnight, gonna put it on disc for now

Or stick if i can get it on a 16gb

Actually it asks if you want to install later and puts it on the desktop, so i'll leave it there for the time being

The ISO is 2.7GB so it'll fit

 

[Scouse]

Moved the swapfile, turned off volume shadow copy services and deleted any shadows, uninstalled loads of stuff that I didn't often use (although I was loathe to uninstall Photoshop), removed the downloaded copy of Win8 to another drive. 18 Gig free

Then I found the transaction log for bitcoin. Moved that, brought the win8 files back, 20.5 Gb Free


Now I'm looking at the link going "do I really want to? Really?..."

 

[Aada]

Got windows 8 pro for £14.99 yesterday thanks to the offer, got the back up DVD with it too so hiked the price up to about £27 after vat can't really complain.

 

[Scouse]

Did the upgrade. It took an hour and ten, which I thought wasn't too bad.

My first impressions are this:

It's fucking awful. I mean, really really bad. I'm trying to like it - and will give it time - but right now there are a number of glaring problems IMO.

The start screen is noddy. Bing-apped to the nuts. I'll spend some time getting it configured correctly with the correct apps on it but in itself it's bloody awful. Looks very pretty, lots going on - but a massively retrograde step as far as I'm concerned.

I do NOT love the in-built shopping experience that Windows has become. If I want to buy music I'll go fucking buy it. Or films. Or any of the other shite that seems to be force-fed me like I'm a retarded ipad user. I know what I want to consume, when I want to consume it - I don't want "suggestions" rammed down my throat.

You get booted to the desktop when you start up apps - like thunderbird (my mail client). A tool that waits for me to tell it what I want to do.

And there's the big problem. The start menu has been developed over years to be *really* functional. An absolute joy to use. In a couple of mouse clicks I can run up any of my apps, which are logically sorted stored and available to me.

The fact that it's not there is a major hamper to the effectiveness of the OS. I don't want to have to hunt through an alphatised list of applications to find what I'm after. I don't buy the argument that the "most used" applications are "more easily" available on the start screen - they were only two or three very short clicks away on a well-structured "menu" anyway - and the hunt to find what you're after for your less-used applications painful.

I sometimes don't even remember the names of the applications I use to do certain tasks - but a quick hunt through the start menu suggested them to me. On Win8 I've literally got screens of shit to search through.

I'm not buying that it's any faster to use out of the box either. Sure it boots up but my web browsing experience has gone from smooth to slightly jerky. Page loads are clunky when previously they weren't. However, CPU usage is currently through the roof - I'm going to have to sort out what shitty services are enabled by default (I'm looking at you Windows Defender) but once that's dealt with maybe performance will improve.


Hopefully I'm just being a moany old cunt. But right now I think the lack of start menu isn't a trivial or "just get used to something else" issue - I think it's the sad loss of a well-thought out highly useful productivity tool that's been developed over a long time....

 

[MYstIC G]

If you've got screens of shit to scroll through fella, prune the menu. As an upgrade it appears to have tossed everything into the menu for you. If you filter it down its then very easy to have just what you want there as you previously could with desktop icons, except the tiles are bigger and easier to identify. Give it some time and/or install one of the Start Menu replication programs.

 

[dysfunction]

Did the upgrade. It took an hour and ten, which I thought wasn't too bad.

The start menu has been developed over years to be *really* functional. An absolute joy to use. In a couple of mouse clicks I can run up any of my apps, which are logically sorted stored and available to me.

The fact that it's not there is a major hamper to the effectiveness of the OS. I don't want to have to hunt through an alphatised list of applications to find what I'm after. I don't buy the argument that the "most used" applications are "more easily" available on the start screen - they were only two or three very short clicks away on a well-structured "menu" anyway - and the hunt to find what you're after for your less-used applications painful.

I sometimes don't even remember the names of the applications I use to do certain tasks - but a quick hunt through the start menu suggested them to me. On Win8 I've literally got screens of shit to search through.

I'm not buying that it's any faster to use out of the box either. Sure it boots up but my web browsing experience has gone from smooth to slightly jerky. Page loads are clunky when previously they weren't. However, CPU usage is currently through the roof - I'm going to have to sort out what shitty services are enabled by default (I'm looking at you Windows Defender) but once that's dealt with maybe performance will improve.


Hopefully I'm just being a moany old cunt. But right now I think the lack of start menu isn't a trivial or "just get used to something else" issue - I think it's the sad loss of a well-thought out highly useful productivity tool that's been developed over a long time....

The start menu, of sorts, is still there: If you are in the desktop Press Window key and type a letter. delete letter. Voila. All your apps.
If you are in Start Screen just press a letter, delete letter. Voila. All your apps.

You can organise your Start Screen anyway you like. You can create a group for your most used apps even.

If you dont want anything on your Start screen just right click it and unpin it.

I dont get any jerkyness or high CPU usage at all but then I did a clean install of Win 7 then upgraded to Win 8. I think this is best.

 

[Scouse]

Sorted out the high CPU usage thing. It's a lot smoother now.

I'll work on configuring the programs into groups and get that sorted.

However, I'm adamant that the removal of the start menu makes it more complex (more clicks) rather than less to get to the full range of your applications. It's clearly a botch simply to "keep up with the pretties" at the expense of real deep-down intelligent useability.


I'll suspect I'll soldier for a while before finding a mod that puts the start menu back. But I'll definitely give it a fair crack.

 

[Aada]

I really like it, if you had a windows phone 7/8 the whole thing feels natural, I have everything I will ever need on my start screen no need for clicking through menus etc, it's just there waiting for me.

I think people moaning are just moaning because everything is new once you have been using it for a while it will be like the previous OS's never existed.

I could tell straight away that the OS was faster than Windows 7 just by how fast my system is useable after I enter my password and the start screen appears, I don't have an SSD so I know it's faster on a normal HDD than Windows 7.

 

[SheepCow]

However, I'm adamant that the removal of the start menu makes it more complex (more clicks) rather than less to get to the full range of your applications. It's clearly a botch simply to "keep up with the pretties" at the expense of real deep-down intelligent useability.

You're the first person I've found that still uses the start menu like that. Everyone else I talk to just presses Start then types a few characters and presses return. Not saying it's a bad thing - just interesting

edit: I'm only talking about things I do less often, for frequent things I have a tile - for frequent things in Win7 I used to have them pinned to the top of the start menu.

 

[Scouse]

Everyone else I talk to just presses Start then types a few characters and presses return

Alternatively - I don't know anyone who uses the windows search function to start stuff

Dunno whether it's a function of being an (ex)techie who's supported all the M$ stuff from Win3.1>present...?



Edit: It's not even found all my programs. My bittorrent client (Azeureus/Vuze doesn't appear anywhere apart from in Add/Remove Programs. It's not found by search either. But I can click on a torrent and up it runs...

 

[MYstIC G]

User error: Shit torrent client tbfh

 

[soze]

I think that behavior is when the software is not compatible. If you ready your Upgrade Assistant?? report it should tell you "The following programs are not compatible and may not work correctly" or something. If the Application is listed there you have your reason.

 

[Yaka]

meh lets start a revolution and go back to the uber speedy cmd prompt,

 

[Scouse]

I think that behavior is when the software is not compatible.

Ran it, everything was fine.

User error: Shit torrent client tbfh

It's done me grand tbfh

meh lets start a revolution and go back to the uber speedy cmd prompt,

I still use that a lot

 

[soze]

Ran it, everything was fine.

Not Compatible might just means "does not work in Metro" or some such shit.

 

[Scouse]

Not Compatible might just means "does not work in Metro" or some such shit.

It's not just "not available" in metro - even a windows search can't find it. I've had to drill down to the folder it's installed in simply to run the executeable...

 

[MYstIC G]

Re run the Vuze installer mate. Old installer executables add all their stuff to the start menu and when this happens in Win 8 those items get pinned to the metro start screen.

 

[SheepCow]

You can also right click the executable and do "Pin to Start" to make a tile appear

edit: although that'll be a tile on the start menu rather than the "all apps" menu, so you may not want that in which case re-run the installer

 

[Edmond]

I have all the apps i need pinned to the taskbar, i rarely use the start menu unless i need to get to the control panel or to shut down, but then i do that but hitting the start button> right curser>enter

Still not installed it yet though, and Scouse is putting me off too

 

[Deebs]

I have all the apps i need pinned to the taskbar, i rarely use the start menu unless i need to get to the control panel or to shut down, but then i do that but hitting the start button> right curser>enter

Still not installed it yet though, and Scouse is putting me off too

Scouse puts most people off so I wouldn't worry too much

 

[Scouse]

Still not installed it yet though, and Scouse is putting me off too

Have a go.

Use windows backup to create a full system image to another drive if you have one and then create a system repair disc at the end of the process (it asks you).

If you hate Windows 8 you can put the whole thing back in one easy process...

 

[TdC]

Use windows backup

cough...please don't do that. win backup has done nothing but fail miserably for me. a quick search in this forum will deliver a host of imaging and backup tools that actually do work

 

[DaGaffer]

I've got to admit my relatively brief experience with it is putting me right off upgrading my main PCs. I bought a new laptop for the missus for Christmas and its been pretty illuminating seeing her (as a definite non-techie) struggling with the OS. Its not remotely intuitive and I'd go so far as to say MS shouldn't have launched it with Metro at all on non-touch devices.

 

[caLLous]

The fact that I mainly use a very much non-touch PC as my main machine has totally put me off upgrading. I care little for improved boot speeds (I don't use an SSD on this box for various reasons so boot speeds aren't anything to write home about at the best of times) and Win7 does everything I need it to, and it does it well as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Scouse]

Its not remotely intuitive and I'd go so far as to say MS shouldn't have launched it with Metro at all on non-touch devices.

I'm still thinking this and I'm definitely a techie.