Windows 8 our first impressions - (Now upgrade to Windows 10)

By Remotetechs : Forum Member
Published 10th November 2012 | Last comment 12th June 2015
Comments
Thanks for the headsup with "Classic Shell" Steve,#

At last I can logoff without the drama.

True PestPro. But have you tried to start it in Safe mode. The good old F8 button is not applicable anymore. I still do not know what to do if I get into some of those situations that might require a safemode boot.

Roxy

True PestPro. But have you tried to start it in Safe mode. The good old F8 button is not applicable anymore. I still do not know what to do if I get into some of those situations that might require a safemode boot.

There is a setting in config that allows windows 8 to boot primarily in safemode whenever you start the PC, however, I'm not sure why you would do that. Safemode is basically only for troubleshooting problems.

Classic Shell is just a program that bypasses windows 8 features, giving a friendlier layout, so that the OS is easier to use.

Thanks,
Dreamraven

This is an older thread, but there still seems a lot of hostility to Windows 8 or 8.1 as it is now. 

We've now got 3x Windows 8.1 users but I'm still hanging onto Windows 7 (along with Office 10) for at least another 12 months.

Thanks for the headsup with "Classic Shell" Steve,#

At last I can logoff without the drama.
 

Without Classic Shell I think there would be a mutiny!

I wonder what the adoption rate has been like for Windows 8, or if Win 7 and before are hanging on for the next version.


Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn

Funny enough, today I just downgraded a colleagues laptop from 8.1 to 7 so he could do some work. 

Thinking about making the same move on my own laptop... 8Gb of RAM clearly isn't enough to run a computer these days...


The First Choice for First Aid
From Cardiff to Calcutta...

Have to be honest and say i dont do the set up on my Laptop - i leave that to ex Mr IBM techie, aka Steve 

I hate change, yes i know im a technophobe but i just get used to the old machine and then i manage to kill it - unintentionally

Steve has tried his best to make it look like my old Windows 7, but it really isnt - the colours are different (those that i can see anyway), the layout is different, ive had to upgrade to Outlook 13, thats different - im sure im going to spend the next 6 months messing with it before im happy.

I also have a massive problem with my iTunes - neither Steve or myself can get my folders to come back properly on the new machine - arrgh - i hate change !!!!!

I do understand that things need to change and upgrade but why does that actual operating side of things, style colours, themes etc have to change too. Why cant Windows 8 be like the previous versions just with extra bells & whistles - i wonder how many man hours are lost to upgrading pc's/laptops and staff messing with settings to get their old themes back?


Clive

Funny enough, today I just downgraded a colleagues laptop from 8.1 to 7 so he could do some work. 

Thinking about making the same move on my own laptop... 8Gb of RAM clearly isn't enough to run a computer these days...”

 

Have you tried installing classic shell? It does make 8.1 a lot more usable and gives you a lot of settings to basically make it look like Win 7, but keep the better efficiency, memory management etc of win8.

Agree though, boot my lappie, with no applications running, it's using 2GB of RAM 8GB seems to be the minimum now, no doubt my next one will have 16...

Yet I remember my old IBM thinkpad back in 2002, running Windows XP with 1GB of RAM used to run like a dream, split screen with a momitor, run numerous browser sessions, and rarely needed rebooting.

So what happened? 


Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn

Have to be honest and say i dont do the set up on my Laptop - i leave that to ex Mr IBM techie, aka Steve 

I hate change, yes i know im a technophobe but i just get used to the old machine and then i manage to kill it - unintentionally

Steve has tried his best to make it look like my old Windows 7, but it really isnt - the colours are different (those that i can see anyway), the layout is different, ive had to upgrade to Outlook 13, thats different - im sure im going to spend the next 6 months messing with it before im happy.

I also have a massive problem with my iTunes - neither Steve or myself can get my folders to come back properly on the new machine - arrgh - i hate change !!!!!

I do understand that things need to change and upgrade but why does that actual operating side of things, style colours, themes etc have to change too. Why cant Windows 8 be like the previous versions just with extra bells & whistles - i wonder how many man hours are lost to upgrading pc's/laptops and staff messing with settings to get their old themes back?”

 

Glad I'm not the only one, seem to have lost all my itune downloads after purchasing a new iphone, always seems to be some sort of complication when i have to reload or upgrade an app of some kind. And then having to spend days trying to sort things out via email or even worse having a conversation on the telephone with someone in Delhi...


Thanks,
Barney

Have you tried installing classic shell? It does make 8.1 a lot more usable and gives you a lot of settings to basically make it look like Win 7, but keep the better efficiency, memory management etc of win8.

Agree though, boot my lappie, with no applications running, it's using 2GB of RAM 8GB seems to be the minimum now, no doubt my next one will have 16...

Yet I remember my old IBM thinkpad back in 2002, running Windows XP with 1GB of RAM used to run like a dream, split screen with a momitor, run numerous browser sessions, and rarely needed rebooting.

So what happened? 

 

Yes, I have it on this laptop... and it's much better, really... but still...

My first computer had 4Mb of RAM... and a 486, DXII 66 processor. I saved up about £120 for another 4Mb and was landed... Life was good.

Now I have 8000Mb of RAM, and life may be more graphically aesthetically pleasing, but, I have to put "When it loads" at the end of every sentence.

"Yeah, great when it loads" 


"Yup, Ill call you back when it loads"

"Sure, Ill do it when it loads"

Considering going back to Win 3.11 and a dial up modem. Life was simpler.


The First Choice for First Aid
From Cardiff to Calcutta...

My first computer had 4Mb of RAM... and a 486, DXII 66 processor. I saved up about £120 for another 4Mb and was landed... Life was good.”
 

Ditto! Upgraded my 486 to 8Mb and felt like a rockstar using a Cray Super computer Used to make my submarine game run lightening fast (after using mem manager obviously).

Downloaded a HP laser printer driver yesterday for Clives lappie, 120Mb. Which then failed after installing.  Worlds gone mad.

But the otherside of the equation, computers may have now got seriously far less efficient and slower per lines of operating system code versus amount of system RAM, but they are a lot cheaper!

PC peak and glory days for me were early to mid naughties. Windows XP, 2003 Server, MS Office 2003 and drivers for the bombproof HP 4050N printer, which after 20 years of sterling corpotrate and then MLS service, now only works on my Win 7 lappie  

After that software seemed to bloat beyond recognition with features I've never needed since 3.11, and still don't need, and Microsoft seemed to have a perverse sense of humour in winding up users by messing around with a perfectly working and familiar interface.

By all means make it faster (hah!) more reliable (really?) but why not give us the ability to be productive out of the box by letting us have the fabulous "classic" settings that you always used to have

Dear santa.....


Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn

There seems to be an ongoing debate on Windows 7 Vs Windows 8. Our take is that each will suit individual tastes. Windows 8 is a complete change in outlook from Windows 7 and many individuals do not like the layout of the desktop. A lot of people we spoke to are prepared to wait until Windows 10 is released rather than hopping onto Windows 8.  

Our thoughts are that we prefer Windows 7 and find navigating around Windows 8 a pain at times and not as fluid in our opinion as Windows 7.  


Thank You,
Whiz-IT

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