Windows 8.1

[Independent]

Our Windows XP computer is on its last legs. Even surfing is getting harder.

I'm looking at new (low priced) laptops and it looks like I'm headed for Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 unless I search really hard.

The issue is minimizing the learning curve going from our other computer, which uses Windows 7, to the new one.

We don't own a smartphone, so something that "looks just like your phone" isn't an advantage at this point. I'll probably try to keep the new computer "clean" at least for a while as it will travel with us and I want to minimize any personal information on it.

I've heard that people have had a lot of issues transitioning from W7 to W8. Windows 8.1 was supposed to make that easier.

Any experiences or advice?

 

[Midpack]

You will get many responses, some better than others.

I have considerable first hand experience with most Win OS's including XP, Vista, 7 and 8.1 - my home PC is now 8.1. While Windows 8 made the dumbed down Metro UI hard to avoid, Win 8.1 does not. Both 8 and 8.1 also included the desktop UI that you're familiar with, and unlike Win 8, you can set Win 8.1 to default to the desktop UI and avoid the new Metro UI almost entirely. The Win 8.1 desktop UI is almost identical to the Windows 7 UI, so there's really little reason to ask for Win 7 anymore, though many people still are based on all the bad Win 8 reviews - though that's out of date.

And while I doubt Microsoft will back away from the Metro UI, they most certainly realize they alienated scores of loyal Windows used with Win 8 and Metro - subsequent revisions from Win 8.1 and after will only make the familiar desktop UI easily accessible.

Make sure the feedback you get is not based on Win 8 as it's now out of date (there's tons of it out there, and many people are still basing their views on 8), and that it's not from those of the Apple devotees who categorically dislike Microsoft.

 

[meierlde]

Our Windows XP computer is on its last legs. Even surfing is getting harder.

I'm looking at new (low priced) laptops and it looks like I'm headed for Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 unless I search really hard.

The issue is minimizing the learning curve going from our other computer, which uses Windows 7, to the new one.

We don't own a smartphone, so something that "looks just like your phone" isn't an advantage at this point. I'll probably try to keep the new computer "clean" at least for a while as it will travel with us and I want to minimize any personal information on it.

I've heard that people have had a lot of issues transitioning from W7 to W8. Windows 8.1 was supposed to make that easier.

Any experiences or advice?

With 8.1 you can boot to the desktop directly. You will still have to worry about the charms, but you can still paste shortcuts to programs you use on the desktop. Note that you may get a computer loaded with 8.0 go to the store download windows 8.1 and after the time it takes to download 3.6 gb you will have 8.1.

 

[easysurfer]

I recently switched from Windows XP to Windows 7. I didn't like how programs navigated from the start button so used the free "Classic Shell" program to make the navigation look more like XP.

A big complaint is with the tiles of W8 instead of a familiar desktop. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe in 8.1 one can easily set to use the desktop by default. Also, "Classic Shell" should work on W8, 8.1 to make the look more familiar like XP or 7 is that's what you want.

Do a search for old threads here and you'll find some discussing W8 and XP going away.

 

[timo2]

I have 8.1 The start screen with the colored squares is basically the new program start menu that used to be in the bottom left in the older windows versions. One of the blocks on the start screen is titled 'desktop'. Click on that and the old Windows desktop shows up.

to exit windows, right click on the pop up box in the bottom left corner (where the start button used to be). select shut down from there.

I was using windows 7 before also. What I like about windows 8 is it boots faster, and runs better (for me). We have it on a PC and an older 64 bit windows 7 laptop. Windows 8 pushes the limits older laptop, but as long as I don't add a lot of applications to the start screen, it works fine. I probably should have left the older laptop running windows 7. However, on my fancy 64 bit ASUS PC, windows 8.1 works really well. I do occasionally bring the start screen up to start an application- the same reason I would have used the start button before. But I also have a lot of the typical windows program icons on the traditional windows desktop.

another item I like about windows 8 is by hitting the bottom right of the screen with the curser brings up a menu on the right side of the screen. I've found the search function there to be really useful. and the settings button.

I was reading somewhere on the internet that the next release, 8.2, will make it possible to select PC or tablet use, and set it up accordingly. Although I've found that Windows 8 works just fine with a mouse.

 

[timo2]

, you can set Win 8.1 to default to the desktop UI and avoid the new Metro UI almost entirely. .

Here are instructions for this task. How to boot to desktop mode in Windows 8.1 | PCWorld

Thanks Midpack, I had not realized that, because I use the metro start screen sometimes and the metro UI does not bother me. Some of the news and magazine type apps are very nice. The internet explorer app is loathsome, however.

 

[Dave J]

Make sure you upgrade to windows 8.1 as soon as you start new computer. Change it to start to desktop on start-up and the learning curve is not too bad. I got the touchscreen and would recommend it, esp. if you get a laptop. Very handy at times.

 

[W2R]

I have Windows 8.1 and love how quickly it boots up. If I had to choose today, I'd probably choose 8.1 instead of 7 because of the speed differences, even though I don't use the new "Metro" interface and actually have never used the apps on the Metro interface other than the desktop app. I just stay with the desktop interface.

I went from Windows 7 to Windows 8 (not 8.1) overnight with no warning when my laptop fried. I ran down to Office Depot ASAP and bought a Windows 8 laptop without knowing the slightest thing about this new operating system. Despite that somewhat graceless introduction to Win 8, and despite some initial trepidation, the transition turned out to be smooth for me and I have been fine with it right from the start.

But bear in mind that I love playing with new operating systems in general. From what I understand it may be a little frustrating at first for those who don't.... Win 8.1 is a good improvement compared with Win 8 so get 8.1 if you have a choice.

 

[ERD50]

...

Make sure the feedback you get is not based on Win 8 as it's now out of date (there's tons of it out there, and many people are still basing their views on 8), and that it's not from those of the Apple devotees who categorically dislike Microsoft.

Hey, don't leave out us 'Linux devotees who categorically dislike Microsoft'.

-ERD50

 

[zinger1457]

If upgrading I would also recommend going to the Pro version of Windows 8. It has Bitlocker which allows you to encrypt your internal hard drive and just about any external drive including thumb drives. Worth the extra cost to me. Bitlocker is also available in some of the Windows 7 versions.

 

[HFWR]

Still using Vista...

 

[imoldernu]

3.1

 

[Corporateburnout]

Our Windows XP computer is on its last legs. Even surfing is getting harder.

I'm looking at new (low priced) laptops and it looks like I'm headed for Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 unless I search really hard.

The issue is minimizing the learning curve going from our other computer, which uses Windows 7, to the new one.

We don't own a smartphone, so something that "looks just like your phone" isn't an advantage at this point. I'll probably try to keep the new computer "clean" at least for a while as it will travel with us and I want to minimize any personal information on it.

I've heard that people have had a lot of issues transitioning from W7 to W8. Windows 8.1 was supposed to make that easier.

Any experiences or advice?

If by a low price laptop you mean $600 or higher Microsoft is offering a $100 discount for trading your XP machine. This offer is good until June 15 and it's available at the Microsoft store.

 

[timo2]

If upgrading I would also recommend going to the Pro version of Windows 8. It has Bitlocker which allows you to encrypt your internal hard drive and just about any external drive including thumb drives. Worth the extra cost to me. Bitlocker is also available in some of the Windows 7 versions.

+1

As soon as I got the Pro version of windows 8, I immediately installed bitlocker on my travel laptop. I don't have Trusted Platform Module (TPM) on this laptop, so I have to log in separately to bitlocker. So when you are getting a new machine, get one with TPM. Maybe all machines come with that anymore, I don't know.

 

[38Chevy454]

Classic Shell does work on W8. I bought a new laptop recently and it was W8. All I can say is W8 sucks to use on a laptop, I downloaded the classic shell and much happier since. I did do the W8.1 upgrade also. Microsoft screwed up big time and will probably be digging out of this hole of W8 for a while......

 

[Hermit]

Still using Vista...

I used Vista until 8.0 came out. I got a discount for an early version and thought I should keep somewhat up on new technology. Never had any problems with Vista and didn't have problems with 8.0 for that matter.

 

[Independent]

Thanks to all. The "faster boot up" is surprising to me, I'd just assumed newer = more lines of code = slower boot.

I think I'll make this simple and just be sure I get something with 8.1 and not worry about trying to find a W7.

 

[ziggy29]

There are still issues -- the main one is that even with 8.1, there isn't the traditional "start menu" as there is with XP, Vista and 7. But 8.1 is MUCH better for desktop and laptop users than 8 was. (Windows 8 was an overzealous attempt, IMO, to converge OS technologies between PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones, and for PCs it was too skewed toward tablets and phones.) But 8.1 makes that an easier transition for PC users accustomed to XP, Vista and 7.

I used Vista until 8.0 came out. I got a discount for an early version and thought I should keep somewhat up on new technology. Never had any problems with Vista and didn't have problems with 8.0 for that matter.

You probably had the last service pack for Vista if you had no problems with it. Vista was a train wreck until the last service pack -- after which it was actually pretty decent -- but by then, the reputation of Vista was so trashed (mostly deservedly) that it never really gained much mindshare. In reality the first rollout or Windows 7 wasn't that much different than Vista with SP 2 installed.

 

[walkinwood]

You can get a $100 discount when you upgrade from Windows XP
Store Offers - Microsoft Store

DW bought a notebook with a touch screen and loves the metro interface. On a non-touch screen, I find it very hard to use, so move back to the traditional W7 desktop.

 

[timo2]

Forget about 8.1-here comes windows 9

http://bgr.com/2014/04/01/windows-9-features-and-release-date/

 

[swortsoul]

I hated Windows 8 until someone told me about the Windows key X shortcut from the desktop. That helped me easily find a lot of the admin stuff that I needed (like control panel, command prompt etc).

 

[TromboneAl]

I decided to never consider Windows 8 because of this video:

Does 8.1 solve some of the issues he discusses?

Would buying a laptop that has a touch screen solve the issues?

 

[meierlde]

With 8.1 update if you don't have a touch screen you boot to the desktop. That solves one problem.
When I started with 8 it took about 4 days to get used to using the charms to shutdown etc. You can place what icons you like on the desktop. Start in 8.1 goes to a version of the tiles. However in 8.1 update metro style apps now have title bars where you can close them.
If you have a touch device then the trick is to learn to swipe.
All in all the problem I think is that many reviewers had only a day or 2 to get used to the new interface before they wrote their reviews. That is not enough time to get use to the new interface.
BTW if you are in the administrators group you can also shutdown the machine from a command prompt: just type shutdown.exe /s in the command prompt, and the machine will shutdown a minute later.

 

[ERD50]

I got about half way through the video, that was enough for me (may watch the rest later). Here's my story:

I just bought a new laptop, with the intention of putting Linux on it. But I figured I better make sure Windows boots, and check out the hardware while it is under warranty, so I could be sure it was a HW problem and not some Linux/HW combo problem. Then my plan was to make Windows restore disks (8.1), and wipe windows from the drive and make it all Linux (Xubuntu version). Just like I did on my previous machine.

But like that guy 1/2 way through, I couldn't figure out how to make restore disks. I recently replaced a crashed drive on a friend's Windows laptop, used an iso I downloaded and the product keys, and it went OK - so I'm familiar with the process (even though I'm not very familiar with Windows). But this guy couldn't figure it out on Win 8 either. I gave up, just like him. I just installed Xubuntu alongside Win, rather than wipe it, but that's lame. Like he says, if your drive crashes, those discs they offer to make need the repair partition from the drive - which is crashed. It is insane. Catch-22 anyone?

I also couldn't figure out how to do anything in Win 8.1. Like he says, apps would pop up full screen, I didn't know how to close them. And when I opened a new tab in the browser, I could not find out where that tab went. I was lost. Right clicking that little icon in the LL corner was a bit more straightforward, but still thinks acted oddly.

To be fair, I didn't spend much time with it, as I didn't plan on using Windows much if at all. But there was nothing that made me want to spend more time with it. Shouldn't a new OS encourage you to try it out? And why should you have to study up to do something on a computer these days? There should be enough 'hinting' to make things obvious. That was the point of the GUI. Maybe it's great when you learn your way around, but it was a frustrating start. Glad I don't need to mess with it.

The new Xubuntu has messed up a few little things in a minor way, but I expect I'll find a way to make them work, or there will be some options posted. But that's a small % of the UI, most everything is either as familiar and usable as before, or improved.

Another weird thing - I will honestly say it took longer to get Windows started the first time, than it did to perform a complete fresh install of Xubuntu, and have that boot to the desktop. Seriously. Windows took a long time to configure and install stuff, with no progress bar or hint what it was doing and how long it would take. And then it forces you to create a Microsoft account with them, then retrieve secret codes that they email you separately that you need to enter before you can continue. What if you were starting this up, and didn't have another computer nearby to get that email? Another Catch-22? And the start-up screen displays my email address at the log in! Geez, shouldn't my email address only be accessible to someone who can log in to my computer? INSANE.

-ERD50

 

[meierlde]

For future reference you go to the recovery icon in the control panel. Today however it is recommended that you go to a 16 gb + usb stick for a recovery drive. You insert the drive and start the process and off you go. In Windows 8.1 you go to the taskbar and navigation entry in the control panel, and in the navigation pane you can click to start up in the desktop. (I have the update installed ). Once your on the desktop, you can go the the charms go to the metro interface to find the apps you want and set up shortcuts to the desktop.
It just takes a few days. The start menu now has a shutdown icon as well as a search icon.
You can bypass the MS account by entering a fake one and letting it fail, then it will allow a local account. (I use only local accounts and because I have 8 and 8.1 pro have used group policy to set it up so that microsoft accounts are not allowed. (This is what a sys admin at a small company would do also disable sky drive because you want to keep the corporate date from the hands of MS)