Windows 8.1

[Pagey]

Not sure if anyone has tried it yet, but I've noticed a couple good things:

1: The wifi no longer takes ages to start itself anymore.
2: The Volume slider lag is no more.

It looks like it's fixed most if not all of the Hotkey issues, well at least with my Optimus IV anyway.

Can anyone confirm this for me, I'm still under the impression it's a fluke.

 

[tom_gr7]

no idea if its fixed anything, but I was trying to help a family member with win8 yesterday. Oh my god, i never released how bad it actually is until now! it seemed to have that tablet/metro thing showing "tiles" - most junk as standard, but there was also a "desktop" thing, but minus the start button. I just dont see the point in having a bit of a desktop theme merged with tablet/metro theme. errgghhh

 

[Pagey]

Yeah the 8.1 update addresses that too: you can select whether you want it to boot to the desktop or to Metro. I've actually grown to like Win8 now, it's a very capable OS, but yeah the Metro thing on a normal latop is just plain silly, thank goodness you can pretty much bypass Metro now.

 

[nathanjrb]

I quite like the metro interface - just not the metro apps

I find I'm able to whiz around far easier than 7!

 

[rickne]

so when is this released?


My only issue with 8 is with the Metro apps not working. I use AVG clean up and regardless of what people may thing , this program does wonders for the lastibility of your system. However programs like this and other net security systems seem to disable the launchers for the apps themselves oddly enough. Here is a thread I have been following for months. No diffinitive answer as yet.


http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...-working/01014156-fee4-4cbe-9744-47c8e07b3314


Microsofts answers is ...refresh your system . Thats right , Delete freaking everything and start afresh. Because your metro apps dont work. They are off their freaking heads f they think I would refresh because of this. Not an intelligent answer at all.

 

[nathanjrb]

It's almost as bad as "Your internet has stopped working. Would you like Windows to search the web for a solution?" :dots::2guns:

 

[ubuysa]

It's almost as bad as "Your internet has stopped working. Would you like Windows to search the web for a solution?" :dots::2guns:

"Never believe everything you read on the Internet". Abraham Lincoln

 

[ubuysa]

Not sure if anyone has tried it yet, but I've noticed a couple good things:

1: The wifi no longer takes ages to start itself anymore.
2: The Volume slider lag is no more.

It looks like it's fixed most if not all of the Hotkey issues, well at least with my Optimus IV anyway.

Can anyone confirm this for me, I'm still under the impression it's a fluke.

Thanks for this Pagey it's very encouraging. I too like Windows 8 and though I'm not planning to run the preview your post has convinced me to give the final release a go when it becomes available.

Thanks again and +rep. :clap:

 

[Pagey]

Ubuysa: Cheers dude.
Nathanjbr: That one always made me giggle.
Rickne: If there is a Metro app version of a normal desktop version, I normally avoid it like the plague. They're normally crippled to the max, I only have a very small handful of "real" Metro apps, I'll just stick to the "real" desktop versions.

 

[pr1s0ner]

I could cope with the metro tile thang if it was so obviously stuck on top of the desktop. Either a desktop or metro would be fine, but both just seems pointless

 

[Pagey]

Rather than me having loads of shortcuts on my desktop, I stick the always used ones on the taskbar, ones that I use a lot but not all the time go into metro.

 

[Tom DWC]

Having spent a good bit of time on the 8.1 preview now, a big improvement.

+ Boot to desktop. Though it's buried away in the taskbar properties menu, almost like MS would rather you didn't know it was there.

+ The desktop wallpaper can be set on the Metro screen. Makes the switch between the two seem much less jarring and a lot less like two different OS's slapped together.

+ The Metro screen can be set to go to the All Apps menu directly.

+ The search gets results from everywhere and also searches the web. Press Winkey + S from desktop to bring up a search bar without jumping over to Metro. (Personally my biggest gripe fixed).

+ You can right click the reinstated start menu icon (it's just an icon, goes to Metro) to shut down/restart etc which is much quicker with a mouse and keyboard than accessing the charms menu.

+ The Metro control panel is much more complete so on touch devices you probably won't need to access the desktop version.

+ The Metro apps now update in the background automatically.

+ An icon is no longer placed on the Metro screen for every single new application, they go on the Apps menu but you must pin them to Metro. Keeps the interface much cleaner.

+ Both larger and smaller tile sizes.

+ The window sizes of Metro apps are now more adjustable. Though still too restrictive in my view.

+ There's now a help section for new users.


- Still can't change the font colour on windows which you could always do before, which makes dark window colours out of the box impractical.

- It still feels a bit like mouse and keyboard is playing second best.

But it's infinitely more usable and I'm happy to use it out of the box now without any mods or addons, without being reliant on Windows 7. The positives that have been there since the beginning (speed, updated OS UIs) more than outweigh the negatives now in my opinion.

 

[rickne]

Ubuysa: Cheers dude.
Nathanjbr: That one always made me giggle.
Rickne: If there is a Metro app version of a normal desktop version, I normally avoid it like the plague. They're normally crippled to the max, I only have a very small handful of "real" Metro apps, I'll just stick to the "real" desktop versions.

Totally. Yet if something isnt working correctly no matter how useful it is , It bugs me no end.

 

[Pagey]

Rickne: I know what you mean, I was hoping to use the Metro "Mail" app once I first for Win8, then realized how bloody bad it was. They just dumb it down for people who don't like using the Desktop and think it's too complicated. XD

Tom: Very in depth! Looks like this is the way to go for Windows now, Big updates to the current OS rather than bundle it into a new OS.