Windows 8 Launch Discussion

wayne040576 · 29-10-2012 6:38pm

desaparecidos wrote: »

I did a clean install which formatted the partition. Even if it's a quick format would all new files written (e.g. Win8 files) not be written in the same part of the disk? Haven't tried Win8 on an SSD yet.

Having the Administrative Tools in as part of the Start screen is not any improvement really. Using big tiles with a mouse pointer just feels wrong.

My biggest gripe and why I'm going to keep using Start8:

I want to get to Devices and Printers:
You hit Win key and start typing "Devices"

Search results are filtered by Apps, so you have to choose Settings (two down key presses or move mouse and click)

Now "Devices" is highlighted in the search results

But wait, it's the stupidly large interface touch optimized version!

Yes I'm on a desktop so give me normal version please. Arrow key right, hit enter.

Windows 7 version...
Win key and start typing "Devices"

Hit enter

Also Control Panel is filtered under Apps rather than Settings in search results which is just confusing. How is Control Panel more an app than Devices and Printers?

If you want to quickly bring up device manager just use the old Windows Key + Pause/Break shortcut.

Torqay · 29-10-2012 6:44pm

wotzgoingon wrote: »

What is the best touch screen device to use with windows 8?

Probably some Core i7 tablet with Gorilla Glass, if you got three grand to burn.

Skylinehead · 29-10-2012 6:53pm

Tinie wrote: »

Its not in my software catalogue on dreamspark. What section was it under for you? All Im seeing is windows server 2012.

It's first on the list, and in Operating Systems. We do get a bit more than most though, I'm with the School of Computing in DCU, normal DCU students (:pac:) don't get as much if I remember.

hellboy99 · 29-10-2012 8:14pm

Got my copy of Win 8 earlier and just about to install it now

GEO147 · 29-10-2012 8:35pm

hellboy99 wrote: »

Got my copy of Win 8 earlier and just about to install it now

I am thinking of doing the same, im currently creating a system image in Windows 7.

Question..I have my work email exchange account set up in Outlook 2010 on Windows 7. If I upgrade to W8 Pro will the exchange account still be set up or will I have to do that all over again?

Overheal · 29-10-2012 8:35pm

MSFT just alerted me that my free copy is in the mail. Retail bliss.

What is the best touch screen device to use with windows 8? I'm downloading the upgrade now. I'm thinking something a small bit bigger than a tablet that I can put on my lap and work away. Connect with HDMI. Is there even such a device?

Wacom Cintiq; Acer has a capacitive touchscreen monitor out; or you could invest in any of a dozen types of windows RT tablet or a convertible laptop to which there are several not just the Yoga. I'm also aware of a nice Pen that can work on pretty much anything that has bluetooth and capacitive touch called the Adonit Jot Pen, $99. Pressure sensitive. They make cheaper non-BT, non-PS versions too.

http://adonit.net/

Their iPad keyboard case also has better advertised features (and a better price) than the Zaggfolio, which is interesting.

hellboy99 · 29-10-2012 9:24pm

hellboy99 wrote: »

Got my copy of Win 8 earlier and just about to install it now

That went well, not!

Got a blue screen towards the end of the install saying; "We could not install Windows 8 . Your PC to been returned to its original settings"

calex71 · 29-10-2012 9:40pm

Dual boot using the upgrade went off without a hitch, and I'm surprisingly liking windows 8 after slating it when I tried the preview :rolleyes:

Anyway 1 feature that stood out for me as I use 2 screens was the ability to extend left as well as right (my 2nd display is on the left) also they have to an extent borrowed form programs like ultramon regard the task bar and hot keys to send a program to a second screen. However you can only do this with metro apps

Does anyone know of a way to get it to send any window to the 2nd display with win+ page up/down? Obviously I could install ultramon but as far as I know it does not fully support windows 8 yet.

GEO147 · 29-10-2012 10:28pm

GEO147 wrote: »

I am thinking of doing the same, im currently creating a system image in Windows 7.

Question..I have my work email exchange account set up in Outlook 2010 on Windows 7. If I upgrade to W8 Pro will the exchange account still be set up or will I have to do that all over again?

Anyone know the answer to the above? Just dont want all the hassle of recreating the exchange account/gmail account in Outlook again.

Or do people with W8 just use the metro Mail app for this??

hellboy99 · 29-10-2012 10:51pm

Just got it installed, had to do a fresh install of the OS. Can't get over how quick IE is

dulpit · 30-10-2012 12:20am

hellboy99 wrote: »

Just got it installed, had to do a fresh install of the OS. Can't get over how quick IE is

Jesus, it is pretty quick, isn't it? Is there an adblock I can add to IE? If so, could be sold...

BostonB · 30-10-2012 12:54am

desaparecidos wrote: »

...
My biggest gripe and why I'm going to keep using Start8:

I want to get to Devices and Printers:
...

Also Control Panel is filtered under Apps rather than Settings in search results which is just confusing. How is Control Panel more an app than Devices and Printers?

What on earth do you use your PC for, that you need to access either of these that often?

BostonB · 30-10-2012 1:04am

hellboy99 wrote: »

Just got it installed, had to do a fresh install of the OS. Can't get over how quick IE is

Its especially good on an old early dual core. Perhaps because more of this OS is multithreaded.

desaparecidos · 30-10-2012 1:15am

BostonB wrote: »

What on earth do you use your PC for, that you need to access either of these that often?

It's an example of one scenario, of which the frustrations are mirrored across anything you're doing that's not just browsing the web or consuming media.

Fysh · 30-10-2012 1:28am

BostonB wrote: »

What on earth do you use your PC for, that you need to access either of these that often?

Any sysadmin looking at Windows 8 will be finding this sort of thing a pain in the hole - though to be fair I've found out about a few keyboard shortcuts since I last tried out the Release Preview that will make it a bit less tedious.

BostonB · 30-10-2012 1:31am

desaparecidos wrote: »

It's an example of one scenario, of which the frustrations are mirrored across anything you're doing that's not just browsing the web or consuming media.

Does this not work for you?

Windows+R
Control Printers

BostonB · 30-10-2012 1:38am

Fysh wrote: »

Any sysadmin looking at Windows 8 will be finding this sort of thing a pain in the hole - though to be fair I've found out about a few keyboard shortcuts since I last tried out the Release Preview that will make it a bit less tedious.

Most of this stuff is a 10 sec google away.

hellboy99 · 30-10-2012 2:02am

Only issue I'm having now is Win 8 driver/software support for my Sabertooth 990FX MB

Dubba · 30-10-2012 2:39am

I put Win 8 on my 2 year old desktop (i5 760) with Start8 and my couple of month old laptop ( i5-2450M) without. The laptop boots in 0.28min and the desktop takes 1.08min. I guess if I use the remove everything and re-install windows option I could get similar boot times as the laptop or maybe its Start8 slowing the system down?

Overheal · 30-10-2012 2:52am

calex71 wrote: »

Does anyone know of a way to get it to send any window to the 2nd display with win+ page up/down? Obviously I could install ultramon but as far as I know it does not fully support windows 8 yet.

We noticed this issue during a presentation I held to introduce all our field agents to the new OS. Don't have a resolution for that yet. Haven't had an opportunity to play with it either.

ShaneU · 30-10-2012 10:25am

Scrolling on my touchpad has stopped working and I got no notification of this before installation, not happy.

calex71 · 30-10-2012 10:47am

Overheal wrote: »

We noticed this issue during a presentation I held to introduce all our field agents to the new OS. Don't have a resolution for that yet. Haven't had an opportunity to play with it either.

Got after trawling to the 4th page of google results at the bottom of a thread.

Metro apps as we know can be sent to the second display with win + page up/down.

Any other window can be sent with win + shift + left / right cursor this works in windows 7 too

hellboy99 · 30-10-2012 10:56am

Looks like I have to go back to Windows 7, no sign of Win 8 compatible drivers and software for my motherboard

Fysh · 30-10-2012 11:25am

BostonB wrote: »

Most of this stuff is a 10 sec google away.

Yeah, but it's a brand new OS that's just gon on general release, with a much-vaunted new UI that makes some sysadmin tasks more time-consuming. It's hardly ideal that the solution to these problems is found by random googling across a number of forum threads rather than going to a freely-distributed centralised Microsoft resource. (And no, being given the opportunity to wait for Microsoft Press to release a textbook on the topic doesn't count - if I'm going to pay money for a textbook, it'll be one of O'Reilly's generally-much-better books, thank you very much).

Edited to add: FWIW, further googling finally led me to a couple of MS pages that they're hardly falling over themselves to promote - a rundown of the new Win8 keyboard shortcuts, and a full list of all Win8 keyboard shortcuts.

I know right now that the first thing I'll be trying to do is disable the keyboard shortcut for changing input language; in my experience that option is only ever used by peope who don't realise it's there and don't actually want to switch language to Swahili or Cantonese...I'm also slightly disappointed that the Win7 window-snapping shortcuts seem to have been deprecated for what to my mind looks like a less obvious alternative (Winkey + arrowkey makes more sense to me than Winkey + Period or Winkey + Shift + Period).

Torqay · 30-10-2012 12:04pm

Don't like tiles? Enter NoTilesPlease.

Obviously, it's in German but works fine on Win 8 Pro English here. Just run it once and you'll never see the tiles again, not even for a split second (unlike with the well known registry hack). You can still switch with the Windows key. Run NoTilesPlease again to restore the Modern UI start screen at Logon.

You can also nuke Hot Corners, the Task Switcher and the Charm Bar.

testicle · 30-10-2012 1:02pm

Torqay wrote: »

Don't like tiles? Enter NoTilesPlease.

Obviously, it's in German but works fine on Win 8 Pro English here. Just run it once and you'll never see the tiles again, not even for a split second (unlike with the well known registry hack). You can still switch with the Windows key. Run NoTilesPlease again to restore the Modern UI start screen at Logon.

You can also nuke Hot Corners, the Task Switcher and the Charm Bar.

How do you get the look and feel of Windows 3.1 ?

dulpit · 30-10-2012 1:30pm

Just wondering, why update to windows 8 if you don't want it to look or feel like windows 8?

BostonB · 30-10-2012 1:35pm

Fysh wrote: »

Yeah, but it's a brand new OS that's just gon on general release, with a much-vaunted new UI that makes some sysadmin tasks more time-consuming. It's hardly ideal that the solution to these problems is found by random googling across a number of forum threads rather than going to a freely-distributed centralised Microsoft resource. (And no, being given the opportunity to wait for Microsoft Press to release a textbook on the topic doesn't count - if I'm going to pay money for a textbook, it'll be one of O'Reilly's generally-much-better books, thank you very much)....

Its new OS, there's a learning curve. More time consuming is debatable. Often its just a matter of different short cuts. MS penchant for changing things for no good reason is well known. For example switching minimize to desk top from right to left of the taskbar in Windows 7.

Has Microsoft EVER been the best resource for learning/finding out about MS products. MSDN has always been poor for finding out things and written in complex english.

I think people have got used to things not changing that much. Doing things in new ways, and discovering new ways, and alternative idea for doing something used to be the fun of computing. Now its all about anti social media apps.

BostonB · 30-10-2012 1:38pm

dulpit wrote: »

Just wondering, why update to windows 8 if you don't want it to look or feel like windows 8?

Good point. However theres good new stuff and bad new stuff. THings like Classic Start were created because MS changing things, and removed functionality for the worse between XP and Windows 7. If you don't use these bits you might not have noticed. If you do they drive you nuts.

That said peoples obsession with speed of access to rebooting and shutdown and lesser used parts of the UI is a bit baffling to me. But then I don't do that very often.

GEO147 · 30-10-2012 1:58pm

Guys I have an issue. basically I upgraded my Windows 7 installation to Windows 8 via download. I have tried the new OS but it is just not for me at the moment.

Prior to upgrading I did make a Windows System Image backup (using the native window tool) on an external hard drive BUT DID NOT make a system repair disk :rolleyes: (will the Windows 7 DVD act as a repair disc?)

I have the Windows 7 Ultimate DVD and I have that system image of just prior to Windows 8 install. I have looked in Windows 8 recovery but there is nowhere to restore from system image?

I would be very grateful if anyone could guide me breifly in reverting to that exact image I have of Windows 7.

Windows 8 Launch Discussion

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