Windows 8 Launch Discussion

Fysh

For those who want a 1-page printable guide to the new keyboard shortcuts in Win8 (rather than the 3-page non-print-friendly version here) I've uploaded a 1.42MB PDF to Sendspace.

cookie1977

Lifehacker has a good shortcut list too:

http://lifehacker.com/5955162/how-to-not-get-lost-in-windows-8-the-best-shortcuts-and-tricks

sebastianlieken

I'm finding the app store a bit... silly. (or it could be me that's being silly)

If I want to search for an app, do I first have to go into the category that I think it will be in? and then how exactly does one search when you're in the category?

Blowfish

sebastianlieken wrote: »

I'm finding the app store a bit... silly. (or it could be me that's being silly)

If I want to search for an app, do I first have to go into the category that I think it will be in? and then how exactly does one search when you're in the category?

To search the store, start searching as if you were searching your own machine, then just click on 'App Store' on the right. It's a bit unintuitive at first, but you get used to it.

Adyx

I installed the Netflix app earlier and I was going for ****sake how can they not have any search facility. Then I remembered that the charm thing is context sensitive. Will take a bit of getting used to. :pac:


Edit: Meant to ask, I originally used my Microsoft account to create a user and login etc. I've since switched to a local user but the MS account option is still the default on the login screen and gives a password error. Anyone know how to remove it from the login screen? It's not listed as an account in any of the usual places.

sebastianlieken

I'm really giving Windows 8 a good honest chance but this app screen / and the apps themselves are doing my head in. They're rubbish on a laptop! they're purley designed for tablets. left/right keys don't work on all aps, you physically have to click on the right/left arrow on the screen. the scroll bars rarely work, and that windows key to toggle between the desktop and the splash screen doesn't work half the time. the desktop part is grand for pc though

I wonder if that's the point though. App interface for tablets, desktop interface for PC's....

I think I'll be using a Windows 7 start menu type interface, can anyone recommend any?

sebastianlieken

sebastianlieken wrote: »

I think I'll be using a Windows 7 start menu type interface, can anyone recommend any?

I found Start8 to be the best, costs $5 I believe. Classic Shell is free though.

sebastianlieken

Karsini wrote: »

I found Start8 to be the best, costs $5 I believe. Classic Shell is free though.

paying for software... suuuure! <insert pirate emoticon>

unkel

Vistart is free too. Works very well - you wouldn't know it's not windows native until you try to customise it

Dr Bob

Been using Classic Shell for a few days now and its pretty good too.

AntiRip

My Chrome is launching Metro style this evening. Can't launch the app now anymore as it automatically launch the flip screen of metro. Not only that, it's launching by itself. Very annoying. I hate the Metro style chrome as the bookmarks have massive spaces between them.

Anyone notice this?

**Fixed it with a system restore

murpho999

I think it's just that people don't like change.

I installed it last weekend and after a week I really like it.

Definiely learning curve with the charms and search etc and I'm still getting used to it.

Like all the full screen apps,stuff like Accuweather, Netfix, Google or Photos look great.

Also, installed Smartglass and can now watch videos on Laptop on my Xbox very easily, was painful before.

I think as more apps come on board it will get better and people just stop thinking like a traditional desktop and give the tiles a chance.

GreenWolfe

I upgraded a few days ago and barring some driver issues I'm reasonably happy with it. I find it handier to ignore most of the Modern UI interface, so I unpinned most of the built-in Metro applications from the Start screen. The only built-in Metro app that I use regularly is the Mail app.

I'm used to looking for files and launching programs by searching for them from the Start menu so that wasn't much of an adjustment. Other than familiarising myself with new locations for adding devices, getting Windows updates etc the transition has been fairly smooth.

On a more positive note, some of the UI changes are quite handy. My laptop is more often than not connected to an external monitor. So if I want to switch between having two screens active or just using the external monitor, I just have to go to Devices in the charms menu to switch between these configurations. I find this a bit shorter than going to the Windows Mobility Center in 7.

desaparecidos

EarthlyPangaea wrote: »

On a more positive note, some of the UI changes are quite handy. My laptop is more often than not connected to an external monitor. So if I want to switch between having two screens active or just using the external monitor, I just have to go to Devices in the charms menu to switch between these configurations. I find this a bit shorter than going to the Windows Mobility Center in 7.

Win Key + P

kaimera

Few issues with my logitech kb/mouse.

the volume/mute keys on my g15 no longer work (they didn't initially but i installed the latest sw from logi but then they stopped working recently)

My kb game profiles are missing completely too.

Q - when I'm away from my computer and it's idle, I can hear an awful lof of hdd activity but there doesnt seem to be anything running or scheduled. Anyone else get this?

Tinie

Could be live tiles/ email client updating every few mind perhaps.

200motels

murpho999 wrote: »

I think it's just that people don't like change.

I installed it last weekend and after a week I really like it.

Definiely learning curve with the charms and search etc and I'm still getting used to it.

Like all the full screen apps,stuff like Accuweather, Netfix, Google or Photos look great.

Also, installed Smartglass and can now watch videos on Laptop on my Xbox very easily, was painful before.

I think as more apps come on board it will get better and people just stop thinking like a traditional desktop and give the tiles a chance.

I don't mind change if it's a change for the better but Windows 8 is not for the better, it's an awful O System and when the penny drops for many they'll realise this, why would you have 2 ways of running the system, desktop with no start button or tiles which are terrible, I'll be sticking with Windows 7 it's a far better system, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Overheal

kaimera wrote: »

Q - when I'm away from my computer and it's idle, I can hear an awful lof of hdd activity but there doesnt seem to be anything running or scheduled. Anyone else get this?

Either your AV performing a background scan or windows performing a Defrag, more than likely.

You can download defraggler, it gives you the option to supplant the normal windows defragger, gives you a little more control over it.

BostonB

200motels wrote: »

... I'll be sticking with Windows 7 it's a far better system, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Considering you can add the start menu back then use it like W7, its more similar to Windows 7 than it is different.

luckylucky

BostonB wrote: »

Considering you can add the start menu back then use it like W7, its more similar to Windows 7 than it is different.

Is there a way of getting it back without using third party software? I'm using a 3rd party program called ClassicShell but I don't know what effects this might have on other parts of the system and am thinking of uninstalling it on the offchance that it's a cause of some of the issues I have with Win 8.

kaimera

Hmm, maybe, I have the email open.

@Overheal - only using win defender and I cant see diskdefrag set up in the task scheduler.

I'll double check tho, fair annoying cos it's a lot of storage to go thru and defrag if it is.

BostonB

What issues?

Fysh

luckylucky wrote: »

Is there a way of getting it back without using third party software? I'm using a 3rd party program called ClassicShell but I don't know what effects this might have on other parts of the system and am thinking of uninstalling it on the offchance that it's a cause of some of the issues I have with Win 8.

ClassicShell, ViStart and Start8 are being mentioned in the context of Windows 8 precisely because the Start menu can't be enabled in a simple fashion. Third party software is required to restore this now-deprecated mode of operation.

Personally, I don't think it's likely to have caused any issues - I tried the Release Preview with it installed and found it to run just fine, and I've forced myself to do without it since installing Win 8 Pro on my desktop and it also seems fine. I still don't like Notro, particularly, but spending a bit of time to change the default and mostly-useless options into a menu populated with items I use regularly, grouped by overall task category - coupled with learning a few new keyboard shortcuts - has been crucial to no longer feeling like it's actively getting in my way.

What problems are you having with Windows 8?

BostonB

I've used with Classic Shell with Windows 7 for years with no problems.

I've used in on Windows 8 but not much. On my current Windows 8 machine I've not bothered as I only use it for web browsing.

Depends what issues your talking about.

luckylucky

Fysh wrote: »

ClassicShell, ViStart and Start8 are being mentioned in the context of Windows 8 precisely because the Start menu can't be enabled in a simple fashion. Third party software is required to restore this now-deprecated mode of operation.

Personally, I don't think it's likely to have caused any issues - I tried the Release Preview with it installed and found it to run just fine, and I've forced myself to do without it since installing Win 8 Pro on my desktop and it also seems fine. I still don't like Notro, particularly, but spending a bit of time to change the default and mostly-useless options into a menu populated with items I use regularly, grouped by overall task category - coupled with learning a few new keyboard shortcuts - has been crucial to no longer feeling like it's actively getting in my way.

What problems are you having with Windows 8?

BostonB wrote: »

I've used with Classic Shell with Windows 7 for years with no problems.

I've used in on Windows 8 but not much. On my current Windows 8 machine I've not bothered as I only use it for web browsing.

Depends what issues your talking about.

I'm having a number of annoying niggles, some minor, some major with Windows 8, one is that sometimes when I click on items in the taskbar it opens them only to minimise them straight away, this happens intermittingly only, and only way I can seem to get out of it, is to restart Win8. The real major problem I'm having is I can't get on the internet when using a wireless connection (I'm on my win 7 netbook now). I can connect to the wireless network but there is no internet. FWIW the router is using wpa-psk. It's not my router so I don't want to go fiddling with it if possible.

Anyway Classic shell is definitely not a cause of the latter, didn't think it was, but trying out anything to see what the hell is causing it.

On a likely unrelated annoyance - a link was posted earlier by someone to remove the welcome screen when you boot up pc http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/disable-windows-8-lock-screen/ where it describes editing the group policy editor - I have no group policy editor on my windows

Another annoyance is I get a big status display (time, battery power etc) that just seems to pop up now and then. I can't quite replicate how it happens but it's damn annoying, often seems to happen when I stop mouse and want to move it quickly to some other program

BostonB

I've installed W8 on about 4 machines over the past year and never seen anything like that. The main problem I had was some WiFi cards not being detected, but usually using the W7 driver solved that.

Fysh

luckylucky wrote: »

I'm having a number of annoying niggles, some minor, some major with Windows 8, one is that sometimes when I click on items in the taskbar it opens them only to minimise them straight away, this happens intermittingly only, and only way I can seem to get out of it, is to restart Win8. The real major problem I'm having is I can't get on the internet when using a wireless connection (I'm on my win 7 netbook now). I can connect to the wireless network but there is no internet. FWIW the router is using wpa-psk. It's not my router so I don't want to go fiddling with it if possible.

It could be a driver issue on your wireless card - have you tested Windows 8 wired up to the router?

luckylucky wrote: »

On a likely unrelated annoyance - a link was posted earlier by someone to remove the welcome screen when you boot up pc http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/disable-windows-8-lock-screen/ where it describes editing the group policy editor - I have no group policy editor on my windows

Group Policy editing is generally only available in the pro/enterprise versions of Windows, so if you're not on Windows 8 Pro you won't be able to use that tool to turn off the lock/welcome screen.

luckylucky wrote: »

Another annoyance is I get a big status display (time, battery power etc) that just seems to pop up now and then. I can't quite replicate how it happens but it's damn annoying, often seems to happen when I stop mouse and want to move it quickly to some other program

Sounds like it could be the mouse-gesture for opening the Charms menu (swipe towards top-right, then down). The keyboard shortcut for this is Windows Key + C - if this gives you the same result, the mouse-gesture is the problem. (I don't think these can be disabled, so you might have to learn new habits if this is the root of your issue...)

BostonB

Well spotted on the shortcut Fysh.

luckylucky

Fysh wrote: »

It could be a driver issue on your wireless card - have you tested Windows 8 wired up to the router?



Group Policy editing is generally only available in the pro/enterprise versions of Windows, so if you're not on Windows 8 Pro you won't be able to use that tool to turn off the lock/welcome screen.



Sounds like it could be the mouse-gesture for opening the Charms menu (swipe towards top-right, then down). The keyboard shortcut for this is Windows Key + C - if this gives you the same result, the mouse-gesture is the problem. (I don't think these can be disabled, so you might have to learn new habits if this is the root of your issue...)

Thanks for all the infos

Some good news:- I tried the ethernet cable and it connected fine, but better again when I disconnected the cable the wireless worked as well - I didn't change anything, scratching head but happy with outcome!

uncle_sam_ie

Is there anyway to make the taskbar clear transparent? I like a minimalist desktop and have the Auto-hide on. But, a colored transparent taskbar is bugging me.