8mm Forum: Windows 8.1

This is topic Windows 8.1 in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on May 21, 2015, 02:32 PM:

Well my old Gateway desktop computer, which had the Windows 98 operating system, has finally taken its last breath. For over 15 years I have been very happy with both the computer and the OS. Now I have been forced into upgrading to a new touch screen computer with a Windows 8.1 OS. My first impressions after several hors of messing around, is that Windows 8.1 is a load of crap, and who needs touch screens, tiles, and charms, and all the other rubbish loaded into my machine. As far as I can determine Microsoft have produced software that is way too smart for its own good and have failed miserably to provide a user friendly OS. [Frown]

Posted by Earl J. Moniz (Member # 4853) on May 21, 2015, 02:41 PM:

Perhaps you could still get Windows 7 for it. . .

Many users still lament its loss...
and many computer companies still offer it...
Dell (Alienware) does...

OR

maybe you're not a Microsoft fan overall...

[Wink]

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on May 21, 2015, 03:08 PM:

For us old school pc users Paul, I always find the use of a mouse at a desk helps greatly with this operating system. If I use my laptop on my knee without a mouse, I am always jumping from one screen to another inadvertently.

Posted by Steve Carter (Member # 4821) on May 21, 2015, 04:19 PM:

Built my own desk-top, but still use Vista...Yes I know a lot of folk don't like Vista,but at least most of my old software still runs with it...I don't like touch screens...

Posted by Vidar Olavesen (Member # 3354) on May 21, 2015, 04:27 PM:

I do not think Windows 7 runs less than Vista. O too hate the touch based W8. Really annoying and I stay with W7 as long as I can.

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on May 21, 2015, 05:11 PM:

I've seen some screen shots of the next Windows 10 desktop. The start menu will return...Hooray! It's suppose to be a big improvement over Win8, which did not win a lot of warm fuzzies from users....me included.

Posted by Yanis Tzortzis (Member # 434) on May 21, 2015, 06:50 PM:

...I'm still on XP, though have a Win7 replacement netbook...

Posted by Jim Schrader (Member # 9) on May 21, 2015, 07:54 PM:

Paul, you can download a program free of charge called classicshell.net it lets you choose the interface your familiar with. Give it a try I've been using it on my laptops since day one
The main features are:
Highly customizable start menu with multiple styles and skins
Quick access to recent, frequently-used, or pinned programs
Find programs, settings, files and documents
Start button for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10
Toolbar and status bar for Windows Explorer
Caption and status bar for Internet Explorer

Posted by Maurizio Di Cintio (Member # 144) on May 22, 2015, 12:20 PM:

Windows XP all the time!!!

Posted by Andrew Woodcock (Member # 3260) on May 22, 2015, 04:27 PM:

I agree, XP has been my favourite to date. Simple and straightforward to use I always found.

Things just seem to be going backwards in the attempt to please the "app" fanatics ever since and Vista was the worse one of the lot!

Posted by Janice Glesser (Member # 2758) on May 22, 2015, 06:50 PM:

I use 4 different OSs (Win7, Win8.1, Vista, Ubuntu 14.4 (Linux). I have a XP virtual installation on my Win7Pro desktop PC...but never use it any more. Win7 is at the top of my list and Ubuntu is next. If Linux had as many software selections as Windows...it would be number one [Smile]

Win7 has been the most stable and productive OS since it came out. It's been pretty much a work-horse OS for me and thousands of companies. That's not to say Win7 is perfect...no OS is, but it has evolved to a very comfortable environment.

Posted by Ken Finch (Member # 2768) on May 23, 2015, 12:39 PM:

At my age I find it all very confusing!. I am still using XP and have heard very mixed opinions about 8 and 8.1 It appears 10 will be an improvement but as usual Microsoft still rely on users to find all the problems and then they fix them with updates!!! I do not know how they have got away with this for so long!! Can you imagine selling a car and then relying on the purchaser to feed back all the design faults so they can rectify them!! Ken Finch.

Posted by James Wilson (Member # 4620) on May 23, 2015, 12:52 PM:

I miss XP I`m now on 8.1. I can only hope Win 10 will be an improvement,
James.

Posted by Claus Harding (Member # 702) on May 24, 2015, 11:42 AM:

One of the (many) drawbacks of Microsoft's relentless "upgrades" and the subsequent lack of support of previous editions is how software and hardware gets left behind. Scanners, audio programs...suddenly it's "old" by decree.
I have Win 7 64-bit Pro on my main PC and also an older laptop that still has Win XP. The laptop will run a bunch of things that Win 7 just rejects.
Trying to install a new video card on the 64-bit Pro edition of Win 7 is a nightmare, as both the "Administrator" function and the intrusive Windows auto-install of drivers constantly cripple any attempts (and workarounds) to get it done.
Win XP is easy to use and easy to work on, relatively speaking.

Microsoft has not learned the most important lesson of technology:
The most advanced tech should be invisible to the daily user.

Claus.

Posted by Barry Fritz (Member # 1865) on May 24, 2015, 11:54 AM:

I used XP for many years and was very happy with it. I did not want to go to 8.1 so I bought an HP Envy computer that came with 7 installed. You may be able to still get one from them. At the time the sold Desktops and Laptops with 7 installed.

Posted by Yanis Tzortzis (Member # 434) on May 24, 2015, 05:09 PM:

Is it true that Microsoft won't introduce any new Windows OS after Win 10?

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on May 25, 2015, 09:22 AM:

That's what I heard on TV news a few months ago, they wouldn't make any revolutionary changes after 10, just update that. Perhaps, for once, they might be able to get all the bugs/security flaws out and not put in more with a new version.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on May 25, 2015, 09:46 AM:

I've been using them steadily all the way back to Windows 3.11 back in about 1993. Never once did my job upgrade my machine and I felt any real improvement. It's always little incremental tweaks and the confusion that comes with them.

-as a matter of fact when Office 2007 came out and all the nice little tabs up at the top were replace by the big button and the drop down menu I felt like I'd been given a car with the ignition switch in the trunk!

It gets to the point where Information Technologies tells me they are there to do an upgrade I tell them to go away! (They never do!)

Then we came to the end of support for XP last year: cost the lab where I work something like 3,000 new PCs and laptops to go to Windows 7!

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on May 28, 2015, 05:18 PM:

Didn't Mr Gates invent one of the biggest cons of the century in his Windows operating system. no wonder the guy is a billionaire, at least he is useing his money to help others i guess.
You buy a pc. you have to have one one with Windows. No choice unless you build one of your own.
Every couple of years they bring out a new version and if you don't buy it upon its release you will almost certainly have to upgrade it because if you don't they will stop supporting it, (and many other software companies do the the same)not to mention the worlds biggest rip off, apple iphones. Windows XP was one of the better ones, its now obsolete, then there was vista which bought most laptops to a halt and cost many people hundreds of pounds, then there was 7 which was another good one so they decide to go to 8 then 8.1 and there are others in the pipeline.
i really do believe the inventors of windows are one of the biggest modern day robbers of our time and continue to be well into the future. with many of there products being mega fails,(vista and 8) how the hell do they get away with simply discarding and leaving people robbed of there hard earned money and having to upgrade. [Mad]

Microsoft is one of the worlds rip off corporations along with with many other big names,McDonalds, Starbucks to name but a few. remember the Monty python film the meaning of life? the opening to it with "the very big corporation of America", [Wink]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on May 28, 2015, 08:26 PM:

It's a classic:

IBM contracted Microsoft to create DOS, and then allowed him to keep the rights to the software, not realizing that the operating system was really where the money is!

(When was the last time you worked on a real IBM PC?)

Some years after that, over the objections of the engineers there, Bill gates was given a tour of the research lab at Xerox where they were developing a human interface system with multiple panes to access software via a mouse. It was so new it wasn't close to being patented.

-not very long afterwards Windows appeared.

Seriously though: has there ever been a machine like a personal computer? Without really wearing out, it gradually chokes on its own by products and grinds to a halt so you need a new one. There you see them standing unusable: every last component still within spec but somehow the whole thing doesn't work anymore. A ten year old PC may as well be a thousand years old.

You take a 50 year old car, as long as it's mechanically functional you can drive it highway speeds all day. Unless something fails it just works as designed.

Posted by Barry Fritz (Member # 1865) on May 28, 2015, 10:41 PM:

Or, you could buy something from a company called Apple.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on May 31, 2015, 02:21 PM:

I hope we never get driverless cars on windows. Just think of all the unexplaned crashes

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on May 31, 2015, 03:45 PM:

Windows Based Cars: Close all the windows, turn it off, turn it back on: hope it works!

One of the issues holding back these cars now is liability:

-a car does something stupid these days, you blame the human being holding the wheel.

Without a driver, who takes the fall? Classically when 80 people develop a system and it goes very wrong, 80 fingers point in other directions than their own.

It is coming though. One of the major truck manufacturers is developing kind of a super cruise-control: the driver gets the truck out on the highway, activates it and it can manage on its own until an exit comes.

For now the law requires the driver to stay behind the wheel, but how much longer until the guy can just stay home?

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on June 01, 2015, 06:43 AM:

Didn't Bill Gates actually just buy the company that had developed QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) as he didn't have time to write his own in the time IBM gave him? That sounds like the start of the PC problems.... (Though it might be a story put about by his rivals, I remember it from long ago.

Posted by Jim Schrader (Member # 9) on June 01, 2015, 07:22 PM:

Paul, windows 10 is due out the end of july most computers with 7,8,8.1 can download this new version for free when its available my pc with 7 already has the invite to reserve the new edition just not sure if it will work with my office suite im sure they'll make one buy new software if you want to run that.

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