Windows 8

pctech · Oct 26, 2012, 10:41:31

I had some Windows 8 familiarisation training yesterday (I downloaded the ISO of the preview but never managed to get round to installing and playing with it)

Personally I think its hideous and looks exactly what they've tried to do, an OS for all platforms.

I think I shall be kept quite busy.

Steve · Oct 26, 2012, 16:06:08

There's a lot riding on Windows 8, PC sales are well down, MS need to make a success of this release. They need to make a big inroad into the Tablet market, it's potentially a life saver. Competition is of course good for the consumer, I hate to think that Google may become the dominant force in computing.

zappaDPJ · Oct 26, 2012, 16:49:13

How successful Windows 8 is going to be is really hard to predict. Even the reviewers are not really sure about it and I guess a lot of that comes down to fairly radical interface. It's great on a touch screen and it's fast but I have a few reservations about it. The two layered nature of it is very apparent on a conventional desktop and takes some getting used to. I find it a bit of a pain having to switch back and forth to be honest. I'm still considering whether or not to install it on my PC. I need to upgrade my primary drive to a larger SSD so now would be the ideal time to upgrade/reinstall it but I'm having some doubts about it.

Den · Oct 26, 2012, 17:46:43

I'm installing it tonight on my old computer and will see how I get on with it. I thought that this is the safest way to go and will give me a chance to learn and see if I like it. At the moment the down load is up to 48% with about 15mins to go. I will report back later

Rik · Oct 26, 2012, 17:49:51

We'll be waiting, Den.

pctech · Oct 26, 2012, 18:21:44

Me and everyone thats been on the familiarisation training thinks the same, its going to be terrific on tablets but not so good on desktops and laptops with no touch or pen support.

Tacitus · Oct 26, 2012, 19:21:14

Quote from: pctech on Oct 26, 2012, 18:21:44
Me and everyone thats been on the familiarisation training thinks the same, its going to be terrific on tablets but not so good on desktops and laptops with no touch or pen support.

Oddly enough this Mac and iPad user agrees - v good on a tablet but mediocre on a desktop/laptop.

Technical Ben · Oct 26, 2012, 20:30:57

Quote from: Den on Oct 26, 2012, 17:46:43
I'm installing it tonight on my old computer and will see how I get on with it. I thought that this is the safest way to go and will give me a chance to learn and see if I like it. At the moment the down load is up to 48% with about 15mins to go. I will report back later

Please don't rush it. We'd all like to live past 2012!

Den · Oct 26, 2012, 21:09:44

I expected after all the negative press to hate it. But so far I am pleasantly surprised, the only thing that stumped me for a while was how to turn it off

It seems to be very quick and well laid out. I am going to use it on the spare computer for a while and really put it through it's paces, then again I like learning so I have had a great evening with W8.

FritzBox · Oct 27, 2012, 08:20:08

Might stick it on the netbook at some stage

J!ll · Oct 27, 2012, 15:35:35

You can help me Den! I have until the end of January to return my new laptop if I don't like it, but I will not be beaten!

wecpcs · Oct 27, 2012, 20:33:53

Quote from: Den on Oct 26, 2012, 21:09:44
I expected after all the negative press to hate it. But so far I am pleasantly surprised, the only thing that stumped me for a while was how to turn it off

It seems to be very quick and well laid out. I am going to use it on the spare computer for a while and really put it through it's paces, then again I like learning so I have had a great evening with W8.

I agree that it is better than I expected and certainly seems a lot faster. I did the upgrade route (unusually for me), as I had only re-installed Windows 7 a few weeks earlier after I totally screwed it by hacking the registry and my Windows Home Server V1 could not do a Bare Metal Restore because my new PC has UEFI/GPT technology. It could back up OK but not restore, which I was totally unaware of until crunch time, but at least all my data was retrievable from within the backups. Still waiting for the update which should be coming for WHS2011 which I have bought earlier but not using it yet which is supposed to rectify the problem otherwise it means buying Windows Server 2012 Essentials which is totally OTT and will be very expensive at $425. I have tried the preview version and it does work OK but rather more complicated than WHS V1.

Windows 8 has given me a few problems one due to the fact that I let it do my MS logon (supposedly to make it easier to access all MS sites) instead of my normal one, but it gave me major hassle trying to access my Home Server Shares so I had to change it back. There is also a FREE offer at the moment for a limited time to download the Media Centre, which was left out but only obtainable if you have the PRO version, which seems rather strange. I am getting used to it and most of the time it stays on the normal desktop as I am used to, which looks almost the same as Windows 7 (except no Start button).

Colin

pctech · Oct 27, 2012, 23:37:19

Yep had that issue when I reinstalled Win 7 which told me to delete the GPT partition then it set up a new one.

There's a good video on Youtube where a trainer from one of the IT training companies in the states gives an introduction to GPT (GUID Partition Table), if I find it again I'll post the link.
#

Technical Ben · Oct 28, 2012, 07:22:13

I might need help with that kind of thing too. Currently failing to mirror a HP laptop to a new drive as it fails to find/boot the recovery partition after mirroring (boots the OS, then dies after a restart even on the new drive, recovery partition is only accessible on the old drive. Gah!)

Steve · Oct 28, 2012, 08:23:16

Windows 7 x64 has EFI/ GPT partition support as well, obviously you need the EFI motherboard support and is sometimes not straightforward.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/how-to-clean-install-windows-7-professional-64-bit/c052117c-8faa-4b5b-bd31-30bb9b21a0eb

psp83 · Oct 28, 2012, 14:01:36

It is odd not seeing a start button though $:-\$

Steve · Oct 28, 2012, 14:20:43

You get used to it, I've not had one for awhile.

psp83 · Oct 28, 2012, 15:31:51

I just let a family member use my laptop and the first question they asked was, "how do you shutdown"

Technical Ben · Oct 28, 2012, 17:27:52

Windows 8 the "undead" OS, it never goes away. Was that what they are suggesting having it released so close to Halloween?

pctech · Oct 28, 2012, 21:12:34

More like the stoned OS as whoever designed that interface must have been on drugs.

psp83 · Oct 28, 2012, 23:26:37

As I'm using it more and more, I'm actually liking it, its different.

Now waiting for Acronis 2012 to be updated so I can upgrade my main PC.

Den · Oct 29, 2012, 13:21:03

I was so pleased with W8 on my old computer that I bit the bullet last night and installed it on my main one. Then it all went wrong, at first it said Bullguard could not be activated then it could. Then it would not accept my printer and then it started rebooting with error TCPIP.SYS. After playing around for a while it started working OK. This morning when I turned it on all was well and then after a couple of hours it commenced restarting again with the error TCPIP.SYS .
It's now running OK again, any thoughts what it could be? The only thing I can see different is on my old machine I am using windows own security and on this one I am using Bullguard.

zappaDPJ · Oct 29, 2012, 13:52:35

I believe that's the Windows TCP/IP Driver which might explain the printer issues. I'm no expert in this area but I think it's not uncommon for tcpip.sys to get modified by all manner of means including virus infection so I would first check that you have a legitimate unmodified version. Perhaps compare it with the file in your other device? A typical path would be C:/Windows/System32/drivers

cavillas · Oct 29, 2012, 16:36:52

I installed my legally bought windows 8 upgrade and it is very fast and easy to use, up to a point. The lack of a start button on the task bar does limit thingslightly. I did a frsh install but found that it lost the cd and also a hard drive, proe3viously i did an complete upgrade and it went ok but put the boot secotr on another hard drive. This time I will do a full upgrade and watch where things go.

I think I will learn to like this OS as the start page is very effective and customizable. Tomorrow is when I try the new upgrade (again)) I am jsut doing a complet re-install of windows 7 firts as a fresh system might work better.

Technical Ben · Oct 29, 2012, 17:16:33

I wonder what user groups with special requirements (GUI etc) will make of it?
Personally, I'll probably learn a bit of it but skip a copy and get Win9 instead. As this seems to be the vista to Windows 7 (good intentions under the hood, bad application. Just tried Vista recently, and it does not even shut down properly.

But windows 7 on the other hand is practically identical, just setup better).