Should I Upgrade to Windows 8

[dorpond]

Great question. I'll give you my experiences.

Win8 is fast. MS claims that the code is 30% faster than Win7. I immediately noticed a huge speed difference. I upgraded my Laptop that was built for Vista and it was getting to that old doggy stage in it's lifecycle - Win8 on it was the best choice - the thing runs super fast now!

(oh before I forget: I read a few users talking about a quick way to shut down Win8: Control+Alt+Delete. There you go - the option is right there to shut down)

The way to get around is just faster for me due to the fact that I can type what I want to run. While this doesn't work in desktop, it isn't much for me to hit the Windows key to flip back to Metro and then start typing. Like many others have claimed, the Windows key is used a lot now.

Dual monitors is cool but odd. You can have a metro on one screen and have a desktop on the other - or do what you are used to and have desktop on both. The docked taskbar apps will show on both screens which is cool. What I find odd is that since everything is done with corners, it gets tricky at times to do those corners at the seams - where the two monitors connect.

One thing I haven't tested yet was hard core gaming on Win8. Are the corners disabled or do they pop up during the gaming experience?

I think the biggest annoyance with Win8 isn't really Win8 itself but the built in Win8 Metro apps. For example, I used Skype on Win7, but Win8 bundled their chat app. The Win8 Chat app briefly shows someone has pinged you but then vanishes. Well if you run desktop mode a lot, you might miss the ping. So I installed Skype for desktop, but now they both alert me. I am half tempted to uninstall the Win8 chat app just because.

And many of the other Win8 apps are garbage compared to their Win7 counterparts. The good news is that you can still use the older apps in Desktop mode. So with that said, I associate my pictures with Windows Photo Viewer, my music with Media Player, and my PDF's to Adobe Reader. The win8 Apps that are default just suck. you can't even zoom in with their picture app (with a mouse), nor does it even show me my hundreds of thousands of pictures on my server. Nope - they suck, associate the apps that you are used to in Win7.

BUT.... With all that said (and I am sorry if it isn't clear - I am rushing because I am knee deep into something else), I took advantage of the upgrade pricing and upgraded all my PC's at home to Win8 and haven't regretted it.

Oh, Oh! One last thing worth mentioning: When you do the upgrade, you will not have an option to save your apps. You only get an option to save data + settings, save data, or total wipe. So that is preventing me from upgrading my work computer. I have way to many tools installed for IT that I would hate to have to reinstall them all over again.

[Azhrei]

lol No, I didn't think the filtering was from Win 8. I was just hoping I could turn the filter off for my view.

Hm, I don't think anyone has ever asked! I'll check to see if there's a mod for phpBB3 to add a setting so individual users can turn it off. I need to do (another ) phpBB3 update soon anyway...

[Full Bleed]

Oh, Oh! One last thing worth mentioning: When you do the upgrade, you will not have an option to save your apps. You only get an option to save data + settings, save data, or total wipe. So that is preventing me from upgrading my work computer. I have way to many tools installed for IT that I would hate to have to reinstall them all over again.

Not quite right.

If you're going from 7-32 to 8-32 or 7-64 to 8-64 you do keep your data, applications, and settings. The vast majority of them anyway. Win8 will scan before install and let you know what it can keep. This impressed the heck out of me. Much better than previous upgrades. Easiest upgrade ever on those computers.

Now if you have Vista (without SP1) you can only keep data. If you have Vista with at least SP1 you can keep Data and Settings.

Upgrading from XP SP3 allows data only.

And if you're going from 32 anything to 64 it's a wipe. So backup your data separately.

http://www.groovypost.com/news/windows- ... e-options/


Dorpond, have you tried the Win8 Skype app (in Windows store)? I installed it for a friend, but I don't really use Skype so I can't comment on how good it was over the desktop version. Might have a more seamless integration without the conflicts you described. It "looked" good, but I can't talk about functionality.

[Full Bleed]

Actually, the way I do it is Start | right-click Computer | Manage | Disk Management

Ok, that's a little better... but still not as good as 8.

I always had to go searching for it in 7...

That sounds like how I start calculator in Windows 7. And XP for that matter. In XP you just had to go to start>run. Win7 just start.

Only thing is when you're on the start screen (which really feels like a more an interactive desktop) you just start typing... you don't have to bring up a "start" menu, you're pretty much living inside it. Funny thing is, with Win7 I only used the search bar when I really didn't know where something was... otherwise I drilled into the folders or through the other links to get to things. With Win8, you're encouraged to use the auto-search because most things are out of sight (at least until you learn all the corner/edge navigation tricks.) Clearly, using the search in 7 like you describe would have been better than the drill-and-click-through method I carried over from XP... so it seems like with 8, they probably recognized that many people weren't taking advantage of 7's auto-search capabilities and decided to make it more fundamental to how the OS should be used.

I can see how that would be something that might be disconcerting to some people but, again, that's just normal resistance to change. Once we adapt there are benefits to be had.

[aliasmask]

Actually, the way I do it is Start | right-click Computer | Manage | Disk Management

Ok, that's a little better... but still not as good as 8.

I always had to go searching for it in 7...

For the real IT geek, diskmgmt.msc in the search of start button for win7, but I can click it faster than I could type it.

[Bessie]

One other problem I have with the start screen (that I didn't mention before because it's purely an aesthetic thing) is that I think it's ugly as sin.

Well I guess that's a matter of taste. I like it. I'm not sure what sort of skins they have out there... but the default suits me ok for now. I know some companies are doing some cool things with the live tiles, too. I see a lot of promise there.

Anyway, I still have to explore the OS a lot more because 2 days isn't enough time for a thorough analysis, but I've never had the issues getting into an OS like this before. I'm hoping that I just don't remember the Start button being such a big change and this will all get to feeling "normal".

I recognize that Win8 just seems to cater to how I used Win7. That is, I always hid my taskbar and I didn't like to use the start menu to find or organize things. I found it tedious to drill through tiny folder icons in the start menu so I kept away from it unless I had to use it. As a result, I usually had about 150+ icons on my desktop. I really don't need to do that with Win8 as things hide better and I can get to them fast even when they are out of sight.

Another quick tip in Win8, go to the lower left hand corner and right click to pull up access to a lot of system stuff.

For example, in Win7 getting to Disk Manager sucks:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ ... dows-7.htm

In Win 8, put the mouse in the lower left hand corner, right click and there is access to Disk Management. Much nicer.

This is a nice option of windows 8.

[Azhrei]

This is a nice option of windows 8.

(Moderator: I almost disapproved this post. It quotes multiple paragraphs of text and only adds a single sentence that is basically a "me too!". Since spambots typically don't care about netiquette, this might be a 'bot posting. I'll keep an eye on this account. And if you're a human Bessie, no offense; we try to keep our forums relatively clean!)