Windows 8

Just found out that it's fixed the bug that was driving me mental with my copy of Windows 7. Somewhere over the months of updates last year (it was fine when I first had it) my USB port would only recognise USB flash drives if they were plugged in on boot - if you plugged them in or swapped with another flash drive when it had fully booted if just sat there and refused to read it until you rebooted again. But yay, finally fixed !

 

(it's most likely that the USB driver got corrupted at some point and installing win8 had just overwritten it with an uncorrupted version again)

how is the upgrade to Windows 8.1? i'm still using 7 and have no plans to upgrade. did they improve much?

Windows 8/8.1 is fine, usually runs faster than Windows 7 on the same hardware, worth the upgrade IMHO despite everyone sooking over the start menu changes - that's pretty much the only crappy thing about it

 

Install something like Start8/Classic Start Menu and it's pretty similar to Windows 7 anyway...

I thought they "restored" the Start Menu in Windows 8.1?

  On 10/21/2013 at 5:46 PM, Joyrex said:

I thought they "restored" the Start Menu in Windows 8.1?

nope, just the start button.

Yeah the update from 8>8.1 seemed pretty seamless - Don't exactly know what it's done (as I use the Classic Shell) but .... pff it was free !

i use 8 and haven't updated to 8.1 yet. don't feel particularly pressed to do so as i don't miss the start button, and i don't understand what's so bad about the current configuration - i.e. you just move your cursor to the bottom left corner of the screen and the start button pops up. i just use the windows key to bring it up anyway.

 

i like Windows 8. at least on my machine, it's really fucking fast.

  On 10/21/2013 at 8:29 PM, oscillik said:

 

  On 10/21/2013 at 5:46 PM, Joyrex said:

I thought they "restored" the Start Menu in Windows 8.1?

nope, just the start button.

 

Which you could access via the Windows key on your keyboard, like most people do. Good going, Microblerp!

  On 10/21/2013 at 5:21 PM, Rubin Farr said:

how is the upgrade to Windows 8.1? i'm still using 7 and have no plans to upgrade. did they improve much?

 

One thing thats better in 8.1 is that if you use multiple monitors, its a lot smarter about choosing the right dpi for each monitor.

 

This is important now that screens are tending towards 'retina' quality and all that

 

 

In a few years time, _every_ screen will be a touchscreen, and thats when Windows 8 will start making more sense to everyone

  On 10/21/2013 at 11:02 PM, zazen said:

 

  On 10/21/2013 at 5:21 PM, Rubin Farr said:

how is the upgrade to Windows 8.1? i'm still using 7 and have no plans to upgrade. did they improve much?

 

One thing thats better in 8.1 is that if you use multiple monitors, its a lot smarter about choosing the right dpi for each monitor.

 

This is important now that screens are tending towards 'retina' quality and all that

 

 

In a few years time, _every_ screen will be a touchscreen, and thats when Windows 8 will start making more sense to everyone

 

You mean to say Windows 8 would set different DPI levels for each monitor (even if they were the same monitor, which I would imagine anyone with multiple monitors would have identical monitors)?

  On 10/21/2013 at 11:33 PM, Joyrex said:

 

  On 10/21/2013 at 11:02 PM, zazen said:

 

  On 10/21/2013 at 5:21 PM, Rubin Farr said:

how is the upgrade to Windows 8.1? i'm still using 7 and have no plans to upgrade. did they improve much?

 

One thing thats better in 8.1 is that if you use multiple monitors, its a lot smarter about choosing the right dpi for each monitor.

 

This is important now that screens are tending towards 'retina' quality and all that

 

 

In a few years time, _every_ screen will be a touchscreen, and thats when Windows 8 will start making more sense to everyone

 

You mean to say Windows 8 would set different DPI levels for each monitor (even if they were the same monitor, which I would imagine anyone with multiple monitors would have identical monitors)?

 

 

Say you've got a MacBookAir 13" or a Surface Pro - those screens have 200+ DPI which means everything looks awesome, but you need to set the scaling to 150% or 200% for buttons and icons to be clickable. Otherwise everything looks tiny.

 

But say you then plug an external monitor into the machine, one thats got a more normal DPI (72dpi), but you want to extend the desktop accross both screens .... you then need to apply different scaling to different monitors.

 

Windows 8 wouldn't let you set different DPI for different monitors. Windows 8.1 figures it out automatically, its worked well for me so far. I imagine OS X does something similar.

Edited October 21, 2013 by zazen

I haven't made the leap to Windows 8 yet but I have dipped my toes in the water with the ''Windows 8 Transformation Pack For Windows 7''. It loads up the OS like Windows 8 and then when you get tired of it you can revert back to your beloved Windows 7. It's like having the best of both worlds.

the biggest improvement in 8.1 for me so far is the consolidated/universal search. you no longer have to switch from app search to file search to settings search. also, the ability to set your desktop background as your start screen background is nice. people complain about the lack of the old start menu, but once you've taken the time to customize your start screen, pinned programs to your taskbar, and added shortcuts to your desktop, who needs it? you can use the apps view on the start screen for the rest, or just hit the windows key and start typing the name of what you want.

 

http://lifehacker.com/all-the-new-stuff-in-windows-8-1-587098156

Yeah I have to say, I've actually used the new fangled 8.1 Start Menu a couple of times since this update. Still gonna be using the old one for a good long while, but it's definitely a positive direction.

 

Getting it to launch directly to the desktop rather than getting Classic Shell to automatically launch the desktop has shaved a couple of seconds off my boot time too. Of all my years computing, I don't think I've ever had an OS launch so fast.

Still thinking of chucking it on my dying PC laptop. Might revive it to the point of usability again—it is a bit of a workhorse after all, despite being five years old and having a broken optical drive. I've lost whatever recovery/reinstall discs originally came with it so there's not much chance of doing a reformat without a new OS install.

im actually about to build my own comp soon. i was gonna put 7 on it but what would you guys suggest? now with the update is 8 better or is it really not much of a difference?

  On 10/21/2013 at 11:40 PM, zazen said:

 

  On 10/21/2013 at 11:33 PM, Joyrex said:

 

  On 10/21/2013 at 11:02 PM, zazen said:

 

  On 10/21/2013 at 5:21 PM, Rubin Farr said:

how is the upgrade to Windows 8.1? i'm still using 7 and have no plans to upgrade. did they improve much?

 

One thing thats better in 8.1 is that if you use multiple monitors, its a lot smarter about choosing the right dpi for each monitor.

 

This is important now that screens are tending towards 'retina' quality and all that

 

 

In a few years time, _every_ screen will be a touchscreen, and thats when Windows 8 will start making more sense to everyone

 

You mean to say Windows 8 would set different DPI levels for each monitor (even if they were the same monitor, which I would imagine anyone with multiple monitors would have identical monitors)?

 

 

Say you've got a MacBookAir 13" or a Surface Pro - those screens have 200+ DPI which means everything looks awesome, but you need to set the scaling to 150% or 200% for buttons and icons to be clickable. Otherwise everything looks tiny.

 

But say you then plug an external monitor into the machine, one thats got a more normal DPI (72dpi), but you want to extend the desktop accross both screens .... you then need to apply different scaling to different monitors.

 

Windows 8 wouldn't let you set different DPI for different monitors. Windows 8.1 figures it out automatically, its worked well for me so far. I imagine OS X does something similar.

 

Ah, I see - I'm not in the Retina world on Mac yet, but I think it figures this out automagically - I know personally if I had a Retina MBP, I would actually set the resolution to be 1:1 so everything would be tiny! I don't think you can though. Also pisses me off all the Retina MacBooks have non-upgradable RAM. Honestly, does Apple think 8GB is enough these days?

  On 10/23/2013 at 4:34 PM, Frankie5fingers said:

im actually about to build my own comp soon. i was gonna put 7 on it but what would you guys suggest? now with the update is 8 better or is it really not much of a difference?

Windows 8 was always good, not its just slightly better.

  On 10/23/2013 at 4:34 PM, Frankie5fingers said:

im actually about to build my own comp soon. i was gonna put 7 on it but what would you guys suggest? now with the update is 8 better or is it really not much of a difference?

Windows 7 was super speedy, there's a slight improvement with 8. Lets use graphs, everyone loves graphs -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So basically for everyday system use almost all things are generally faster in Win8, though for gaming Win7 just pips it (possibly due to drivers still not taking full advantage of the 'new' OS)

  On 10/23/2013 at 4:59 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 10/23/2013 at 4:34 PM, Frankie5fingers said:

im actually about to build my own comp soon. i was gonna put 7 on it but what would you guys suggest? now with the update is 8 better or is it really not much of a difference?

Windows 7 was super speedy, there's a slight improvement with 8. Lets use graphs, everyone loves graphs -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So basically for everyday system use almost all things are generally faster in Win8, though for gaming Win7 just pips it (possibly due to drivers still not taking full advantage of the 'new' OS)

 

thats actually really helpful. im more of a hardware guy, so i dont know much when it comes to OSs.

ive used 7 a lot but never 8. i know it uses those tiles but that i can have it display with the classic desktop. so if i did that would i notice anything different or is its layout practically the same as 7s? i dont really want to learn anything new.

 

another question, this is a subject i really know nothing about and never done but i plan on hooking this new computer up to a tv screen (not as my primary moniter but for when i wanna watch a movie or something). does one OS support something like that better than the other? i ask cause i notice some people talking about having multiple moniters or something like that.

  On 10/23/2013 at 4:59 PM, mcbpete said:

 

  On 10/23/2013 at 4:34 PM, Frankie5fingers said:

im actually about to build my own comp soon. i was gonna put 7 on it but what would you guys suggest? now with the update is 8 better or is it really not much of a difference?

Windows 7 was super speedy, there's a slight improvement with 8. Lets use graphs, everyone loves graphs -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So basically for everyday system use almost all things are generally faster in Win8, though for gaming Win7 just pips it (possibly due to drivers still not taking full advantage of the 'new' OS)

 

You didn't state whether "higher/lower is better" on those graphs... I am confuzzled.

Erm, it depends - on the time ones the lower the better, on the score ones the higher is better !

(for some reason there's no label on the side of 'Windows Explorer Large File' one, that should be seconds)

 

Here's a full list of the test results - http://usabilitygeek.com/windows-8-vs-windows-7-speed-and-performance-testing/

 

  On 10/23/2013 at 5:32 PM, Frankie5fingers said:

ive used 7 a lot but never 8. i know it uses those tiles but that i can have it display with the classic desktop. so if i did that would i notice anything different or is its layout practically the same as 7s? i dont really want to learn anything new.

Yeah, if you install Classic Shell then Win8/8.1 will be just like a bug fixed & speedier Win7, functionality wise it should be exactly the same.

 

  On 10/23/2013 at 5:32 PM, Frankie5fingers said:

another question, this is a subject i really know nothing about and never done but i plan on hooking this new computer up to a tv screen (not as my primary moniter but for when i wanna watch a movie or something). does one OS support something like that better than the other? i ask cause i notice some people talking about having multiple moniters or something like that.

My laptop has an HDMI out and I've not really noticed any difference between the two in terms of performance when hooking it up to the TV - both work perfectly fine. In the display settings you just choose if the TV is a second monitor 'to the right side' of your primary or just mirror it.

thanks, this really helped a lot.

Considering pulling the trigger on 8.1 for my gaming PC... good/bad idea?

What are you on at the moment ?