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General discussion

Poll: How do you like Windows 8 so far?

Jan 31, 2013 8:24AM PST

To give you some context to this poll, please check out this discussion topic: Windows 8 just isn't my thing, can I install Windows 7 over 8?

If you are running Windows 8 on your PC, how do you like it so far and why?

-- I love it! (Did you have a hard time adjusting to it? What makes it so great to you?)
-- I hate it! (Please tell us why?)
-- It's just OK. (Care to explain?)
-- Still getting use to it, ask me later.

Discussion is locked

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Update on Microsoft store
Mar 29, 2013 1:33PM PDT

I finally was able to get to a brick and mortar Microsoft store. The closest one to my home is a bit of a ride away and I need to cross a toll bridge. It was so worth it! I think they were able to solve my Windows 8 problems (time will tell), the technician was incredibly nice and spent a lot of time trouble shooting my issues, the service was free. Way to go Microsoft. Maybe if you had more of these stores where people could talk face to face with an expert people would be less frustrated with your products. Happy

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I hate it!
Feb 26, 2013 2:05AM PST

I hate it! I gave it a month, but at the end of the day, I'm not using a tablet and, in a nutshell, I don't have the time to lose productivity so Microsoft can be more competitive in the long run. I don't mind a learning curve, but I want the end result to benefit me not become something I have to endure because it's being imposed on me. W8 requires too many extra steps to do the same thing you could do in Windows 7 and I am so not interesting in cluttering my desktop or task bar with tons of icons ala 1995. Maybe with a large touch screen, the experience would be bearable, but I primarily work from a laptop and I ALWAYS need several screens open, not just 2. I returned my new laptop because of Windows 8, then searched extensively for a viable PC option, but it seems like a waste of time to go back to Windows 7 since it's being phased out so I finally decided to go back to Mac for the first time in nearly 20 years. Sure, now certain software is a bit more of an issue, but at least I can actually get some work done and the frustration with W8 is out of my life.

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I really Hate Windows 8
Mar 4, 2013 3:48AM PST

The main problem for me is that it is built for tablets or touchscreens rather. I have an old samsung laptop and it runs perfectly but the navigation without touchsceen is tricky.<div>I actually wrote a whole article about it lol.
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http://www.digitalwhip.com/6759/opinion-why-i-hate-windows-8<span id="INSERTION_MARKER">

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Still on 7
Mar 5, 2013 1:04PM PST

I'm still using windows 7, thinking to go with windows 8.

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comparision
Mar 5, 2013 5:43PM PST

Is windows8 is better than windows7...
and if yes than in which ways what are the good features of the windows8 as compared to the windows7 and other operating systems...

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I love it
Mar 12, 2013 8:56PM PDT

I have been using Windows 8 for 6 weeks now and I love it. If you want the full experience you must get a touchscreen computer. Acer makes several laptops that are touchscreen and very reasonably priced. If you want to ease into Windows 8 there is start button software available from start8. You can download from www.stardock.com/products/start8/. You can try it for free and purchase it for $5.

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Loving W8
Mar 23, 2013 8:38AM PDT

I use a conventional mouse-and-keyboard PC and love W8 just as it is; i surely do not understand all the copy-cat hate going on.

W8 is a pleasant and completely functional OS; call me and I'll be glad to talk you through my solutions.

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I absolutely do not like Window 8
Mar 15, 2013 10:21PM PDT

Windows upper management, marketing and engineers sat around in a meeting and said let's see how much we can confuse our customers. The tile screen has app's that seem to be unorganized using different shapes that look like a 4th grader designed it. The apps are very hard to get use to and you have to download apps just to get it to work like you are accustom too. When they were in the planning stages thinking, "let design it for the younger people in mind" which is the wrong move. It will never be accepted in the business market and windows 7 will be necessary to maintain that market share. They most likely have an Apple collaborator that wants push customer. Window corp. needs to offer a choice of Window 7 or 8 before thing start to go horribly wrong for the company. lik

As you can see i do not like Window 8 and will not buy another computer with window 8!!!!

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Hated the interface
Mar 16, 2013 4:07AM PDT

I tried the Win8 by the download from Microsoft before buying a new machine. Loved Win7...Hated the GUI for Win8.
It's really made for the touchscreen/smartphone bunch.
After a few days with the new machine, I downloaded a couple programs, Classic Shell Setup for one, that put a start button on the taskbar and went straight to the start screen desktop instead of the charm look
Maybe I'm just too "Old-School" to want the charm screen.
Sure, I have a smart phone but I don't want it on my computer screen

Now it's much more intuitive and I'm fine with it.

Maybe it's not even considered Win8 anymore.

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I hate it!
Mar 17, 2013 3:58AM PDT

I know that I will need (lots) of time to get used to this but it is such an inconvenience. I need to access my computer daily for business. I don't know how to copy my favorites across or indeed how to copy all my files across. The remainder i.e. internet I will come across at some point - no doubt. My new computer is a Lenovo Idealpad Z580, Windows 8,
Any comments/help would be appreciated.

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copy Favorites
Mar 23, 2013 8:35AM PDT

I guess you could make a copy of your W7 favorites, depending on your browser choice, then place them appropriately in the W8 browser version.

I use XMarks, so favorites is a non-issue for me; you might try a similar service.

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Re: copy
Mar 23, 2013 8:54AM PDT

Let's be fair, that's not typical for Windows 8. Say your old computer (you got it in 2006) had Windows XP, and your computer before that had Windows 98. And say you did transfer your favorites and other stuff from Windows 98 to Windows XP in 2006.
Now, transferring favorites and other stuff between computers is MUCH more easy nowadays than in 2006, because we have USB-sticks and external hard disks that can contain all you data as intermediate storage. While in 2006 we needed to use floppies or burn to CD's or DVD's or use a network between the computers.

So, if you loved XP and knew to how to copy stuff to XP, you also know how to copy it to Windows 8.

If you don't know how to copy to Windows 8 and hate it for that, the only possible conclusion is that you don't know you to copy it from one XP computer to another XP computer, and that logically means that you hate XP also. In fact, the conclusion should be that you hate computers, because you don't know how to use them,

Seeing that you use your PC for business I strongly advice you to hire someone to advice you about a backup scheme and implement it for you. If you don't know how to backup and restore your business data. Otherwise you can lose all your business data any time from now. Maybe tomorrow. And most businesses that lose all their data don't live long after that.

Kees

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Windows 8
Mar 26, 2013 5:32AM PDT

Hi

Never assume! My previous laptop (but using currently because of Windows Cool is a Sony - Windows 7. I did not want to upgrade but was forced to as a many things failed to work and was advised to ditch it by a computer professional who told me that Sony computers were the worst ever. The one before that was an Acer which failed to work (Windows XP). This was taken to a computer company and I was told that it was "knackered". But once I had purchased the Sony they agreed to copy everything over to the Sony and was then told that it wasn't the computer but was the charger. The laptop before that was a HP Pavillion which, when taken back to the shop, was told that it was a disaster and they had actually accumulated a "graveyard" of these. Because of this they agreed to copy everything over to the Acer for me. I have never copied data from one laptop to another and therefore do not know how to, hence my frustration.
Hope this helps further.

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Comparision
Mar 21, 2013 4:59PM PDT

How windows 8 is better than the previous operation systems of windows...

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H A T E it!!
Mar 23, 2013 1:06AM PDT

I've had windows 8 for 4 months now and I still don't know how to do simple tasks. The most serious issue is my pop email. I had a Comcast email forever. It's attached to all my accounts - medical, business etc etc. Windows 8 doesn't work with pop emails so I bought and installed office 10 to use Microsoft outlook. I am missing at a least of half my emails. Important emails. I have spent countless hours troubleshooting with Dell, Microsoft, and have even paid a third party and NONE have fixed the issue even with great assurance they would.

I am now going to buy Windows 7 and install a new operating system. If anyone has truly fixed the pop email issue with windows 8 PLEASE share!!!

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I Like it (now)
Mar 25, 2013 11:15AM PDT

I installed/use start8 to get past the fluff and now I am one happy camper! Why? Windows 8 is noticeably faster and uses less resources all around. However, the navigation (in general) and finding the hidden Windows 7 functionality is very frustrating and requires one to go through a moderate learning curve.

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POP e-mail using W8 Live e-mail program.
Mar 25, 2013 3:27PM PDT

I use Windows Live e-mail program from W8 to connect to Comcast's e-mail server, which is a POP server; I have no issues receiving and sending mail from that W8 program.

It also monitors and retrieves mail from my Gmail account.

I found no problems with either e-mail services.

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Loved it
Mar 25, 2013 10:09PM PDT

Used Windows 8 on friends laptop, I think I need to buy a new touch screen laptop

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Eh!
Mar 29, 2013 11:10AM PDT

I had windows 8 on my dell xps 8500. I upgraded it from windows 7. Windows 8 has been a mixed experience for me. I started having video and audio issues. USB 3.0 would not work. The problems have gotten so bad that copy and past would not function. All drivers and software were upgraded and were compatable for windows 8 however did not improve issues. So I went back to windows 7.

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Was it a difficult process to replace windows 8 with 7
Apr 7, 2013 1:25AM PDT

It's been since november and I still have issues with many things still with windows 8. Email is the biggest problem. I want windows 7 but am not confident I could wipe out 8 and install 7 without losing a lot of files and emails. How did you do that?

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Love Windows 8
Mar 31, 2013 10:14PM PDT

Got the new Windows 8 phone plugged it into Windows 8 on computer and it came to life. It syncs across all my Windows platforms even Xbox. It beats the I phone hands down

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cybernauts
Apr 6, 2013 7:10AM PDT

New version of windows 8 is really awesome for use

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I like it.
Apr 6, 2013 10:02AM PDT

I like Windows 8 and think it is the best version of Windows I've used. It is fast, reliable, and more fun to use then prior versions. The old windows was boring. The new Windows isn't. I installed it on a conventional desktop, and that desktop works much better now. I have a new Windows 8 hybrid tablet, and Windows 8 is great on that. I'm usually going against the grain, so it makes sense that if I like it, it must not be popular. The Windows app store needs more applications, but Windows 8 is a platform with a lot of potential.

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Just Lucky . . . Liking Windows 8
Apr 9, 2013 10:50AM PDT

Ever since Windows 8 was released, it was so widely criticized in the media that I was afraid to try it. I had purchased a PC with Windows 7, which was working fine. I continued to be curious about Win-8 though, although the more I read, the more I was scared to install it. My PC purchase was close enough to the release of Win-8 that it was available for almost nothing. Several months went by and I read and re-read the articles describing the utilities to download which would enable Win-8 to retain the "start button" and be easier to transition to.

I have 4 Macs and two PCs. I started with the original IBM-PC and first Macintosh, and have kept playing with both systems ever since. On the PC side, I've had every OS except Windows-ME. So...here was MS's newest and I couldn't resist trying it.

So, finally I said "what the heck" and installed it, right over the top of Win-7 (which had been described as a big no-no). The installation went fine, no glitches. I can't see where I left anything behind. All my applications are working great. No trouble with drivers or peripherals. I was prepared for chaos and destruction, but it didn't happen. I'm not disappointed, but pleasantly surprised. I guess I'm curious as to how so many out there seemingly hate everything about Windows-8, yet it works wonderfully for me.

I guess I'm just lucky.

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its ok
Apr 9, 2013 3:36PM PDT

Don't really like it but I am getting used to it. Touch screen on my system would be nice..lol

Dave
Www.triplemhosting.com

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Re: How do you like Windows 8 so far?
Apr 10, 2013 3:36AM PDT

I have used it for a while now, and I found out I apparently lack the fine motor skills to operate the metro interface. I have a hard time getting to the hotspots on the screen when using the mouse (I do not have a touch screen). Are there keyboard shortcuts to quickly get to features that you otherwise access through the screen hotspots?
Perhaps I missed the memo that tells me how to use Windows in a smart way. I count my blessings I don't have use it at work.

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Win 8
Apr 16, 2013 3:56AM PDT

I have the full version of 8 Pro, in the box, and was planning on building a system based on it. I have since changed my mind after playing with 8 on a friend's system, frankly I'm not impressed. Were I to set up a new system based on Win 8 I'd likely opt for a new touch screen monitor, which I cannot justify at this time. My resolution is that 8 will likely stay in the box for a while, meanwhile I'm going to buy a tablet to replace my laptop for travel.

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Since downloading Start8 and ModernMix from startdock
Apr 16, 2013 5:06PM PDT

I been using Windows 8 Pro on my desktop for 2 months now ..searched the web for start menu app like from Stardock and the other Open Source software called ClassicShell , I really enjoy Windows 8 Pro on dell desktop ..I am not a noob ,not afraid to download software onto any OS like android or Windows ..U can't let Windows let you down ..

ModernMix makes you play start apps in a box in the desktop but cost 5 dollars for Start8 and ModernMix Windows 8 customizations ...you have free trial for 30 days if you want the Free alterative Classicshell you google it and download it from sourceforge.net or classicshell .

with Windows 8 Pro I love it ..seems very fast and responsive and really good pick up . has two different modes for installing apps like WIndows Store for start apps and tranditional way .., dont let Windows 8 intimated you ..try stuff and Search for workarounds ..dont be lazy go geeky !

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LOL WOW
Apr 17, 2013 3:15AM PDT

Yes laughing out loud and world of war you tell me how I like Microsoft. I have a Windows 7 a Windows 8 and a Windows home server all currently down because of their mistakes. IP address is hacked, software Holes or abilities for openings. I'm just a user! Come on get it together this is ridiculous. I'm about done with everything Microsoft. I'm sending this on my iPhone because it's working. Lock the OS down be done with this. I am so horrible... i can't do any work on my software Everything is down even my recovery images. No safemode to boot too function keys call of everything is gone NTFS seems to be hit everything it's just done.

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LOL WOW
Apr 17, 2013 8:28PM PDT

So that's a no?