Posted on 01/30/2013 6:22:15 PM PST by daniel1212
I did not like that at all myself and uninstalled most of them even before I shut the computer off for the first time.
It’s all about data collection for them .
I don't use either, but it looks like I should use both. Thanks.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/right-click-context-menu-extender-for-windows-7-released
heh--I run the Noia theme with TabMixPlus and Colorful tabs! (as well as Adblock Plus, NoScript, and Yet Another Remove It Permanently).
I only see what I want to see.
Great write up. Are you able to download the update WITHOUT installing over WIN7? I want the upgrade bits, but don’t want to install over my current Win7. Microsoft is characteristically unclear if downloading the bits overwrites the current install.
I’m waiting for the “Windows 8” Gnome 3 theme.
I tried adjusting to Win8. Googled “alternatives, start menu, windows 8” or something like that, and found classic shell and a half doz other apps to do the same thing, all reviewed on one page by some kind soul.
None of them quite did what I was looking for, and Win8 still had other annoying features.
I did get the desktop arranged so I would rarely have to go to that silly Start thing that Fisher Price designed.
Put all the important stuff on the taskbar and put the taskbar on the left, trying to make it look like a start menu.
But, still...
Windows 8 is like this: You have a ten-room house you’ve been in for many years. One day someone takes ten rooms of furniture and all the contents of every last drawer, and puts them in a house with twenty-five rooms. You move in there one day and have to find your stuff. Are you very, very patient? Because it takes a while just to find stuff, never mind make it a habit to go to them in new places.
It is a certifiable PITA. And when you log out, there is almost nothing you can do without a degree in programming, to get rid of that %#@$*! World’s Fair Space Needle image. A parting poke in the eye.
There are plenty of computers around here so I finally staked out an old xp that is far more to my liking.
Advice: avoid 8. The only thing worse is 7 starter edition.
Hi daniel1212,
Great post.
I saw no mention of a graphics card in your attempts to improve performance. If you are using on-board vid, it is probably sharing some of that precious and limited 4g of RAM... And the on-board is likely to be a 512mg card.
If you were to add a vid card, not only will you gain the RAM the on-board vid is using back to the system, but if you get a 2g vid card (off-brand should cost you in the $40 range), you will be astonished how much faster the machine will render to the screen. I believe you will see what feels like a 25% improvement on top of what you have already done...
BTTT
I just bought a new laptop with Win8 installed and I almost took the thing back.
Win8 is not intuitive at all (I just came from XP)
Looks like I need to get Classic Shell
If I use the touchpad, Win8 is very aggravating. Looks like I may need a mouse as well.
Thanks for this thread!
Wow! Thanks!
I was going to ask if anybody knew if you can send a new PC in to downgrade to Win7.
Guess I’ll try to get my Win8 operating correctly (I hope the mouse fixes most of my problems...touchpad alone is frustrating especially if you are scrolling using a finger swipe.
Did you try start8 from stardock?
I’ve been out of town so I haven’t played with it for 4 days....I’ll check that out tonight.
Thanks!
I do understand the consternation and the outrage, though for me it was not much of an adjustment because it was already my practice to streamline things with shortcuts and hot keys. Right off the bat i hit Windows key and E to get into my drives and Windows key and Pause/Break to access other things, besides engaging in customization. Let me know what is a problem for you and i will try to help, i will elaborate on some of the basic things that helped me .
As navigation should be fast and informative, and as i often "travel," taking time to set up a under a new install has been worth it to me. You can save your settings under W/7 and transfer them in W/8, but that is another tutorial due to the variables that should be considered,.
Not using that, one of the first things to do with a new install is to open up the C drive and change from the default view to Details, and reduce the column width as needed in order to see name, date modified, type and size all in a half sized vertical window. Then hit View>Option>Change Folder and Search options, and under General deselect all that is under the Navigation section if you a more compact window, then under View deselect all the "hide" options, except choose to Show hidden files.... I also choose Show Full path... Then i hit Apply to all folders up top. However, as in the past, this does not mean windows necessarily will . In Control Panel to change the view to small icons.
Making places I often access to be quickly but compactly reached is important, and while "pin to taskbar" is nice, space is limited, and vertical in the Quick Launch bar is the way to go.
But in order to add things to that, or to you Start Menu, or wherever, then taking time to to make a shortcut to your SendTo folder helps.
To do so, , paste %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows in the Run command box (Windows key and the R key) and hit Enter. Then look for the SendTo folder, and R. clk. on it and make a shortcut, and then drag or copy and paste the shortcut into the SendTo folder . Now wherever you are you can r. clk. and send shortcuts to or frequently used places (the Quick Launch bar being one of them) or programs (the .exe file) to the SendTo folder, and send wherever is appropriate to them.
To get the Quick Launch bar in W/8, R. clk, on the Task Bar and point to Toolbars>New Toolbar, and then paste %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch, then hit Choose Folder. Now you have your Quick Launch bar. You can try to drag it to the left side of the Task Bar but that does not always work it seems.
Then go to %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer and make a shortcut to the Quick Launch folder and send that to the SendTo folder, and then you can add what you will to it from whatever folder you are in.
Likewise to the Start Menu (which path is%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Startup) I have certain folders which i can reach quickly (using the Classic Start menu under Classic Shell). Although i actually use hot keys for these. Which is another lesson.
Note that using the same Toolbars>New Toolbar method you can also add a toolbar to the Task bar to places like My Documents, and which will add a pop up menu for all that that is therein.
To find the name of your user folder in W/8, paste %USERPROFILE% in the Run command box and hit Enter, and it will open it up and you can see the name in the address bar.
Note also that %windir% takes the place of C:\Windows like as %USERPROFILE% replaces C:\User\user name
Here are more path to folders http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_folder
And here are some commands for the Run command that you may find helpful (do not paste the description in parenthesis):
wuapp.exe (Windows update) powercfg.cpl (power configuration) services.msc (services) control.exe (control panel) eventvwr.msc (see windows error messages) control printers (printer folder)
Then there is Firefox with extensions, from which MS could learn some things about customization. See the BBCodeXtra which provides scripts useful for posting, or make your own.
Hope this help some to do good for God.
Great post! Thanks for the info.
I kind of like 8. It’s not that hard to learn the new stuff. Also, MS has provided plenty of videos to learn about W8. If people would watch them and use the help function they would learn but they are too, well, lazy.
Do you know what the main differences between W8 and W8 Pro? I have a copy of Pro and my system just says “Windows 8” in the system description. I was going to put 8 on my HP laptop but if it would be better to put it on my main office box I would. Thanks.
As i described in my case with XP, it did not, but normally it overwrites the OS but first places most of it in a Windows.old folder in the C drive. In my case it was the evaluation copy, 23.5GB.
However, by upgrading you loose the license to use the former OS, and to use both would wrong and illegal. Some people write books for a living, and some others write code.
“The software covered by this agreement is an upgrade to your existing operating system software, so the upgrade replaces the original software that you are upgrading. You do not retain any rights to the original software after you have upgraded and you may not continue to use it or transfer it in any way.”
The OEM license that you got with a preinstalled Windows 9x to W./7 OS marries the OS to the mobo, and the reason the upgrade is about half the price is because you are replacing one with the other, and also receive free MS support (for 90 days anyway) .
“Each upgrade license applies to only one PC and you can install the upgrade only on PCs that have a valid base license and one of the following operating systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP (SP3).
When you buy an upgrade to Windows 8, it includes 90 days of no-charge support from Microsoft. The 90-day period begins after you install and activate Windows 8.” - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-NZ/windows-8/terms-conditions
If you qualify and had the 100.00 OEM System Builder License product you could keep both, but cannot transfer it to another PC, and the installer provides support.
Only the retail license of W/9x-W/7 allowed you to transfer the OS other PC.
Under W/8, as this http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-new-windows-8-license-terms-affect-you_p2-7000003028/ says
“If you buy a new PC with Windows 8 already installed, your OEM Windows license is permanently bound to that computer. The only way you can transfer the license to another person is to sell or give away the computer itself, with its copy of Windows....
If you purchase the software separately, in a package or as a download, the rules are much more liberal. Note that the text for the following rules is identical for retail upgrades and for System Builder software that you install on a PC you build yourself, or in a virtual machine, or on a separate partition.
” You may transfer the software to another computer that belongs to you. … You may not transfer the software to share licenses between computers.”
If you buy a System Builder copy, you can move (not share) that license from an old PC to a new one.
You may also transfer the software (together with the license) to a computer owned by someone else if a) you are the first licensed user of the software and b) the new user agrees to the terms of this agreement. To make that transfer, you must transfer the original media, the certificate of authenticity, the product key and the proof of purchase directly to that other person, without retaining any copies of the software....”
“In either case, one ironclad rule applies:
Anytime you transfer the software to a new computer, you must remove the software from the prior computer.”
That is better than IE for sure. But does going to http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-new-windows-8-license-terms-affect-you_p2-7000003028/ spike your CPU for long? It does mine, but i use the MVPS host file which blocks a lot of ads.
Yes, i recommend and thank God for both.
I would opine that there is no real functional need for 90% of Windows users to upgrade from XP, unless they do gaming, most of which is a poor use of time, but with support running out (no more security updates) then it would leave it more vulnerable, but again, pray and press and seek to be good and wise.
As for hitting alt and F4 since you installed Windows 8, yes, and for me it just closes whatever window is before me. You did them together right? Perhaps it is because you are using a laptop.
Try using Windows key and D so that you are on your desktop, then click on Alt+F4 to bring up the shutdown dialog box. But the Right click extender can add a dialog to do this, while the old slawdog shutdown will run in your system tray and give you the same options. http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartshutdown.html
Also, to shutdown the metro apps, i read you can click on and and drag the top of the app to the bottom of the screen.
Sure VueScan works, for about the price of a new scanner. Thanks, but that is not reasonable.
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