Windows 8 really isn’t that far removed from Windows 7.
Here are a couple of things you can do to make the user experience a bit more palatable. Metro is the first issue - the active tiles at start-up. Download and install a copy of Classic Shell. It’s a free download (if you like what it has done for you give the developer a donation) and will allow you to set up the desktop with a Win7, Win XP or Win 2K look/feel.
The next thing that everybody seems to complain about is the Charm at at the right side of the screen. You can turn that off using Classic Shell also. In some instances you will also have to adjust Mouse parameters to turn off the active corners.
Play with Classic Shell a bit and you can make the GUI look just like Windows 7.
Hate to say it, but get an Apple.
Windows 8 works great, and 8.1 is coming out shortly (next month).
I bought new laptop last week. It has Windows 8 on it. It’s okay. Didn’t take to long to get used to it. Does have the “convenience” panes that slide in and out when you mouse to a corner of the screen. I hate that. Enough people are complaining that I’m sure MS will release a patch that will enable those to be disabled at some point. Other than that.... I like it pretty well.
I like it. Just took some getting used to and I'm a person who hates change. As another said. "It's good, just different".
The trick to making windows 8 usefull is installing “Classic Shell” it is available for free at sourceforge. This is a very important install. You will hate windows 8 without it.
We’ve been using Win 8 at work for about a year. It works great. There is a desktop which is almost exactly like Win 7. Win 8.1 will give you back the Start menu so you never have to use the Metro interface if you don’t want to. I think all the nay-sayers here are Apple fan-boys just trying to bad mouth Microsoft. Take some time... learn the product. There are lots of Metro apps that give you tips and shortcuts for using Win 8.
see if Dell has a system with windows 7 pro. bought an all in one with eight, had someone remove 8 and reinstall 7 pro. system in now perfect
If Win 8 is installed then yeah buy that computer. imo many problems in the past are with those computers that get upgraded to a new OS.
...btw the best computer we’ve ever owned came with Vista and I go back to the days of DOS.
We have always used firefox for going on line.
Win 8 doesn’t make any sense without touchscreen. Consider that when buying a new laptop with Win 8. Even though you can run it in classic mode, and get programs to make it like Win 7, you would probably never be as happy with it as you are with Win 7 or XP.
Got 7 and a couple of 8’s here. If I could wave a wand and turn the 8’s into 7’s, I would.
Now I see the new 8’s in stores are touch screen models, and that’s probably even MORE annoying than my 8’s.
I did what I could to make them look more like 7, and they are fast, except...well for instance:
If I want to go to “Paint,” in the old laptop, I’d hit Start, a menu would pop up and there’s paint and it opens with one click.
In Win 8, I have to put the cursor down in the lower left, click, arrive at the new start screen, right click, see the apps icon, click that, scroll across many many programs and find Paint, then click.
Ok, if I used Paint frequently I could put an icon up and get there quicker, but I don’t. Point is, you have to do some extra things to get results you got faster in 7.
It all takes getting used to.
Still, there’s a bigger selection. My HP laptops cost under $300 each and they don’t have issues with other hardware like printers and mice, they get along with them all. They run ancient programs with no problems.
If you can find a decent priced Windows 7, get it.
If not, be prepared to spend a lot of time breaking in the new model with 8. Lots of garbage to uninstall, lots of things to configure — power settings, task scheduler — and in the end it’s ALMOST as good as your 7.
Try to avoid the touch screen models.
Save your nickels for Windows 9. You know it’s coming.
Haters gonna hate.
There’s nothing wrong with Windows 8, it just takes a little getting used to, but once you figure the interface out (and set the start page up the way you like it) it’s actually easier to use than 7. I’ve loaded all the AD and server admin tools and organized them on the start page and it’s great having them all right there and not having to either clutter up a desktop with shortcuts or mouse through a bunch of sub menus off the old start menu.
Anyone using PCs for MIDI had better plan their exit strategy as while Win8 handles it, support for it has all but been dropped.
Seems MS wants to push those people to Apple. If I did not have a huge VB/Access application with my MIDI PC I would have switched after Win 7.
Even Win 7 has been slowing down with every subsequent Windows “Update” which I am firmly convinced MS deliberately adds performance slowing bloat so as to make the next OS attractive.
Well if they totally drop MIDI they made my choice. I’ll just have to rewrite about 10 years worth of development in VB/Access for my interface.
Windows 8 is a complete POS. Stay away if you can and stay with 7.
Eight is a PITA to learn and to get comfortable using.
M4L
I use Windows 7 on 2 of my machines, 8 on one (Dell laptop) and XP on another (old laptop). No problems with Windows 8. It’s fast and stable. Just get a $5 utility from Stardock called Start8 to get rid of the crap interface. Haven’t used 8.1 yet, but maybe that eliminates the need for Start8.
Win 8 is a solid, easy to use OS, if you have an easily usable touch screen, i.e. a tablet. If you are going to use the laptop with the keyboard and touchpad/mouse arrangement it is somewhat unwielding.
Windows 7. I will use a Linux distro before I use Windows 8.
Windows 8 obviously works best with a touch screen. It can be a trick for some users to manage the “charms” with a mouse. There are shortcut keys that pop “charms”, etc. up without mousing around in the corners of your display.
That said, I like Windows 8 on a touch screen with the menu installed. There are some things for which touch is a real bonus. Please note, that I have installed all the latest touch-enabled software, i.e., Office 365, etc. I am quite addicted to having a third method of manipulating software.
I DID find it frustrating at first. It IS a completely new interface and you will have to learn it. I found the “search” function in the “charms” most helpful for when I couldn't find a particular function or application. The caveat to that is I think a user would be very frustrated if they don't know where to start a search for an object. My experience is that most users really don't know what the things they use are called, only the icon.
What I see among non-technical users is that they configure their “desktop” (which is one of the tiles on the START screen” to look as much as possible like Windows 7 and they install a menu.
Otherwise, I've no complaints. I've had no application hangs, no blue screens, no locked up operating system issues.