We finally switched from XP SP3 to Win 8.1. It was a bitch to get all the programs transferred over. However I did use the mess to upgrade to all the current versions in those programs, the biggest one being to Office 2010 (I have multiple machines and will not pay for single usage with 2013). I had to start using Live Mail instead of Outlook Express. So far I am not disappointed although it is a learning curve to use it.
I would give Win 8.1 a 9 out of 10 rating. Probably that is affected by the change in screens and usage. Give me six months and that number will go up.
I do not use the “Start” screen, the IPad wannabe. I have designed my desktop to function basically like the one with XP.
AND HERE IS A WARNING, especially for those of you on a metered Internet usage. We are on a satellite ISP living 70 miles from the nearest Starbucks. When I started the conversion I thought my usage was high because of the upgrading, downloading e-mail storage, etc. It was not. We almost blew our monthly allotment that first month. I discovered that even when we did not use the new machine our usage was going up. There are several on-line, real time do-hickeys on the “Start” screen, including finance, sports, news, etc. They were constantly downloading when the machine was on, even though we were using the desktop and not the “Start” screen. With two new computers we were sucking stuff from the Internet like crazy.
I placed those functions in disabled mode and have had no problem since.
Welcome to the new world.
Good news! With Win 8.1 Update, it boots automatically to the desktop. And tiles from the Start Screen can be added to the desktop as icons.
A general note: if you're new to Win 8 and come from Win 7, check out Classic Shell. Puts the start button back and makes 8 look like 7. Great FRee utility.
Here’s a fix to those live tiles consuming unnecessary bandwidth...
Turn on Metered Connections (tells Windows 8 you’re on a connection with a limited bandwith plan) by going to the Charms (from the Start screen, not within an app) and select Settings. Click your Network Connection and it should open the Networks vertical bar. Then right-click your Connection and chose “Set as metered connection”. One caveat—this only works for Wireless Connections.
After this, go to the Settings of the Live tiles you disabled (you can enable them again) by opening the tile app, and then go to Charms and then Settings and then Tiles. In the Tiles popup, set the “Data used for tile updates” to a low number, like 1 MB per month. When it reaches the limit, it stops updating, but will tell you if there’s new data so you can manually pull it if you wish.
What are those processes or programs running in the background that do those stupid tile updates and news/weather crap? I use Classic Shell so I have a start button and I never have to see the stupid metrosexual screen with the tiles unless there is a glitch or I accidentally hit the top right corner of the screen.