Windows 8 Win 8 and me

V

Victour

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Oct 18, 2011
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I find after 3 month I miss so many of my win 7 features. I go to the start corner and must swirl the mouse around quite a bit to bring up the info list.. I still have so much trouble looking for simple things like User username / pictures .. I can find a lot of things with the apps page but it is getting out of control with useless Icons.. Other than that I like to program. I loaded win8 on a 1T hd all by itself to prevent compatibility problems.. I can load most of all my old games designed for XP..Doom , Farcry, Crysis,and even children of the corn. they have not been a problem.. my 40" Sony monitor Connected to my EVGA 550 Ti card with Mini HDMI also works great.. but you are not allowed to power up the Box befor the Monitor.. I would like to see more improvement with finding folder ect.. and then I would be happy I guess... Start up is 20 seconds to the app page..
 
Solution
Victour,you can disable the Metro theme on Windows 8. And this brings back the Windows 7 start menu. I disabled Metro and so have a lot of other Windows 8 users. There is also software that you can download from the Internet to do this for you.If you don't want to go into the registry.

Windows 8 works better with the Windows 7 start menu than with the Metro theme. Andrea Borman.
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That looks great but it also looks like a lot of work to achieve.
Click to expand...

Naaaaa! Not at all. It took no more time than setting up Windows Vista or Win-7 for one of my customers.

They like it when things are somewhat segregated and organized. All my Utilities and weekly maintenance are on the left, just above the START button (well, not so much, on win-8) and all the internet stuff, browser, internet connection shortcut and Security Software are on the right margin. Production and entertainment icons go along the top of the screen. A few well placed shortcuts in the Quick Launch toolbar pretty much finish off the screen.

When I'm actually setting up a new PC, all the above takes only a few minutes.

For this old tech, it's not even work....but pleasure. It's almost a shame to charge people for something I have fun at.

Just give me back my START button and we'll be good to go.

It appears like MS took away our ability to shut off the Metro UI, just for spite. If past experience is any indicator, hackers all over the world are working on ways to put the START button back where it belongs and to KILL the Metro UI.

 
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I am an IT Pro consultant w/ clients, End Users past, present & always welcoming future ones. & they vary greatly in perceptions, degree of 'computer savyness'. I often have to teach, do some 'show-n-tell' and enlighten them to things, open their eyes to what is possible & how tos & configure things to their likely & needs. Some may want some amount or 'retro', some are interested in 'new' or a mix of both. For some Win8 will be their beginning w/ computing, some will adapt to it, some will find it 'strange' but, learn it, anyway, some will dig in their heels & fight it & bash it & complain. It's part of the job as techs to meet this challenge & mentor what IS, even if a departure from what WAS. And, I'm finding 8 can be used quite nicely even w/out Touch. Youth will like its 'moderness' & actually elderly folks are liking it (so I hear) & cosmetics and moving around through it becomes appealing quickly. Not all humans are like old dogs. As IT Pros we have responsibility to beta-test & know & learn evolving technologies before they hit the streets & to pass them on to our customers w/ insight, knowledge & discretion. Oh, and I have, already, asked the Win8 Build Team to put an at-your-fingertips access button or icon on the Desktop for Restart & Shutdown instead of so many steps or convoluted path to same. Cheers, Drew
 
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& then there are ppl like me who like to have no icons on a Desktop & yet, have things readily accessible but, clean & tidy. W/ Pinning, Quick Launch & whatnot it is easily doable. I work a few minutes w/ my customers configuring their Desktop & they end up w/ User Friendly & pretty & uncluttered.
Things (navigation) are actually even more direct & versatile w/ 8 than w/ the Start Men & there is a 'start button' & still @ the bottom left... putting the cursor there gives Start BUT, most thigs can be accessed w/out even going through Start. & that is further enhanced w/ these:

*Desktop ---- Win+D*
*Metro ---- CTL+ESC*
*Charms ---- Win+C*
*Explorer ---- Win+E*
*Search ---- Win+F*
*Settings ---- Win+I*
*App Bar ---- Win+Z*
*Closing Apps ---- **Win + CTRL + TAB*
*SystemPrograms ---- Win+X*

Spite? Of any motivation the Build Team had, you're kidding about this 1, right? Geeesh! & yes, to be 100% sarcastic, thank god for damned hackers!

Cheers,
Drew
 
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I've just began to install things and the Metro seems to be growing really fast. I installed NVIDIA drivers and there are 3 or 4 NVIDIA related things in Metro. I installed Media Player Classic and the codec pack and there are about 8 more entries for that. I installed a EVGA utility and that added 3 more. It must get pretty monstrous in size after you get all of your software installed especially with things like PhotoShop and Roxio.
Joe
 
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Keep the frequently used, cool to see & have @ the ready, in front of you... the rest, remove... Rt Clk on 1, on bar, bottom left, hit Unpin From Start

I just finished arranging & culling Start I can see keeping it personalized & modifying it over time.

Cheers,
Drew
 
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Have you tried putting them into folders, Joe. Although they are all large icons, it is not then so much unlike the old menu. Only problem is the folders are all open, but I am still trying to find a way that I can close them.
 
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No I haven't tried folders there yet. I'm just beginning to install stuff now and noticed the rapid growth. If you unpin something there I don't know how difficult it will be it find it again.
Joe
 
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If you unpinit (rather than uninstall, you can usually find it still lurking in the search facility, waiting to be repinned.
 
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Joe, just go to the All Apps display screen & Pin whatever you want (back) to Start. When unpinned from Start tile still is listed, shows on All Apps screen.

Drew
 
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Drew
Thanks I'm beginning to get more used to it but really find Metro annoying. I do like that the printer installs automatically when you first turn it on. It just takes quite a while getting things sorted out to get going with this release. I've got the desktop pretty well sorted out finally I installed ViStart. It seems to install the toolbars even when you uncheck them I did get them removed OK.
Joe
 
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You're welcome, Joe. Mmm, yep, that's cool... w/ a very wee bit of time, one by one, find place or method & the damn thing grows on you & gets likable, fast.

Drew
 
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There are several posts now, on Vistart and the alternative, Vista start menu. I have had both running for a few days. Vistart seems to satisfy many, because it reproduces the familiar Windows 7 menu and, so important, apparently, to many, the Start orb. However, what it does not do, is allow the customising facilities as were in Windows 7. I finally uninstalled and now use Vista start menu as an alternative choice from the Metro. It is totally customisable. It does not have the start orb but sits as a shortcut on the desktop. There is no difference between clicking that, as opposed to clicking the start orb (twice) to get into the program menu. Just a point - Neither "disable" the Metro interface, they offer a alternative.
 
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Once more. Now some clever guy has taken the best of these two and we now have Vista start menu with the start orb. For those seeking the orb, and a menu style, it doesn't get better.
Start Menu 7
 
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Dave,
Got it, installed it, LOVE IT !!!

A really great find. I'm just wondering, how much more the Pro (Paid) version will give us?
I didn't investigate the web site that comes up during the install, to see just how much they
want for the Pro Version.

Cheers Mate!
The Doctor
 
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That is the one I tried...personally, I quickly tossed it as an unnecessary, distraction & nuisance. But, hey, that's just me. Can manage 8 fine w/out this sort of thing.

Cheers,
Drew
 
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Yeah, but you're a Windows God!

But us poor peasants, need all the help we can get.

I just researched it, and the Pro version is $19.99.
Not bad, as most software costs at least $39.95. (and UP!)

The Doctor
 
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Ok & thanks (I think). Though, I, still, find between 8, itself, Pinning , Links & Quick Launch…

But, no matter, long as Folks are happy

Cheers,
Drew
 
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You've hit it right on the nail. Microsoft have done this to us Windows users out of pure spite.

And they have deliberately set it up so that we cannot disable the Metro theme or bring back the Windows 7 start menu. And they have made it so that third party software, that would give you a Windows XP start menu won't work on Windows 8 CP.

I think the problem why Classic Shell does not work in Windows 8 CP, is because Microsoft removed the start orb.

But why have they removed the start orb? What is the reason for that? Andrea Borman.
 
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Hello Andrea, and if no one has done so already, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you here on the Windows 8 Forum.
I am sorry to hear that you are dis-heartened, defeated and apparently overwhelmed by the latest release of Windows 8.
You need to understand that Microsoft made a very public announcement a while back, something to the effect that they intended to "Re-imagine Windows" I can't help but wonder what you and others (you're not alone) thought that they intended when they made that statement.
I myself, am not overly enamored with the new interface and I'm still trying to find something that I can do on Windows 8 that I can't do on Windows 7. To me it's a lot of doing the same old stuff a different way and not an overly compelling reason to endorse the new Operating System.
But I think you need to give yourself a little bit more credit and the new Operating System a fair chance and see if you can't manage to use the interface a little more successfully than you think you can.
It's easy to criticize and reject out of hand something new, just because it's new. I didn't like when Chrysler changed the 300s body style a few years back, but after a couple model years, I kinda like it now.
Give it a fair chance and if you decide it's not for you.... then, fair enough. Nothing wrong with Windows 7. It's likely to be around for years to come.
And who knows, if this thing gets Vista'd then Windows 9 might be Windows Unimagined.
As I said you are not alone. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2514...o_have_tried_the_os_wouldnt_recommend_it.html
 
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