Windows 8 Win 8 and me

Victour

New Member
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..
 
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.
 
Thank you Andrea ! I will do that and see what happens,



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.
 
View attachment 108View attachment 109View attachment 110To change get back the Windows 7 Start Menu the registry edit is as follows-

Press the Windows and R key at the same time to bring up the Run command and type regedit in the run box. Or type regedit in the control panel search. This then opens the registry.

Then look for the registry key-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer


Look for the entry RPEEnabled, then change the D word value to from 1 to 0

See the example shown in my image of the registry. Then after you have changed the D word value from 1 to 0 restart your computer.

You should now have the Windows 7 start menu and the Metro theme is now disabled.See second images of my Windows 7 start menu on Windows 8.

If you want to enable Metro again just go back into the registry and changed the D word value of the key back from 0 to 1 and the Metro theme is back.

Also another alternative if you want to keep the Metro theme but also want the Windows start menu is to install Classic Shell. Which puts both the Classic and Windows XP and start menu into Windows Vista and 7. But Classic Shell also works on Windows 8.

If you install Classic Shell you can switch between both the classic start menu and the Metro theme. Pin the Classic Shell short cut to your desktop and taskbar so you can access Classic Shell easy while you are in the Metro theme.

But you can also use Classic Shell with the Metro theme disabled like I do.

There are also several software's that you can download from the internet to disable the Metro theme as well. Andrea Borman.


 
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Thank you so Much Andrea I did like you said and it worked great ... Win 7 Start up and Shut down.. Thanks.. All My I cons disappeared but, I will drag get them from.All Programs I guess..
 
Thank you so Much Andrea I did like you said and it worked great ... Win 7 Start up and Shut down.. Thanks.. All My I cons disappeared but, I will drag get them from.All Programs I guess..

Thank you Victour. You have to click on the links in my post to see the images of my desktop. This site,Windows 8 forums does not display the images as pictures like the Windows 7 forums does. I don't know why.

But if you click on the links you will see my images. And as you can see, I have the Windows 7 start menu on my Windows 8.Andrea Borman
 
This is just what i was looking for but, sadly, the Consumer Preview I installed doesn't have this key to change. Anyone any idea how to mange this trick in this newer version?
 
This is just what i was looking for but, sadly, the Consumer Preview I installed doesn't have this key to change. Anyone any idea how to mange this trick in this newer version?

Not yet I looked on some other forums and people aren't happy with the Metro mess since MS made sure the fixes don't work. I wonder what bunch over educated crackheads came up with it.
Joe
 
I,m with Joe strongly on that one!
I think I could be close to being called a MS "fanboy" but I have now installed and configured Windows 8 consumer, and my impression is that some guy in MS with a headache, has gone out of his way to make absolutely certain that some of the essential fixes we had cooked up, to make Windows 8 more useable, have been deliberately jammed.
 
That's what I thought. I think they have decided to go all out to grab some of the iPad action and to stimulate the Windows Phone market as well and assumed that desktops were on the way out. I think if this is the plan they are a long way out of touch with the real world. Offices and universities all over the world are using desktops as, probably are Microsoft. The way Windows 8 is, they are not going to get any sales to business.

Windows 7 is pretty stable and runs will and I think my family will be sticking with it.
 
I have found one Little compromise for the Startup menu. Google and download Vista start up. Wroks fine. If you want to customise the programs, with your own folders etc, then do it in Program data - Microsoft -Windows - Start Menu. Vista Start menu will pick up yopur alterations. You can also, if you prefer, make a shortcut from that folder to the desktop.
 
I have found one Little compromise for the Startup menu. Google and download Vista start up. Wroks fine. If you want to customise the programs, with your own folders etc, then do it in Program data - Microsoft -Windows - Start Menu. Vista Start menu will pick up yopur alterations. You can also, if you prefer, make a shortcut from that folder to the desktop.

Yes,there are several programs that will put a Windows XP ,Windows 2000 or Windows Vista start menu into windows 7 and Windows 8. But the best one is Classic Shell as it is a free program. And it is also more user friendly and has a lot of settings options.

Classic Shell gives you the Classic Windows 2000 start menu,and Windows XP start menu. As well as the Windows 7 and windows Vista start menu and has some other themes. Check it out. It also works in Windows 8.

I use Classic Shell on both Windows 7 and Windows 8. And I have also used it on Windows Vista. I like the Windows XP start menu in Classic Shell.Andrea Borman.
 
It really hasn't been that bad for me, so far. That Metro stuff was a bit confusing, but everything else is working fine. I have the Control Panel pinned to the Taskbar, so settings are within reach for me. Most of my software from Windows 7 & XP is working fine, except Perfect Disk 12.5, my paid defrag program.

Even ESET Endpoint Security Suite (Beta) installed perfectly. I'm not depending on Windows Defender (a re-branded MSE) to protect me. It's been rumored that the latest Avast (version 7) runs good on 8 CP. When this ESET program ends on 04/30/2012, I'll try out Avast 7 IS for the 20 days that they usually give. I won't buy at first, but wait until they offer 3 PC's for $29.99 (they always do).

I like the SafeZone browser that's included with Avast Internet Security, even if there's a virus or keylogger on the PC, the SafeZone browser (Chrome) redirects the traffic to their safe servers, and shields the user from any threats present. Plus, and this is included with the Free version of Avast, is the Boot Time scanner. It scans your entire hard drive (except those where Linux OS's are present) for infections, outside of the Windows environment, so that the results are more accurate. Certain places can't be accessed with the regular Full Scan, just as with Perfect Disk. Their boot time defrag gets the system & page files, resulting in improved startup and overall speed (assuming that the OS & computer is otherwise healthy).

Windows 8 is going to be a good OS. Give it some time.

Cat
 
Classic Shell gives you the Classic Windows 2000 start menu,and Windows XP start menu. As well as the Windows 7 and windows Vista start menu and has some other themes. Check it out. It also works in Windows 8.

Thanks Andrea. I have never tried the "Classic", but curiosity will make me! But, tell me, are you using the developer or the consumer release.. There is a difference and, unfortunately, most of the "tricks" no longer apply to the consumer.
Unfortunately, because of my particular computer operating conditions, I normally have to try and make the Os's work with the provided (built-in) facilities.. I cannot deny, though, the usefulness of trying out some of the third party compromises. (Keeps you with an open mind - not MS tunnel vision. Lol)
 
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I've just downloaded Classic Shell and will load in onto the Windows 8 installation and see how it goes.

however, it doesn't really answer the main question which is, in its original form with Metro, it is a pad operating system not a desktop one. The desktop should have its own front end and not a series of large boxes to start programmes running. It ids for this reason that I can't imagine many desktop users buying it and I should think corporates will ignore it too!
 
The Classic Shell did work great for all versions of Windows 7 and even Windows 8/DP, but does NOTHING on Win-8 Public Preview.
It did install OK, but makes NO difference in the way that Windows 8/PP works. I'd just love to have a real Start menu and Programs Menu again. Without that ability, I can't see Windows 8 ever replacing Windows 7 or its predecessors.

Just like the two tweaks to turn off the Metro UI, that worked OK on the 8/DP versions, do nothing on the Public Preview.

I was so depressed after a couple of hours working with the new Win-8, that I had to get away from it. That was two days ago and I've not gone back to it yet. Right now I'm on my old reliable Windows XP-Pro-SP3 and still loving it.

I keep each OS on a separate HD and only power up the one I want to use. That prevents any OS from seeing the other one and wanting to muck about with it. There was a reported interaction between XP and Win-7, when both OS HD's were alive on the same PC.
(and never the trains shall meet...... old railroad saying)

To be able to start a program quickly, I just went into Windows Explorer, found the .exe file for the program I wanted and sent it to the desktop as a shortcut. Well, at least that function has not been 86'ed in Win-8.

Buried deep within Win-8 are many things reminiscent of Win-XP, but you really have to dig for them. (like Mining for Gold)

The City Lights theme is working great on my Classic Desktop.

Some other things that seem to be working on win-8 are "Grant Admin Full Control" and "Disable UAC".
The script to "Toggle Hidden Files" (ON or OFF) seems to work too.
A few other tweaks I've tried seem to do nothing.

I'm going to investigate the "Disable Metro UI" script to see if its maybe just trying to change a registry key that no longer exists.
Creating the key might fix that problem. I suppose someone will fix that if I just wait long enough. Eh?

Cheers Mates,
:encouragement:
 
Thanks Dave,
I did download and install the Vista thingy, but it only sits there as a program you have to run. It does nothing for the actual look of Win-8. But again, I have it and thank you.

Since, like, Forever, we've been mousing to the lower left corner of the screen to shut down the computer, so I pinned my Quick Shutdown icon to that same location. I put the Vista Menu icon just to the right of it. All this to gain some sort of continuity with Win-7.

Here's a pic of my new Windows 8 desktop:
W8Desk.jpg


It looks like I've got a lot of homework to do, with the registry.

I still don't have Firefox 10.0.2 working up to par. No matter what URL I try to load, like this one, FF just seems to stall out.
If I put the same URL into I.E. it pops up immediately. FF worked great with Win-8/DP. Go figure. MS has found a way to force people to use I.E. as well as their Metro UI. Grrrrrrrr!

Laters!
The Doctor :cool:
 
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Maybe a point of view. After all, you need to click the old menu to access it? It is very customisable. Here's mine so far.
 
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We knew the Metro disables would not work after the DP. And 'your' tiles can be arranged & 'cleaned up', including removing ones that are not going to be subjectively used or wanted...take off one's that are of no interest to YOU. The Beta is still not the Final product but, far superior to the DP. Depending on attitude, it really doesn't take long to discover how actually neatly & easily one can configure & navigate it.
 
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