Windows 8 Windows 8.1: What's New, Video, and Screenshots

With my Surface RT. Previously got 7-8 hours usage and days of idle time. Now I can get 5-6 hours usage and it dies literally overnight (or two nights if it was fully charged).
 
I don't have a phone or a tablet - but I have three different computers all used for serious work. The video seems to imply that I have to use Bing as a search engine, and also use cloud drive. Bing is probably the worst search engineever and does not exist at all on my systems, nor will I ever use a cloud drive to store my data on, having seen one shut down with little more than a months notice. Microsoft's next move with regard to OS is probably one that can only be used in the cloud, so they have full control over what you can and cannot do. Would you like this?

I have not used Win 8, but I see a lot of talk about apps and gadgets. My computers have programs, and while I tried gadgets, they all take so long to boot up that I dumped them. Most UK users have an internet speed less than 1 megabyte. Gadgets are fine if you have high speed connections like Microsoft have. They should test their kit on my connection.
 
Hi

I'm just reiterating what others, and myself as well have said.
Why does Microsoft think that everyone with a PC is going to switch to a pad, or phone?

I have one of each and they can't do what I do on my PC.

It's going to be a long time, if ever that businesses will rely on pads for office work.
Graphic Designers are not going to run Photoshop and Indesign, or Illustrator on a pad.

Gamers aren't going to play MMOs on a pad until you don't have to type to communicate.
And a touch pad isn't a good game controller.

I suppose they assume, probably correctly that most people will not upgrade their PC to Windows 8 from 7.
And people who only use email and a browser are buying pads and phones, but users who really need to run software still have to have an OS to do it on.

I can live with Windows 8, what worries me is where do they go from here?

Mike
You sound exactly like this old IT guy I know.

Back when laptops and notebooks came out and became popularized, he was criticizing non-stop. He kept telling everyone, including me, that laptops/notebooks were useless and no good for anything.

What profession are you in, may I ask? I'll tell you a little about what I do to clear some things up.

I'm a field engineer. This means that I spend half of my time out in the field. Sometimes, we'd have a meeting in a trailer. Here is something that every engineer will tell you. We have to carry around very large 2,000+ page manuals and regulations. Why? Because we're always the ones ok-ing a go ahead. If anything goes wrong or a violation is made, it always comes back to us. The contractors don't really care because they almost never take responsibility. It's always the poor engineer.

In my case, there's the concrete manual, state manual, EPA manual, steel manual, etc. These are all very large books to carry around.

Now, imagine if these could all be compressed down to pdf files with pages, favorites, and search options. Some guys I've known tried to use laptops in the field for these. But in the end, a tablet works infinitely better.

What if the contractor or client needs some preliminary results right away for financial or licensing purposes? Back before mobile devices were available, we'd be making a quick run back to the office to scan in the documents and send them out. Now, I can just use either my phone or tablet to scan in the documents and email them out right there and then at the work site.

Things have been somewhat slow due to all the project cancellations (everyone's been having funding problems). So, I've been going back and forth on a train to our city office. All I carry with me is an hp envy x2, and with visual studio while sitting on the train to and from I've written 2 apps with it. Ever since I published those apps, they've been selling steadily on the winstore.

So, if you're someone that works in an office all the time, sure you're going to see that tablets and hybrid devices are useless. But the American economy does not consist only office workers. Do you not see how hybrids and tablets are a godsend to those of us that don't sit in an office all day?

My brother is the chief engineer in his company, and he and his hybrid device are inseparable. In the last 2 years, I haven't seen him without his hybrid device. Last time I rode in the car with him, I noticed that all his manuals were gone. He's in charge of all the teams (design, inspection, construction, etc.) so he has to refer to more manuals than most engineers. He used to have them all in his car all the time. Nowadays, the only thing he needs is his hybrid device.

The point is productivity does not stop where your imagination ends. The possibilities are endless.

Added by edit.

And why is it that people who don't use something always say it like they're hollier than the rest of us? I've heard guys with no tv always say it like having a tv is somehow a bad thing. Same with guys without smartphones or tablets.

I'm not a gamer. I have no idea how to operate my boyfriend's ps3. Does this make me somehow better than everyone who has a ps3? I don't get this logic.
 
@goodintentions you actually sort of make a point everyone has been trying to say. Not everyone uses the same device. As for the consumer world, everyone I know has a traditional desktop/laptop that they use around the house because the applications are better than the apps and nothing is easier to type on than a full size keyboard with a mouse and a screen with no smudges. However, and I am one of these, having a tablet, or hybrid, to take on trips is much easier than carrying a laptop around. They are mobile devices meant for mobility.

As for the working world, you are correct, right tool for the right job. Truth is hybrids have been around since before the iPad. I had one made my HP that used a Waicom digitizer screen. Mine was for personal use. Also, when I would visit my doctors almost all them used this device. Today they are using iPads. That said, you still find laptops and desktops in the offices as well.

The point is all formats have uses. Honestly mobile and hybrid formats are very expensive when compared to the computing power of their older siblings. Microsoft errs if they think people are going to replace a cheap desktop that works for an expensive hybrid with less processing power, and weighs more than a tablet. People are not going to use tablets that are affordable because they don't have the much more processing power than the old netbooks.

What Microsoft should have done, should still do, is break off the Modern UI and make Windows Touch, and leave the desktop as Windows desktop. Refine the former, finish optimizing the latter.
 
@goodintentions you actually sort of make a point everyone has been trying to say. Not everyone uses the same device. As for the consumer world, everyone I know has a traditional desktop/laptop that they use around the house because the applications are better than the apps and nothing is easier to type on than a full size keyboard with a mouse and a screen with no smudges. However, and I am one of these, having a tablet, or hybrid, to take on trips is much easier than carrying a laptop around. They are mobile devices meant for mobility.

As for the working world, you are correct, right tool for the right job. Truth is hybrids have been around since before the iPad. I had one made my HP that used a Waicom digitizer screen. Mine was for personal use. Also, when I would visit my doctors almost all them used this device. Today they are using iPads. That said, you still find laptops and desktops in the offices as well.

The point is all formats have uses. Honestly mobile and hybrid formats are very expensive when compared to the computing power of their older siblings. Microsoft errs if they think people are going to replace a cheap desktop that works for an expensive hybrid with less processing power, and weighs more than a tablet. People are not going to use tablets that are affordable because they don't have the much more processing power than the old netbooks.

What Microsoft should have done, should still do, is break off the Modern UI and make Windows Touch, and leave the desktop as Windows desktop. Refine the former, finish optimizing the latter.
Again, there is nothing wrong with the desktop on windows 8. How many times do I have to say this? I regularly have several visual studio windows, photoshop, gimp, paint, word, excel, microstation, autocad, etc. open at the same time on my 8 desktop.

You keep sounding like there is no more desktop on 8. Nobody is forced to work in metro. You don't even need to ever see metro.

The worst thing that MS could do to windows right now is fragment it like android used to. As soon as an OS is fragmented, development will fragment with it. And then soon software will only work for certain devices. We saw all this happened to android. The android team is now desperately trying to defragment android.

If you don't like metro, then fine don't use metro. The desktop environment is still there. It hasn't gone anywhere. You are actually demanding that MS fragment their OS? Do you know that this is a nightmare scenario from a developer's point of view?

A couple months ago, some journalist proposed "windows red", sort of like what you are proposing. When I read that, my blood almost boiled. The piece was obviously written by an ignorant idiot who knew nothing about software development. And people actually bought his argument, too. It's like someone making an argument that we should reprint all science textbooks to say that the sun orbits the earth because that's what it looks like in the sky everyday.
 
You forgot the part where "Automatic Maintanence" sneaks up from behind and doesn't alert you before running off willy-nilly just doing whatever the hell it wants to.
 
Can someone please tell me how to fix the wifi on my pc. I just upgraded to windows 8 pro and my wifi is no longer working.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk
 
turn it off then on again...

if that doesn't work, then run this in command prompt:

Code:
ipconfig /flushdns && ipconfig /release && ipconfig /renew & PAUSE

Do it IN THAT ORDER. If that doesn't work, check your router, then check your modem. If nothigns wrong with em, then reboot them both, waiting 30 seconds. If THAT doesn't work, call your cable company.
 
@goodintentions you actually sort of make a point everyone has been trying to say. Not everyone uses the same device. As for the consumer world, everyone I know has a traditional desktop/laptop that they use around the house because the applications are better than the apps and nothing is easier to type on than a full size keyboard with a mouse and a screen with no smudges. However, and I am one of these, having a tablet, or hybrid, to take on trips is much easier than carrying a laptop around. They are mobile devices meant for mobility.

As for the working world, you are correct, right tool for the right job. Truth is hybrids have been around since before the iPad. I had one made my HP that used a Waicom digitizer screen. Mine was for personal use. Also, when I would visit my doctors almost all them used this device. Today they are using iPads. That said, you still find laptops and desktops in the offices as well.

The point is all formats have uses. Honestly mobile and hybrid formats are very expensive when compared to the computing power of their older siblings. Microsoft errs if they think people are going to replace a cheap desktop that works for an expensive hybrid with less processing power, and weighs more than a tablet. People are not going to use tablets that are affordable because they don't have the much more processing power than the old netbooks.

What Microsoft should have done, should still do, is break off the Modern UI and make Windows Touch, and leave the desktop as Windows desktop. Refine the former, finish optimizing the latter.

Ah, but one can have a Touch enable browser, for example, whilst in Desktop mode. All this technology doesn't have to be separated when choice, already, exists, now; there is no obligation to employ the Tile interface in daily activity.

Cheers,
Drew

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You forgot the part where "Automatic Maintenance" sneaks up from behind and doesn't alert you before running off willy-nilly just doing whatever the hell it wants to.

Could you, please, tie this comment to whatever came before it, to whatever prior Post it refers? I can't make sense of it until & unless you do this for me. Thanks.

Cheers,
Drew
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Good information, I'm using Windows 8 now and i want start to use Windows 8.1. However I have afraid to make changes on system.
 
Good information, I'm using Windows 8 now and i want start to use Windows 8.1. However I have afraid to make changes on system.

There is nothing to fear & no reason to hesitate. It should have been just pushed out as an Automatic Update. One should just take it... it is nothing but, good and doesn't present problems.

It's cool you are keen to have 8.1. Go ahead & start enjoying it.

Cheers,
Drew

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Goodintentions Said:

You sound exactly like this old IT guy I know.
What profession are you in, may I ask? I'll tell you a little about what I do to clear some things up.


Ok, let me talk a little about what I do.
I'm a Graphic Designer, Animator, Illustrator and 3D content creator.

I use pretty much every piece of software that Adobe makes from Photoshop to Premiere.
Add to that a number of 3D programs like Poser, Blender, Sound and Video Editing etc.

I often have as many as 3 or 4 programs running at once, and switch back and forth using the taskbar.

For instance when I work on a image map for a 3D object or figure in Photoshop, I switch to see how it looks applied to the object in Poser, Blacksmith3d, or another other 3D software and then back to Photoshop again.

I create copy in Word, use a text to speech program to create a voice file which I then load into a lip sync program to create a file I load into Poser and apply to a character, and then output the video to Premiere where I add music, sound effects and etc. etc.

First I need a large screen to do what I do, (I have a 27" 3D monitor) I need a very high refresh rate, 144 hz.
I need a lot of disk space, 2TB internal 3TB external, I need a very fast computer that can render and output 4,000 frames of 1920 by 1080 video in 15 to 20 minutes not days, and days.

The heat alone would preclude using a pad or even a laptop.
There is no way a pad computer is of any use to me for serious work.

I know I have an iPad, it has it's uses, it shoots great video and ok pictures, I can email and browse but I can't do my work on it.

So I need an operating system that allows me to do what I do.
Fortunately Windows 8 will still do that, with the addition of Classic Shell and Modern Mix, but not on a pad computer.

Everyone I know in the Graphic Arts Business uses a Desktop to work on, everyone I know who works in an office works on a Desktop or at least a laptop with a keyboard.

I'm not knocking pads and laptops they have their uses, but, there still needs to be an operating system designed for desktops, that can be used to do real stuff, not just play games, run spreadsheets (maybe spreadsheets are real things, LOL) and chat on facebook.

By the way I do play games too, and I don't want to try and play my MMOs on a tablet with no mouse or keyboard either.

Microsoft can't write off PCs yet they are going to be around for quite a while.
Maybe we'll have completely voice operated PCs pretty soon, like Star Trek, I'd like that, but they aren't here yet.

We still need a Windows OS that is Windows.

Mike
 
Nah I wouldnt worry, 8.1 is basically the same thing as 8, just a few new bells and whistles, truth be told I find 8.1 a joke upgrade


It is not a joke, @ all. There is technology & aspects 'under the covers', in 8.1 that separate the Upgrade from 8.0 and further improve a good foundation. The "bells & whistles" do provide handy, appealing, functions. Overall, there is an appreciable value in moving from Win 8 to Win 8.1. Nor any (good) reason to stay @ 8.0.

Cheers,
Drew

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I have upgraded windows from 8.0 to 8.1 and I really like it but my bluetooth stopped working. I tried to update the driver still nothing. Don't know what to do?
 
We need a little more to go on than that. Does the bluetooth show up at all in Device Manager?
 
Nick, yes, would be nice to have more info. However, if I assume (oft not a good idea) that we are talking integrated blue-tooth and it does show in D Mgr...

Uninstall the Blue-tooth adapter & reboot. Also, check to see if there are any Windows Updates.

Just a couple thoughts considering little on which to base any

Cheers,
Drew

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I found 8.1 was a little behind in Bluetooth drivers. I went to the computer manufacturers sites and found current, or backward compatible, drivers. Dell was a particularly good one.
 
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