Can Windows 8 be rescued at this point?

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So how long have you spent using windows 8 ? I ask because my self and others in this thread haven't had all these problems you talk about.

Tech sites write negative articles because they want hits and its easy to hate on windows 8 right now just like its been easy to hate on all of Microsoft's products for the last few years.

Windows 8 is extremely easy to use. Easier than 7

I've used it for a week. It is not easier to use than 7. The only thing this os tells you to do when you install it is basically a screen with arrows pointing at corners for instruction. It doesn't tell you anything else. When you are in an app how do you get out? I went to several places demoing this on computers and noone could figure how to get out of an app. I figured this out by having to find the answer online. How do you close an app? Again I had to go online to find an answer. This thing is not intuitive at all for someone coming from older versions.
 
I've used it for a week. It is not easier to use than 7. The only thing this os tells you to do when you install it is basically a screen with arrows pointing at corners for instruction. It doesn't tell you anything else. When you are in an app how do you get out? I went to several places demoing this on computers and noone could figure how to get out of an app. I figured this out by having to find the answer online. How do you close an app? Again I had to go online to find an answer. This thing is not intuitive at all for someone coming from older versions.

Funny I figured it out pretty quickly, maybe because I'm not afraid to right click my mouse button or run my mouse cursor around the entire edge of the screen... That or hit the start button on your keyboard.
 
Funny I figured it out pretty quickly, maybe because I'm not afraid to right click my mouse button or run my mouse cursor around the entire edge of the screen... That or hit the start button on your keyboard.

To exit an app you have to exit out of it on Metro by pressing the windows key, moving your mouse to the upper lefter corner until the box appears, and then know that you are supposed to move your mouse down below it until your open programs show up, and right click an app to close it. If you don't see the problem in this for someone who installs this and then Microsoft gives no instruction on how to do it, then I don't know what else I can say. In Windows 7, you right click the app on the taskbar and select exit.
 
I've used it for a week. It is not easier to use than 7. The only thing this os tells you to do when you install it is basically a screen with arrows pointing at corners for instruction. It doesn't tell you anything else. When you are in an app how do you get out? I went to several places demoing this on computers and noone could figure how to get out of an app. I figured this out by having to find the answer online. How do you close an app? Again I had to go online to find an answer. This thing is not intuitive at all for someone coming from older versions.

how did you learn to use your first windows or android or ios or osx device ? I was able to navigate it rather quickly and I've now been using it for months.
 
I'd go back to Windows 7 if they released a service pack that gave W7 the boot time of W8.

Oh, it exists. It's called a solid state drive.

Why is this so hard to grasp?

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w8 on an ssd is marvelous. It's a FUCKTON easier to see a list of my fav apps than going through that arduous start menu from older windows. I'm honestly baffled at the tech blogs who dislike 8, the resistance to change is odd.

I just installed Windows 8 over the weekend. After installing a bunch of apps, my Start screen is now loaded with garbage I don't want. And removing and adding icons is a pain in the ass compared to the desktop.

As far as I'm concerned, the Start screen is completely unnecessary and brings nothing useful to the table.
 
They'll fix it. They're too heavily invested not to. It's not unprecedented for a product to be poorly received at launch yet go on to have its quality issues fixed and have that opinion reversed, like with Steam.
 
To exit an app you have to exit out of it on Metro by pressing the windows key, moving your mouse to the upper lefter corner until the box appears, and then know that you are supposed to move your mouse down below it until your open programs show up, and right click an app to close it. If you don't see the problem in this for someone who installs this and then Microsoft gives no instruction on how to do it, then I don't know what else I can say. In Windows 7, you right click the app on the taskbar and select exit.

mouse upper left corner , click the app you have running that you want to switch too and then right click the window when it refreshes and click close

Mouse to bottom left hand corner brings you to start menu .


There is really no reason you need to close metro apps that way as they will suspend. The point of metro is that you don't need to ever close anything
 
To exit an app you have to exit out of it on Metro by pressing the windows key, moving your mouse to the upper lefter corner until the box appears, and then know that you are supposed to move your mouse down below it until your open programs show up, and right click an app to close it. If you don't see the problem in this for someone who installs this and then Microsoft gives no instruction on how to do it, then I don't know what else I can say. In Windows 7, you right click the app on the taskbar and select exit.

Did apple give instructions on how multitask or close an app either? Does android give instruction to pull down the settings bar from the top? Does linux offer built in instructions on how to download and install an app from the internet?

It's no different than any other OS, it's just that Microsoft released something new and people are just finding excuses to shoot it down. From those that have used 8, they seem to overall really like it - and then you have the group of people to latch onto the tech blogs and carry their hate forward without really playing with the OS and getting used to it. Once you do understand how metro works, it's incredibly fluid and natural. I work even faster now knowing my charm bar is a swipe away rather than a button press.

Not to leave out metro apps, they give me an option to join the world of apps without having to buy an overpriced, underpowered laptop. I love reading my tech blogs in metro because it's easier on the eyes than always seeing a chrome window open. In the end, MS gave me a choice and I thank them for that. If I don't like the apps that came preinstalled ( which I don't ) I just uninstalled them. Bam, easy as fucking pie.

Oh, it exists. It's called a solid state drive.



I just installed Windows 8 over the weekend. After installing a bunch of apps, my Start screen is now loaded with garbage I don't want. And removing and adding icons is a pain in the ass compared to the desktop.

As far as I'm concerned, the Start screen is completely unnecessary and brings nothing useful to the table.

Why is it a pain in the ass? Just right click the ones you don't want in sequence and just hit unpin. It's incredibly easy to do that. Then zoom out and rename your groups with right click.
 
It doesn't need saving.

It is what it is, and in about a year and a half Windows 9 will be here. If you don't like it, skip it. Unlike Windows releases in the past, it won't be half a decade before the next iteration, so you should feel no pressure to buy it if it's not doing what you'd like from the OS. If you do like it as-is, buy it without a second thought.

Did apple give instructions on how multitask or close an app either?

Yes, actually. During the setup process there are videos for those things, as I recall. Also, in side the System Preferences where the trackpad options are, there are little videos that demonstrate the motions and what they do.

Also, OSX benefits from the gestures being nothing more than another way to do things, rather than the ONLY way or the principle way to do things. Whereas in Metro, things can be down right confusing if not entirely obtuse if you don't know the gestures. Pretty important difference.

So yes, MS would benefit greatly from some simple tutorial videos built right into the setup process for Windows 8 (if it doesn't already have these).
 
When the first preview version came out I tried it for about a week (although not on my main machine) and didn't like it at all. I said I would skip it and wait for Windows 9. I griped about it on forums and said I couldn't believe some of the design decisions.

When it released officially, I installed it on a laptop for my parents who were still using XP. After installing it, I played around with it for a few hours and even though it wasn't drastically different from the preview I tried and disliked, it just clicked. A couple of days later I installed it on my desktop and now I think it's the best OS Microsoft have made. I love it. It's super-fast, rock solid, gives you everything that 7 does but with improvements in certain areas (Task Manager, for example), and I really like the Metro interface.

I really like some of the smartphone-esque apps too. I love the way the People app automatically pulled in all my Facebook and Twitter contacts and I can snap it to one side of the desktop and read their latest status updates and see notifications. I like that the eBay app pops up notifications when items I'm listing sell or receive new bids. It's slick.

The only thing that bugs me is a minor UI issue. The font for text in titlebars is always black and can't be changed. If you change the colour of the taskbar, the titlebars change colour too. I want to use a dark taskbar, but if I do that, titlebars become so dark that I can't read the text that's in them.

It doesn't need to be rescued really. It'll sell more than enough to be successful. That guy in the gaming section will continue to post daily threads about how shit it is. The world will keep on turning. :D

TheExodu5 said:
And removing and adding icons is a pain in the ass compared to the desktop.
I wonder if you're really using it, because some of the things you say make no sense.

Remove = right-click and choose "Unpin from Start"
Add = right-click and choose "Pin to Start"

It really couldn't be any easier.
 
They'll fix it. They're too heavily invested not to. It's not unprecedented for a product to be poorly received at launch yet go on to have its quality issues fixed and have that opinion reversed, like with Steam.

what are its quality issues ?
 
and heck I would pay 20-30$ for those improvements as a service pack or w/e

but not 8...

heck I was happy using XP before 2007

but I'm tired and getting older now

and I've decided that I'm going to use 7 until the day I drop dead

going from 95, 98, xp, to vista and finally to 7 was all very very very Bane Painful
I'm fucking done changing OSes....

and I'm only 26 atm
and I have 7 on a perfected image that I can just restore over and over agian backed up and also on several cloud services

so 7 fo lyfe

I'm pretty much done with reinstalling and installing new OSes

and no more fucks can be given as I've ran out of fucks to give about new OSes... and trying to get used to them

so fuck 8 and the horse it rode in on....

Thanks, e.e. cummings, but what does getting older have to do with it?
 
Why is it a pain in the ass? Just right click the ones you don't want in sequence and just hit unpin. It's incredibly easy to do that. Then zoom out and rename your groups with right click.

Try doing that for 30 icons.

Move mouse to middle of screen. Right click. Move mouse to bottom left. Click unpin. Repeat.

On the desktop, I can click and drag, or shift click, or ctrl click everything, and then just press delete.
 
Try doing that for 30 icons.

Move mouse to middle of screen. Right click. Move mouse to bottom left. Click unpin. Repeat.

On the desktop, I can click and drag, or shift click, or ctrl click everything, and then just press delete.
Except you don't have to do that as you can right-click each icon in turn first, which places a check mark in the corner of the icon, then you only have to do "Unpin from Start" once. (EDIT - As shown above!)
 
They should update the desktop versions to remove the tiles and boot right to desktop with windows 7 start button. Also make it free for everyone. I think a lot of people would move over that way and they can try to make money through the App Store
 
Wow I had no idea. That makes things a lot easier.

Which is the problem with Windows 8. Nothing is intuitive in the metro interface for a user coming from an older windows version. Everything has to be found out by going online and getting answers from other people.
 
I just installed Windows 8 over the weekend. After installing a bunch of apps, my Start screen is now loaded with garbage I don't want. And removing and adding icons is a pain in the ass compared to the desktop.

As far as I'm concerned, the Start screen is completely unnecessary and brings nothing useful to the table.

The start screen is completely optional though. I felt the same way about the whole iOS interface: Icons are bullshit and useless when I can just go to spotlight and type what I want. W8 is the same: just type what you want.

The reason everyone calls it a failure is facetious to me since it's in comparison to W7. Yet everyone seems to forget that W7 was a followup to a panned and arguably broken OS, so of course it had widespread adoption and acclaim.

W8 is following up something that is well liked and it doesn't present the obvious "IT'S NOT VISTA" compulsion to go and buy it. It's an incremental OS upgrade that presents the new paradigm that MS wants for their products: WP8, Surface, W8.

I upgraded to 8 a couple weeks back and I like it. It's an OS though and I have realistic expectations for what that means.
 
I just installed Windows 8 over the weekend. After installing a bunch of apps, my Start screen is now loaded with garbage I don't want. And removing and adding icons is a pain in the ass compared to the desktop.

As far as I'm concerned, the Start screen is completely unnecessary and brings nothing useful to the table.

You just right-click and select "unpin from start" to remove a tile from the start screen. When you install a program, anything that would normally be added to your start menu is instead turned into a tile (if you don't want that, uncheck the create start menu folder box when installing a program). Otherwise, you can right-click any program or shortcut on your desktop or in explorer and choose to pin to the start screen. It's really not difficult at all.

BoboBrazil said:
To exit an app you have to exit out of it on Metro by pressing the windows key, moving your mouse to the upper lefter corner until the box appears, and then know that you are supposed to move your mouse down below it until your open programs show up, and right click an app to close it. If you don't see the problem in this for someone who installs this and then Microsoft gives no instruction on how to do it, then I don't know what else I can say. In Windows 7, you right click the app on the taskbar and select exit.

For closing metro apps, you can also just alt+F4 while the app is in focus.

Honestly, I had my doubts when I first started using Win8 but after playing around with it for a month, it's really not that bad. It takes some getting use to if you decide to make use of the start screen but you could also just completely ignore it. It seems to me that the biggest issues with Win8 is that 1) People don't adapt to change very well and 2) there's a lot of misinformation about how Win8 works if the post in these Win8 threads are any indication.
 
Which is the problem with Windows 8. Nothing is intuitive in the metro interface for a user coming from an older windows version. Everything has to be found out by going online and getting answers from other people.

I'm really surprised at this because a handful of simple, 10-second tutorial videos built right into the OS would probably alleviate a lot of concerns and frustrations.
 
Saving this post so i can laugh at it in 5 years.

People will still buy sub $1000 laptops/desktops over the next few years and will have no choice but to buy a Windows 8 machine. The Metro style will slowly become commonplace and intuitive and moving to a tablet will be more familiar to people.

End of story.

If they made windows 8 into windows 7.5, as you are proposing, they would forever lose the tablet market.

Windows 8 is exactly what they need to do. They painted themselves into a corner in the Phone and Tablet market and were left with no other options. They now have a design language that is identical across phones, Xbox, laptops, desktops, and tablets. It will slowly evolve into the standard. It's just going to be a very long game.
 
I'm really surprised at this because a handful of simple, 10-second tutorial videos built right into the OS would probably alleviate a lot of concerns and frustrations.

I too advocate for short video tutorials explaining functionality.

It's not the most graceful way of discoverability... But you know what? At least it IS discoverable.

Stuff like Win+Left and Win+right and even drag to have half window in Windows 7 are essentially undiscoverable, but so extremely handy.

People squeal in delight everytime I show them that shit.
 
Which is the problem with Windows 8. Nothing is intuitive in the metro interface for a user coming from an older windows version. Everything has to be found out by going online and getting answers from other people.

You didn't learn to use any version of Windows intuitively without relying on external references. The only real argument is that change is bad.
 
I'm really surprised at this because a handful of simple, 10-second tutorial videos built right into the OS would probably alleviate a lot of concerns and frustrations.

Yep. All Windows 8 gives you is a box with arrows pointing to corners. For the average computer user I can just imagine the huge amount of frustration with this. I'd really like to see return rates on Windows 8 pcs.
 
I treat windows 8 startscreen as a bigger version of the old windows startscreen with widgets. Works pretty well. However metro apps makes the OS a bit disjointed.
 
BoboBrazil said:
To exit an app you have to exit out of it on Metro by pressing the windows key, moving your mouse to the upper lefter corner until the box appears, and then know that you are supposed to move your mouse down below it until your open programs show up, and right click an app to close it. If you don't see the problem in this for someone who installs this and then Microsoft gives no instruction on how to do it, then I don't know what else I can say. In Windows 7, you right click the app on the taskbar and select exit.
No, you don't. With the app open, move the mouse pointer to the very top of the screen and it'll turn into a hand. Left-click to "grab" the app, drag it to the bottom of the screen, then let go of the mouse button. Much quicker. Metro apps don't really need to be closed anyway, much like Android apps.
 
Start8. Never used Metro on my desktop since. I imagine when I buy myself a hybrid laptop and the Windows Store has a lot more apps (the current selection is pathetic) I'll use metro. Start8 is the beezneez.

Too bad this hardware launch is a botched piece of shit. :|
 
No, you don't. With the app open, move the mouse pointer to the very top of the screen and it'll turn into a hand. Left-click to "grab" the app, drag it to the bottom of the screen, then let go of the mouse button. Much quicker. Metro apps don't really need to be closed anyway, much like Android apps.

See moving the cursor to the top and pulling down on it is nice and quick. Stuff like this is hidden from the average user though.
 
I've not tried Windows 8 yet. I don't think I've ever seen such a divided opinion on an OS. It's either complete shit or totally awesome, depending on who you ask.
 
The thing with Metro.. is this:

Who the fuck sits staring at their desktop all fucking day.

Not me, if I'm using my PC.. I'm doing something.

So honestly, this Metro hate is just hating for hating's sake.

I also hardly use my Start button, because most of the shit I run is in my quick launch bar plastered over there --------------------------->

So really.. I don't get the hate.
 
I'm done piling on the OS in my daily job and online.

The blame should start to got to MS or the hardware manufactures for these poor hardware lineup. I'm not seeing the hardware that sells the public on the NEED to upgrade to Windows 8.
 
To exit an app you have to exit out of it on Metro by pressing the windows key, moving your mouse to the upper lefter corner until the box appears, and then know that you are supposed to move your mouse down below it until your open programs show up, and right click an app to close it. If you don't see the problem in this for someone who installs this and then Microsoft gives no instruction on how to do it, then I don't know what else I can say. In Windows 7, you right click the app on the taskbar and select exit.

You don't have to exit Metro apps, they act like iPad or Android apps.

Just leave the app, and the system will kill it when it's not needed any more. Or if the system needs to make room in RAM for something else.
 
After Stump (I think?) posted that $5 program which goes straight to desktop/start menu, I've been pretty keen on getting Win8.

The efficiency sounds pretty damn good to me, and the price is not too bad to do so :]
 
See moving the cursor to the top and pulling down on it is nice and quick. Stuff like this is hidden from the average user though.
I agree, but then there's a learning curve with any new OS. Put OS X in front of someone that's only used Windows and they wouldn't know what they fuck they're doing at first. Plus there's always little shortcuts and tricks you pick up over time.

I definitely agree that they should have had a better video tutorial included. The one that you get when you first use Windows 8 is terrible.

When I installed Windows 8 for my parents (who are both in their 70s and not tech savvy), I spent above 15 minutes explaining hot corners, the Charm Bar, the Windows key, how to install apps from the Store, how to import photos from their camera, and SkyDrive. I thought I would be getting phone calls saying "we're stuck!" or "we can't even see how to turn it off!", lol, but the first call I got was actually yesterday - my mum tried to make her first purchase from the Windows Store and didn't know how to pay for it. They seem to love it and they definitely find it easier to use than XP, but they had me there to explain a few things to them. Without that, I think they'd have been struggling. I don't think they'd have figured out how to turn the laptop off and I think there would have been times where they were in an app and didn't know how to get out of it.
 
Only if Bill Gates rides back into M$ HQ on an eight legged unicorn wearing Steve Job's shoes and strikes down the abomination that is Metro with Mjolnir.
 
Did apple give instructions on how multitask or close an app either? Does android give instruction to pull down the settings bar from the top?

It's no different than any other OS

Yes, when you first set up the phone.

Yes, actually. During the setup process there are videos for those things, as I recall. Also, in side the System Preferences where the trackpad options are, there are little videos that demonstrate the motions and what they do.

That example didnt quite work out for you there CBox.
 
that looks hideous

Doesnt it? It just reminds me of people with unkempt Windows Desktops with fucking icons vomited all over the desktop. Fucking gross. Then there's the big ass colored tiles on the left... I have ALWAYS hated those.

Trash juice. I don't care what designer you pay to tell me how modern and amazing it looks, it still looks like garbage to me.
 
I've not tried Windows 8 yet. I don't think I've ever seen such a divided opinion on an OS. It's either complete shit or totally awesome, depending on who you ask.
Yeah, my own opinion went from hate to love and I've always tried to give something a fair chance so that I get past the initial "this is different! I don't like it!" phase.

If you take away the Metro part, it's a better version of Windows 7, minus the Start menu (which you can add back in with a third party app if you prefer, and set it to boot straight to the desktop), but then that doesn't really give you a huge reason to upgrade other than "well, it's cheap so I might as well". It's not that much better. But I really like the combination of what is basically Windows 7.5 with a smartphone-type store and home screen. After trying the preview, I said it was like "the halves of 2 cars welded together", but I've done a 180 on that now that I've used it for a few weeks on my main machine.

Cipherr said:
Then there's the big ass colored tiles on the left... I have ALWAYS hated those.
I really like the fact that they're live. My calendar app will show birthdays and stuff on the tile, for instance. You can make them smaller so they're square, and you can also turn off the live part though.
 
Yeah, my own opinion went from hate to love and I've always tried to give something a fair chance so that I get past the initial "this is different! I don't like it!" phase.

If you take away the Metro part, it's a better version of Windows 7, minus the Start menu (which you can add back in with a third party app if you prefer, and set it to boot straight to the desktop), but then that doesn't really give you a huge reason to upgrade other than "well, it's cheap so I might as well". It's not that much better. But I really like the combination of what is basically Windows 7.5 with a smartphone-type store and home screen. After trying the preview, I said it was like "the halves of 2 cars welded together", but I've done a 180 on that now that I've used it for a few weeks on my main machine.

My main issue with it so far is that I hate the visual theme of the desktop. There's no good way to bring that back. I liked having dark translucent window borders and taskbar (see screenshot above). Now I'm stuck with bright, matte colors which clash with my desired visual style.

Also, Steam keeps freezing for me in Windows 8. Though that could be unrelated. :|
 
Out of curiosity, have they fixed the charm bar yet?

I recall initial reports that even if you were using a non-Metro program, and even a fullscreen game or something, you would get charm bar pop ups if the cursor went into a corner. Even if the program itself wanted to use the corner for something else, or you put the cursor there to get it out of the way, or it just randomly went there. That should never have been extended to non-Metro apps.
 
Windows 7 will quickly become windows xp . People will say they wont move off it but when 9 comes along in 2 or 3 years it will have enough features that you guys will all jump over even though metro and the store will still be huge parts of it.


Metro isn't going away , in many ways its better than the start menu . I haven't actually found a use case for myself when it was slower to do something with metro than 7 and as I become more used to 8 i'm getting faster still .

Of course it will. And Windows 8 will become Vista. Forgotten and irrelevant despite getting its act together after a while.


you only need to be in metro for a second if you don't want to use it. The only time i'm in metro is when my computer first logs in and then I click the big icon that says desktop or if i'm going to launch a metro app. A lot of metro apps are better than the prior verisons. Netflix is a lot better then using the website for instance.

Is there a way to boot into Non-Metro Windows 8? From the start?
 
Out of curiosity, have they fixed the charm bar yet?

I recall initial reports that even if you were using a non-Metro program, and even a fullscreen game or something, you would get charm bar pop ups if the cursor went into a corner. Even if the program itself wanted to use the corner for something else, or you put the cursor there to get it out of the way, or it just randomly went there. That should never have been extended to non-Metro apps.
The Charm Bar has 2 states. When you move the mouse pointer to the top right, the Charm Bar pops in, but it's transparent so you just see the 5 icons. If you then move the mouse pointer down, it knows that you want to use the bar, so it change colour and the time/date also pops up.

It does occasional appear (in the transparent state) when I go to X out of a desktop app, but it's not an issue for me really. If you want to, you can disable it with a free third party app that also allows you to turn off any of the other hot corners, then you would use Windows key + C to open it instead.

Mammoth Jones said:
Is there a way to boot into Non-Metro Windows 8? From the start?
Not via a setting in Windows itself, but there are third party apps that allow you to do that.

I don't really get that gripe though. When I boot up Windows, the first thing I do is fire up my email client, or my web browser, or my music player. They have shortcuts on the Metro screen and clicking one instantly takes me to the desktop and opens the app at the same time, so I don't really know why this is such a major issue for some.
 
I thought windows 8 was 'meh' for like, the first couple of days. But after I understood how to work it, I began to love it. I'd even say that it's my favorite OS to date.
The only issue that I see in win8 is that it's not very intuitive.
 
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