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Windows 8.1 |OT| There's your start button

T

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
Weird, I wonder if MSFT is pushing hard to meet consumer devices driven deadlines.

I like most of the changes, but I did see a few things that looked rushed. If they're going to continue with a more continuous delivery approach they need to work on upgrade stability. For OSes that must be hard. Wonder why VPN broke...maybe some frivilous security policy change.
 
M

mohsinkhan

Member
Khorino said:
Can you also try Win Key + R and run "WSReset.exe"? Also, check your C:\ drive (not "Program FIles" or any other, just C:\) for a "Boot" folder and a hidden "$Windows.~BT". Delete them if they exist. Don't worry, they're just installation folders for 8.1, which you will download again.
Click to expand...

Tried this trick now the windows store is just looping for the past 15 minutes (i.e. circles are going round and round)
 
U

uncleniccius

Member
This update has bricked my laptop, and as I don't have another laptop I can't use MICROSOFT chat.
To make matters worse they don't have phone support on weekends, I am extremely annoyed right now, this is a joke.
 
W

wackojackosnose

Member
El_Chino said:
Anyone having issues with Avast 2014 after updating to 8.1? I installed Avast 2014 and it's not working at all!
Click to expand...
8.1 disabled / uninstalled the free Avast I was using when I first installed W8. I just downloaded and reinstalled the (newer?) Avast on 8.1 and it works again.

8.1 has borked my mouse scroll speed though - it's too fast on MS Wireless 6000 even with 1 line per scroll.
 
N

Nokterian

Member
More people having this error 0xC1900101 - 0x20017 ? I can't install it, every singletime. It baffles me that this isn't through windows update goddamn microsoft.
 
eso76

eso76

Member
well, won't install for me.

it tries to, but after everything is finished it just reverts to a previously installed version, telling me it was 'unable to update to Windows 8.1'.

Heh.

@Nokterian, Didn't write the error code, but might be that one.
 
G

Groof

Junior Member
Nokterian said:
More people having this error 0xC1900101 - 0x20017 ? I can't install it, every singletime. It baffles me that this isn't through windows update goddamn microsoft.
Click to expand...

eso76 said:
well, won't install for me.

it tries to, but after everything is finished it just reverts to a previously installed version, telling me it was 'unable to update to Windows 8.1'.

Heh.

@Nokterian, Didn't write the error code, but might be that one.
Click to expand...

Do any of you have any Steelseries software installed? If so, uninstall it. That seems to be causing issues for a lot of people, including me.
 
G

goomba

Banned
8.1 upgrade broke sound on my lenovo yogapad. had to update / reinstall sound drivers.

my desktop resolutuon looked all weird and lower but it was the new default for "making things bigger" setting , awful but glad i found the setting.

otherwise theres now a white windows button bottom left which is only good for right clicking to control panel/mangement/explorer shortcuts.
 
Certinty

Certinty

Member
Went back to 8. Tried to fix most of the issues I had but for some reason I had too much.

I'm using a touchscreen anyway so 8 was never bad for me, but I will miss running 2 apps at the same time on half the screen each and custom backgrounds on the start screen. But i'll live.
 
The Cowboy

The Cowboy

Member
leroidys said:
Wait, there's no way to get rid of that stupid start tile now?

FML
Click to expand...
Yeah, I want the old way (Windows 8) back, I liked it. I really wish MS would give us options and not just fully remove things,
-
I liked the way the charms bar was in Windows 8, now in 8.1 it offsets to what side of he screen I swipe it from - I don't like this.
I liked how the bottom left corner showed a start screen when at the desktop and a desktop while at the start screen, now it always shows a start button - I don't like this.
-
I really wish they had put in options to have it like Windows 8 (or at least some registry tweaks to swap it back). its the same thing the messenger app - how they removed it and didn't put its combined chat system into Sykpe (its replacement) - couldn't we just have the option so we could choose what we waned?, or how with the photos app they stripped away a chunk of its functions and called it an upgrade - with not options to have it how it was.

Overall I like Windows 8.1 - but I'm very disappointed in some of the changes because I like how they used to be,
 
E

Enco

Member
leroidys said:
Wait, there's no way to get rid of that stupid start tile now?

FML
Click to expand...
It's pretty pointless.

The bottom left corner previously was so much better. You could click to get to the menu and click again to get back. You can't do that now...
 
B

bogg

Member
Enco said:
It's pretty pointless.

The bottom left corner previously was so much better. You could click to get to the menu and click again to get back. You can't do that now...
Click to expand...

Do you mean from desktop to the start menu and back? You can still do that, It still works the same for me.
But I agree that the start icon is useless.
 
E

Enco

Member
bogg said:
Do you mean from desktop to the start menu and back? You can still do that, It still works the same for me.
But I agree that the start icon is useless.
Click to expand...
Yup.

I have the taskbar on the left side. If I click the start button (which is on the top left), I can't click it to go back to desktop.

I just use the normal bottom left corner.
 
P

Prophet Steve

Member
Enco said:
Yup.

I have the taskbar on the left side. If I click the start button (which is on the top left), I can't click it to go back to desktop.

I just use the normal bottom left corner.
Click to expand...

Ok, that is a use case I would definitely call it useless, and a bit weird. I was wondering why people would care about the icon, but this makes sense.
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
G_Berry said:
Also with IE, when I click a link and it goes to open in a new tab, it opens the tab, loads for two seconds and just sits there blank doing nothing.


WTF MS???
Click to expand...
gaf has been having that problem since the preview. Something to do with what gaf uses to make more money on every url click. forget which website it is but I remember seeing it redirect to something else before it went to the url in 8.
CrazedProfessional said:
THE UPDATE STILL ISN'T ON THE STORE PAGE FOR ME. WHY SURFACE RT, WHY!?
Click to expand...
microsoft took it down due to some problem.

http://winsupersite.com/windows-rt/windows-rt-81-update-temporarily-unavailable
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
Branduil said:
I am absolutely furious at Microsoft right now. This is inexcusable.
Click to expand...

it does sound like you have internet issues more than the update itself being the cause of the problem....
 
D

Deleted member 1235

Unconfirmed Member
oh wow, setting your metro screen and your desktop wallpaper to exact same makes the transition when you click start waaaay less jarring.
 
J

Juice

Member
I was unable to get the update twenty minutes ago and didn't see any articles saying they'd pulled it down.

Tried 3 minutes ago and it appeared and started downloading.

Edit: I'm on normal x86 and the update was down for at least 15 minutes
 
N

Nokterian

Member
finally installed that goddamn steelseries. Also updated Classic Shell because well microsoft still doesn't listen to it's consumers what a start menu is like.
 
T

The Blue Jihad

Member
Anyone running 8.1 on the ASUS Taichi and your screen switch functionality is broken? On 8, the close lid->convert to tablet mode worked perfectly. Now, I can't get it to trigger no matter what. No settings changed. Even reinstalled the switch utility. Still nothing.

Any ideas?
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Nokterian said:
finally installed that goddamn steelseries. Also updated Classic Shell because well microsoft still doesn't listen to it's consumers what a start menu is like.
Click to expand...

I just update the wifes laptop and got Start8. Is classic shell free? I bought Start8 for 5USD.

After installing that I never even see metro unless I do it myself.
 
P

Pakkidis

Member
I have a retail copy of windows 8.1 on a desktop computer. So far everything has been near flawless except for the small little fact I STILL can't activate my copy of windows. Keeps giving me error messages :( I'm really worried here. Nothing else on line address this problem.
 
L

Lima

Member
LiquidMetal14 said:
I just update the wifes laptop and got Start8. Is classic shell free? I bought Start8 for 5USD.

After installing that I never even see metro unless I do it myself.
Click to expand...

Yes Classic Shell is free and has a lot more options than Start8.

Start8 is a lot easier to setup and looks pretty. I installed it too.
 
N

Nokterian

Member
LiquidMetal14 said:
I just update the wifes laptop and got Start8. Is classic shell free? I bought Start8 for 5USD.

After installing that I never even see metro unless I do it myself.
Click to expand...

Like Lima said yes it is free and has a but load of options, have been using it since Windows 8 has come out and never turned back.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Lima said:
Yes Classic Shell is free and has a lot more options than Start8.

Start8 is a lot easier to setup and looks pretty. I installed it too.
Click to expand...

I suppose I don't feel so bad since it was a breeze to install and use your login creds to register it.

It doesn't really even feel like Windows 8 until you scroll and bring up the UI options or do a reboot. Shut down and boot up is improved as well. Looking forward to testing this with the SSD on my own PC.

Mostly everything feels a bit snappier. In terms of performance, I'm pleased. Functions and day to day use are going to get some getting used to.
 
H

harSon

Banned
Think I need to roll back to Windows 8... the wireless on Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook constantly dies since updating to 8.1 :/
 
M

Mr. Wonderful

Member
My clean install of Windows 8.1 keeps telling me I need to install a chipset driver.

There's no question marks in Device Manager, and I've downloaded ASRock's chipset drivers from their website, and it installs instantly.

Any thoughts on this? Should I just ignore the message from Windows?

Also, is there no longer a "Make everything larger" option in Windows 8.1? My tiles and fonts in the Modern UI are all way too small now for my 27" monitor.

It's honestly annoying that we all went through the huge learning curve of learning where settings are arbitrarily kept in Metro/Desktop, and then in 8.1, they move a bunch of them/get rid of a bunch of them.
 
X

X-Frame

Member
Hey everyone, Mac user here but my father uses a Windows 8 laptop, and now with 8.1 updated this morning. He is having some problems getting internet access without first opening up Word. Otherwise, he gets the error that Chrome or IE can't access the internet. Wtf?

He told me that he has forever been having to first open Word before he can gain network access to the Internet. He's been using IE but I installed Chrome on his browser this morning. Still, if he turns on his computer from shut-down and tries to log into Chrome, it tells him that the computer isn't giving Chrome internet access.

I tried going to his firewall settings and allowing Chrome, but still no luck. I'm sure this is a really old issue with Windows 8 and now 8.1 specific, but if anyone can help will bypassing opening up Word (however that works), so that Chrome instantly fires up -- that would be MUCH appreciated!

Thank you!
 
G

Guri

Member
mohsinkhan said:
Tried this trick now the windows store is just looping for the past 15 minutes (i.e. circles are going round and round)
Click to expand...

Weird. The WSReset.exe command just resets the cache from the store. Try running "sfc /scannow" to see if it finds any erros and also if Windows Update has anything you need to update.
 
D

Da DreadLord

Member
So upgrading went perfect.. however now the 'this pc' window shows libraries.. ugh.

And apparently my dvd drive is listed together with my harddrives.. owkay..

Anyone know how to make it look like it used to in 8?
 
M

mohsinkhan

Member
Khorino said:
Weird. The WSReset.exe command just resets the cache from the store. Try running "sfc /scannow" to see if it finds any erros and also if Windows Update has anything you need to update.
Click to expand...

Nothing found (saw a quick prompt screen and it went away), windows is updated, I am running this on a dell XPS laptop.
 
E

Emperor Bohe

Member
So juba a windows 8.2 DVD lbs hawks I staple foo on my iMac. Can I use the DVD on my sony vaio laptop that is currently running windows 8? Will my product key work? The laptop came with windows 7, and I upgraded to windows 8 pro with media centre during that 15 dollars to update windows promo last year..

Edit: wow autoxorrext completely failed me there. *so I have a windows 8.1 DVD that I used to install on my iMac
 
I

Iadien

Guarantee I'm going to screw up this post? Yeah.
harSon said:
Think I need to roll back to Windows 8... the wireless on Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook constantly dies since updating to 8.1 :/
Click to expand...

Check your network settings in the device manager, all of my network settings were reset, including "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" under the power management section.
 
K

Keyouta

Junior Member
Pakkidis said:
I have a retail copy of windows 8.1 on a desktop computer. So far everything has been near flawless except for the small little fact I STILL can't activate my copy of windows. Keeps giving me error messages :( I'm really worried here. Nothing else on line address this problem.
Click to expand...

It's not working over the phone?
 
C

CriterionDog

Member
Oh my god, guys. I love 8.1,
And I HATED 8. I immediately went back to 7.
Not only does 8.1 preform better than 8, but I love for the fact you can now disable the charms bar, boot to desktop, universally search, and instead of going to metro when I click on the windows key, it just loads all of my programs and search. I am in love with 8.1. It's so much better than 8.

Now all I need is an official start menu back and I will be golden.
Oh and I did disable the annoying lock screen, so when I log off my account, I am back at the user page instead of the lock screen AND the user page.
Plus, automatic syncing with skydrive is awesome!
8.1 is sooooo gooood.
edit: Also I am buying a Surface Pro 2 around Christmas, or sooner. I am excited!
 
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