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Windows 8.1 |OT| There's your start button

celebi23

Member
ibfA5RgRe60PJw.png


Damn this is news to me, awesome.
What's this and where can I get it?
 
Anyone use the netflix Metro app on a 16:10 monitor? Switched recently and now netflix often auto crops the picture and it's really annoying. Is there a way to stop it from cropping? The picture often switches between the proper, black barred aspect ratio and the terrible crop.
 
Does anyone have an easy to understand explanation of Storage Spaces? It initially sounded like I could mirror aka backup one of my drives to a storage space, but I have no idea how this is supposed to work. I have a drive that is already full and would like to mirror all of the data to this empty drive for redundancy.

Or am I completely misunderstanding Storage Spaces?
 
With a massively superior start screen.

The Start Menu is a relic and a terrible UI experience. I shouldn't have to navigate a file system to reach my applications, and all applications should be open within two clicks.

Windows 7's transition to a dock-like Task Bar was a start, but like almost everything Windows, the old terrible method was left in there, making it some crazy chimera that's in between.
 
Wondering if anyone here can help me with this strange problem I'm having.


Ever since I updated to 8.1 my PC boots to a blackscreen with just an cursor (which moves). There is disk activity during a few seconds then it stops. It basically looks like the PC is booting normally, but nothing shows up. Now here's the curious part. The only way I can actually boot into windows is if I do a hard reset.

If I reboot it normally it'll still go to the black screen, an hard reset and it boots into windows, really strange. Even stranger is that as I'm doing the hard reset, as soon as I press the power button, Windows desktop appears and fades out right away (since it's starting to reboot).

Happens on a clean install so it's not virus/malware related, but I have no idea what else it could be. Anyone have a clue?
 

The Cowboy

Member
Yeah this was my biggest pleasant surprise after I installed Windows 8.1. I honestly access almost all of those features more than I access any program that isn't already pinned to my taskbar.

I'm kinda surprised more people didn't know about this being in standard Window 8 - in saying that MS didn't really do a very good job of telling people about things like this (the only adjustment to the 8.1 version in this section was the addition of the shutdown part).
 

pestul

Member
Wondering if anyone here can help me with this strange problem I'm having.


Ever since I updated to 8.1 my PC boots to a blackscreen with just an cursor (which moves). There is disk activity during a few seconds then it stops. It basically looks like the PC is booting normally, but nothing shows up. Now here's the curious part. The only way I can actually boot into windows is if I do a hard reset.

If I reboot it normally it'll still go to the black screen, an hard reset and it boots into windows, really strange. Even stranger is that as I'm doing the hard reset, as soon as I press the power button, Windows desktop appears and fades out right away (since it's starting to reboot).

Happens on a clean install so it's not virus/malware related, but I have no idea what else it could be. Anyone have a clue?
That sucks.. it sounds like you have this issue.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-8-1-Installation-Fails-with-Blank-Black-Screen-392346.shtml

Fixes posted there btw, but in the latest update they don't seem to be a 100% fix for everyone. Might be worth a shot.

EDIT: This seems to be a well received fix on Youtube as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgje-t0OLdI

SOLUTION TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM:

When you are at the black blank screen, do CTRL+ALT+DEL, then go to task manager, Press OK at both Windows opening.

Then click on File in the upper left, run a new task and type "cmd" and check "run this program as administrator"

type sfc /scannow

Wait until the repair finish, then type "cd C:\Windows" (without quotations)

then type this BUT NOW with quotations:

del "c:\Windows Activation Technologies"

Press Y and enter to confirm erase.

Reboot your PC by typing:

shutdown -r -t 2

That's it !

It works for me
 

methane47

Member
The Start Menu is a relic and a terrible UI experience. I shouldn't have to navigate a file system to reach my applications, and all applications should be open within two clicks.

Windows 7's transition to a dock-like Task Bar was a start, but like almost everything Windows, the old terrible method was left in there, making it some crazy chimera that's in between.

Desktop Shortcuts?

Which is pretty much the same as the Metro start screen. Only difference is when I open up the start menu, i can still see everything that is running and doesn't stop my workflow.
 
That sucks.. it sounds like you have this issue.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Windows-8-1-Installation-Fails-with-Blank-Black-Screen-392346.shtml

Fixes posted there btw, but in the latest update they don't seem to be a 100% fix for everyone. Might be worth a shot.

EDIT: This seems to be a well received fix on Youtube as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgje-t0OLdI

I don't think CTRL+ALT+DEL works when I'm at the black screen but I'll give it a try. Thanks.
 
The Start Menu is a relic and a terrible UI experience. I shouldn't have to navigate a file system to reach my applications, and all applications should be open within two clicks.

Windows 7's transition to a dock-like Task Bar was a start, but like almost everything Windows, the old terrible method was left in there, making it some crazy chimera that's in between.
Some parts of this I agree with and some parts I disagree. Drilling down through folders in the Start Menu to open an app is old fashioned. However for me, and for most power users, the Windows 7 search features are indispensable. Having the Windows button there as a visual indicator of the search options it provides is just good UI. Even OS X, which has been a more modern desktop OS for years now, has Spotlight search visually present. So does Google's Android on phones and tablets. I like that it's separate from the other apps, it's constantly present, and easy to access.

The W7 dock is great. I don't have a problem with it that I can think of, besides maybe wishing for a better visual representation of pinning folders like Downloads, etc. Most casual users don't do that.
 
Has anyone got any idea why Windows Mail in 8.1 shows 2 of every email I receive? It's only Windows mail that does this. If I look at emails via my phone there's only one of each.



Very odd.
 

Nabs

Member
So Chrome always says it didn't close properly on startup. Why does it hate me.

I already deleted my user profile and started clean.
 
Has anyone got any idea why Windows Mail in 8.1 shows 2 of every email I receive? It's only Windows mail that does this. If I look at emails via my phone there's only one of each.



Very odd.

Do you have Outlook? Does it do that in your Outlook? I had to dig around to find out which folders certain types of messages are received in and receiving 2 of a mail was possible like this.
 
Do you have Outlook? Does it do that in your Outlook? I had to dig around to find out which folders certain types of messages are received in and receiving 2 of a mail was possible like this.

Nope, just windows mail. curiously enough though, if I delete one it deletes both. Also, it nests both emails under one subject so it actually looks like 3 emails.

Here's what I mean...

BZerv5i.png
 

Branduil

Member
I installed some updates yesterday and now my PC has frozen twice on the lock screen. I can move the mouse cursor around but that's it.
 

hipbabboom

Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
Yeah this was my biggest pleasant surprise after I installed Windows 8.1. I honestly access almost all of those features more than I access any program that isn't already pinned to my taskbar.

But this launched with Windows 8 :(

EDIT: Beaten... into the ground :(
 
I'm not sure there's any design reasoning strong enough for taking real estate from the start screen to partially show an empty desktop. People need to let that go. I'm against getting rid of the desktop but trying to force it into view to preserve the old way is just silly.


Well to bad because Microcorp is taking it out of the Windows because they want to make the Windows look like the Android tablet I know it's true I read it in the netscape youtube comments.
 

maeh2k

Member
Nope, just windows mail. curiously enough though, if I delete one it deletes both. Also, it nests both emails under one subject so it actually looks like 3 emails.

Here's what I mean...

BZerv5i.png

Are you sure you have only one account set up (Right click, accounts)?
Maybe you added one accidentally.
 

The Cowboy

Member
Are you sure you have only one account set up (Right click, accounts)?
Maybe you added one accidentally.

I have 2 email accounts set up in Windows Mail. My home email from my ISP and my Gmail.

Only my ISP email (Blueyonder) shows the double emails, and only on Windows Mail. On my phone or online shows only one of each email.
 
Nope, just windows mail. curiously enough though, if I delete one it deletes both. Also, it nests both emails under one subject so it actually looks like 3 emails.

Here's what I mean...

BZerv5i.png

Outlook as in the email service at outlook.com. I see it's an ISP email now, but I could be a double-account issue at some place. Check the webmail versions of each account to see where the account comes from, otherwise it could be a duplicate account configured within the Mail app.
 

Kerrinck

Member
Need some help, after updating to Windows 8.1 the system shut down and after rebooting the screen goes completely blank without even showing the bios window.
Anyone has any idea on how to fix this? It was working perfectly fine before the update.
 
Outlook as in the email service at outlook.com. I see it's an ISP email now, but I could be a double-account issue at some place. Check the webmail versions of each account to see where the account comes from, otherwise it could be a duplicate account configured within the Mail app.

I'm starting to think it may be because my ISP email address is the one I used to create my Windows ID (well, at the time it was my Xbox Gamertag, but that became a general Windows ID). I had to disable mail syncing with the Windows ID account and manually add my ISP email in order to add server settings.

Until I did that I wasn't getting any emails on my ISP account.

At the bottom left I can cheese between my ISP and my Gmail, but each account is only listed once.
 

Kabuto

Member
I have a small annoyance when I start up. When it shows "my name" signing in... the background color is purple for like one second then it flashes to my personalized color of green. Anyone know how to get rid of that one second of purple?
 

Jzero

Member
I have a small annoyance when I start up. When it shows "my name" signing in... the background color is purple for like one second then it flashes to my personalized color of green. Anyone know how to get rid of that one second of purple?

That's weird, that doesn't happen to mine.
 
I just bought an Asus Transformer Book T100. I want to connect my MS account to it, but it keeps giving me an error 0x800b0101. Is there a fix for this?
 

longdi

Banned
i just did the 14 Dec windows 8.1 update and the camera codec pack fucked up Windows search service, and made my pc unusable, so be warned. luckily i had system restore on.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
The Start Menu is a relic and a terrible UI experience. I shouldn't have to navigate a file system to reach my applications, and all applications should be open within two clicks.

Windows 7's transition to a dock-like Task Bar was a start, but like almost everything Windows, the old terrible method was left in there, making it some crazy chimera that's in between.

I like the start screen at home, but for tech work the start screen is useless. It's useless because every person's machine, every test machine, every type of infrastructure machine has a completely different layout. So you just ignore it, and win+appName enter. That works most of the time, but if you're ever working on installers or verifying that your product installs correctly, you then must go to the all apps screen with is a giant mess. With enterprise software, it can easily be 10 1080p monitors in width. It's so disorganized you never use it.

I think for enterprise something like the start menu updated to use modern UI is needed. On that line of thought, the entire desktop needs to go modern UI (but still with resizable windows).

Edit:

Basically the first image but with organizable folders by name, etc.
 
Anyone knows the best way to backup my Outlook-contacts and login-information, since I wanna do a clean re-install of W 8.1, but the email, as well as firefox and Opera have quite important login information for my work and i rather have to backup them easily than search for the login information.
 
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