Steelyuhas
Member
Must be a bug, you should be able to do whatever you want during a Skype call on your computer and it won't interrupt the call in any way.
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Windows 8 / RT |OT|
- Thread starter Jzero
- Start date
Must be a bug, you should be able to do whatever you want during a Skype call on your computer and it won't interrupt the call in any way.
There is a 30-day trial for Start8, try it at least. you can't go back to free ones after :3
The call is unaffacted, but my partners can't hear me and I can't hear them, it's even fading out the audio softly when switching to desktop etc. like it's a feature. Maybe it's something with my sound settings but I have not found anything in that regard.
Anton Sugar
Member
Same thing happens with me with Xbox Music--it fades to an almost inaudible level, but you can still faintly hear it.
Oddly, it doesn't happen all the time. No idea what causes it. Annoying.
Complex Shadow
Cudi Lame
is there a free alternative to decor8 ?
is there anyway to run pokki as an separate app and not an alternative to metro start?
edit:
nvm. tried it, pretty slow/bad.
edit2: i have enough app stores. i don't need anymore.
is there anyway to run pokki as an separate app and not an alternative to metro start?
edit:
nvm. tried it, pretty slow/bad.
edit2: i have enough app stores. i don't need anymore.
brotkasten
Member
The worst is when it happens with desktop apps. I had a problem with a game I was playing and it suddenly lost audio every now and then and I couldn't figure out why it happened. I alt+tabbed back to the desktop, checked the volume mixer and sure as hell the volume was turned down to a very low level (about 10% I think).
Desktop apps? Holy cow... I would be enraged, but at least you can turn the volume back up, right? You can't do that with NUI apps.
Bornstellar
Member
Go to the Sound settings window, click on the Communications tab, and choose "Do Nothing". Voila.
Discovered this after BF3 kept going super quiet on me.
brotkasten
Member
You could turn the volume back up, but it doesn't help when it happens every 10 minutes.
That's what I did and apparently it helped with the game, at least. Xbox Music still turns the music down when you minimize it.
It's set to that already.
Bornstellar
Member
Wait, how are you minimizing it? I'm playing around with it right now and I'm not experiencing any issues.
brotkasten
Member
I'm just going back to the start screen.
Bornstellar
Member
Doing the same thing I don't have any volume changes.
Sound driver maybe?
For reference, I'm using a Win7 driver still.
EDIT: I can't seem to reproduce it.
It's not always happening.
Complex Shadow
Cudi Lame
love it. i can finally see my desktop wallpaper. for once it will make sense to have a nice desktop.
Great thanks, tried that but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Just my keyboard, mouse and network card. I'll take away the mouse to see if that's causing the issue.
Thanks for the help!
HammerOfThor
Member
Anyone mention this yet?
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
Puts a start menu on Win8 desktop views.
I'm gonna download it as soon as I get to my Win8 machine.
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
Puts a start menu on Win8 desktop views.
I'm gonna download it as soon as I get to my Win8 machine.
Dreams-Visions
Member
Yes.
Was this posted yet? From a few days ago:
http://www.extremetech.com/computin...e-customizable-version-of-metro#disqus_thread
It's apparently in alpha, I wonder if it'll still be slated for release in summer 2013
http://www.extremetech.com/computin...e-customizable-version-of-metro#disqus_thread
It's apparently in alpha, I wonder if it'll still be slated for release in summer 2013
I may try that later, but I'm liking classic start just fine.
Also, in case anyone hasn't heard of this : http://ninite.com/. I love this program. Automatically downloads then installs software, and skips the crapware stuff.
n64coder
Member
I have this problem with Windows 7 and I ended up disabling the When ability of the mouse/keyboard to wake up the PC. As far as I can tell, it's a bug with the Intel USB chipset for the Z68 board. When I used the keyboard/mouse on a different computer, it works properly.
Which keyboard/mouse are you using? Which motherboard do you have?
HammerOfThor
Member
Didn't even know about that one.
ColtraineGF
Member
I can get it to come up by right clicking on the taskbar, going to Toolbars, and selecting Touch Keyboard.
Although, I'm not sure how it came to get down there in the first place...
yeah, I know that. but when I go into start it goes away, I can only use it on desktop.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
Have any of you with Win 8 Laptops gotten better battery life after switching from win7 to 8?
ColtraineGF
Member
Ah sorry, not sure how to do so - I think it came up for me randomly in Metro when I plugged in my (drawing) tablet one day - brought up the handwriting part of the keyboard. I haven't been able to bring it back.
I haven't really noticed dramatic improvement, but I can usually get a bit more life out of it depending on what I'm doing, though I'm not sure if it's an effect of Win8, or me only having Visual Studio open, for example.
StudioTan
Hold on, friend! I'd love to share with you some swell news about the Windows 8 Metro UI! Wait, where are you going?
Haven't noticed much of a difference on my tablet.
Steelyuhas
Member
Yeah I think it's better, but not a dramatic improvement.
If you haven't even tried Win8 yet don't be so quick to use that on the "advice" of others. You will hate the new Start at first, simply because it is not the old Start. You may find though that the new Start is actually more useful and easier to use once you have got used to it.... I did.
Although it appears you've decided, based on what others have said, that you will dislike the new Start already before you've used it for any length of time, which is Win8's problem in a nutshell... Now you have that opinion, nothing you will see in the first 5 minutes, which is how long a lot of people actually give it, will dispel that dislike.
yn-neko hates a cat
Banned
Newer chipsets are supposed to implement most of Win8's power features but simply by virtue of being less tasking on the CPU, you can see improvements.
Dreams-Visions
Member
thanks for the tip. will check it out!
Agree with this. Try it for a week and see if you still feel the need to install Start8. I thought I would want it, but definitely see no need for it now.
I'm currently trying to figure out what to do about backups.
I'll buy a Windows 8 machine in the not-too-distant future (probably something with a 128 GB SSD). So I'll want to access some files on external storage. Also, I'd want to back up the machine, as well another desktop and my parents' notebook. So now I'm looking into different storage options.
Should I just use a normal external USB disk on my main machine and back up everything with file history over the homegroup? Would be the cheapest option.
Or maybe I could somehow make use of storage spaces. Are there affordable external disk enclosures where you can put in two or three regular (internal) disks and then connect the whole thing via one USB cable? The enclosure wouldn't need to know raid or anything.
Connecting multiple external disks with a USB hub might also be an option, but I'm not sure how well that would work and how bad that would be for the disks. I currently have a 500 GB one and a 1000 GB one. Could get another 2000 GB one. Not sure if that would make sense for redundancy with storage spaces.
Or I could look for an entry level NAS. But even with the cheap ones it can get quite expensive.
I'll buy a Windows 8 machine in the not-too-distant future (probably something with a 128 GB SSD). So I'll want to access some files on external storage. Also, I'd want to back up the machine, as well another desktop and my parents' notebook. So now I'm looking into different storage options.
Should I just use a normal external USB disk on my main machine and back up everything with file history over the homegroup? Would be the cheapest option.
Or maybe I could somehow make use of storage spaces. Are there affordable external disk enclosures where you can put in two or three regular (internal) disks and then connect the whole thing via one USB cable? The enclosure wouldn't need to know raid or anything.
Connecting multiple external disks with a USB hub might also be an option, but I'm not sure how well that would work and how bad that would be for the disks. I currently have a 500 GB one and a 1000 GB one. Could get another 2000 GB one. Not sure if that would make sense for redundancy with storage spaces.
Or I could look for an entry level NAS. But even with the cheap ones it can get quite expensive.
This is the one I bought:
http://intrl.startech.com/HDD/Docki...ive-Docking-Station-for-25-35-HDD~SATDOCK4U3E
It was a bit expensive, but it is a lifesaver. The read speeds are somewhat near to what I got on my PC with sata. There might be cheaper models on amazon, but in my country I could only get this one(had to import).
Angelus Errare
Banned
Huh. Cool thanks. Will need this tomorrow when the GTX670 pulls up.(and when the coffin for the 6950 is ready to leave
Great move.
n64coder
Member
It's hard to tell for me but I think it's better. Seems that my Sony Vaio S is getting about 6 hours on the stock battery. Not sure how long it was lasting with Windows 7 before.
theepicoftyler
Member
I just built a new machine and put Windows 8 on it. Today is my first full day using it and I see things I really like and things that bug me a lot, but coming from a desktop running XP (I have a netbook with W7 on it), this is quite the step up no matter which way you cut it.
Have you guys collected a bunch of apps you'd recommend? Most of the apps I've seen in the store don't seem like they'd be a better experience than me just running Chrome and going to their website.
Have you guys collected a bunch of apps you'd recommend? Most of the apps I've seen in the store don't seem like they'd be a better experience than me just running Chrome and going to their website.
On a desktop there aren't too many apps I use all the time. The news and finance apps are surprisingly useful on a huge monitor with a mouse though, since they aggregate stories well and present them in a really pleasing way. NextGen Reader is also a good way to read through news in some cases.
Also - Minesweeper!
StudioTan
Hold on, friend! I'd love to share with you some swell news about the Windows 8 Metro UI! Wait, where are you going?
I like some apps better than going to their website, like All Recipes. It's just more fun to use the app. Cocktail Flow is pretty sweet if you like to drink.
Also, as dLMN8R said, some are nice just because of the live tiles, like weather apps.
Steelyuhas
Member
The pre-installed Bing apps are all pretty good (News, Sports, Finance, Weather).
Other apps that aren't pre-installed that I regularly use are Netflix, Skype, USA Today, ESPN, and OneNote. To-dos is a nice simple app that's just a live tile of a list of to-dos. Bank of America app is also nice.
Fucking this.
Nothing seems to get Gaf more exited than trying to fit in and slate what the hive mind hates. I found it funny that one of Win8 more prominent trolls (Riker) is also a huge Valve fanboy, pretty much giving them a hot stone massage in the Valve hardware thread.
So Gabe Newell slings shit at Win8 (due to it being competition, no argument given about how it's actually bad) and then the legions of gamers who would drink his bathwater start a crusade online.
Don't like it? fine, it's an acquired taste (so is OSX, which I can't stand) but to start thread after thread in some passive aggressive attempt to "educate" because a billionaire told you too is pretty tragic. Sadly some people buy into that shit.
I don't like it because I still find that what I've been doing for years is better for me.
Toolbar on the left with links to various folders/programs, my most used programs pinned to the taskbar, then a program files toolbar on the right.
Toolbar on the left with links to various folders/programs, my most used programs pinned to the taskbar, then a program files toolbar on the right.
Cool, it's fine not to like it, I mean that image you linked looked hideous to me but to each there own. Mac's are hugely popular and love their hardware as I do I find OSX repellent.
That's not what we are talking about though, people who hate on it without trying it or make their mind up based on the opinions of others / pre conceived ideas.
I tried it for maybe 5 minutes, isn't that what you're talking about? I don't like the way it's setup at all, mainly because I find having to go back to the start screen is much slower.
I haven't seen any UI that doesn't look hideous to me. I also removed a large portion of the image to reduce the width.
I haven't seen any UI that doesn't look hideous to me. I also removed a large portion of the image to reduce the width.
Why the hell is Minesweeper more than 100 megs large dlmn8r? I refuse to put it on my ssd.
Netflix app on Windows 8 is pretty damn awesome. Makes going back to the PS3 app kinda painful.
Theoretically, if you just searched on the Windows 7 Start menu for programs, there's no slowness compared to Windows 8.
In both you'd press the Windows key and type "Phot" for Photoshop, for it to appear, and press Enter. Windows 8 just shows the results in a bigger pane, but it's not a detriment.
If you did want to navigate through your programs, then yeah, it's not a good. However, I haven't had much issue, since I pin the programs I want and use the search when I need something else.
I wish icons on the task bar could be smaller though. That way I could fit in more.
right click taskbar-properties-use small taskbar buttons
Dreams-Visions
Member
No accounting for taste
. if Windows could just get 1/5th of the trackpad gesture support and multiple desktop support that I can get when I reboot into OSX, I'd never want to use OSX. But it doesn't have that. Too bad. Opening all the apps that closed on system restart would be nice too. OSX has it natively. Maybe Windows 9?Yes. Very much so. The only app that I've found that I prefer to the traditional desktop option.