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Windows 8 / RT |OT|

F

foomfoom415

Member
SPDIF said:
You could always just snap them to the side, works pretty well for the handful of times I play Solitaire.

And if you really want to run apps in a window, there's always ModernMix
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions. I imagined there were a few workarounds. I just found it surprising how many odd problems I ran into. That aside, I think (hope) I've got my laptop setup such that I won't ever need to use the Modern side of things. But I am still dreading the inevitable day when my parents buy a new computer and it comes with Windows 8.


ModernMix is a revolutionary new program that lets you run Windows® 8 "Modern" apps in a window on the desktop.
Click to expand...

And it's more than just a little funny that we've now reached the point where running Windows apps in Windows can be something "revolutionary" (and costs $5).
 
M

Monkeylord

Member
Has anyone found a way to remove your name from the start screen? I don't really like it when I boot up my laptop on the train and anyone can see my name and email address.
 
N

Nero3000

Member
OK How does Bing news do it?

so far i have had 2 "BREAKING NEWS" notifications. Both have been football related (Mourinho confirmed and Moyes confirmed).

I rarely use the Bing apps. How does it know what i would be interested in? Correctly i may add.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
What's more interesting is that 8.1 is going to support Miracast.

Windows 8.1 will include native support for the wireless Miracast format, allowing users to mirror their screens to compatible devices. Miracast is designed as an open alternative to Apple's own AirPlay mirroring, and makes use of Wi-Fi direct connections to stream content from a PC, smartphone, or other source to TVs.

Potentially, Microsoft could also include Miracast support in its upcoming Xbox One, making it possible for Windows 8.1 devices that are compatible with Miracast to wirelessly project their screens via the Xbox One.
Click to expand...
 
S

Sethos

Banned
Quick question, I'm not sure whether this is something I did in Windows or Start8 acting up. Normally I could open the start menu and search for say, Teamspeak. I'd type "Team" and it would appear. Now however with that exact search it gives me a bunch of completely unrelated .ini files from games. Same with every other piece of software, either it returns some odd results or nothing at all ...

Anyone had that problem with Start8?
 
F

foomfoom415

Member
Jallopy said:
An hour long ordeal? How is that possible?
Click to expand...

That's what I wanted to know!

Most of the time was spent trying to figure out errors that didn't seem to make sense, like "This app can't be purchased because your Internet connection is slow. Please try a different connection." despite being on a pretty fast connection with no connection or speed problems in any other app.

If anyone runs into this problem, despite there being a plethora of potential fixes to be found on the web, it seems (for me) it can be solved by rebooting your computer several times (3 for me) till it miraculously decides to start working. Maybe take some screenshots of the different terrible error messages and share them with your friends on Twitter before your OS is shamed into functioning properly.

Of course then you're left with apps that run full screen only and (in my case) have ads for local sports massage built into them for some reason.

Also for some reason though my default language is set to English, and my location the United States, the store initially showed up in Japanese with the currency in GBP.
 
M

Milchjon

Member
Desktop wallpaper as the background instantly makes the OS seem more coherent.

Fascinating what a difference such a minor tweak can make.
 
Jzero

Jzero

Member
Milchjon said:
Desktop wallpaper as the background instantly makes the OS seem more coherent.

Fascinating what a difference such a minor tweak can make.
Click to expand...

Definitely, it makes it stop looking like it's 2 OS'

Good thing they made it easier to name groups as well.

Hopefully we don't have to erase our data if we want to try the preview. Or else i'll use a virtual machine.
 
T

Totakeke

Member
You mean they forgot to make it just an overlay on top instead of using the desktop background. If they did the person would still be able to watch parts of youtube on their browser while using the start menu!
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
maeh2k said:
Windows 8.1 preview video

The animated background is great.

On touchscreens, did Windows 8 always have touch-and-hold to select tiles and stuff? They wouldn't remove the swipes perpendicular to the scrolling direction, would they?
Click to expand...
They have it for a few things like pinning the apps on search. It is interesting thst they changed that on the start screen though, wonder if the pull down method is still there. I know when they first released it they made a big deal on how they didn't want much press and hold.
foomfoom415 said:
Most of the time was spent trying to figure out errors that didn't seem to make sense, like "This app can't be purchased because your Internet connection is slow. Please try a different connection." despite being on a pretty fast connection with no connection or speed problems in any other app.

Also for some reason though my default language is set to English, and my location the United States, the store initially showed up in Japanese with the currency in GBP.
Click to expand...
lol wtf, weird
 
B

brotkasten

Member
Windu said:
They have it for a few things like pinning the apps on search. It is interesting thst they changed that on the start screen though, wonder if the pull down method is still there. I know when they first released it they made a big deal on how they didn't want much press and hold.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it's because people are simply used to press and hold on touch screen devices by now. Even on the desktop you have to press and hold to trigger the right click.
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
apparently these new mini windows 8 PCs will get office as well. Wonder if cloning those drives would work to get office on for free on bigger devices.
brotkasten said:
I'm sure it's because people are simply used to press and hold on touch screen devices by now. Even on the desktop you have to press and hold to trigger the right click.
Click to expand...
yeah probably right. It is the same as windows phone now so I think it is a good change.

Edit: settings menu looks slightly different from previous builds

kseVZWP.jpg


http://www.winbeta.org/news/pc-settings-windows-81-now-much-more-organized-seen-build-9415
 
J

JaggedSac

Member
brotkasten said:
I'm sure it's because people are simply used to press and hold on touch screen devices by now. Even on the desktop you have to press and hold to trigger the right click.
Click to expand...

I am assuming it is due to accidental dragging of apps when just wanting to scroll the start screen. It has happened to me multiple times. I guess because my swipes aren't always completely straight.
 
L

LukasTaves

Member
JaggedSac said:
I am assuming it is due to accidental dragging of apps when just wanting to scroll the start screen. It has happened to me multiple times. I guess because my swipes aren't always completely straight.
Click to expand...

That also happens a lot to me. I do like the selection gesture on the mail app, though, so i hope it's not completely removed from the OS...
 
B

brotkasten

Member
Mary Jo posted the upgrade policies for 8.1.

When the 8.1 preview is available, Windows 8 and Windows RT users will receive a Windows Update notification. That update will trigger the new bits to show up in the Windows Store, where potential testers will be able to read the description and choose whether or not to install.

Once the final versions of Windows 8.1 are available, after their release to manufacturing, those who have downloaded the preview will get the same Windows Update plus Windows Store notification. While their data and accounts will be preserved if and when they choose to install the free, final 8.1 release, all their apps must be reinstalled, Niehaus said.

Even if testers opt instead to roll their devices back to Windows 8 after installing the preview bits, they still will have to reinstall their apps once they move to the RTM version of Windows 8.1.

Windows 8 users who do not install the preview build and opt instead to go straight from Windows 8/Windows RT to Windows 8.1 will not have to reinstall their apps. All settings, data and apps will carry over, a spokesperson said when I asked. Users will be able to decide when and if they want to move from Windows 8 and Windows RT to the 8.1 versions, officials stressed.

...

Niehaus also told session attendees that Microsoft expects to have a reduced footprint size for Windows 8.1 as compared to Windows 8. He said the team has been working on removing old components, temporary files and improving NTFS compression to free up more space on users' machines. He noted that 4 GB of free space will be needed to install the Windows 8.1 preview builds. And he said that installation of Windows 8.1 will not result in the replacement of the recovery partition in Windows 8.
Click to expand...
http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-goes-public-with-windows-8-1-upgrade-policies-7000016419/
 
B

brotkasten

Member
Neowin raises an interesting point about bundling Office with 8.1.


Is Microsoft playing with fire by bundling Office with Windows 8.1 tablets?

In the past Microsoft has been the subject of antitrust oversight, more recently it was slapped with a huge fine from the EU about the non-issue of browser choice. If regulation and complaint was so harsh just for something as minor as a choice of default browser, what is Microsoft inviting by bundling their Office suite?

With regards to Office, one could argue that there actually isn’t a real commercial choice for Windows that is under threat from bundling. That said, the very notion of enhancing the value proposition of Windows with the inclusion of Office has wider implications. Forget things like bundling blog writers and photo tools, this is a full blown productivity suite we’re talking about here. The benefits for consumers are obvious, Office is a superb productivity suite and we’re not talking commercial use but are regulators going to see this as anything but bundling?

By doing this, Microsoft could once again put them in the sights of regulators when their competitors are just starting to be investigated. This could take the spotlight fully away from Google and Apple as fines and regulations are handed down to Microsoft. Questions also remain as to what will happen to Office sales as consumers start to expect these productivity apps to be included with their copy of Windows.
Click to expand...
http://www.neowin.net/news/is-microsoft-playing-with-fire-by-bundling-office-with-windows-81-tablets

Now it should be mentioned that Office 2013 Home and Student will only be bundled with sub-10" tablets, but I can still see some other companies complaining about it.
 
G

Ghost

Chili Con Carnage!
Well the real thing with the EU was "this is the only viable operating system, and you're manipulating that position to have the only viable internet browser"

This is a totally different situation, MS has no market share, and even if they did there are several viable options for consumers.
 
A

Azih

Member
Alright, I am having a bizarre issue with my desktop that wasn't there before. After the PC 'goes to sleep' and logs me back out to the lock screen it takes a LONG time after clicking for the lock screen to click away to the login screen. Like 30 seconds or more. No idea what could be causing it.
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
maeh2k said:
Windows 8.1 preview video

The animated background is great.

On touchscreens, did Windows 8 always have touch-and-hold to select tiles and stuff? They wouldn't remove the swipes perpendicular to the scrolling direction, would they?
Click to expand...

For a mouse most gestures are the same - just click and drag. You can right-click to select multiple items, and do a lot more with multiple items than you could in 8 (move/uninstall/resize/etc.)

To rename groups, you no longer need to do semantic zoom. The edit fields simply appear when you start editing other stuff. Much easier to get to.


For touch, the pull-down gesture doesn't work anymore I don't think. Instead they've (finally) made it work like Windows Phone where you just tap-and-hold to start editing, and can freely move stuff around from there. In practice it's just as fast as the Win8 method, but a lot easier to perform too. And once you're in edit mode, you can simply tap on other tiles too to select multiple tiles.
 
M

maeh2k

Member
dLMN8R said:
For a mouse most gestures are the same - just click and drag. You can right-click to select multiple items, and do a lot more with multiple items than you could in 8 (move/uninstall/resize/etc.)

To rename groups, you no longer need to do semantic zoom. The edit fields simply appear when you start editing other stuff. Much easier to get to.


For touch, the pull-down gesture doesn't work anymore I don't think. Instead they've (finally) made it work like Windows Phone where you just tap-and-hold to start editing, and can freely move stuff around from there. In practice it's just as fast as the Win8 method, but a lot easier to perform too. And once you're in edit mode, you can simply tap on other tiles too to select multiple tiles.
Click to expand...

Do you mean the pull-down gesture doesn't work anymore specifically for dragging tiles, or is it (swiping perpendicular to scrolling direction) also out when it comes to selecting items?
Tap-and-hold seems appropriate for contextual stuff like dragging a tile, but the gesture would still be the better way to select multiple items.
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
maeh2k said:
Do you mean the pull-down gesture doesn't work anymore specifically for dragging tiles, or is it (swiping perpendicular to scrolling direction) also out when it comes to selecting items?
Tap-and-hold seems appropriate for contextual stuff like dragging a tile, but the gesture would still be the better way to select multiple items.
Click to expand...

The drag-down gesture is gone completely, because it conflicts with the vertical drag you now do to get to the All Apps view.


Selecting multiple tiles is easy. Tap-and-old on one tile first to enter "Customize" mode, then simple taps on other tiles will continue to select more. It's actually a lot easier than the finicky drag-down you'd have to perform on each tile.
 
D

dLMN8R

Member
Steelyuhas said:
ALT + F4 works for all apps including Metro ones.

-------------------------

8.1 question: How will navigating to the All Apps screen work without a touch screen now that it's not tied to the app bar?
Click to expand...

When using a mouse, an arrow appears on the bottom-left of the start screen. Simply click the button :)
 
M

maeh2k

Member
dLMN8R said:
The drag-down gesture is gone completely, because it conflicts with the vertical drag you now do to get to the All Apps view.


Selecting multiple tiles is easy. Tap-and-old on one tile first to enter "Customize" mode, then simple taps on other tiles will continue to select more. It's actually a lot easier than the finicky drag-down you'd have to perform on each tile.
Click to expand...

Makes sense that it doesn't work with two scrolling directinos. Is it generally gone and discouraged, though? Because I thought that was the recommended gesture for selections and I assume it was used in all apps like SkyDrive where you can select multiple items. Seemed like a very elegant way to handle selection...
 
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