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As per alleycat's suggestion, I'm starting this thread purely for user experiences of Windows 8. As he rightly pointed out, the other thread (that he created) was about the pros and cons of Win7 vs. Win8. So if you want to discuss Win8 vs. another OS, it might be better in AC's thread.
Anyway, I installed Windows 8 today (after some headaches that prevented me from doing it last night). Here follows my thoughts on this OS from the past hour or two of use.
1. I still think the new Start menu is ugly as sin.
2. It took me about 10 minutes to find My Computer to actually see whether my files survived the upgrade from XP. (For those curious, there's a Document Folder icon on the taskbar in Desktop mode - as near as I can tell, this is the only way to actually get into your folders and the such.) I dragged and dropped "Computer" onto my Desktop after I found that, and now it's actually directly accessible from the desktop. Hooray!
3. All of my files survived the change-over, but I had to reinstall some programs to actually be able to do anything. If you haven't upgraded yet, I'd recommend downloading the Installer files for your favourite programs beforehand. This way you aren't Googling a bunch of things after the long process of installing Win8.
4. I still have to reinstall a bunch of programs, especially Office so I can at least pretend to be a writer sometime this week. This will add a lot of time.
5. I had a thought, and thus discovered my first "trick" on Win8. Pressing the Windows key on my keyboard takes me back to the start menu automatically, without having to go into the corner of the screen. This will be useful sometimes, though sometimes frustrating, as I tend to accidentally hit that key on occasion when typing.
6. That ugly Start menu page, while it has a bunch of options such as Games, Music and Videos, don't actually list the files I have on my computer. (I found that out when trying to access My Computer.) I'm not sure how to add things to the Start menu's tiles, for simple Music access or whatnot. Something to look into, I suppose.
7. Windows 8 doesn't come with a video player. Knowing this beforehand, I downloaded VLC last night and kept the Installer. So I installed that after Win8 was done loading, and it seems to solve the problem. Except that a DVD I was watching crashed, and quitting out of VLC was a time-consuming nightmare. Even Ctrl-Alt-Del and End Task was slow as sin - not getting those options up (that was fast) but actually closing the program. I later loaded a music video, which played fine, so I'm not sure if the problem was with VLC or my DVD.
8. I'm not actually sure how I'm supposed to shut Win8 down... I need to go to the shops in a minute, and it might take me a while to figure out how to actually shut down my computer without pressing the Power button!
...
Overall, it's not a bad system so far. I guess it would be no more annoying than installing ANY new OS, what with reinstalling programs, except that I got to keep my files (I had backed them up and was expecting a lengthy transfer time).
It'll be a learning curve for a while, trying to figure out the actual point of having a separate screen for Start menu stuff... But I haven't torn my hair out yet.
It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but I wouldn't call it amazing or anything.
Anyone else care to share their thoughts on Windows 8?
Anyway, I installed Windows 8 today (after some headaches that prevented me from doing it last night). Here follows my thoughts on this OS from the past hour or two of use.
1. I still think the new Start menu is ugly as sin.
2. It took me about 10 minutes to find My Computer to actually see whether my files survived the upgrade from XP. (For those curious, there's a Document Folder icon on the taskbar in Desktop mode - as near as I can tell, this is the only way to actually get into your folders and the such.) I dragged and dropped "Computer" onto my Desktop after I found that, and now it's actually directly accessible from the desktop. Hooray!
3. All of my files survived the change-over, but I had to reinstall some programs to actually be able to do anything. If you haven't upgraded yet, I'd recommend downloading the Installer files for your favourite programs beforehand. This way you aren't Googling a bunch of things after the long process of installing Win8.
4. I still have to reinstall a bunch of programs, especially Office so I can at least pretend to be a writer sometime this week. This will add a lot of time.
5. I had a thought, and thus discovered my first "trick" on Win8. Pressing the Windows key on my keyboard takes me back to the start menu automatically, without having to go into the corner of the screen. This will be useful sometimes, though sometimes frustrating, as I tend to accidentally hit that key on occasion when typing.
6. That ugly Start menu page, while it has a bunch of options such as Games, Music and Videos, don't actually list the files I have on my computer. (I found that out when trying to access My Computer.) I'm not sure how to add things to the Start menu's tiles, for simple Music access or whatnot. Something to look into, I suppose.
7. Windows 8 doesn't come with a video player. Knowing this beforehand, I downloaded VLC last night and kept the Installer. So I installed that after Win8 was done loading, and it seems to solve the problem. Except that a DVD I was watching crashed, and quitting out of VLC was a time-consuming nightmare. Even Ctrl-Alt-Del and End Task was slow as sin - not getting those options up (that was fast) but actually closing the program. I later loaded a music video, which played fine, so I'm not sure if the problem was with VLC or my DVD.
8. I'm not actually sure how I'm supposed to shut Win8 down... I need to go to the shops in a minute, and it might take me a while to figure out how to actually shut down my computer without pressing the Power button!
...
Overall, it's not a bad system so far. I guess it would be no more annoying than installing ANY new OS, what with reinstalling programs, except that I got to keep my files (I had backed them up and was expecting a lengthy transfer time).
It'll be a learning curve for a while, trying to figure out the actual point of having a separate screen for Start menu stuff... But I haven't torn my hair out yet.
It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but I wouldn't call it amazing or anything.
Anyone else care to share their thoughts on Windows 8?