Windows 8 Thread

[PwnSauce]

Alright, I'm not a cheerleader for Microsoft but I couldn't find a Windows 8 thread so I started it.

I upgraded today mostly b/c I was bored and because it's currently only $40 USD to get Windows 8 Professional.
It goes up to like $200 at the end of January, obviously a marketing tactic to make it look like they're selling tons of copies.
Expect sales to tank after January, lol!

Anyhow, basically you download the 5MB install file which downloads the rest.

From there you can create an install USB or DVD for use on other systems.

So far W8 seems pretty fast and stable.
Probably more secure b/c Microsoft hopefully learns from past versions.

Not all applications are supported like my Antivirus and other minor stuff.
Most vendors have Windows 8 drivers for stuff.

Try it out and post comments here.

Also,
wasn't a big fan of the idea of the silly big-ass tiles as a desktop but mostly you don't even see it unless you hit the start button.
Then it appears as a big full screen start button.
if you have dual monitors the tiles only appear on your main screen, not on the other screen.

Seems kinda nice so far.
I wouldn't have paid $200 for this though, lol

 

[WaLLy]

The Metro UI is something to get used to but the more I use it, the more I like it.

The search feature for programs (win+Q) is fast! No more having to create unnecessary shortcuts on the desktop. Either place them onto the Metro UI or if you're like me and say you don't use the calculator app often, win+q makes it very quick to find the app.

99% of the time, you're always on the desktop. I don't miss the start button anymore, as the things I often use are pinned on my task bar or the Start menu (Metro).

But what I really love about W8 is the boot time. My PC boots up in 31 seconds! Of course, I'm using an SSD but W7 took 15-20 seconds longer at least.

All in all, I'm really happy with W8. And the $15 upgrade for it was very nice. I wouldn't have paid $200 for the Pro if it was at that price either.

 

[Pugsport]

The Metro UI is something to get used to but the more I use it, the more I like it.

The search feature for programs (win+Q) is fast! No more having to create unnecessary shortcuts on the desktop. Either place them onto the Metro UI or if you're like me and say you don't use the calculator app often, win+q makes it very quick to find the app.

99% of the time, you're always on the desktop. I don't miss the start button anymore, as the things I often use are pinned on my task bar or the Start menu (Metro).

But what I really love about W8 is the boot time. My PC boots up in 31 seconds! Of course, I'm using an SSD but W7 took 15-20 seconds longer at least.

All in all, I'm really happy with W8. And the $15 upgrade for it was very nice. I wouldn't have paid $200 for the Pro if it was at that price either.

well as you know most of the boot up time is the motherboard. if your windows 7 install was talking that long to boot then maybe it was a bad install as mine only take 15 to 20 seconds max to load and thats loaded and ready to go. on the other hand my motherboard bios is complete shit and takes about 40 to 50 seconds to do it thing even with quick boot selected (although with quick boot on or off it dont seem to make any difference lol)

 

[Freeze]

Yeah Windows 8 is definitely worth the 30 euros. I really love the new start screen but hate the Metro apps, so I generally don't use them.
One thing though, every time I start up my pc it first gives me the option to choose if I want to boot to windows 8 or windows 7 even though I don't have 7 installed, this takes away 5 seconds of the boot time before it goes to it's default, windows 8.
Any help?

 

[PwnSauce]

I just installed yesterday and will figure out how to disable the Metro tiles thing.

Might consider one of the start button replacement things.
There are a bunch listed here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57496506-292/how-to-get-the-start-menu-back-in-windows-8/

Pokki is the most popular.
Wonder if it bogs the system down.


Pwn

Yeah Windows 8 is definitely worth the 30 euros. I really love the new start screen but hate the Metro apps, so I generally don't use them.
One thing though, every time I start up my pc it first gives me the option to choose if I want to boot to windows 8 or windows 7 even though I don't have 7 installed, this takes away 5 seconds of the boot time before it goes to it's default, windows 8.
Any help?

 

[BluBirD78]

I've thought about upgrading to W8 but decided it wasn't worth it, for one I don't like the changes they've done and two, there's nothing wrong with my W7 I have now. Boot time... with my new SSD I got my laptop boots up like pug said in about 20 secs, even with my old disk drive it wasn't long before it was ready. Also, you guys reboot that often where the boot time matters?, I almost always use sleep mode on both of my computers and rarely ever reboot.

 

[NickHouston]

I don't want W8 because I don't want to lose my start menu. I also have no problem starting up my PC. I don't use an SSD and it only takes about 20 seconds to boot up. With W7 they got it just about perfect lol. I don't see myself ever "upgrading" to W8.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.

 

[Kreubs]

My boot time is around 1 minute, but that is because my mobo has a RAM integrity check every single boot and I chose the port installation (The ony program I had to reinstall was BF3 and it runs better than in W7). The RAM check can be annoying at times but it did save be a lot of troubleshooting and BSOD'ing when I had a RAM chip die, so I leave it on.

I read somewhere that the W8 kernel is 400Mb smaller than W7's. After my first boot in W8 I had 5% less RAM used at startup out of 8Gb, so it seems to be true. The memory management seems to be better than W7, too. There seems to be a better way of keeping programs terminated and resident in memory for better load times later on. They finally forced cmd to run big commands as an administrator only, which is a huge security improvement so now a sneaky batch script can get stopped in it's tracks.

Besides the ribbon in Explorer, Task Manager (totally love the new version), and the Metro UI, most of the changes took place under the hood so I guess that's why people complain that "It's too similar to 7 and not worth the money."

Yeah Windows 8 is definitely worth the 30 euros. I really love the new start screen but hate the Metro apps, so I generally don't use them.
One thing though, every time I start up my pc it first gives me the option to choose if I want to boot to windows 8 or windows 7 even though I don't have 7 installed, this takes away 5 seconds of the boot time before it goes to it's default, windows 8.
Any help?

Push Windows + R and type 'msconfig', go to the boot tab and delete the W7 entry. Be careful not to trash the 8 entry, or else you are screwed (You'd have to rebuild the MBR from the recovery console on the W8 disc )

I don't want W8 because I don't want to lose my start menu. I also have no problem starting up my PC. I don't use an SSD and it only takes about 20 seconds to boot up. With W7 they got it just about perfect lol. I don't see myself ever "upgrading" to W8.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.

Then get Stardock Start8. It's a perfect imitation of the W7 start menu and has a free 30-day trial. I used it at first because I couldn't bring myself to get used to the Metro UI lol.

 

[Arcani]

win8 has problems with punkbuster - but i dint have the problems immediatelyy so expect problems from cod server
like my fave ftag server - i cant go to it without getting kicked

but otherwise i like it

 

[Freeze]

Yep, Punkbuster is a bitch to Windows 8. But that's not Microsoft's fault.

 

[MasterCLiP]

Well you cant expect software that was released before windows 8 existed to work flawlessly, I've been using W8 for about a month now and have had few gaming related problems or few problems in general, the biggest one I had is where I had to D/L GFWL to play Fallout 3. Really all it is a tuned up windows 7 plus metro, if you want you don't have to use metro at all and get one of the classic start add on, but I recommend familiarizing yourself with it. It can be pretty awesome once you get used to it.

 

[PwnSauce]

That silly big-ass full-screen start menu tile thing was really an annoying and pointless distraction to me so I replaced it with a pokki one:

Works really nicely.
it's free, try it out.

 

[WaLLy]

I hardly use Metro. Wouldn't want any other process running if I didn't really need it. I got used to Metro. Works well.

 

[Freeze]

I hardly use Metro apps. Wouldn't want any other process running if I didn't really need it. I got used to using the Metro start menu. Works well.

I guess you mean this?

 

[Pugsport]

That silly big-ass full-screen start menu tile thing was really an annoying and pointless distraction to me so I replaced it with a pokki one:

Works really nicely.
it's free, try it out.

what the hell is it called. I hate the full screen start menu

 

[PrestoN]

Causes pink PBSS on cod4. Other than that I know basically nothing about it. Although I have friends who complain.