I bought the $39.99 upgrade version but I haven’t installed it yet. I was wary of replacing Win 7 on my desktop computer with 8 as I am not a fan of Metro. Are you saying they did include the classic start menu option? I was told several times that Microsoft was not going to include the classic menu. Did they include this in the 11th hour? Also are you saying if you downloaded Win 8 upgrade from a 32 bit computer that the version that will be 32 bit and not both? I bought the Win 8 Upgrade, but I have a 64 bit laptop I’d rather install it on.
bum[
(Classic Shell with classic Start Menu)
(Windows key and Q brings up Apps)
(Windows key and Pause/Break)
(Firefox This is the Orange Fox theme, but the NOIA theme is better, with Colorful Tabs and TabMixPlus extensions, so you can get multiple rows and reduce tab width)
W8 seems to boot faster than W7.
Also W8 comes with Hyper-V (if you have the horsepower to support it).
BTW you can also configure it to boot directly into a Hyper-V VM, and it will run as though it were your desktop OS.
Both my desktop and laptop are running W8 now and I have no issues with it. Metro annoyed me for about 20 min, until I figured out where everything was hiding. I’ve had no other issues with it.
Bump
I also took advantage of the $40 offer and run Windows 8 with classic shell.
Thank goodness for classic shell, so I don’t have to deal with metro ever.
Other helpful links for upgrading:
Download Upgrade Assistant http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=261871
Call Customer Service at 1-800-642-7676
AMD Driver Autodetect http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/auto_detect.aspx
Intel® System Identification Utility http://www.intel.com/support/siu.htm
Processors: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-031726.htm
Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool (32-bit)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19791
Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool (64-bit) http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19792
W/8 Preview: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx?wt.mc_id=MEC_132_1_4
W/7 Trial: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/cc442495.aspx
http://www.zdnet.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-windows-8-upgrades-faq-part-2-7000008775/
Bump for bookmark
Try VueScan to drive your scanner.
http://www.hamrick.com/
I was able to use it to drive a Nikon scanner that was no longer supported.
Great write up. Are you able to download the update WITHOUT installing over WIN7? I want the upgrade bits, but don’t want to install over my current Win7. Microsoft is characteristically unclear if downloading the bits overwrites the current install.
I tried adjusting to Win8. Googled “alternatives, start menu, windows 8” or something like that, and found classic shell and a half doz other apps to do the same thing, all reviewed on one page by some kind soul.
None of them quite did what I was looking for, and Win8 still had other annoying features.
I did get the desktop arranged so I would rarely have to go to that silly Start thing that Fisher Price designed.
Put all the important stuff on the taskbar and put the taskbar on the left, trying to make it look like a start menu.
But, still...
Windows 8 is like this: You have a ten-room house you’ve been in for many years. One day someone takes ten rooms of furniture and all the contents of every last drawer, and puts them in a house with twenty-five rooms. You move in there one day and have to find your stuff. Are you very, very patient? Because it takes a while just to find stuff, never mind make it a habit to go to them in new places.
It is a certifiable PITA. And when you log out, there is almost nothing you can do without a degree in programming, to get rid of that %#@$*! World’s Fair Space Needle image. A parting poke in the eye.
There are plenty of computers around here so I finally staked out an old xp that is far more to my liking.
Advice: avoid 8. The only thing worse is 7 starter edition.
Hi daniel1212,
Great post.
I saw no mention of a graphics card in your attempts to improve performance. If you are using on-board vid, it is probably sharing some of that precious and limited 4g of RAM... And the on-board is likely to be a 512mg card.
If you were to add a vid card, not only will you gain the RAM the on-board vid is using back to the system, but if you get a 2g vid card (off-brand should cost you in the $40 range), you will be astonished how much faster the machine will render to the screen. I believe you will see what feels like a 25% improvement on top of what you have already done...
BTTT
I just bought a new laptop with Win8 installed and I almost took the thing back.
Win8 is not intuitive at all (I just came from XP)
Looks like I need to get Classic Shell
If I use the touchpad, Win8 is very aggravating. Looks like I may need a mouse as well.
Thanks for this thread!
Don’t forget! The native email client Windows Mail, doesn’t support POP3 anymore. You have to find an alternate mail client or just use web mail.
Thought i would add a couple of helpful links for Windows 8 shortcuts:
http://lifehacker.com/5955162/how-to-not-get-lost-in-windows-8-the-best-shortcuts-and-tricks
With my set up i have no real use for the “Charms” bar (i can access what i need faster without it), and which, along with “Wizards,” is another example of resorting to witchcraft for describing MS features:
Definition of CHARM
1
a : the chanting or reciting of a magic spell : incantation
b : a practice or expression believed to have magic power
2
: something worn about the person to ward off evil or ensure good fortune : amulet
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/charm)
Anyway, if you are confused by Window 8, ro do not like things like a lot of large icons staring at you, or the limited number of things in the W/9 Start menu (versus the Classic) and lose of quick navigation, see above posts and also know that you get the info you need just by searching the Internet, as well as to basically make it like XP (which itself is benefited by tweaking) without losing any added functionality. Or ask here.
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