Posted on 08/05/2013 7:02:51 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER
Just a heads up, if you're stuck with Windows 8 there is a free program called "CLASSIC SHELL" which gives you a start button. You can even choose to simulate XP.
I'm stuck with this rig, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna put up with it!
“No one is truly “stuck” with an OS they don’t like. One can always change the OS.”
Even applications which do NOT use Windows APIs can and do fail after “upgrades”. And no these are not applications which are using some undocumented or unsupported feature.
Win 8 may have some good stuff under the hood but from the outside for a power user it sucks beyond belief.
One thing that is coming to light right now is MS has decided not to fully support MIDI under Win 8 which, albeit, will never have as many users as desktops but is used by millions of people in all aspects of music who have not YET been forced into the Apple world.
I use Classic Shell to clear up some of the file manager problems in Win7.
File manager has been glitchy since VISTA. Per some help forums, MS knows it is glitchy but still hasn’t bothered to fix it. Too bad we can’t get an XP version — it worked.
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Win 8.1 is supposed to be out soon (may already be out) and it is supposed to allow the user the option of choosing a more-Win7-like interface.
Brain trust: I offered to buy my wife an HP laptop 320 Gb hard drive 4 Gb memory Windows 8, for under $300 after her old one crashed.
Of course she prefers a Dell ‘touch’ laptop w/ 500 Gb HD 4 Gb memory and Windows 8 for almost $500.
This is all offered by Walmart.
I thought all Windows 8 were ‘touch screen’. I bought an HP Pavilion desk computer for myself not too long ago with Windows 7 because I didn’t want to hit some new DOS jackpot.
Also, she has multiple sclerosis and some hand-eye coordination problems.
You don’t have to put your answers/advice in the form of a question. Thanks for any wisdom. td
You could have an Apple update for iTunes, Safari or some other Apple application.
Grab the top edge of the music app and drag it off the bottom edge to close it.
fdisk/gparted/other partitioning tools will definitely remove all traces of any existing OS
Don’t lock yourself into any single application, and you’ll be free.
Sorry, I forgot to pose the question: Which way would you go?
Daughter just called, advised her mother to stay away from the touch screen.
More trouble than you think with win 8.
Mac , yuck Lisa Jackson works for them
Weird that so many people don’t know how to format a hard drive and then install whatever operating system they want. It’s not that hard.
I got a deep discount on Sony Avio Ultrabook with 6G and 500 hard drive. Couldn’t fight against the price as they were closing out model last month - so much that I returned the HP stand-alone desktop and got money back in difference.
Problem was both contained Windows 8. The OS was truly a nightmare from perspective. I’ve had a desktop since mid 1980s and this is the worst crap Microsoft put out.
I was reaching the two week return deadline when I ran across Classic Shell four weeks ago in doing simple search for alternative. Looked at youtube video and was convinced it was worth the trouble to download.
When I boot completely in seconds, there is the XP like homepage yet I can skip over to right and pull out the looking glass and return to the apts and do all the trivial stuff that Windows 8 is trying to dumb us down. Hey - Microsoft! Some of us still want to more than watch videos or hear music.
I understand from some of the videos and comments that the pre-release 8 had programs working the beta version and able to work around to provide a Start button. Good ol’ Microsoft did their own workaround to eliminate the non-Windows software from working. Once released, Microsoft couldn’t retool to prevent programmers from finding the Classic Shell fix and providing a new-found liveable environment.
I now am in love with just about everything associated with Classic Shell. Don’t knock Windows 8 until you’ve tried the Shell fix and the Start button in lower left.
Thanks for the tip! A single click on an x would have been better but I guess Microsoft has overevolved. :)
Aha, that’s it. There is some itunes thing in there. Thank you!
I’ve been using Windows8 for almost a year. Don’t like it yet.
It took a lot of time to give it the initial “makeover” so that it looked more like what I was used to, but there are still shortcomings.
By the time I get used to it, they’ll be pushing Windows 9.
It has to do with the touch screen aspects. I had to be shown the same thing, so I am just passing on the advice.
eBay often has XP Pro for around $40.
I have four desktops and a laptop. I have XP on three desktops and the laptop (wiped out 7 on one desktop) with Win 7 only on one. Problem is, I have older peripherals (scanner, laser printer, etc.) that Win 7 didn't recognize, so I stayed with XP. Probably will for a long time as, for my needs, I don't see where Win 7, let alone 8 does anything for me, and probably a lot less. IMO, at some point, these OS hit a peak and from then on, it's all bells and whistles.
I stayed with XP as long as I could for home use. When my desktop died last year, I went with Win7. XP just could not handle the new web pages and Internet features.
I wish I could extract the XP file manager and use it in Win 7. I was able to do that with some other programs that either Win 7 did not have or the Win 7 version was pathetic.
I did lose a b/w laser printer which did not have Win7 drivers, but my color laser and scanner work with Win7. When I went from Win98 to XP, I lost several peripherals.
[I do have the old XP disks, which I bought.]
“I use it for light duty, when she’s not around 8-)”
That’s probably why you like it.
Windows 8 is essentially bringing the tablet/smartphone os onto a PC. PC’s were designed to do “heavier-duty” computing applications. So your daughter’s Windows 8 Laptop probably does very well when you are browsing the net, doing email, texting... in short all the things that are often done on a touch-screen platform.
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