New Computer - Let's talk about it.

[Caliga]

Windows 8 

[Grey Fox]

Windows 8 

Update to 8.1 then it'll be better.

[Caliga]

Yeah, that's what I have.  I figured how to get to a view that looks basically just like Win 7.  I'm on the new PC now.   Downloaded Windows updates and am now starting to download drivers for the various MB components (lack of an optical drive means I gotta d/l everything, which is kind of a pain, but at least that means I'll have the newest version of everything).

edit: btw the operating system install from USB -> SSD took less than 5 minutes.

[Grey Fox]

Remember, don't use any Metrop App & actually use that interface as full screen search improved Start menu.

You can customize the first screen to your liking.

[viper37]

Yeah, that's what I have.  I figured how to get to a view that looks basically just like Win 7.  I'm on the new PC now.   Downloaded Windows updates and am now starting to download drivers for the various MB components (lack of an optical drive means I gotta d/l everything, which is kind of a pain, but at least that means I'll have the newest version of everything).

edit: btw the operating system install from USB -> SSD took less than 5 minutes.

I've grown fond of Start8, but there is another similar free tool that a lot of people like.  It's essential under Win8.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Stardock has a few tools I've found essential for Win8, one is Start8 and the other is ModernMix lets you run Metro apps in windows. Now, you may be wondering why one would want to run Metro apps at all, which is a good question because they are universally horrible, and the answer is sadly a few Microsoft applications (Skype is one of them) no longer work properly for me with the regular Windows applications. For example Skype frequently locks up, or during a video call will disconnect, and then you cannot use the application at all. It becomes non-functional, if you kill it through task manager when you restart the application it says "You can't log on here because you already have a session signed in on this computer." You can try to kill skype.exe under the details tab of task manager (which persists even if you kill the main Skype task), but you get an "Access Denied" error when you try to do this. Even using SysInternals PSkill and killing it by process ID does't work (something I'd never seen in 10 years of using PSKill.) So if you want to use Skype at that point you need to reboot the machine, and can then use it again for 2-5 minutes before it locks up again.

However, if you can get the Skype Metro App installed, it never has this problem. I say "if" because at least for me frequently the App Store just has the spinning progress logo infinitely when I try to download metro apps, and then when I get to the point I can click "Install" it says "This application can't be installed because your internet connection is too slow." [It's an 11.0 MB file and I have a > 100 Mbps connection that was having no issues at this time.) I'm guessing this behavior is because the Store is 100% in the cloud and we just see the interface locally, and when it is having server-side problems (almost always) it gives that behavior and those messages. But, once I did get Skype installed as a metro app it did actually work consistently, and with ModernMix you can put it in a window.

There's actually some positives with Windows 8 but it's shocking how badly implemented the App Store and Metro apps in general are and how they basically just seem like a layer of unpleasantness.

[Caliga]

I'm already used to Windows 8 and I don't understand all the bitching about it.  It's very, very easy to get to the 'Desktop' which is basically identical to Windows 7 and the Start screen is neat in that you can customize the hell out of it and put stuff like weather widgets, etc. on it.  If you like modern smartphones, it follows that you would like the Start screen as well.  Granted, this is 8.1 and I believe the Start thing in the lower left corner is new to 8.1, and I can see how not having that would be annoying.

Also, the UI has a 'lighter' feel, for lack of a better term, and I like the default fonts better.

[garbon]

Maybe if I had a touchscreen I would like the start menu. As it is, it does nothing for me.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I'm already used to Windows 8 and I don't understand all the bitching about it.  It's very, very easy to get to the 'Desktop' which is basically identical to Windows 7 and the Start screen is neat in that you can customize the hell out of it and put stuff like weather widgets, etc. on it.  If you like modern smartphones, it follows that you would like the Start screen as well.  Granted, this is 8.1 and I believe the Start thing in the lower left corner is new to 8.1, and I can see how not having that would be annoying.

Also, the UI has a 'lighter' feel, for lack of a better term, and I like the default fonts better.

My complaint has nothing to do with the Start Screen, which is fine/ignorable if you don't use it, but the fact that an extant WinForms application breaks in Win8 (it's a common enough problem that I've seen many similar complaints on the support forums) and the only workaround is to use a metro app (which takes up full screen and limits multitasking.) ModernMix fortunately takes care of this.

I think there is a general problem with a small subset of applications that used to run fine on Win7 and on some Win8 systems. Skype isn't the only one, I have a few apps that regularly "hang" and you can't kill process (even with PSKill.) It shows me there is some problem with the ability of the OS to kill processes on demand and there's not been a single solution I've found online to the problem.

[Caliga]

Interesting.  I have actually been noticing some problems with Chrome in 8 where it seems to take forever to load websites when I know my internet connection is solid.  In fact, it was happening last night and I opened up IE and loaded the same sites with no problem.  Supposedly if you use the Metro version of Chrome, the problem isn't present there (I found this on Google's forums last night), but I'm not sure I want to do that.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I haven't yet noticed any problems with Chrome, for me so far it has been a few different programs where the program launches multiple processes. A quick example is Skype...when it is running one component is the WinForms application but it also runs a background process (there's also a set of Windows Services that install with Skype that handle some extended functionality IIRC.) Anyway, when the main application "breaks" you can usually close it normally, or failing that close it up through the task manager. But the background process cannot be killed through any means (including PSKill-which is an old school c. 1995 command line utility I've used for years to kill rogue processes and has never failed prior to Win8.) With Skype, as long as that background processes remains screwed up you can never get the WinForm app to work again even if you do kill/restart it.

I've had the same problem with Plex Media Server (which really sucks, as that was core to my ability to stream like 500+ movies I ripped from BluRay and DVD and 40-50 TV shows from an old machine I converted to a file server to various media devices in my home), PMS runs with a normal application and a Windows service...now it periodically breaks. When it breaks I can restart the main PMS application but the background service can't be stopped/restarted and even trying to kill it doesn't work, so the only thing that fixes it is a reboot.

I suspect since I've heard many people on the Plex and Skype forums have the exact same problem, while others have no problem at all, it is some arcane combination of security/etc settings that no one has quite figured out but honestly I'm not interested in screwing with that noise for hours and hours to try to figure out a solution. Sadly Win8 has basically pushed me to use alternative solutions to these applications. (XBMC replaced Plex for example.)

[Grey Fox]

Old TV :



New TV :

[MadBurgerMaker]

   Is it one of the Samsung smart TVs with voice activation, etc?

[viper37]

Looks a lot better, congrats!

As I bought a new computer screen today, I was reflecting on how it's twice as big as my first tv (wich was 11")

[Grey Fox]

  Is it one of the Samsung smart TVs with voice activation, etc?

Oh no, it's the 5000 model that is Canada's Black Friday door crasher everywhere.

In Canada, the price difference between the smart & non-smart model is INSANE. Would be cheaper to just buy an Xbox One.