Configuring new Windows 8 laptop
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I am going to visit him in November. I will set it up the good way. I am thinking of getting ubuntu if not 7.
"Bastards encourage idiots to use Oracle Forms, Web Forms, Access and a number of other dinky web publishing tolls.", Mycroft Holmes[^]
Those adverts for new laptops are so appealing. Then I read this and am reminded of the horror of windows. Definitely Ubuntu, but be careful of the graphics chipset; 13.04 has Intel official graphics support via an app, but LTS is no longer supported by this(WTF?). And if they've moved to UEFI, be sure to choose Ubuntu 64 bit. Which means no skype in 13.04 :doh: ! Did I say 'horror of windows'? Wait for 13.10 in October. They might have it sorted by then. Incidentally, I bought a used Elitebook for £160, and installed a terabyte drive. It rumbles along nicely with core2duo.
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You could have used pokki start button for free :laugh: https://www.pokki.com/windows-8-start-menu[^] Thanks,
Ranjan.D
I did. Then I uninstalled it and bought Start8! True Story! ;P
My programming get away... The Blog... DirectX for WinRT/C# since 2013! Taking over the world since 1371!
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d@nish wrote:
disable UAC
Not unless he's a power user. Would you give him root access to a Unix box?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
Absolutely. He would think there is a problem with computer. It's just showing up a black screen. He will keep on restarting it. :laugh:
"Bastards encourage idiots to use Oracle Forms, Web Forms, Access and a number of other dinky web publishing tolls.", Mycroft Holmes[^]
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Those adverts for new laptops are so appealing. Then I read this and am reminded of the horror of windows. Definitely Ubuntu, but be careful of the graphics chipset; 13.04 has Intel official graphics support via an app, but LTS is no longer supported by this(WTF?). And if they've moved to UEFI, be sure to choose Ubuntu 64 bit. Which means no skype in 13.04 :doh: ! Did I say 'horror of windows'? Wait for 13.10 in October. They might have it sorted by then. Incidentally, I bought a used Elitebook for £160, and installed a terabyte drive. It rumbles along nicely with core2duo.
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If the machine didn't come bundled with a third-party antimalware package, Windows Defender (the successor to MSE) *should* be installed. If it isn't, then launch the desktop version of Windows Update, click the link to have it install and update "other" MS software, and it should give you the option to install WD.
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So my brother just bought a new laptop. His requirements are really limited to browser and MS office. He is alien to IT World. Since I too have never seen Windows 8 (I like my cave and have no intentions of crawling out of it for now), I am not really sure what all do we need to do to get things going. For instance, I would disable updates for some software, disable UAC and make start up programs and services to my liking. Apart from that, I would install MSE, Chrome and VLC player. Is there any guide related to Windows 8 system for such users to tell what to do? Are keyboard shortcuts and display for changing properties of OS similar to Windows 7?
"Bastards encourage idiots to use Oracle Forms, Web Forms, Access and a number of other dinky web publishing tolls.", Mycroft Holmes[^]
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So my brother just bought a new laptop. His requirements are really limited to browser and MS office. He is alien to IT World. Since I too have never seen Windows 8 (I like my cave and have no intentions of crawling out of it for now), I am not really sure what all do we need to do to get things going. For instance, I would disable updates for some software, disable UAC and make start up programs and services to my liking. Apart from that, I would install MSE, Chrome and VLC player. Is there any guide related to Windows 8 system for such users to tell what to do? Are keyboard shortcuts and display for changing properties of OS similar to Windows 7?
"Bastards encourage idiots to use Oracle Forms, Web Forms, Access and a number of other dinky web publishing tolls.", Mycroft Holmes[^]
If he is alien to the IT world, then I would enable autoupdate on every app, install a good free antivirus and be sure that UAC is enabled, probably, I would also set an standard account for him so he don't install anything dangerous by default.
CEO at: - Rafaga Systems - Para Facturas - Modern Components for the moment...
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So my brother just bought a new laptop. His requirements are really limited to browser and MS office. He is alien to IT World. Since I too have never seen Windows 8 (I like my cave and have no intentions of crawling out of it for now), I am not really sure what all do we need to do to get things going. For instance, I would disable updates for some software, disable UAC and make start up programs and services to my liking. Apart from that, I would install MSE, Chrome and VLC player. Is there any guide related to Windows 8 system for such users to tell what to do? Are keyboard shortcuts and display for changing properties of OS similar to Windows 7?
"Bastards encourage idiots to use Oracle Forms, Web Forms, Access and a number of other dinky web publishing tolls.", Mycroft Holmes[^]
If he's familiar with any older Windows versions, and doesn't want to spend a few weeks in WTF-mode, get something like Stardock's Start8 start button and set it to boot into desktop mode. I think you can even shut the system down from it, if not, teach him how to do that. After that, it's pretty much just like a faster, better Windows 7 (well, sans Aero), so install the applications you think he'll want and off you go. The MS morons took a lot of the keyboard shortcuts out of desktop mode, especially file explorer. I've not found any way to bring them back so I just suffer at their hand on this. I have Start8 on my Win8 laptop and like it. Didn't put it on my Win8 dev box at work, nor the new Win8 computer for home. Win8's learnable, and my family seems to like it better than Win7 oddly enough.
We can program with only 1's, but if all you've got are zeros, you've got nothing.
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So my brother just bought a new laptop. His requirements are really limited to browser and MS office. He is alien to IT World. Since I too have never seen Windows 8 (I like my cave and have no intentions of crawling out of it for now), I am not really sure what all do we need to do to get things going. For instance, I would disable updates for some software, disable UAC and make start up programs and services to my liking. Apart from that, I would install MSE, Chrome and VLC player. Is there any guide related to Windows 8 system for such users to tell what to do? Are keyboard shortcuts and display for changing properties of OS similar to Windows 7?
"Bastards encourage idiots to use Oracle Forms, Web Forms, Access and a number of other dinky web publishing tolls.", Mycroft Holmes[^]
Sounds like you got the wrong gadget. You should return it and buy an iPad (or a cheap Android tablet). ;P
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So my brother just bought a new laptop. His requirements are really limited to browser and MS office. He is alien to IT World. Since I too have never seen Windows 8 (I like my cave and have no intentions of crawling out of it for now), I am not really sure what all do we need to do to get things going. For instance, I would disable updates for some software, disable UAC and make start up programs and services to my liking. Apart from that, I would install MSE, Chrome and VLC player. Is there any guide related to Windows 8 system for such users to tell what to do? Are keyboard shortcuts and display for changing properties of OS similar to Windows 7?
"Bastards encourage idiots to use Oracle Forms, Web Forms, Access and a number of other dinky web publishing tolls.", Mycroft Holmes[^]
d@nish wrote:
His requirements are really limited to browser and MS office. He is alien to IT World. Since I too have never seen Windows 8 (I like my cave and have no intentions of crawling out of it for now), I am not really sure what all do we need to do to get things going.
For instance, I would disable updates for some software, disable UAC and make start up programs and services to my liking. Apart from that, I would install MSE, Chrome and VLC player.Sounds like you got the wrong gadget. You should return it and buy an iPad (or a cheap Android tablet). ;P
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So my brother just bought a new laptop. His requirements are really limited to browser and MS office. He is alien to IT World. Since I too have never seen Windows 8 (I like my cave and have no intentions of crawling out of it for now), I am not really sure what all do we need to do to get things going. For instance, I would disable updates for some software, disable UAC and make start up programs and services to my liking. Apart from that, I would install MSE, Chrome and VLC player. Is there any guide related to Windows 8 system for such users to tell what to do? Are keyboard shortcuts and display for changing properties of OS similar to Windows 7?
"Bastards encourage idiots to use Oracle Forms, Web Forms, Access and a number of other dinky web publishing tolls.", Mycroft Holmes[^]
I went by this article when I bought my Ultrabook a couble of months ago: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2027945/how-to-banish-metro-from-your-windows-8-pc-forever.html[^]. It describes pretty much what the title states, i. e. banish Metro/Modern from your W8 gadget entirely. You still can switch to the Metro start screen, but you'll never see it if you don't want to. A crucial thing to achieve this that is missing from pretty much every similar article I've seen, is to replace the standard utility programs like mail or player with appropriate (and more powerful) desktop versions. The article goes on to describe some tools to bring back the start menu and boot into desktop like every other article does - nothing new here. But all this won't help if every time you double-click a document you'll swicth back to the Start Screen and a bland and featureless single window App blocks your entire screen, leaving you wondering how to get back to your desktop (or if this is just another variant of the BSOD).
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Most new Windows 8 desktop user I have seen hates it! :~ (and found the UI extremely confusing) I do love it, but I did buy Start8[^] for $5 Otherwise it works just like Win7, just a little leaner and faster... Maybe Win8.1 in October will improve the experience? That remains to be seen, I have the feeling MS only partially listen to customer, hoping to convince them to change their way... As I see it, it's not going to happen if the chicken and egg problem of developers not interested in new API which only work on new hardware that is not available and not coming because no app for it!!!
My programming get away... The Blog... DirectX for WinRT/C# since 2013! Taking over the world since 1371!
Most new Windows 8 users I have seen love it. New users need training. 5 minutes will do it. Best advice - avoid add-ons like Start8 (completely unnecessary and slow down effective use of start screen, desktop and app screen). Windows 8.1 is basically Windows 7 with Start Screen replacing slower, clunkier start menu. When I have many apps open on desktop, I find it faster to go to, say, Excel via Start Screen than collapsing windows to desktop shortcut and certainly faster than using start button in the old days. I do of course set up desktop and start screen to my usage pattern.