What is so bad/wrong/terrible about Windows 8.1?
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After asking a question on how to upgrade to 8.1 a lot of respectable :bob:ians have told me that it was a bad idea doing that (going from 7 to 8.1) and of course, I've wondered what is so terrible about it as it Works for me... So here's another question: why 7 is much better tan 8.1 or if you prefer... why 8.1 is as terrible compared to 7? Please don't start flame wars or similar... everyone has its opinion and it must be respected. I'll start: windows 8 pro's: - Internet explorer 11 knows that it has to change it's spell check when you change the input language. - You can pause large file operations. - It starts really fast. - When you start several copy operations all of them are stacked onto one single dialog. - Once you know that windows+c shortcut getting into the control panel is a breeze. - In a multi display environment you have the task bar in all the displays and then you can reach all your open programs from any display and show the start menu in the display you are looking at... windows 7 pro's: - start menu is much better. ...
[www.tamautomation.com] | Robots, CNC and PLC machines for grinding and polishing. [YouTube channel]
I think the problem is both windows 8 and windows 8.1 user inteface. First the elephant in the room(?) It was either change for change's sake OR it was change to be more like other competing operating systems.... Are you laughing yet Steve Jobs? wherever you are. People, myself included, resent it for that reason alone. Mostly, however, as the operating systems have gotten more complex, for the average user, the time it takes to learn a new gui is ridiculously long. Business users are particularly affected by this. and the inevitable mistakes along the way. They don't have the time or patience for the grief. Being an old dog (I sold the first copy of my application in 1979 and have made a reasonable living with it ever since), while I have learned new tricks moving from OS to OS and platform to platform, I have not asked my customers to do that. AS I have added new features over the years (yes Virginia change is necessary and inevitable), I have done so GRADUALLY. This is, I think, along with the quality of my product, the thing that has allowed me to compete with bigger companies. So all you application developers out there just starting out should learn from Microsft's mistake with Windows8.X - Change needs to be gradual, not like trying to take a drink from a fire hose at full blast.:cool:
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Why does Win8 suck? Simple...
Your computer has installed updates and will restart in 30 minutes
[Restart Now] [Close]I clicked Close, because I'll restart when I'm %(*#ing well ready to restart... Go back to doing things...
Your computer has installed updates and will restart in 15 minutes
[Restart Now] [Close]What the elephant? I told it to shut up! ...and so on, until the automatic reboot... Obviously, once I experienced that, I turned it off so it'll never do that again... But no operating system should force a reboot like that, without even giving an option to postpone. The start screen is annoying, but not a deal-breaker... Haven't found anything else I hate about it yet... Of course, I only have it on my laptop, not my Win7 desktop, so it hasn't seen heavy use.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)Huh. Mine has never done that. All I get are the updates being installed when I shutdown or reboot. What am I doing wrong?
We won't sit down. We won't shut up. We won't go quietly away. YouTube and My Mu[sic], Films and Windows Programs, etc.
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After asking a question on how to upgrade to 8.1 a lot of respectable :bob:ians have told me that it was a bad idea doing that (going from 7 to 8.1) and of course, I've wondered what is so terrible about it as it Works for me... So here's another question: why 7 is much better tan 8.1 or if you prefer... why 8.1 is as terrible compared to 7? Please don't start flame wars or similar... everyone has its opinion and it must be respected. I'll start: windows 8 pro's: - Internet explorer 11 knows that it has to change it's spell check when you change the input language. - You can pause large file operations. - It starts really fast. - When you start several copy operations all of them are stacked onto one single dialog. - Once you know that windows+c shortcut getting into the control panel is a breeze. - In a multi display environment you have the task bar in all the displays and then you can reach all your open programs from any display and show the start menu in the display you are looking at... windows 7 pro's: - start menu is much better. ...
[www.tamautomation.com] | Robots, CNC and PLC machines for grinding and polishing. [YouTube channel]
I have found Windows 8.1 to be a REALLY stable OS. Over many months of heavy use and I have never had a crash or seen a blue screen. I don't need to reboot, unless there is a system update. They are doing something right.
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After asking a question on how to upgrade to 8.1 a lot of respectable :bob:ians have told me that it was a bad idea doing that (going from 7 to 8.1) and of course, I've wondered what is so terrible about it as it Works for me... So here's another question: why 7 is much better tan 8.1 or if you prefer... why 8.1 is as terrible compared to 7? Please don't start flame wars or similar... everyone has its opinion and it must be respected. I'll start: windows 8 pro's: - Internet explorer 11 knows that it has to change it's spell check when you change the input language. - You can pause large file operations. - It starts really fast. - When you start several copy operations all of them are stacked onto one single dialog. - Once you know that windows+c shortcut getting into the control panel is a breeze. - In a multi display environment you have the task bar in all the displays and then you can reach all your open programs from any display and show the start menu in the display you are looking at... windows 7 pro's: - start menu is much better. ...
[www.tamautomation.com] | Robots, CNC and PLC machines for grinding and polishing. [YouTube channel]
IMHO... MS screwed up with Win 8 when they assumed everyone would want the dumb metro screen. If I only ever ran it on a 7" tablet then possibly yes, but I run Win on my laptop and desktop and try to do actual work. This means I don't want every app running full screen. The only apps I ever run full screen are those that have code in them so I can see more of it. Nothing else runs full screen, including Chrome. Few website are made for 24" monitors so I would be wasting real estate if I did that. And I have too many windows open to have everything in full screen. That would be just dumb. But then, I blindly assume most users here are roughly the same in that regard. With that being said, Win 8.1 is the best OS I've ever had. I installed classic shell to give me my start menu back two years ago and I've never looked back. It solved all the problems Win 8 came with. A simple solution. I've installed it on all my win 8 machines (wife, kids, laptop, desktop, etc). I've never had an issue with it, not one. It won't be needed when 10 comes out, but for now, it makes Win 8.1 stand head and shoulders over Win 7. When I have to use someone's Win 7 at work. I always get annoyed because I just prefer Win 8. Of course, it doesn't speak well of an OS when the first thing you have to do after installing it is to install an app to "fix" it to make it better, but c'est la-vie. It works, is fast, up-to-date, and rarely crashes. And the integration with MS on the backend is also very cool because I like everything synchronizing so my info is always where I am. A potential security issue to be sure, but I still like the convenience. Sorry to be so verbose, we all have issues... :-D
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After asking a question on how to upgrade to 8.1 a lot of respectable :bob:ians have told me that it was a bad idea doing that (going from 7 to 8.1) and of course, I've wondered what is so terrible about it as it Works for me... So here's another question: why 7 is much better tan 8.1 or if you prefer... why 8.1 is as terrible compared to 7? Please don't start flame wars or similar... everyone has its opinion and it must be respected. I'll start: windows 8 pro's: - Internet explorer 11 knows that it has to change it's spell check when you change the input language. - You can pause large file operations. - It starts really fast. - When you start several copy operations all of them are stacked onto one single dialog. - Once you know that windows+c shortcut getting into the control panel is a breeze. - In a multi display environment you have the task bar in all the displays and then you can reach all your open programs from any display and show the start menu in the display you are looking at... windows 7 pro's: - start menu is much better. ...
[www.tamautomation.com] | Robots, CNC and PLC machines for grinding and polishing. [YouTube channel]
The only diff with win 7 on a desk/laptop is missing start menu. Huge mistake in my opinion-but ms wanted to force users to see the metro feature. I install "classic shell" on all my win 8 machines except tablets. Brings the win 7 start menu - everything else seems to be the same as win 7, but a little faster.
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Windows 8.1 cons: 1. The mouse left-click button is disabled if you have a tablet device attached to your PC. (Point with mouse, click with tablet.) 2. Pro version is required (not home version) to enable disk management functions, such as moving public folders to other hard drives. (In NZ, Pro version is 3 times more costly.) Even after successfully relocating folders, the OS fights to return them to previous locations. 3. Swipe in from right edge is extremely difficult when no touch screen device is attached. 4. Request to allow installation software to alter system only recognises tab key to select [Yes] _ mouse-click AND tablet-POINT are disabled.
The difficult may take time, the impossible a little longer.
Member 10707677 wrote:
Swipe in from right edge is extremely difficult when no touch screen device is attached.
Try Win + C on the keyboard.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer
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Tim Carmichael wrote:
Change is constant.
True. It would be nice if we'd only commit those changes that are actually improvements, cause quite often they are just that - changes.
Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)
You're awesome!!! We need to get that valuable knowledge out to the voters before November, 2016!! I mean seriously, if you're just voting for change, all you are doing is rolling the dice. And if you already live in the best country in the world (based on who is trying to get in and who is trying to get out :-)), you probably wouldn't want TOO much to change randomly. :laugh:
hatfok King Yiddum's Castle Pegasus Galaxy
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After asking a question on how to upgrade to 8.1 a lot of respectable :bob:ians have told me that it was a bad idea doing that (going from 7 to 8.1) and of course, I've wondered what is so terrible about it as it Works for me... So here's another question: why 7 is much better tan 8.1 or if you prefer... why 8.1 is as terrible compared to 7? Please don't start flame wars or similar... everyone has its opinion and it must be respected. I'll start: windows 8 pro's: - Internet explorer 11 knows that it has to change it's spell check when you change the input language. - You can pause large file operations. - It starts really fast. - When you start several copy operations all of them are stacked onto one single dialog. - Once you know that windows+c shortcut getting into the control panel is a breeze. - In a multi display environment you have the task bar in all the displays and then you can reach all your open programs from any display and show the start menu in the display you are looking at... windows 7 pro's: - start menu is much better. ...
[www.tamautomation.com] | Robots, CNC and PLC machines for grinding and polishing. [YouTube channel]
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Tim Carmichael wrote:
Is the layout different? Yes, but the layout was different going from a green screen in college to Windows 3, and then again on Windows 95... Change is constant.
Ah, but it doesn't have to be. It's a balancing act, between progress (change is good!) and what is already good and familiar (change is bad!) I see it as kind of like the progression of cooking (speaking from personal experience here...) DOS and earlier were kind of like PB&J sandwiches. Basic, but kept you fed. Windows 3/3.1 etc were like microwave ramen. Slightly more difficult to make, but still, kept you fed. Windows 95 was a step up to grilled cheese. Getting better, but still, not all that great. Windows 98 was adding ham to that grilled cheese. Windows 2000 was pairing cream of tomato soup with that grilled ham and cheese. Windows ME was back to ramen. Windows XP was a medium sirloin with a loaded baked potato. Close, but not quite there yet. Windows 7 was a perfectly cooked rare filet mignon with a loaded baked potato and asparagus with hollandaise. Perfection. Now Windows 8... That is like you took a look at that beautiful meal that was Windows 7... And got greedy. You said 'I want more. I can do better.' But what you ended up with was an over-seasoned, over-cooked, filet, a potato with flavors that don't pair well, and hollandaise with a consistency that more closely resembles cold butter, than maple syrup. All because you couldn't leave well enough alone. Now your wife is upset with you because you ruined her favorite meal, and you had to order pizza. Progress only comes from experimentation, and we certainly learn more from our failures than our successes. Still, you have to learn when to leave well enough alone. Microsoft has been in business long enough now that they should have already learned that lesson.
How does Microsoft capture part of the mobile market without everyone saying that there are too many versions of Windows and there should only be one? Again, I have never owned a touchscreen and Windows 8 & 8.1 have worked marvelously for me since the Windows 8 beta. The big secret: use the traditional Windows desktop that comes with Windows 8, you just press the windows key to switch to it, and you're off and running with you standard keyboard and mouse. It functions just like windows 7. If you want to start a program and don't have an icon for it, you press the windows key, start typing the name of the program, and press enter to start it. Back to the Windows 7 experience. Interesting now how Windows 10 is right around the corner, and this thread has some of the nicest things to say about Windows 8. People always seem to be OK with the previous version. Remember when windows 7 came out and all of a sudden everybody was in love with Vista, after YEARS of ripping it apart? Human nature.
hatfok King Yiddum's Castle Pegasus Galaxy
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I have found Windows 8.1 to be a REALLY stable OS. Over many months of heavy use and I have never had a crash or seen a blue screen. I don't need to reboot, unless there is a system update. They are doing something right.
Dennis Saeva wrote:
I have found Windows 8.1 to be a REALLY stable OS.
Either you are lucky, or I am not...probably the latter. I have 8.1 on a laptop, and my wife has it on an all-in-one. The laptop was built for testing only, but has a bad habit of freezing (about 20% of the time) when starting up. The little 'dancing circles' just stop...I've left it that way for a couple of days, but it never goes any further. Last weekend, I had to rebuild the wife's all-in-one when it started doing the same thing, eventually failing every time...no BSOD, just frozen! :sigh: I have been running Win7 on multiple computers since it came out, and this has never happened. I'll stick with 7 for now.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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For me, it's a matter of not being able to really get there. I am on a service pack on Windows 8.0, as an upgrade from Windows 7. After three several hour attempts to upgrade to Windows 8.1, it fails with an esoteric blue screen crash, and takes a few more hours to roll itself back. I loathe Windows 8.0, primarily for its flakiness and app incompatibility, but I cannot move the box forwards or backwards without wiping it. I'll use Windows as required at work, but this box killer, plus Dell laptops now shipping with Ubuntu, means I'll never personally buy a Windows device again. {end mini-rant}
One thing I have to agree with is that YES - - - EVERY time I try to upgrade a version of Windows it goes horribly wrong. Then spend hours trying to fix itself. I always end up wiping the drive and installing from scratch. Doesn't matter if it's my gaming rig, gaming laptop, regular laptop, wife's or kid's machines, the upgrade nor the recovery have ever worked for me.
hatfok King Yiddum's Castle Pegasus Galaxy
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We use both in our household. I use 8.1 with a boot directly into the 7 style desktop. From my perspective, there is not much difference. I'm happy with either, but maybe it just takes little to keep me happy. :) BTW: I never experienced problems with any of the updates.
Well, you are a genius!!! I spend most of my life when windows 8 came out explaining and re-explaining to everyone I know that you do not need a touchscreen to use windows 8. Finally some people are intelligent enough to see that! Cheers!
hatfok King Yiddum's Castle Pegasus Galaxy
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Two MAJOR issues: Usability! Win 8 is a totally different paradigm that Win 7. For a laptop and the Windows Phone the Tiles were cute, but for a Corporate environment, no one really wants to work like that. Security! Win 8 has gone completely overboard with security. As a developer your app can only write to it's own folder or the cloud... so I can't build an app that write app that write to another app's folder.. something I've done in the past.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
Oh good Lord - see the previous post --> "boot directly into the 7 style desktop. From my perspective, there is not much difference. I'm happy with either" I thought this was over. :-(
hatfok King Yiddum's Castle Pegasus Galaxy
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After asking a question on how to upgrade to 8.1 a lot of respectable :bob:ians have told me that it was a bad idea doing that (going from 7 to 8.1) and of course, I've wondered what is so terrible about it as it Works for me... So here's another question: why 7 is much better tan 8.1 or if you prefer... why 8.1 is as terrible compared to 7? Please don't start flame wars or similar... everyone has its opinion and it must be respected. I'll start: windows 8 pro's: - Internet explorer 11 knows that it has to change it's spell check when you change the input language. - You can pause large file operations. - It starts really fast. - When you start several copy operations all of them are stacked onto one single dialog. - Once you know that windows+c shortcut getting into the control panel is a breeze. - In a multi display environment you have the task bar in all the displays and then you can reach all your open programs from any display and show the start menu in the display you are looking at... windows 7 pro's: - start menu is much better. ...
[www.tamautomation.com] | Robots, CNC and PLC machines for grinding and polishing. [YouTube channel]
Old software (from windows 95 days) that wrote files to the Program Files/xxx/subdir And the user is NOT ALLOWED to get into subdir (unless they were admin, and they were not). So, the ability to use old software started failing. The ability to get "in there" and look at it was blocked by a down-graded security setting for explorer. Not to mention RETRAINING for non-tech users. My wife took forever to use the start button. She bought a fast new laptop, and almost threw it at me. She is screaming about not being able to launch her gmail. She had the "paper notes" from the old computer. And was trying to follow them. Then I sit down, COMPLETELY NEW to windows 8... OMG, how to I program one of these panels to go straight to chrome? Ugghhh... Installed: Classic Shell... Ah... Usable computer. The Charms bar SUCKS. Windows Key, then start typing, and it finds what I want. Right click, run as administrator. So nice, so easy. Charms bar. Doesnt even find the same stuff... Ugghhh... Now... That computer will upgrade to Windows 10. But my windows 7 Pro machine will stay here for as long as I can... (Oh, windows 8 was so bad, I bought my first Mac just to play with it). My wifes next computer will probably be a Mac... She does email, youtube, some browsing...
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After asking a question on how to upgrade to 8.1 a lot of respectable :bob:ians have told me that it was a bad idea doing that (going from 7 to 8.1) and of course, I've wondered what is so terrible about it as it Works for me... So here's another question: why 7 is much better tan 8.1 or if you prefer... why 8.1 is as terrible compared to 7? Please don't start flame wars or similar... everyone has its opinion and it must be respected. I'll start: windows 8 pro's: - Internet explorer 11 knows that it has to change it's spell check when you change the input language. - You can pause large file operations. - It starts really fast. - When you start several copy operations all of them are stacked onto one single dialog. - Once you know that windows+c shortcut getting into the control panel is a breeze. - In a multi display environment you have the task bar in all the displays and then you can reach all your open programs from any display and show the start menu in the display you are looking at... windows 7 pro's: - start menu is much better. ...
[www.tamautomation.com] | Robots, CNC and PLC machines for grinding and polishing. [YouTube channel]
People still remember the problems with the initial version of Windows 8.0. I've had numerous problems with drivers, crashing, programs switching unexpectedly etc etc. Windows 8.1 is way better now. They fixed most of the unpleasant things, so actually I prefer using Win 8.
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I've still got a laptop running Vista mainly being used as a media device. I agree, I didn't have a problem with Vista, other than the fact it was over hyped and didn't add anything to XP. As for Win 8.1, I've got 2 PCs and a tablet running it and I really only have 2 dislikes 1) No start menu 2) The hover in the lower right you have to do to get the settings to show up Other than that it's not that bad and the wife and kids are able to use it effectively. I'm still running Win 7 on my PC but, like with Vista, I didn't have a compelling reason to upgrade to 8.1. I will be upgrading it to Win 10, mostly cause it's a free upgrade.
Guess I'm one of the few people that use third party menu apps in Windows... Had Classic Shell running since switched from XP to Win 7. Never actually noticed the lack of menu in Win 8. Classic Shell had 15 million downloads according to SourceForge. Probably about 1% of the Win 8.x users checked it out. Maybe someone should have mentioned going to third party apps in their tirades against Win 8.x on all the IT media. The idea that you can change to a third party app if you don't like the base app is why lots of us use Firefox or Chrome. So why not a menu app?
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Why does Win8 suck? Simple...
Your computer has installed updates and will restart in 30 minutes
[Restart Now] [Close]I clicked Close, because I'll restart when I'm %(*#ing well ready to restart... Go back to doing things...
Your computer has installed updates and will restart in 15 minutes
[Restart Now] [Close]What the elephant? I told it to shut up! ...and so on, until the automatic reboot... Obviously, once I experienced that, I turned it off so it'll never do that again... But no operating system should force a reboot like that, without even giving an option to postpone. The start screen is annoying, but not a deal-breaker... Haven't found anything else I hate about it yet... Of course, I only have it on my laptop, not my Win7 desktop, so it hasn't seen heavy use.
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)What you've got there is a bad case of unchecked I.T. administrator arrogance. (Heyyyy here's something that'll make my job a teensy bit easier... And screw the people whose work it trashes, they stepped away from their computer, so fsck them.)
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What you've got there is a bad case of unchecked I.T. administrator arrogance. (Heyyyy here's something that'll make my job a teensy bit easier... And screw the people whose work it trashes, they stepped away from their computer, so fsck them.)
Umm, no... Home machine, not work. That's out-of-the-box behavior, courtesy of Lenovo
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) -
Y'know what's really funny? I still have a Vista PC in use, mainly as a file server, but I still sometimes sit at it. I think I'm one of the nine people in the world who didn't have a problem with Vista -- the only thing I objected to was the "wow factor", but the first time I booted the PC, it asked me if I wanted the "wow factor" cr@p, I said "NO!", and it never bothered me about it again. It was lovely and fast, with all that memory that was added to handle the "wow" being freed up.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
Vista is the most beautiful Windows ever. It is not as polished in the details as XP was, but compared to W7... well, W7 has the chunky taskbar, baby steps to touch, has the single panel borders in Windows Explorer while they can be resized with mouse. It has icons changed to text - cost cutting, time constraint, touch support - who knows? Vista had the same poised Start menu - just leave the mouse over All programs while looking for a frequently used program...
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Two MAJOR issues: Usability! Win 8 is a totally different paradigm that Win 7. For a laptop and the Windows Phone the Tiles were cute, but for a Corporate environment, no one really wants to work like that. Security! Win 8 has gone completely overboard with security. As a developer your app can only write to it's own folder or the cloud... so I can't build an app that write app that write to another app's folder.. something I've done in the past.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
The corporate environment is full of dashboards, Metro apps born for that. It is full with restrictions (or downtime for removing viruses), too. Added: and full with longing for full screen, single apps the users can't switch from.
