Windows 8: Adventures in Upgrading

ShottleBop · #1 02-19-2013, 08:22 AM

Spent a couple of days this past holiday weekend upgrading my Lenovo Ideapad from Windows 7 to Windows 8. (Couldn't pass up the $40 deal, and, having spent that, couldn't not install it.) Took an entire day and more to get it up and running (the first day spent FIRST, just sticking the disc in and letting it run, only to have the machine tell me, a few hours later, that it couldn't install Windows 8, and it was going to put everything back the way it was; then, SECOND, going to Lenovo's website and following its advice to uninstall a crapload of bloatware and a few Microsoft products alleged to create difficulties in the upgrade to Windows 8, running chkdsk and a filecheck, then running the upgrade disc only to have it, once again, hang on the final step and decide to put everything back the way it had been.

Overnight, I figured that maybe TrueCrypt was causing issues. (My hard drive was no longer encrypted, the original drive having become corrupted last year and been replaced with a new one that was not encrypted, but which still required a TrueCrypt password at boot.) I found out that the decryption operation I'd run last year had not really completed. So I restarted, and completed that, and then uninstalled TrueCrypt. Then I installed Windows 8 (i.e., this time it worked).

Of course, SonicWall NetExtender, the program I use to log in to work remotely, no longer works. I'll have to see if my IT guy can help me out tomorrow.

ceptimus · #2 02-19-2013, 08:51 AM

Once you've got it running, it will be interesting to see if you think 'upgrade' is the correct word to use.

Stormlight · #3 02-19-2013, 10:48 AM

I have upgraded from Windows 7 64bit to Windows 8 pro some weeks ago. I had quite few problems at first:

Couldn't upgrade the nvidia drivers
Couldn't create a restore point
Problems with MS Defender

Now that these problems are solved I kind of like it. Apart from the annoyance of having two different GUIs the OS is fast and reliable.

Was it really an "upgrade" and was it worth it? Probably not. But it's a lot better than I was led to believe.

ShottleBop · #4 02-20-2013, 06:30 PM

Now that I've got a few of the kinks worked out (thanks to tech support at Witopia and Seagate, to online tech fora and to my cooperative IT guy who downloaded the newest version of NetExtender), it looks like things are running smoothly for the nonce.

I quite like the tiled Start screen. Desktop is right there, a button away, and, while there's no "start" button, there is a "Desktop" icon in the Desktop task bar that gives me most of that functionality.

Stormlight · #5 05-24-2013, 07:03 AM

After using Win8 for a couple of month I never really use the frankly idiotic (on a desktop PC) Metro UI anymore. I was hoping that MS would bring the Start Menu back with 8.1 but after reading this I have to wonder if Redmond has really gone full retard. :facepalm:

Apart from that, the OS is rock-solid. No crashes and very fast.

Adam · #6 05-24-2013, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormlight

After using Win8 for a couple of month I never really use the frankly idiotic (on a desktop PC) Metro UI anymore. I was hoping that MS would bring the Start Menu back with 8.1 but after reading this I have to wonder if Redmond has really gone full retard. :facepalm:

Apart from that, the OS is rock-solid. No crashes and very fast.

I actually kind of dig the idea behind that mouse although, admittedly, I am an interface device addict.

slimshady2357 · #7 05-24-2013, 03:55 PM

The mouse seems like a good idea :yup:

But surely whatever clicking that button on the mouse does can be replicated on the keyboard?

But · #8 05-25-2013, 03:20 AM

Microsoft Windows is a hemorrhoid in the asshole of humanity since version 3.1 and later.

ceptimus · #9 05-31-2013, 09:37 PM

BBC News - Microsoft 'U-turn' sees Start button back on Windows 8

Stormlight · #10 06-03-2013, 09:54 AM

Yeah, I don't think anybody really wanted the button back. It's the start menu that a lot of people want back. :blank:

But · #11 06-13-2013, 12:04 AM

Try Debian GNU/Linux. No more Microsoft shit. Just say no to Microsoft shit.

ChuckF · #12 07-02-2013, 12:03 AM

New laptop for work. What a piece of shit this thing is. Metro UI is fucking useless. Because, boy, I sure hated having all of my stuff right there on one screen and organized in a menu, instead of having to switch back and forth and then scroll left and right looking for the right little box! So Windows 8 is basically like Windows 7, which I liked, except with significantly reduced functionality. This laptop also features an apparently inexhaustible library of mouse gestures, which, in combination with the crappy HP touchpad, randomly navigate to useless bloatware that I have no use for. Common mouse gestures that produce this effect include "moving the cursor in any direction" and "touching the touchpad." I just use my USB mouse all the time now, since it takes 10-12 minutes to move the cursor across the screen using the touchpad.

I also had one week of using Office 365 until I got the license for real Office. That was surprisingly adequate.

slimshady2357 · #13 07-02-2013, 07:43 PM

I've been trying to help an elderly friend with her new laptop, setting it up, making sure her e-mail works, configuring/installing software she uses, etc...

Windows 8 sucks ass. I fucking HATE those mouse gestures. Like Chuck said, useless shit pops up all the time, you can barely move the fucking cursor without some other program popping up. ARG!!

Since I don't have W8 I don't know yet if you can disable that shit, but OMFG if you can't I'm never getting W8.

Thankfully, you can recreate the Win7 experience for the most part after playing around with it for a while. But I hate it! I hate it! :nerdrage:

ChuckF · #14 07-02-2013, 09:39 PM

I did successfully disable the mouse gestures. After I got control panel open. WHICH BRINGS ME TO: does anyone know how to bring up Settings/Control Panel OTHER than kind of mousing over to the upper right hand corner of the screen and doing the back-and-forth motion? Because I use two screens and that works maybe 30% of the time.

Stormlight · #15 07-03-2013, 01:59 PM

I'm not on my Win8 machine right now but if I'm not mistaken, you right-click (on the desktop!) in the lower left corner of the screen.

ceptimus · #16 07-03-2013, 02:56 PM

From the start screen or desktop, you can just start typing control panel or whatever else you're looking for. By the time you've entered about the first four letters some icon choices should appear on a kind of pop-up menu thing - and one of them should be the thing you're looking for. If you want to use it often, you can then right click on the icon and pin it to the start screen or desktop.

Another way that should work is to hold down the 'Windows' shift key (left of space bar - probably between Alt and Ctrl) and press either the X key or the I key while holding it down - then you should see a menu full of stuff, including the control panel.

MonCapitan2002 · #17 07-05-2013, 03:11 AM

It sounds like Windows 8 runs like ass. I think I'll stick to Windows 7 instead.

Zehava · #18 07-05-2013, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonCapitan2002

It sounds like Windows 8 runs like ass. I think I'll stick to Windows 7 instead.

It's not that it runs like ass, it actually performs quite well, the problem is the UI is COMPLETELY UNLIKE ANY PREVIOUS WINDOWS VERSION. Really there are very few if any similarities between the Win8 Metro UI and previous UIs. You basically have to learn to navigate all over.

To make it even worse there is no means to configure the Metro UI to look like Win7.

As for Chuck's problem, Microsoft should have disabled mouse gestures by default. With the stupidly sensitive touchpads on today's laptops mouse gesturing will do crazy shit, as Chuck noticed.

erimir · #19 07-05-2013, 06:33 PM

Why do you people hate innovation so much? HUH?

Zehava · #20 07-05-2013, 08:39 PM

There is nothing wrong with innovation. Windows 8 does have it's place; on tablets, cell phones, and other touch navigation devices. As a desktop OS the change from previous UIs to Win 8 Metro is way to much at once. We've had nearly 20 years of using the simple and easy to learn Start Menu interface. By my count 8 versions of the Windows desktop OS (95, 98, Me, XP, 2000, NT 4.0, Vista, and Win 7) all used basically the same UI.

Windows 8 throws that all away and says "here learn to navigate all over".

It's quite obvious the MS is trying to go after the mobile market, and I can understand that Microsoft wants to give its' user a consistent experience across platforms, but what works well on touch driven devices does not necessarily work well on the desktop.

lisarea · #21 07-05-2013, 08:57 PM

That seems like a pretty risky move, when at least some portion of MS's customer base is people who are just used to it and don't want to have to figure out a new interface.

But · #22 07-11-2013, 11:49 PM

I repeat, just say no to Microsoft Shitware. I know that Richard Pryor tried to hack into the alien mothership in 2000. Extraterrestrials use Debian GNU/Linux or GNU/Hurd.

ChuckF · #23 07-12-2013, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by But

I repeat, just say no to Microsoft Shitware.

That's a nice thought and all, but it's pretty facile and doesn't recognize that in a huge number of cases, that's just not a realistic option. I don't use Windows at home and haven't for some time, because OS X just works better. But it's pretty hard to avoid Windows if you work in basically any professional field other than software development. It's everywhere, because people are used to it. Volume licensing and enterprise agreements, the dominance of Office, the assured availability and compatibility of commercial software, the availability of support, and the sunk costs of previous investments in training and infrastructure. There are unarguably better technological solutions out there, but that's just part of the equation, and the vast majority of professional Windows users are not in a position to choose an OS for themselves. It's not easy to "just say no" to the tools you are required to use to do your job every single day.

erimir · #24 07-12-2013, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChuckF

But it's pretty hard to avoid Windows if you work in basically any professional field other than software development.

Of course, if you're developing for Windows, or actually working for Microsoft...

ShottleBop · #25 07-16-2013, 07:21 PM

The biggest issue is that, when you have a FKAMetro app open, it wants to keep popping up when you're doing something else. The best way to deal with that is close FKAMetro apps when you're done with them. A pain, but it works.

My second-biggest issue has been opening my commonly-used Windows programs. I finally broke down and installed one of the Windows start-button replacements. This article was very helpful, describing 8 programs that do so. I chose to install Pokki for Windows 8 (primarily for the look and feel), and have been very happy with it.