Windows 7 vs 8. Any opinions or experience with Win8?

[John Wagenseil]

My Ten year old Compaq laptop with Win XP is dying, dead pixels, bad sound, ports and jacks that need to be wiggled to work, touchy key board.

As much as I would like to get a new laptop with xp on it, I suppose should get a newer OS.

I have used Win 7, don't care for it trying to force using the library on you, but can find "my computer" and use traditional hierarchical file system, esp.when I have multple USB drives plugged in or have networked laptop, and it has "start" so I can find everthing.

I have played with win 8 computer and it seems to be nightmare, it can be hard getting past START screen esp if view has shifted away from tiny desktop icon. Desktop has no Start or similar master button so I am not sure where list of programs is kept. Finding screen to set up files on was easy, it was much harder trying to find it again, Win8 kept trying to force me to use library where files are lumped by type, and not by the way I want to group them, or somehow kept dumping me back into the start screen.

Sometimes I could not resize a program window, or it would not let me open up another one , but other times I could. It was easy to misplace saved files, I felt I was lost in a shifting maze, and found the OS responding inconsistently. It made me wonder who MS had put on its Win8 focus groups: maybe a bunch of stoned gamers? I cannot imagine trying to keep a lot of screens open and trying to get any real work done with everything shifting and sliding around and the OS trying to tell you how to do things instead of just letting you do them. I could figure out how to use a Mac and how to do basic things on Linux machines by trial and error without a manual,with win8 I was lost.

The Win8 OS connects to internet on its own and starts flashing screens I do not want to see, and uses up cycle time and slows computer to crawl when it connects to site with a lot of animated graphics. Win8 also shows the pictures I have stored as background screen savers and I do not know how to turn this off. I do not want my personal pics being flashed in little window for all to see when I am away from computer.

I read a review of Win which says that Win8 phones home to Microsoft with list of installed software and notifies Microsoft when you install new software and keeps track of your usage patterns to "enhance your Windows experience". Definitely a "feature" I do not want. They showed how you can turn off this "feature" but there is no garauntee MS will not turn it back on with an automatic upgrade. I have had things I wanted off on Win7 turned back on after upgrade or software install, so I expect Win8 will have similar behavior.

And trying to turn off Win ain't all that easy either, you have to find a tiny spot on the right had screen bottom (It is not all that easy to see, if I have the wrong glasses on) and makes you do a whole lot of clicks before you can turn the computer off. A much more complex process than with XP.

I have a lot of "obsolete" software, most of which I know will run on Win7, I don't know how far back the compatibility of Win8 extends.

I went to local computer and office stores and they no longer have any win7 lap tops in stock except for some beat up demos that they are not significantly discounting, so if I want a Win7 computer I will have to troll the internet.

My question is, does any one have any experience with Win8. I find some of its features annoying and hard to use, and others are worrisome. Does Win8 have any must-have features? Has any body here used it long enough to have an opinion about it? Is it just me, am I an obsolete elder kacher who is not able to keep up with what is great and cutting edge, or is there any one else out there who thinks Win8 is a dog?

A Mac is not an option, they cost too much, and there is no native MAC soft ware to open PDO files. Once I get a new lap top, I am thinking about wiping the drive on the old one and trying to mess more with Linux. I can handle the cost of the Linux OS and can play around with it until the old computer really dies.

[whulsey]

John, can't help you with 8. Went throught similar about a year ago when my old computer with 2000 died. Still not real happy with 7, just have gotten used to...and adjusted to it. And that's what a lot of it was adjusting to how it wanted to do things, not the way I wanted (or had been doing for years) to things. Still pisses me off. Don't care for Macs, so like you am starting to look at Linux.

[malyMod]

The only hard part about Linux is that if you buy the latest technology there may not be a driver support yet for particular hardware. I myself use win7 and vista. Win8 seems to have too many bells and whistles for my taste. My wife works for Microsoft and the only good hardware for such OS seems to be a phone. My 2 cents worth would be sticking to win7 and bearing with it. It's been a while since its release, plenty driver support and it seems to be stable ( if there is such a thing).

[a380]

after years of using xp i assembled a new computer and installed win 7. got used to it really fast. much more stable than any previous ms os. no crashes in over 2 years. regarding 8, someone at work told me that one can select classic mode for more familiar interface.

[3Turner]

I am using Windows 8....and at first didn't want it. I was going to build a computer from scratch and install Windows 7 in it, but the wife spoke and I listened. She wanted to get the most recent OS, so Windows 8 it was. It took a little getting used to for me to figure out how to navigate. If you have not already done so, go to this following website to see what on your current computer is compatible with Windows 8. I was actually able to download and install a small scanner from MS which scanned all software and hardware installed/connected to my computer and it told me what was compatible, what needed to be updated and what was going in the trash.
Windows Compatibility Center: Find Updates, Drivers, & Downloads for Windows 8, Windows RT and Windows 7

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

As much as I would like to get a new laptop with xp on it, I suppose should get a newer OS.

It is best to upgrade the OS to Win7 or Win8 as XP will no longer be updated or supported. Although I still have my XP computer, it is going to my oldest son to use....and may even install some form of Linux on it.

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

I have used Win 7, don't care for it trying to force using the library on you, but can find "my computer" and use traditional hierarchical file system, esp.when I have multple USB drives plugged in or have networked laptop, and it has "start" so I can find everthing.

In Windows 8, your "Start" button is the new Metro UI tiles that the computer starts up on. HOWEVER, there is already a mod available that allows you to install and 'pin' an actual Start Button to the desktop....when in the desktop viewer.

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

I have played with win 8 computer and it seems to be nightmare, it can be hard getting past START screen esp if view has shifted away from tiny desktop icon. Desktop has no Start or similar master button so I am not sure where list of programs is kept. Finding screen to set up files on was easy, it was much harder trying to find it again, Win8 kept trying to force me to use library where files are lumped by type, and not by the way I want to group them, or somehow kept dumping me back into the start screen.

As mentioned above, the Metro UI is your Start button now....and list of installed programs. Additionally, from the Metro UI screen, you can start typing what you are looking for and it will give you results on the right side of the screen to click on. From the Desktop screen, you can enter Windows Explorer and find files that way as well....if that is what you are referring to as 'Library'. There are also selections to group them by size, date, name, tags and many other selections.

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

Sometimes I could not resize a program window, or it would not let me open up another one , but other times I could. It was easy to misplace saved files, I felt I was lost in a shifting maze, and found the OS responding inconsistently. It made me wonder who MS had put on its Win8 focus groups: maybe a bunch of stoned gamers? I cannot imagine trying to keep a lot of screens open and trying to get any real work done with everything shifting and sliding around and the OS trying to tell you how to do things instead of just letting you do them. I could figure out how to use a Mac and how to do basic things on Linux machines by trial and error without a manual,with win8 I was lost.

I've found that there are some windows that I could not resize, but that is by design in the software of that specific program, not Windows 8. A set window size was all the software allowed. Can't say that I have run into not being able to open another window in the OS when I wanted and I've not lost or misplaced any saved files. I have a 'Download' folder that everything goes to first. But again, from the Metro UI screen, start typing the file name and on the right you will see a selection for "Files XXX" where XXX is the number. For example, I type Grumman and it instantly finds over 2000 pictures with the name Grumman on my computer. I took me at least a week of consistent use, countless searches on Google and watching videos on Youtube to figure out some of the features.

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

The Win8 OS connects to internet on its own and starts flashing screens I do not want to see, and uses up cycle time and slows computer to crawl when it connects to site with a lot of animated graphics. Win8 also shows the pictures I have stored as background screen savers and I do not know how to turn this off. I do not want my personal pics being flashed in little window for all to see when I am away from computer.

Now here, after reading this....I am going to assume that you installed Windows 8 on your current computer to see if you like it because of the "slows computer to crawl". If so, you will surely not like Windows 8. I'll tell you this, this Windows 8 computer literally burns my XP in cycle time and basic computer functions. Things that took me 2 hours on my XP computer now can be done in less than 15 minutes! Although, the internals has a lot to do with that. This computer specs are as follows: Windows 8 basic, Intel i7-3770, 3.4GHz, 8GB RAM, 64-bit, 1 TB internal HD, DVD R+RW. And I still have slots for more RAM (up to 32GB) and a couple more bays for internal storage if needed or a blue-ray burner.

I do however, have my computer to connect to the wifi internet on its own. If you don't want that, you just UNCHECK the box for connect automatically for that specific wifi connection. As for an ethernet hard-line, I don't know if there is a similar setting. And regarding the Windows 8 using pictures stored as background, there is a nice setting that you can change under the screensaver options so that the photos you don't want to show will not show. But you have to tell the screensaver service which folder to get the pictures from. I bet it is grabbing from that folder you don't want it to grab from right now.

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

I read a review of Win which says that Win8 phones home to Microsoft with list of installed software and notifies Microsoft when you install new software and keeps track of your usage patterns to "enhance your Windows experience". Definitely a "feature" I do not want. They showed how you can turn off this "feature" but there is no garauntee MS will not turn it back on with an automatic upgrade. I have had things I wanted off on Win7 turned back on after upgrade or software install, so I expect Win8 will have similar behavior.

Almost every bit of hardware or software you use has some sort of "let us collect usage information to improve your experience" inside of it. I turned off the setting on my computer for Windows 8, but I am very sure that MS WILL NOT turn it back on without my consent with an automatic upgrade. I never experienced it myself. Can you be more specific as to what features were off before and turned back on with an upgrade?

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

And trying to turn off Win ain't all that easy either, you have to find a tiny spot on the right had screen bottom (It is not all that easy to see, if I have the wrong glasses on) and makes you do a whole lot of clicks before you can turn the computer off. A much more complex process than with XP.

Yep, there are 3 clicks needed to turn off the windows 8 computers now. This is a minor annoyance, however, again there is a way to make it a 1-click operation. I found an instruction about how to do it earlier this week looking for something else, but never actually did the process. For me, I have my computer to sleep after so much time after it sits still with no use. So I never turn it off...and restarts are only when required.

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

I have a lot of "obsolete" software, most of which I know will run on Win7, I don't know how far back the compatibility of Win8 extends.

That you can check with the link I gave up top.

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

I went to local computer and office stores and they no longer have any win7 lap tops in stock except for some beat up demos that they are not significantly discounting, so if I want a Win7 computer I will have to troll the internet.

Here local, we have a computer store called Altex. They make custom computers and will install windows 7 on it. Additionally, there is another store called Mr. Notebook which sells USED laptops of all kinds with all different Windows OS on them.

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

My question is, does any one have any experience with Win8. I find some of its features annoying and hard to use, and others are worrisome. Does Win8 have any must-have features? Has any body here used it long enough to have an opinion about it? Is it just me, am I an obsolete elder kacher who is not able to keep up with what is great and cutting edge, or is there any one else out there who thinks Win8 is a dog?

Don't know about any must have features, but the one thing that I wanted to be sure to work on my Windows 8 computer was my Wacom graphics tablet that I use for photo editing as well as repaints. Well, the compatibility checker said that it would work. So when I installed and tried to use it...it only functioned as a HUGE trackpad instead of an actual pen graphics tablet. I was MAD! I literally sat for weeks of searching for an answer online since October and even went as far as buying a new graphics tablet that ended up acting the same way. But just 3 days ago...yes 3...I found an answer after another 5 hours of searching online. One post I came across on a help forum mentioned that the Firewall software installed was suspected in interfering with the Wacom drivers. Funny thing was that I did not have that firewall installed....but hey, why not try right? So I uninstalled the firewall...Zonealarm Free...and as soon as the computer restarted, my tablet worked again!! I as a happy camper after that!


Hope this helps out....and if you want to know some specifics on Windows 8, let me know.

[eric_son]

Hi,

I "embraced" Win8 last November by performing an in-place upgrade on my Win7 Home Premium. I only experienced two glitches, one of which was my fault.

The first glitch was my ASUS Motherboard monitor which started to raise a lot of weird errors after first boot. But as I said, that was my fault. Prior to upgrading to Win8, the upgrade assistant flagged the ASUS mobo monitor as a potential problem and should be uninstalled, then replaced by the newer Win8 version from ASUS. In my haste to do the upgrade, I forgot to do that. After it went haywire, I could not uninstall the app anymore. I had to browse the forums for a couple of days to find a solution. Luckily, the solution offered by the various forums worked.

Another problem I had was that pdf writer - primopdf stopped working. It shows the pdf printer in the list of printers available, but when I try to print to pdf, win8 says that the printer is offline. Huh? How can a virtual printer be offline?! Anyway, luckily, the app uninstalled fine. When I re-installed it, it worked.

Other than the two issues above, I had no problems with Win8.

RE: No more start menu
That was really not an issue for me.
I'm currently dual booted to Ubuntu Linux. I've been using the Ubuntu's UNITY shell for more than a year now. The UNITY shell also ditched Gnome's equivalent of the start menu. In place of the start menu it provides a smart app search function.
Win7 has something similar in the form of a small text box on the bottom of the start menu. In contrast to Win7's search function, the Win8 search will occupy the whole screen and will display in real time the apps that match the search criteria that you type. This is very similar to the Unity shell's search function as well.
I kinda prefer the search function over the old start menu since I find it quicker. Also, I can "pin" my favorite apps to the desktop task bar as well as on my Metro start screen. So no problems there either.

RE: Some apps take up the whole darned screen
Metro...
You'll have to learn to distinguish between "native" metro apps and non-metro apps. If you launch a Metro app, it will eat up the whole screen.
An example of this it Internet Explorer. There are two versions of IE installed in Win8. One is metro and the other is non-metro.
If you click on the IE icon on the metro start screen, the metro version of IE will start. And yes, it will eat up the whole screen. You can "re-size" it to some extent by using the snap function.
If you go to desktop mode, and start the IE that's pinned to the task bar, you'll get the desktop version of IE that is windowed and fully resizable.
It takes some getting used to. But eventually, you'll learn to distinguish between metro and non-metro apps.
I guess this behavior was designed more for tablets than for desktop. On a tablet, I think this behavior will work great. But it is not suitable for desktops without any touch screens.

RE: Phone home
I think this is the Win8 app market.
Microsoft finally did a "me too" to Apple's Appstore, Android's Play Store and Ubuntu's App Market by having its own Windows App market. As with Android, Ubuntu and Apply, any app that you installed from the Windows App Market will now be periodically monitored for updates (phone home).
I'm okay with this.
Also, you must realize that Windows has been phoning home since Win98 through the Windows Update service.

RE: Must have
As a former Win7 user, there really isn't any must have features I can think of, save for one: The boot time.
On my current rig, Intel i5-3470 with 8gm ram and a 1TB sata drive, win7 boots up in 40secs and becomes usable in 1minute. Now, win8 boots up in 15secs! And becomes usable in around 40secs.
"Usable" means the HDD stops thrashing and you can start loading your apps.
It's not really a killer feature for me. 40s-1m on Win7 was perfectly fine.

RE: Biggest issue >> the shutdown
I agree. Very very annoying!
Win7: Shutdown
vs.
Win8: WIN + I >> (i) >> Shutdown
I think this shutdows issue is a design specifically made for tablets, since those things are not really shutdown. They're put to sleep instead. MS should have made some design exceptions for the desktop (quick shutdown).
I'm pretty much okay with Win8. But that's me. I easily grow tired of an OS's User Interface and I'm constantly seeking for new stuff. I've been using Win7 since 2009, and have more or less grown tired of its UI, which has remained unchanged since Win95 (save for some cosmetics). And for me, even with its nuances, Metro is a fresh update. It takes a while to get used to, but for me, learning a new UI is fun.

[ultra]

well i have win 7 and so far i had no probs at all

though i played with win 8 at a pc shop it was pretty good though it takes a lot of getting used to (at least for me) i mean the start is waaay far from simple it was complicated for me that i left the test pc i was on but as the microsoft specialist said to me it has great new features to it but it takes a bit of getting used to

ultra stone

[eric_son]

I guess it falls down to user habit.
When I was still with Win7, I preferred pinning my favorite apps to the task bar. I rarely used the Start Menu. I guess this helped ease my transition to Metro.

[jleslie48]

don't know about windoze 8, but I have yet to run into any software that won't run on my windows 7 professional 64-bit. I was even able to download some windows xp emulators to fix the most annoying things about windows 7. Especially the start button limited view "programs" window. In fact, most people who sit on my computer don't realize its windows 7 because it looks and feels exactly like windows xp. I even have explorer++ which really makes it feel at home.

So far the only thing I like about windows 7 over xp is the "recent places" hotspot in the file explorer.

[willygoat]

I'm a Mac guy, but I'm going to chime in on this one, as my 8 year old Mac is dying, and I need to replace it. I've been looking at an HP Envy laptop. I want one computer to run all of my software, not two, or sometimes three like now. I'm especially excited to have a computer that can run my flight simulator at top levels.

Since FSX was made for Vista, I looked up how to run it on Win8, because that is all that is available on the new laptops I'm looking at. I found that there is an add-on patch for Win8 to make it have a "Start" button, and there is a patch to revert the system to run older software like FSX. Now, I just need to go back and find the info on that again.