Windows 8 & 8.1. Questions, and Tips.

[Phoenix .]

I am new to this OS , and as their are a lot of differences from win.7 , I thought it might be helpful not only for me but for other users, to have a dedicated thread.

If you have any helpful hints, tips please post here.

[bonnieboy]

I'm going back further than you but believe this works for win.7 as well. My old laptop gave up the ghost so was forced to get a new one with windows8 and absolutely hated it, so found computertutorflorida.com/2013/02/make-windows-8-look-like-windows-7-or-windows-xp/ followed the instructions here including the ones that try to get you to download other things BEWARE. and ended up with something to me a lot more user friendly. No doubt more computer savvy members will have an easier way to get to the same result but that's the way I did it.

[tomj777]

As a free utility (donations) Classic Shell takes some beating www.classicshell.net/ - Thus I agree with bonnieboy 's recommendation

For a paid utility ($3 USD / Just shy of £2), I like (and use) Start is Back startisback.com/

[Phoenix .]

I would love to do this,but I don't feel confident enough,having had so many other problems to sort out on my other laptop.
Like most things,it looks simple then something crops up that isn't supposed to then I get really confused,I don't want to make any mistakes with my new laptop,I couldn't handle anymore hassle.

Will perhaps try it when I get my mojo back.
Thanks for that information I am sure many people will find it useful and just what they were looking for.

[Super-Shiny]

I use windows 8.1 and find it much better than windows 8.0..................... it's almost configured to work like windows XP which is my fave OS.

Good little tip is to right click your favourite apps/programs and pin them to your desktop task bar, and change things like control panel too (view by:small or large icons)

Keep tweaking and just remember what you have changed if you don't like the tweak.

[sammy13]

Sept 24, 2014 18:02:48 GMT Super-Shiny said:

I use windows 8.1 and find it much better than windows 8.0..................... it's almost configured to work like windows XP which is my fave OS.

Good little tip is to right click your favourite apps/programs and pin them to your desktop tack bar, and change things like control panel too (view by:small or large icons)

Keep tweaking and just remember what you have changed if you don't like the tweak.

I believe 8.1 was brought out because most people hated 8, 9 is out now- almost, and it has gone back to the old days, I'm just praying my laptop lasts til then.

[decoy]

Sept 24, 2014 18:02:48 GMT Super-Shiny said:

I use windows 8.1 and find it much better than windows 8.0..................... it's almost configured to work like windows XP which is my fave OS.

Good little tip is to right click your favourite apps/programs and pin them to your desktop task bar, and change things like control panel too (view by:small or large icons)

Keep tweaking and just remember what you have changed if you don't like the tweak.

this is what i have done
hate windows 8.2 but needed to use it for dx 11.123456r as i likes to play games
have been told about the ways to make it look/work like win 7/xp but never tried them

to peps with older lappys most off the time its your hard drive giving up the gost or to much crap on it try a solid state hard drive or a prog called tuneup utilities both make a huge diff to your lappy/pc

[Chrissie]

A tip from me is to disable some of the "live" tiles from the start page - they can slow loading down as they use up a lot of resoutces.

Right click on the tile & from the drop down list, choose "turn live tile off" Or "unpin from start"

[Phoenix .]

Sept 25, 2014 20:38:38 GMT Chrissie said:

A tip from me is to disable some of the "live" tiles from the start page - they can slow loading down as they use up a lot of resoutces.

Right click on the tile & from the drop down list, choose "turn live tile off" Or "unpin from start"

Done that chrissie, that really does make a difference, keep em coming Chrissie need all the help I can get, my thirst for knowledge is a bottomless pit.

[Phoenix .]

Sept 24, 2014 10:45:18 GMT tomj777 said:

As a free utility (donations) Classic Shell takes some beating www.classicshell.net/ - Thus I agree with bonnieboy 's recommendation

For a paid utility ($3 USD / Just shy of £2), I like (and use) Start is Back startisback.com/

Just tried this tomj777 and it is not available for Win.8+1, it is 'coming later' it said.?

[tomj777]

Sept 26, 2014 17:22:40 GMT Phoenix . said:

Sept 24, 2014 10:45:18 GMT tomj777 said:

As a free utility (donations) Classic Shell takes some beating www.classicshell.net/ - Thus I agree with bonnieboy 's recommendation

For a paid utility ($3 USD / Just shy of £2), I like (and use) Start is Back startisback.com/

Just tried this tomj777 and it is not available for Win.8+1, it is 'coming later' it said.?

Gosh - which one?

[Phoenix .]

Sept 26, 2014 17:42:33 GMT tomj777 said:

Sept 26, 2014 17:22:40 GMT Phoenix . said:

Just tried this tomj777 and it is not available for Win.8+1, it is 'coming later' it said.?

Gosh - which one?

Classic.shell.net

Apparently a lot of people are very unhappy with Win.8 & Win8.1, so they are bringing out Win.9 to take it back to Win.7 variant?

[Beatnik]

I hated Windows 8 and 8.1 but persevered and now love it! Used in conjunction with Firefox and a few trusted add-ons it works a treat.

[tomj777]

Are you sure about that, Phoenix . ?

I'm struggling to find a "coming soon" type reference and v4.1 (latest) seems to get through the first part of the install script on my system without flagging incompatibility (I don't want to go further with that as I'm already running StartIsBack). Where did you see that?

Architecturally, Windows 8.1 is pretty good (more efficient and secure than Windows 7 and a huge improvement on the half baked Windows Vista). However, the whole tile thing is abysmal and best bypassed by any means. Windows 9 looks like it's giving users a little bit of the sense of functionality back, although I think that may prove to be a facade.

[Phoenix .]

Sept 26, 2014 20:40:41 GMT tomj777 said:

Are you sure about that, Phoenix . ?

I'm struggling to find a "coming soon" type reference and v4.1 (latest) seems to get through the first part of the install script on my system without flagging incompatibility (I don't want to go further with that as I'm already running StartIsBack). Where did you see that?

Architecturally, Windows 8.1 is pretty good (more efficient and secure than Windows 7 and a huge improvement on the half baked Windows Vista). However, the whole tile thing is abysmal and best bypassed by any means. Windows 9 looks like it's giving users a little bit of the sense of functionality back, although I think that may prove to be a facade.

Probably put the wrong search address in, it went to Classic.shell.net.?

Will try again.