Features removed in Windows 8

By Fraud OS 11
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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Grand Master

Fraud OS 11

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I made the usual list (and going to be hated by fanbois probably for it) :D But my goal is to highlight those areas which are "damaged" or step back from Windows 7. Discuss and help make it more complete.

? Start Menu and its unique features like Start Menu jump lists, Frequently Used Programs etc have been removed (Not going to list individual Start menu features which Start screen doesn't have)

? The ability to boot directly to the desktop and not load the Metro components in memory is not there

? The Lock screen is the place where you can now display custom background instead of the Logon screen, but unlike the Logon screen, there seems to be no way to programmatically change or cycle through a group of images for the Lock screen background. It must be set manually by the user from PC settings on the Start screen.

? The "Unblock" button previously available on the file properties dialog for unblocking downloaded files (removing the NTFS Alternate Data Stream from the downloaded file) has been removed.

? Running Internet Explorer purely in 64-bit mode is not possible unless Enhanced Protected Mode is enabled which disables all addons. Otherwise, 64-bit IE10 opens 32-bit tabs.

? Search option to use natural language search has been removed.

? Mouse control panel option to allow or disallow themes to change mouse pointers is removed.

? File operations like Rename, Delete can no longer be undone from context menu for UAC-protected locations

? Security Essentials settings for configuring default actions or real-time protection have been removed. (Security Essentials is now built-in as Windows Defender)

? In a dual boot scenario, the ability to directly boot into another OS besides Windows 8 is slowed down because the new Windows 8 graphical boot shell/loader reboots to load the other operating system

? Windows Update settings for showing notifications and allowing all users to install updates have been removed. Windows Update no longer notifies with a balloon notification that there are new updates available. I will now have to manually check for updates once in a while by starting Windows Update or go to the Welcome screen to see if updates are available.

? Sound events for 'Exit Windows', 'Windows Logon' and 'Windows Logoff' are removed

? People Near Me P2P API is removed

? MSConfig's Startup tab has been killed and replaced by the Task Manager's Startup tab that doesn't have the 'Location' column which was useful for example to know if the process started from HKCU or HKLM reg branch.

? Previous Versions for Shadow Copies is removed. The half-baked replacement is the File History feature which is only for certain file types (documents, music, videos and pictures) in Libraries, desktop and browser favorites. Previous Versions worked for any generic file type in any folder.

? Advanced Appearance settings which let you adjust colors, sizes and fonts are removed

? Explorer copy engine issue: Folder conflict prompt when merging/overwriting folders is removed. Explorer silently merges subfolders in a copy operation, you cannot choose entire subfolders to skip or overwrite

? Explorer status bar removes the ability to show important details. It is now a private undocumented control (DirectUI) so it also doesn't allow Explorer addons like Classic Shell to show information like free disk space, total size of items without selection, computer zone, infotip information as it could on a standard status bar control.

? Explorer: Ability to enable both Details pane and Preview pane simultaneously or independently of each other in Explorer for display of file metadata as well as preview is gone

? Flip 3D is gone

? Chkdsk when run at startup does not display any information about file system repairs besides % complete. This screen is gone when Chkdsk runs at startup and replaced by just a dumbed down % complete.

? Pen and Touch Input Desktop features no longer included because of Metro

? Network Map feature and some network profile management UI from Network and Sharing Center is missing

? Memory addresses and other technical information has been removed from the Windows 8 bug check screen (BSOD)

? Windows Boot logo is removed

? The new Task Manager is missing many features of the old one.

? View Available Networks (VAN) UI has been degraded with access to the most important dialog: the Network's Status removed. The VAN UI now covers the notification area icons unnecessarily and the Metro look is out of place on the Aero desktop

? The AutoPlay dialog removes the option to always open a particular program based on the file type

? The Open With dialog breaks the NoInternetOpenWith and NoFileAssociate Group Policies and browsing for a program with the redesigned Open With dialog requires three clicks instead of just one.

? Windows CardSpace is not installed even after installing .NET 3.0/3.5

? The keyboard shortcut for Windows Mobility Center has been removed. Previously, Win+X brought it up, now it brings up the power user context menu.

? Desktop games (no word on whether they will be included or dropped in favor of Metro-style games):

? Chess Titans

? FreeCell

? Hearts

? Solitaire

? Spider Solitaire

? Minesweeper

? Mahjong Titans

? Purble Place

? Windows DVD Maker is removed

? Windows Briefcase

? Windows Gadget Platform is intact but no gadgets to download as the online Gadget Gallery was killed for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users as well.

Deprecated but not yet removed:

? Windows Backup and Restore is deprecated

? The command line tools, DiskPart.exe, DiskRAID.exe, and the Disk Management GUI are being deprecated and replaced by the WMIv2-based Windows Storage Management API with the Storage PowerShell command line utility. Dynamic Disks are being deprecated as part of this transition.

? Subsystem for UNIX-based applications is deprecated

? Some Transactional NTFS (TxF) APIs like savepoints, secondary RM, miniversion and roll forward

Aero dialogs made unproductive and ugly so you don't feel like using them (Metro encroaching on the desktop):

? User interfaces for View Available Networks (VAN) and AutoPlay

? User interfaces for Open With, Windows Update restart prompt and Error Reporting

? Reset and Refresh - a great new feature but what is this ugliness doing on the Aero desktop?

Can an admin or mod pin this topic please? I wish to make the list more complete. Anyone who notices more removed, missing, dumbed down, degraded or half-baked features in Windows 8 is welcome to post it here.

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Grand Master

remixedcat

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Grrr so no font size adjustment??? That sucks. I need to change the font type for my LCD TV for my HTPC segoeUI does not look good on my TV. It's a 36 in 1366x768 TV... Candara, Tahoma, and trebuche are the only fonts that still look crisp enough on it. MS should have fixed the fonts on TVs like that. At default size for the desktop mode.... I need to make the fonts bigger as well!

Grand Master

devHead

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Not only no font size adjustment, remixedcat, but no way to choose fonts for any part of the U I- icons, title bars, dialog boxes, etc. Hopefully this will be re-instituted in the final release. Not everyone wants to see only Segoe UI. But excellent list xpclient!

Grand Master

Fraud OS 11

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How do we get Microsoft to fix them? :( :cry: If only Microsoft built Windows 8 as Windows 7 + Metro value added for tablets, I would have been the first to upgrade and sung praises of it and recommended it to everyone. I came across this recently: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-03-12/tech/31151361_1_bill-gates-microsoft-software-design which confirms that it was Bill Gates presence at Microsoft till the point he was present who insisted all these years for consistent interface design. I don't want to lose my desktop Windows for Live Tiles. :no:

Grand Master

Fraud OS 11

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They took away minesweeper? Are you sure? I doubt it. it's probably just not in it yet.

This list is current only for Consumer Preview. Of course they may include the games in RTM or they may include a very limited Minesweeper with zero options in Metro form like they did to Solitaire.

Guest fornaks86

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Looks too ugly and completely out of place on the desktop.

Grand Master

Fraud OS 11

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Hey please avoid posts like "I hate Windows 8" and try to find more such undisclosed removals. Discovering such issues in Windows 8 before release and reporting them will only improve the product.

Grand Master

Mr. Gibs

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How do we get Microsoft to fix them? :( :cry: If only Microsoft built Windows 8 as Windows 7 + Metro value added for tablets, I would have been the first to upgrade and sung praises of it and recommended it to everyone. I came across this recently: http://articles.busi...software-design which confirms that it was Bill Gates presence at Microsoft till the point he was present who insisted all these years for consistent interface design. I don't want to lose my desktop Windows for Live Tiles. :no:

Oh yeah I'm sure you would have been the first to upgrade and sung praises of it :rolleyes: There's like 5 million threads about how you think XP is the greatest thing since sliced bread and how you'll never upgrade from it and blah blah.

Grand Master

Fraud OS 11

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Oh yeah I'm sure you would have been the first to upgrade and sung praises of it :rolleyes: There's like 5 million threads about how you think XP is the greatest thing since sliced bread and how you'll never upgrade from it and blah blah.

With great efforts like Classic Shell and lots of help from lots of third party utilities (7 Taskbar Tweaker, Default Programs Editor, free search tools, a million registry tweaks, custom written programs, workarounds etc) Windows 7 becomes tolerable for me so if Windows 8 was Windows 7++ then migrating from XP to W8 becomes the same as going from XP to W7. But W8 is not W7++. That ideology of preserving design, UI, features is gone after Bill Gates. Why do notifications for new updates, or sound events or useful Explorer status bar info have to be deleted from the OS when they could just be turned off by default? Or more functional Windows programs replaced by dumbed down Metro versions. Going backwards on anything when we are paying for an "upgrade" is like cheating. And they didn't even tell people they were cheating. People upgrade and find out later that they have been ripped off.

Grand Master

HawkMan

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With great efforts like Classic Shell and lots of help from lots of third party utilities (7 Taskbar Tweaker, Default Programs Editor, free search tools, a million registry tweaks, custom written programs, workarounds etc) Windows 7 becomes tolerable for me so if Windows 8 was Windows 7++ then migrating from XP to W8 becomes the same as going from XP to W7. But W8 is not W7++. That ideology of preserving design, UI, features is gone after Bill Gates. Why do notifications for new updates, or sound events or useful Explorer status bar info have to be deleted from the OS when they could just be turned off by default? Or more functional Windows Live programs replaced by dumbed down Metro versions. Going backwards on anything when we are paying for an "upgrade" is like cheating. And they didn't even tell people they were cheating. People upgrade and find out later that they have been ripped off.

They have to be removed because of code bloat and because it reduces the overall code in the OS, increasing performance, reducing bugs, and significantly reducing QnA.

You simply do not keep old unused code around.

Grand Master

excalpius

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Hopefully this will be re-instituted in the final release.

People, this IS the final release, sans bugs, themes, art/icons, and compatibility issues. It MUST be locked internally in the next 90 days to make the Christmas 2012 shopping cycle.

Do not expect a single significant change to Windows 8 before RTM.

Mentor

abysal

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Very good write up. However it is still beta, so it's possible some of these will be rectified upon final release.

However it really seems Microsoft's intent is to not only dummy down the graphical UI of the OS, but also dummy down it's features to make it easier for simple minded folk to understand (even though it seems to fail at that, based on several videos that have been posted). Oh well we'll always have 7 as well as a multitude of other more appealing OS's choose from.

Veteran

rfirth

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I am a User Experience (UX) and software usability testing expert.

What qualifies you as a User Experience and software usability testing expert? I'm not trying to be rude, just curious if you do this for a living or if it's just a hobby.

Very good write up. However it is still beta, so it's possible some of these will be rectified upon final release.

Especially when he finds it necessary to list things like "Windows boot logo removed". The Betta fish obviously is a placeholder for a new one. Even if the boot logo was removed, it's hardly a feature. And sound events for logon/logoff? Another indispensable feature there. I'm sure all the internet weeped went we found out that Purble Place wasn't included in the DP or CP. I'm sure you spent hours using that feature, just like how you spent hours of your life using the P2P API.

And who can forget the hours spent staring at BSOD's decoding the meaning behind the memory addresses listed. (I'm very glad they removed that technical information - I filed a feature request with Microsoft during the Windows Vista beta with suggestions on how to improve the BSOD - to fail gracefully. You might be surprised to find that OS X provides even less (none) technical information on its kernel panic screen)

"Aero dialogs made unproductive and ugly so you don't feel like using them"

Ugly? They look very nice. Very clean. Work very well. I'm a big fan of those.

I have a removed feature to add to your list: legacy Windows logo. That feature was removed and replaced with the perspective window logo...

Grand Master

Fraud OS 11

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Even if the boot logo was removed, it's hardly a feature. And sound events for logon/logoff? Another indispensable feature there. I'm sure all the internet weeped went we found out that Purble Place wasn't included in the DP or CP.

That is for sake of completeness of the list and keeping potential buyers informed - because Microsoft does not have a complete one. You may not have a fancy for Purble Place, but your kid may be loving it. And why shouldn't the "fun" features be listed if Microsoft today is touting Angry Birds and Cut the Rope in Windows 8 demos? They can showcase these fun features when adding them but they can silently remove these and tell people to forget about them? Then they protect the games by the Windows licensing mechanism so even copying them doesn't work. You are missing the point here. And as a matter of fact, some people *were* disappointed with the blank Vista startup screen - I don't care about the boot screen or some of the less popular games personally but will get the games to work anyways by hacking the licensing.

Grand Master

MikeChipshop Member

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Some of the things in the list were old bloated code that needed slicing off years ago, other things are just personal opinion and should really be on the list at all.

Other than those, some of the things on there are a bit odd but this isn't the final release so let's wait and see yeah?

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

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The ability to boot directly to the desktop and not load the Metro components in memory is not there

C'mon man, seriously? This FUD again? How many times do people have to say "WINDOWS 8 IS METRO, METRO IS WINDOWS 8"? It's not a separate or alternative shell UI, the Metro bits are hardcoded into the OS just like AERO is on Windows Vista/7.

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