win8 I use Windows 8 like a power user! Do you?

[Dot Matrix]

Please stick to the thread's topic. If you want to debate the merits and flaws of Windows 8 then take it to a thread that already covers that.

[+Warwagon MVC]

All I saw was

[anarkhy]

the video makes w8 looks like a mess

is the kind of thing apple would use in their adverts to promove itself and denigrate windows

[ambiance]

All I saw was

That's hilarious. I'll add a like to the seven who don't and disapprove of the homophobic comment.

[pmrd]

You use Windows 8 like a cocaine user :p j/k

[neufuse Veteran]

there is way too much "flashing" caused by full screen changes, that's the one thing that makes me feel dizzy using windows 8, when you opened the start menu, the whole screen didn't change.. for some people this causes eye strain and makes you feel tired or dizzy if you switch around a bunch... that's one of the reasons my MS keyboard I have the 5 buttons at the top assigned to my main 5 apps that I can just press the button and get it without having to switch around so much.....

[neufuse Veteran]

All I saw was

good gawd system tray overload

[+Warwagon MVC]

good gawd system tray overload

Pretty much, but it's not that bad usually, I had to dumb the resolution down to 1280 by 720 when it's usually 1920 by 1200. So they normally don't take up that much space. I've actually gone through and tried to eliminate some of them, but i use all of them. It also drives me nuts when I can't see them and they are hidden.

[Eric Veteran]

[Thread cleaned]

Please stay on topic, don't troll and don't insult other members.

[Dot Matrix]

there is way too much "flashing" caused by full screen changes, that's the one thing that makes me feel dizzy using windows 8, when you opened the start menu, the whole screen didn't change.. for some people this causes eye strain and makes you feel tired or dizzy if you switch around a bunch... that's one of the reasons my MS keyboard I have the 5 buttons at the top assigned to my main 5 apps that I can just press the button and get it without having to switch around so much.....

Pinning apps to the desktop/taskbar can reduce the amount of times you need to click into Home. Being a "Power User" means to take advantage of what the OS is giving you, yet I see so few actually doing that.

[Charisma Veteran]

Pinning apps to the desktop/taskbar can reduce the amount of times you need to click into Home. Being a "Power User" means to take advantage of what the OS is giving you, yet I see so few actually doing that.

I think being a "Power User" means finding and using the tools that allow me to be most productive and fit with my working style. The computer should do what I want it to, rather than me having to conform to it. For plenty of folks, Win8 is not a suitable tool.

[Noir Angel]

Where's the advantage? What exactly does Metro give us that wasn't already achievable with the old style start menu apart from an annoying and ugly full screen launcher?

[Fourjays Veteran]

I think being a "Power User" means finding and using the tools that allow me to be most productive and fit with my working style. The computer should do what I want it to, rather than me having to conform to it. For plenty of folks, Win8 is not a suitable tool.

Bingo IMHO. In recent years I have begun to feel more and more like I am having to ask my computer kindly to perform a task if it feels it has to the time to do it. Whenever I have a fresh install of Windows it can take me quite a few days before I've whipped it into doing as it is told and even then I'm still hit with silly pop-ups asking me things that I ticked "no, and don't ask again" on for the 90th time a week earlier like it thinks it knows better than me what I want to do.

[winlonghorn]

Where's the advantage? What exactly does Metro give us that wasn't already achievable with the old style start menu apart from an annoying and ugly full screen launcher?

Live Information from Apps without opening them! ;) Oh and much more room to work with than the small start menu! Also, before the argument is made for gadgets versus metro apps, that argument is pointless. There is much more room for information in that case as well. It is much easier to see information in metro apps!

[Charisma Veteran]

Bingo IMHO. In recent years I have begun to feel more and more like I am having to ask my computer kindly to perform a task if it feels it has to the time to do it. Whenever I have a fresh install of Windows it can take me quite a few days before I've whipped it into doing as it is told and even then I'm still hit with silly pop-ups asking me things that I ticked "no, and don't ask again" on for the 90th time a week earlier like it thinks it knows better than me what I want to do.

Not to be stereotypical, but this is really why I moved to Linux (although I still have to use Windows at work and have one Win box at home). Clean, simple, and you have endless customisation options with no extra frills. Just the things you want, nothing you don't.

[abysal]

In summation - if you dislike metro because you don't want to some tacky full screen start thing and have no interest in the ever trendy app store you hate Windows 8. Despite the fact that excluding metro, there is actually a lot of nice changes in Windows 8 that most people on neowin that are "haters" actually want.

I don't see why it's to much to ask that MS give us an option to have a start menu like it is now. You can use metro, I can use my start menu. Everyone is happy.

Microsoft implemented changes correctly in Windows 7 with the super bar. If you didn't like it you could make the start bar like Vista, or 95, or 2000, etc. How they are forcing (if you want windows 8) the metro start screen onto everyone is a night and day difference compared to how they made changes in Windows 7. It amazes me that people are so against having options.

I'm 100% certain that if they did that the majority of the criticism against Windows 8 would disappear nearly instantly.

I agree completely. The computing experience is a bit subjective, what works well for one person will not for another. Personally I find the full screen switching distracting and counter intuitive to multitasking, Guess my previous post was canned for saying too much :/

[drazgoosh]

I'm going to link everyone who says that the Metro in Windows 8 is ruining the OS, to this video.

[Vice]

Maybe I'm just a snob but to me a power user has multiple screens. Is there two screens on this system and you only recorded the main screen for this video?

[Noir Angel]

Live Information from Apps without opening them! ;) Oh and much more room to work with than the small start menu! Also, before the argument is made for gadgets versus metro apps, that argument is pointless. There is much more room for information in that case as well. It is much easier to see information in metro apps!

I never used gadgets, so I'm not bothered by "live information". If I want that information I prefer to just visit a website and get it.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

With Launchy installed on Windows 7 i rarely open the start menu.

[Wyn6]

Ok, so I have a question...

Personally I have no paricular like/dislike's for Windows 8 vs Windows 7. I get that things change. I understand both sides of the coin. My questions is this...

I don't just have a "few" applications I use. I don't have 10 or 20. I have HUNDREDS of applications. 20-30 difference racing simulation titles, other games, virtualization applications, networking tools, programming tools, Microsoft Office, etc etc etc etc etc.

So, having said that, in Windows 7 and prior to, with the Start Menu/button, I was able to sort through all of those quickly and Pin what I used most often, but could still quickly get to what I wanted because it was alphabetized in a sorted list. In Windows 8, as I install one application after another, I have hundreds, if not thousands of tiles now, page after page after page of useless garbage that is getting in the way of my productivity. I get that once I find an application I can Pin it, but I'm struggling with the efficiency of the Metro interface for someone that uses their PC the way I do.

So for those in the know, how do I...

1) Automatically sort the applications on the Metro UI.

2) or Automatically move newly installed/created box/icons to the first MetroUI page so i can find them easily.

3) Sort per application, like a folder. I have to be doing this wrong, but it would be nice if I could combine applications specific Metro boxes into a single box that I could highlight/hover and it would pop-out to that application box with those apps/links isolated.

4) Per 3, I have many applications that don't just install a single application link, but have many other, sometimes nested, applications links for other applications tools. (think Microsoft Office 2010).

I think you can see my dilema here. I want to be able to properly manage these in Windows 8. I get I may have to do it different then I did before, but what's really killing it for me right now is how poorly it manages older software that is expected a Start Menu folder to put something into. Even the Administrator Tools when enabled on the MetroUI spam the UI with 10-15 boxes. Would be nice to have 1 box, that when I hover or click on would pop out another mini UI that has JUST those apps/boxes in it.

Help!!!

Thanks!

1. At the moment there is no automatic sort on the Start Screen. Any new app/program installed places its tile at the far right. This is easily dealt with by selecting them via right click (you can multi-select) and hitting enter to unpin them from Start.

However, it does sort the alphabetically in the All Apps list, accessed by right-clicking on the Start Screen, pressing Win+ Z, or swiping up from the bottom while on the Start Screen if using touch.

2. Not sure what you mean by first Metro UI page. If you mean the Start Screen, that's where icons for all newly installed apps/programs go as I said above. If that's not what you mean, disregard and clarify, please.

3. While there are no "folder" tiles, on the All Apps screen apps are categorized alphabetically with subdirectories or files alphabetically underneath those.

But, I agree with you on how it's currently managed and hope they change this behavior come RTM and place subfolders into the All Apps screen and only the main folder onto the Start Screen.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Maybe I'm just a snob but to me a power user has multiple screens. Is there two screens on this system and you only recorded the main screen for this video?

Does this count?

[zim2323]

1. At the moment there is no automatic sort on the Start Screen. Any new app/program installed places its tile at the far right. This is easily dealt with by selecting them via right click (you can multi-select) and hitting enter to unpin them from Start.

However, it does sort the alphabetically in the All Apps list, accessed by right-clicking on the Start Screen, pressing Win+ Z, or swiping up from the bottom while on the Start Screen if using touch.

2. Not sure what you mean by first Metro UI page. If you mean the Start Screen, that's where icons for all newly installed apps/programs go as I said above. If that's not what you mean, disregard and clarify, please.

3. While there are no "folder" tiles, on the All Apps screen apps are categorized alphabetically with subdirectories or files alphabetically underneath those.

But, I agree with you on how it's currently managed and hope they change this behavior come RTM and place subfolders into the All Apps screen and only the main folder onto the Start Screen.

1. After I unpin them, how do I find them again? Sometimes they aren't discernable by name, and I don't use them often enough to remember what it was called to search by them. If I remove/unpin them from Metro, now what??

2. By first page, I mean I have multiple pages of tiles after installing a bunch of applications. Every app link, url link, etc associated with the standard install gets a tile. In order to get to those tiles, I have to swipe/scroll, page after page after page after page after page to get to the new icons. If they were first created on 'Page 1', then I could move them from there as I needed.

[Wyn6]

I never used gadgets, so I'm not bothered by "live information". If I want that information I prefer to just visit a website and get it.

Now, this is an example of an "old school" mentality. I'm firmly in the old school camp when it comes to certain things. However, my tech isn't one of them. If I need to see a quick weather update, score of a game(s), latest news headlines, quick check new emails received, stock prices or any other number of a myriad of things, is it not quicker to just hit the Start Screen, glance and go back to what I was doing as opposed to opening multiple websites to do the same thing?

Now THAT seems inefficient to me. Unless, you're leaving ALL of those sites open via tabs. You'd then have to click from tab to tab as opposed to seeing it all at once which is the main "power user" argument against the Start Screen.

FYI, I got new emails from ZDnet and the NBA store, it's 84 degrees F and cloudy, Federer won, Yanks beat the Sox 7-3, 6 U.S. soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, my stocks are down (that sucks), a critic doesn't like Oliver Stone's new film, and so on.

P.S. Just got a breaking news toast from BBC on my Windows Phone. A one year tax cut renewal for Americans making under $250k, eh?

[Noir Angel]

Now, this is an example of an "old school" mentality. I'm firmly in the old school camp when it comes to certain things. However, my tech isn't one of them. If I need to see a quick weather update, score of a game(s), latest news headlines, quick check new emails received, stock prices or any other number of a myriad of things, is it not quicker to just hit the Start Screen, glance and go back to what I was doing as opposed to opening multiple websites to do the same thing?

Now THAT seems inefficient to me. Unless, you're leaving ALL of those sites open via tabs. You'd then have to click from tab to tab as opposed to seeing it all at once which is the main "power user" argument against the Start Screen.

FYI, I got new emails from ZDnet and the NBA store, it's 84 degrees F and cloudy, Federer won, Yanks beat the Sox 7-3, 6 U.S. soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, my stocks are down (that sucks), a critic doesn't like Oliver Stone's new film, and so on.

P.S. Just got a breaking news toast from BBC on my Windows Phone. A one year tax cut renewal for Americans making under $250k, eh?

Actually that isn't true, I love technology I just don't advocate the idea that being new always makes something better. And I have all of the websites that I view frequently on my bookmarks bar. I click the button and go to the website, it's just as simple as using the start screen with the additional bonus that it doesn't take my screen over