30 replies to this topic 3 votes

[+Brando212]

DavidM, on 22 January 2013 - 06:53, said:

Yes, but #1, I shouldn't have to "hack" a new font into place and #2, using a mono space font screws up the sizing of menus and text boxes.

touche

[GreyWolf]

[Thread cleaned]

Stay on topic and do not derail threads with unrelated discussions, especially when someone is requesting assistance.

[+BudMan]

"If the laptop came with Windows 8 then you aren't going "back" because you never upgraded. If you want to install Windows 7 you're going to have to buy yourself a Windows 7 install disc"

Not so sure about this statement - http://www.microsoft...ade_rights.aspx

I have not bothered too look great detail, but from that page and this sure looks like you have the legal right to downgrade if your PC came with w8



Now the media to do so might be an issue? But lets forget the legal aspects and just get to the tech side. I ran into with a laptop just recently from asus. Now they clearly had the drivers on the website for the laptop for w7 x32 and 64. But it was a bit of a pain to actually get w7 installed with the bios changes and no optical drive, etc.

So its easy enough to create a w7 usb boot drive. But had to make some changes in the bios to boot the usb, and then turn off secure boot, etc. Its prob best to look up the details of putting w7 back on your specific laptop. I found some great instructions for the specific laptop I was working with a simple google.

I would have to guess you will find pretty much every single computer shipping with w8 -- someone is going to want to put w7 back on it, and more than likely there will be instructions on how to do that out there.

I kind of breezed over the thread - what is the specific laptop? If its asus x501a I could walk you through since I just did it on that model

I have no desire to run w8 - I will run it via vm to play with the things I need to play with to understand it to a point where I can help users with it, etc. Many users are in the same boat - If you have the legal right to downgrade, you would think makers could make users very happy with the ability to install either when you first boot the thing up. They could play with it for a while, but if they want to go back - click click and they should be able to put w7 on it. It sure looks to me this what MS says about it - Seems clear cut from my above page snip. But a PC with w8, have legal right to downgrade it and at my choice later move it to w8 if so desired.

This should be something every pc maker does when shipping new PCs with the lastest and greatest OS on it. Let the user decide which they want to install.

[Largey]

BudMan, on 22 January 2013 - 16:56, said:

"If the laptop came with Windows 8 then you aren't going "back" because you never upgraded. If you want to install Windows 7 you're going to have to buy yourself a Windows 7 install disc"

Not so sure about this statement - http://www.microsoft...ade_rights.aspx

I have not bothered too look great detail, but from that page and this sure looks like you have the legal right to downgrade if your PC came with w8

downgrade.jpg

Now the media to do so might be an issue? But lets forget the legal aspects and just get to the tech side. I ran into with a laptop just recently from asus. Now they clearly had the drivers on the website for the laptop for w7 x32 and 64. But it was a bit of a pain to actually get w7 installed with the bios changes and no optical drive, etc.

So its easy enough to create a w7 usb boot drive. But had to make some changes in the bios to boot the usb, and then turn off secure boot, etc. Its prob best to look up the details of putting w7 back on your specific laptop. I found some great instructions for the specific laptop I was working with a simple google.

I would have to guess you will find pretty much every single computer shipping with w8 -- someone is going to want to put w7 back on it, and more than likely there will be instructions on how to do that out there.

I kind of breezed over the thread - what is the specific laptop? If its asus x501a I could walk you through since I just did it on that model

I have no desire to run w8 - I will run it via vm to play with the things I need to play with to understand it to a point where I can help users with it, etc. Many users are in the same boat - If you have the legal right to downgrade, you would think makers could make users very happy with the ability to install either when you first boot the thing up. They could play with it for a while, but if they want to go back - click click and they should be able to put w7 on it. It sure looks to me this what MS says about it - Seems clear cut from my above page snip. But a PC with w8, have legal right to downgrade it and at my choice later move it to w8 if so desired.

This should be something every pc maker does when shipping new PCs with the lastest and greatest OS on it. Let the user decide which they want to install.

Actually i attempted to do the same thing with a windows 7 boot disc i spent a few hours trying to do so, and i just gave up then i came back onto here and found Start8 a program that masks windows 8 interface to feed the people who wish to depend on the solely the Desktop feature that windows 8. This program allows you to boot to desktop at all times, and will adjust some apps that are made for the other interface to fit your desktop

[+BudMan]

Well it sure shouldn't take hours It took minutes once looked in the bios and changed the settings required to allow it to boot the USB and not dick with secure ****. Longest part of the process was installing the drivers from the maker once got w7 installed and booting.

And the way the drive was partitioned was crazy - how many freaking parts do you need for "recovery" I really don't get the point of the HDD recovery **** to be honest. If the machine is not booting, then let me boot from media to run tools, restore the OS, etc. I don't need 6 freaking partitions on the disk to allow for recovery and tools. Which are completely useless to me if the part of the machine having an issue is the HDD

If your still looking to put 7 on it - what is the specific hardware?

[*RedBull*]

As I was saying... can't go back to something you didn't have. Format and install Windows 7 is your only option if you want to "go back". What did you not like about Windows 8? I have no problems and it works for me. But I feel your pain so here's a picture of a grey donkey.

[*RedBull*]

*RedBull*, on 23 January 2013 - 03:36, said:

As I was saying... can't go back to something you didn't have. Format and install Windows 7 is your only option if you want to "go back". What did you not like about Windows 8? I have no problems and it works for me. But I feel your pain so here's a picture of a grey donkey.

Actually, Budman is probably right. You should follow what he said.

[+-T-]

I dunno why so many have a boner over the start me u, I went back to work today after a couple months off, and hated using the clunky old thing. Granted it was XP and I hate having to use that most of the time anyway.

Glad to see start8 made you happier without reverting away from the OS

[Torolol]

if you have the win7 install disc,
and you absolutely sure that you wont be needing any metro-apps,
and you doesn't mind experimenting with your current windows 8 installation,

you might want to try: Windows 7 explorer for Window 8

[Darrian]

BudMan, on 22 January 2013 - 16:56, said:

Not so sure about this statement - http://www.microsoft...ade_rights.aspx

There's a difference between downgrading and going back. He didn't start with Windows 7, so he can't go back to it. I'm not sure why that needed clarification.

[+BudMan]

^ what??

You are thinking too much about the technical aspects of the wording.. Be it a rollback/uninstall of the OS that you upgraded too or a clean install

The user wants to use w7 vs w8, be it you call it going back to windows 7 since this has windows 8 on it now. Or saying I want to downgrade to w7, or I want to install w7 on this box - all end up meaning the same thing.

When have you ever heard a user say I want to downgrade my OS? There is no "difference" -- just you looking at a technical definition of a term/phrase vs what the user was asking. Clearly the user wanted w7 on his box vs the w8 it came with

I agree with you "technically" the box never had 7 so its not really going back too something.. Come on are you going to play word/grammer nazi here?

My point was from what I read from MS, he has the legal right to install w7 on the box that came with w8 - even if he never had w7 on the box ever, etc. And clearly it states no cost.. So he does not have to buy a copy of w7 to install on it was my point.

[*RedBull*]

The key though is if it came as an upgraded Win8. I suspect it was an OEM. Therefore he can only format and install windows 7. But I'm with you Budman .

[+goretsky]

Hello,

As BudMan noted in his reply containing the link to Microsoft's web site, if a computer came with a legally licensed version of Microsoft Windows 8 Pro installed, you can legally downgrade it to Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition or Microsoft Windows Vista Business Edition having obtained genuine Windows media and a corresponding product key rom a prior legally licensed version from OEM or Retail channels—there's even a provision for Volume License customers.

A few comments/suggestions, though, in no particular order:

• If you are looking at buying a new computer that comes with a choice of Microsoft Windows 7 or Microsoft Windows 8, you should strongly consider buying the one which comes with Windows 8. Why this is? Because that computer will ship with an Microsoft OEM Activation 3.0 (OA3) license embedded in its firmware, which is a new means of licensing Windows that Microsoft introduced for Windows 8. If you purchase a computer with Windows 7 pre-loaded, it is going to be very unlikely that it has an embedded OA3 license, since the computer manufacturer would then paying for two Windows licenses for the computer. Once you have the computer, though, you can still install Microsoft Windows 7 on it.
  
• Before you downgrade a computer running Microsoft Windows 8, create recovery media for it using whatever tool Microsoft or the computer manufacturer provides and test it by performing a wipe and reload of the drive. Why do this? Simply, to verify that the media used to reinstall Windows 8 works. Someday, you may wish to sell or give away that computer. You may even decide you want to run Windows 8 on it. If the recovery media doesnt work, or fails for some reason. Ask the computer manufacturer to send you a replacement set. Most computer manufacturers will probably want to provide you with a free set instead of having to accept the return of a computer they just sold you.
  
• Consider giving Windows 8 a try. I understand that the Start Screen is a little jarring after having used the Start Menu for eighteen years, but I have found that once you are on the Desktop, computer behavior becomes very familiar. Also, you may even learn to like the features for power users, such as various Windows key combinations (WinKey+X, WinKey+C, WinKey+D, WinKey+F and so forth).

There has also been mention of various replacement Start Menu apps (StartIsBack, Start8, WindowsClassicShell, and so forth), and you might want to give those a try. I see those more as a "bridging" type of application, though, to help transition users to the Windows 8 user interface model.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[dreamsburnred]

MSE is included in Windows 8 now. It is better then having no antivirus but its detections are lacking and its obviously missing key features. However IE10 does have a download checker, and a site checker (vs just a site checker) that detects a lot more bad sites then say Firefox or Chrome. However no antivirus app is any help if the user themselves is the issue...so give it a try but once in a while do a online scan from bitdefender to see if it missed anything.

[+Brando212]

and this is a good example of where the answer feature would come in handy

it's nice that you guys are still trying to help the OP but he has already said he found his answer on the previous page
turns out he just didn't like the start screen

Largey, on 22 January 2013 - 06:21, said:

I bought start8 and i absolutely love it!