official Windows 8 Consumer Preview Discussion

[Muhammad Farrukh]

I upgraded to Windows 8 Consumer Preview from Windows 7 SP1 and I'm running the x64 version.

I'm not sure why, but when I try to get into the MetroUI control panel, I click on "more PC Settings" and it does nothing.

Any Control Panel icons on the Start Screen brings up the desktop version.

If I try to set a user picture (avatar) I click on "Change account picture" and it does nothing.

If I go unto the desktop version of the control panel and into user accounts, and click where it says "Add a new user in PC Settings" it does nothing.

Any ideas?

On the Metro start screen, type control panel, and click the app.

It should open in Legacy desktop without any issue

[efjay]

Turning off computer on Windows 7: Click Start, click Shutdown (2 clicks) or click the arrow next to it to bring up other options and select one of those (3 clicks).

Turning off computer on Windows 8: Open Charms, Click Power to bring up ALL options, select one (3 clicks).

Now, if you're just shutting down, not hibernating, sleeping, or restarting, Windows 7 is exactly ONE CLICK faster. That's ONE WHOLE CLICK.

However, if you're doing any other function, sleep or restart, they have EXACTLY THE SAME amount of clicks... 3.

If 0 to 1 extra clicks is too much for some of you, you're either lethargic, or fat, or both. I keed.

Seriously, guys, we get it. You're not use to it. However, some of us are finding, after actually trying to use the OS and its new features, that it's fast and, in many ways, more efficient that Windows 7. I'm getting around it fairly quickly now, and I've only been on it a day (didn't run the Dev Pre).

Yes, there's a learning curve. Why? Because this isn't what we've been using for the past three decades. This is an entirely different beast. Well, mostly different. What I don't get is, if you don't like it, don't use it. OR, here's a novel approach... learn it and THEN see how it fits into your computing life.

Happy hunting.

Please stop making sense, this is a tech forum. :shifty:

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Does anyone know why I can't install it on a Dell Inspiron 1501? It shows the beta fish boot then goes to a black screen and stays there :(

While installing for the first time?

For how long?

Mine was, the fish, up for about 3-4 minutes before it proceeded

[cosrocket]

Why when I click on the Metro Internet Explorer tile does it open on the desktop? Shouldn't it open in Metro? Is there a way to choose it to open in Metro?

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Is it just me or it almost instantly loads the lock screen when you click 'Windows 8 Consumer Preview' from dual-boot screen.

And I mean instantly. Literally

[briangw]

Something that I think is new... but WordPad can now open & save Office & OpenDocument formats.

Nope, it could open docx files in Windows 7

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Why when I click on the Metro Internet Explorer icon does it open on the desktop? Shouldn't it open in Metro? Is there a way to choose it to open in Metro?

When you click it on Metro screen, it should open the Metro Immersive version, not the desktop version.

[Warboy]

same problem with me..Firefox 10.2, using GeForce 295.73 Driver using native hardware as my main OS (not virtual). The gltiches occurs where i switch between apps or the metro ui

Same

Core i7 960

GTX 580 Classified Ultra @ 295.73 Drivers

EVGA Classified3 mobo

[Vice]

Turning off computer on Windows 7: Click Start, click Shutdown (2 clicks) or click the arrow next to it to bring up other options and select one of those (3 clicks).

Turning off computer on Windows 8: Open Charms, Click Power to bring up ALL options, select one (3 clicks).

Now, if you're just shutting down, not hibernating, sleeping, or restarting, Windows 7 is exactly ONE CLICK faster. That's ONE WHOLE CLICK.

However, if you're doing any other function, sleep or restart, they have EXACTLY THE SAME amount of clicks... 3.

If 0 to 1 extra clicks is too much for some of you, you're either lethargic, or fat, or both. I keed.

Seriously, guys, we get it. You're not use to it. However, some of us are finding, after actually trying to use the OS and its new features, that it's fast and, in many ways, more efficient that Windows 7. I'm getting around it fairly quickly now, and I've only been on it a day (didn't run the Dev Pre).

Yes, there's a learning curve. Why? Because this isn't what we've been using for the past three decades. This is an entirely different beast. Well, mostly different. What I don't get is, if you don't like it, don't use it. OR, here's a novel approach... learn it and THEN see how it fits into your computing life.

Happy hunting.

I like how you left your comment with Happy hunting because that is what Windows 8 is all about. Hunting for options that used to be intuitive and easy to find that are now hidden behind mouse gestures that are not explained to the user.

They seem to want to hide everything behind gestures that make sense on a touch screen but make no sense with a mouse and keyboard. Opera tried gestures in their web browser years ago and it was a failure. We have a mouse to click icons, give us icons for things.

When it takes an experienced computer user 5 minutes to find a simple shutdown button you've failed in UI design. When joe-average gets a hold of this they are going to be so confused. They will reject this much easier than some of us more experienced computer users. Microsoft only had to add transparency to windows and people flipped out can you imagine what will happen now that the start menu is gone and all the legacy software people hold on to doesn't work in Metro which is constantly in your face whenever you want to do stuff.

Metro is the only thing wrong with this OS. I hope so badly that they give us the option to completely disable it. That seems less and less likely with each new build and if that's the case I'll stick with Windows 7 and wait for the fixed Windows 9.

[cosrocket]

When you click it on Metro screen, it should open the Metro Immersive version, not the desktop version.

It's not though. I installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on 2 computers and on both when I click on the metro tile IE opens on the desktop, not in Metro

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Well, that's pretty weird. :s

Might wanna give it a reboot, perhaps?

[Guest]

Couple of interesting things... there is already some stuff on windows update but I don't know if that's just dummy test content. Some of the native metro apps also appear to have some updates too, look in the app store to the top right for the link to update.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

4 updates to some random apps were already there this morning

[redfish]

Is there any board on Connect where I can post feedback to Microsoft? Or do you have to do that through the feedback buttons in the specific Metro apps?

[Eric Veteran]

Has anyone been successful in getting the iso onto a usb thumb drive using the Windows 7 USB DVD download tool? I get nothing but "the file is not a valid iso" error. And, I have tried this 3 times, downloading the x86 iso directly off MS website.

It worked fine for me. Have to checked the hash of your download to make sure it's not corrupted?

[a1ien]

I think Microsoft are too dumb to understand how a mouse works. You see, a mouse has very high precision. It's designed to accomplish a-lot with a few simple clicks. If I'm used to accomplishing a-lot like this, I'd have to be some kind of idiot to accept a bunch of swipey gestures and giant icons for doing basic tasks. And if I wanted to do everything with a keyboard, I'd be on Unix.

I think Windows Desktop and Tablet can be combined, but each needs to be without compromise.

This article covers a-lot of points, only a few of which are exaggerated: http://www.softwareverify.com/blog/?p=1450

[Guest]

The Windows 7 start menu search seemed to search documents and everything. When I search using the Windows 8 start screen, it only lists apps. Is that by design or should it be listing more?

[Wyn6]

It's not though. I installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on 2 computers and on both when I click on the metro tile IE opens on the desktop, not in Metro

Is IE set as your default browser? If it's not, it won't open in Metro. Check that and see what happens. Oh. You'll need to set that function in IE10 desktop.

[Eric Veteran]

The Windows 7 start menu search seemed to search documents and everything. When I search using the Windows 8 start screen, it only lists apps. Is that by design or should it be listing more?

It shows them all. Look on the right side of the search results and you'll see Apps, Settings, Files. There are also shortcut keys to search for a specific type of file. (Win-Q for Apps, Win-W for settings, etc.)

[Wyn6]

The Windows 7 start menu search seemed to search documents and everything. When I search using the Windows 8 start screen, it only lists apps. Is that by design or should it be listing more?

There aren't any files listed on the Metro side yet. It doesn't look like they've linked the two (metro/desktop) for searching files. I'll keep digging and see what I can find.

[bogas04]

An imperfect solution, but with this you can have something that's like the Win7 Start Menu, whilst still having the option of the immersive start screen - http://lee-soft.com/vistart/

The start button overlaps slightly with the taskbar buttons, but it's still a solution. Just be careful with the installer, it does try and trick you into installing some nonsense, just unclick everything and press "DECLINE" at the end.

Saying that, I still like the immersive start screen personally :p

lawl never thought lee-soft's app would return like this :p

[Muhammad Farrukh]

The Windows 7 start menu search seemed to search documents and everything. When I search using the Windows 8 start screen, it only lists apps. Is that by design or should it be listing more?

It shows all of them. Look a bit on the right side

[Wyn6]

I like how you left your comment with Happy hunting because that is what Windows 8 is all about. Hunting for options that used to be intuitive and easy to find that are now hidden behind mouse gestures that are not explained to the user.

They seem to want to hide everything behind gestures that make sense on a touch screen but make no sense with a mouse and keyboard. Opera tried gestures in their web browser years ago and it was a failure. We have a mouse to click icons, give us icons for things.

When it takes an experienced computer user 5 minutes to find a simple shutdown button you've failed in UI design. When joe-average gets a hold of this they are going to be so confused. They will reject this much easier than some of us more experienced computer users. Microsoft only had to add transparency to windows and people flipped out can you imagine what will happen now that the start menu is gone and all the legacy software people hold on to doesn't work in Metro which is constantly in your face whenever you want to do stuff.

Metro is the only thing wrong with this OS. I hope so badly that they give us the option to completely disable it. That seems less and less likely with each new build and if that's the case I'll stick with Windows 7 and wait for the fixed Windows 9.

All right, WCN... a challenge.

Give me a series of task which you deemed "intuitive and easy to find" in Windows 7 and I'll do them using what I've learned and see how long it takes to do in Windows 8 by comparison.

And, so that you know I'm being honest I'll post the steps here. Sound good?

[cosrocket]

Is IE set as your default browser? If it's not, it won't open in Metro. Check that and see what happens. Oh. You'll need to set that function in IE10 desktop.

That was the problem, thanks!

[ArialBlue]

Hmmm, why do Metro apps reset themselves?