Windows 8 Release Preview Discussion

[ITFiend]

Multitasking behaviour is a bit annoying. If I switch apps in metro, it'll pause whatever's going on in the non-active apps.

This is by design. Apps have to be explicitly designed for limited multitasking. The idea is to save battery life when an app is no longer being used by making it active for a few seconds per minute for status updates rather than being able to fully utilize the processor when not in focus. At least Metro IE keeps downloading when task switched, and a few other programs keep ticking while not in focus, but most completely freeze.

Makes perfect sense when on a tablet or phone. It makes less sense when on a desktop, but for now end users don?t have control over this (so far as I know). Maybe SP1 will bring users some control, or v2 of the app you want to use.

[Subhadip]

Multitasking behaviour is a bit annoying. If I switch apps in metro, it'll pause whatever's going on in the non-active apps.

App developers have the choice to suspend it or not. In most cases it makes perfect sense. In some, like Music, it doesn't, and that particular app continues running in the background. It is up to app developers how their apps should behave when not used.

[Ice_Blue]

One thing I really miss from the pre-Windows 7 days is the network connection animation on the system tray. I know I can get gadgets etc., to do the same and more, but that was a simple, elegant, baked-in solution.

[migo]

This is by design. Apps have to be explicitly designed for limited multitasking. The idea is to save battery life when an app is no longer being used by making it active for a few seconds per minute for status updates rather than being able to fully utilize the processor when not in focus. At least Metro IE keeps downloading when task switched, and a few other programs keep ticking while not in focus, but most completely freeze.

Makes perfect sense when on a tablet or phone. It makes less sense when on a desktop, but for now end users don?t have control over this (so far as I know). Maybe SP1 will bring users some control, or v2 of the app you want to use.

I wouldn't mind if it did that while I was on battery power as a default behaviour (although I'd still like to control it, as listening to a presentation in the background while doing something else means I get everything done faster and conserve battery life), but when I'm plugged in to AC power, why does it need to engage in battery conserving behaviour?

[ls_dragons]

Has anyone managed a solution to the Google Chrome browser freeze issue? I tried a couple of suggestions found elsewhere - no help at all.

[ArialBlue]

XP SP2 happened once, and was a special circumstance and happened almost a decade ago as well.

Why you have to crush hopes and dreams like that?

[Stoffel]

Why you have to crush hopes and dreams like that?

I believe, like many others, that Win 9 might take 3 years to be finished, but the WinRT framework is probably going to be updated much more frequently.

Giving us more new features every year, like a Mobile OS.

[Noir Angel]

Most of XP SP2's fixes were about enhancing security anyway. I don't think Microsoft had much choice but to enhance XP's security after the litany of flaws that were floating about at the time.

[x-byte]

Has anyone managed a solution to the Google Chrome browser freeze issue? I tried a couple of suggestions found elsewhere - no help at all.

Check out this post:

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1081347-annoying-freezing-issue/page__st__105__p__594967323#entry594967323

The whole thread is about that issue with browsers/multimedia.

[devHead]

I just discovered that when you hover your mouse over to the left lower corner to bring up the start screen has nothing to do with the location of the taskbar. If i put the taskbar up top, i still hover in the lower left corner to get the start screen thumbnail for opening it. I'm sure I'm not the first one to notice this, right?

Anyway, just a new discovery for me.

Another thing is, I'm still having corruption on the toolbar/ribbon in Windows Explorer. I thought initially it was due to the buggy video drivers from NVidia, but even with the updated ones, I still get it. But not always.

[x-byte]

I just discovered that when you hover your mouse over to the left lower corner to bring up the start screen has nothing to do with the location of the taskbar. If i put the taskbar up top, i still hover in the lower left corner to get the start screen thumbnail for opening it. I'm sure I'm not the first one to notice this, right?

That seems to be by design. Why should it change?

Another thing is, I'm still having corruption on the toolbar/ribbon in Windows Explorer. I thought initially it was due to the buggy video drivers from NVidia, but even with the updated ones, I still get it. But not always.

That is most definitely not a Windows problem.

[ls_dragons]

Check out this post:

http://www.neowin.ne...#entry594967323

The whole thread is about that issue with browsers/multimedia.

I had already tried the "bcdedit..." fix without success -- I am not sure I have the same issue. My "freeze" seems to be limited to just Google Chrome. The rest of the system responds normally -- Chrome just won't finish loading. I have www.google.com set as my start page -- it never finishes loading.

[Tuishimi]

I had already tried the "bcdedit..." fix without success -- I am not sure I have the same issue. My "freeze" seems to be limited to just Google Chrome. The rest of the system responds normally -- Chrome just won't finish loading. I have www.google.com set as my start page -- it never finishes loading.

The disabledynamicticks has been awesome for me. :) I already responded to you in another post but, I read in the windows 8 forums that there can be Flash conflicts with Chrome ... but I think it happens when two references to flash somehow get entered into the plugin config of chrome... I guess you could check to see if there is more than one flash plugin?

[devHead]

[/font][/size]

That seems to be by design. Why should it change?

That is most definitely not a Windows problem.

Who said it should change? I just was mentioning I noticed it.

I didn't say it was a Windows problem, I said it seems like a video driver problem. So, if it's "most definitely not a Windows problem" what would you attribute it to? I swear, I'd almost say you felt like you needed to defend something, but I'm not attacking anything. Just some observations. I was just curious if anyone else is having the same problem, or it was just me.

[Dashel]

[/font][/size]

That seems to be by design. Why should it change?

Because it created a lot more travel for top aligned users. (And another disconnect created by hotcorners)

[migo]

While some of the apps are pretty lacking in the UI department (Messages works, but it definitely needs to just show everyone who's online at the moment just to make things easy), I'm really liking the People App. Facebook is much better to deal with through it than through the website - usually that's not the case.

[Ice_Blue]

... I'm really liking the People App. Facebook is much better to deal with through it than through the website - usually that's not the case.

I agree. For me, the People app is much better than Facebook's site.

[Dane]

I agree. For me, the People app is much better than Facebook's site.

any screen shots of the People app?

[Dot Matrix]

Most of XP SP2's fixes were about enhancing security anyway. I don't think Microsoft had much choice but to enhance XP's security after the litany of flaws that were floating about at the time.

Since, XP was new at the time, no. They could have been ###### and released SP2 as a new OS, and by all means it should have been, but Vista reaped those benefits.

[Ice_Blue]

any screen shots of the People app?

http://www.triballabs.net/2012/03/windows-8-consumer-preview-people-metro-app-review/

[Syanide]

Does VirtualBox work in RP? To further clarify, I'm interested in installing VirtualBox in Windows 8, not the other way around.

[BajiRav]

Does VirtualBox work in RP? To further clarify, I'm interested in installing VirtualBox in Windows 8, not the other way around.

Why not use hyper-v instead?

[kachimasu]

Does VirtualBox work in RP? To further clarify, I'm interested in installing VirtualBox in Windows 8, not the other way around.

Why to install VirtualBox, when you're have Hyper-V feature in the windows? :) Try it

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Does VirtualBox work in RP? To further clarify, I'm interested in installing VirtualBox in Windows 8, not the other way around.

I don't see why it wouldn't work. but as others have said, why not try out Hyper-V since it's included in basic windows now :) you just have to turn it on

[PGHammer]

Does VirtualBox work in RP? To further clarify, I'm interested in installing VirtualBox in Windows 8, not the other way around.

I've used both Oracle VB and VMware in 8RP without issues OR changes. (My current CPU, Intel's Q6600, does not support SLAT, which is why I can't use Hyper-V *in Windows 8*; Windows Server 2008 and later don't have the SLAT requirement, hence Hyper-V being perfectly usable there.)