win8.1 Windows 8/8.1 - Positive experiences, tips, and what would you have added?

[Eric Veteran]

I use Metro and/or the desktop depending on what I'm doing. I like both.

[FunkyMike]

Are the drivers up to date from Canon?

Call me lazy but the build in drivers that shipped with Windows 7 worked out of the box. I will try finding the exact model of the printer/scanner to obtain some new drivers to see if that will help.

[Marshall Veteran]

Call me lazy but the build in drivers that shipped with Windows 7 worked out of the box. I will try finding the exact model of the printer/scanner to obtain some new drivers to see if that will help.

 

OffTopic: Your avatar doesn't fit, here...

 

 

:P

[FunkyMike]

OffTopic: Your avatar doesn't fit, here...

 

 

:p

Hehe I really wasn't sure if you were referring to it being very old and not working with the sites style or squashed! :D

I am so used to the sides being cut off! It has its own charm ;). Might have to resort to make a Funk metro type avatar.

Thanks Marshall!

[Dot Matrix]

If there's one benefit to the Windows Store on desktops, it's that it makes it easy to re-install apps, as opposed to hunting all over the Internet for the apps you need. I had to re-install Windows 8 on my laptop following a strange crash (Which I have yet to figure out the cause,) and now I'm stuck wasting time running all over for the desktop apps I used. Re-installing 47 Metro apps from the Store took less than 15 minutes.

[TrickyDickie]

I like everything about Windows 8n now. Both Modern UI and Desktop (Ribbon in Explorer - Cool!)

 

I found the transition a little difficult at first (in the Developer Preview...) - I tended to shy away from the Modern UI apps, especially Internet Explorer. Actually, I still prefer the desktop version of IE on the PC, but have no qualms using it on the Surface 2 (Prefer it to the Desktop version lol).

I didn't really start using the Modern UI apps fully until the Release Preview, but now I use apps over web pages (NeoWin, Kindle, Weave, various players for British TV channels, Netflix... You know the list by now!)

 

I don't have any 'specialist area' to speak of, but it is fine for everything I need.

 

Tips & Tricks? Yes! - The best was that "Why I love my Surface 2" video on YouTube.

 

As for new users - Give it a go and stick with it. Especially the Start Screen. You'll here of loads of people whining because the Start Menu is gone. Well, the Start Screen is SO much better! Microsoft actually put a lot of research into how the start menu was used and concluded that it wasn't much any more (Most people pinned their favourite applications or just used the search function of the start menu). Also, they concluded that the tiles are much easier to get to and use.

 

Also, I got a touch screen monitor to use with Windows 8, but I hardly ever use it (Too lazy to lean forward...).

The mouse and keyboard input work very well anyway  - Yet another complaint you'll hear about Windows 8 on the desktop which is untrue.

Another common complaint is 'lack of apps' - Also untrue. There are plenty of apps in the Store. It depends on what you need, but the complainers keep moving the goalposts every time the app they were complaining was missing gets added.

 

Seriously - Give it a go. I wouldn't go back to Windows 7 now.

 

Well, that's my opinion, anyway lol

[Andre S. Veteran]

On non-touch devices I always uninstall all the metro apps, use a local account and install StartIsBack. With the obvious usability problems thus fixed, Windows 8 is significantly better than Windows 7:

 

 - Much shorter boot and shutdown times

 - Somehow even more transparent about updates (never saw it ask me to reboot except for Windows 8.1)

 - The flat theme is less distracting and easier on the eyes

 - The new task manager is awesome! It's painful going back to Windows 7 once you're used to it.

 - New copy file dialogs are pretty amazing as well.

 - DirectComposition finally solved the airspace problem across all rendering APIs. That rocks.

[Andre S. Veteran]

If there's one benefit to the Windows Store on desktops, it's that it makes it easy to re-install apps, as opposed to hunting all over the Internet for the apps you need. I had to re-install Windows 8 on my laptop following a strange crash (Which I have yet to figure out the cause,) and now I'm stuck wasting time running all over for the desktop apps I used..

I find that ninite takes care of most of my utilities, and that's even faster than using the Windows Store.