Windows 8 Is a Desktop Disaster

[Scorbing]

Just bought Start8 and I am somewhat happy now but I still think Windows 7 is better. I guess I will have to get used to this new OS. I don't have a choice because of my job. Oh well.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I have played around with Windows 8 for about 1 hour now. Any mouse issues I may have had initially have been solved by the following keyboard shortcuts.

• Windows Key = Start Screen
  
• Windows Key + C = Charms Bar
  
• Windows Key + D = Desktop
  
• Windows Key + X = System Features
  

Learn them if you have not. They are incredibly easy, and make the experience so, so much better with a mouse.

[nub]

isn't there anything else to talk about but windows 8 if u like it good if u hate it go back to 7 STOP BITCHING ABOUT IT no one cares to do this for the thousand time just search find an old post put in there

Obviously people care. You care enough to bitch about their "bitching". If nobody wanted to talk about it, then nobody would talk about it. Just go away. This forum is populated by 12 year olds. With your spelling, I wouldn't be surprised if you were actually 12 though.

[farmeunit]

I didn't even read the full article

If you start an article about Windows 8 with: I installed it and within 5 minutes I regret it.

You didn't give the OS any chance and should not make any assumptions about it

Not worth the read

If you had read the article, he said that he had used all versions starting with Dev Preview and was hoping things had changed. Obviously that would be noticeable pretty quickly. Reading is fundamental.

You made an assumption, so...

[nub]

He doesn't know about tabs on IE? Learn to right click.... :argh:

It is in no way obvious you can get tabs by right clicking. It goes against everything in computing thus far. I was surprised when I found out.

There's no need to bring it back. It was a mess that would have required significant upgrading to play nice with the new features of Windows 8, which is exactly what the Start Screen is anyway.

In my opinion, yhe Vista/Win7 start menu is by far the best feature ever added to Windows. It was pure convenience.

[Som]

ya i tried it again and ahhhhh i feel so frustrated when i use it....maybe i'll get used to it but somehow i doubt it. on the desktop went I want to go to documents i press start and click documents but ahhhhh big fracking screen pops up... just ****es me off really.....

[Scorbing]

ya i tried it again and ahhhhh i feel so frustrated when i use it....maybe i'll get used to it but somehow i doubt it. on the desktop went I want to go to documents i press start and click documents but ahhhhh big fracking screen pops up... just ****es me off really.....

Try that Start8 app dude. It works wonders. For $4.99 is not bad at all.

[jakem1]

Suppose I could do it, yeah, but then again, didn't I already had that before? (Well now I have it with start8 again) The main reason because I do it is the very same reason that makes me to tick the option "Hide desktop icons". It bothers me quite a lot that while I was very happy having my superbar and desktop clean, suddenly I'm forced to take a decision, either buy a third party app that allows me to have a tidy desktop or pinning all my apps into the superbar.

Not to mention, I use a lot of PDFs one day, then a lot of word and excell files another, then some diagrams... each thing uses a different program, the one that the start menu used to remember, hence showing it into the frequent list already with the jump list, no worries whatsoever.

I know it's your personal choice to keep your taskbar "clean" but it doesn't make much sense to me. If you constantly use Acrobat Reader, Word, Excel, etc. then it makes sense to pin them to the taskbar (after all, that's why the taskbar allows you to pin apps) and arrange them so they appear in an order that suits you. If you're taskbar is kept empty then you're not using it to its full potential.

Either way, writing off Windows 8 because it doesn't offer one feature that's easily replicated elsewhere and ignoring the other improvements that it offers seems a bit nonsensical. Also, the Start Menu is only one tiny, rarely used aspect of the Windows desktop experience so it makes no sense to me that someone would declare the desktop a failure just because the Start Menu has been superseded.

[Som]

Try that Start8 app dude. It works wonders. For $4.99 is not bad at all.

have done, but thats not the point, plus http://www.startisback.com/ is way better and for the moment free..... I hate windows 8, there i said, but i really really hate it... and you can say stick with windows 7 which is what i will be doing but the problem is i repair these bloody things so I am not only stuck with it but I have to learn it as well...

[jakem1]

No dynamically changing most frequent programs.

In my experience the Start Menu only changes dynamically for the first few days while it learns what you frequently use. After that it's just a static list. Also, frequently used apps can be pinned and grouped on the Start Screen to far greater effect.

[benthebear]

Why the **** are you "swiping" the mouse? My cursor movements are unchanged from Windows 7. And why are you only doing "small" movements?

And to the OP: Yep, this is clearly a disaster. WTF was I thinking? Obviously there's no work getting done here. Not with this mess. Nope.

^ (BTW, You're not going to get this level of functionality with Windows 7, no matter how hard you try.)

I don't know if you're being sarcastic, or if I'm missing the point of your photo, but I've been able to have two windows, and a chat conversation open at the same time well before Microsoft wrote their first line of code for Windows...XP.

Again, unless I'm missing something, it doesn't take much to get that level of functionality from Windows 7.

My problem isn't with those who dislike it, or even those who don't agree that it provides a much better computing experience. I completely understand that everyone has different likes, dislikes, and preferences. My problem is with those who are spreading lies and falsehoods about it. Some people are saying it's unusable or harder to use and that simply isn't true; similarly, some are claiming that it doesn't work well with a hardware mouse and keyboard, and again, that isn't true at all. These are all qualities of the operating system that I don't think can be subjective, but I could be wrong.

But how is it a lie or falsehood if people do find it unusable, or harder to use? Even if they think that it doesn't work well with the mouse and keyboard, how is that false?

You and I may think differently, but as you said so yourself, everyone has different likes, dislikes, etc. I understand that some people are going to get frustrated when they first boot into Windows 8, and they're going to say all sorts of stuff that I don't agree with, but to think that they're lying or spreading faslehoods when they share their personal experience? No because they would be more in tuned with what works best for them than I would. Thinking otherwise would make me a stuck up.

[George P Global Moderator]

These types of threads keep poping up, this just depends on the user. I'm using it just fine on my desktop, all day today without issue. The apps I use the most get pinned to my taskbar and when I bring up the start screen it's really by choice and not by need. So far I have no trouble on Win8 doing what I did on Win7.

[Som]

i'm just making a quick list of things that are ****ing me off (annoying me) as I go haha (from a fresh install)

1. why is there 2 login screens?

2. why is there no way to remove an account using the "metro" interface?

3. why can't there be an "active downloading" display?, I've currently got all the apps updating but no visible way of knowing that without going into the store

4. why did they still not include an always visible search option in the store? (why is it hidden in the charms bar)

5. why is it when I search in the start screen it doesn't automatically display settings applications (even where there are no actual apps in the results)

6. why is there no documents app?

7. why do apps seem stop when you leave them? (for instance windows update)

8. why oh why oh why .... :p

if you answer to this is just to use start8 then you've missed the point...

[Travesty]

I'm happy i got my parents on windows 7 when I did. I don't think they would use their computer any more of there was any significant changes to how the desktop worked. This OS seems to be microsoft betting that desktops are going to die in the near future and tablets will be taking over.

Desktops will never die and Microsoft knows this...

[Zlain]

He is stating his opinion and I don't think he is wrong at all. The first time I tried windows 8, used a bit for a day and then got tired of it, uninstalled it and went back to 7. It was only later when Start8 came that reinstalling windows 8 could become a possibility (of course there are other alternatives and free, I'm just stating this one because it works wonders), tried it a gain with a start menu third party app... Windows 8 became what it should be no hassle, but I will say it again, whoever thought the start screen is a replacement for the start menu is wrong... is just plain wrong, at best is an alternative and very inefficient at it.

Options should be always available when they want to execute such dramatic changes... and I'm sparing the fact that they removed the transparencies and put an horrid plain color on all the windows, not to mention, the white that often get's me blind.

Therein lies the problem. You tried it for a day...

[Ottawa Gamerz]

all im saying is who ever is the admin here look at how many topics of the desktop and hating windows 8 there are

your topic search for ones that are there all ready u guys should do the same it would stop windows 8 sucks a million times

[theyarecomingforyou]

all im saying is who ever is the admin here look at how many topics of the desktop and hating windows 8 there are

So people aren't allowed to express their dislike/criticism of Windows 8?

[Ottawa Gamerz]

So people aren't allowed to express their dislike/criticism of Windows 8?

in the pass there has been windows 8 sucks posts alot of them why do people keep opening new ones and just use the ones that are created all ready than theres more room for the rest of the crap of the day

[Wakers]

I have to say, having read that article - the guy clearly spent about 5 minutes looking at it and then decided he couldn't be arsed to learn it so he wrote an article slagging it off.

Fairly typical IT Industry type that's severely allergic to any sort of change. Which is odd, considering the industry that they're working in, yet I come across so many of people like that it's unreal.

Even my brother who works in IT has only just accepted that maybe Windows 7 is better than XP - but he still won't leave UAC or Windows Updates on, nor create himself a standard user account, oh no! And he's head of IT in a major worldwide company ffs. They're whole IT department is stuck so far in the past and living on long-debunked myths that it's a joke.

[Arceles]

Therein lies the problem. You tried it for a day...

You just read it until the second period appeared... right? I'm current user of windows 8 pro (gotten from dream spark, far before its launching) Start8 solved lots of trouble.

[Som]

I have to say, having read that article - the guy clearly spent about 5 minutes looking at it and then decided he couldn't be arsed to learn it so he wrote an article slagging it off. Fairly typical IT Industry type that's severely allergic to any sort of change. Which is odd, considering the industry that they're working in, yet I come across so many of people like that it's unreal. Even my brother who works in IT has only just accepted that maybe Windows 7 is better than XP - but he still won't leave UAC or Windows Updates on, nor create himself a standard user account, oh no! And he's head of IT in a major worldwide company ffs. They're whole IT department is stuck so far in the past and living on long-debunked myths that it's a joke.

UAC is a nuisance , why would you leave it on? why would you want a windows popping up telling you that you are doing something that you are already know your doing?? Windows update is grand for home users but if he's part of a large company then they need to monitor what updates install in case there is a conflict...

[Pam14160]

I just sat here and read this whole thread to this point, and have come to the point where I think that all you need to get out away from your computers and shovel snow (I need my driveway cleared, it is only about a half mile long).

The only thing I take away from this thread is the total hatred shown on both sides toward each other. . .a new form of racism is now showing it's hughly head "OSism."

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

I can't say much for Windows 8 RTM, as I haven't used it as my full time operating system...but there seem to be a lot of different threads scattered about the interwebs that prove that desktop users want it to be like Windows 7. I for one, am unsure, because I see "it's better than 7", but with so many people trying to emulate 7, it kinda kills my interest to see what all of the fuss is about. I mean, Microsoft should have given non-touchscreen people a chance to keep our desktops, with programs like Start8 out and whatnot. I'm tempted to try the 90 day evaluation, but can't be bothered, because I know me, and I'll be too tempted to try to make it work like Windows 7....with the start menu replacement stuff and all, I mean, I already have that with 7, so why go through all the hassle making 8 look like 7, when I'm perfectly happy with the way 7 works on all of my hardware....kinda a no brainer there. Not knocking people who love 8 or anything, just stating how I feel at the present time....plus, I can't afford 8 at this particular time. (If it costs more than 2 bucks, it's tipping my budget...I just now got to where I can live off of my budget, and afford to still have a few dollars at the end of the month....times are tough.)

[zhangm Supervisor]

The Windows 8 desktop functions in virtually an identical manner to the Windows 7 desktop. The Start screen hot corner occupies exactly the same pixel that everyone usually clicked on to invoke the Start menu. They've kept all the great keyboard shortcuts from Windows 7 and added a lot more. Performance is better. The desktop experience has been improved.

Metro has got a good dose of designer stupidity in it though. I recently got an activation prompt that directed me to the Metro control panel to activate...which then directed me to use the Desktop control panel to activate. Twice the steps, all for dumping the user into the Metro environment.

[Wakers]

UAC is a nuisance , why would you leave it on? why would you want a windows popping up telling you that you are doing something that you are already know your doing?? Windows update is grand for home users but if he's part of a large company then they need to monitor what updates install in case there is a conflict...

You'd leave it on because it prevents software from messing with the OS if you don't want it to. It doesn't only popup when you try to run something, but if something launches in the background that you're not aware of, or if malware attempts to alter something, it can prevent it.

He takes the same attitude to Windows Update as home that he has at work. I understand the need to delay updates on a large network, but the last time I was there helping out they were running about a year behind Windows Update. They were also running Office 2000 without any service packs installed and critical security updates were just ignored.