Thread: Win 8 and me

Customising the Metro. Well, I have now got my old folders going, with known contents. Still a bit to do but here we are so far:

Here's a picture of mine, @ the moment w/ Quick Launch employed. Attachment 118

w/ Control Panel+ (GOD Mode) and Links Submit your desktop!-mine-%40-moment.jpg I've Pinned (Taskbar) some items, since the photo... so, now, layout is similar to arrangements on my Windows 7.

Originally Posted by davehc

Originally Posted by Andrea Borman

Classic Shell gives you the Classic Windows 2000 start menu,and Windows XP start menu. As well as the Windows 7 and windows Vista start menu and has some other themes. Check it out. It also works in Windows 8.

Thanks Andrea. I have never tried the "Classic", but curiosity will make me! But, tell me, are you using the developer or the consumer release.. There is a difference and, unfortunately, most of the "tricks" no longer apply to the consumer.
Unfortunately, because of my particular computer operating conditions, I normally have to try and make the Os's work with the provided (built-in) facilities.. I cannot deny, though, the usefulness of trying out some of the third party compromises. (Keeps you with an open mind - not MS tunnel vision. Lol)

Well in Windows 8 Developers Preview you can disabled the Metro theme and have a Windows 7 start menu. And you can also use Classic Shell with the Metro theme enabled to give you a Classic,Windows XP or Windows 7 start menu.And you can toggle between both the Metro and Windows XP start menu.

but last night I installed Windows 8 Consumer preview and I found this was not the case. On windows 8 CP you cannot disable the Metro theme at all. And Classic Shell does not work at all. And even software like Metro Controller won't disable the Metro theme or give you ANY kind of start menu.

See my post here-http://windows8forums.com/windows-8-....html#post5965

I was not even able to pin most items to my desktop due to a problem with the ribbon in Windows Explorer that froze my mouse. And would not let me right click to send to desktop. Windows 8 consumer preview is NOTHING like the Developers Preview. And so I have had to uninstal it and go back to Windows 7. Andrea Borman.

If MS doesn't have some way to get rid of Metro and go back to a classic type interface like Windows 7 I don't see business showing much interest in it. Imagine having to train a bunch of people who use a computer but really are ignorant of much other that the screen or screens they use. Everybody doesn't live on a mobile touch screen device.
Joe

"Windows 8 consumer preview is NOTHING like the Developers Preview. And so I have had to uninstal it and go back to Windows 7" Folks, whilst trying to make sense out of this statement, please try to learn something from it... 1. where in a sense it is true the Beta is nothing like the DP, in fact it is vastly more sophisticated & by far superior to the DP. 2. 'going BACK to Windows 7' should never be in the picture when dealing w/ a Beta OS... they should ONLY be in addition to a current, non-beta OS, in addition NOT, instead!! ONLY as virtual machines or as multi-boot configs or on spare boxes. Ergo, 'going back' never enters into the equation. Regards, Drew

Things, Tiles on Start can be moved about, sized, removed... Things on Start can certainly be (also) put to Desktop access or Taskbar or Quick Launch… one can go back n forth Desktop to Start (in real-time) & be working them conjointly… Right side pop-out gives direct path to a plethora or things, w/out going to or looking @ all that may be on Start .... Search is very cool, whether done into Search or the fact that typing anywhere on Start fires Search. It gets really pretty damn cool!

Yes, the basic premise here is human nature, mindsets and the evolution & direction of technology. This scenario/relationship & its by-products is not restricted to IT... "that confounded dang new-fangled contraption" isn't a new phenomenon. But, it takes nothing away from the virtues of Windows 8, be they superficial or deep, obvious or subtle, cosmetic or technical, pizazz or performance. Perception & participation will run the gamut, timelines will be all over the map, rumours & myths will abound.

For some of us it's fun, usable (convenient, helpful & sensible), impressive, intuitive, innovative & exciting. Maybe 'we' will convey a 'truth' w/ accuracy & maybe some of our understanding & enthusiasm will rub off on others... though, actually, I think I'm seeing more ppl singing praises & being able to appreciate Windows 8 than, negatives.

I'm not that keen on the Metro interface as I said earlier. This thread is nearly all about this one feature though.

Does anyone know if there is more under the hood apart from the shell we have to use?

Originally Posted by wheels5894

I'm not that keen on the Metro interface as I said earlier. This thread is nearly all about this one feature though.

Does anyone know if there is more under the hood apart from the shell we have to use?

I think the short answer is no.
They seemed to have moved some things around, making them a little more difficult to find (like the startup tab in msconfig now refers you to taskmanager) and it does seem to perform a little better on older less robust hardware, but I haven't seen any noticeable performance increase on my main PC and I'm not sure what everyone is talking about when they say it is faster. My specs are not the greatest but they are by no means minimal either and 7 seems to perform just as well as 8 if not better.
The main thing seems to be the shell and everyone is in a twist over the missing start button instead of just adapting and realizing they have practically a whole screen of apps in front of them without ever having to click a start button. I think it will take everyone, especially us old timers a bit of getting used to but it seems to be the way things are going so I'm game.
Supposedly they are going to port over the ReFS (Resilient File System) from 8 Server for the Workstation OS but who knows when that will be. And I suppose some of the new Virtualization features might blow some people's skirts up but for the normal, everyday, read my email, surf the web, write a document or two and work on my spreadsheets user I don't think there is a lot to get excited about. I guess we'll see but I suspect if word of mouth doesn't improve you're going to see a lot of users going the "down-grade my OS route" when purchasing new computers, as we saw for a few years with Vista.
Just my two cents.
Regards
Randy

I agree with Trouble. The Metro UI is a very good way of accessing all the apps that were normally in the start menu. All it needs is, as i mentioned in another post, a more proper or thorough control panel to make it more customizable(it wouldn't hurt if they would do a settings panel and make the music app more "collection on hard drive" oriented). As for performance, I think it is driver dependent. You may have resources, but being still in development stage, drivers may not work "as advertised". For me win7 is a bit faster in some apps, but win8 is far more fluid. The hardware i'm running on is an AMD Athlon II X3 @ 3.2GHz, with 4GB RAM, and HD5570 1GBDDR3, 1TB HDD. IMHO if they get the UI,Video and Music apps more configurable(with more tweaks and settings), it would be great. For businesses too. It makes switching through different apps more easy, especially when you do work, and you have a ton of programs opened, bugging down the taskbar...

Experts Arise!

What has Microshaft done to make Firefox crawl like a baby?

Eh?