Windows 8 Pro - Well then, i think i like it :-/

[accura2000]

Installed Windows 8 Pro 64bit on my non-touch screen laptop at home thanks to MSDN

 

I must say I actually like it, there is a couple of grumbles but i was expecting that but surprisingly not that many.

 

There is alot to get used to and im already finding little "features" that I like/don't like such as this little list.

 

I like using Google Chrome, which installs fine on Windows 8 but runs 2 different programs depending on if you launch it from desktop or "Modern UI".

 

If you use a web browser in the "modern UI" interface, you have no clock for reference, not that its much of a problem, but I am surprised at how often I look in the corner to see what the time really is. This is not a problem in Desktop mode as you have the task bar at the bottom of the screen.

 

Oh and Internet Explorer is still clunky and slow! so i certainly wont be using that for my main browser.

 

Simple programs like paint, calc, notepad and so on are seemingly missing, but "Win Key + R" and typing the names like mspaint.exe and up it loads. There is alot missing from the main user interface that we all use and unless we know the keyboard shortcuts or commands to load them, then the normal user woundnt even know they existed in Windows 8.

 

One thing i did notice, is the Windows games like minesweeper has new features one of which is like a story mode type thing, albeit not working yet and is shown as coming soon. I know this isnt a big thing but I like minesweeper and find myself looking daily to see if its gone live yet!

 

Printers, well it picked up my Epson wireless printer all by itself, installed itself and just worked, quietly impressed!

 

As for the "Modern UI" well is basically the "Start Menu", i found that out just poking around and it even says Start in the top left corner.

 

Also to be noted is the inclusion of Hyper-V for the 64bit versions of Pro and Enterprise. I had to have a play with this as my littlen enjoys playing "Roblox" at weekends and I often need to get access to certain windows apps, so I put XP Pro into Hyper-V and remote into it via my Android tablet, couldnt believe how easy it was with only a slight performance loss on the host machine.

 

The "App Store" is pretty empty at the moment, there are a couple of grabs just for the hell of it, hoping for more soon...

 

Well, at the moment, there not much more i can add, still looking and thought I would share my experience, which I feel was very positive and not what I was expecting.

Edited August 20, 2012 by accura2000

[HMCTech]

Simple programs like paint, calc, notepad and so on are seemingly missing, but "Win Key + R" and typing the names like mspaint.exe and up it loads. There is alot missing from the main user interface that we all use and unless we know the keyboard shortcuts or commands to load them, then the normal user woundnt even know they existed in Windows 8.

 

They are there for me. Have you tried pressing start and typing calc or notepad on the start menu. This searches you programes and finds them easily.

[accura2000]

To be honest, hadnt thought of that, but again, if its a new user who doesnt know they are there as the metro tiles are missing, how would they be expected to find them?

[sted]

im fiddling with enterprise atm.

 

So far games don't appear to be there at all (they were in 7 ent but off by default). notepad etc do show if you right click and select all apps (way over to the right) or as above just on the "metro" screen start typing calc. I actually quite like ie10 it finally has a damn spellcheck and seems to work ok. Like the idea of hyper v but ive installed it on my old laptop and id dosent so slat so cant use it

[localzuk]

Much of a speed difference between it and 7?

[ZeroHour]

Moved my machine over to it from w7 and I would say it does boot faster (ssd) but booting an ssd is never slow really for me.

The biggest issue right now for me is video card drivers, nvidia dont have proper rtm drivers yet and there are a couple of issues with the current beta, I dont know how it is in AMD/Intel land but I wouldnt be surprised if its similar although AMD did release rtm whql drivers on Friday I believe. No other drivers have been an issue yet but I have not tried my printer yet, I fear that attempt.... its an HP

[bladedanny]

Got win 8 pro on my work laptop, and I'd have to say I like it too. The mail app is nice and basic and picked up my Google apps mail box no problem. Same with contacts and calendar. Now I've got my start screen set up with things I use (did away with sports and financial etc) and got a link to Edugeek there, I'm getting used to the start screen.

 

My laptop has an SSD so time to log on screen from cold is next to nothing with an almost instant login.

 

My gripes so far have to be the lack of a clock on the modern UI, but I'm getting used to top left down to show the time. Also I use a dual screen set up with the second monitor a 4:3 ratio and the snap feature of modren ui apps doesn't seem to work with 4:3 monitors.

 

Taking some getting used to but it's not too bad, for me anyway; I'm not too sure what the average user would think.

[Trapper]

I've been using it a bit more and I'm getting to like it. Including the Win+X shortcut which brings up power user tools.

 

Sadly installed on my XPS at work and it cocked it up completely - rebooted with the LCD panel off, on, off, on etc. Not sure why.

 

On my home desktop it has problems with a USB 3 RAID hard drive from Buffalo during some power ons, and my internal Yukon gig NIC. The Windows driver will only run at 10meg, whilst the offical Yukon driver has to be force set to 1000mbps, but you have to do this each boot (from auto-set, no network, to 1000mbps, disable adapter, back on). That has surprised me. Such a glitch is a beta problem, not release code.

[SYNACK]

8 Enterprise also boots fast on an 'old school' 7200RPM hard disk drive.

[Trapper]

Anyone had any problems with proxy settings?

 

Win 8 Ent at work does not pick them up via GPO and when you enter manually the metro apps still will not recognise them. I remember this feature from the RC build.

[bladedanny]

Anyone had any problems with proxy settings?

 

Win 8 Ent at work does not pick them up via GPO and when you enter manually the metro apps still will not recognise them. I remember this feature from the RC build.

 

Yes, to get metro apps to work I have to use:

netsh winhttp import proxy source = ie

in cmd as admin

this should use your IE proxy settings for metro apps.

[MartinT]

It really makes sense when you a) install Office 2013 on it and b) have a SkyDrive account. The integration of cloudiness is seamless and very welcome. To answer a question above, yes it's very fast, noticeably faster than W7 on the same hardware.

 

Has anyone had difficulty activating it? The standard activation fails as it doesn't allow you to add the software key. You need to open an elevated command prompt and type:

slmgr.vbs -ipk "KEY-KEY-KEY-KEY-KEY"

[gshaw]

Yup I had the same problem, can't see many home users figuring that one out though

[bladedanny]

Yup I had the same problem, can't see many home users figuring that one out though

 

Would it affect home users? Do they presume enterprise users would use a KMS server?

[SYNACK]

Would it affect home users? Do they presume enterprise users would use a KMS server?

Yea, I just assumed it was defaulted to the KMS key as it was enterprise, I did not even bother with Pro as VL means Enterprise is available and it is always better in terms of management. Just rolled my eyes a bit and cracked out slmgr.vbs which I have grown used to under Vista and 7 so no big deal.

[Oaktech]

I've installed a 3rd party task bar/start menu app on my copy which bypasses the stupid whatever-you-want-to-call-it tile interface altogether, now i've done that I am happy that it is usable desktop OS.

[victory2012]

I've installed a 3rd party task bar/start menu app on my copy which bypasses the stupid whatever-you-want-to-call-it tile interface altogether, now i've done that I am happy that it is usable desktop OS.

 

whats it called?

[Arthur]

Probably Classic Shell, Start8 or ViStart.

 

It's also possible to create a Windows 95/98-style Start Menu on your taskbar without any third-party add-ons.

[MartinT]

Best just to get used to the Modern UI, as all these add-ons tend to fall by the wayside after a while. In any case, I think the tiled interface will suit many of our teachers just fine.

[CyberNerd]

Best just to get used to the Modern UI, as all these add-ons tend to fall by the wayside after a while. In any case, I think the tiled interface will suit many of our teachers just fine.

 

yeah - 9/10 people just click the links on their desktop and have 2 or 3 apps open at once. Anyone with a deep interest in computers will use the cli or linux anyway, so it only 'hurts' a few windows power users who'll stick the the traditional desktop anyway.

[Oaktech]

whats it called?

 

Classic start menu.

 

I use it on win7 at the moment as I am a control freak and like my desktop experience Old School!

 

Mainly because I like my task bar very small, I don't like to pin, (I use the run command a lot) I don't like to group icons (it just confuses me), I don't like the recently used program feature, I don't like the way win7 displays programs (I may as well just browse program files the way win 7 displays it). Its the only part of computing where I am a luddite. I've found a setup I like and i'm going to stick with it as long as possible!

[accura2000]

Moved my machine over to it from w7 and I would say it does boot faster (ssd) but booting an ssd is never slow really for me.

The biggest issue right now for me is video card drivers, nvidia dont have proper rtm drivers yet and there are a couple of issues with the current beta, I dont know how it is in AMD/Intel land but I wouldnt be surprised if its similar although AMD did release rtm whql drivers on Friday I believe. No other drivers have been an issue yet but I have not tried my printer yet, I fear that attempt.... its an HP

 

My lappy has the i3 intel HD graphics and seems to work perfectly with the W8 built in drivers. There is no sign on the intel website about Windows 8 though :/

[Oaktech]

so it only 'hurts' a few windows power users who'll stick the the traditional desktop anyway.

 

That'll be me then!

[SYNACK]

When I showed some of the teachers I got the standard, oohhh, pretty response. These are iPad users though so the bar is not set that high.

[Arthur]

My lappy has the i3 intel HD graphics and seems to work perfectly with the W8 built in drivers. There is no sign on the Intel website about Windows 8 though

Should you need them, here are a couple of links to Intel's latest Windows 8 drivers for the HD Graphics 2000/2500/3000/4000...

 

32-bit / 64-bit