[eye30]

 Windows 8.1, which is a free download for Windows 8 users from the Windows Store, retains the split-personality Start screen and Desktop, but a host of changes throughout make both modes much more user friendly.

Here’s a run-down of the less obvious - but no less welcome - new features.

Nine hidden features in Windows 8.1 - BT

[plasticphyte]

I don't care how many dot releases and changes they make, Windows 8 is still rubbish.

Win 8 and 8.1 are stable and faster than previous versions. However, the tactical changes that were made to the interface are so confusing that any gains made through a more efficient operating system are far out weighed by the time spent trying tho find your way around it.

Makes a lot of users seriously consider moving plate forms to iMac.

[Surferdude]

Win 8 and 8.1 are stable and faster than previous versions. However, the tactical changes that were made to the interface are so confusing that any gains made through a more efficient operating system are far out weighed by the time spent trying tho find your way around it.

Makes a lot of users seriously consider moving plate forms to iMac.

Had me wondering there for a minute.

Predictive text?? 

Or a deliberate misnomer? 

Win 8 and 8.1 are stable and faster than previous versions. However, the tactical changes that were made to the interface are so confusing that any gains made through a more efficient operating system are far out weighed by the time spent trying tho find your way around it.

Makes a lot of users seriously consider moving plate forms to iMac.

Had me wondering there for a minute.

Predictive text?? 

Or a deliberate misnomer? 

Predictive text.    Could have been worse.  Don't you hate it. 

Then again, I need to check before touch Post.

[Surferdude]

Win 8 and 8.1 are stable and faster than previous versions. However, the tactical changes that were made to the interface are so confusing that any gains made through a more efficient operating system are far out weighed by the time spent trying tho find your way around it.

Makes a lot of users seriously consider moving plate forms to iMac.

Had me wondering there for a minute.

Predictive text?? 

Or a deliberate misnomer? 

Predictive text.    Could have been worse.  Don't you hate it. 

Then again, I need to check before touch Post.

First thing I do with a phone is turn it off.

[AlanHo]

I have used every version of Windows since 1985 with Windows 1.01 when I used my first PC when working in Bahrain.
Since then my Windows history has been :-
1987 Windows 2 - looked after by my company's IT department
1991 Windows 3 - same
1996 Windows 95 - same
1999 Windows 98 - Now retired and having to fend for myself - I start the learning curve
2000 Windows 2000
2001 Windows ME - An utterly frustrating O.S  I learned a lot with this abomination
2002 Windows XP
2007 Windows Vista Another flawed O.S with frustrating stability issues.
2010 Windows 7 A great O.S  Fast and stable
2012 Windows 8 A faster O.S and even more robust but the Metro interface is horrid. I installed Stardock desktop so it replicated Windos 7
2013 Windows 8.1  More speed and great stability. But I have retained the Stardock desktop because the Windows start button and desktop is limited.

During this time I once had a go with Linux but got fed up with having to mess around with it to be able to use all my software and peripherals.  I never did get it to work with my Garmin software and my phones - so I binned it. It is an O.S for a dedicated hobbyist and all I want to be is an untroubled user.

I am happy with Windows 8.1 - and sometimes wonder what all the fuss is about. If you look on the various Windows forums they are drying up because people have less problems to post and whinge about with the new system - other than those who try and use the Metro interface and incompatible software in touch screen mode.

[Shambles]

 

Win 8.1 seems great, if you configure it correctly. I have mine booting straight to the desktop without prompting me for a microsoft account or any of that rubbish.

12 seconds from hitting the power-on to getting my desktop on view and usable, and that's with a standard 5400rpm sata drive (new HP laptop with twin 4-core A10 processors and 8gb ram).

[Surferdude]

Win 8.1 seems great, if you configure it correctly. I have mine booting straight to the desktop without prompting me for a microsoft account or any of that rubbish.

Is that hard to set up, Steve.
Will have a new laptop tomorrow for Claire (No. Not in exchange for).
I'm really gonna have to make it as much like XP as possible for her - at least for a while.

[Shambles]

Is that hard to set up, Steve.

Tip No 2 in the link above. Also, create a local account (in the control panel) and set that to be "password free" as the default logged in user.

[Surferdude]

This is as good a place to document the last 2 days or so.
Bought an HP laptop.
2.3GHz
4 GB RAM
500 GB HD (5400 IIRC).
Windows 8.1 

So, I set out to try to understand what was happening as it came. Disn't want to screw up anything making changes too early.
Most important things were.

Get the mail client working as close to Windows Live Mail as possible. And link Claire's existing 2 e-mail addresses. Google is your friend - but still took some doing and interpreting the various guides, then modifying accordingly.

Get rid of any unnecessary apps and place those we kept into a workable order. Learn how to relocate and resize.

Set up Skype and Firefox and import bookmarks.

Made good use of Dazz's Windows 8 Tips (many thanks Dazz  )

Finally, went to download that little program  Alan Ho uses to change the appearance of the start screen.
They wanted to charge me for it so I fished around and went with Classic Shell which is free and seems to do everything I wanted it to. Spent some time adding and removing the links I wanted off the Start Menu.  Looking pretty good ATM.

Most important thing has been to find a simple version of Solitaire.   I've got one but it's not completely the same as that in WXP. It seems to have automated some of the moves whereas Claire preferred to carry them out herself. Work in progress.

NOW!
The big next step.

Edumacate the regular user.

I'll update here as the progress unfolds.

[Phil №❶]

Excellent day 1, quite a lot of things achieved.

[Surferdude]

Excellent day 1, quite a lot of things achieved.

Thanks Phil, but it's been a bit over two days (not full time off course).

Anyway, I'm more tha happy with the progress.
I'm sure there'll be some more frustration to come.

[Dazzler]

Best way to learn Trev (can't beat hands on) 

Looks like the Boot SSD drive in my my desktop PC is playing up 

Can boot from the original HDD drive but majorly out of date (and much slower)

Got some work to do over the weekend 

[Surferdude]

Best way to learn Trev (can't beat hands on) 

Agreed Dazz.
Pretty much the only way I've learned over the years.

[Dazzler]

I've just ordered a Samsung 840 EVO SSD (250GB) to replace the 128 GB Vortex? drive that is playing up. I am not a big Samsung Fan but get good reviews and only $195   

[Phil №❶]

But you would have had a longer life form a conventional HD.

Apart from speed, SSD's don't seem very reliable. The memory in SSD's & USB has a finite life and although tested over 1Meg cycles, could it be that certain areas are unreliable in the present SSD. What are you going to do with it, can they be tested and fixed 

For the money, they are still too expensive / GB IMO.

[plasticphyte]

I've just ordered a Samsung 840 EVO SSD (250GB) to replace the 128 GB Vortex? drive that is playing up. I am not a big Samsung Fan but get good reviews and only $195   

Samsung make very good SSD's. In fact, they have some very decent performers vs cost. I have a 256GB one in my iMac. IIRC the 1TB module in my MBPr is also Samsung.

But you would have had a longer life form a conventional HD.

Apart from speed, SSD's don't seem very reliable. The memory in SSD's & USB has a finite life and although tested over 1Meg cycles, could it be that certain areas are unreliable in the present SSD. What are you going to do with it, can they be tested and fixed 

For the money, they are still too expensive / GB IMO.

Lifespan of an SSD is definitely a concern if you have a drive that doesn't have TRIM & wear levelling.
That said, there are certain models that experience certain problems. The OCZ Vortex 2 units are well known to have issues with no longer being detected by the OS; this was caused by the controller, not the actual memory chips.
 

http://techreport.com/review/24841/introducing-the-ssd-endurance-experiment is a great read.

All that said, if you don't have a good backup plan & you're not following it… Well, silly you.

As far as $/MB goes, yes, they are still expensive, especially past the 256GB line, but you're not buying space, you're buying speed, and for the speed you can get out of them, especially PCIe SSD's, they're worth it.

I made the switch on all my hardware last year. Whenever I have to work on any machines that have spindles, I wonder why the computer is so slow, then remember it has a spindle drive in it.

[Phil №❶]

As doggie1 would say, "fairy nuff"

I'll read that later, brekkie time now. 

[Aussie Keith]

I've just ordered a Samsung 840 EVO SSD (250GB) to replace the 128 GB Vortex? drive that is playing up. I am not a big Samsung Fan but get good reviews and only $195   

These are the business. Gradually replacing our SSD fleet with the Samsungs.

[Aussie Keith]

During this time I once had a go with Linux but got fed up with having to mess around with it to be able to use all my software and peripherals.  I never did get it to work with my Garmin software and my phones - so I binned it. It is an O.S for a dedicated hobbyist and all I want to be is an untroubled user.

Linux, is trouble free and just works and is quite customisable for those that feel so inclined. By way of example, the Apple OS has a Linux core and is regarded a stable easy to use desktop environment. Linux will remain relegated behind MS and Mac OSes simple because if you buy a PC you get windows by default and if you buy a Mac, well you get what they give you.

If on the other hand you are running a server Linux is the king unless of course you must have to integrate into an MS environment (AD) run Sharepoint, SQL server or such. Much of the web is driven by the LAMP stack including almost certainly this web site.

In addition many appliances are using Linux including most likely your home router. So its out there but sadly not getting the respect it deserves on the desktop.

The reason it might be considered an enthusiasts solution is because of the lack of driver support by peripheral makers such as Garmin for example. Its likely that drivers exist or you can roll your own but its unlikely a linux version of the supporting application software exist. And that's a shame really.

I think Its well worth taking another look if you have not done so for some time as its a very solid mature desktop environment these days. Suggest Debian or Centos and grab some old PC like a mainstream Dell of some sort, pop a hard drive tray in it, grab a couple of drives so you can try different variants and have fun.

As an addendum to Alan's chronology:

• Win 1 was rolled up as a dedicated run time version with many early applications like PageMaker. Gem was available at the time as well as a run time with Ventura Publisher.
• Win 2 I recall quite clearly with its blue and yellow interface as I was developing apps on this platform.
• Win 3 was exciting after Win 2 and gave us the horrifyingly flaky Win 3.11 networking extension, named I presume to gain some cred from the dominant Novel 3.11 of the day.
• Win 95 was new and interesting, Win 98 faster and more reliable.
• XP was the chosen cheese for a decade, it just worked and its still working out there in the wild.
• Lets not forget Win NT4 in all its 32 bit awesomeness. This was used for the big horsepower GIS apps we were using at the time.
• Skipped ME & Vista and eventually stopped supporting folks with Vista issues as did Microsoft who released Win7.
• Win7 is the one that owns them all. Still in use here. Utterly reliable and fast enough.
• Win 8 - heard about this, not interested atm but no doubt there may be a need to move off Win7 in the decade ahead. 

[The Gonz]

No call for a HDD tray when PenDriveLinux will boot and run entirely in RAM off a USB.

If after making comparisons you then want to grow your system into something more substantial, by all means.

[Dazzler]

Thanks AK & PP 

I love SSD drives (currently posting this on my main PC ) I have it working on the original 1TB standard HDD what a slug! 

Fortunately I back up all my files regularly to a 1TB internal drive and my NAS drive as well so if I cant recover the info off the Vertex SSD no big drama as all the programs loaded on there can be reloaded very quickly on the new Samsung when it arrives.

THAT is the other thing PHIL  (loading programs including a clean install of Win 7 on to an SSD is lightening fast compared to a conventional drive - up to 4 times faster from my experience!)

Sounds like I might still be able to clone the Vortex drive anyway if it is just a detection thing by the OS. My first SSD (a Kingston V100 lasted about 12 months then did the same thing) I have been using it as a small Music Storage drive in this computer and it works fine for that!

[AlanHo]

Dazz

Since you are using a vintage PC with the performance of a slug I have typed this message slowly so you will be able to read it.

I tried a 128 GB SSD in my PC about 18 months ago - it went tits up in just over 3 months. I was offered a replacement but I decided to a credit against a 1TB hard drive.

I will wait until I upgrade the PC with a new motherboard and processor before I try an SSD again. What I have, with Windows 8.1 properly configured,  is quite fast enough for my purposes at present so there is no rush.

[Aussie Keith]

Turns out 128G is too small and really the only thing on your SSD should be the OS and apps. Data should be elsewhere on a regular drive.  In the past it has been observed that if there is insufficient space on the SSD, which is to say more than about 80% full, they will not go the distance.

[AlanHo]

I only ever put the OS and programs on the C drive - which currently holds 86 GB. A 128 GB SSD should have been plenty big enough.

My data is on a 1TB D drive. Currently 282 GB

My wife's data is on a 1TB E drive. Currently 123 GB

Internal 2 TB drive F - used for weekly Acronis back ups of C drive and daily Second Copy back ups of D and E drives onto 2 TB disc

External eSATA removable disc drive - using 2 TB SATA discs for weekly Acronis and daily Second Copy duplicate back ups. A second disc duplicates the files monthly for storage 50 yards away in my garage.

Hence I have 3 copies of all backups with one being stored remote from the house. My back-up routine is thus belt, braces and a piece of string.

I have got so used to the reliability of Acronis C drive images that if the OS or a program gets grumpy - I don't waste time fiddling with it - I just restore the C drive. It takes about 25 minutes.

[Aussie Keith]

Nothing exceeds like excess. 

You would be about the only other person I know other of than my good self who takes backup seriously. What version of Acronis are you using? I'm still on True Image 2010.

[Phil №❶]

Have a look at AOMEI Drive Backup, It's free. I use this to backup to external drive.

[rustynutz]

Haven't yet been sold on SSD's and going by the trouble you've had with them, Daz I think I'll stick with my Western Digital Velociraptor 160gb hard drive for a bit longer yet... 

[Surferdude]

My son built his latest PC with several SSD drives.  No old fashioned stuff for him.
I'm with Rusty.
Haven't yet found I need extra speed anywhere.