Window 7 or Windows 8?

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#1020036 7-Apr-2014 15:13

It is very much heading towards Windows 8.

I'm planning to stream from my new desktop to Western Digital media players via WiFi and Media Player so won't need Media Centre.

Someone once said, can't remember where, that 8 has better security/anti-virus. Is that the case?

Didn't anybody tell you I was a hacker?

nakedmolerat

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#1020041 7-Apr-2014 15:39

Yes, windows defender in windows 8 provides a complete basic proection.

muppet

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#1020068 7-Apr-2014 16:56

I've got Windows 7 at work and Windows 8.1 on my old laptop at home (7 years old it is)

Windows 8.1 is, damn I hate to say it, really good.

The tiles thing I hate and really wish I could totally make it go away, but once you get used to it it's not that bad. It's a stupid idea though (For a desktop PC, not the idea itself)

I'd go with Windows 8 - it's a little bit of a steeper learning curve than Windows 7, but you might as well go with the latest and greatest. Hopefully future updates will gently push tiles into the background even more.

k14

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#1020098 7-Apr-2014 17:28

If you want to stream media from your PC use Serviio or Plex to DLNA stream it to xbox 360. I use Serviio and it is brilliant. Quite a lot faster to get to on the xbox than media centre. It also organises all your media which ever way you want. I am running Windows 7 but pretty sure those programs will run in Windows 8.

lyonrouge

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#1031882 27-Apr-2014 09:16

DrDee:
JimmyH: I'm in the same zone. I would have purchased this Christmas except Win8 put me off so badly, and I was worried about disappearing support for Win7 down the track.

A couple of weeks ago I would have said it was a no brainer - for a desktop Win7 was the way to go. Last weeks announcements about the next version of Win8 indicate that MS may have finally realised that not everyone has a touch screen or wants a Fisher Price interface, so if you can wait a while Win8 might actually be worthwhile.

Personally, I'm so fed up over the whole debacle that I'm close to just giving up and getting a Mac.

Mac OS is the Fisher Price interface of the Linux world.

I put Win 8 and Mac OSX in the same category, it's fine if you want to learn new keyboard combinations and want "pretty". I've got two Macs and one Win 8 (.1 update 1), I make myself use them because I'm in the industry and therefore should have a working knowledge, but I have no love for either.

Win 7 is solid and is what I use the majority of the time and I'm sure Win 9 (or whatever the next peak of the MS cycle is) will be just as good and I'll migrate to that for my primary (in 3 or 4 years I expect).

chevrolux

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#1031892 27-Apr-2014 10:05

For the general population windows 8 is better in everyway.
Once you install classic shell (to get a start menu) there is no need to worry about having to use the Modern UI.

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lyonrouge

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#1031912 27-Apr-2014 10:16

Good point, classic shell saves the day.

Edit: Does anyone know if there is a way to keep the taskbar displayed when you have an application from the execution environment formerly known as "Metro" open? I have the "Lock Taskbar" option set, but it still auto hides.

nathan

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#1047832 19-May-2014 09:45

lyonrouge: Good point, classic shell saves the day.

Edit: Does anyone know if there is a way to keep the taskbar displayed when you have an application from the execution environment formerly known as "Metro" open? I have the "Lock Taskbar" option set, but it still auto hides.

No, you need to move your mouse down to the bottom of the screen

lyonrouge

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#1047925 19-May-2014 11:52

For some reason that still doesn't display the task bar, maybe it doesn't work with touch screens?

Tzoi

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#1047932 19-May-2014 12:05

I think that is in a future update to windows 8.1 where metro apps can be opened in a window but I may be wrong

lyonrouge

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#1047938 19-May-2014 12:11

Maybe I'm not at the right software level? I think I need to come up to "8.1 update" as I think I'm still at 8.1

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Gilco2

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#1047939 19-May-2014 12:11

lyonrouge: For some reason that still doesn't display the task bar, maybe it doesn't work with touch screens?

on my laptop with Windows 8.1 it works but not on my Samsung Windows 8.1 tablet. So looks like you are correct.

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lyonrouge

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#1047940 19-May-2014 12:15

Gilco2:
lyonrouge: For some reason that still doesn't display the task bar, maybe it doesn't work with touch screens?
on my laptop with Windows 8.1 it works but not on my Samsung Windows 8.1 tablet. So looks like you are correct.

thanks

timmmay

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#1047953 19-May-2014 12:35

I put classic shell (or similar) onto my wife's machine, it works basically like W7, but boots quicker I think. If I was building a new machine now not sure what I'd do, I own W7 and could re-use the license free, but W8 has a raid-like feature I'd quite like - storage spaces I think it is.

nathan

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#1047982 19-May-2014 13:12

lyonrouge: For some reason that still doesn't display the task bar, maybe it doesn't work with touch screens?

It work on touch and non-touch devices

Make sure you have "Show Windows Store apps on the taskbar" enabled in the Taskbar and Navigation properties setting

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