Quick tips to Fix Win 8?

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Mad Scientist
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#961285 4-Jan-2014 21:11

I have 2 8.1 systems and both have insomnia problem (does not 'sleep') amongst other things but it is actually faster.

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chevrolux

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#961313 4-Jan-2014 22:40

JWR:
lyonrouge: Does anyone know a web browser that supports Silverlight (apart from IE). The IE in Win8 is incompatible with WHS, so I need an alternate. I've been using a VM but this is impractical for video rendering.

The latest versions of IE, Firefox, Safari and Chrome all support Silverlight.

Silverlight only works when Chrome is running in the desktop and not in 'Windows 8 mode'.

Can anyone explain why this is? I like to run Chrome as an app rather than in the desktop and every time you get to a site that runs Silverlight Chrome has to be restarted in Desktop mode.
The same happens for Flash videos. WHY?!

lyonrouge

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#961319 4-Jan-2014 22:59

Thanks for warning, I'll give that one a miss.

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#961320 4-Jan-2014 23:01

joker97: I have 2 8.1 systems and both have insomnia problem (does not 'sleep') amongst other things but it is actually faster.

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Do you use a USB DAC or similar?

I've got a Burson Conductor and when its switched on it prevents Windows from sleeping

macuser

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#961326 4-Jan-2014 23:20

lyonrouge:
sbiddle:
lyonrouge: Key problems:

• Touchpad opening sidebars from left and right, I can find no way to stop this

If you have a touchpad that supports multitouch then gestures will be enabled by default. You can disable these in the Synaptics touchpad settings.

This does not appear to be a Synaptics feature.

Have you tried updating the driver or scrolling down? The option should be called edge swipes.

lyonrouge

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#961329 4-Jan-2014 23:37

Sure did scroll down, checked driver version manually and also via update software, also interrogated vendor (Sony) for what that was worth.

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Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

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#961330 4-Jan-2014 23:39

P.s. There's only an about section down, which is why I didn't include it.

Benzin

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#961338 5-Jan-2014 00:22

To fix problems with sharepoint sites or other websites that are not working - you can always run in compatibility mode on that website.

In IE:
Alt -> Tools -> Compatibility View -> Add Website you want -> Refresh.

Works for practically all old pages and allows you to pick and choose what pages you want to run in compatibility mode, rather than blanket compatibility mode via Windows compatibility settings.

______

Regarding touchpad scrolling, it should only have the sidebars turning up if you take your finder and put it from outside of the touchpad onto the touchpad.
If your touchpad is not implementing this correctly and is too sensitive, you'll have to find out if there is an option that disable Edge Swipes. I've seen quite a few vendors that support doing this (as you have to implement it in your driver in order to enable it) but no uniform way of doing it. http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/20992-touchpad-edge-swipes-enable-disable-windows-8-a.html

From the looks of it you might have to do the registry tweak referenced in the comments.
( hkcu\software\synaptics\synTPEnh\ZoneConFig\TouchPadPS2\ )

Synaptics Website for more information on Edge Swipes: www.synaptics.com/solutions/technology/touchpad

Benzin

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#961339 5-Jan-2014 00:31

chevrolux:
JWR:
lyonrouge: Does anyone know a web browser that supports Silverlight (apart from IE). The IE in Win8 is incompatible with WHS, so I need an alternate. I've been using a VM but this is impractical for video rendering.

The latest versions of IE, Firefox, Safari and Chrome all support Silverlight.

Silverlight only works when Chrome is running in the desktop and not in 'Windows 8 mode'.

Can anyone explain why this is? I like to run Chrome as an app rather than in the desktop and every time you get to a site that runs Silverlight Chrome has to be restarted in Desktop mode.
The same happens for Flash videos. WHY?!

Two different applications, Metro apps are sandboxed and so it seems to be harder to create plugins for said applications.
Classic desktop mode applications are not as restricted. (HTML5 seems to be the future anyway, enabling HTML5 for Youtube pretty much negated the need for me to get flash)

Benzin

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#961341 5-Jan-2014 00:36

joker97: I have 2 8.1 systems and both have insomnia problem (does not 'sleep') amongst other things but it is actually faster.

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powercfg -lastwake

Can give you information and the GUID of the device that is causing your computer not to sleep - as can

powercfg /requests
Showing current requests of applications and drivers have to prevent your computer going into S3 sleep.

You can also use for a larger HTML formatted report:

powercfg -energy (but this gives you much more information you probably don't want/need.)

lyonrouge

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#961437 5-Jan-2014 11:16

Benzin: To fix problems with sharepoint sites or other websites that are not working - you can always run in compatibility mode on that website.

In IE:
Alt -> Tools -> Compatibility View -> Add Website you want -> Refresh.

Works for practically all old pages and allows you to pick and choose what pages you want to run in compatibility mode, rather than blanket compatibility mode via Windows compatibility settings.

In the environment formally known as Metro, no menu displays when Alt (F12 doesn't work either). "old pages" makes me laugh, as it doesn't work with SharePoint 2013. It appears the Win8 developers are not using their own corporate DMS? Developer says, "documentation? just read the code?".

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lyonrouge

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#961447 5-Jan-2014 11:53

Benzin:
Regarding touchpad scrolling, it should only have the sidebars turning up if you take your finder and put it from outside of the touchpad onto the touchpad.
If your touchpad is not implementing this correctly and is too sensitive, you'll have to find out if there is an option that disable Edge Swipes. I've seen quite a few vendors that support doing this (as you have to implement it in your driver in order to enable it) but no uniform way of doing it. http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/20992-touchpad-edge-swipes-enable-disable-windows-8-a.html

From the looks of it you might have to do the registry tweak referenced in the comments.
( hkcu\software\synaptics\synTPEnh\ZoneConFig\TouchPadPS2\ )

Synaptics Website for more information on Edge Swipes: www.synaptics.com/solutions/technology/touchpad

Note: I've tried the drivers from synaptic and they will not install. I currently have another ticket logged with Sony regarding an updated driver for what I suspect is an EOM hardware issue. Sony have contributed equally to my angst with Win8 as much as MS have.

allio

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#961448 5-Jan-2014 11:59

lyonrouge: Note: I've tried the drivers from synaptic and they will not install. I currently have another ticket logged with Sony regarding an updated driver for what I suspect is an EOM hardware issue. Sony have contributed equally to my angst with Win8 as much as MS have.

Just confirming that this is definitely a Sony issue. The Synaptics driver on my Lenovo Thinkpad allows me to turn off edge swiping (thank god - it is supremely annoying).

surfisup1000

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#961474 5-Jan-2014 12:23

I hate the way you can't double click the top left corner of an expanded window to close it. The metro doodacky thingamajig gets right in the way.

Benzin

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#961482 5-Jan-2014 12:53

lyonrouge:
Benzin: To fix problems with sharepoint sites or other websites that are not working - you can always run in compatibility mode on that website.

In IE:
Alt -> Tools -> Compatibility View -> Add Website you want -> Refresh.

Works for practically all old pages and allows you to pick and choose what pages you want to run in compatibility mode, rather than blanket compatibility mode via Windows compatibility settings.

In the environment formally known as Metro, no menu displays when Alt (F12 doesn't work either). "old pages" makes me laugh, as it doesn't work with SharePoint 2013. It appears the Win8 developers are not using their own corporate DMS? Developer says, "documentation? just read the code?".

I work with Sharepoint quite a bit and it's really confusing how incompatible it can be with the latest versions of IE :\
Even more confusing is why it doesn't have the header that suggests IE run in compatibility mode.

Unfortunately it seems compatibility mode didn't make the cut to metro :(

Regarding the Synaptics driver problem, did you try manually disabling side swipes via the registry?

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