Windows 8.1 Preview

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MaxLV

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#847336 30-Jun-2013 10:23

GBristow: Unimpressed. Still no option to enable the start menu, and now they're forcing us to use Bing with the search tool.

Nathan, as Microsoft's resident cheerleader that's your cue to tell us we're just holding it wrong.

Start button? What do you need that for? I stopped using the Start Button with XP.

I use STab Launcher http://stablauncher.com/ Have done with XP, Windows 7, and now Windows 8.

Anything loaded on the start button can be loaded on STablauncher.

For 'under the hood' options, I just click the Control Panel Icon on the desk top or Windows 8 Start Screen.

I dont even use Windows 8 Start Screen that much.

First thing I'll do with 8.1 is enable Boot to Desktop, and turn OFF the start button option.

YMMV

mercutio

1392 posts

Uber Geek

#847366 30-Jun-2013 13:00

GBristow: Unimpressed. Still no option to enable the start menu, and now they're forcing us to use Bing with the search tool.

Nathan, as Microsoft's resident cheerleader that's your cue to tell us we're just holding it wrong.

i never had any bing search thing? and just use start8.

antoniosk

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#847399 30-Jun-2013 15:08

antoniosk: Look what arrived in my mailbox this morning....
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/preview

Looks interesting... I sometimes wonder if a technet sub is worth looking at....

8.1 ISO's available from tomorrow, I have a VM ready and waiting....

I put it on one of my VM's - runs really well aside from some video issues (virtualbox isn't that crash hot) - and it refused to install on a dedicated machine that has 8 on it.

The start button that wasn't.... a cosmetic button that needs a right-click to bring up a context menu. Hmm. But click it and it goes to the metro screen, not bring up a list of apps.... so 50% of the way there I think.

Booting to the desktop is nice, the rest of the OS is OK but not a massive change if youre running Win7. I really do get it would be useful as a tablet OS and does some things nicer than an iPad (live tiles is good)... but then i guess any epic change is likely to have casualties along the way.

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Antoniosk

antoniosk

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#847400 30-Jun-2013 15:10

How does $99.99 sound?

http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/software/ms-win-8-pro-pack-1-license-dsnz-xs8810

It just a box with a licenced code on a card and the usual MS leaflets.
You download the upgrade as part of the install.

It's now clearance so you may need to ring around the shops to find out if they still have it.

Bought this to upgrade my Iconia W510 tablet from the Windows 8 standard Acer OEM version.

The upgrade worked perfectly, took about 20 minutes, including the download.

Which is why I changed my mind about buying the Surface Pro; That and the Sinclair ZX81 type keyboard on the Surface Pro.

Cheers chappie

$120 meant 3x$40 licenses, which is good pricing, not $99 or $120. But in all honesty I think retrofitting to an existing PC is a backwards step - far better to wait until you get a new machine built to really take advantage of it.

Roll on more Win7 somehow.

________

Antoniosk

billgates

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#847490 30-Jun-2013 20:11

Got LastPass working in IE11. Had to disable Enhance Protected Mode and restart IE11.

Do whatever you want to do man.

networkn

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#848459 2-Jul-2013 23:28

Well I don't have much positive to say about W8.1 but one very good thing I liked was that under W8 my notebooks fans were going crazy and there was a LOT of heat coming from it's airvents, and in 8.1 it's working correctly the same as W7 was. On the downside, my desktop app version of Skype looks all blurry as do some of my other apps and it's NOT a resolution issue as not everything is affected.

And the Workaround: http://www.askvg.com/fix-bold-blurry-or-hard-to-read-font-problem-in-windows-8-1/

mercutio

1392 posts

Uber Geek

#848465 3-Jul-2013 01:05

networkn: Well I don't have much positive to say about W8.1 but one very good thing I liked was that under W8 my notebooks fans were going crazy and there was a LOT of heat coming from it's airvents, and in 8.1 it's working correctly the same as W7 was. On the downside, my desktop app version of Skype looks all blurry as do some of my other apps and it's NOT a resolution issue as not everything is affected.

try disabling the new dpi scaling stuff, and use fixed or something ... search for make text bigger or smaller or whatever it was in 7..

(i hit the same issue)

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

networkn

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#848777 3-Jul-2013 14:26

I am wondering why if we can upgrade from W8 to W8.1 Beta without loss of applications, why 8.1B to 8.1 Gold couldn't do the same thing?

wasabi2k

2096 posts

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#848818 3-Jul-2013 15:32

networkn: I am wondering why if we can upgrade from W8 to W8.1 Beta without loss of applications, why 8.1B to 8.1 Gold couldn't do the same thing?

Given 8.1 Gold is an unknown quantity at this stage, or the possibility of a catastrophic bug in 8.1 preview it isn't that unusual for them to say tough luck.

It's a good disclaimer and way to avoid having to support a beta product, which is a really good idea.

gazzerwgtn

52 posts

Master Geek

#849399 4-Jul-2013 20:18

MaxLV:
nathan:
ajobbins: If they give a cheap deal again like they did for testers of Win 8, I might buy a copy this time.

cheap price of Windows 8 was available to everyone

The $40 upgrade price was quite appealing, but the product less so.

I still 1 XP and 2 Vista high performance machines needing upgrades - but can't bring myself to spend $500 on upgrades as a typical end user.

$120 on the other hand....====

How does $99.99 sound?

http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/software/ms-win-8-pro-pack-1-license-dsnz-xs8810

It just a box with a licenced code on a card and the usual MS leaflets.
You download the upgrade as part of the install.

It's now clearance so you may need to ring around the shops to find out if they still have it.

Bought this to upgrade my Iconia W510 tablet from the Windows 8 standard Acer OEM version.

The upgrade worked perfectly, took about 20 minutes, including the download.

Which is why I changed my mind about buying the Surface Pro; That and the Sinclair ZX81 type keyboard on the Surface Pro.

That's for an upgrade from windows 8 to 8 pro
although you can still get the XP to 8 pro upgrade on TM for $110

ubernoob

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#849410 4-Jul-2013 21:04

I got the full 8 pro version from Dick Smith for $99.99. Up graded from Win 7 no problems

pmunnynz

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#849419 4-Jul-2013 22:17

I was under the impression Dick Smith currently had windows 8 pro pack on sale for $99.99, which is the upgrade pack from standard windows 8 to give the pro extras and media center etc.

Do they/someone else have windows 8 pro (not the pro pack) for $99.99 as well, or has the pro pack licence been working for some people to upgrade from an earlier windows version to windows 8?

Jarsky

142 posts

Master Geek

#862935 21-Jul-2013 11:22

Been running 8.1 Preview on my desktop for a few weeks now, and really loving the improvements.

Boot straight to desktop is back, after the hack being disabled after an update.
More options and a better start button in the left corner, not that I really use it
Better integrated search functionality, though integrated app search seems to have disappeared from what I can see?

Don't know why people are still complaining over not having the hierachial start menu, when the start screen is so much faster - when you do need to use it?
Click Start + Type, or Press Win key + Type.....why would you want to click on Start > All Programs > Program > .exe file......

insane

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#863005 21-Jul-2013 13:43

Because when you have three monitors it's very clunky to bring up the full screen metro + search bar thingy.

I've been using win 8 on my workstation from when it first came out, and have it on my new laptop too. Buying start 8 was the best $5 spent.

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