The *Help I'm New to Windows 8 Thread?

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Batman

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#136457 27-Nov-2013 21:23

Never thought I'd had to do this but I might be getting old. No Problems going from 3.1 -> 98 -> 2000 -> XP -> Vista -> 7. But 7 -> 8 and I'm lost in the labyrinth!

Got 8.1 Pro.

1) I have both Intel 4600 and Nvidia 750M ... can I only use Nvidia when plugged in and turn off Nvidia and use Intel 4600 on battery?
2) Why is Chrome failing to load all kinds of stuff? Is there any internet "optimization" I need/can do?
3) My family clicks on everything on the web (eg fake phishing things) ... surely MSE is not the best for these things, what's wrong with Avast (I know there are other threads on this but my specific question relates to relies clicking on web things and on Win 7 it seems to stop 99% - boot scan every few months only finds 2-3 problems)

I'm sure there are more ...

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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#941925 27-Nov-2013 22:30

2 is probably related to 3.

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#941927 27-Nov-2013 22:58

got bored of "setting up" the win 8 pro 4th gen i7

back to using the 1st gen i7 win 7 ... lightning fast!

this is gonna be fun :D I remember reading for months how to optimize vista which then got easily applied to 7 ... any articles on win 8 tips? (I have read the "60 tips" on techradar ... but they're tips on how to use win 8 rather than optimization ... - I'm sure i'll come across them in the next few weeks though ...)

slowing transferring files then see which programs still work on win 8 :D [handbrake??]

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#941934 27-Nov-2013 23:55

The shortcut Windows+M is my friend. Getting to the desktop quickly has been the biggest problem that I've had. For me, in almost every other way Windows 8 improved on 7.

If your family is click crazy then run everything used for browsing (including pdf reader, flash etc) in a sandbox or set them up in a virtual machine you can dump when it goes wrong.

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Snowflake

#941935 27-Nov-2013 23:58

i've done no 'optimisation' at all, generally dont have any issues. are you using the technicolour adsl modem that has known issues with windows 8.1 (see other threads)?

Not sure if you can set GPU to switch between battery and plugged in modes - never heard of anyone trying to do that before.

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#941937 28-Nov-2013 00:11

wow that is so silly of Microsoft to not allow switching of GPUs ... I have 2 sets of 'control panels' one for intel HD graphics one for Nvidia!

just dumped mcafee ...

still intel.com will not load, and videolan.org won't load ... fine on my other computer. using Technicolor VDSL2 modem

my next rant is - I have a USB 3 drive that can read at 90MBps (megabyte) but transferring my files onto my new laptop at 1MBps ... I hate Microsoft ... going to sleep and think about it tomorrow

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#941938 28-Nov-2013 00:13

can't eject drive ... windows 8 is mol3sting it

edit
could have been all mcafee

apologies to Microsoft

completely excavated the darn thing restarted and internet and file copying at 94MBps ... perhaps it was copying all my files and sending it to its servers *ahem I mean scanning for viruses

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#941939 28-Nov-2013 00:22

playing flac with VLC and it is breaking up +++

hmm ... SSD (OEM, shipped built in) needs drivers? or VLC not given priority ... either way I don't expect this!

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#941941 28-Nov-2013 00:58

Regs:
Not sure if you can set GPU to switch between battery and plugged in modes - never heard of anyone trying to do that before.

Here's HP switchable graphics based on either application or power mode. We've only used the dynamic mode which is application based.

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#941945 28-Nov-2013 01:22

joker97: wow that is so silly of Microsoft to not allow switching of GPUs ... I have 2 sets of 'control panels' one for intel HD graphics one for Nvidia!

i didnt say it wasnt allowed, only that i wasnt sure if you could and hadnt heard of anyone trying ... best to do your own research rather than draw a conclusion from that!

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#941946 28-Nov-2013 01:26

joker97: can't eject drive ... windows 8 is mol3sting it

edit
could have been all mcafee

apologies to Microsoft

completely excavated the darn thing restarted and internet and file copying at 94MBps ... perhaps it was copying all my files and sending it to its servers *ahem I mean scanning for viruses

i had a client who, with an antivirus installed (cant remember which one - NOD perhaps) had disk read/write operations slow to 2MB/sec even when disabled. Wanst till they uninstalled that the disk speeds went to the 'normal' 120MB/sec and apps performed well again. That was on Windows 2003 Server.

One thing that McAfee does, which can really affect performance, is include a 'script scan' engine that scans javascript 'on the fly'. This really slows down web apps that are heavy on javascript. McAfee also has HTTP filters that can scan every web request you make.

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#941952 28-Nov-2013 06:14

Hmm apparently there's something called nvidia optimus that does that on the fly ... Let's hope my manual install of new drivers hasn't broken that ... Dell has locked out intel graphics driver update maybe for that reason ...

How do i run 'sandbox'?

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#941958 28-Nov-2013 07:20

I have gone back to Windows 8 from 8.1. I really miss the new start button on windows 8.1 and wish you could add it to windows 8. Hate the classic shell ones that just bring style ones back.
The reason I went back is when you scroll down on most sites and also with geekzone when you type reply etc the screen would black out so you cant see what you are doing. You still have the top of screen visible so a refresh works and then you start over and wish for it not to black out. Happens both IE and Firefox and even downloaded latest drivers from Intel and Microsoft. HP Probook 4530s with i3-2310m processor

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

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#941965 28-Nov-2013 07:44

It's so many things that blaming "Windows" is hardly correct. Anvitivirus software for example (as noted there are inline scanners, including Avast, ESET and others). Then there's drivers (updated to latest video, latest Intel RST, Intel Inf, etc?) and so on... If you are using SSD have you disabled Superfetch, Defragmentation, enabled TRIM (Windows would do it by default but not if you copied an image from another drive)?

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#941983 28-Nov-2013 08:46

Technicolor modem is awaiting update from telecom. Set dns servers manually in windows 8.1 browser loading issues.

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#941988 28-Nov-2013 08:51

There are (should be) settings in the Nvidia control panel for which GFX card is used when. My Win7 laptop has it, and driver updates haven't affected it.

You can force it to only use one or the other all the time. You can also change the preferred card for many programs

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