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#206550 - 2013-01-10 12:22 AM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Robdutoit]
Allen Allen KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-04-19 Posts: 4548 Loc: USA	I've gotten over the Start Screen idiocy. I just don't use it that much any more. I also never use the charms. None of it increases efficiency. I really enjoy the speed. Everything just seems snappier. Now I have to be honest, I got a new computer at the same time I started using Win 8, so it could be that Win 7 would have felt faster too. I have not had a single program that worked with Win 7, not work with Win 8, so A+ on compatibility. I have a number of issues with scripting. None of which I have enough time to figure where the problem lies. I don't think it is with Kix, but likely some sort of permissions/UAC problem. I've also had a few weird problems with ActivePOSH powershell object crashing on code that worked everywhere else. I will get those sorted eventually, and post back if it is relevant to everyone here.
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#206551 - 2013-01-10 01:49 AM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Robdutoit]
Glenn Barnas Glenn Barnas KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-01-28 Posts: 4396 Loc: New Jersey	Well, we've upgraded two workstations and a tablet (slate) to Windows 8. One has Office 2010, and I have Office 2013 on my workstation and tablet. In a word, without customization - it sucks. The default interface of O2K13 is similar to 2010, but has no color by default. 60% grey text on 10% grey background makes the menus difficult to read with my older eyes. I hacked my desktop system to use an "Aero Lite" format, which helps distinguish the window borders a bit more, but O2K13 will take some effort. I'll play more tonight, but I'm quite displeased with the defaults. Choosing a "wild" color scheme like fuchsia yields strong borders, but that's hard on my eyes.. the solid darker blue background gives good contrast on W7 but needs a LOT of customization on W8. I'm debating whether I should move my RDS farm from 2008 to 2012, given the display defaults and the "flat" look. The 3D borders made it easier to distinguish controls and buttons. Its now at the bottom of my priority list. My workstation upgrade to Windows 8 this weekend was also not smooth, but sadly not due to Windows 8. I had an older AMD dual-core system with 250 and 500 Gig drives and a graphics accelerator. While replacing the 250G with a 750G CinemaStar drive, a large clump of dust fell out. I decide to vacuum the innards of the PC, clearing the fans and grills of several years of accumulated crud, and in my zeal, apparently sucked a micro-capacitor off the video card. I powered-up and the video is a mess and other things start to fail as well. Glad I had a spare PC - lower CPU speed and no room for the 3 drives to nicely transfer files, but after 3 trips to the computer store for a new video card, extra USB cables for the new touch-screen monitor, and exchanging the video card for the correct model, I completed the app installs on Susan's PC and the complete reloads on my PC and tablet. I have to say that using a USB stick for the OS install is pretty sweet, especially since there's enough room for a txt file with my license key, WiFi key, and some admin tools. On a positive note, I'm really happy with the interface using the touch-screen. I picked up a 24" monitor (1900x1280) with a USB touch screen and 4-port USB hub built in for our 2 desktop systems. Office has some options to space out the ribbon icons to accommodate fingers, and the tiles of the Metro interface are quite usable with the touch interface. Glenn _________________________ Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! $\:D$
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#206552 - 2013-01-10 02:03 AM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Allen]
Glenn Barnas Glenn Barnas KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-01-28 Posts: 4396 Loc: New Jersey	Originally Posted By: Allen I really enjoy the speed. Everything just seems snappier. Now I have to be honest, I got a new computer at the same time I started using Win 8, so it could be that Win 7 would have felt faster too. One of the reasons I went for upgrades of my older systems was to evaluate performance compared to Win7 or XP. Susan and I both have HP DC5100 and DC7100 systems with 4G RAM and SATA HDDs. She's got a 3.2 GHz CPU and performance is good. Due to my system failure, I dropped from an AMD dual-core 3.0 GHZ to a single-core 2.6 GHz and really feel the difference. I ordered a replacement 3.4GHz DC CPU for $20 and will see how much that helps. I will admit that I'm surprised by the performance on the tablet.. It's a 1.5 GHz Celeron with 1.5G RAM. Performance is "tolerable", but I'll be upgrading to 4G like the other tablet has soon. The tablet is 96% functional - the pen, wireless and Gig-E NIC, nav buttons, and all other features worked out of the gate. Wireless needed a trip to Windows Update to function. The only thing that did not work in the end was the audio adapter, but I haven't done an exhaustive search for a driver yet. The HP PCs had no driver issues at all, but we did run into one application issue. I have Photoshop 6 and Creative Suite 1 and 2 (upgrade). We've been using the Creative Suite version and haven't upgraded in years - never an issue. CS will not register on Windows 8 - it reports that the registration site is not available. Might be an IE-10 or compatibility mode issue, but did not spend too much time on it yet. CS2 also fails, but it doesn't even get far enough to try to register. I researched enough to see it's a known problem without a commonly known solution (yet), so I rolled back to Photoshop 6, which installed and runs fine. I also have an old Corel suite that installed and ran without issue (Corel Suite 6.x). One app that I haven't installed yet is the ISO mount / virtual CD Drive utility. This is now built-in and works well. One more gripe - they have moved everything - again! $\:D$ Glenn _________________________ Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! $\:D$
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#206553 - 2013-01-10 02:37 AM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Glenn Barnas]
Allen Allen KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-04-19 Posts: 4548 Loc: USA	CS2 - http://www.neowin.net/news/adobe-releases-creative-suite-2-for-free
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#206563 - 2013-01-16 07:56 PM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Allen]
Allen Allen KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-04-19 Posts: 4548 Loc: USA	I happened to be reading about another start menu replacement and it made me think again about Stardock's Start8 app. Since I hadn't tried it, I figured I would give it a shot just see what I thought. I seriously used it for like 30 seconds and was like OMG! Where is my credit card. $5 is worth it to not have to use that stupid Start Screen anymore.
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#206564 - 2013-01-17 01:51 AM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Allen]
Glenn Barnas Glenn Barnas KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-01-28 Posts: 4396 Loc: New Jersey	Where can we invest in Stardock? I looked at that over the weekend and thought "for $5, I won't even try the demo! More stupidity.. "Don't run as an admin" - generally good advice. New feature in Windows 8 Pro - ability to Mount an ISO image - BUT - you have to be the administrator! WTF?? I can log in as the local admin and there's a "mount" option when I right click an ISO (as reported in my earlier post).. I made my account a member of the local admins - no option. Logged in as the domain admin - no option. REALLY?? I HATE installing software that duplicates 90% of what's in an O/S, but I downloaded the latest Virtual Clone Drive and have the ability to Mount ISO images as a regular user. No more ability to play DVDs in Windows without an optional codec pack.. Free from MS till the end of this month, but.. Installed the tried and true software that came with my add-on DVD drive that has worked since XP was introduced.. installed but won't play discs or VOB media files. VLC (free) installed and runs fine. What's up with the PDF viewer?? (and many other new apps)? Why do they run full screen and have no (obvious) method to share the desktop with other apps? How often do you read a PDF of instructions while you perform an install or other technical process? And JEEZ-WHAT WERE THEY THINKING when they developed the Office 2013 interface??? Didn't anybody over the age of 32 test this? There's no contrast between the sections of the display, the window borders are white with a 1px dark (not black) line on the edge, and 1px bars separate the different sections. It's bright white and dull white - my eyes are fried from Outlook 2013, and the other office apps are no better. I'm trying hard to work through this, but the calls from the Windows 7 media in my desk drawer are getting louder and more insistent. Glenn _________________________ Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! $\:D$
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#206565 - 2013-01-17 03:38 AM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Glenn Barnas]
Allen Allen KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-04-19 Posts: 4548 Loc: USA	LOL. What? 1px is not big enough for your old eyes? Come on Glenn, surely you and me are way off base about our complaints. MS knows better than anyone what we want.
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#206566 - 2013-01-17 03:42 AM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Allen]
Allen Allen KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-04-19 Posts: 4548 Loc: USA	Don't know if this applies in your case, but it appears that it is a bug in Win 8 that says you do not have permission to mount an iso, but if you look, it actually does mount it... http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Foru...7-b37bd0ae8d7a/
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#206567 - 2013-01-17 03:55 AM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Allen]
Glenn Barnas Glenn Barnas KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-01-28 Posts: 4396 Loc: New Jersey	Yeah - I saw that.. I don't even have the option to "mount" when right-clicking as my regular account. If I "Open with - Explorer", it says I don't have permission and does not mount. Glenn _________________________ Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! $\:D$
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#206571 - 2013-01-17 12:03 PM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Glenn Barnas]
BradV BradV Seasoned Scripter Registered: 2006-08-16 Posts: 686 Loc: Maryland, USA	I bought a new computer in December because the motherboard on my previous system died. I dislike a lot about Windows 8. I always go immediately to the desktop. I'll have to take a look at the Stardock app. I agree that the metro interface sucks. Open a tiled app and it takes up the whole screen with no obvious way to close it or minimize it. I love the faster start up time. If I wasn't so addicted to Civilization, I'd probably install CentOS and be done with Windows. $\:\)$ Brad
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#206572 - 2013-01-17 12:59 PM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: BradV]
Glenn Barnas Glenn Barnas KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-01-28 Posts: 4396 Loc: New Jersey	BTW - the 3.4GHz CPU made a big difference.. $\:\)$ _________________________ Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! $\:D$
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#206577 - 2013-01-18 10:59 AM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Glenn Barnas]
NTDOC NTDOC Administrator Registered: 2000-07-28 Posts: 11624 Loc: CA	Yeah but how crazy is that to need a high end CPU to do basic office work? I hear you about the Office 2013 Glenn - easy as heck to drag and drop files to the wrong folder now. But I have to assume they wanted Office 2013 to match the flat look of Windows 8 But much of this has been discussed on various websites already. Windows 8 — Disappointing Usability for Both Novice and Power Users http://www.nngroup.com/articles/windows-8-disappointing-usability/ Gabe Newell reveals juicy Steam Box details, mobile gaming project, distaste for Windows 8 http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/145175...e-for-windows-8 Windows 8: The disastrous result of Microsoft’s gutless equivocation http://www.extremetech.com/computing/138...ss-equivocation Two months in: Windows 8 PC and tablet sales remain weak, slower adoption than Vista http://www.extremetech.com/computing/144...tion-than-vista Windows 8 sales are ‘slow going,’ says Newegg http://www.extremetech.com/computing/140839-windows-8-sales-are-slow-going-says-newegg http://readwrite.com/2012/11/19/newegg-exec-calls-windows-8-launch-slow-predicts-201 Business users shunning Windows 8 http://www.itpro.co.uk/644773/context-business-users-shunning-windows-8 http://seekingalpha.com/article/1086671-...osoft-s-worries Analyzing the Windows 8 sales numbers: Chicken, meet egg http://www.zdnet.com/analyzing-the-windows-8-sales-numbers-chicken-meet-egg-7000009897/
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#206578 - 2013-01-18 07:50 PM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: NTDOC]
Glenn Barnas Glenn Barnas KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-01-28 Posts: 4396 Loc: New Jersey	Doc - it's my primary PC.. the 2.4 GHz single core CPU just didn't cut it for the graphics and other things that I did. Remember, I had a 2.8GHz AMD dual-core that died during the upgrade. $\:\($ The spare PC with 2.4 GHz single core was too weak.. replacing it with a 3.4GHz dual-core mad a big difference. My wife has a 3.0GHz single core and does similar graphics work and did not have the same performance issues. Using a 1.5GHz Celeron on my tablet, however, was quite adequate. With a $2 cost difference between used P4-3.0 and 3.4GHz CPUs and a $20 total cost, it made sense to go for the faster CPU. I've read most of the other articles, mostly complaints and gripes. I had little choice but to use Win-8 first-hand to properly advise clients to its strengths (few) and weaknesses (many). Honestly, aside from some very old software (Photoshop CS-2 and the DVD player), everything else has installed without issue - a positive thing. I'm bugged that some new features that should have replaced aftermarket tools don't work, but the aftermarket tools do. With the addition of the start menu utility to remove the dependence on a start PAGE, the biggest complaint right now is visual appearance and the decrease in usability that results from it, and the stupid Metro apps that insist on running as a full/only screen (WTF??). Jeez - just releasing a couple of themes with higher contrast for office would go a long - LONG way to make Office 2013 usable. Glenn _________________________ Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! $\:D$
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#206579 - 2013-01-22 02:31 PM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Glenn Barnas]
BradV BradV Seasoned Scripter Registered: 2006-08-16 Posts: 686 Loc: Maryland, USA	I installed the demo version of the stardock software. Two complaints. One I have is related to shut down or sleep mode from the stardock software menu. If I do that, the system does go to sleep, but after re-starting, windows 8 takes over and shuts down again. If I bypass and go back to the metro interface and shut down or sleep from there - no problem. The other is in setting up the software, the configuration options. There is no explanation with each choice. They should provide a mouse-over pop-up or something that explains what each choice means. I'm going to take a look at a couple of others before making a final decision. $\:\)$
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#206581 - 2013-01-22 03:28 PM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: BradV]
Glenn Barnas Glenn Barnas KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-01-28 Posts: 4396 Loc: New Jersey	You shut down your PC??? How do you ever get any work done? $\:D$ _________________________ Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! $\:D$
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#206582 - 2013-01-22 03:33 PM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Glenn Barnas]
BradV BradV Seasoned Scripter Registered: 2006-08-16 Posts: 686 Loc: Maryland, USA	$\:\)$ It's in my bedroom and has LED lights on the fan. Too bright. It would keep me up at night.
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#206584 - 2013-01-22 07:54 PM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: BradV]
Allen Allen KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-04-19 Posts: 4548 Loc: USA	Hmmmm. You've got me wondering about my own pc and start8 now. For the past few days whenever I turn the computer on, it just hangs at the Dell screen. Hold the power button in until it turns off, and then back on again, and up it comes. The timing of when the problem started, and when I installed Start8 are probably not a coincidence. Thanks for posting your comments.
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#206587 - 2013-01-23 08:24 AM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Allen]
NTDOC NTDOC Administrator Registered: 2000-07-28 Posts: 11624 Loc: CA	SHUTDOWN /F /S /T 1
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#206591 - 2013-01-23 02:44 PM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: NTDOC]
Allen Allen KiX Supporter Registered: 2003-04-19 Posts: 4548 Loc: USA	This seems to have fixed it for me... http://www.askvg.com/fix-windows-8-resta...utdown-feature/
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#206596 - 2013-01-24 12:56 PM Re: The Joy of Windows 8 [Re: Allen]
BradV BradV Seasoned Scripter Registered: 2006-08-16 Posts: 686 Loc: Maryland, USA	I'll have to give it a try. $\:\)$
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