Windows 8 "Release Preview" Released

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  1. Posts : 1,797
    Win 7 Ultimate, Win 8.1 Pro, Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon (All 64-Bit)
       #60

    Hello Night Hawk,

    Just wondering which programme you used to get that start menu? Does it work with the RP?
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  2. Posts : 5,941
    Linux CENTOS 7 / various Windows OS'es and servers
       #61

    Hi all
    Careful here
    There's a bit of a difference in the Consumer Preview and the just released REVIEW Preview.

    If you remember the problems VISTA had with making the UAC (user Account control far too restrictive so people just turned it off altogether defeating the whole point of it in the first place) -- the same set of pea brains have gone EVEN more bonkers this time with adding so much security to disks etc that unless you've got a single partition on a laptop you'll find it's an absolute nightmare to undo all this to get your apps to run properly.

    If you want to try W8 I recommend you stick with the slightly older CONSUMER PREVIEW until someone has fixed a few of these ridiculous security issues in the RELEASE Preview.

    Cheers
    jimbo
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  3. Posts : 10,455
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Service Pack 1
       #62

    I've checked out Classic Shell. It works well and is highly configurable to get the layout you want. The only minor problem is that it is difficult to activate the Windows Start Menu popup by hovering bottom left because it parks itself there. You can however easily configure it so that the Windows key displays the windows Start Menu instead of the Classic Shell start menu. by far the best Start Menu alternative that I've tried on W8.
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  4. Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       #63

    Burdus77 said:
    Hello Night Hawk,

    Just wondering which programme you used to get that start menu? Does it work with the RP?
    The program is StartMenu7 with both a free and full featured paid for version you can look over at Start Menu 7

    With the two monitors here I am considering the DisplayFusion Pro if I do end up buying one of the retail edition later since that offers it's own Start menu option in the taskbar settings.

    jimbo45 said:
    Hi all
    Careful here
    There's a bit of a difference in the Consumer Preview and the just released REVIEW Preview.

    If you remember the problems VISTA had with making the UAC (user Account control far too restrictive so people just turned it off altogether defeating the whole point of it in the first place) -- the same set of pea brains have gone EVEN more bonkers this time with adding so much security to disks etc that unless you've got a single partition on a laptop you'll find it's an absolute nightmare to undo all this to get your apps to run properly.

    If you want to try W8 I recommend you stick with the slightly older CONSUMER PREVIEW until someone has fixed a few of these ridiculous security issues in the RELEASE Preview.

    Cheers
    jimbo
    The big difference I found with the RP is not being able to get it to install on VM Player likely until a newer version is released. The CP went on the December 4.01 but wouldn't connect online until the next 4.02 was out in Febuary.

    As far as the UAC I simply unchecked the box in the User Accounts for it followed by a fast restart to solve that fast once I knew where to look for it back with the RC1 release. For 7 and 8 alike you simply trim the slider control down to "never".

    What bugs me now is the constant lock screen rather then any automatic startup to the desktop when you have a local admin account established without a password assigned. When first going to install do not enter a Windows Live or other email account but opt for the local account option.

    With the shift from a desktop gui to Metro aimed at portables in too many ways the added security is there to protect people when laptops, notebooks, even Tablet PCs are lost or stolen making it harder for someone to have ready access to the owner's files and data.

    The additional security also helps ward off various forms of malwares by prompting the user while still being a little overbearing. The sad part of all this of course is that 8 is proving to be a far less desktop OS/user friendly version coming out! MS has stepped away from the traditional Windows in many ways.
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  5. Posts : 446
    windows 7 Pro 64Bit
       #64

    Night Hawk said:
    MS has stepped away from the traditional Windows in many ways.
    And I will be one of the many stepping away from Microsoft if they don't get smart and pull their heads out. With Android already playing second fiddle in the tablet market do we really want or need a third wheel? Not to mention the phone market, I have seen Windows phones on the wall at the cell phone store but never once out in the wild. Too little too late and all the wrong paths getting there.
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  6. Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       #65

    The largest change in Windows besides the side bar and Aero introduced with Vista was 95! With 3.1, 3.11 you manually run the windows exe file in order to see the desktop gui load up. 95 brought in the automatic load to desktop.

    With 8 we are now moving away from a desktop with plenty of new features and additional support for things like dvd playback in WMP to... just what will be seen?! With simple things like dvd playback support seen since WMP 10 which then included codecs and the Media Center now becoming a separate paid for option people will be wondering if it will be worth the upgrade!

    And this is where the main problem will present itself for those who will need what 8 does bring in not supported by 7 or other previous versions such as Hyper-V support and other new security improvements as well as features. Nothing like leaving people with their heads spinning trying to decide whether or not!

    With 7 you saw support for Fat returned when that was removed from Vista showing MS had to rethink that all together with Fat being used on new usb flash drives and many external drives made cross compatible with Mac as well as Windows being shipped with factory Fat volumes on them. At least you would think MS should have learned some lessons about removing things a bit too fast without having a working via option to replace them!
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  7. Posts : 5,941
    Linux CENTOS 7 / various Windows OS'es and servers
       #66

    Hi there
    All this multi-media stuff etc can easily be done on a smart phone -- I use my multi-media server and a smartphone app to play music on whatever devices I need. If you've got something like a Samsung Galaxy III s you can almost view the stuff on its screen -- although streaming to a large TV is better.

    When I'm doing REAL work on a computer like say translating documents, preparing presentations for courses, financial analysis etc I need to have several documents open at THE SAME TIME.

    METRO can allow you to SWITCH but it's FULL SCREEN and ONE SCREEN at a time.

    This type of stuff will NEVER make it into a workplace where REAL work is being done - some guys I know down in Comms or I.T support often need to have 8 or 9 (or even more) windows concurrently open.

    W8 needs to be a lot more desktop friendly.

    If I were MS I'd abandon the whole phone Idea -- "Dumdroid" used to be really HIDEOUS and I could never even get the simplest of phone app to work.

    I got a new Samsung III s last week --simplicity itself (even I can use it -- once I learned how to junk the "Predictive Text" option !! -- Phone bought in Belgium with Flemish predictive text for entering Icelandic / English !! -- Not a good mix !!).

    Even got my multi-media streaming apps to work on it -- now I can have video / music from home server on the phone or relayed to another computer when I'm away from home.

    That's what MOBILE DEVICES are for. A Work computer is essentially a Portable office and needs to have a proper Office type based OS otherwise its useless.

    If we all have to go metro then I'll run Linux with a few office based stuff that I need on XP / W7 virtual machines.

    Metro is fine for some things but we need to keep some type of Desktop OS available. I had to delete around 500 of those wretched tiles after installing a load of Windows applications.

    Making User taskbars in the new W8 release preview is good and IMO better than the old task bar but as always there's ZERO documentation on it so it's trial and error --but it is a great war of organising your apps -- when you have a lot on a smallish screen computer even the old menu system becomes unwieldy and unuseable.

    Cheers
    jimbo
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  8. Posts : 51,383
    Windows 11 Workstation x64
    Thread Starter
       #67
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  9. Posts : 5,941
    Linux CENTOS 7 / various Windows OS'es and servers
       #68

    Hi there
    quire correct -- "But even the Sinner Repenteth". The early ones were (for me) horrendous and navigation totally confusing and impossible -- no back button anywhere -- you got into a web page and no way of returning to home screen -- loads of Hangs etc etc.

    Finally something has appeared -- "Dumdroid" latest version in a Galaxy smart phone which addresses all the issues I had earlier. And if I get stuck there's even a "Home" button on it too --simplicity itself.

    So if stuff improves later (the post you referred to was over 180 days old) then I'll eat humble pie and say it's ok after all.

    However had it remained as complex as it did back with the Htc phone I first had I'd still not touch smart phones.

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 7,878
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #69

    windude99 said:
    P.S. PParks1, have you used the Release Preview yet? It is much better than the Consumer Preview and I think you will like it more.
    \

    Tried out the Release Preview today. Unfortunately, I don't find it any more appealing than I did before.

    First 30-45 minutes spent trying to figure out why I could not run multiple metro apps on the same screen. Kept reading that I had to use the "snap" feature. Then, found out that snap feature required higher resolution than I was running. Now, that I have higher resolution enabled, I can snap, but I can only run 2 apps, and one gets 2/3 of the screen, and the other 1/3 of the screen and that's that.

    Then, spent nearly 15 minutes trying to locate a way to change the actual time, from the metro charms settings bar. I can change the time zone, but not the actual time. Had to get to the time setting from the "real" desktop.

    As I am running Windows 8 in a virtual environment, using the corners as hot spots isn't exactly ideal, as my mouse will seamlessly move away from Windows 8 VM and back to Windows 7 host machine. Thus, it's harder for me to discover some of these hidden features than should be necessary.

    I find this new interface outrageously non-intuitive. As a power user, I am having to Google everything and watch YouTube videos. And with all of the changes from the various versions of Windows 8 thus far released, the info available is all over the place and so much of it simply isn't correct anymore.

    I'm unsure if I could dislike Windows 8 any more than I do.
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