More Than 3 Out of 4 Enthusiasts Reject Windows 8

gregrocker · 24 Jul 2013

I understand gamers often need the full GPU software package, particularly for overclocking.

I'm interested in adding a Special Note for Lenovo Owners in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 that concisely explain the benefits of keeping this software. Is there anything besides Power Manager and Boot Optimizer, and is there a download for Boot Optimizer?. Any suggested blurbs would be especially appreciated.

I agree that the generic placeholder Standard VGA driver should never be acceptable and have only seen it settled for once in thousands of installs. However we've found OEM chipsets that gave problems which didn't happen with the Windows drivers. Especially for consumers it's proven over time to be best to stick with the Windows Drivers until they prove problematic or in exceptional cases like you've made us aware of here.

Scoop · 24 Jul 2013

Layback Bear said:

Take a sneak peek at this now and again.
Attachment 277846

Thanks for that screencap. That's a fast way to check on custom Tasks in the Scheduler.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Curious. I bought my first Win 7 machine (Lenovo G570 notebook) a little over a year ago while on a trip visiting friends. I didn't fire it up until I got home because I was expecting a really steep learning curve. I was pleasantly surprised. I was up and running and fully functional in minutes. I normally have trouble learning new things but the transition from XP to Win 7 was almost seamless. Of course, these fora helped considerably.

Win 8 is a whole 'nuther story.

I was the same when I jumped from XP to 7. I was a little concerned about the transition before buying my 7 PC but once I had it tweeked in, it's been great. MS got it right this time. The search boxes in 7 (Control Pnl, etc) made it much faster and easier for me vs XP and so far, I've not seen any instability, crashes, etc.

Going into my 4th year on the 7 Desktop, it's been error-free.

Lady Fitzgerald · 24 Jul 2013

gregrocker said:

I understand gamers often need the full GPU software package, particularly for overclocking.

I'm interested in adding a Special Note for Lenovo Owners in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 that concisely explain the benefits of keeping this software. Is there anything besides Power Manager and Boot Optimizer, and is there a download for Boot Optimizer?. Any suggested blurbs would be especially appreciated.

I agree that the generic placeholder Standard VGA driver should never be acceptable and have only seen it settled for once in thousands of installs. However we've found OEM chipsets that gave problems which didn't happen with the Windows drivers. Especially for consumers it's proven over time to be best to stick with the Windows Drivers until they prove problematic or in exceptional cases like you've made us aware of here.

I never could find out for sure which was the correct download for Boot Optimizer. Boot Optimizer has to be tailored for each Lenovo model because it interacts with Win 7 and various supporting software and drivers so they will together at their best. I found it one heckuvalot easier to just use the factory reinstall. I've own two commercial desktops and three netbooks from three different manufacturers (Gateway, Acer, and Asus) and those all had a large amount of carpware that had to be removed. All Lenovo had that could be classified as crapware was the Lenovo Game Console and McAfee (forgot to mention it earlier). The Game Console was easy to ditch and it didn't take long to find, download, and implement the removal tool for McAfee. The whole process was much simpler than manually clean installing Win 7.

Normally, I would agree a clean install of Win 7 is better but Lenovo (at least the G570) is definitely an exception.

ICIT2LOL · 24 Jul 2013

Lady Fitzgerald said:

ICit2lol said:

Guildedwings said:

I'm not gonna lie. Windows 8 should be aimed more towards tablets and not as an actual desktop OS. Microsoft has been doing a lot of messed up stuff after their release.

Yep I agree Wings I reckon they should have stuck to tried and trusted methods and developed a system for separate use with those other thingys, and just made 7 a bit more faster.

As it is I think they lost a lot of kudos mucking around like they have and it must be costing a fortune to get things back into shape.

Personally I work in a health dept that has just gone over to 7 from XP and mate a majority of the staff do not know how to use a computer let alone work a system. So in my mind 8 in the Metro format is and always will be an absolute disaster in that using it on the computers as a main stay of data collection and reference especially the line of work I am in just that our workload has become ever greater and more complex. (I might add the main push in my profession is one of electronically recording just about everything now and for the future period.)

Going from XP to 7 has been more challenging even to those who can use the computers than anyone could imagined let alone those who are computer illiterate. So add to that the inability of the workforce to operate a computer let alone the system is nothing short of madness.

This is just one instance where I think that Microsoft haven't or didn't see coming hence the furore there is around the 8 system now, and I am only talking of my work place, there must be more work places so affected. In fact that yours, mine and everyones health for that matter could be put at risk by ever more complicated methods and systems that an average worker cannot use with confidence, efficiency and most scary of all anyone's safety.

Curious. I bought my first Win 7 machine (Lenovo G570 notebook) a little over a year ago while on a trip visiting friends. I didn't fire it up until I got home because I was expecting a really steep learning curve. I was pleasantly surprised. I was up and running and fully functional in minutes. I normally have trouble learning new things but the transition from XP to Win 7 was almost seamless. Of course, these fora helped considerably.

Win 8 is a whole 'nuther story.

Yep Lady Fitz but I work with folks who either have just used a computer to play simple games or Ebay on or have never switched one on because they have been trained to care for folks with health problems and have no interest in computers - plus I reckon there must be other types of business or work situations where a similar set up is in place.

gregrocker · 24 Jul 2013

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Normally, I would agree a clean install of Win 7 is better but Lenovo (at least the G570) is definitely an exception.

My first thought is that you must go to a re-education camp to be shown endless videos of a Win7 Clean Reinstall's superior performance, however since it's Our Lady I instead added this to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 pending your approval:

Note

Special Note for Lenovo Owners

Download for the Power Manager which has a feature that will not let the battery fall below 50% is here: Power Manager for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit) - Notebook

At least for the G570 our colleague Lady Fitzgerald reports that both the Power Manager and Boot Optimizer make keeping the Factory Install worthwhile since it is not that bloated and cleans up easily. Clean Up Factory Bloatware

Lady Fitzgerald · 25 Jul 2013

gregrocker said:

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Normally, I would agree a clean install of Win 7 is better but Lenovo (at least the G570) is definitely an exception.

My first thought is that you must go to a re-education camp to be shown endless videos of a Win7 Clean Reinstall's superior performance, however since it's Our Lady I instead added this to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 pending your approval:

Note

Special Note for Lenovo Owners

Download for the Power Manager which has a feature that will not let the battery fall below 50% is here: Power Manager for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit) - Notebook

At least for the G570 our colleague Lady Fitzgerald reports that both the Power Manager and Boot Optimizer make keeping the Factory Install worthwhile since it is not that bloated and cleans up easily. Clean Up Factory Bloatware

Looks good to me.

Wenda · 25 Jul 2013

Well, speaking from my personal experience, this Acer laptop had very little in the way of crapware or bloatware on it when purchased. But then, it is (was) a top-end model aimed at the professional/expert user, not the average content-consumer.

But yes, I did end up doing a clean install anyway.

Wenda.

mjf · 25 Jul 2013

I believe you can generally clean the so called "crapware" away without too much effort before needing to do a clean install. We need to accept that some users would be very nervous with a "clean install".
Given most OEM PCs will now come with W8 my question is - how easy is it to do a clean install?

Lady Fitzgerald · 25 Jul 2013

Wenda said:

Well, speaking from my personal experience, this Acer laptop had very little in the way of crapware or bloatware on it when purchased. But then, it is (was) a top-end model aimed at the professional/expert user, not the average content-consumer.

But yes, I did end up doing a clean install anyway.

Wenda.

That Acer may have been clean but the two Acer netbooks and the one Acer desktop I had were practically bursting at the seams with crapware.

sygnus21 · 26 Jul 2013

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Wenda said:

Well, speaking from my personal experience, this Acer laptop had very little in the way of crapware or bloatware on it when purchased. But then, it is (was) a top-end model aimed at the professional/expert user, not the average content-consumer.

But yes, I did end up doing a clean install anyway.

Wenda.

That Acer may have been clean but the two Acer netbooks and the one Acer desktop I had were practically bursting at the seams with crapware.

Speaking of crapware I have to say my Asus Prime notebook with Windows 8 was relatively free of it. I think I wound up removing like two apps which also included MacAfee, which was replaced in favor of Norton Internet Security.