Windows 8 "Blue"

[Mem]

The "Windows Desktop Update" included with IE4 for Win95 offered more than most service packs do.

I'm just saying, more info below,

What Microsoft hasn't yet announced -- and what Shaw heavily hints at here -- is that Windows will become a regularly updated service, instead of a major purchase once every three or four years. This would make it more like Mac OS X, which typically costs around £15 to upgrade to the newest version (going from Lion to Mountain Lion currently costs £14).

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/wi...s-microsoft-hints-at-yearly-updates-50010769/


More sites stating similar info,http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/28/3693368/windows-blue-update-low-cost .

 

[el-Capitan]

@Fernando

Danke. Please let us know if you can confirm whether the TRIM commands are being sent. I will make an upgrade to 8.1 dependent on that.

 

[darkewaffle]

FWIW I habitually turn Aero off in Win7 and change the theme to pretty much "classic" with some changed colors/fonts (and absolutely turned off that horrid blue/green WinXP theme). I actually did not feel the need to do this on my Win8 box; though I do not use the PC particularly heavily and it's on a TV halfway across the room rather than a monitor so it is used differently. But I felt like it looked pretty good from the get-go.

 

[Fernando 1]

@Fernando
Please let us know if you can confirm whether the TRIM commands are being sent.

TRIM appears to be working within the RAID0 array (tested with TRIMCheck tool), but I don't see any chance to use the Win8.1 Optimizer.

 

[el-Capitan]

TRIM appears to be working within the RAID0 array (tested with TRIMCheck tool), but I don't see any chance to use the Win8.1 Optimizer.

Thanks.

 

[smakme7757]

How is 8.1 for those that have been using it?

Anything worthwhile that i might consider installing it on my current machine? Any drawbacks?

Also, if i update can i install the final copy when it's released?

 

[el-Capitan]

How is 8.1 for those that have been using it?

Anything worthwhile that i might consider installing it on my current machine? Any drawbacks?

Also, if i update can i install the final copy when it's released?

Here is a good run-down on what is new.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/26/4465888/windows-8-1-preview-video

 

[akugami]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/preview-download

Windows 8.1 Preview ISO files are up. Just finished downloading them.

 

[smakme7757]

Here is a good run-down on what is new.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/26/4465888/windows-8-1-preview-video

Wow, the improved "snap in" apps/windows looks like a winner.

It was 100% useless in windows 8 because the snap-ins were so small, but being able to resize them makes it much more usable.

I think i might wait for the final release though. I don't think i could stand the watermark to be honest

 

[el-Capitan]

I think i might wait for the final release though. I don't think i could stand the watermark to be honest

http://www.windowsbleu.com/2013/05/how-to-remove-watermark-on-windows-81.html

 

[TheKub]

Of course they would release this service pack. Its named appropriately Windows 8 'Blew' (so we are fixing it).

;-)

 

[sxr7171]

The watermark disappears. I don't know when but it does. Same happens when you upgrade to pro or add media center. It shows up for a while and disappears.

Maybe first reboot or first day.

 

[0___________0]

Installed it yesterday, apparently there's still some bugs, BSOD'd every time I tried to log in, gave a memory_management error. Not an isolated problem either.

 

[Red Hawk]

It's a betta fish... MS did this with the 7 and 8 Preview as well.

Ah, I see.

I upgraded both my laptop and my desktop to the 8.1 preview. noticed that IE11 now has Enhanced Protection Mode -- which runs IE as a 64 bit application -- enabled by default. I was also getting an annoying flickering when playing Youtube videos on both my laptop and desktop, with the AMD's official Windows 8.1 preview drivers. Disabling Enhanced Protection Mode fixed the flickering.

 

[Throckmorton]

I agree, the stock theme looks good once you disable transparency on the taskbar (Classic Shell lets you do that). I set mine to dark grey

 

[Throckmorton]

The problem is you assume newer is better. Many things in 8 are worse. I double click a jpg file and some slow program takes up my whole screen. How do I close it? Well because I'm used to getting out of games I hit the Windows key and it disappears. Wait where is the program? Still running but not in the taskbar. The taskbar is separate. Why? No one knows.

Windows 8 seems like it was designed by programmers... the people who are worst at usability. I guess all they could do was try to imitate Android.

 

[Mem]

Review up,http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jun/27/windows-81-review-hands-on

Conclusion

Windows 8.1 is a significant improvement. After just a short spell with the preview, I do not want to go back. The experience for desktop users (which is most users most of the time) is smoother, and there are many small enhancements which combine make a big difference, of which I have mentioned only a few.

 

[Fernando 1]

The Windows 8.1 "Optimizer" (former Defrag Tool) doesn't detect my SSDs (2xSamsung 840 Pro as RAID0) anymore and shows them as HDDs.
Now I am a little bit afraid, that the "Optimizer" will defrag my SSDs instead of sending TRIM commands to them.
Usually the detection of SSDs can be forced by running the Windows Experience Index (WINSAT.EXE), but within the Properties of my System I cannot find the option to (re)run the WEI.
Trying to run the WINSAT.EXE manually was without any effect.

Meanwhile I found a workarond for this Win8.1 Preview bug.

You will find the solution >here<.

 

[el-Capitan]

The problem is you assume newer is better. Many things in 8 are worse. I double click a jpg file and some slow program takes up my whole screen. How do I close it? Well because I'm used to getting out of games I hit the Windows key and it disappears. Wait where is the program? Still running but not in the taskbar. The taskbar is separate. Why? No one knows.

It is exactly that which is the most annoying part in Windows 8. I use alt+F4. The classic picture previewer is still there, btw. You need to tell him to use that instead.

 

[Throckmorton]

It is exactly that which is the most annoying part in Windows 8. I use alt+F4. The classic picture previewer is still there, btw. You need to tell him to use that instead.

Yes that was the first thing I did, set it to only use the normal viewer

 

[rakenan]

How many people here use XP, and when it first came out used the "Classic" theme to make it look like 95/98/2k?

How many people here when they got Vista/7 made it look like previous Windows?

How many people here have Win 8/if they got Win 8 would want to make it look like Win 7/Vista?

I changed how XP looked for aesthetic reasons. I left 7 alone because it worked fine and wasn't ugly in my opinion. Whatever I do to Windows 8 in the incredibly unlikely event I get stuck with it long term will almost certainly be to fix glaring functionality issues that make it horrible to use until you customize it heavily.

There is no comparison between Windows XP users changing purely aesthetic aspects of the OS and Windows 8 users fixing a horribly broken UI in their OS. One is basically skinning or changing the theme. The other is the end user having to fix something that the professional programmers who sold him the product should have fixed long before the software shipped.

 

[Red Hawk]

The problem is you assume newer is better. Many things in 8 are worse. I double click a jpg file and some slow program takes up my whole screen. How do I close it? Well because I'm used to getting out of games I hit the Windows key and it disappears. Wait where is the program? Still running but not in the taskbar. The taskbar is separate. Why? No one knows.

Windows 8 seems like it was designed by programmers... the people who are worst at usability. I guess all they could do was try to imitate Android.

It is annoying that all the Modern apps are the defaults for stuff like viewing pictures, playing music and videos, viewing PDFs, etc. All the old desktop apps for such actions are still there, but it should have been easier to switch them to be the default. As in, when first setting up your PC you should be asked, "Do you want to use the Modern apps for your default apps or the desktop apps as the default?"

Also, I use Alt+Tab to get out of games, and the games stay in the taskbar for me.

 

[Ichinisan]

It is annoying that all the Modern apps are the defaults for stuff like viewing pictures, playing music and videos, viewing PDFs, etc. All the old desktop apps for such actions are still there, but it should have been easier to switch them to be the default. As in, when first setting up your PC you should be asked, "Do you want to use the Modern apps for your default apps or the desktop apps as the default?"

Also, I use Alt+Tab to get out of games, and the games stay in the taskbar for me.

"Modern" = Metro?

 

[Red Hawk]

"Modern" = Metro?

Yes, "Metro" was the codename, but "Modern" is the official name (I think it was because "Metro" was already trademarked)

 

[Remobz]

I think I will give windows 8.1 a try after reading all the comments here.