Windows 8 – Initial Review
Well I defied any previous logic and experience and installed Windows 8 as soon as it went to RTM.
My install experience was quite long considering my computer upgrade (yes shiny!!) at the time and the new SSD drive, but in fairness the upgrade process from Windows 7 made me think…holy shit they did something well!
I’ve literally been using it for a month or so, in that time I’ve had no real compatibility issues with previously installed programs, shocking I know, In fact any new programs I’ve installed that I normally use have also installed without issue.
The biggest issue and typically frustrating is my printer, in short I cant use it… having said that there is always another device that I have experienced issues with when using a new OS on the market. I have not been able to use it for at least 6 months in some cases, one upgrade meant not at all ever (yes upgrades have been purchased in the past just because of driver support). You may have guessed I’m talking about the blasted Audio Card, wether it be no sound at all or just simply less speakers making noise than you physically have, to the awesomeness of random volume changes….sigh.
I’m just 100% glad this time that my audio card works, seems all too convenient that my problems with audio cards has disappeared with my refusal to stick with Creative. I am using a Asus Xonar now and love it.
So back to the OS; the best things;
The file manager, copying and pasting has never been so good in Windows, pause buttons, decent speed graphs and some advance options. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the people who made teracopy, I would like to think you had a hand in making MS realise their transfer management tool was a bag of *smelly stuff* and the fact it really hadn’t been updated since like windows 98 explains a lot….
So what else do I like, well I like the fact its not much different from Windows 7 under the hood!
The Negatives;
The metro interface… oh dear well. Working in IT I know there are going to be a large amount, like 99% of staff asking me questions for at least the first 3 months when using Windows 8. All because of this wonderous over-glorified desktop cover it has on by default with no choice to disable it (well at least Windows options), I love registry hacks!
All I will advice is press escape when you get to the login screen every time, then press it again when your pc has loaded the interface and then try and avoid it….
But you ask how can I avoid it where’s my start menu, shit, you cant get to any of your programs, in fact how the hell do I shut down my pc or even log off….
At this point you might be asking how easy it is to go back to Windows 8. Luckily for me I couldn’t do that, so I found workarounds… yes workarounds to perform standard day to day windows computing tasks… great.
This is getting long so I will post separately about said workarounds!