Just got a new laptop with windows 8 and im buggered if I know how to use it properly.
How do I access control panel?
Can I put Flight Simulator 2004 on it? It worked fine one Windows 7?

Any decent free anti virus?
How do I listen to music I have downloaded etc?

Control Panel: From start tiles, type control panel and as you type it’ll come up. Same for all other apps. Pin ones you want to click on to the start screen.
FS 2004, don’t know… google?
AV – windows defender does me fine and it’s already on there.
Music – Windows Media Player already installed…

either use the start screen or install this: http://www.pokki.com/windows-8-start-menu

I use that for when I am in desktop mode and don’t want to open the start screen. It has some settings which make windows easier to use too.

Make sure desktop is the first app on the top left of your start screen that way you just need to hit ‘return’ to take you from start to desktop. If you press the windows key when in any app (or desktop) it will take you to the start screen. Then when you press it in the start screen it will take you to the last app you used.

To close any full screen app click at the top middle of the screen to get the hand and drag down to ‘bin’ the app.

I wouldn’t install anything, the only difference between Windows 7 and 8 is that the start button is now a Start screen. Click thru to desktop and if you right click the bottom left corner of the screen there is a really useful menu of all the system utilitis

after 10 mins I finally found the “Make System Image” command.
Ran That.
Inserted Windows 7 DVD.
Restarted and as if by magic (an hour or so later) it looks just like Windows 7.

the only difference between Windows 7 and 8 is that the start button is now a Start screen

No its not, the metro interface is a separate interface to the desktop, with some badly worked links.

To close any full screen app click at the top middle of the screen to get the hand and drag down to ‘bin’ the app.

That doesn’t close a program it just minimises it, like clicking on the – symbol at the top left on previous windows versions, unfortunately there is no taskbar to see the minimised programmes. alt f4 to close a program.

That doesn’t close a program it just minimises it, like clicking on the – symbol at the top left on previous windows versions

wrong, dragging down from the middle of the screen does close the app. Taskbar is on right edge of screen when swiping in.

That doesn’t close a program it just minimises it, like clicking on the – symbol at the top left on previous windows versions, unfortunately there is no taskbar to see the minimised programmes. alt f4 to close a program.

yes it does.

if you have any open apps just point your mouse up to the top left corner and little tiles of each will appear for you to click.

Windows 8 REALLY is more productive when you get used to all the little shortcuts. But you have to have a gesture input device so either a touch screen or a large gesture/multitouch track pad. Can’t wait for my Leap Motion controller to arrive 😀

Windows 8 REALLY is more productive when you get used to all the little shortcuts.

No, it is a FAIL.

As it is a GUI it is supposed to be somewhat obvious to navigate around. Metro seems to work on a phone as that has a more limited scope of operation than a PC.

Everybody keeps saying how it is fine once you are used to it – that is the point – you shouldn’t have to get used to it – it should be obvious how to use it, using paradigms that people are used to.

Businesses will not be installing it because of the massive user training costs – MS will be reverting to or re-enabling a more normal user interface for Windows 9.

No, it is a FAIL.

No, for me it’s a WIN.

I don’t give a crud if other people can’t learn something new. for ME windows 8 > windows 7 for many reasons.

Businesses will not be installing it because of the massive user training costs

I can remember people saying that about XP. Meanwhile in the real world people are getting used to working with different interfaces (anyone been on a training course for using IOS or Android?) and won’t really find Win8 a problem for more than a day.

As with many changes, takes a few mins to learn/adapt just like the changes between MS Office 2003 and 2010, uproar for 1/2 hr then people actually tried to use it and all fine since. Updating from vista to win 8 on my desktop saved it from going through the window!!

I can remember people saying that about XP

and lots of places didn’t upgrade from XP for ages – there were may business enterprises that would downgrade your PC from Vista back to XP.

I’ve been using multi-touch gestures on my (Apple) trackpad for 18 months or so now. It wasn’t exactly rocket science to learn and many of the gestures are the same as on the iPad. So, so much better than a mouse and makes far more sense for a desktop computer than a touch screen. If Microsoft have finally cottoned onto that then good on them.

I’m quite happy with Windows 8 but predict a disaster sooner or later because you can’t get into the BIOS by hitting a key during the boot (well you can but it’s very hit an usually miss). That means that if you have a virus that corrupts the windows start sequence there’s no way I can find of getting into the BIOS or even safe mode to untick the programme in the start seqence you think is causing the problem. Unless Cougar knows differently.

Is that Windows or EFI that’s giving you grief?

There’s no way the OS can have any effect on a traditional BIOS. EFI is a whole other barrel of whelks.

Further reading,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface

you shouldn’t have to get used to it – it should be obvious how to use it, using paradigms that people are used to

Nothing would ever change if that were the case. The start menu you love from Windows 7 was brand new once, in Windows 95. Everyone complained about it then too but guess what? We got used to it and realised that (yet again) Microsoft do actually know what they are doing when it comes to human-computer interaction.

I’m quite happy with Windows 8 but predict a disaster sooner or later because you can’t get into the BIOS by hitting a key during the boot

That’s absolutely 100% nothing to do with Windows 8, and everything to do with the BIOS on your new laptop/

It’s a desktop but Cougars link has the answer: secure boot.

Ah yes. I’ve not quite worked out whether that’s evil or not. I think it might be.

There’s change for change’s sake, however. I reckon if Microsoft/Apple/Linux peeps produced the perfect desktop interface then they would have to destroy it to make people think what they get next is ‘new’. People tend not to look under the hood – Win7 was a vast improvement on thread handling etc. than XP and so ran faster on similar hardware.

The metro interface, however, is a kludge by the marketing department in an effort to make WinPho8/X-Box and Windows look the same. It may be OK, good even (on a phone), when you have touch interface, poor otherwise.

Its obvious – your context keeps changing. I need to start ‘word’ so I go to the horrible metro interface, find the tile with ‘word’ on it (note, not a folder-tile that is called ‘productivity’) and click on it. Then afterwards I want excel. So drop out of the desktop and into the metro interface, find excel then start it up… to drop me back into the desktop interface. This shouldn’t be necessary, and you shouldn’t have to pin a load of binaries to your task bar either.

I’m all up for new interfaces but with a history of what works it should be evolutionary, not like this. There are better ways.

hold down the shift key when you click on the shutdown icon & keep pressed till system fully shuts down then you should be able to access bios when you restart by tabbing which ever key gets you to bios. del, esc, f10 etc

I need to start ‘word’ so I go to the horrible metro interface, find the tile with ‘word’ on it (note, not a folder-tile that is called ‘productivity’) and click on it. Then afterwards I want excel. So drop out of the desktop and into the metro interface, find excel then start it up… to drop me back into the desktop interface

That seems the exact same as using the start menu to me – it doesn’t actually cost anything to have the full screen start menu come up, does it? Never seemed any different to me.

Any one found their product key yet ? Best find it and make a note its now held in BIOS not on a sticker on the back.
As for is it any good well hell NO
I run many PCs with 7 XP or Vista and its the worse interface, so it will soon be wiped and 7 pro loaded.

You’re assuming that you can shutdown by doing anything other than pressing the physical button or pulling the plug, Rangeroy. Viruses such as “gendarmerie national” corrupt the start sequence and lock you into a web page that you can’t get out of. Things like control-alt-sup don’t work so you can’t stop the process. I was intrigued with how to deal with such a virus with Windows 8 and Cougar’s link seems to provide the answer.

Edit: though how to do a secure boot will have to wait as it’s time for bed.

As above got one and got it clean fairly quickly. BIOS was easy to get to (it was a Dell Config). Once in there swapping the Windows Boot(HDD Only) for a classic presented all the Boot options again. I was wondering about the Product Key but as it’s backed up as an image I’m not that bothered really.

As for business, I’d imagine only the small non standardised ones or those with a “Look Shiney Shiney” IT manager will be on it in the sort term. Most large places skipped Vista and have only just rolled into 7. Wait and see what 9 delivers.

Upgrading for the sake of it or because it’s new is a waste of time money and effort. Upgrade policy should not be dictated by somebody elses release dates.

I ditched it as it was for the missus, I needed something that she could just work with straight away and manage easily. Looking under the surface there is a lot of Win 7 still in there just hidden. Once it’s been round the block, have confirmation all the software works, all the devices have stable drivers and the initial bugs are ironed out then I might have a look.

That seems the exact same as using the start menu to me – it doesn’t actually cost anything to have the full screen start menu come up, does it? Never seemed any different to me.

Not to me. I still have my screen with what I’m doing in front of me, then everything changes, I have to change my mode of thought to hunt for a block when previously I was thinking in words and then back in again. It would be slightly better if the metro interface only came up while the windows button was being used.

A better suggestion would be something like a button to produce a shim over the screen that drops away again, keeping the context of what is in front of them. Or using that effing ‘charm’ (which comes and goes when it feels like it) as a start system.

But if you like it fill your boots. I’m getting rid of mine in a few weeks, currently using my chromebook and iMac now. Giving it to my sister so she can tear her hair out!

You can actualy get an 8 to boot to start screen just schedule it todo so on boot it skips that touch screen front page

edukator, I thought that when you shut down on windows8 it goes into a hibanate mode not full shut down, hence fast start ups & inability to access bios, may be wrong if you no better.

There are several options on shutdown and I habitually use the complete shutdown then switch off at the mains. It still boots pretty fast from a completely cold start.

The difficulty with entering BIOS is down to the speed of the W8 boot. You have a fraction of a second to hit the key so even if you hammer away as fast as you can it’s hit but usually miss as I stated above. I’ve tried and eventually succeeeded but if it gets any faster we’ll have no chance. If windows starts OK it’s no problem as you can enter the BIOS from W8.

I never did manage to boot off my Vista harddrive, Cougar, but thanks for the help trying. I managed to fix the graphics card on the old machine so use that for the programmes on the disc. I didn’t so much fix it as find out that it will still work with just one screen connected but keels over if there are two.

I have no real problems with W8, but I’m not sure they have really thought about those with disability using it!

My wife is very good with computers & has had no problems with W95, W98 WXP & W7 but her new W8 laptop is all but impossible with her MS condition. Her OT has basically said its unusable by someone with hand tremors as the gesture activation at the edge of the screen cause all sorts of problems with things activating without her intervention?

MrO – there are various options to help with things like that and the link I posted above (Pokki) has some settings which can turn off some of the touch related features (hot spots) that can cause problems with a track pad/mouse.

The difficulty with entering BIOS is down to the speed of the W8 boot. You have a fraction of a second to hit the key so even if you hammer away as fast as you can it’s hit but usually miss

The time at the initial BIOS screen is the same in 7 & 8 still a couple of seconds while it does the detect and mem check – unless all that is turned off in the bios for a fast boot.

andyl – Member

MrO – there are various options to help with things like that and the link I posted above (Pokki) has some settings which can turn off some of the touch related features (hot spots) that can cause problems with a track pad/mouse.
Sorry should have said I am already using Windows Shell & boot to classic desktop style but its still not ideal & like you said Pokki etc are 3rd party work rounds for something that falls short for many users!

I can’t easily describe the frustrations she’s experiencing with it as until you can see it for yourself it would seem easy for those of us with full control of our limbs, except to say she has just about given up with it which is upsetting for both of us.

MrOvershoot
Back to the why upgrade thing? Nothing wrong with Win 7 really just roll it back until it all settles down a bit. As I said I won’t be bothering until it all works properly (and in reality until win 9 comes along)

Pressing the Windows button then X brings up a menu, control panel is on there for easy access.

*Reads thread, decides to buy iPad*

mikewsmith – Member

MrOvershoot
Back to the why upgrade thing? Nothing wrong with Win 7 really just roll it back until it all settles down a bit. As I said I won’t be bothering until it all works properly (and in reality until win 9 comes along)
Can’t roll back a new laptop that came with W8, we had to get a new one as her old one hit the floor one too many times :/

There’s a good review on Ars on the various Windows ‘Classic’ utils to change 8 into something usable

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/help-ive-got-windows-8-and-i-miss-my-start-menu/

I must admit I really like windows 8. Found out how to use it properly now and its really easy to use. Its very very quick also. Been using it with Omnisphere Virtual Synthesizer which I use to produce music with and is also ace with Traktor for DJ’ing with.

Not tried flight sim on it yet, but have heard it should run fine due to the processor being quite high clock speed wise and Flight sim doesn’t utilise GPU’s as much as it does with the processor.