Getting used to Windows 8.1. It's weird.

[Tim]

I wonder what windows 10 will be like? Has anyone downloaded/using the Technical Preview?

Been using W10 off and on for sometime now Jo and I like it. Very stable, extremely quick to boot and shutdown (using an SSD, which it's optimised for) and so far, nothing there I don't like. I don't bother often with the Metro Tile interface and still use a traditional desktop most times, but will probably change over at some point - or flick between the two. The increased speed people experience with W8 is not just new hardware, it's the O/S - mind you, download/install loads of free crap and it'll soon sloooow down and folks will still blame the O/S. Once people get used to 8, upgrading to 10 won't be an issue at all and being a free upgrade, what's not to like?

I wouldn't recommend using a 'shell' personally, it's very simple to boot 8.1 to the desktop, but Geoff has a habit of bloating his machines out with third party software, so each to their own. I know some flat earth types here don't like change

It's very beneficial to learn some shortcut keys with W8/8.1, makes the O/S even more of a joy to use.

http://www.shortcutworld.com/en/win/Windows_8.html

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/tutorial

[walpurgis]

I've got Linux Mint 17 on a (formerly XP) laptop. It works OK.

[Desmo]

I was issued with a Windows 8.1 machine at work. After a few months struggling with it, I just handed it back. Not worth the effort. Fortunately they let me use my own machine instead, so I just use a Samsung Chromebook. Nice and simple - like me :-)

[hifi_dave]

It was annoyance and frustration with Windows 8.1 which persuaded me to buy a Macbook for my Wife, quickly followed by one for me. They do what you want, first time, intuitively. Not that I know anything about computers.

[skimminstones]

8.1 seems mainly designed for touchscreen devices, probably works great on a pad. I find the metro style a bit too annoying for a normal laptop though so just use it in normal desktop mode and it's virtually the same as the previous versions

[The Black Adder]

Apparently I heard somewhere that Windows 8 has been Microsoft's biggest cock-up to date.

Interesting there, Tim.... I was tempted to download it but it will take a full laptop as you can't partition it.

Be good to hear some more feedback on that though.

[walpurgis]

Windows 8.0 and 8.1 are clearly not designed with static desktop PCs in mind. The mouse friendly usablity is missing. Thankfully the download of Classic Shell has resolved all that. Even IE now looks as normal. I've installed Comodo Dragon (Chrome based) browser too, so I'm back to the usability I had before with Windows 7.

If anybody is interested. Here's a free safe download of Classic Shell: http://download.cnet.com/Classic-She...-75553853.html

[Audio Advent]

That was what my post does. it sets standard desktop top be default instead of those metro tiles that I have to say I never go near. .and tbh you dont need them anyways. My desktop is basically the same as on my last pc

I meant what appears when you press the windows button - normally you get the Metro apps up and then you have to scroll down to get to the desktop versions of the same apps (programs). You can swap that around somehow as I have done.

[Audio Advent]

I guess it really is meant for touch screen PCs though and swiping between desktop and say the pdf viewer app is nice. Seems you swipe down to close a Metro app? It's all guess work.

[Audio Advent]

It's very beneficial to learn some shortcut keys with W8/8.1, makes the O/S even more of a joy to use.

http://www.shortcutworld.com/en/win/Windows_8.html

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/tutorial

That's partly what I meant when I said everything in Windows 8.1 is hidden. To get a Metro app (media player) to appear on a second screen for example I had to learn a keyboard shortcut - there didn't seem to be any other way to do it without the hidden shortcut. Shortcuts should be just that with an easy to figure out long way of doing first.