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Here is my windows 8 desktop. Pretty much looks like my windows 7 desktop...

I was reading MSN's home page(default in IE10 never changed it) and this article caught my eye: 10 most dangerous teen fads of 2012: http://t.healthylivi...en-fads-of-2012 The article included this: What the hell? Is this really a wide spread thing?

I hate to admit it, but I broke down and bought start 8 for my windows 8 machine. I tried a bunch of the different windows 8 start menu replacements and this one was definitely the best. It loads just as fast as the old windows 7 menu and fits in perfect with the visuals of windows 8. Can be found here: http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

I know there was some discussion about Windows 8 not having DVD playback built in. If you have the pro version you can install media center for free(until January I think). You can find a link here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/feature-packs I took a day for my key to come but the install worked fine. I don't play dvds on my computer but its good to know I can.(I guess I could have just used vlc if I hadn't downloaded this)

Yeah you can create a recovery disk: You can also create a recovery partition on a hard drive/usb drive/ect. This is a huge step up from previous versions of windows.

When I first tried to type here I thought my keyboard was broken. I hadn't tried to type anything with this PC yet and I couldn't create a new line. Really weird bug.

This topic wasn't about windows 8 complaints. I was just trying to tell people who wanted to get Windows 8 cheaper how to do it. I got windows on a new custom built pc for $40. Simply an amazing deal.

I thought I would bring up what may be one of the coolest features of Windows 8. There is an option to do a complete reinstall of windows without using a disc. All you have to do is go into the menus and click a button. It even asks you if you want to overwrite your data in case you are going to sell the PC. Very nice. I have two hard drives in this pc(one SSD and one regular) and asked me if I wanted to save the data on the non windows drive. This may be one of my favorite features of windows 8. I'm interested to see what OEMs do with it. It would be really cool if they couldn't muck with it and you could get a completely clean install of windows on a store bought pc. Just to clarify this is a complete reinstall of windows not a system restore point. I tried it and from what I can tell it completely wipes the drive and does a clean install.

Nope.

I have a different problem with IE10. On the this forum I cannot press enter to create a new line in text boxes.. Really weird. I googled it and other reported this problem as well.

I just wanted to let you guys know if you build a new pc(or have a pc without windows) you can use the windows 8 release preview to get the $40 upgrade price. I just did it with the pc I built yesterday. I installed the preview build and used the windows 8 upgrade assistant(on MS Store) to do a clean install of windows 8. Worked very well and super easy.

Found a video run down of the chromebook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoK8p1OZDV4&feature=related I think best buy is selling these. As soon as I can see one and play around with it, I may pick one up. If anything it will make a good gift for a family member if I don't like it. Edit: Didn't expect the forum to embed the video automatically. Kinda neat.

Yeah there definitely are families who cannot afford computers of any kind. I wouldn't expect students who truly cannot afford computers to buy one of these. What interests me with these computers is that many school systems could provide them for students. The school I work in is buying iPads for use at school. Each student doesn't have one but there are literally carts of iPads rolling around to various classes. You can buy 2 of these for what one iPad costs. iPads have great software and they are easy to lock down which would be a concern with these laptops, but I would much rather have these. One of the schools in my district has bought each student a macbook air. Its a trial run but if it goes well all high school students will eventually get one(awesome). I just saw these and thought they looked pretty cool for the price. Running a computer club would be a neat idea. To be honest I'm barely keeping up as it is right now.(planning for 3 subjects each day and working toward my masters degree is kicking my butt) But maybe later I can set something like this up. I'm definitely interested but it would be quite a bit of extra work.

Anyone else intrigued by the new Chromebook? http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/ For $250 you get: 11.6 inch 1366x768 screen 2 gigs memory Solid State drive(16gb) free upgrade to 100gig google drive 6 hour battery Samsung Exynos Processor(basically same thing in some cell phones) I'm interested purely because of the price and size. I use my laptop to browse the web and do school work. I'm not sure I could live inside google docs(or skydrive web apps if online) but I'm pretty sure I'm going to try one soon. This has been my first year teaching and I've been truly shocked by how many kids still do not have computers at home.$250 seems like it could be a great entry level machine. Compared to the processors in most netbooks this thing would be considered slow but because of the solid storage and fine tuned OS it could seem quite fast.

I guess this is a valid concern. If someone was to physically get on my pc they would automatically have access to my email. Problem is that they would have access to way more important information with my physical pc anyway. Chances are though they wouldn't be able to figure out my password and wouldn't be able to get on anything anyway. I do use a program on my lenovo that creates a secret encrypted drive. It came with the pc and the only way to open it up is to use the fingerprint reader. I keep my passwords and stuff in that folder just in case my laptop was going to get stolen. I don't worry as much with my desktop. I'm pretty sure the windows live(skydrive) stuff does this too if you allow it. I think it comes with a program called the windows live sign in client(I think thats what its called) that keeps you constantly logged in. There is no link within the skydrive client itself(It just shows up like a normal folder).

I think we drive a lot more in the US. I could be wrong but its not uncommon for me to drive 100 miles a day to work and back.

Yeah I don't agree. Still would rather be in a car than a bike if someone is in my lane. On a bike you splat if you get hit and if you go off the road your probably dead too. I've seen horrific motorcycle wrecks. If I didn't drive on the interstate everyday I might consider it.

I spend about $80 a week filling up my car. Still wouldn't ride a motorcycle. People here can't drive.

I'm pretty impressed with mate. It works exactly like the old Gnome 2 Ubuntu did, but installing it on top of 12.10 gives you an updated driver base. I will probably wipe this and try Linux mint when they update. They usually do a good job with their customization. Linux mint 13 mate was a good OS, it just didn't play nice with any of my computers.

I think those are going to be the "surface pro" tablets that they announced a while ago. I bet they are about $1000 as well. For that I think I'd rather have that Yoga laptop I was playing with. Ugh... I don't need another laptop. It was pretty cool though. I'll post pics of it if I cant talk myself out of it.

I don't like that the surface has an Arm processor. It can run all of the windows applications that the full blown windows 8 computers can. If it was 300 or less I would have gotten the surface. But for 600 with the keyboard I'll pass.

Was at bestbuy yesterday and saw an awesome laptop called a lenovo yoga. The screen flipped back making it like a tablet. I was going to build a windows 8 desktop. I might get this instead. It really felt awesome using the new interface on a touchscreen. Was $1000... think I'm gonna go for it If I don't see anything cooler.

Anyone else playing with the new Ubuntu release? I have to say that its pretty good. This is the first Ubuntu release that just worked on my laptop. I cannot stand the new Unity interface so I installed the Mate Desktop Environment which is basically Gnome 2. I can't understand how they went from something so simple and clean to the mess that is Unity. I'm going to play around with this for a little while, may even keep using it on this system if no problems arise. I've always liked this interface. Glad someone is keeping it alive. It definitely looks "old school" compared to windows 7, Mac, and now Unity. But its also one of the easiest to navigate.

That could also mean they are going to auto update flash with windows update each month. That would actually be very good for most users. Flash just recently started auto updating in the back ground without prompts. Before that I hardly ever updated it.

I don't have an ipad so I wasn't aware of that. I just know a lot of the criticisms I read about android tablets are that there aren't, "tablet apps" like the iPad. I guess only major apps like facebook and twitter have both types of apps.