Your opinion on Windows 8

from my experience all the complaints centre around the Start Screen and nothing more.

once they put on a free or cheap start button program, all is back to normal.

I got so fed up with the Start tiles that even I lashed out and got StartIsBack for $3 for 2 pc's, one off payment.

I tried two of the free ones and, although good, weren't quite complete enough for me.

Allot of people don't like the desktop, etc., myself included.

My aunt got a new Win8 laptop last month and has had nothing but learning issues with it. I recommended that she take one of those free or low cost classes/courses to better understand it, i.e.; completely and selfishly saving me from trying to help or teach her since I don't use that OS. :lol:

lol Why not just install Windows 7 for her? :P

from my experience all the complaints centre around the Start Screen and nothing more.

once they put on a free or cheap start button program, all is back to normal.

I got so fed up with the Start tiles that even I lashed out and got StartIsBack for $3 for 2 pc's, one off payment.

I tried two of the free ones and, although good, weren't quite complete enough for me.

While that may be at the core of it, everything from the app system, the new UI for viewing pics, etc. are all huge inconveniences imo.

lol Why not just install Windows 7 for her? :P

Because my arms can't reach 300 miles away where she lives.

Because my arms can't reach 300 miles away where she lives.

Inflexible :rolleyes:

Going to be honest, I've been running Windows 8 as my primary system for about a week now (recently replaced my desktop)

Unpinned all the apps from the start screen, uninstalled most of the metro apps (can't uninstall Reader or the Store) then shut UAC off and tweaked a registry setting to allow me to use metro apps with UAC off.

No complaints. I like the start screen. It's a bit invasive I'll grant but it's superior in just about every way. My only complaint is that the only way to shut down / restart is in the charms menu (win+c) and it's kind of out of the way compared to where I had it on win7 (the default shut down button option replaced with restart in the start menu)

Haven't upgraded to 8.1 yet, but to be honest I have no real major complaints about Win 8

My only complaint is that the only way to shut down / restart is in the charms menu (win+c) and it's kind of out of the way compared to where I had it on win7 (the default shut down button option replaced with restart in the start menu)

You can add shutdown commands to the context menu of desktop

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4992-shut-down-add-desktop-context-menu-windows-8-a.html

Also classicshell (start menu and ie are the only parts I use not explorer) is awesome, I hardly even notice i'm not using 7

@Winapp2

I would go for 8.1.

It's better to use, for example you shut down from the same place as you do on Win 7 and XP.... the start button.

You can boot straight to the desktop, disable hot corners etc all by right-clicking on desktop taskbar, selecting properties and ticking your choices.

As regards Win 8 if you are using IE11 as I am, don't forget to do Internet Options -programs tab- and say which version of it you want to open when you click on a link (I chose desktop IE not Metro)

I also used the default programs area to change what I wanted to open what. At first I remember I couldn't work out photos because it wasn't using Mic picture viewer by default :)

At first I remember I couldn't work out photos because it wasn't using Mic picture viewer by default :)

Although I'm on XP here, and although people have bashed Picture Viewer ("Windows Picture And Fax Viewer" in XP) for well over a decade I went back to using it. To simply view photos it isn't bad and loads fast.

Haven't upgraded to 8.1 yet, but to be honest I have no real major complaints about Win 8

I feel the same way. After my last crash/burn/reinstall episode, and after updating the BIOS on my HP Envy laptop, I have Windows 8 and I.E. 10 running really sweet. I'd hate to do anything to change that.

Although I'm on XP here, and although people have bashed Picture Viewer ("Windows Picture And Fax Viewer" in XP) for well over a decade I went back to using it. To simply view photos it isn't bad and loads fast.

I miss the XP pic/fax viewer. It supported gifs.

My two penneth worth is that I still enjoy my "old XP/Ubuntu" (occasional use) know and use my Win 7.0 daily BUT looking forward to learning Win 8.1 when I update following my Son's visit with his Win 8.1 powered Laptop which I enjoyed using for a week.......for me it's good being retired so I have plenty of time to learn.

So razz tell your Sister-in-law throw caution to the wind, go with 8.1 and have fun learning :)

I miss the XP pic/fax viewer. It supported gifs.

I guess for animated gifs or something? I've never liked the gif format the quality is too low, although I really like the png format.

There's some non-Microsoft software (forget which one it is at the moment) I've installed everytime I've had to reinstall XP from the setup disc that includes extra image format support for the OS itself, i.e.; it allows Paint, etc., to open more formats than it normally supports.

Animated gifs, yes.

PNG is my perferred picture format as well. Never played with apngs but i imagine win7/8 picture viewer doesn't support them

So razz tell your Sister-in-law throw caution to the wind, go with 8.1 and have fun learning :)

Thanks Tasgandy, I'll tell her :) Again, thank you all for your input.