Tweaking Windows 8.1

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TweakHound has published a rather useful guide to Tweaking Windows 8.1 for those of you that might need it. Here's a snippet from the introduction:

Windows 8 represents a major change in the way Microsoft thinks we use computers. For better or worse they have attempted to unify the user experience across a variety of devices including tablets, laptops, tablet-laptop hybrids, phones, and PC’s. Windows 8 is designed for touch screens. This guide is aimed at using Windows 8 as a desktop PC and/or laptop without touch capabilities. It is not about completely eliminating Metro but rather doing most of the work in desktop mode while taking advantage of the new features in Metro. In other words, this guide is for people who want to get stuff done.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for posting this. I've already more-or-less gotten used to the new UI and can move around in it pretty quickly, but any and all advice for getting more stuff done faster is appreciated. Can't wait to read it when I get home from work tonight.
 
Ditto on the thanks for this. I'll be picking up a convertible ultrabook soon, and those only have the Windows 8 option.
 
Just clicked through all the pages and it looks like a very comprehensive guide and tutorial on how to access certain configuration options. Quality link.
 
I think I am a bad [H] reader... I haven't tweaked or OC'ed crap for a number of years.

Hardware/performance just doesn't require it anymore compared to the good old days where 10% was noticeable.

I have found that getting used to out-of-box and streamlining my software is ultimately more efficient. I can wipe and reinstall my OS and most apps in about an hour maybe two. No more documenting, taking notes of every "needed" setting etc etc etc.

Things like cloud storage/backup, file server, steam etc really make it easy to get up and running again if needed. I just buy hardware that will do what I need it to, if in question more power:).
 
Except the "closing apps" section is wrong. Dragging the window down to the bottom doesn't close them in 8.1. It did in 8.0 but in 8.1 it does something else. It effectively hibernates the app but doesn't actually close it. This means when you launch it again it'll reload at your last spot. Great if you want that, terrible if you don't. Actually closing the metro app now means that you have to drag it down to the bottom and then pause ... and wait for the window to flip to an icon ... then release. That'll actually close it. For me, a royal pain in the ass. I got used to being able to swipe down and know that IE was closed and when I re-loaded I'd get a Google home page. Now, unless I hold, I'll get whatever website I visited last.

I was planning to love 8.1 but now, ultimately, it is driving me nuts. The consistent wallpaper is nice to look at but the changed functionality of closing is a pain in the ass.
 
Ididar said:
Except the "closing apps" section is wrong. Dragging the window down to the bottom doesn't close them in 8.1. It did in 8.0 but in 8.1 it does something else. It effectively hibernates the app but doesn't actually close it. This means when you launch it again it'll reload at your last spot. Great if you want that, terrible if you don't. Actually closing the metro app now means that you have to drag it down to the bottom and then pause ... and wait for the window to flip to an icon ... then release. That'll actually close it. For me, a royal pain in the ass. I got used to being able to swipe down and know that IE was closed and when I re-loaded I'd get a Google home page. Now, unless I hold, I'll get whatever website I visited last.
Click to expand...
As a long-time Windows Phone user, Window 8.0's behavior was driving me nuts.

Windows Phone, since v7.5, has always handled multitasking this way. It's set up so that there's no need for the user to ever close an application. Applications that aren't touched are hibernated, then tombstoned, and eventually fall off the end of the task switcher. Background services for those applications are handled by an always-running OS service, not the app, so it's no big deal if the app has been suspended to disk.

I always know that I can open app-after-app, and the system will never run out of memory or grind to a halt.
I always know that when I return to an application (even after it has fallen off the task switcher), I'll put right back where I left off.
I always know that an app's background services will work, even if the app itself isn't running.

Windows 8.1 brings consistency, and I'm all for that.
 
" It is not about completely eliminating Metro but rather doing most of the work in desktop mode while taking advantage of the new features in Metro... "

THIS. This explains in a nutshell the way Windows 8 works. And it works fine.
 
Ididar said:
Except the "closing apps" section is wrong. Dragging the window down to the bottom doesn't close them in 8.1. It did in 8.0 but in 8.1 it does something else. It effectively hibernates the app but doesn't actually close it. This means when you launch it again it'll reload at your last spot. Great if you want that, terrible if you don't. Actually closing the metro app now means that you have to drag it down to the bottom and then pause ... and wait for the window to flip to an icon ... then release. That'll actually close it. For me, a royal pain in the ass. I got used to being able to swipe down and know that IE was closed and when I re-loaded I'd get a Google home page. Now, unless I hold, I'll get whatever website I visited last.

I was planning to love 8.1 but now, ultimately, it is driving me nuts. The consistent wallpaper is nice to look at but the changed functionality of closing is a pain in the ass.
Click to expand...

It still closes them for me in 8.1. I just updated last night and other than having to reinstall my firewall and Alcohol 120 everything still works as it did including closing metro apps.
 
Was just thinking. I wonder if it is different with a mouse than with touch for some reason?
 
SolidBladez said:
Ididar is right. If you swipe the app down to the bottom it doesn't close the program entirely. Open up Task Manager and you will see the process still running.
Click to expand...

I'll be damned. You are 100% right. For some reason it doesn't "save my place" though. Hmm.
 
ramrod126 said:
I'll be damned. You are 100% right. For some reason it doesn't "save my place" though. Hmm.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure the app author can choose what happens to the backstack when you use that gesture on an app (preserve / reset)
 
SolidBladez said:
Ididar is right. If you swipe the app down to the bottom it doesn't close the program entirely. Open up Task Manager and you will see the process still running.
Click to expand...

ramrod126 said:
I'll be damned. You are 100% right. For some reason it doesn't "save my place" though. Hmm.
Click to expand...

When an app in 8.1 is closed like 8, it suspends it and keeps it memory but the app will eventually get garbage collected if it isn't activated within a certain amount of time or the memory manager needs the memory for something active. However 8.1 has a new gesture, wait and hold and release where the thumbnail will spin and that will immediately close the app and remove it from memory. If you pull the thumbnail up before release the app will reload, kind of cool but a little complicated.

Unknown-One said:
Pretty sure the app author can choose what happens to the backstack when you use that gesture on an app (preserve / reset)
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is app dependent, there's a lot things that need to be handled for apps to resume in place that many don't do at the moment.
 
Thanks guys. As much as I want to consider myself a "power user" it seems that lately I am more of a "just work dammit" kind of guy.
 
the people that cry about windows 8 are getting real old. I'll admit I do not like metro or the UI changes they implemented to make my pc look like a cell phone. HOWEVER doing some simple tweaking and installing FREE class shell on 8.1 and you have a superior OS and you don't have to use or pay attention to any of the store bullshit whatsoever. I really like this most recent install, everything is snappier and faster.

GET OVER IT
 
Can I tweak it so that the UI works like Win7?

No?

#DontGiveAShit
 
Windows 8 doesn't need tweaking. Anyone who doesn't like it exactly as designed is just a complete moron who needs to move on. Windows 7 is totally antiquated technology from the stone age. Anyone still wearing normal glasses rather than Google Glass is just a child who refuses to move with the rest of the world. You haven't installed Windows 8 on your PS4 yet? The hell are you waiting for?
 
Rattle said:
the people that cry about windows 8 are getting real old. I'll admit I do not like metro or the UI changes they implemented to make my pc look like a cell phone. HOWEVER doing some simple tweaking and installing FREE class shell on 8.1 and you have a superior OS and you don't have to use or pay attention to any of the store bullshit whatsoever. I really like this most recent install, everything is snappier and faster.

GET OVER IT
Click to expand...

YEAH! If people don't like what you like then they can FUCK RIGHT OFF!!! :mad::mad::mad:
 
Chas said:
Can I tweak it so that the UI works like Win7?

No?

#DontGiveAShit
Click to expand...

Amen brother. I have a laptop with Windows 8 for work.........and I'll be wiping it clean and installing 7 as soon as I find my install disk.
 
jflail2 said:
Amen brother. I have a laptop with Windows 8 for work.........and I'll be wiping it clean and installing 7 as soon as I find my install disk.
Click to expand...

Before you blow away Windows 8.0, I'd highly recommend installing Ex7ForW8. Its by the author of StartIsBack (a start menu replacement). It gives you the Windows 7 shell in Windows 8.0 and prevents Metro from ever loading. You benefit from the under-the-hood improvements without the forced tablet UI silliness. I've been running it for the past year on my gaming PC, 8 x Hyper-V VM's and two Server 2012 boxes and its been flawless.
Note: It will ask for your Windows 7 DVD during installation because it copies Windows 7's explorer.exe from that disk. You'll be running the 100% genuine Windows 7 start menu, not a third party hack or simulation.

Its also non-destructive, meaning if years from now Microsoft decides to ever actually create a Metro app worthy of running on a desktop PC, its a simple one click to restore Metro and the Windows 8 shell.
 
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