Windows 8 blows but...

Etherton

Will Bang for Poof
Joined
Aug 7, 2006
Messages
6,996
Just bought a MSI GT60 with Win8 on it... I hate it (8). I plan on "upgrading" it to Win7 but will it void the mfg warranty when I do? As long as I dont delete the 188gb (< rediculous!) data partition I should be able to restore it back to factory settings right?
 
You should be able to burn bootable recovery discs then just delete the partition afterwards.
 
I agree with blinx on that too...8 was weird for the first day or two...then I realized how freaking fast it is and that the start menu is now a screen. There's always google if you can't figure something out too!
 
The whole metro interface... I am not impressed with it at all. This is designed for tablet use.

edit : As long as I can get VZN Access Manager to play nice and get Siebel (work BS) to load in IE10 I will give it a week or so before I move back to Win7... watching YouTube tutorial videos now... :/
 
Windows 8 is fast, it just seems to take an extra click or two to do simple, basic tasks I do all the time.

It feels like wearing mittens everywhere. They're warm, they're fluffy...but you have to take them off before you can do much.
 
Windows 8 doesn't suck. You just fear change.

I dont fear change. I enjoy change. Windows 8 is inconvenient and dumbed down. Thats ghe the beauty of an opinion though. I liked windows vista but it was the devil to most. I loves windows 7 and went back to it after a few days with windows 8. I just enjoy the experience a lot more.
 
I have the Acer Aspire E1-571-6888 with Windows 8 and Classic Shell.

The desktop "side" is fine, I don't go into Metro.

It's not worth purchasing as an OS, but fine pre-installed.
 
I just picked up a Crucial M4 for Win7 (already have the OS) and plan on using the 750gb HDD for storage. If I do this am I voiding the warranty on the laptop? As far as Win8 goes this is the second time I have tried to use it now. I just don't like it. It feels like you are jumping through hoops to do things IMO. System speed is no faster than Win7 either - load times. There may be some statistics out there that prove otherwise and I may revisit it down the road but for now I am going back to Win7.
 
I just picked up a Crucial M4 for Win7 (already have the OS) and plan on using the 750gb HDD for storage. If I do this am I voiding the warranty on the laptop?

You should be OK as long as the HD is user accessible and the manual comes with instructions on replacing the HD and there is no explicit warning that replacing components voids the warranty. I would make a backup of the drive and keep it on hand in case you need to ever have it serviced.

As far as Win8 goes this is the second time I have tried to use it now. I just don't like it. It feels like you are jumping through hoops to do things IMO. System speed is no faster than Win7 either - load times. There may be some statistics out there that prove otherwise and I may revisit it down the road but for now I am going back to Win7.

The faster and more capable the hardware the less difference I've noticed between 7 and 8 but on lesser hardware I think the difference can become fairly noticeable.
 
Use classic shell and have best of both worlds
Classic shell blows chunks hard. It jacked up my control panel on my htpc so it only shows large icons now. No idea how it did it but it worked fine before classic shell and broke after it.

I would recommend start 8. Works great and its just like the win 7 start menu. So you get the benefits of win 8 with out the downsides.
I just picked up a Crucial M4 for Win7 (already have the OS) and plan on using the 750gb HDD for storage. If I do this am I voiding the warranty on the laptop? As far as Win8 goes this is the second time I have tried to use it now. I just don't like it. It feels like you are jumping through hoops to do things IMO. System speed is no faster than Win7 either - load times. There may be some statistics out there that prove otherwise and I may revisit it down the road but for now I am going back to Win7.

I wouldn't think it would void your warranty but you might want to actually read the warranty terms of the manufacturer. There are terms that might surprise you.
 
I thought windows 8 had downgrade rights to 7? Or is that only for retail copies that you purchase, not OEM keys?

EDIT: also start is back basically turns 8 into 7
 
So.... I just talked to MSI tech support. Good news is they don't care if I replace the HDD and/or the memory. Bad news is... he said I can not downgrade to Win7 due to the system BIOS. Please tell me that this is not the case?
 
You'll need to see if it's set to UEFI mode (likely, based on what your tech said), and if it's able to be changed to the legacy BIOS mode.

I imagine it would be.
 
I recently had to setup a Lenovo laptop that came with Win8, here is what I did:

- Installed StartisBack (which is now supported by DisplayFusion 5.0, btw) - there are other solutions mentioned in this thread.
- Removed the ability for the trackpad gestures to activate the metro slide-out UI (it's a registry edit - search it)
- Installed office 2013, MPC-HC, Foobar, 7zip, adobe reader, Xnview (images), and a few other programs to take care of most file associations (which will prevent win8 from defaulting to an APP installed within Metro UI)


That's essentially what I've done with my desktop PC as well, except I did not need to disable gestures, and of course I have many more programs.

That said, the Metro UI looks like it could be useful for certain apps and applications: Netflix, youtube streaming, and HTPC - for power consumption (check Anandtech), it can't be beat. Maybe if Microsoft tweaks the usability - adds more control over the windows for concurrent programs for better multi-tasking, and some sort of taskbar = makes use of the screen area we have, I'd start using Metro more often. I always feel like I have no idea what's going on in there...

For now... my Win8 feels just like Win7.
 
- Removed the ability for the trackpad gestures to activate the metro slide-out UI (it's a registry edit - search it)

I believe that all Lenovos use Synaptics track pads, at least a lot do, my x220t does as well as many others. Edge swipes can be disabled in the track pad settings of the Synaptics drivers, there's no need to use the registry. I've done this in the case of my x220t because the track pad is so small. On larger track pads it's pretty awesome.

The Synatpics drivers also support a number of gestures, like tapping in the corners, that I actually do use on my x220t as it is difficult for that to happen accidently, at least for me. Tapping in the bottom left corner will being up my Start Screen. Tapping in the bottom right corner will close an application, desktop or Metro, by using the Alt-F4 keyboard shortcut.
 
Classic shell blows chunks hard. It jacked up my control panel on my htpc so it only shows large icons now. No idea how it did it but it worked fine before classic shell and broke after it.

Classic Shell doesn't "break" anything. If you want Control Panel to open as category view from inside the Classic Shell Start Menu, go to Customize Start menu tab, double click Control Panel and change command from "control_panel" to "control_panel_categories". :D
 
Got everything to work minus the scroll on the touchpad. I have to use the arrow keys or spacebar. Funny thing is that the pinch-to-zoom feature works... :confused:

Any ideas?
 
Got everything to work minus the scroll on the touchpad. I have to use the arrow keys or spacebar. Funny thing is that the pinch-to-zoom feature works... :confused:

Any ideas?

Is scrolling enabled in your track pad driver?
 
There is no options under the Synaptics menus. Where would it be located?
 
Did you go to the mousse Control Panel applet? There's an option for that under the Synaptics drivers I'm using.

Sweet! It was hidden under device settings tab > settings > scrolling > 1 or 2 finger scrolling.

Thanks!
 
Classic Shell doesn't "break" anything. If you want Control Panel to open as category view from inside the Classic Shell Start Menu, go to Customize Start menu tab, double click Control Panel and change command from "control_panel" to "control_panel_categories". :D

Maybe you shouldn't assume things, there is a reason I specifically said classic shell broke that.... Changing it will result in it getting changed right back after closing the control panel or restarting the pc. Uninstalling classic shell fixes this behavior. Hence classic shell broke this, problem exists with classic shell, problem goes away without classic shell, fairly easy to find out what is doing the breaking.
 
Honeymoon's over, it pretty much blows. Updates, restarted, lost ALL connectivity. No wireless or ethernet, troubleshooting did nothing.

Because I had a backup laptop...
Because I ran Windows 7 Compatibility Mode on drivers for a Windows 8 Laptop, almost useless without having an internet connection

If I didn't have a backup I'd be... going to a public library with a flash drive or something. Not Geek Squad, but my parents might.
 
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Geez...I cannot understand why nobody has mentioned "Stardock's Start 8" software. It cost me a whopping $4.99 & makes my Windows 8 just like Win7! I purchased a cheap Samsung 15.6" laptop (AMD A6 w/ 7520G GPU) & I couldn't be happier!

Link:

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

WIN8 isn't so bad with this tiny software upgrade! Trust me...It's the BEST $5.00 I ever spent!
 
Geez...I cannot understand why nobody has mentioned "Stardock's Start 8" software. It cost me a whopping $4.99 & makes my Windows 8 just like Win7! I purchased a cheap Samsung 15.6" laptop (AMD A6 w/ 7520G GPU) & I couldn't be happier!

Link:

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

WIN8 isn't so bad with this tiny software upgrade! Trust me...It's the BEST $5.00 I ever spent!

See post 17 on first page. ;)
 
Maybe you shouldn't assume things, there is a reason I specifically said classic shell broke that.... Changing it will result in it getting changed right back after closing the control panel or restarting the pc. Uninstalling classic shell fixes this behavior. Hence classic shell broke this, problem exists with classic shell, problem goes away without classic shell, fairly easy to find out what is doing the breaking.

I am not assuming anything, :) I was merely trying to help you how to set Classic Shell to open Control Panel in category view. I work on CS team. :D Maybe your ShellBagsMRU got reset in the registry, that is where the folder views are remembered. If you have a bug about CS to report, feel free to report it in the CS forums where we can troubleshoot the issue. Also, from "Run" dialog, type Control.exe. What view does it open in? Change the view, close Control Panel and open Control.exe again. Does it save the view? If not, then your registry key where views are saved got reset.
 
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