Windows 8.1

DaSleeper

Trolling Hypocrites
May 27, 2007
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Northern Ontario,
I managed to put windows 7 on my old XP box in the basement without having to register it, don't ask me how, its a mystery to me lol...
But it would need extra memory to speed it up for my wife to play her games when she does the washing and ironing.


So I was thinking of putting this old notebook down in the laundry room and buying a new one...
Question? How is the transition to 8.1 .....smooth or what?
 

Goober

Hall of Fame Member
Jan 23, 2009
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I managed to put windows 7 on my old XP box in the basement without having to register it, don't ask me how, its a mystery to me lol...
But it would need extra memory to speed it up for my wife to play her games when she does the washing and ironing.


So I was thinking of putting this old notebook down in the laundry room and buying a new one...
Question? How is the transition to 8.1 .....smooth or what?

I prefer win 7 - have both- win 7 on the laptop- win8.1 on the desktop. To much useless **** with 8.1 for me.
 

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
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London, Ontario
I bought a small laptop recently, in case I want to do some work on the side, and it came with 8. I was not a happy camper until I deciphered (okay, okay, one of the kids did it) how to change to a regular windows screen, lol. Now I don't feel so lost. But I haven't done much on it yet, just downloaded anti-virus and (thank you Bear) set up additional Users.
 

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
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London, Ontario
Can you set it up with the classic look so it doesn't have al those apps floating about? on the screen?

Yes. One of the tiles will open up a windows screen with a taskbar at the bottom, you can put shortcuts on the desktop to programs, everything but a start button. If you take the mouse down to where the start button would be, it's the tiles.
 

DaSleeper

Trolling Hypocrites
May 27, 2007
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Yes. One of the tiles will open up a windows screen with a taskbar at the bottom, you can put shortcuts on the desktop to programs, everything but a start button. If you take the mouse down to where the start button would be, it's the tiles.
Next question......In classic mode, when you click on start>username, do you have a folder named favorites?
That is what I do when I get a new PC, the worst thing is transferring your bookmarks, and if you go at the folder level even hidden folders it's easy.
And when you check the ones in the store, until they have been personalized, that folder doesn't exist. Each user has his own set of bookmarks or "Favorites"

I'm headed south to Mississauga tomorrow for about a week, and I will be looking for a good sale on Notebooks:lol:
 

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
29,151
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36
London, Ontario
Next question......In classic mode, when you click on start>username, do you have a folder named favorites?
That is what I do when I get a new PC, the worst thing is transferring your bookmarks, and if you go at the folder level even hidden folders it's easy.
And when you check the ones in the store, until they have been personalized, that folder doesn't exist. Each user has his own set of bookmarks or "Favorites"

There is no start to click....anywhere, lol. That's the hardest thing to wrap your head around.

I've been on the browser (IE) in both "modes"...in the classic mode, the browser resembles what you see in Windows 7, so you can favorite and bookmark. I would assume there must be a way to transfer your bookmarks. Maybe Bear can answer this one as I had no favorites to transfer.
 

Goober

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Jan 23, 2009
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Can you set it up with the classic look so it doesn't have al those apps floating about? on the screen?

Not sure, I just deleted /backed up up all I need it for, and reinstalled from basic. Kept it clear of UFI. I prefer it.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Satelitte Radio Addict
May 28, 2007
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Toronto, ON
That's the way I import my contacts at the email level, just because I haven't found a way to copy and past a complete folder lol


Edit: I just found how to do it at the folder level on windows seven :lol:

I am surprised you haven't downloaded the Apple extra to sync your Outlook contacts with the iCloud. I manage one set of contacts now and that is the iCloud ones.
 

Praxius

Mass'Debater
Dec 18, 2007
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Halifax, NS & Melbourne, VIC
The transition from Windows 7 to Windows 8 took me about two days to figure it all out and get comfortable with how it all works. With 8.1, it's a bit more easier for new people to figure out due to them adding that little windows icon in the bottom left where the start button used to be, but in 8, it was still the exact same thing, just there was no icon there to click on and you just moved your mouse to the bottom left and a little window popped up to bring you back to the start screen.

In a nutshell, the best way to wrap your head around 8.1 is that the Start Screen is just the Start Menu covering the whole desktop.

"Classic" mode is just a play on words really, as the "Classic Desktop" is the only desktop there is in the OS and 95% of everything you do in Windows 8.1 is on the Desktop just like when you used XP, Vista, 7, etc.

When you first start up Windows 8, you are presented with the Start Screen.... on that Start Screen there is an icon for "Desktop"

Click on that and you're right back where you left off in previous Windows OS's.

The Start Screen is mostly for any Apps you download from the App Store or XBox Game Store, while all your regular programs operate completely on the Desktop like you're used to, so transition in that regard is pretty quick and easy. You can either pin your programs on the desktop or the taskbar like always, or you can pin them on the Start Screen (which just loads them on the Desktop anyways)

When Windows 8.1 first loads up on your new computer, it will present you with a very quick tutorial on the extra little things it does, like the options/menus on the right side of the screen and toggling through the "Apps" on the left.

If you installed a program or app on your system but there was no icon on the desktop or start screen added, simply go to the start screen and when it is up, simply start typing out the name of the program or app and you will have a quick pop up of that program where you can then add an icon on the Start Screen or Desktop or simply run it.

My wife first didn't like Windows 8 when I first got it and it took her a little longer to figure it out than I, but after about a week she actually liked it more than Windows 7. Her mother also bought a Windows 8.1 laptop. I gave her a crash course on the basics and she has never had an issue with the OS and figured it all out pretty quickly for what she does with her computer.

One difference you will notice with Windows 8.1 compared to Vista or 7 is performance. Windows 8.1 is a lot more optimized than the previous OS's and doesn't use as much resources as Vista/7. After I upgraded my Windows 7 system, I noticed the OS boots withing seconds rather than almost a minute beforehand.... my programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. all load faster and perform a bit better too. My games on Steam also load faster and I was even able to bump some graphical settings up ever so slightly due to more resources freed up.

Anyways, within the next couple of weeks, Microsoft will be launching the developer preview beta of Windows 9 (Threshold) which is basically Windows 8.1 but with some modifications based on customer feedback.

For starters, the Start Screen is switching back to a modified Start Menu which will be a combination of the Start Menus of Christmas Past and the current Start Screen.
Windows 9 'Threshold' Update Leaked in Purported Screenshots, Video | NDTV Gadgets


Windows 9: Das neue Startmenü in Aktion - YouTube
 

DaSleeper

Trolling Hypocrites
May 27, 2007
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Northern Ontario,
I am surprised you haven't downloaded the Apple extra to sync your Outlook contacts with the iCloud. I manage one set of contacts now and that is the iCloud ones.
I already have my Iphone contacts and a few other thing from the phone backed up on Icloud and they are basically the same ones from my PC so I guess I'll figure it out...<Thanks everyone>
 

MHz

Time Out
Mar 16, 2007
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Red Deer AB
If your wife is already playing games why not install the latest Debian OS as it has all the same features and runs on lower end hardware. As far as I know it can even work on a tab but I only have a desktop version. Think of it as a new game that is free compared to and OS system that isn't 'proper' Win 8 will detect that. If you have a win7 box you should have a serial number and when that system is dead that should be able to be installed on another system. The number will be rejected and not work so you use the phone and talk to some tech guy and say the motherboard died and your harddrive is using a different motherboard. They will then authorize that number again. Mine is a standalone product so I can move to another motherboard whenever I want, it still only qualifies me to have one copy running at a time and that is checked out usiong todays technology, warez is dead.

The Debian system could be used for a neighborhood network if the net ever went down. Windows would shut down when updates were no longer available (or the last update fried the software) The neighborhood network is a different program that fits on a cd. The few versions that exist are free.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Satelitte Radio Addict
May 28, 2007
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Toronto, ON
I already have my Iphone contacts and a few other thing from the phone backed up on Icloud and they are basically the same ones from my PC so I guess I'll figure it out...<Thanks everyone>

I don't sync contacts between Outlook & my iPhone, I do it iPhone --> iCloud. I then sync iCloud --> Outlook with that download.