Windows 8.1 review.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:10 am

I just got our photography business computer set up and now I'm updating the OS and so far I've had about three hours of play time on this new OS and frankly I'm not loving it, my biggest issue with Windows 8 is that you are required to have a Windows Live Account or ID in order to be able to use the OS at all.When you first boot up a Windows 8 OS you have to go through a basic registration process that involves either setting up a Windows Live ID or using an existing one if you have it which if you use an XBOX console or a Windows 8 phone or tablet then you already have a live id and can just use that but if not you have to create one and the process is easy but long as there are several steps you must take including assigning a phone number and email address and then you have to create a password so that you can log in each time you boot the computer up there after.Our computer is a Dell Inspiron Desktop it has a 1TB or terabyte hard drive, 8GB of RAM and an 1080-P HD display, setting everything up was fairly straightforward and self explanatory but there was some assembly required.The OS is not as nice as Windows 7 I much prefer Windows 7 as accessing my drivers and HKCU- entries is a breeze on Windows 7 but with Windows 8 everything is obfuscated or hidden and you have to navigate through a labyrinth of menus and sub-menus to get to what your looking for which is a hassle.All in all Windows 8 is alright but if you want an OS that does not require an account to even get the system registered and is pretty straight forward then Windows 7 is a much better choice.The keyboard that came with our new computer is okay but the key press action is a little clunky because of the way the keys are set in the panel you don't get that nice click and depression so you wind up feeling like you need to press the keys harder than necessary to get them to work so I'm not really a fan of the new Keyboard style this PC is using.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:11 am

I was so mentally exhausted last night from running a slew of OS updates that when I laid down around 9:00 pm I was just numb.lolI started updating the system around three or so in the afternoon and it didn't finish downloading and installing them until about eight that night and on top of that my mother had to have Google Chrome as her browser because she does not like Internet Explorer at all so I've just got that downloaded as the install failed on it last night due to low bandwidth in the house.I've still got a ton of stuff to do to get the computer completely set up like she wants it because she wants/needs her photo editing software ported from the old laptop which is now mine yay, and I've got to figure out how to get close to eighty gigabytes of files from the old computer on to the new one and doing backup disks like I wanted to do isn't going to work because the disks we are using only have about three gigabytes of storage capacity on them.I'm thinking about just using the WIFI network in the house to digitally stream all the files and programs she wants to keep from my laptop to her new desktop, we will see how this goes when she gets in from work.lol

Laurie LeAnn · Post by **Laurie LeAnn** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:28 am

Technology..love it don't you.. I had to have a friend come up stairs to my son's apartment to set up his Netflix box thing cause his unplugged it all to move it to his bed room and all it was , was plugging in two things and turning on the t.v. but he was using high tech terms.. if he would of just said take the thing connect to that is this color and plug it into this I could of done it.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 7:46 am

@Laurie, sometimes us techy people forget that the jargon we are used to using with each other is a foreign language to everybody else.lolI know I catch myself using the most complicated overly technical terms when I'm trying to explain to somebody how to set up a WIFI network in their house or something as simple as plugging an RCA or basic red, white, yellow connection from the DVD player to the T.V. and yeah technology is a hoot seems like the more "they" try to make this stuff user friendly the more complicated they end up making it to actually use.lol

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 3:34 am

I'm using this keyboard. http://www.amazon.com/Microsof...ef=zg_ ... 31_12After using it for awhile, I wouldn't want to go back to a flat keyboard.I also recommend adblock plus. It makes surfing safer and removes annoying ads.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Mon Mar 02, 2015 6:23 am

@Keg, the keyboard your using looks like pro-board for PC gaming, I used to do a little of it way back in the day and a lot of the guys used ergo or pro-boards because we could get into six plus hour long sessions on games like Dungeons and Dragons and Diablo. LolI bet the keyboard you have is really comfortable on the wrists.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 12:58 pm

Well, I've run into a big issue with Windows 8 this OS has a huge problem with its TCP/IP stack protocol which sets a server response time of thirteen seconds so getting connected to the mail client at Yahoo.com which takes a minimum of thirty seconds to respond winds up with your browser generating a server unresponsive error message and causes a server connect fail every time you try to get signed into Yahoo Mail or any other email service.This issue is one that was left over from Windows XP and should have been patched after so long but MS just keeps ignoring the issue but for some reason Windows 8 is having a horrible time with it, I think it may have something to do with the way Windows 8 handles server queries and replies when your attempting to connect to any website on the internet.They need to fix this issue asap but unfortunately they are still not worried about so I'm just going to have to deal with it as best I can, thank God my laptop is Windows 7 at least it doesn't have this particular issue.

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Thu Feb 16, 2017 8:42 pm

It's something like version 10 now.

1) Microsoft is engineering the system to recognize the platform its running on and adjust. That way the phone will run the same system as a tablet or desktop. This is a big advantage for their development costs and for developers too. So the phone system will keep being developed even though it isn't very popular. And the same system will probably be used for cars and houses eventually.

2) The thing I miss most is hierarchal menus. If I was working on a word document and I needed to print or something, I'd pull down a menu, and execute a command while keeping my place on the document. Now a whole page of commands appears, obscuring my view of the work. Then I have to find my place again.

3) The thing I dislike most is the built in advertisements that periodically remind me (sound effects included) to upgrade my version of office.

4) Favorite aspects: The desktop search is very fast.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association