Windows 8

[socialgiraffe]

Hi Guys

Presumably some of you are now using Windows 8 for your work so I was wondering if you can shed some light on any problems/pitfalls of upgrading.

Am about to upgrade my machine so would just like to know what to look out for.

[James990]

What you up grading from? I worked in the computer industry for a while and although Windows 8 is alright mainly for those with touch screens, I personally would not touch it with a barge pole.

I am happy with Windows 7 and I convert all my computers back to Windows 7 if they come with Windows 8. I ahve also had a lot of people wanting to have Windows 8 taken of and W7 put on!

James

[socialgiraffe]

Hi James

I currently have Windows 7 Ulltimate on my machine and am very happy with it. But looking at new PC's they come with 8. How would I go about switching back to 7?.

Simon

[James990]

Simon,

If you have a legal copy of W7 and the activation key, then there is nothing to stop you putting it onto any computer. If you don't have a copy you would need to buy one.

W7 is on a DVD, all you need to do is to pop the DVD into the computer, tell it to boot from DVD and it will then install the operating system on your machine. You might need to put the drivers on, but depending on the manufacturer, for example Dell, they have all the drivers on their website to download.

The way Microsoft work is that each copy needs a legal key to make it work, otherwise it will stop working after a certain amount of time, and it can only go onto one computer. I was fortunate in the fact that I did have a manufacturers license to put them to computers, so was alright. Yes I had to keep strict records and then the manufacturer would pay Microsoft the relevant fees. Well that is what they told me anyway!!!!

Just to throw a spanner in the works W9 is in beta version and due for release late this year early 2015, so you might have problems getting hold of W7!

James

[GoonerGary]

Windows 8 annoys me, when you double click an image, some annoying viewer pops up which can't be x'd out of. I downloaded Classic Shell to get the start menu back, but to be honest Windows 8 is on a laptop and I've no time to mess about with it. Much prefer Windows 7 out of the box, both operating systems are stable.

[socialgiraffe]

Hi James

I have a legal copy of Win7 just not sure where I would find all the documentation, I will have a look round to see what price it is selling for as that might be easier.

Gary

I saw on some website that WIN 8.1 has reintroduced the START bar. I am not sure what that means as I have not seen Win8 but hopefully that will mean something to you :-)

[Mattie]

Windows 8 annoys the life out of me but i'm stuck with it I have it on 2 desktops, laptop and mobile and every day feel like throwing the out the wndow.

You can switch between desktop view which acts like windows 7

this is better to view images etc as you can use the normal windows image viewer.

I also hate windows 8.1 my laptop decided to update it's self and I have problems every day with software not working and the new upgrades not working. Every day when I shutdown computers they have something to update and then next time you turn them on they have configure the updates.

All in all I would avoid if possible

[Paul]

Is windows 8 licence does not day that you are allowed to downgrade only if you have certsin version of windows?

[pisquee]

We got a new desktop PC in a couple of months back, which came with Win8. Unfortunately our printers (Epson 9600 and 7600) haven't had new drivers since Vista, which work for Win7 but not Win8. So rather than faff about trying to find a solution I put Win7 on the machine as I had too much work to get on with! Otherwise I would have liked to keep Win8 on it.

[jennywren]

I've got a new lap top with windows8, hate it, at times I feel like throwing my lap top in the flipping bin.