Windoes 8.1 Pro - new install, first impressions

....winston wrote:

Yes wrote:


Perhaps Microsoft has succumbed to a bipolar disorder as it has
matured? :-) I'll see how things go with getting used to Windows
8.1. If it becomes too frustrating, I can always dump 8.1 and go
back to my original WinXP install. I'm making sure I don't
reformat the drive it's on.

John


They certainly are changing the behavioral environment.

As far as reverting to XP...that seems to be a short term plan. Once
support ends (in a few months) and security update cease XP then,
imo, will become an easy target for malware, botnets, etc since
millions of people will continue to use it knowingly or unknowingly
or the risks involved.

It's a risk that I will have to weigh if it becomes time to cross that
bridge.

atm, the major reason it might happen would be if I can't get the
appearance of the various apps to feel comfortable for daily usage and
viewing. The screens are quite a strain on my eyes to use. They never
seem "right" compared to their appearance when I used the same app in
WinXP. Firefox and Windows Explorer (the file manager tool) come to
mind immediately. Similarly with the app XanaNews which I use as my
newsreader. I haven't migrated Microsoft Office 2003 to the VM yet, so
I don't know if it will give me visual problems or not. That's
something I'll probably tackle later today.

John

On 11/17/2013 10:22 AM, Paul wrote:
Yes wrote:
WireTalk wrote:

On 2013-11-16 4:31 AM, Yes wrote:
I just installed Windows 8.1 Pro, after help from people here to
decide to go ahead and get it.

My previous OS was WinXP Pro, SP3. I chose to disconnect the WinXP
boot drive while installing Win 8.1 Pro on a separate hd to keep my
options about reverting to WinXP open.

The install went smoothly - I don't recall any major snags at any
rate. I'm getting adjusted to changes between XP and 8.1. Some
things are confusing - especially terminology and graphics. The
tiles turned out bo be a minor annoyance once I discovered that
they can be deleted and the apps associated with each uninstalled.
I think I kept three of the original tiles (and its app). Resized
each one to small size.

One annoyance has been switching between the three windows. I use
the "start" icon in the bottom left of the screen to move between
the two screens - desktop and the 2nd window which has the tiles -
and the button to move to the third window which lists various apps
and other things. But using swiping motions does not appeal to me;
my setup is a stand-alone desktop pc with non-touch screen monitor.
At least I can find my way around the three windows now, so that's
good.

The graphics have created their own set of problems, however. The
layout of folders and files in Windows Explorer (or whatever it may
be called in Win 8.1) seems cluttered compared to the layout I
could set in Explorer in WinXP. I find it takes me more time, at
least subjectively to find what I'm looking for and somehow the
resolution looks fuzzier.

The OS color combinations make it hard to read some things. And
there may be a conflict between the OS display settings and those
of some other apps I installed, such as Firefox or it could be,
just as bad, a video driver problem.

When I drop down a menu in Firefox, the highlighted menu choice
turns a solid color that will persist over any of them that I move
the mouse cursor over unless I move the cursor off of the drop down
menu. This happened in several apps.

Trying to troublshoot this by looking for the relevant apps in
Control Panel has been difficult. It seemed much easier to
navigate in the WinXP Control Panel to use and find something than
it has been in Win 8.1. I also miss the option that would provide
a quick tool tip (the button in the upper right hand corner with
the "?" symbol on it).

My next big step will be to install WinXP as a virtual machine in
Hyper-V. I spent a bit of time reading up on that but decided it'd
be better to get a fresh start on it. I'll be curious to see if I
continue to have the graphics problem I described earlier once I can
get the VM WinXP set up.

btw, I'm posting this using my WinXP hd - not using a boot
management app, but instead just temporarily switching boot drive
in the BIOS.

John

I don't get any "fuzziness" But I agree, some of the choices
Microsoft made vis a vis colour could have been better. I still want
the titlebar text of a window to go light when the colour of the
titlebar is set darker. Reading black text on a dark blue titlebar is
.. well you basically can't read it unless you get up close and
squint.

That is one thing I thought they would have fixed beyond the Start
Button.

You can get to the point where all your regular applications are
pinned to the taskbar .. and if you are looking for something less
often used you skip the Start Page and go directly to the App Page.
So it reduces it to two screens for the most part.

As for the tiles .. I just uninstalled (or unpinned if there was no
uninstall option) the whole lot of them. I didn't even keep the
weather. For every Metro app, there's a non-Metro application/program
you can employ that does as well or better .. and doesn't take up the
whole screen doing it.

Some of your rendering issues might be hardware/hardware drivers
related.

WireTalk

It's been an experience so far. Some fuzziness is due to my eyesight.
OTOH, I'm keeping my screen resolution to something around 1260 x 720
(I don't have the actual resolution # handy, just that I had to scale
back from my monitor's highest resolution because the fonts were just
too small for me to read :-(

As I use Windows 8.1, I find myself flipping between the two screens
(taskbar? and start screen?). I eliminated nearly all the tiles from
the Start? screen and reduced the size of the other tiles such that
that screen is relatively clean; I also uninstalled the underlying apps
where possible. My taskbar screen is starting to get cluttered,
however, but I can create shortcuts to the taskbar screen.

A pleasant surprise is that some of the more important to me apps I
used in WinXP work without problems in Windows 8.1. I had been afraid
that I would have to relegate them to use only in the VM.

John

You have more than one control at your disposal.

Like other OSes, you should be able to set the font size.
Look for "DPI Scaling". I think I set mine immediately to 120.

http://www.wintuts.com/files/img/cha...font_size3.jpg

If you have a monitor with a much larger resolution, then you'll
need to set a custom value.

Then you can go back, and set your monitor to the native resolution.

*******

If you don't have any video driver loaded, default resolution is
1024x768. My backup PC (the second best one), has an FX5200 card
in it, and that is not supported in Windows 8. As a result, that
machine runs 1024x768 on a 1440x900 monitor, which isn't especially
attractive. I would need to change video cards, to do better than
that. My current machine, the video card is slightly more modern,
and all resolutions are available.

Paul

Thanks for that information. I have been using 1024x768 for years on a
monitor that calls for 1440x900, just so a website would fill up the
whole screen.

I tried using the monitor at 1440x900, but the text size was so small, I
just didn't feel comfortable.

Now, with the information you provided, I'm using the highest
resolution, with the font size set at 143%, and it's like looking at a
new monitor. The screen is completely filled when I visit a website,
and the font is perfect.

Johnny wrote:

Look for "DPI Scaling". I think I set mine immediately to 120.

http://www.wintuts.com/files/img/cha...font_size3.jpg


Thanks for that information. I have been using 1024x768 for years on a
monitor that calls for 1440x900, just so a website would fill up the
whole screen.

I tried using the monitor at 1440x900, but the text size was so small, I
just didn't feel comfortable.

Now, with the information you provided, I'm using the highest
resolution, with the font size set at 143%, and it's like looking at a
new monitor. The screen is completely filled when I visit a website,
and the font is perfect.

The only time this adjustment doesn't work well, is when
a Microsoft OS doesn't scale the outline of the dialog
boxes properly.

Otherwise, it helps with my poor vision.

Paul

On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 08:43:11 +0000 (UTC), Yes wrote:

It's been an experience so far. Some fuzziness is due to my eyesight.
OTOH, I'm keeping my screen resolution to something around 1260 x 720
(I don't have the actual resolution # handy, just that I had to scale
back from my monitor's highest resolution because the fonts were just
too small for me to read :-(

I'm cheating: this ios Windows 7; W* is elsewhere and there's no
newsreader on it, so I'll give possibly OK, possibly not OK, advice.

Right click on the desktop and choose "Screen Resolution". On the panel
that comes up (I'm in W7, recall) there is the text "Make text and other
items larger or smaller".

That may do the trick for you if you go back to the standard resolution
again. But some apps may not honor that, so you might not like the
results anyway.

As I use Windows 8.1, I find myself flipping between the two screens
(taskbar? and start screen?). I eliminated nearly all the tiles from
the Start? screen and reduced the size of the other tiles such that
that screen is relatively clean; I also uninstalled the underlying apps
where possible. My taskbar screen is starting to get cluttered,
however, but I can create shortcuts to the taskbar screen.

"Taskbar?" is called the Desktop; "start screen?" is called the modern
interface.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 08:48:22 +0000 (UTC), Yes wrote:

Perhaps Microsoft has succumbed to a bipolar disorder as it has
matured?

Maybe depressing, rather than depressed :-)

Either way, I like your pun.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:00:27 -0800, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

this ios Windows 7; W* is elsewhere

Sloppy preafrooding.

I meant "this is Windows 7; W8 is elsewhere".

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:00:27 -0800, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

this ios Windows 7; W* is elsewhere

Sloppy preafrooding.

I meant "this is Windows 7; W8 is elsewhere".


With my eyesight, those look roughly the same.

Even the subject seems to be mis-spelled and
I didn't even notice. Doh a dear, a three
tail dear, ray a drop of golden sun. It
should be Windohs.

Paul

Gene E. Bloch wrote:

On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 08:43:11 +0000 (UTC), Yes wrote:

It's been an experience so far. Some fuzziness is due to my
eyesight. OTOH, I'm keeping my screen resolution to something
around 1260 x 720 (I don't have the actual resolution # handy, just
that I had to scale back from my monitor's highest resolution
because the fonts were just too small for me to read :-(

I'm cheating: this ios Windows 7; W* is elsewhere and there's no
newsreader on it, so I'll give possibly OK, possibly not OK, advice.

Right click on the desktop and choose "Screen Resolution". On the
panel that comes up (I'm in W7, recall) there is the text "Make text
and other items larger or smaller".

That may do the trick for you if you go back to the standard
resolution again. But some apps may not honor that, so you might not
like the results anyway.

As I use Windows 8.1, I find myself flipping between the two screens
(taskbar? and start screen?). I eliminated nearly all the tiles
from the Start? screen and reduced the size of the other tiles such
that that screen is relatively clean; I also uninstalled the
underlying apps where possible. My taskbar screen is starting to
get cluttered, however, but I can create shortcuts to the taskbar
screen.

"Taskbar?" is called the Desktop; "start screen?" is called the modern
interface.

It may take awhile for those terms to sink in :-) I don't get much
practice using them :-)

I've gone back to Control Panel and Settings to tweak my monitor's
display. That's helped some, but it's too early for me to say how
much. I'm flipping between Windows 8.1 and my older install of WinXP
as I troubleshoot two problems on my Windows 8.1 install.

John

Gene E. Bloch wrote:

On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:00:27 -0800, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

this ios Windows 7; W* is elsewhere

Sloppy preafrooding.

I meant "this is Windows 7; W8 is elsewhere".


No problem. I'm frequently guilty of the same. I have a habit to use
similarly looking words and/or switching letters, for example,
conservation vs conversation :-) I just remind myself that our minds
are marvelous at filling in and/or completing sentences, etc.

John

Paul wrote:

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:00:27 -0800, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

this ios Windows 7; W* is elsewhere

Sloppy preafrooding.

I meant "this is Windows 7; W8 is elsewhere".


With my eyesight, those look roughly the same.

Even the subject seems to be mis-spelled and
I didn't even notice. Doh a dear, a three
tail dear, ray a drop of golden sun. It
should be Windohs.

Paul

Love the word play.

Yes wrote:
Paul wrote:

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:00:27 -0800, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

this ios Windows 7; W* is elsewhere
Sloppy preafrooding.

I meant "this is Windows 7; W8 is elsewhere".

With my eyesight, those look roughly the same.

Even the subject seems to be mis-spelled and
I didn't even notice. Doh a dear, a three
tail dear, ray a drop of golden sun. It
should be Windohs.

Paul

Love the word play.

Windohs is the OS that Homer Simpson uses.

Paul

On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 21:58:45 -0500, Paul wrote:

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:00:27 -0800, Gene E. Bloch wrote:

this ios Windows 7; W* is elsewhere

Sloppy preafrooding.

I meant "this is Windows 7; W8 is elsewhere".


With my eyesight, those look roughly the same.

Even the subject seems to be mis-spelled and
I didn't even notice. Doh a dear, a three
tail dear, ray a drop of golden sun. It
should be Windohs.

Paul

I noticed the error in the subject line a while ago, but IMO changing
someone's subject line for something unimportant like that is bad
manners, and of course, I'd *never* do anything that is bad manners...Of
course...

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Mon, 18 Nov 2013 17:11:05 +0000 (UTC), Yes wrote:

"Taskbar?" is called the Desktop; "start screen?" is called the modern
interface.

It may take awhile for those terms to sink in :-) I don't get much
practice using them :-)

The thing to do is to devote an hour or so each day to saying - out loud
- "Desktop and Modern Interface...Desktop and Modern Interface...".

After a couple of weeks, three things will happen:

1. All your friends will have abandoned you

2. You will be very bored

3. You will buy a Macintosh

:-)

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)