What's the deal with Win 8.1 ?

On 01/19/2014 01:08 PM, Keith Nuttle wrote:

Since all of the programs you use can be placed on the Desktop toolbar,
you do not need access to the programs in the old start menu.

There is one other nice feature with the Window 8.1 desktop. That is
the MS Icon in the lower left corner to the Desktop screen. As I
mention earlier all of the programs which you use to find here are gone,
BUT you can place those programs you use on the desktop toolbar where
they are actually easier to access.

When you right click this MS icon, you have access to all of the
operating system functions, including the shut down, restart, etc
functions that I used the old start button for most.

From the MS Icon you can access the control panel, power manager,
device manager, Task manager, disk manager, network functions, etc.

Once you access these item the presentation is not nearly as nice as in
the old Windows XP 7, and in some ways more difficult to use, but
these are not things you must access ever 10 minutes.

I am taking this time because with all of the floating Icons with
advertisements, I was dead set against Windows 8.1. Then my computer
died and I had to upgrade as Windows XP was no longer available. It has
taken me several months to make Windows 8.1 a useable system







I tried it both ways and to tell you the truth I like Power Shell best


but with a little tweak I could get used to Win8 OTOH: Most of my
friends are not going to be able to learn anything new...or they don't
want to at any rate.


Anyway since I do computer repair work I need to keep up even if I
personally am not going to use Win8.

BTW: It works quite well in a virtual machine and the H/W I have is
fairly modest.


Thanks for the info. So sad that MS makes it so much work.

I think Classic Shell is a good way to go

The work is all summarized in those paragraph. There is really only one
change that must be made and that is all in the Properties of the right
click menu on the Desktop toolbar.

Sooner or later the Classic Shell and similar programs will disappear.
So you might as will bit the bullet, and go with the new OS. Like I
said it is not as bad as it appears or is made out to be. It actually
has things that are an improvement.

In ,
philo typed:
BTW: It works quite well in a virtual machine and the H/W I have is
fairly modest.

You like VMs? I much prefer to run a single OS per machine. That way you
don't have to put up with all of those VM limitations.

--
Bill
Motion Computing LE1700 Tablet ('09 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo L7400 1.5GHz - 2GB RAM
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 SP2

On 01/19/2014 02:28 PM, BillW50 wrote:
In ,
philo typed:
BTW: It works quite well in a virtual machine and the H/W I have is
fairly modest.

You like VMs? I much prefer to run a single OS per machine. That way you
don't have to put up with all of those VM limitations.




I use VM's mostly just for testing various operating systems.


Back in the old days I had (still have it actually) a machine in my
workshop with a removable drive kit and any time I wanted to test
something I'd just pop in an old drive I had laying around.

I literally have a box with over 20 drives and a slew of different
operating systems. Linux, BSD, OS/2 , old Windows versions, Solaris and
even Plan 9


Since I've noticed that virtual machines run so well it's easier than
just popping in a different drive anytime I want to try something...
plus exceedingly simple to clone in the event I expect to break something.

Plus I can do it right in my (home) office without having to go down
into my basement workshop.


When I am helping someone over the phone it's nice to boot right into
the OS they are using...to make sure I am not doing things by memory.

In ,
philo typed:
On 01/19/2014 02:28 PM, BillW50 wrote:
In ,
philo typed:
BTW: It works quite well in a virtual machine and the H/W I have is
fairly modest.

You like VMs? I much prefer to run a single OS per machine. That way
you don't have to put up with all of those VM limitations.

I use VM's mostly just for testing various operating systems.

Back in the old days I had (still have it actually) a machine in my
workshop with a removable drive kit and any time I wanted to test
something I'd just pop in an old drive I had laying around.

I literally have a box with over 20 drives and a slew of different
operating systems. Linux, BSD, OS/2 , old Windows versions, Solaris
and even Plan 9

Yup so do I. I even clone drives instead of making backups. Far faster
to restore. Takes me 2 seconds to change out drives on most of my
machines. The worst thing could happen to one of my computers and I am
back up and running in a minute.

Since I've noticed that virtual machines run so well it's easier than
just popping in a different drive anytime I want to try something...
plus exceedingly simple to clone in the event I expect to break
something.

I do something simular, I just hit the power switch on another machine.

Plus I can do it right in my (home) office without having to go down
into my basement workshop.

I am lucky, I have most things right within reach. Rarely do I have to
use my shop.

When I am helping someone over the phone it's nice to boot right into
the OS they are using...to make sure I am not doing things by memory.

Me too, although all I have to do is to get a laptop or tablet off of
the book shelf and turn it on. And I have been using *only* laptops and
tablets since 2005 and almost all of them work in a dock on my desk. It
is so easy to swap them out and no wires to change or anything to use
the external monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. I don't need to power down
either even if I take one out of a dock and pop another one in. I love
this kind of setup. Switching out machines (or hard drives) is so easy
and they are fully functional out of the dock too.

--
Bill
Motion Computing LE1700 Tablet ('09 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo L7400 1.5GHz - 2GB RAM
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 SP2

On 01/19/2014 03:23 PM, BillW50 wrote:
IX

Since I've noticed that virtual machines run so well it's easier than
just popping in a different drive anytime I want to try something...
plus exceedingly simple to clone in the event I expect to break
something.

I do something simular, I just hit the power switch on another machine.

Plus I can do it right in my (home) office without having to go down
into my basement workshop.

I am lucky, I have most things right within reach. Rarely do I have to
use my shop.

When I am helping someone over the phone it's nice to boot right into
the OS they are using...to make sure I am not doing things by memory.

Me too, although all I have to do is to get a laptop or tablet off of
the book shelf and turn it on. And I have been using *only* laptops and
tablets since 2005 and almost all of them work in a dock on my desk. It
is so easy to swap them out and no wires to change or anything to use
the external monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. I don't need to power down
either even if I take one out of a dock and pop another one in. I love
this kind of setup. Switching out machines (or hard drives) is so easy
and they are fully functional out of the dock too.




Only thing is...had I known years ago that I'd be working on laptops
now...I would have taken a course in watch repair.


Some of those older Macs were impossible.

In ,
philo typed:
On 01/19/2014 03:23 PM, BillW50 wrote:
IX

Since I've noticed that virtual machines run so well it's easier
than just popping in a different drive anytime I want to try
something... plus exceedingly simple to clone in the event I expect
to break something.

I do something simular, I just hit the power switch on another
machine.
Plus I can do it right in my (home) office without having to go down
into my basement workshop.

I am lucky, I have most things right within reach. Rarely do I have
to use my shop.

When I am helping someone over the phone it's nice to boot right
into the OS they are using...to make sure I am not doing things by
memory.

Me too, although all I have to do is to get a laptop or tablet off of
the book shelf and turn it on. And I have been using *only* laptops
and tablets since 2005 and almost all of them work in a dock on my
desk. It is so easy to swap them out and no wires to change or
anything to use the external monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. I don't
need to power down either even if I take one out of a dock and pop
another one in. I love this kind of setup. Switching out machines
(or hard drives) is so easy and they are fully functional out of the
dock too.

Only thing is...had I known years ago that I'd be working on laptops
now...I would have taken a course in watch repair.

Some of those older Macs were impossible.

Actually I like working on laptops far more than desktops. Most of them
are very easy to take apart. And most of my laptops (well all of the 30
or so I have come to think about it) I can swap out the drive in 2
seconds. You need extra carriers though for that speed, they are like 5
bucks a piece. The tough thing about high performance laptops is the
incredible heat they generate. Anything goes wrong with the cooling
system and it can melt the solder right off of the PCB and toast chips.

--
Bill
Motion Computing LE1700 Tablet ('09 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo L7400 1.5GHz - 2GB RAM
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 SP2

On 01/19/2014 03:55 PM, BillW50 wrote:
In news:lXly functional out of the
dock too.

Only thing is...had I known years ago that I'd be working on laptops
now...I would have taken a course in watch repair.

Some of those older Macs were impossible.

Actually I like working on laptops far more than desktops. Most of them
are very easy to take apart. And most of my laptops (well all of the 30
or so I have come to think about it) I can swap out the drive in 2
seconds. You need extra carriers though for that speed, they are like 5
bucks a piece. The tough thing about high performance laptops is the
incredible heat they generate. Anything goes wrong with the cooling
system and it can melt the solder right off of the PCB and toast chips.




Normally the HD is simple to replace

but on that old Mac I worked on I had to totally disassemble the entire
thing.

The woman just wanted me to get the data off it...so I was not worried
about putting it back together again. It would certainly not have been
worth repairing.


She got another laptop that I spent some time with.
It was a used on and I had to reload the OS.


Two weeks later her cat ****ed on it and ruined it.


Hard drive was OK though.

In ,
philo typed:
On 01/19/2014 03:55 PM, BillW50 wrote:
In news:lXly functional out of the
dock too.

Only thing is...had I known years ago that I'd be working on laptops
now...I would have taken a course in watch repair.

Some of those older Macs were impossible.

Actually I like working on laptops far more than desktops. Most of
them are very easy to take apart. And most of my laptops (well all
of the 30 or so I have come to think about it) I can swap out the
drive in 2 seconds. You need extra carriers though for that speed,
they are like 5 bucks a piece. The tough thing about high
performance laptops is the incredible heat they generate. Anything
goes wrong with the cooling system and it can melt the solder right
off of the PCB and toast chips.

Normally the HD is simple to replace

but on that old Mac I worked on I had to totally disassemble the
entire thing.

My old Toshiba T1950CS from '94 was like that. Even though it used
screws to hold it together, it also had locking tabs (some of the worse
super locking tabs I have ever seen). And without a special tool to
separate it, the plastic could easily crack. And to get to the hard
drive (200MB I think it was), you had to gut everything else first just
to get to it. That was far worse then gutting any desktop I had to do.

The woman just wanted me to get the data off it...so I was not worried
about putting it back together again. It would certainly not have been
worth repairing.

Yes I understand.

She got another laptop that I spent some time with.
It was a used on and I had to reload the OS.

Two weeks later her cat ****ed on it and ruined it.

Geez those dang male cats! They like to pee on everything. Although I
guess they do help the economy, as people who own them have to replace
their electronics a lot.

Hard drive was OK though.

Lucky thing. ;-)

--
Bill
Motion Computing LE1700 Tablet ('09 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo L7400 1.5GHz - 2GB RAM
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 SP2

In article , says...

I thought it was supposed to bring back the option for the classic type GUI.

Saw my first Win8.1 machine today and it looks the same as Win8

Right click on the start icon on the desktop mode for some goodies.

On 01/19/2014 04:41 PM, BillW50 wrote:
IX
snip

She got another laptop that I spent some time with.
It was a used on and I had to reload the OS.

Two weeks later her cat ****ed on it and ruined it.

Geez those dang male cats! They like to pee on everything. Although I
guess they do help the economy, as people who own them have to replace
their electronics a lot.

Hard drive was OK though.

Lucky thing. ;-)




Right now I have on my bench an HP with an intermittent power jack.


I got it free so I suppose if I screw it up it will be a good learning
experience.

On 1/19/2014, BillW50 posted:
In ,
philo typed:
BTW: It works quite well in a virtual machine and the H/W I have is
fairly modest.

You like VMs? I much prefer to run a single OS per machine. That way
you don't have to put up with all of those VM limitations.

Vms weigh less and take up less space.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Sun, 19 Jan 2014 10:39:23 -0500, philo wrote:

I thought it was supposed to bring back the option for the classic type
GUI.

Saw my first Win8.1 machine today and it looks the same as Win8

It DID bring it back, however it's not the default setting. If you want
the classic GUI to load every time you start up, just click on Desktop and
get into it. Then right-click on the taskbar and you'll be able to set it
up from within there to boot to the desktop and skip the metro UI
altogether.
--
Silver Slimer
GNU/Linux is Communism

On Sun, 19 Jan 2014 10:57:37 -0500, Zaghadka wrote:

On Sun, 19 Jan 2014 09:39:23 -0600, in alt.comp.os.windows-8, philowrote:

I thought it was supposed to bring back the option for the classic type
GUI.

Saw my first Win8.1 machine today and it looks the same as Win8

Nope. It just brings back a start button that takes you to the start
page. You can set the start page background to be your desktop background
so it feels less like you're leaving the desktop, but for a real start
menu you'll have to wait for Windows 9.

And hope they don't screw it up.

Actually, if you right-click the taskbar and have it boot to the desktop
rather than the metro UI AND set it up to have the start menu show your
desktop wallpaper rather than the default crap, the start menu becomes
very potable and quite usable. Like a slight update to Windows 7.
--
Silver Slimer
GNU/Linux is Communism

On 01/19/2014 05:33 PM, Silver Slimer wrote:
On Sun, 19 Jan 2014 10:39:23 -0500, philo wrote:

I thought it was supposed to bring back the option for the classic
type GUI.

Saw my first Win8.1 machine today and it looks the same as Win8

It DID bring it back, however it's not the default setting. If you want
the classic GUI to load every time you start up, just click on Desktop
and get into it. Then right-click on the taskbar and you'll be able to
set it up from within there to boot to the desktop and skip the metro UI
altogether.



Yes, it's now more to my liking . I can deal with it...but all of the
people I know hate it.

In ,
Gene E. Bloch typed:
On 1/19/2014, BillW50 posted:
In ,
philo typed:
BTW: It works quite well in a virtual machine and the H/W I have is
fairly modest.

You like VMs? I much prefer to run a single OS per machine. That way
you don't have to put up with all of those VM limitations.

Vms weigh less and take up less space.

Well you got me there. ;-)

--
Bill
Motion Computing LE1700 Tablet ('09 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo L7400 1.5GHz - 2GB RAM
Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 SP2