Author Topic: Has anyone tried out the Windows 8.1 Preview? (Read 1424 times)

Rusty Shackleford · « **on:** October 05, 2013, 11:39:25 PM »

Any thoughts on 8.1? I'm trying to decide between W7 Ultimate and W8 Pro. What are your opinions on W8? Is it worth skipping 7 for?

Stoney Mason · « **Reply #1 on:** October 05, 2013, 11:43:12 PM »

I couldn't tell any difference between regular windows 8 other than a shitty start menu.

Rusty Shackleford · « **Reply #2 on:** October 05, 2013, 11:45:05 PM »

Yeah, I've heard the replacement start menu in 8.1 is a lousy substitute.

I was looking for more comparisons on W7 vs 8 or 8.1 now that it's been out for a while. I've got the VMs for legacy apps but 8 still seems a little too touch/tablet oriented for me.

Stoney Mason · « **Reply #3 on:** October 05, 2013, 11:48:37 PM »

I think its a little faster bur nothing that would necessarily blow your mind. (Other than the task manager which seems to suck and doesn't come up half the time for some reason on my computer) I don't use the metro stuff at all so its mostly just something to ignore or be slightly annoyed by. Unless you want to play a game or use a piece of software that demands windows 8 (Battlefield 4 recommends it for example for better performance), I don't see a real reason to upgrade but that's just me.

Rusty Shackleford · « **Reply #4 on:** October 05, 2013, 11:49:46 PM »

Are you dual booting or running solely on 8?

Stoney Mason · « **Reply #5 on:** October 05, 2013, 11:50:33 PM »

Quote from: Rusty Shackleford on October 05, 2013, 11:49:46 PM

Are you dual booting or running solely on 8?

Solely Windows 8.

One thing I forgot. I often have power blacks outs. And ever since I started using windows 8 it seems to handle them badly. Like the system files will get trashed and I'll have to do a system restore and I've actually had to re-install the whole thing a couple of times. Now I back everything up.

The thing is this started around the time I got a new computer that came with Windows 8 pre-installed so it may just be a sketchy computer rather than anything to do with Windows but just saying, I never had those problems with Windows 7 on my older computer.

Rusty Shackleford · « **Reply #6 on:** October 05, 2013, 11:53:49 PM »

Did you update your OS or get a new box?

Stoney Mason · « **Reply #7 on:** October 05, 2013, 11:55:10 PM »

Quote from: Rusty Shackleford on October 05, 2013, 11:53:49 PM

Did you update your OS or get a new box?

I updated the post above. It was a new computer that came with windows 8 pre-installed.

Rusty Shackleford · « **Reply #8 on:** October 05, 2013, 11:57:18 PM »

It's funny you mention the power corruption thing because I was just reading about W8's shutdown procedure. Apparently it saves a lot of prefetch/startup stuff to a file on disk, which helps reduce startup times compared to W7. It must be that file that's getting corrupted with you.

Stoney Mason · « **Reply #9 on:** October 06, 2013, 12:00:58 AM »

Quote from: Rusty Shackleford on October 05, 2013, 11:57:18 PM

It's funny you mention the power corruption thing because I was just reading about W8's shutdown procedure. Apparently it saves a lot of prefetch/startup stuff to a file on disk, which helps reduce startup times compared to W7. It must be that file that's getting corrupted with you.

Yeah I think there is some setting you can turn off related to this (fast setup) because once I started having the issues, I looked into it a little bit. Windows 8 boots up really fast in comparison to 7 but I think that is the potential cost of it.

Positive Touch · « **Reply #10 on:** October 06, 2013, 12:13:14 AM »

i have a similar issue. my laptop battery is shot and doesnt work so every time my power cord comes loose the pc dies instantly. for whatever reason it sometimes wont start back up until i use a paperclip to hit that emergency switch (whatever its called) on the bottom of the pc. thing is, when it boots back up it destroys all my libraries under windows explorer. i have to delete the non-working categories, restore the defaults, and then manually point them to my media file folders all over again.

its really fucking annoying because my pc dies a lot and i need those libraries working to stream media to my 360.

MCD · « **Reply #11 on:** October 06, 2013, 12:54:30 AM »

8.1 is much more stable and bug free than 8.

@Stoney: http://www.tipsnext.com/windows-8/windows-8-enabledisable-fast-startup/

Eel O'Brian · « **Reply #12 on:** October 06, 2013, 02:33:38 AM »

8.1 seems to run a lot smoother on my Surface RT.

Rusty Shackleford · « **Reply #13 on:** October 06, 2013, 08:04:33 AM »

Quote from: Positive Touch on October 06, 2013, 12:13:14 AM

i have a similar issue. my laptop battery is shot and doesnt work so every time my power cord comes loose the pc dies instantly. for whatever reason it sometimes wont start back up until i use a paperclip to hit that emergency switch (whatever its called) on the bottom of the pc. thing is, when it boots back up it destroys all my libraries under windows explorer. i have to delete the non-working categories, restore the defaults, and then manually point them to my media file folders all over again.

its really fucking annoying because my pc dies a lot and i need those libraries working to stream media to my 360.

Damn son, get yourself a cheapie battery from ebay. Hell, I'd solder in a replacement DC jack for you if that's your issue. (Keep the porn folder intact if you send the laptop to me.)

Positive Touch · « **Reply #14 on:** October 06, 2013, 08:29:26 AM »

eh, im too cheap to get a replacement, and the battery originally only lasted like 45 minutes anyway. think i'll just use the man's way to fix the cord issue - slap on some duct tape.

Rusty Shackleford · « **Reply #15 on:** October 06, 2013, 08:32:04 AM »

Quote from: Positive Touch on October 06, 2013, 08:29:26 AM

eh, im too cheap to get a replacement, and the battery originally only lasted like 45 minutes anyway. think i'll just use the man's way to fix the cord issue - slap on some duct tape.

lol that lasts until you're performing elaborate rituals to get the cord working. is it the jack or the battery? you can't possibly be harder than my wife on a computer and i've already fixed at least 4 of her former laptops.

Positive Touch · « **Reply #16 on:** October 06, 2013, 08:50:25 AM »

its both. the battery is old and dead, and the cord jack's gotten loose after years of wear. i had issues with the jack before and sent it in to get it fixed but that was years ago and its worn down again. i try not to move the computer around much these days.

Diunx · « **Reply #17 on:** October 06, 2013, 08:54:00 AM »

Not touching anything with windows and 8 on its name.

Rusty Shackleford · « **Reply #18 on:** October 06, 2013, 08:54:46 AM »

The wife had two Gateway laptops before we switched exclusively to Thinkpads. Good lord, Gateways are the definition of disposable. Thinkpads -- even the 4 year old laptop I'm using -- are infinitely more durable than any other laptop out there. X200 and X220 for ultraportability, and T420 for desktop replacements. Any of them for less than $400.

Was it worth upgrading to W8? Or do you wish you'd stuck with XP or 7?

recursivelyenumerable · « **Reply #19 on:** October 07, 2013, 06:14:32 PM »

the flexible windowing, new tile sizes and ability to play a song/album directly from the new search pane are all pretty big features for me. I'm just annoyed that they ditched the app scoping in search and now I have to go hunting for where each app decided to put the search box

MCD · « **Reply #20 on:** October 07, 2013, 06:35:52 PM »

You can still use the search charm. You just have to change it from "Everywhere" to "App Name" when using the charms bar.

recursivelyenumerable · « **Reply #21 on:** October 07, 2013, 06:40:43 PM »

yeah, but it only works inside the app and only for apps that haven't been updated with the new search box.

MCD · « **Reply #22 on:** October 07, 2013, 06:47:17 PM »

News:

Author Topic: Has anyone tried out the Windows 8.1 Preview? (Read 1424 times)