Win XP -> Win 8 ?

Kinda funny that there are workarounds for Windows 8. There is a work around for shutting it down?

I really liked XP for it's stability. I would not mind switching to Win 8 but I'll wait till they work out the bugs.

The stages of change follow in this particular order... Denial -> Resistance -> Exploration -> Commitment....

For all who is against Windows 8 need to move on to the next steps. Think ahead, be innovative and find a way how to get the best out of it.

mike_d wrote in post #15367425
Whatever the issue was, it wasn't Win8 itself. Disk Management is the same in Win8 as it has been for a long time. Once you find it, that is.

thedge wrote in post #15390831
Once you get to Control Panel, its exactly the same steps to initialize and format a new hard drive in Windows 7 and Windows 8. And its not that hard to get to the Control Panel or Computer Management.

But I guess its easier to moan and whine and spread misinformation.

That is exactly the problem. Of course it is a non issue for us who already know where things are. Windows 8 does not make it any easier for end users to locate things such as Control Panel, Disk Management etc. I don't blame Canon_Lover for taking 3+ hours to format a new HD (but I blame those "advanced tech support" idiots).

Previous Windows versions are so much easier to deal with. If we don't know what we are looking for, we can just click Start button and look at every available icon and click it if we think that is what we need.

Windows 8 seems to demand that we must know what we are looking for. Everything else is hidden. Only magical swipe or mouse pointer being at the right location will reveal the hidden stuff.

morph2_7 wrote in post #15394199
Previous Windows versions are so much easier to deal with. If we don't know what we are looking for, we can just click Start button and look at every available icon and click it if we think that is what we need.

while I can't say about win8, that's really extremely inefficient way of finding stuff.

HyperYagami wrote in post #15394286
while I can't say about win8, that's really extremely inefficient way of finding stuff.

sure is but with Win 8 (and no experience), you're pretty much stuck staring at Metro UI.

HyperYagami wrote in post #15394286
while I can't say about win8, that's really extremely inefficient way of finding stuff.

Yes, but some times its the only way.

morph2_7 wrote in post #15394306
sure is but with Win 8 (and no experience), you're pretty much stuck staring at Metro UI.

Win8's Metro Start Screen does have an equivalent of "Start, All Programs" but its horribly laid out. Instead of having folders you can expand out, you just get one giant list of everything on the system. Its much more tedious to look through.

I have Windows 8 Pro installed on my photo editing PC. From a functional standpoint, the big difference, as mentioned, is the lack of a start button and the introduction of the start screen. They also moved a few things around, yada, yada, yada. To me, it's Windows 7 minus the start menu. At first that bothered me but I've gotten used to it. I've got my most-used apps pinned down in the start screen and also have shortcuts on my desktop. No biggie. All my apps work fine.

I think perhaps Microsoft botched this one up a little trying to put an all-in-one O/S into Windows 8. As something who's in the tech business I would say the adoption rate for Windows 8 in the business sector, especially the financial sector will be pretty low.

Windows 8 is actually really fast at finding apps with the apps search feature. (Windows key + Q) hotkey and then type the name of the app. Much faster than nested menu diving.

I hate how the metro covers up all yoru windows though. It's not as nice for multitasking. Especially if one of your windows is in the Metro style app.

tkbslc wrote in post #15404010
Windows 8 is actually really fast at finding apps with the apps search feature. (Windows key + Q) hotkey and then type the name of the app. Much faster than nested menu diving.

I find Win7 to be better at actually putting what I'm looking for at the top of the search results list. Sure, if you're searching for an app, its fine in Win8. If you're searching for a setting or document, its more keystrokes and/or mousing to get the result vs Win7.

Yeah, I'm much faster in Windows 7, too. I only have a VM with windows 8 for testing so I am not sure if it is just an experience thing.

Metro kind of defeats the purpose of windows, though, because you just have A window, not windows.

tkbslc wrote in post #15404875
Yeah, I'm much faster in Windows 7, too. I only have a VM with windows 8 for testing so I am not sure if it is just an experience thing.

Metro kind of defeats the purpose of windows, though, because you just have A window, not windows.

The thing to remember about Win8 is that it was designed for tablets and phones. Simple, unitasking, casual-use machines with scarce screen space, limited input options, and limited local storage. Sure, they throw a billion Windows desktop users a bone by including a Desktop tile, but Microsoft has so much iPad envy that they've decided every PC needs to be dumbed down to the level of a tablet.

Update: I have been running Win8 for about a month now and can report that after "disabling" the whole metro start screen, win8 is virtually identical to win7. I have had no issues so far and had no issues with 7 either. I would say that if you can live with the metro interface or disable it, you can't go wrong with either OS.

I am hoping SP1 gives the option to disable Metro.

I just built a new desktop today based around a Gigabyte Z77 motherboard and Intel i7-3770k CPU. I opted to go with Win 8 Pro for the OS that I got as a $15 upgrade from Microsoft.
So far, I'm really liking it. I always swore I would not upgrade to it after seeing it on some of the laptops in Best Buy, but I'm glad I gave it a chance.

One thing that you can do to help yourself is to install a start menu program like Pokki (freeware, open source) or Start8. They pretty much make it on par with Win 7 as far as ease of access. It does take a little bit of getting used to as far as hot corners and search are concerned.
Win 8 makes very good use of the search function, it is crazy fast on finding anything you need.
I have had zero hardware or software incompatibility problems. No crashes either.

And Win 8 is insanely fast if you install it on a machine with current generation tech.
My rig specs are an OC'd 3770k, 8gb 1600mhz RAM, SSD for programs, 3 separate spinning disks for different types of media storage and a UEFI motherboard. Win 8 installed in less than an hour fully updated and installing Lightroom 4 onto it. Win 8 is also fast in general, everything just feels snappier.
If you install Pokki on it and spend 10-15 minutes getting to know it, it will easily give Win7 a run for its money.

MS OS Pattern is

Win ME: Bad
Win XP: Great
Win Vista: Bad
Win 7: Great
Win 8: Bad
What ever is next will be great!