Or you could try one of the utilities such as Classic Shell or Start8 which very largely sort out the user interface problems in Windows 8.
I decided to try one of the Windows 8 HP lappies from PC World as advertised on TV. Nice machine and reasonable price. I am using Classic Shell now to turn 8 into 7. Works well. The only trouble is, as I previously mentioned, so much of my old Win 7 compatible software won't work on Windows 8 yet. So until it does the new lappy is merely a novelty. Not much good for serious work. The UEFI bios can also cause problems with booting external drives. Seems to me that Windows 8 is yet another case of 'change for the sake of change and to cause confusion'. But I won't get political :yawn:.
Iso much of my old Win 7 compatible software won't work on Windows 8 yet
Has Windows 8 got the same kind of compatibility mode options as previous versions of Windows? If so, they might be worth a try.
Otherwise, it might be worth you raising a separate thread for each of your most important programs which gives trouble, in case someone here knows of a solution.
I decided to try one of the Windows 8 HP lappies from PC World as advertised on TV. Nice machine and reasonable price. I am using Classic Shell now to turn 8 into 7. Works well. The only trouble is, as I previously mentioned, so much of my old Win 7 compatible software won't work on Windows 8 yet. So until it does the new lappy is merely a novelty. Not much good for serious work. The UEFI bios can also cause problems with booting external drives. Seems to me that Windows 8 is yet another case of 'change for the sake of change and to cause confusion'. But I won't get political :yawn:.
I'm surprised how often people are saying that software isn't compatible. Considering that its only a change from Windows 6.1 to 6.2...
This is a bigger reason not to upgrade than the issues around the Modern UI.
I'm surprised how often people are saying that software isn't compatible. Considering that its only a change from Windows 6.1 to 6.2...
It would be very interesting to know how much has really changed internally. The mindless MS fanboy salespeople would have us believe that it's all been completely re-written so as to be ten times faster and a hundred times more secure. Anyway, they've certainly changed enough to break many programs and introduce incompatibilities with some external devices, as well as finding time to wreck the user interface.
I'm surprised how often people are saying that software isn't compatible. Considering that its only a change from Windows 6.1 to 6.2...
This is a bigger reason not to upgrade than the issues around the Modern UI.
So am I as Windows 8 does have the same compatibility modes as Windows 7. Older software has worked OK for me so far but it can be a bit of a lottery. I find that more problems occur when going from 32 bit to 64 bit. Maybe the poster having problems used to be on Windows 7 32 bit and has now got Windows 8 64 bit? It's a possibilty anyway....
What sort of software have people got a problem with? the only one that I could not get working was Nero, but it is a older version of nero and only just about worked on 7.
Hardware wise, my wireless network adaptor, but got beta drivers for that now and it works ok most of the time. now and again I got to unplug it and plug it back in as it stops working, but that is only about once a week.
What sort of software have people got a problem with?
That's an excellent question, but can I suggest that anyone with a problem creates a new thread for each problem, otherwise we might end up with multiple topics all interwoven in this thread.
There are also increasing reports of problems due to Windows 8 creating multiple partitions during installion, and spreading itself across multiple discs including removable discs. Again, these problems are well worth discussing to judge the extent and nature of the bugs and whether there are any solutions. BTW some people have suggested that disabling Fast Start can help.
Unless it comes with Windows 8 on, you might have some serious issues running Windows 8 on a netbook, the metro apps do not like the resolutions that netbooks typically use and just will not load them.
indeed, windows 8 wont work properly on a netbook. The screen resolution is too low on them. There is no "starter" version of windows 8 either, so in order for manufactureres to do a windows 8 netbook, the licensing costs and costs for a better screen mean the price will be that of a laptop, but with lower specifications, so nobody will buy them! Windows 8 has finally killed off the netbook.
indeed, windows 8 wont work properly on a netbook. The screen resolution is too low on them. There is no "starter" version of windows 8 either, so in order for manufactureres to do a windows 8 netbook, the licensing costs and costs for a better screen mean the price will be that of a laptop, but with lower specifications, so nobody will buy them! Windows 8 has finally killed off the netbook.
Netbooks will be killed off in 2013 as soon as existing inventories are cleared with Asus and Acer being the last manufacturers.
Innovation is where you come up with something new and interesting that people want to buy - forcing people to buy things they don't want by limitation to a single option and by changing the hardware to not work with older software is a bit different.
I'm all in favour of MS not patching XP - but they don't stop, they keep adding things to turn off functions and cripple old games / applications.
That's why anyone who uses XP learns to turn off updates.
Viruses? Yeah sure, everyone out there in China is writing code to target dos 5.0
New games? I don't do Steam, so haven't bought any for many years.
New applications? Seems MS released office 2010 to run on XP - else I wouldn't have bought it. Not that I would buy it again - the new one is inferior to the old versions I was using.
Innovation is a way to stifle the marketplace? Good news, then.
Because this stifles innovation. As time goes on and more software that is able to exploit old software design becomes available, it becomes harder for MS to patch it in order to try and keep the software secure.
If they have to put more people on trying to keep a 10-year old OS secure, that's less people designing the next OS.
Otherwise we'd all still be using Windows 3.1. and getting hacked to pieces within 10 seconds of connecting to the internet.
Microsoft isn't 'getting away' with anything. They are trying to innovate new ways to keep computers secure against the onslaught of malware that's out there. Sure the metro interface is a bag of washing but that doesn't mean that underneath 8 isn't more secure and to some extent more innovative than 7.
Comments
I decided to try one of the Windows 8 HP lappies from PC World as advertised on TV. Nice machine and reasonable price. I am using Classic Shell now to turn 8 into 7. Works well. The only trouble is, as I previously mentioned, so much of my old Win 7 compatible software won't work on Windows 8 yet. So until it does the new lappy is merely a novelty. Not much good for serious work. The UEFI bios can also cause problems with booting external drives. Seems to me that Windows 8 is yet another case of 'change for the sake of change and to cause confusion'. But I won't get political :yawn:.
Otherwise, it might be worth you raising a separate thread for each of your most important programs which gives trouble, in case someone here knows of a solution.
I'm surprised how often people are saying that software isn't compatible. Considering that its only a change from Windows 6.1 to 6.2...
This is a bigger reason not to upgrade than the issues around the Modern UI.
Hardware wise, my wireless network adaptor, but got beta drivers for that now and it works ok most of the time. now and again I got to unplug it and plug it back in as it stops working, but that is only about once a week.
There are also increasing reports of problems due to Windows 8 creating multiple partitions during installion, and spreading itself across multiple discs including removable discs. Again, these problems are well worth discussing to judge the extent and nature of the bugs and whether there are any solutions. BTW some people have suggested that disabling Fast Start can help.
indeed, windows 8 wont work properly on a netbook. The screen resolution is too low on them. There is no "starter" version of windows 8 either, so in order for manufactureres to do a windows 8 netbook, the licensing costs and costs for a better screen mean the price will be that of a laptop, but with lower specifications, so nobody will buy them! Windows 8 has finally killed off the netbook.
Netbooks will be killed off in 2013 as soon as existing inventories are cleared with Asus and Acer being the last manufacturers.
Better buy one quick...
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/long-netbook-asus-acer-axe-article-1.1231506
I'm all in favour of MS not patching XP - but they don't stop, they keep adding things to turn off functions and cripple old games / applications.
That's why anyone who uses XP learns to turn off updates.
Viruses? Yeah sure, everyone out there in China is writing code to target dos 5.0
New games? I don't do Steam, so haven't bought any for many years.
New applications? Seems MS released office 2010 to run on XP - else I wouldn't have bought it. Not that I would buy it again - the new one is inferior to the old versions I was using.
Innovation is a way to stifle the marketplace? Good news, then.