Does anyone have Windows 8?
 

Hi,

My work lap top is getting Windows 8 installed because my computer was messed up. IT decided to "wipe" it clean, get rid of Windows 7, and give me Windows 8.
I had fifteen mins of training on 8.
I pick up the computer in a few days because IT is busy.

I heard that some people hate 8 and and some people manage fine.
Do you like it? Use it?

Mari

I use it and am fine with it....I don't know everything about it only use it for internet surfingI had to ask my girl friend how to start it did not knkow to bring my cursor up to the upper right hand corner to start.
bizi

You can also find tutorials online for setting it to look/ act more like older versions of windows.. if you don't care for the default look.

Jomar,

I figured that I could find some things on Youtube. Until Monday the lap top is in IT.

Bizi,

I need software for
Word, Excel. Powerpoint, Meetings (Citrix), the DVD player, and probably need a few other things as well.

I need to practice when I get it.

Mari

Yes Mari,
Lots of stuff on YouTube walk you through. I haven't used it yet, but understand the concern my friend.
I was hoping my laptop repair did not involve an upgrade right now.
Di

lap top working now
 

I picked up my computer from IT and then told the tech to install the crap I told him I needed last time. :confused:

I ended up spending two hours in the lab with that and practicing ---- I kept turning my computer off and on to make sure I could do it at home.

I also showed him the web sites I needed for my particular job function . . . .and needed help enabling pop ups for one site . . . . and so on.

=====
Last night (Wed) I turned it on and played around with a few things like making the mouse pointer bigger. . . . I want to look comfortable using the computer when I am around other people.
(My tearing my hair out and cursing Bill Gates does not make me look like I have a firm grip on how to use a PC. :eek: )

Mari

If Microsoft built cars.......
 

Mari,

The other night I ran across this comment in response to an article about Win8:

"If Microsoft built cars, roads would need to be changed every 2 years."

---------------------------------

So, how are you getting along with Win8 nowadays?

I will probably buy a new machine shortly. It will almost certainly come with Win 8. Sigh. :(

waves who for now is still rather happily running Windows XP. :p

Hi, Waves,

It was really important to me that I found a picture for the desktop and personalized the colors on my opening page of Google Chrome (the only engine that one site I use will allow. )
I am still trying to get ride of the Seattle skyLine for the opening picture. After much effort on my part, Seattle is still there.

I also have three colors of stickers on my key board.
Log on and off
Log into our system
and something else

I have not used it over Christmas. I get it out and practice logging off and on so I am competent. (It is a new [old] lap top that I am not used to yet and that even if I log in right, gives me some hassles.)


This is so right!

We like to stay with our same stuff.
Computers should be like toasters -- all pretty much the same and always working when we want them.

Mari

Hi Mari
 

I had to get a new tower. I had the teck, keep windows 7 on it. It is a program I know. The tower came with windows 8. I had all kinds of trouble with these two together. I updated to windows 8.1, which all in all works much better than 8. Mine was a free update, and easy to do. The two programs are working fine. I switch to 8.1 to learn more when I am finished with whatever on 7. Hope you can get windows 8.1. :D ginnie:hug:

Mari,

I am glad you are managing ok with the Win 8 bear. LOL. I too have some display personalizations that are important to me, so I know what you mean.

I am still hem-hawing about getting a system. It is going to be more money than I had hoped for.

----------------

Ginnie,

Yes, in 8.1, Microsoft fixed some of the stupid stuff they did in 8.0. 8.1 is a free update for anyone with any Win 8 installation. From what I know, it can be downloaded from microsoft's web site.

Most things available here still have 8.0, so unless I wait a little to buy, I will need to download the 8.1 update myself. It is no biggie.

What a helpful tech you had, that he/she set you up with both operating systems. That sounds like really good service.

waves

Ginnie,

Fewer than 10% of the people at my work place have Windows 8 and that is only because their computers with 7 were messed up and had to be "wiped."
That's how I got stuck with 8 . . . . complained about how bad the lap top was . . . wouldn't start right and seemed not to turn off right either and other things.
8 is not too hard really. I am just not fond of it. It is an extra screen to get past to get to the desktop. I skip the tiles and get to what I need.

That's wild that you can do both 7 and 8. Maybe you are getting the best of both. :hug::hug: :hug:

M

Waves, :heartthrob:

Computers are big expenditures . . .
And spending money on them is hard when the product is not going to be exactly what we want. :heartthrob:

Mari

Hi Mari
 

I had a professional install 7 on the new tower. Working between the two of them is OK. No store, would sell 7 anymore, that is why I had to go to 8. Even the re-built tower I got didn't have 7 on it. Teck stuff changes to fast for me! ginnie:grouphug:

Hi, Ginnie, :heartthrob:

You ARE good at tech stuff. You know who to find to take care of your computer for you. :D

Do you have outdoor plants to worry about in when it cools off? Will you have to do anything for them when it gets cool tomorrow night?

Mari

Hi Mari
 

Not good on PC at all. I am taking some lessons. My son also helps me. I still can't cut and paste, something so easy...I can type however...good old typing lessons.....Good at research, but the simple operations, and functions still are hard for me. Just learned how to send a picture last week from my Samsung.

Yes I have to cover many plants. None of them are good for this kind of cold . I go to goodwill now and then, pick up a king size sheet. I will cover tomorrow night a bit better. I am still covered up since the day before. This next front, puts all plants in jeopardy. Couldn't cover all up with a hundred sheets, so I concentrate on those the most tender.I bring in the potted plants, hanging vines etc. This spring, I will cut back anything that was damaged and hope for the best. I have a few fruit trees I sure would like to hang on to. Key lime, Ruby Red grapefruit, and Meyers lemon have been producing most years. Hold on to your hats up there! I will have the wool socks on for sure. Take care Mari, ginnie:hug:

dual boot is a cinch for a tech
 

Mari

From a technical standpoint, dual boot is really no big deal. Any tech should have the ability to do that for you. I have almost always had multiple operating systems on the same machine. The question is whether you want that, and whether you can find a tech at work willing to do it for you.

If you do want Win 7 on your machine... in addition to 8... try asking IT. I'm sure they still the Win 7 discs. It may be against policy, so it would help if you... ehh... "know" someone in IT whom you can ask... unofficially. You could ask them to make win 7 your default boot, too.

waves

For those that don't care for the dopey "metro" look, you can switch to a more classic interface:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...o-classic-view

Hi Waves
 

The teck person installed 7 with some kind of program. No disk. He said it was fine to do, and not against any rule. I did ask. I can look on" my computer" and tell you what program he used. I do like the set up. ginnie:hug:

Waves, :) :) :)

Hubby used to partition his hard drive. Is that similar to what you are talking about? It fed into his OCD to have something like that. I was forever hearing about it.
He does not trust the internet and has his anti viral stuff set so high that he cannot do certain things. I try not to pay attention. I believe he uses one machine only for the Internet.

I did not ask why I have 8. I have stopped asking for explanations of these sorts of things. For one, the work place treats us like children, for two I would not know what to do with that information, and for three I rarely believe the answer even if it is what seems to be a straight forward question.
The computer is still not exactly "right" -- I get an odd message at start up because "sticky notes has failed to initialize" or something ----- THE EXACT same message I got when I had windows 7 so what happened to the wiping?

Tonight's task will be to make folders for the desktop. (Don't laugh. I usually have my iPad sitting next to me so I can ask questions on Google like this: "How do I create a new folder for my desktop in Windows 8?) :eek:

Mari

That is cool, Thomas. I am going to try that tonight.

Thank you.

Mari

Hi Mari
 

On the front page of windows 8, if you scroll to the right there is Microsoft office. Open that and you create a new document. Hope this is what you need to know. I am learning just like you are. Keep plugging away! ginnie:hug:

No, a partition and an OS installation are not the same. A drive is always partitioned, but it can be just a single partition if you want, or multiple ones. Multiple partitions makes a single physical hard disk "look like" multiple hard disks. Eg, using Window's convention: if you had just one hard drive with two partitions, you'd have a C: drive and a D:drive... just as if you had two physical disks. Mac and Linux use different identifiers but the concept still applies. Sigh. Probably TMI.

Btw (making it worse here), when you installing multiple operating systems on the same disk, you usually do have to make a separate partition for each system, as part of the process. It doesn't sound like you want multiple OS's though. Maybe one flunky OS is enough. ;)

I have mine set middle of the road. I am asked/warned about various things that happen. I allow scripts but I do not run Java at all, in my browser. If someone wants to put Java apps on their site, they can do without my visit.

LOL. My best guess is they've adopted 8 as standard, which means any time someone needs their system reinstalled, they get 8 now, not 7. No particular reason than it's the most current. That's how I've always seen IT depts do things. New installations and re-installations are done by current institution standard. The standard is updated some time after software gets released. Maybe not right away, but soon after.

Sounds like your "Sticky Notes" might be older/incompatible with Windows (7 and above), OR it simply has a bug. The latter you won't get around, unless they release a new version of that software that fixes it. Some bugs show up sporadically and may not show up on every system.

It is nice, isn't it, that we can google questions like that. One of my recent googles was "how do I tell the difference between a USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0" I didn't think I'd get a useful hit, but I did -- with pictures!

waves

Mari. I have Windows from the stone ages. lol. I have a 2002 Dell,Windows XP,and I'm going to hopefully replace it soon with a newer used computer.

Good luck with the new computer. BF:hug::hug::hug:

:Good-Post:

Hi, Waves,

I do understand your helpful reply. :)
I can follow it like I could follow along with a song, but I would not be able to sing the song by myself -- dunno if that makes sense. :cool:

Google is beautiful.

Mari

I've been quiet because of this. I tried to download firmware,DSP,and a library of frequencies into my high tech scanner radio that has a 2GB micro-SD chip in it. I pulled my hair,lost sleep,went nuts,was ready to die in two weeks of trying. I did everything that I could think of,and more. I'd go to bed,and get back up to try some other ideas to resolve the problems. It was all in vain because my computer wasn't capable of the process,but I didn't know it at the time.

I went to my sister's house on New Years day,and used her computer. I downloaded the info right away with their computer. So I lost sleep,hair,and went nuts for nothing. It was this computer. It doesn't have higher function capabilities anymore. This computer has got to go.

This is why I've been so quiet. I thought that I broke the scanner,and the company that made them closed it's doors. They don't repair them anymore either. I was trying to update my scanner for the upcoming changes,and finally did at my sister's house before they may stop the updates on the computer. I should have a couple of years with this scanner now that it has been updated. I was thrilled that it wasn't me. It was my old computer. I was thrilled that I fixed the problem. BF:yahoo::Excited::Head-Spin:
Sorry for having gone slightly off the topic. BF :hug::hug::hug:

There are many ways to do the cut & paste or copy & paste.
I use the left & right mouse clicks to highlight/select /cut or copy and paste for it the most.

here is some beginner videos that can show the ways to do it-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhXg4tvIft4


Or this website might explain it better also -
http://www.wikihow.com/Copy-and-Paste

If Macs were less expensive, then life would be so much easier. We'd all have one. lol ;)

Ah, yes, or any Apple system. Simply elegant technology. :)

All my engineer friends now have iPads for personal use.... sigh... drool.

Browsing laptops I've had a couple of MacBooks pop out at me... big sigh.... but I'd be buying for development, and there is little demand here for Apple platform developers, even mobile development is mostly android, not iOS. :o

oh well.

waves

Waves,

Right, anyone I have talked to who works with computers, finds Apple limiting in soooo many ways.

I only use Apple because I started on a machine in the early 1990s
(Macintosh Classic II ?) and kept using Apple products at home.

At work I muddle through on the PC's.
Actually, I do very little computer work at work.
I do the work on my home computer and send it to work via email, and such.

I used to curse Bill Gates for designing a crappy product. Every time a screen froze, . . . . was evidence that his company cut corners to put out a crummy product.

Now, Apple is just as crummy as the PC's but I still prefer Apple products because I am used to them.

M

we have windows 8 and firefox mozilla. It has been working fine for us.
bizi

I haven't had any blue screen of death for ages..years even..LOL

I still use windows XP - until it expires anyway (this June is what they are saying.), plus I try various Linux distros as they come out as a dual boot system..
I'll go 100% Linux when my XP expires.

Linux distros got put on all our laptops as soon as the warranties expired..

My latest laptop is a refurbished Dell that came with Vista, the guy said I could install Linux right away if I wanted to and it wouldn't void his warranty - small local business so he could make his own rules ...:D

I went with a friend today to the Apple Store, he to get Macbook fixed; me to just admire the hardware. :D

My "first-love" will always be Linux, but Apple does offer a nice hardware+software product.

;-)

Hi BF
 

Hi BF, check out WalMart, they have re-built towers for very reasonable costs. I took the information on a tower to three stores Like Office Max. All of them said to go back to Walmart and get that tower. Could not match it in price for the quality I got. I bought an HP, that is up to date, and will last me a long long time. They also have some of the information about this program on line. xxxginnie

Hi Jo Mar
 

Yep my Christmas gift was a blue screen on my old PC. Glad to have this new tower. Thank you for info about cut and paste. I appreciate it. xginnie:hug:

Well, I was really just groaning about the sheer lack of work in that arena. I haven't been in touch with professional Mac developers for years, so maybe things have changed... but when the Mac was new and obscure, interested developers (and there were enough!) saw it as intriguing rather than limiting. I'd be rather surprised to find that has changed. I haven't done pro mac development myself, but reason is job availability. I think, because Apple is ridiculously expensive, they have a smaller customer base, which in turn makes for a much smaller developer base. I couldn't afford to buy a Mac to tinker with, but even if could, it would be pointless, because jobs writing software for Mac are non-existent in my area.
The Mac II's were out then, yes. they were in color. The classic Mac, Mac Plus and Mac SE were the small, cubic, all-in-one units. I think these were black and white only and color came out on the II. I owned a Mac Plus for a while. Long before I owned a PC. I also used to tend the labs in University, helping students get on with whatever computer they had to use PC/Mac/mainframe... so my "user" familiarity runs through the Mac II, but not beyond.

That works! :D
Emm, for a brief time I used to delight in titling Microsoft products "Microshaft". :o:rolleyes:

Are they really??? That is sad to hear. Maybe when I get done trying to build myself into a self-sustaining human being, I'll look into this. I think I have to see it to believe it. I always saw the Mac line as a cut above, from the technical standpoint... but I am so out of touch, now. :(

waves

That's impressive!

Aside from Vista, which I was able to avoid completely, I've seen BSODs on every Windows version starting from pre-release NT builds all the way up to 7. My most stable systems have probably been NT 3.51 (hated 4.0), Win 2000, and XP, but they all bluescreened at one point or other. My mom's 7 is doing it much too often for my liking... she may have a flaky power situation, I'm afraid.

Cool!

My current laptop came with Vista preinstalled and an XP recovery option. I immediately "recovered" XP thereby ridding myself permaently of Vista. :D

Which Linux distro do you use? Any reason for the preference? I plan on putting Ubuntu on this laptop, but want to get myself moving forward in the Windows department first.

waves

Sometimes it can be tricky to find a distro that is easy to set up the wifi connection, Ubuntu seem to be the easiest to set up on most systems, usually finds it automatically.

I like the styles with the task bar at the bottom, similar to XP look...
Lately I have been installing Ubuntu and use synaptic to get the KDE desktop environment and install it. Then at the log on screen click the icon to change to the KDE or other style.

But some other nice ones are KDE, Zorin OS, Mepis, Mint is becoming a #1 favorite on most lists(so many versions to choose from w/mint), LXDE, PCLinuxOS, Lubuntu, Peppermint, SnowLinux...
List of most distros and new ones coming out -
http://distrowatch.com/index.php?dataspan=52

Once in awhile, I find the web-pages aren't as smoothly displayed as with windows..
but a different distro won't have that problem..it seems to be a distro/system /configuration compatibility thing..

Thanks for the feedback Jo,

Sounds like it is mostly preference and perhaps some compatibility. Good to know that Ubuntu has high compatibility as I've got a DVD with that (don't need to download :D).

Interesting about the web pages not loading smoothly. That won't matter much for my purposes, but it's quite curious that it's distro- (and not browser-) related. Perhaps something flaky to the default network configuration. I guess I will look into that when the time comes.

waves

ranting abt MS WORD
 

The computer is still a piece of garbage.
I often have to turn it over to someone (anyone) else when I am working with Word.

The one thing that makes the Windows on 8 Dell lap top experience less awful is that months ago I petitioned for a dock, key board and mouse, and a 21 inch (or so) monitor.

I love using the monitor when I am working with someone else by my side.
Mari

what is a doc?
glad that you got what you wanted!
bizi