JorgeA

MDGx's site appears to offer direct downloads only for unofficial updates and upgrades, is that impression right? In the meantime, I came across this site. I wonder if this could be the sort of thing I'm looking for. Assuming they're legit, I might even be willing to make a donation for the service as it would represent a time savings over wading through MDGx's site. --JorgeA

LakotaRising, Welcome to the discussion. I've been using various versions of Windows 8 since the Developer Preview, and honestly my own experience has been far from heavenly; I won't be buying Windows 8 if I can avoid it. I do my work off the Desktop. I got tired of having repeatedly to make a conscious decision NOT to put the mouse pointer in the lower left corner, lest the Start Menu pop up unwanted, and NOT to put the pointer in the upper or lower right corners, lest the Charms bar spring out unwanted. These distractions interrupted the flow of my work. I found that the Start Screen didn't offer me anything I wanted that the Start Menu already does. But worse, the Start Screen takes over the whole monitor, which makes it harder to follow complicated instructions in Internet Explorer or a help or program window. The Start Screen just gets in the way of everything. My oher dissatisfaction with Windows 8 is esthetic in nature. I look at my screen all day long, and the Win8 environment is so much less visually appealing to me. The 3D effect is gone, everything has a flat look; the glass effect in windows is gone; and dull pastel colors dominate throughout. Some folks might actually prefer that, but then in Vista and 7 you could disable the eye candy and go with a dull Home Basic-type look if you wished. Windows 8 removes that choice -- and the lack of user choice in Windows 8 is what really bothers most of us in this thread. Ultimately, the concern is that Microsoft will expand this lack of choice and remove the Desktop altogether in a future version of its OS, so that we can only work within the "Metro" interface, which allows you to have at most two applications open at the same time, with one limited to a smaller area of the screen. It depends how you use Windows: if you never show more than two windows on the screen at a time, you might be OK with that limitation; but if you often need to have three or more windows of the same size open and showing at the same time, you will find the Metro UI to be a crippled, confining experience. For many of us, the beauty of Windows has always been the freedom to customize our environment and experience to suit our individual needs and preferences. The concern is that, with Windows 8, Microsoft is signaling an intention to channel and restrict the way that we interact with our computers. My hope is that even folks who like the "Metro" interface will understand that problem, and let Microsoft know it. --JorgeA

erpdude8, Is there a way to get a list of what's in the SP 2.58, before downloading? I have a fresh install of Win98FE and would like to apply to it all (and only) official MS updates through July 2006. At some point later, then I might look into upgrading it with newer files. Thank you! --JorgeA

Thanks loblo, I'll look around for it on the Forum and see what's in it. --JorgeA

Thanks for the bug report! Did you notify the author? Maybe he will fix it. Has anybody else experienced this issue? --JorgeA

When Windows Updates stopped working on the Win8 Developer Preview and I could no longer update Defender, I installed Avast! free edition. Works great, no problems. For my work PCs, though, I use Norton 360 or Norton Internet Security. However, I'm sticking with the pre-2012 versions of the software. I made the mistake of "upgrading" Norton 360 on my (Vista) laptop to version 6, and it's been Metrofied into big ugly squares with a kindergarten look. Also, the malware scan functions have been split from the PC maintenance functions, which means that now I can't just tell it to do everything in one session and leave it overnight. --JorgeA

In June or July 2011, Microsoft took down the Windows Update site where we could retrieve updates for Windows 98. If a person had a fresh installation of Windows 98 Standard ("first") Edition, and wanted to install on it all (and only) the official Microsoft updates through July 2006 -- where could they go to do that? Is it even possible anymore? I looked around on MDGx's website, but nothing clearly jumped out at me as being what I'm looking for. I did see the Windows Update link, but AFAIK that stopped working last year. Two questions: Maybe someone has since put together an alternative repository for these updates? Is there a way to extract these updates from a working Win98FE installation, for use in a new Win98FE installation? --JorgeA

The prospect of Windows 8 phones isn't exactly making the earth shake: Two percent!! The comical part is the spin put on it:

I can't speak for him but for the past 30 years we have used " x86 " purely in a generic sense, as encompassing the entire 8086 architecture. Yes, that's how I was using it -- to make a distinction between what we have known 'til now, and the brave new Windows RT/WOA world. MS has told us that a Desktop in that environment would only run (some of) their own programs, leaving us with nothing to work from but the Start Screen. That's what I'm comparing to the pre-95 Program Manager that PC users so happily abandoned 17 years ago. --JorgeA

Yup, yup, yup. I read the article you linked to, have read others like it, and I still have to see what the "problem" is that they're talking about. The fashionable 2D look is actually quite boring, and screen elements are harder to tell apart. It's as if the Flatlanders were trying to pull us into their limited little world. We look at computer screens all day long -- what's wrong with making them more visually interesting? --JorgeA

Agreed on everything! The thing is, as we've pointed out many times in this thread, the Metro/Modern/NCI's tiles and limited windowing capability are basically a throwback to the early days of Windows. How anybody can claim that this is new, let alone revolutionary, is mind-boggling. If Windws RT wins out and x86 Windows disappears, as some predict, then all we'll have is the Start Screen -- and basically we'll be back in the old Wndows 3.x Program Manager with some enhancements. The main new thing about Win8 is the touch aspect. But as people attempt to use it on anything other than a tablet (that is, on screens where you have to repeatedly extend your arm), I'll be surprised if we don't start hearing about the ergonomic disaster that "touch" represents. --JorgeA

We linked to that interview back in post 1001. --JorgeA

Wentutu Start Menu includes the ability to list frequently used items and to boot directly to the Desktop. Works on 32- and 64-bit systems. --JorgeA

Another forum has published the results of a poll of Windows 8 users. Details of the survey methodology were not released, but if the numbers bear any relation to the broader Windows public, it's not good news for Windows 8. Features distinctive to Win8 or which are being aggressively pushed in the new OS -- such as the app store, Metro UI, SkyDrive, and the Charms bar -- all finished at the low end of the scale in respondents' rankings. Curiously, although the respondents were (said to be) Win8 users, by a 3-2 plurality they reported that they would rather purchase an Android-based mobile OS than "Windows 8 Mobile," and almost as many (33%) would prefer to buy an Android tablet as would choose a Surface (35%). Take this for what it's worth. (Survey methodology needs to be published!) Still, it's a conversation piece. Anybody seen any other opinion surveys covering Windows 8? --JorgeA

Really?!! Apple trying to steal MS's thunder, maybe? For the sake of the Desktop's future, I'm actually rooting for the fruit people to clean MS's clock in the tablet market. Let all of MS's efforts in that sphere flop completely. The two Steves could use a good spanking to set them straight. --JorgeA

Oh, the joys of living in The Cloud! A few months ago it was a German photographer whose seminude pictures got deleted, now it's another user whose account was actually closed for uploading comics. As one commenter wrote, And yet we have all these cretins visionaries touting The Cloud as the future. Is all of your PC stuff approved by meddlers and busybodies and Internet police? How can you even know, 'til it's too late? Insure against the future -- stock up on your 1TB and 2TB HDDs now! EDIT: More details on this new case. --JorgeA

Ahh, thanks for filling me in. What a strange Internet phenomenon. --JorgeA

My sentiments exactly. There are so few scenarios where a tablet even approaches the usefulness of a laptop with a similarly sized screen, that I've gone bald scratching my head as to why tablets are so popular. BTW, in the Iron Maiden app post, did you notice the following troll: --JorgeA

A better one : Umm, in that spoiler -- did somebody forget to use a verb? It doesn't actually say a complete thought. I deliberately the verb in this sentence. --JorgeA

What do you think? Windows 8 is not about desktop market share (playing down expectations, just in case) We'll soon see how many thousands of Microsoft fanatics, eager to be parted from their money, will camp out overnight for the release of Windows 8 and Surface and other Win8 tablets... --JorgeA

Speaking of the influence of drugs, do the Metro Start Menu backgrounds... ...remind you of 1960s psychedelic art: --JorgeA

And they say this is a conservative estimate?? Sounds like they seriously need some outdoor time, as there's something funny in the air inside MS HQ. The 400 million figure must include not only "real computers," but also tablets and phones. Still, the forecast sounds wildly optimistic. They really don't get it that a phone is not a PC. I don't want my phone to work like a PC, much less do I want my PC to work like a phone. And, where exactly are these "personal ads" going to appear -- directly on the Metro start screen? Can you think of a faster way to drive people AWAY from your OS, than by making it a vehicle for even more (and more intrusive) advertising? --JorgeA

Great roundup of articles, thanks! One WOULD think that if the market thought Win8 were going to be such a winner, Nokia's stock price wouldn't be dropping. Back in the spring I did some research and noticed that, several weeks prior to the GA of Windows 7 and even Vista, there was a significant bump in the price of MSFT. But here we are, barely half a month from the official release of Windows 8, and the stock hasn't budged. I'll have to go back and see how long before GA those bumps occurred; memory suggests it was about 4-6 weeks. --JorgeA

If the laptops feature touch screens, we also have to factor in the cost of that technology. So... extra $$$ (possibly) shelled out for the opportunity to keep your arm constantly extended in ergonomically dubious ways. --JorgeA

Here's another option for booting straight to the Windows 8 Desktop. It might also reduce the annoyance of having the Charms appear when you happen to leave the mouse pointer in the wrong place. --JorgeA