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Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions


JorgeA

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Well, I've been experimenting with the Windows (8) Developer Preview in more depth, and I'd like to share my thoughts and experiences.

Program compatibillity is of course one of the most important factors in deciding whether to switch to a new OS. I was also curious to see how the Metro interface would handle newly installed programs. So I downloaded and installed current versions of Firefox (9), HandBrake, and Spybot Search & Destroy (1.6.2). These three programs have worked flawlessly so far.

If the program goes through an installation process, a new plain tile with the program's name will appear at the far end of the Metro start screen. If you expect to use the program often, you can drag the tile over to the left end, although that process is somewhat clunky.

One interesting (not sure if good) outcome is that the individual subprograms within a main program get their own tiles. For instance, after installing Spybot I ended up with tiles for main Spybot, the file shredder, the update function, and uninstall. I wonder if it's possible to merge these back into one tile -- install enough applications, and you could end up with hundreds of tiles and tons of Start screen pages to scroll through. The current, "classic" All Programs menu makes for a much more compact lookup experience.

One note about Spybot 1.6.2: Remarkably, this little program works without modification or glitch not only on Windows 8, but all the way back to Windows 98 (and 95, for all I know).

The same thing, unfortunately, can't be said for the Spybot 2 beta, which I tried using before 1.6.2. It didn't work: I kept getting errors about a missing this and an invalid that, culminating in one of the newfangled BSODs with the "sad" emoticon. I suppose that it was a bit optimistic to run beta software in a pre-beta OS and expect everything to work.

The crash leads me to an observation about the new BSOD: It automatically reboots the system after a few seconds -- plainly not enough time to take down the error information (which additionally is given in small, low-contrast type, which means that it takes even longer to discern what it says). This is not a step forward. Feature improvement: Do NOT reboot automatically, give the user the chance to pause the process so he/she can write down the error information! If this is already possible, then for heaven's sake tell the user how to do it (in easy-to-ready type) ON THE BSOD SCREEN.

I just returned to the Windows 8 preview after letting it work overnight. Went back into the Start Screen, and lo and behold! the weather app has once again returned to showing me the weather in what it sems to consider the center of the universe -- Anaheim, California. I've already changed it to a town in my own state TWICE, and (thought I had) removed Anaheim from the display options. What's up with that?

Update: Next time I returned from typing this to the Metro screen (it's on a different PC), the local weather info had returned on its own. That's good, but I thought that a selling point for these Metro tiles was that they provide information the user wants, so why not just give the local weather that the user has selected, in the first place?

More about app tiles: You can't right-click on an app in the Metro Start Screen to reach the context menu in order to look up properties, rename it, scan it with security software, or run it in administrator mode. For that you have to go to the Desktop... and be lucky or prescient enough to have a program icon for it, since you can't get into the REAL Start Menu. Right-clicking on a tile (or on the search result, if you used the Metro Search function) simply places a check mark of mysterious significance in the upper right.

One last thing: I haven't found a way to select Safe Mode if you want to boot into it for a given reason.

--JorgeA

EDIT 2/26/13: Added subtitle

Edited by JorgeA
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If the program goes through an installation process, a new plain tile with the program's name will appear at the far end of the Metro start screen. If you expect to use the program often, you can drag the tile over to the left end, although that process is somewhat clunky.

yes ,this is ugly. Very often you have 2 icons (1 of the program and 1 of the uninstaller) which look the same, so it is difficult to see which is the one you want. So you must unpin the uninstaller first. Doing this after each install is horrible. :realmad: :realmad: :realmad: :realmad:

The crash leads me to an observation about the new BSOD: It automatically reboots the system after a few seconds -- plainly not enough time to take down the error information (which additionally is given in small, low-contrast type, which means that it takes even longer to discern what it says). This is not a step forward. Feature improvement: Do NOT reboot automatically, give the user the chance to pause the process so he/she can write down the error information! If this is already possible, then for heaven's sake tell the user how to do it (in easy-to-ready type) ON THE BSOD SCREEN.

this is the default setting for the last Windows version. Uncheck the option in the advanced system properties.

More about app tiles: You can't right-click on an app in the Metro Start Screen to reach the context menu in order to look up properties, rename it, scan it with security software, or run it in administrator mode. For that you have to go to the Desktop... and be lucky or prescient enough to have a program icon for it, since you can't get into the REAL Start Menu. Right-clicking on a tile (or on the search result, if you used the Metro Search function) simply places a check mark of mysterious significance in the upper right.

when you try a rightcclick you see a new bar at the button with advanced settings and the option to unpin apps. Here you can choose to run applications as admin.

One last thing: I haven't found a way to select Safe Mode if you want to boot into it for a given reason.

press SHIFT and F8 the same time. This took me 2 weeks to figure this out :realmad:

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The crash leads me to an observation about the new BSOD: It automatically reboots the system after a few seconds -- plainly not enough time to take down the error information (which additionally is given in small, low-contrast type, which means that it takes even longer to discern what it says). This is not a step forward. Feature improvement: Do NOT reboot automatically, give the user the chance to pause the process so he/she can write down the error information! If this is already possible, then for heaven's sake tell the user how to do it (in easy-to-ready type) ON THE BSOD SCREEN.

this is the default setting for the last Windows version. Uncheck the option in the advanced system properties.

Thanks, Andre.

I have yet to get a BSOD in Win7, so I hadn't run into this issue. I guess I can say that I got a BSOD in Win8 before I ever had one in Win7. (For Win8 fans -- yes, I know this is only a pre-beta version...)

More about app tiles: You can't right-click on an app in the Metro Start Screen to reach the context menu in order to look up properties, rename it, scan it with security software, or run it in administrator mode. For that you have to go to the Desktop... and be lucky or prescient enough to have a program icon for it, since you can't get into the REAL Start Menu. Right-clicking on a tile (or on the search result, if you used the Metro Search function) simply places a check mark of mysterious significance in the upper right.

when you try a rightcclick you see a new bar at the button with advanced settings and the option to unpin apps. Here you can choose to run applications as admin.

Hmm, I did see that bar along the bottom, but it didn't register -- attention was focused on that mysterious new checkmark in the top right corner of the tile.

Now, let's do a click comparison. Suppose you're in the Desktop and wish to run Spybot (or any other program) as an administrator, and you don't have a desktop icon for it, but it's listed (without being pinned) on the Start Menu because you use it fairly regularly. In Vista and Windows 7 you can click on the Start orb, then right-click on the icon for Spybot (or whatever), then click on "Run as Administrator." That's three steps.

In Windows 8, to accomplish the same thing from the desktop (which is where most real work will be getting done from), you click on the Start thingie that replaced the orb, then (assuming you've moved the tile to the initial screen because you use it fairly regularly) you right-click on the program tile. Next you click on "Advanced Settings," and then click on "Run as administrator." That's four steps.

And if you want to rename the file, or scan it with an antivirus program, or view the Properties, then after clicking on Advanced Settings you have to click on "Open file location," then right-click on the file in Windows Explorer, and only then finally get to perform the action you desire. That's two additional steps, for a total of six, or twice as many as in today's Desktop.

One last thing: I haven't found a way to select Safe Mode if you want to boot into it for a given reason.

press SHIFT and F8 the same time. This took me 2 weeks to figure this out :realmad:

Wow. But, thank you for the information!

--JorgeA

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JorgeA,

I think you don't need to install any extra antivirus or anti-spyware programs. Just go to Action Center and make sure all the options there are on; Network firewall, Windows Update, Virus protection, Spyware and unwanted software protection, Windows Smartscreen, and so on ... Windows Defender works fine and it keeps my computer completely clean.

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JorgeA,

I think you don't need to install any extra antivirus or anti-spyware programs. Just go to Action Center and make sure all the options there are on; Network firewall, Windows Update, Virus protection, Spyware and unwanted software protection, Windows Smartscreen, and so on ... Windows Defender works fine and it keeps my computer completely clean.

Aloha,

Thanks, but I don't trust having a single malware application, that's why I use Spybot resident as a second line of defense (it doesn't conflict with your main AV program).

Most importantly, though, I set it up on this Windows 8 Preview as a test of the new OS. It passed that one. :)

--JorgeA

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In the Vista desktop, it takes at most four actions to launch Windows Defender: Start --> All Programs --> scroll to Windows Defender (if necessary) --> click on Windows Defender.

From the Windows 8 DP desktop, you can click on Start, type "def" (three keystrokes), click on Settings, and then click on Windows Defender. That's a total of six actions. How is that better?

There is no Metro tile for Windows Defender. There must be a way to create one. Then you could be in Defender in one click. Even so, that's no improvement over having a Defender shortcut on the Desktop, which also gives you one-click access.

And I still haven't found a simple way to open a context menu for an application, comparable to right-clicking the program's listing on the current Start Menu.

--JorgeA

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Some further notes:

1. In the Win8 preview, putting a CD or DVD in the optical drive has zero effect for me -- that is, not only does the autoplay window not pop up, but the disc isn't even listed in Windows Explorer. (The same discs show up fine in the same PC if I boot into Windows 7.)

2. On the other hand, USB flash drives are found right away. Playing a movie in Windows Media Player (again in Win8) gave me audio that was quite a bit behind the video. (The same file, when played on our TV -- the TV has a USB port -- was much better synchronized, though not perfectly.)

3. There is no Word or Microsoft Works installed, so out of curiosity I tried to open some DOC files off the flash drive. Though I was in the Desktop, a Metro-style popup appeared, inviting me to visit the app store for a program that could open the file. This is in contrast to Windows behavior up till now, which is to ask, in a neutral way, which program I'd like to use to open the file.

--JorgeA

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1. do you use an IDE DVD drive? If es, configure it as master

Thanks, I'll have to check on that. The DVD drive is internal. Why would that change make any difference, considering that the same drive works in the same computer in Windows 7? I wonder if it might simply be another feature that's missing from the Developer Preview.

Just to make sure -- note that I'm not talking about booting from CD/DVD, I'm referring to reading a CD/DVD when in Windows.

3. Word was never part of Windows.

Yes, I know. :) I was testing to see what Win8 does when you give it a file type that it doesn't know about: you get pointed to a (Microsoft) app store.

BTW, one of the many optical discs that didn't get recognized was Office 2000. I wanted to see if that suite would still work in Windows 8. Confirmation will have to wait.

--JorgeA

Edited by JorgeA
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MS probably get the idea for App Store, from Apple-Store or Sony's PSN.

More updated version of search Web for non-registered extension, but instead letting user search in wild-web, Microsoft has done it for users (with a price).

To milks more money from the users, visiting the Microsoft App-Stores might be the default action, instead of classic action to look for programs in user' harddrives.

I bet my two cents, that MS will not make it easy to change suggested the app-store vendor (from MS app-stores to another),

just incase some independent vendor decided to setup their own app-stores.

Edited by Joseph_sw
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Thanks, I'll have to check on that. The DVD drive is internal. Why would that change make any difference, considering that the same drive works in the same computer in Windows 7? I wonder if it might simply be another feature that's missing from the Developer Preview.

Just to make sure -- note that I'm not talking about booting from CD/DVD, I'm referring to reading a CD/DVD when in Windows.

I also talk about the same:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/de-DE/windowsdeveloperpreviewgeneral/thread/91d5edaa-d3e5-4494-9c63-5259f081d8f9#adab80ec-3c3b-41a6-839b-5f11ec0fc453

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MS probably get the idea for App Store, from Apple-Store or Sony's PSN.

More updated version of search Web for non-registered extension, but instead letting user search in wild-web, Microsoft has done it for users (with a price).

To milks more money from the users, visiting the Microsoft App-Stores might be the default action, instead of classic action to look for programs in user' harddrives.

I bet my two cents, that MS will not make it easy to change suggested the app-store vendor (from MS app-stores to another),

just incase some independent vendor decided to setup their own app-stores.

Joseph,

I'm afraid that you are going to be totally correct on this. :angry:

Not just a way to milk more $$$ from Windows users, but also yet another step in the dumbing-down of the PC, in this case channeling users to prefabricated sources for approved programs.

--JorgeA

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