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Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 8:37 am
by riviera74
Since the Techreport has essentially recommended using Windows 8 in its last system guide rather than stick with Windows 7 for some reason, I was looking at using something like this once I either build my next desktop or buy a notebook. What are your thoughts about this and what do you recommend?

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 8:50 am
by Flying Fox
You can always do the last bit of this. :P

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 9:27 am
by MarkD
Start8 - I'm sure I could get used to Metro, but I've got XP and 7 at work along with Red Hat and Ubuntu, (and most UNIXes), and 7, 8 and Fedora at home. I don't need to spend more time looking for things Microsoft moved on me.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 9:48 am
by thecoldanddarkone
Almost everything is in the same spot just slightly different. As long as you have an idea of where it was previously you can do things like type control panel and open it up that way. Or you can simply right click, hit space bar (this opens all apps) and hit control panel, this is just an example.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 10:35 am
by Philldoe
Just install Start8. it tucks the Metro UI away and you will not even see it 99% of the time. Adds a nice start menu that fits the Windows 8 look. Even I was happy to keep Win8 on my laptop, so that must mean something.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 11:03 am
by Ryhadar
I've been using StartIsBack on my netbook. It works great and is easy to install and configure. I highly recommend it.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:00 pm
by stryker47
Philldoe wrote:
Just install Start8. it tucks the Metro UI away and you will not even see it 99% of the time. Adds a nice start menu that fits the Windows 8 look. Even I was happy to keep Win8 on my laptop, so that must mean something.


I haven't made a change to the OS, and I still don't see Metro 99% of the time.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:04 pm
by riviera74
Great suggestions from all. Now: which version of Windows 8 should I use: Windows 8 or Windows 8 Professional?

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 1:51 pm
by cphite
riviera74 wrote:
Great suggestions from all. Now: which version of Windows 8 should I use: Windows 8 or Windows 8 Professional?


IIRC the only practical difference is that Pro offers networking functionality. If you're planning to join a domain, use hyper-v, remote desktop, that sort of thing, you need Pro.

It's possible that Pro supports more RAM too, but I think Win8 supports 16gb and that's plenty of RAM for home use.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 4:12 pm
by MethylONE
cphite wrote:
riviera74 wrote:
Great suggestions from all. Now: which version of Windows 8 should I use: Windows 8 or Windows 8 Professional?


IIRC the only practical difference is that Pro offers networking functionality. If you're planning to join a domain, use hyper-v, remote desktop, that sort of thing, you need Pro.

It's possible that Pro supports more RAM too, but I think Win8 supports 16gb and that's plenty of RAM for home use.


I believe Win 8 supports 512gb RAM across the board.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 5:48 pm
by Ryu Connor
Link

128GB for Windows 8.

512GB for Windows 8 Pro and Enterprise.

Here's a more full featured list of differences.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 6:13 pm
by StuffMaster
I've always used Pro because of things like RDP and NTFS file permissions

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 7:37 pm
by absurdity
riviera74 wrote:
Since the Techreport has essentially recommended using Windows 8 in its last system guide rather than stick with Windows 7 for some reason, I was looking at using something like this once I either build my next desktop or buy a notebook. What are your thoughts about this and what do you recommend?


I'd give Modern UI a shot if you haven't. I was pretty skeptical of it, but it grew on me pretty quickly.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 10:26 pm
by riviera74
The issue I have with Modern UI is that it is a tablet UI. I would have replaced my (former) iPhone 4 with a Windows Phone if I wanted to deal with Modern UI. Modern UI makes perfect sense for a tablet or smartphone. It makes NO sense on a desktop or a notebook for obvious reasons. Even if you have a laptop with a touchscreen, such as a Lenovo Yoga, a proper desktop is still best when it comes to true multitasking and actually doing real work on a PC (whether one is playing Crysis 3 or working on an Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation).

Modern UI: I will pass on that.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 11:12 pm
by MadManOriginal
stryker47 wrote:
Philldoe wrote:
Just install Start8. it tucks the Metro UI away and you will not even see it 99% of the time. Adds a nice start menu that fits the Windows 8 look. Even I was happy to keep Win8 on my laptop, so that must mean something.


I haven't made a change to the OS, and I still don't see Metro 99% of the time.


Same. I login, click desktop, and I'm good to go. I only have to use Modern UI for lesser-used programs I don't have pinned to the taskbar or which have shortcuts on my desktop.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2013 11:28 pm
by ludi
riviera74 wrote:
Even if you have a laptop with a touchscreen, such as a Lenovo Yoga, a proper desktop is still best when it comes to true multitasking and actually doing real work on a PC (whether one is playing Crysis 3 or working on an Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation).

Win8 has a proper desktop. You'll see the Start screen about as often as you see the Start menu on any previous version.

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 1:00 am
by JohnC
riviera74 wrote:
The issue I have with Modern UI is that it is a tablet UI. I would have replaced my (former) iPhone 4 with a Windows Phone if I wanted to deal with Modern UI. Modern UI makes perfect sense for a tablet or smartphone. It makes NO sense on a desktop or a notebook for obvious reasons. Even if you have a laptop with a touchscreen, such as a Lenovo Yoga, a proper desktop is still best when it comes to true multitasking and actually doing real work on a PC (whether one is playing Crysis 3 or working on an Excel spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation).

Modern UI: I will pass on that.


Well, then pass on it. For desktops Win7 is still a good OS - it will continue to work with all current hardware as well as future hardware for at least next few years, it has DX11 (many "modern" games are still "stuck" with DX9), it will still be able to run stand-alone programs by just about every sofware developer who supports Windows (except the absolutely redundant and severely feature-lacking Win8 "apps") and it doesn't FORCE you to adapt to Fisher-Price mobile GUI or rely on 3rd-party applications to make it behave the way YOU like ;-) As for pre-installed Win8 on laptops - well, just try out several programs mentioned in that Ars article and see which one you prefer, problem (partially) solved!

As for people who got suckered in into upgrading to Win8 and now trying to publically "like" it (in order to "silence" their own inner ever-gnawing "doubt about making rational purchase") - just ignore them :wink: Be an individual, not a sheeple, and decide for YOURSELF what YOU prefer! :D :wink:

Re: Windows 8 UI and replacements

Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:08 am
by monkeydude55
The Windows 8 start menu is terrible with a mouse, but it is actually fine with a keyboard. Just hit the Windows key to pull up the start menu, type the program you want to run (e.g Steam), hit enter, and you're good. It's takes only a second or two.

Also, many programs (such as Chrome, LibreOffice, VMWare Player) still run in desktop mode, so you should have no problem multitasking.