Windows 8 What's Your Opinion?

I had a Windows 8 system before I bought my Vanquish from DS that had windows 7 in it.

I was glad to be back to Windows 7. I disliked little things in Windows 8 that bothered me.

At this point I doubt they will ever give in all the way and bring back a fully functioning start button so I will avoid Windows 8 and hope they wake up by the time Windows 9 hits.

Its fine. No problems with it. It is harder to access the control panel and things like that. You can set it up to do whatever you want. You just have to do it differently.

Originally posted by sbradfor Originally posted by Ariktu I had a Windows 8 system before I bought my Vanquish from DS that had windows 7 in it.I was glad to be back to Windows 7. I disliked little things in Windows 8 that bothered me.At this point I doubt they will ever give in all the way and bring back a fully functioning start button so I will avoid Windows 8 and hope they wake up by the time Windows 9 hits. Did you ever try some of the start button replacements or other apps to make it function more like Windows 7?

No because I hate to make a major change like that which can be broken by a patch from Microsoft.

My preference would be to have Microsoft do it. I tried to just deal with it and just had a number of little annoyances with it.

Had I made that change I guess I would not have cared as much to get away from Windows 8.

So if you are ok with adding another program to fix it then I am sure you will not care much at all.

Do you know if you can order Windows 7 in the new unit.  I am big into Flight Simulator X did not know if FSX runs very well on Windows 8.

I'll just throw an opinion in here...
On various machines I run Windows 7 and Windows 8 (now running 8.1).
I much prefer windows 8.1. No specific reason - it's just faster to start up and run in general. It also gives performance improvements for my favorite game, Battlefield.
I use Start8 to get back my Start menu. Using this makes it look and feel just like Windows 7. No need to be fearful of a 3rd party app - seriously, it's $5 and returns you to your favorite Start button glory. You can also boot right into your tradtional desktop, avoiding that new Metro thing or whatever its called entirely.
So unless you have a very specific reason such as some hardware or software you use must have 7, then I fully recommend Win 8.1.

Beware of the internet haters who talk crap about 8. Many people with Win 7 talk smack about it but have often have never actually used it and cannot give you a specific set of reasons to avoid it. They just say that Metro thing is awful but like i said, it's totally optional to use. I nearly fell for the anti-Windows 8 hype myself, but I'm glad I found out the facts and went for it.

Edited by ScottishBattleAx - 19 Nov 2013 at 10:50am

Yes there are lots of Start menu replacement apps out there. Some are very basic. Some are very powerful (possibly overwhelming for some users. Some are in the middle ground and intuitive with easy to use screens for setting up.

I know Start8 that I use was favored in some reviews for it's ease of use. There was another app that offered hundrends of cofigurable options...like an endless mass of check boxes and values you could set - great if that's your thing. For me, Start8 just worked great right off the bat, and allowed me to create a Start button/menu that was even better than Windows 7.

I suggest people to look at the reviews and many youtube videos to compare your options. You'll find one right for you.

Edited by ScottishBattleAx - 19 Nov 2013 at 10:59am