Does Windows 8 suck?

My laptop is on it's last legs and I have a feeling I'll be needing a new one very soon. I need to stay on a PC, as much as I would love a Mac. I don't need anything too fancy but it looks like most use Windows 8, about which I've heard nothing too good. Is it bad? How different than Windows 7 is it?

 

"If you get Windows 8 you will also need Driver 8" / Michael Stipe

 

I have used Windows 8 for the last 14 months with zero problems.

 

I bought a new PC in March and it came with Windows 8.

I am about to dig my nails into the fucking PC to dig the worthless piece of shit out.

Short answer: Yes. Yes. Yes.

 

My brother just got a new laptop with Windows 8. He said it pisses you off for the first 2 days just because it's different and you're not used to it. But once you get used to it, it's good.

 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=4937&name=Windows-7-Laptops&

Choice of new laptops with Windows 7 installed.

 

I got a new desktop a couple months ago with Windows 8.

My old computer (10 years old), which is still running, and my laptop, both use Windows XP so that was the system I was used to.

I was up and 'functional' on W8 within a couple days but it took a week or so before I really started to understand how it worked. (And I still don't completely get it.)

Some things about Windows 8 are quite cool but a lot of other things mainly appear designed to ensnare you deeper and deeper in the Microsoft corporate/ online identity empire.

 

Same held true for me when I bought one in January. It irritated me for a week or so until I got accustomed to the differences between Windows 8 and the prior version of Windows. Now I love it especially with the huge price difference between it and an Apple product.

I went the inexpensive route buying a Toshiba C855-S5347 on sale at Office Max for $299. You can't beat it for the price as Office Max seems to have this model on sale at least once every four weeks for the $299 price. I've had it now for a week shy of 6 months and it's fast and efficient. Only complaint I have is the speakers suck but a $18 purchase of a Cyber Acoustics USB Speaker Bar (CA-2880) cured the 'tinny speaker' problem. Love that it has a HDMI port as I plug it into my 60" HDTV and watch the baseball games from mlb.tv.

http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops/satellite/C850/C855-S5347/

http://www.officemax.com/technology/computers/laptop-computers/product-prod4380340

http://www.officemax.com/technology/computer-accessories/speakers/product-prod4310432

 

The small, OCD problems:

* The front page is useless. At first, I started removing all the "windows" that I would never use, and added a few that I would.
Ultimately, however, I, like 99 percent of the world I'd guess, immediately hit the "desktop" icon and go from there.

* Speaking of the front page, under "Mail," it shows nothing when I, in fact, have new email, but when I go in and read/delete that email, THEN it tells me I have email (when I don't).

* If you want to group a bunch of related icons on your desktop, say, to the right side of your screen, Windows 8 moves them back in line over on the left. It did this a dozen times before (I think) it finally left them where I put them.

* When you want to shut down, you no longer click on the box in the bottom left corner and hit "SHUT DOWN." Now you have to go logout (top right corner), then go to the exit screen (bottom left corner) before you can finally turn the damn thing off (bottom right corner). I'd almost rather pull the plug from the wall when I'm finished using the computer.

The BIG problems:

* These fuckin' cheapskates ... used to be when you bought a new computer, it came with Microsoft Office and at least one year of security. Now the sons of bitches puts a TRIAL for Office on the computer, and bugs the living shit out of you if you don't pay their exorbitant fuckin' fee (More than $120) for the real thing. I guess I was fortunate in that the Best Buy (or wherever we bought the damn thing) gave us a free one-year subscription to Kaspersky so we do have security.

* Worse, it won't allow you to load your old version of Office. It kicks it back at you.

* My daughter gave me one of her three licenses for her Office. It wouldn't accept that either.

* I wanted to download a program off the 'Net, so I went and did just that. Put the cheat icon on my desktop, no problemo. Double-click on the motherf-- (I've used enough profanity for one rant) and it said, "Not supported by Windows 8."

I want SO BAD to dump this shit and load the software from my old computer on the new one (more RAM and a faster processor), but my lovely wife won't let me. So I'm stuck with this piece of s--- crap.

 

I got Windows 8 pro as an upgrade from 7 for $10 bucks in January and put it on both laptop and desktop. It does take some getting used to and you have to work at using some of your desired default programs instead of what Microsoft wants. On the other hand, it rarely crashes and you're booting up within 30 seconds.

 

Windows 8 is incredible. I love it. It's Windows 7 with more stability, plus an option for touch screen.

I had both the public beta builds and they were hit or miss at times, but the final product is great. I was able to get the pro edition for $15 since I bought my new beast of a desktop in a certain time frame last year that had a promotion with it. My wife's not the biggest fan since it's a little bit of a change. It's the first Windows since 95 that doesn't have the Start Menu (replaced by the Metro screen), but after you get used to it, it's simple.

 

Not sure if your computer has this, but there is an easier way. From the desktop, hit the Windows button on the keyboard to get back to the icon screen. In the bottom right corner, there's a small button that looks like this: [-]. It works a lot like the old Start button. Click on it, and your menu options appear along the right side of the screen. From there you can go to settings, power, and shut down.
My wife was cursing up a storm every night until she figured that trick out.