Windows 8

[Black wallnut]

My laptop running windoz 8 keeps losing my wifi connection. I often get page load errors and have to refresh about four times before getting a connection. It seems that only my pc is having a problem. Two kendles in my house work fine as do both tvs on Roku. Any ideas?

Just found out this morning that MS is rolling out Win 8.1 that restores the start button and makes it so users can bypass the start screen and go straight to the normal desktop upon login. Yeah, about time. For the record I do not like windoz 8 but 7 was simply not available where and when I purchased my pc.

[JR]

LOML bought a Win8 machine. She hated it so much we bought Win7 and "downgraded". What a hassle that was!

Win8 = epic fail

[Denco]

When my laptop died a couple of months ago, I bought a new lappy with Win8 on it. Ran really well. Only IE had the page loading problem. Google and Firefox loaded fine. Once I new how to navigate to all the control settings, I admit that I like it. However, when I upgraded to Win8.1, my laptop totally hated it. Being glad that I'd backed up my Win8 image before upgrading, I went back to Win8.0 and am again happy. I really liked Win7, but my copy was 32bit and I really like the 64bit version of Win8.

What would be really nice is if there were 2 versions of Win8 like "Win8 Computer" or "Win8 iPad" and the user could choose the format at install.

[cwsmith]

Is MS EVER going to get "Windows" right?

I got my first MS-based computer in the early 80's and over the years and many versions, I've yet to find even one that wasn't frought with problems! It's pathetic.

Mostly what I hate is how their updates disable many of the features of my laptop and in too many cases, disable programs that I had come to rely on.

CWS

[Bruce Cohen]

Boy,
You guys never learn. Like Ive been saying for years, "stop crapping around and buy a mac"
You won't be sorry.

Bruce

[Cochese]

Boy,
You guys never learn. Like Ive been saying for years, "stop crapping around and buy a mac"
You won't be sorry.

Bruce

You going to buy us all ones?

Win 8 has wifi problems. They may not admit it, but they are there.

[Cochese]

My laptop running windoz 8 keeps losing my wifi connection. I often get page load errors and have to refresh about four times before getting a connection. It seems that only my pc is having a problem. Two kendles in my house work fine as do both tvs on Roku. Any ideas?

Just found out this morning that MS is rolling out Win 8.1 that restores the start button and makes it so users can bypass the start screen and go straight to the normal desktop upon login. Yeah, about time. For the record I do not like windoz 8 but 7 was simply not available where and when I purchased my pc.

A bypass has been available for some time, it just requires some tweaking.

The start button is moronic, because all it does is take you back to that awful Start screen, not the menu as in years past. Do yourself a favor and buy Start8 or do what I did and download Pokki. Brings back what wasn't broken.

[Bruce Cohen]

You going to buy us all ones?

Win 8 has wifi problems. They may not admit it, but they are there.

Wish I had to money to. Honestly, maybe if I win the lottery

Bruce

[Cochese]

Wish I had to money to. Honestly, maybe if I win the lottery

Bruce

Sorry, it was a bad morning and I came off a bit like an ass.

Macs are fine, but they are incompatible with my job. Combine that with the steep price and some have to look elsewhere.

[woodturner]

Like Ive been saying for years, "stop crapping around and buy a mac"

IMHO, a mac is not a complete solution or a replacement for a windows pc. In addition to the limited performance and software availability, the OS is missing (patented) features of windows.

There are good reasons that windows is the de facto operating system for PCs. Due to the incompatibility issues, for business and professional use windows is required for most fields. Many businesses and schools don't really allow the use of macs for many of these reasons.

Several options, though:
1. run windows on a virtual machine on your mac
2. run mac OS on a virtual machine on your windows PC
3. run a Linux disto such as Ubuntu.

FWIW, whenever an application or OS is improved, people usually yearn for the version they already know, because it is more comfortable. Same issue with Windows 8 - until people stop "fighting" it and learn to use it's features, they likely won't appreciate the significant advantages it offers. Keep in mind that we when through the same thing with other big changes - the office ribbon, windows 7 after Vista, etc.

If you are curious what I actually do, I:
1. Run windows 8 on my office machine
2. Run Ubuntu on my research machine (current research is in improving processor speed, and Linux allows more control of the CPU and better ability to turn off competing threads and processes)
3. Run windows 8 on my tablets
4. Run windows 7 on my home machines.

[woodturner]

My laptop running windoz 8 keeps losing my wifi connection. I often get page load errors and have to refresh about four times before getting a connection. It seems that only my pc is having a problem. Two kendles in my house work fine as do both tvs on Roku. Any ideas?

I'd suspect the wireless card in the laptop. Do you have a USB dongle you could try? If that works and the on-board doesn't, that suggests the on-board wireless is flakey. Could be something as simple as a misrouted cable or a loose connector.

You could also try booting a portable Ubuntu disto off a USB drive to see if that solves the problem. If it does, that would confirm it is something about your Win8 install.

[durango dude]

I just bought a new machine (Lenovo) that to my great dismay - has Windows 8 installed.

Unfortunately, in my consulting business, I need Windows compatibility.

(I've used a Mac running a Windows virtual machine, before - it works about 80 percent of the time --- and the bad 20% is operations-critical)

I can tell you I"m ready to toss the machine out the window.

[Eric]

At work I got a new desktop that had windows 8 on it, first time I booted it I loaded a free start button program and have had zero complaints about the OS, other than having to change some file associations so some files would open with programs other than what MS wanted them to open with.

[JimD]

I hope I have good luck with Windows 8. I am waiting for other expenses to get resolved and touch screen laptops to come down in price and I will replace my desktop (2008 vintage, runs vista 64) with a laptop. I might skip the touch screen but I have to admit liking that capability in my tablet and iphone. I also HATE the little touch pads and a mouse is sometimes a space issue. I actually liked the little stick up thing in the keyboard that was on Lonovos.

[Denco]

I just bought a new machine (Lenovo) that to my great dismay - has Windows 8 installed.

Unfortunately, in my consulting business, I need Windows compatibility.

(I've used a Mac running a Windows virtual machine, before - it works about 80 percent of the time --- and the bad 20% is operations-critical)

I can tell you I"m ready to toss the machine out the window.

I'm surprised. I also bought a Lenovo a couple of months back and I haven't had any problems. Would it be worth contacting Lenovo Support?