Win 8.1

[DaveB]

Hi Chaps

Got a new laptop for SWMBO. Didn't cost a great deal and it's not the most powerful chip in the world but it's Asus (a name I trust) and came with Win8.1 64bit. After a day.. I'm not a huge fan of Win8.1. It's ok on my mobile but I don't like it on the laptop. Fortunately.. it's easy to go to a more traditional look and I'm happier with that (so is SWMBO which is the important thing). One problem with this is that it always loads to the horrible 8.1 live-tile screen and not the 'olde worlde' version I want. Is there a way I make it default load to the traditional look or do I/we have to click on the desktop tile every time the pc is started?

ATB
DaveB

[DaveG]

Yep, you can.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2043243/ ... s-8-1.html

Also, take a look at Classic Shell

[DaveB]

Ooo Dave.. what a star

Almost the first thing the laptop did when it first loaded was offer me Win10. I declined because I didn't have time for a 3gig download I hoped it would pop up again today as I've had time since I came back from work but true to form.. it hasn't I'm a bit worried it will ask for a registration key and I don't have one.. the laptop came pre-loaded with 8.1 x64 and I don't want to go through all the hassle of a download only to be foiled at the last hurdle. What do you think mate?
ATB
DaveB

[DaveG]

The win10 upgrade should work fine, you won't need to enter a key.

[DaveB]

Cheers Dave

Would you recommend waiting for the pc to prompt again or go straight to Windows and download it? I don't really want Win10 but I reasoned that if it goes on now while there's next to nothing on it.. it'll stand a better chance of running ok. I've not been at the forefront of a new OS since Win95 so this is all very exciting
ATB
DaveB

[airboatr]

Hi Dave,

You can download the ISO , burn it to a disk. And take up to a year to install it.
Not sure when that year started though.

It's official release date I'd reckon.

[DaveG]

I'd probably go for it straight away. I assume you've got the "Get Win10" icon on the notification bar, so you should be able to start it from that. If not you can download the tool here:http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software ... /windows10

Good luck!

[DaveB]

Cheers fellas

SWMBO just asked for me to put some card games on there for her. What a trauma that was If downloading and installing Win10 is anywhere near as traumatic.. I think I'll give up now

I put Libre Office on it earlier and initially went for the latest version (5). The download indicated over 5hrs so I knocked it on the head and went for the v4 stable version. That started coming down ok then kinda stopped. Eventually, I paused the download.. waited a little while then restarted the download and the remainder fled down. It installed no problem. For some reason, I looked at the hidden icons and the cloud icon said it had just been updated. Updated with what?? When setting the laptop up, it asked if I wanted to send everything to the cloud (recommended) and I took the 'no thanks' (not recommended) option but I fear it's doing it anyway. I don't want anything to go to the cloud.. there's absolutely no need.

Still.. it's booting to the desktop now I did actually see the option you posted Dave but didn't know what it was. There's a lot of that going on at the moment Thank god I can come here to the desktop and be silly on Win7. At least I have a vague idea what's going on
ATB
DaveB

[Dev One]

Take care with some of the old card games if going to W10. SWMBO tried W10 after using W7 & found that a lot of her old freeware games would not work so she has gone back to W7.
I d'led W10 onto a USB so I could update more that one 'puter if I needed to & to also have a back up.
For your key just go to 'Computer' 'properties' it should be displayed there or on the underside of your laptop.
Good luck
Keith

P.S. I must admit that I like W10 for ease of settings & deleting or hiding your unwanted tiles, unless of course you have a touchscreen job, then you might like to keep more of them displayed.
What I don't like is the inability to decide which updates to install.......they all get installed whether you like it or not!
Some over at SOH bewail troubles with FS9 in W8.1 & W10 not seeing the disc 4 with a latest update. Funny mine working OK at the moment on my W8.1 Tower, but have No CD on laptop!
K

[DaveB]

Hello Mate

The first thing she asked for when the new laptop came to life was her old card games be put on it!! I'd salvaged them off our old office pc which ran XP and put them on our 'donated' Vista laptop and warned her that they may not work on the new one because of their age but blow me down.. they work just fine. Fortunately, there's no install routine. I simply copied the folder, put it in programs (x86) and made a shortcut to the desktop then held my breath after double clicking the icon The card games I downloaded yesterday came from the Store. The difficult thing was finding where they'd downloaded too I eventually found them as an app by going back to the old (read original) 'Start' page then clicking on the down arrow (the one which shows all the apps in alphabetical order). Thank goodness I have a Windows phone as 8.1 is similar although it's still very alien being on a pc. I've yet to figure how I get an icon for these new games onto the retro desktop

I swear the OS is ignoring me a lot of the time. It keeps loading the touchscreen keyboard on the taskbar (the laptop doesn't have a touchscreen) so I click on the taskbar, find the touchscreen keyboard and untick it and it goes. If at some point I've gone back to the 'Start' desktop.. when returning to the retro desktop, the bloody touchscreen icon is back on the taskbar

Re the registration key.. I'd already done the obvious and looked for a sticker with it printed on I'll see if I can find the pc properties again to see if it's there.

Overall.. I don't like Win8.1 at all. It's new, clean, mobile phone look is all wasted on me. I tolerate it on the phone because the phone is just that.. a phone. I don't have to sit and work on/at it. Maybe if the new laptop was a tablet or had a touchscreen.. I may feel different but at the moment, it feels like trying to tie shoe laces with gloves on.. unnecessarily difficult.

ATB
DaveB