Who here is playing with Windows 8

[yassarikhan786]

I just downloaded the release preview and installed in on a virtual hard drive. I've not had much time to play with it yet as I've not been at home for most of the day. I will have a play with it now. Anyone interested in playing around with it before buying can download the release preview from here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx

It's the Enterprise Evaluation version. You can just use Virtualbox to install it as a virtual machine.

 

[andrevautour]

I've used the release preview for a bit, and I have a retail copy coming to me on Monday. It's definitely faster feeling than 7--at first I had it installed on a regular 7200prm mechanical drive and it was preforming similar to my Windows 7 on an SSD. The Metro stuff works well for searching and it's pretty fast to search with it, but it definitely seems like one of those things that's aimed more for things like Microsoft surface, tablets, laptops. Once you get all the stuff you wanted pinned and on the desktop, you can just use it the same as 7 almost, so it's fine. I did notice that a couple of rockstar games in steam (mac payne 3 and la noire) wen't launching at all, and punkbuster for battlefield 3 was kicking my right away when i joined games (i searched and that was a noted issue is the release preview) I suspect these issues will be worked out in the retail version, or in updates.

Another issue I had with the release preview of 8 is that the Metro apps would only work for about 1 day and after that they would just open the start screen for one second and then go back to the Metro screen without opening. I had it installed a couple of times and the same thing happened both times. I imagine this will also be fixed in the retail version, though.

Personally I'm not that fussed on windows in general, and I dont use it much. I mainly only use windows for games, so I will be keeping a dual boot with Windows 7 to insure I will be able to play all my games, but I am also interested in new things so I will be installing the retail version on my gaming pc for sure and i will use it, i don't except there to be many issues with the retail version.

I will use it until I run into issues, and then I may end up going back to 7 for a time, because I don't really feel like fussing around with issues on a computer I only use for games.

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

Windows 8 overclocked my CPU for me!

But actually, I do have it installed on my main rig right now. I seriously have a problem I think, I knew I wouldn't like it but I felt like I had to do it, I don't even know. Anyone else ever get that kind of feeling where you just have to play with something, even though you know it's a bad idea?

 

[andrevautour]

Windows 8 overclocked my CPU for me!

But actually, I do have it installed on my main rig right now. I seriously have a problem I think, I knew I wouldn't like it but I felt like I had to do it, I don't even know. Anyone else ever get that kind of feeling where you just have to play with something, even though you know it's a bad idea?

yeah man that's what my pc is for playing around! i like it alright but like i said with the release preview i had problems with bf3 and max payne 3 and some other stuff like the metro apps.

to me windows has always looked like a low budget hotel or cafe that is trying to be really modern and sleek but really just looks tacky and cheap (just my opinion) windows 8 is an improvement visually id say--at the very least it does look newer--the new task manager for example definitely looks more modern than the win 7 one-- but again im really not sold on the sleek modern design of it all to be honest? i dont know. i think i like it better than the windows 7 one but cant say for sure yet you know? you do kind of get attached to the old stuff it has kind of a nostalgic feel and i think the attachment kind of just comes from that mainly.

is that the preview you have or a retail copy?

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

Retail copy my friend, really hoping Microsoft is quick in addressing bugs and making UI improvements since clean installing an OS really is time consuming so I don't want to install W7 again if I don't have to.

 

[andrevautour]

Retail copy my friend, really hoping Microsoft is quick in addressing bugs and making UI improvements since clean installing an OS really is time consuming so I don't want to install W7 again if I don't have to.

Ah, you didn't install it on a different dive and keep your copy of windows 7 around? im sure the various issues will be addressed in updates, apparently the pre release of windows 7 was the same way with punk buster glitching and all that ( i say apparently like i wasnt around i installed all the pre release version s on windows 7 at the time too haha i just dont remember any issues specifically)

how do you find the retail? do all of your games work with no issues?

Overall I think windows 8 is a good OS, but like i said Windows just isnt my favorite, there's just something about the feel of it.

also things like having a drive with a large number of video files in one folder for example it takes FOREVER just to load the view in windows explorer and if you change the view setting (like sort by date created or date modified) it takes FOREVER to refresh again and show you that view. I really don't think things like that should still be an issue in a modern OS.

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

Nope, decided not to dual boot. Probably should've, but my SSD was almost out of space and I wanted a fresh start. I haven't had time to download all my games again but Planetside 2 seems to work OK, but that's the only one I've played so far. BF3 is downloading, I'm hoping it works.

 

[andrevautour]

You don't have a separate drive for steam stuff? If you store you steam install folder on a mechanical drive you can change OS and just reinstall steam into that same location and all your games + data like screenshots etc that you've collected will all still be there! it's very handy if you ever want to move OS or dual boot or anything all your data is separate from the OS and you can access it from either OS

I have 150+ games on my storage drive I cant imagine having to download them again.

For me everything ran fine except there seemed to be something about Rockstar games LA noire and Max Payne 3 wouldnt launch I suspect other rockstar games may have had the same issue but I didnt try it. The thing with punkbuster and battlefield there was a way to manually patch PB but thats the type of thing if its not fixed in the retail version of Win 8 im sure PB will release a patch or Microsoft will or something because bf3 is very popular so lot sof people will moan about it im sure same goes with the rockstar games i imagine.

Oh also I was meaning to ask you! Are those triple 5X4 monitors on your desk in your project log? are they 1280x1024? How do you find using those?

 

[yassarikhan786]

Nope, decided not to dual boot. Probably should've, but my SSD was almost out of space and I wanted a fresh start. I haven't had time to download all my games again but Planetside 2 seems to work OK, but that's the only one I've played so far. BF3 is downloading, I'm hoping it works.

You should have installed in on a virtual machine. I don't know why I didn't install windows 8 earlier to play with it. It just didn't interest me, but as many of you guys started playing with it, I thought I might as well give it a go.

It does seem quite snappy, but I just can't get used to moving the mouse to different corners for different options. It just seems way too slow for me. I also wish there was at least a cross to close an app right away instead of dragging it to the side. These are small gripes though and I'm sure I'll get used to all of the quirks.

Are you guys using a Microsoft or a local account to login?

 

[jamesriley94]

You should have installed in on a virtual machine. I don't know why I didn't install windows 8 earlier to play with it. It just didn't interest me, but as many of you guys started playing with it, I thought I might as well give it a go.

It does seem quite snappy, but I just can't get used to moving the mouse to different corners for different options. It just seems way too slow for me. I also wish there was at least a cross to close an app right away instead of dragging it to the side. These are small gripes though and I'm sure I'll get used to all of the quirks.

Are you guys using a Microsoft or a local account to login?

I'm using my email now. You can just swap between 2 though which I had to do at the start as it didn't update details from my email account. ie - at the start my windows name was 'james riley' all lower case which displeased me greatly
Changing it on hotmail didn't update there until I switched to local and back to email again

 

[yassarikhan786]

I'm using my email now. You can just swap between 2 though which I had to do at the start as it didn't update details from my email account. ie - at the start my windows name was 'james riley' all lower case which displeased me greatly
Changing it on hotmail didn't update there until I switched to local and back to email again

Oh right, nice. Yeah I used my e-mail initially as well, then I changed to using a local account. I guess the only major difference is that logging in with your e-mail syncs all your settings, or is there something else as well?

 

[jamesriley94]

I think you can log into any windows 8 PC and keep your details can't you? Someone told me that...

It also then connects to facebook, MSN, and various other apps linked to your hotmail account.

One more issue I'm having is when I shut the PC down, if I have skype going, it crashes and refuses to shut down. Not sure if that's an update needed with skype or Windows 8 though.

 

[yassarikhan786]

I think you can log into any windows 8 PC and keep your details can't you? Someone told me that...

It also then connects to facebook, MSN, and various other apps linked to your hotmail account.

One more issue I'm having is when I shut the PC down, if I have skype going, it crashes and refuses to shut down. Not sure if that's an update needed with skype or Windows 8 though.

Yeah I think you're right. As for your skype issue I don't know. I'll download it now and check if I have the same issue.

EDIT: I'm having no issues with skype.

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

You don't have a separate drive for steam stuff? If you store you steam install folder on a mechanical drive you can change OS and just reinstall steam into that same location and all your games + data like screenshots etc that you've collected will all still be there!

Oh also I was meaning to ask you! Are those triple 5X4 monitors on your desk in your project log? are they 1280x1024? How do you find using those?

I do have a separate mechanical drive, but for all the games that I like having faster load times on I install to my SSD. A lot of my games are on the external, the only one that wasn't that I actually care about is BF3.

Also, yes I do have triple 1280x1024 monitors. To be honest, I think that multi-monitor support in Windows 8 is good in some areas, but overall I like Windows 7 better. Having to drag my mouse into the corner of the middle monitor is kind of tricky, even with the "buffer zones" they set up. Also, I thought I would be able to have the Start menu be able to open across multiple monitors, but it looks like it can only open on one since it's an app I guess, just like Mail or Messaging. And also in games, games don't recognize you have three monitors so I can only play at 1280x1024 unless I go into the Nvidia control panel and manually set the resolution to Surround. But when I do that, W8 treats the three displays as one big monitor so you get a lot of things hidden behind the bezels, which is really annoying to me. Overall I really don't like how it's implemented, and I'm waiting for some hacks that'll make it better.

You should have installed in on a virtual machine. I don't know why I didn't install windows 8 earlier to play with it. It just didn't interest me, but as many of you guys started playing with it, I thought I might as well give it a go.

Are you guys using a Microsoft or a local account to login?

Didn't want it on a VM as I wasn't really looking to play with it (I already had it installed on a laptop) but really I want to just try and learn how to use it well, since W7 will of course lose support eventually so might as well hop on the bandwagon. It's not impossible, it's just that all of the things I did so easily and quickly on W7 I now can't do anymore, which is what pisses me off about this. Hopefully it'll all get sorted quickly... Oh and I am using a Microsoft account to log on, I don't think there's any real difference besides that using the Microsoft syncs all your settings across computers.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Didn't want it on a VM as I wasn't really looking to play with it (I already had it installed on a laptop) but really I want to just try and learn how to use it well, since W7 will of course lose support eventually so might as well hop on the bandwagon. It's not impossible, it's just that all of the things I did so easily and quickly on W7 I now can't do anymore, which is what pisses me off about this. Hopefully it'll all get sorted quickly... Oh and I am using a Microsoft account to log on, I don't think there's any real difference besides that using the Microsoft syncs all your settings across computers.

Fair enough dude, the OS isn't bad by any means. It's just the stuff that we're used to is no longer there. There are shortcut keys that you can learn to make life easier though. I was watching Linus' videos on the surface tablets and they do look really tempting.

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

After some googling it looks like the Nvidia Surround issue is just a bug in the driver, really hoping they get that fixed soon so I can enjoy the OS.

 

[andrevautour]

I do have a separate mechanical drive, but for all the games that I like having faster load times on I install to my SSD. A lot of my games are on the external, the only one that wasn't that I actually care about is BF3.

Also, yes I do have triple 1280x1024 monitors. To be honest, I think that multi-monitor support in Windows 8 is good in some areas, but overall I like Windows 7 better. Having to drag my mouse into the corner of the middle monitor is kind of tricky, even with the "buffer zones" they set up. Also, I thought I would be able to have the Start menu be able to open across multiple monitors, but it looks like it can only open on one since it's an app I guess, just like Mail or Messaging. And also in games, games don't recognize you have three monitors so I can only play at 1280x1024 unless I go into the Nvidia control panel and manually set the resolution to Surround. But when I do that, W8 treats the three displays as one big monitor so you get a lot of things hidden behind the bezels, which is really annoying to me. Overall I really don't like how it's implemented, and I'm waiting for some hacks that'll make it better.



Didn't want it on a VM as I wasn't really looking to play with it (I already had it installed on a laptop) but really I want to just try and learn how to use it well, since W7 will of course lose support eventually so might as well hop on the bandwagon. It's not impossible, it's just that all of the things I did so easily and quickly on W7 I now can't do anymore, which is what pisses me off about this. Hopefully it'll all get sorted quickly... Oh and I am using a Microsoft account to log on, I don't think there's any real difference besides that using the Microsoft syncs all your settings across computers.

How do you find the 1280x1024 resolution for daily use/gaming? Personally I have always preferred a single, larger resolution screen Vs smaller multiple screens like dual or triple 1080p I remember hating the lack of desktop real estate when I had a 19" LCD with 1280x1024 resolution. I dont see too many of them around anymore--that's why I was curious when I saw them. Have you had them for a long tim?

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

On Windows 7, the three screen set up was amazing. Everything was really easy to move around and organize how I liked it. I also love gaming on these things, I don't mind the bezels much and it just looks so cool to literally be surrounded by the picture. If I could, I would get two large HD panels, and only game on one. However, this set up I have now is working alright, albeit it's not as functional on W8. The only reason I have these monitors now is because they were free; my mom brought home one a couple years ago and when I figured out she had a bunch more at her office that I could take, I just had to do it.

 

[PapaSmurf6768]

I just found a nice little work around for Surround gaming on Windows 8. It's not perfect, but it's much easier than having to go into the Nvidia control panel and changing your resolutions each time.

What I did was:
1. Configure multi-monitor in the Nvidia control panel (not surround mode, so it still recognizes all three monitors.)
2. Configure monitors for surround mode in Nvidia control panel, and set it to the bezel-corrected resolution.
3. Now all you have to do is use the Win + P shortcut to open up display properties. How I'm using it is "Extend" is normal computer mode and "PC screen only" is gaming mode, because that sets it to the Surround resolution. Again it's not perfect, but it's the fastest way of switching resolutions I've found.

 

[jamesriley94]

Thank you so much for that Papa!
That makes things so much easier than what I was doing before!