Windows 8 : Do you like it or not? - Page 2

Originally posted by: -varun-

and now back to the topic..i use XP SP2 on my outdated pc but used W7 on dad's lappy! 😃 W7 is a lot better..faster..and easier to browse. But havent had a go with W8. How is it different from W7? Im NOT a technical guy(and certainly not writing JEE😉) so pls answer from the POV of an ordinary home user. 😊

Originally posted by: Freethinker112

How outdated is your PC? Can you post some specs?

You can say Windows 8 interface has 2 parts. One is what you see in Windows 7 and what we have been familiar with for a long time. A desktop, a taskbar which shows open programs, and all the programs with their open window. In Windows 8, it is just one half of the interface, which we call "Desktop" mode. The only change you will see that the Start menu is gone. Nothing to fear, as a replacement has been added.

The other half is what we call "Modern UI" which was formerly code named Metro. This contains full screen apps. There will be no taskbar or title bar with minimize, maximize, or close buttons. The app will take up the full screen. Not many sophisticated apps are available currently but the number of apps in the Windows Store are increasing. The Modern UI also contains the Start Screen, the replacement of Start Menu.

Start Screen is the new start menu. It contains "tiles", little rectangular or square boxes. They can be "live" or normal. Live tiles keep updating and show you new info. For example, there is a weather tile, which will show the current weather of your city. There is a messenger tile which shows if someone sends you a message on chat, a mail tile which will show you new mails, etc. Each tile is like a front page for apps. So, there is a Message app, from where you can chat with your friends and when you are doing something else, the tile will keep updating so that you are up to date. So, Start Screen is like an overview, you can take a look at mail, message, FB notification, news, weather, calendar etc. simultaneously at one place. Also, whenever you receive anything like a message or mail, you will get a notification in upper right hand, no matter what you are doing.

One more new introduction are the "Charms" bar. Their functionality is tied to each app i.e. they will show different options for different apps. The include options to search, share, go back to Start, interact with devices like printers, and Settings. For example, with search, you can search for a song in the Music app. Share will let you share a picture from Photos app to FB or Twitter.

There is also a lock screen before login. It will show you date and time and also how many new mails and messages you have.

And one more good thing is MS account integration. You can tie your computer to your Hotmail account. So, many of your settings will be saved. And the metro apps you download form Windows Store will also be tied to your account. Whenever you format, you can simply login and many things will become as they were, automatically!

So, there will be a slight learning curve, because you will be new gestures to do the things now. You will now work with the corners. Corners have specific tasks now. You can switch between the Start Screen and Desktop by taking mouse in the bottom-left corner. Going to upper left corner will show you open Metro apps. To close a Metro app, you first move your mouse to the top of screen. The pointer will turn into a hand. Now you click and hold the mouse button, and drag the app down the screen. It will close. And you can activate the charms bar by going into the upper right hand corner. And many apps have some options which can be activated by right clicking. If for some case right clicking at a place doesn't bring anything, you can try going to the top of screen, where the pointer turns into a hand, and then right click.

One more feature is that you can reset if Windows is becoming slow, without disc! It is like formatting. There are two options. One will save your documents etc. and will make Windows new. Other will wipe everything and will make Windows brand new. So, now you can format without disc, from Windows itself!

There are other small changes too. For example if you are copying two things, you used to see them in different windows, right? But now, all your copy tasks are shown at one place. And now you can pause and resume copy-paste or cut-paste too. Task manager is simplified. And the Windows is very fast and responsive. Performance improvements are awesome. It boots within 5 seconds for me.

Too long, eh? My hand is aching too. 😆 It is good, you should try it and see for yourself.