Windows 8 forum: Open Win 8 discussion

I agree to your point of view about Microsoft's financial motives in making Metro, but then again, PC environment (also Mac) is much more prone to piracy than small closed-ecosystem devices such as iOS or WP. For me Metro existence itself doesn't make me sick ( I like the idea of weather, calendar, e-mail information pop out in Start) but what can a normal desktop do to use the most out of it without additional hardware (e.g touch screen mirroring device) ?

Seems Microsoft is going to take our money in both softwares and hardwares.

I have installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview on 2 of my netbooks. That had Windows 7, but now run Windows 8 as the only OS. In this version of Windows 8 you can no longer disable the Metro theme like you could in the Developers Preview. But you can install as third party software like Classic Shell which works on Windows 8. And will give you both the start orb and Windows 7 or XP start menu. See here-http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

Another alternative is Start Menu 7 that also puts the start orb and Windows 7 start menu into Windows 8. But Classic Shell is the best one as it has the most features. And the advantage of Classic Shell is that it takes over your Windows key so you don't get the Metro start menu,when you press the Windows key.You get the Classic Windows 7 start menu. So you only see the Metro start screen on start up, and hardly deal with it at all.

I have installed Classic Shell on my Windows 8. And not only that but most of the Windows XP and Vista software works on Windows 8. Including the games from Windows XP and Microsoft Entertainment Pack Puzzle Collection for Windows 95 and Windows NT work on Windows 8.

Because I am running Windows 8 on a netbook the Metro apps don't work so I uninstalled them. And I am using the normal software I use on Windows 7and Windows XP. All of which works.

There is just one problem I have which is a bug that Microsoft have not fixed yet. And that is when you have opened files in Windows Explorer several times you can no longer right click with your mouse. So you have to restart the computer,then right click is restored. I don't know why this is. But I think we will have to wait for the next edition of Windows 8 before this is fixed.

But apart from that Windows 8 is very usable and more so if you install the start menu software like Classic Shell. then you have the " traditional" Windows 7 start menu you are used to. Andrea Borman.

Samkh,I have looked on the Microsoft website about the updates,patches for April 2012 and there is no April patch for Windows 8. And I have set my Windows 8 to automatic updates but the only updates I get are definitions for Windows Defender.

And I have found that although you can manually download updates for Windows XP,Vista and 7 from the Microsoft website.There are no updates that can be downloaded from the website for Windows 8. Probably because it is not officially supported yet.

I would like to be able to get that bug with the Windows Explorer fixed. So that the right click with the mouse does not stop working after I have opened several files. Then I have to restart the computer and right click is back again. But I would like to be able to fix that. But it they have not made a patch or an update for this on Windows 8. And the updates that you can download manually from the Microsoft website are for Windows 7 so won't install on Windows 8. So I did not get the April patch it seems. Andrea Borman.

Well Samkh,on Windows 7 and Windows XP ,if you missed an update or it failed to install,you can download it manually from the Microsoft website. But there is no such option for Windows 8. As all of the security updates patches are for Windows XP,Windows Vista and Windows 7 only not Windows 8. So if I download a Windows 7 update it won't install on Windows 8.

When you first install Windows 8 you get first time updates but you don't get very many, like on Windows XP or 7. After that you just get updates for Windows Defender. At least that is all I get now. I am running the English version of Windows 8 CP. It is the same version most people have got. Andrea Borman.

Well I have manually installed a few Windows updates of my own on Windows 8 from the Microsoft website. As you know we don't get many updates that we should be getting,like we do on Windows 7.

I installed Microsoft.Net frame work,3.5 and 20 downloaded manually from the website. I also installed Direct X 9,10 and 11 that is installed as an update manually and Virtual C Re-Distributable manually. And also Malicious Software Removal Tool-MRT manually. As for some reason we don't get that on Windows 8 either.Maybe that will help Windows 8 run more smoothly.

Also there is now a Ribbon Disabler for 32 bit Windows 8 CP at Win Aero .com Here- http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.20

This disables the ribbon in Windows Explorer and makes it look like Windows 7 Explorer. But if you want the ribbon back again,you just run the tool again. But I don't think that the ribbon is anything to do with the mouse click problem I had in Windows Explorer.

Some people might want to disable the ribbon, but it has not given me any problems. But what would be more useful to most people would be a Metro disabler. Like we could do on Windows 8 Developers Preview. But even though we can no longer disable Metro on CP we can at least use Classic Shell and other start menu software.To get back the Windows 7 start button and start menu. Which is what I will use(Classic Shell or Start Menu 7) when the final version of Windows 8 goes out on sale. Andrea Borman.

What are you going to do when your Windows 8 CP times out and expires on these two computers?

Mark

unlucky , win8 haven't appeared my country ...