Windows 8 forum: Windows 8 just isn't my thing, can I install Windows 7 over

so many people are trying so hard to dislike Windows 8. It is faster, more secure, and offers features and utilities that are not available in Win7. I have been using it for 3 months and would not now contemplate going back to 7, I am 61 years old and have only had a home computer for around two years, so if I can manage the change there is hope for you yet.

If you really want to have it look and feel as much like 7 as you can it is not necessary to download and install free/paid apps to achieve that, so before you go to the trouble and expense of doing that or even downgrading to 7 I urge you to try the following three steps first.

1. If you don't want to interact with the start screen at all, simply drag the desktop tile to the top left position of the first group of tiles (if it's not there already) - then went you boot-up/log-in press enter and you go straight to the desktop.

2. Enable the Desktop toolbar - right-click on Taskbar>Tools and click to enable - then create desktop shortcuts for your documents, pictures, music and video folders. (right-click on the folder in File (ie Windows) Explorer, click create shortcut, click yes to place on desktop.

Now create three or four desktop folders for your favourite/most used programs - eg Tools, Security, A/V Apps etc., (right-click on desktop, New>folder, name it, then drag and drop shortcuts as required to these folders. Along with the default desktop icons for computer, control panel etc. you now have the equivalent of the first part of the old start menu.

3. To recreate the all programs part, create a new toolbar for the taskbar as follows - right-click on the Taskbar, select Toolbars, and then go to New Toolbar. You'll be prompted to choose a folder. Instead, paste the following.

%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

in the filename line and click select folder - you now have a programs toolbar which replicates the all programs part of the old start menu.

Hope you, and maybe others, will consider this before giving up on Win8.

Good luck

I would take your point, but it's not, it's a forum in which members are invited to express their opinions on the topic posted. The presumption is that Gary chose this forum for his question to elicit those views, though since they seem to be evenly divided, I don't know if he will be any further forward with it. He doesn't seem to have settled on an answer yet, at any rate.

I'm puzzled as to why you posted your comment as a reply to mine, since I have not told him he is wrong, merely asked him to consider other options before taking the steps to downgrade.

Bear in mind, too, that others, as yet undecided on the issue, will be reading these comments to help them with their problem, which is why I posted the tips above as a kind of half-way-house between adding third-party apps (or installing crap as you say) to alter the look of 8 and going the whole way with a downgrade. I am gratified that at least four members have found that helpful.

Adrian Kingley-Hughes over on ZDNet did some tests and 8 is marginally faster in a number of areas. No huge differences, but if you're timing everything closely, slightly faster in some areas.

I have had 7 and 8 on the same hardware (thanks to a crash ...) and it seems that copying a large group of files sometimes has a slightly faster throughput with 8. It does boot slightly faster. But with an SSD you're talking maybe 3 seconds faster--so who really cares?

"File (ie Windows) Explorer" - so, has Windows 8 renamed the File Manager to "File Explorer?" The most aggravating aspect of Microsoft is their penchant for renaming and rearranging the file system with each new version of Windows. For years we had CHKDSK, which they renamed that to something else for a few years before going back to CHKDSK. For years the file system manager was called FILE MANAGER, until someone got the idea of making it more like Internet Explorer by calling it just plain EXPLORER. Now they are half-way back to FILE MANAGER. (?) I never understood the rationale for substantially rearranging the file system in Windows XP Pro from what was used in the non-Pro version of XP. I barely got started in Vista when Windows 7 came out, again with what I consider unnecessary large changes in the file system. I swore I would never upgrade to a new Microsoft OS after Win 7, and 8 is consolidating my resolve. When Win 7 is no longer supported, Linux here I come!

THERE is why you got used to it so quickly, you've not had the experience, and don't have to unlearn fifteen years of Windows with a Start button. New users, surely, will adapt more quickly than users who've been doing the same things SINCE THEY GOT a computer in, say 1998. New users have had to learn recently, and don't have to unlearn as much.
I threw the baby out with the bathwater, anyway, and just installed Linux. With that, you can easily customize your user experience the way you want, making your system look and feel like any version of windows, or mac, or anything you want. That, I was willing to learn, it didn't require unlearning windows, simply learning new things.
To the original questioner, I'd say, install Linux, leaving a dual boot, and that way you have a windows install if you really have to use it for a program or two (probably no more than that) that won't work on Linux without a lot of trouble.
Then, you can decide what you want, you can even get a 3-D taskbar, several floating tool menus, multiple desktops and monitors, easily, and for the most part, it's all free, and much more secure than a virus-laden windows environment, which had critical updates within THREE days of release!

You actually answered this persons question with your answer but in a backwards way. It's just too much trouble to try and make Windows 8 look like Windows 7. He doesn't say but if he doesn't have a Touch Screen computer then it's downright flustrating to use with the mouse.

I don't want to hack the registery, and create toolbars to make it look like Windows 7. I don't think being faster for the mormal user is a factor. If you want it to boot faster then get an SSD Drive for Drive C and your Windows 7 will boot like magic in 10 seconds.

I have 3 registered copies of Windows 7 and 1 of Windows 8 but I've already removed Windows 8 and gone back to Windows 7.
My advice to anyone who bought a pc with Windows 8 and doesn't like it, just purchase an OEM Copy of Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, about $89 at Fry's, and do a new install. Load all the updates get any drivers you need from your hardware site, HP, Dell, etc.
Your new pc should have a reserve partition with Windows 8 on it so you can reload it if you ever want to sell it or something.

I would hesitate to take the advice of someone who has only two years experience with a home computer, and that with Windows 7. Maybe I am a snob, but I have a different view of the change because of being around PCs since before Windows 1.0.

Yeah, Windows 8 takes a little getting used to. It is radically different, far more different from Windows 7 than Windows XP was from Windows 98. It may even be more different than Windows 95 was from Windows 3, which was barely usable unless you were one of those patient sorts who saved their work frequently and could tolerate a crash every ten minutes or so.

But although I will criticize the Metro UI until I'm blue in the mouth (at least for desktop use), it is virtually irrelevant on the desktop, and the desktop is familiar enough that it only takes a few hours of use, and occasionally googling your particular question or issue, to become comfortable with it.

And everything's faster, cleaner, crisper, and more secure, with Windows 8. It boots up so rapidly that you can actually use it for little, momentary things like looking up an actor's name on a TV show or something during an ad break.

Give yourself a little more time with it. It is not particularly sensible to resist change in the IT world, because it is unavoidable, rapid and inevitable. And Windows 8 is DEFINITELY a change for the better.

I am 72 years old and have had home computers for 25 years and I hate Windows 8. Why? Because it appears to be for kindergarteners. That's fine for newbees and young children, but for those of us who are used to having a lot of control over the system, it's very irritating. Microsoft should understand that and offer two versions. One for us control freaks and another for all the rest.

Ruth

I have three machines on Win 8 as of the end of 2012. Gary, I urge you to not make a mistake and try to go back to Windows 7 from what you have already purchased. None of my computers are touchscreen and they all work just like XP or Win 7 machines (no tiles).

Try instead a Start8 ($5) or free Classic Shell Startup program instead. (I recommend Start8 because it is faster and there is sometimes hesitation in Classic Shell.)

There are security advantages to be had with Win 8 that you will need in the future. My view of software companies is that the brightest folks will be working on the newest security software fixes. Why not stay with the new software platform you have?

Best of luck!

Agreed. W8 is a nightm are. The Start screen is a joke when compared to the iPad for touch uses. Plus, the programs are a cut-down-version of the real ones, i.e. Internet Explorer. The old Start screen is still much better. To make W8 similar to W7 get START from Stardock Software. I have been using it for the past month and it eliminates most of the user issues with W8.

However, my mouse cursor still jumps all over the place when typing/keyboarding. Who knew that this would be a benefit of W8:)

Gary G.:

I've been wondering the same thing and talked to my computer store people (computer-related items are the only items they sell, so they should know) and I was told that it can be done, but it requires not only changing the OS from 8 to 7, but also the drivers and other matters so compatibility is not a problem. So, I will still try to find a computer with Windows 7 and upgrade later if I feel the need or want to. Upgrading is always easier and simpler than going "backward".

Windows installers (all of them, actually) guard against installing an older version of Windows on top of a newer one.
You CAN install it, however, you will likely want to contact your PC's maker and ask if they have the option to downgrade to Windows 7. More often than not, PC makers do give the option of doing this for free or a lower cost.
You can go out and buy a copy of Windows 7, but why spend money on it if you don't have to. You will likely get a full version disc from whomever you got the system from. There IS a way to install using an upgrade copy - but I do not think Microsoft would be too happy with me if I posted this information. The information, by the way, is already on the web - search for "install Windows upgrade clean"
Be sure to back up any important documents (if you've got any) on the new PC before installing Windows 7. You may need to consult your owner's manual to see how you can make your PC boot from the optical drive (DVD or Blu Ray) instead of booting from the hard drive/SSD.
When you're ready, simply insert the disk in the drive, boot and follow the instructions for a CLEAN install. There's not too much more to it.

Of course it is possible but you have to format your computer before you install Any Operating Sysytem
and it is a very easy and simple process

This is not always the case. I have had a few warranty claims with my laptops over the years and this has never happened. The warranties include mail-in repair. Part of the preparation for mailing the laptop is to remove the hard drive. That was also the case with laptops at work when I was an IT tech. Not sure how it works with desktop PCs as we had on-site repair (and very few warranty claims on PCs.) Most warranty problems were with monitors and printers.