David Jenkins
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 11:41 AM |
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If you want to upgrade to Windows 8, get your order in quick!
If anyone here has Windows XP, Vista or 7 and is considering an upgrade to Windows 8, get your order in quick as the special offer is about to run
out.
Until the end of January you can download an upgrade to Win 8 Pro for £24.99 from Microsoft
UK, or £49.99 if you want a DVD in a box. When the offer closes the price will go up x6, to around £150! The ordinary Win 8 (not Pro) will
cost around £75.
Of course, there's a down-side - if you've currently got XP or Vista (as in my case) then you'll have to reinstall all your apps
afterwards... 
I've just done this on my laptop. Not too painful a process, but reinstalling apps is a pain. There's also a steep learning curve, but
that's not too bad.
I'm mainly a Linux user, but keep my laptop as Windows for those occasions where only Windoze will do... however, I really hated Vista, which is
why I jumped at this opportunity. Also, Microsoft seem to be pulling back on Vista support (but no evidence for that).
Only time will tell how this upgrade will work out... 
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splitrivet
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 12:36 PM |
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Sorry David dont know why anyone would want Windows 8 its orrible, the wifes new laptop has it on, downloaded some software so it runs like 7.
Mind you if your running Vista a kick in the goolies is an improvement.
Cheers,
Bob
I used to be a Werewolf but I'm alright nowwoooooooooooooo
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johnemms
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 12:43 PM |
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Says I've got to pay to upgrade my MS Office ..
Think i'll stick with win 7 ...
Running Linux Mint on another PC realy good ..
http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_nadia_whatsnew.php
Own chassis & Build - First time pass!!
"7's" aren't really "cars", they are 'experiences"
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phelpsa
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 12:52 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by johnemms
Says I've got to pay to upgrade my MS Office ..
Think i'll stick with win 7 ...
Running Linux Mint on another PC realy good ..
http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_nadia_whatsnew.php
What office are you running? My 2010 transferred straight over.
I've moved to 8 on laptop and desktop and although the features aren't of any real advantage, i have noticed a reasonable performance
increase.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 12:53 PM |
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I can't argue with either comment - I use Linux Mint for most of my time, and I'm very happy with it.
Vista used to upset me every time I used it - I'd get blocked and messed about almost every time I tried to do something.
Strangely enough - I haven't found anything that really annoys me with Win 8 (yet) apart from the installation where it decided that it would
use my WiFi connection - even though there was a faster wired ethernet connection available... but that happened in Vista too...
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MakeEverything
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 01:04 PM |
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For once, i have a computer that is running well, and without problems. I would put money on this changing if i tried to update, so im going to leave
it alone for now.
Thanks for the heads up though. I did consider it.
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
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snakebelly
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 01:06 PM |
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IT is my daily business and i only upograded to Windows 7 8 months ago....draw your own conculsion, ill be sticking with 7 to the bitter end as 8
offers me nothing i dont already have, apart from (IMO) a really crappy UI
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wilkingj
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 01:23 PM |
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My son just bought a Laptop from Ebuyer with no O/S.
Good price (£250- free delivery), and good machine etc.
Went to load my XP on it so we could upgrade to Win8 as this is the cheapest offer on at the moment, Win7 is £70.
However, the Lappy is SO new, that we couldnt get XP to load. Its a problem with the drivers, ie XP doesnt have them.
In the end we had to buy Win7. So not a huge saving.
So be aware that very new PC's might not take Win XP, and then you cant do this upgrade.
ie check before parting wth your cash if going down this route!
Just my 2d's worth.
1. The point of a journey is not to arrive.
2. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Best Regards
Geoff
http://www.v8viento.co.uk
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 01:23 PM |
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I couldn't afford an upgrade to Windows 7 - otherwise I'd have done that instead...
I should add that my laptop isn't important to my daily life - if Win 8 screws up then my life goes on - if it was my main machine then I may
have done things differently.
Anyway - back to the original post - IF you wanted an upgrade, buy now!
[Edited on 20/1/13 by David Jenkins]
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britishtrident
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 01:33 PM |
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The experience of using Windows 8 is like putting your brains through a mincing machine, the guy that was in charge of windows development got
kicked out just after it was launched.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 01:40 PM |
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Honestly - I don't find it that bad! Though maybe that just shows how awful Vista was!
This helped though - Hints
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Slimy38
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 01:51 PM |
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I'm still working on every other Windows OS being decent. So 98 was good, ME was really bad, XP was really good, Vista sucked the big one, 7 is
the current daddy, and now 8 is, well you get the idea.
I was really impressed with the amount of hardware that can run Windows 7. My current laptop doesn't meet the Vista minimum requirements, but it
works fine with 7 and is pretty quick. I'm just missing the full 'aero' experience, but I'm not worried about that.
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britishtrident
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 02:01 PM |
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Windows 7 is rock solid, the only thing with win 7 is to avoid the poverty spec versions.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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djtom
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 02:14 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
I'm still working on every other Windows OS being decent. So 98 was good, ME was really bad, XP was really good, Vista sucked the big one, 7 is
the current daddy, and now 8 is, well you get the idea.
You missed Win 2000, which spoils the theory somewhat...!
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dlatch
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 02:44 PM |
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my laptop runs win 7 which i love does everything you could ask from it so won't be changing that anytime soon and as my desktop machine is
running XP with no issues i will leave it alone but the future lack of security updates could be a worry so i may do my online shopping/banking on the
laptop only in the future
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Slimy38
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 03:01 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by djtom
quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
I'm still working on every other Windows OS being decent. So 98 was good, ME was really bad, XP was really good, Vista sucked the big one, 7 is
the current daddy, and now 8 is, well you get the idea.
You missed Win 2000, which spoils the theory somewhat...!
I also excluded Windows NT and 2003, but unless I'm very much mistaken those Windows versions weren't sold for 'home' use?
(Although there is an NT Workstation... perhaps the theory is pretty garbage!  )
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MakeEverything
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 04:38 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
quote:
Originally posted by djtom
quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
I'm still working on every other Windows OS being decent. So 98 was good, ME was really bad, XP was really good, Vista sucked the big one, 7 is
the current daddy, and now 8 is, well you get the idea.
You missed Win 2000, which spoils the theory somewhat...!
I also excluded Windows NT and 2003, but unless I'm very much mistaken those Windows versions weren't sold for 'home' use?
(Although there is an NT Workstation... perhaps the theory is pretty garbage! )
Werent 2000 and ME derivatives of one or the other? I had ME, and the startup screen was always Windows 2000 Media Edition. Both came out at or
about the same time iirc. NT was ok as a business OS because of its (funnily enough) networking benefits but not for home use - i tried it.
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
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Slimy38
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 06:11 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MakeEverything
Werent 2000 and ME derivatives of one or the other? I had ME, and the startup screen was always Windows 2000 Media Edition. Both came out at or
about the same time iirc. NT was ok as a business OS because of its (funnily enough) networking benefits but not for home use - i tried it.
I also tried NT for a home PC, it's lack of any decently up to date version of Direct X scuppered any attempt at being useful. Very reliable for
business though.
The 'ME' that I was referring to was the Millenium Edition, which I believe was based on the 9x versions (without DOS and any ability to
run things properly!), whereas 2000 was NT based. Then we got XP that was the first attempt at a home version of NT, hence much more reliable.
Edit: I can't find any reference anywhere to a Windows 2000 media edition?
[Edited on 20/1/13 by Slimy38]
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 08:16 PM |
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My lovely wife bought me a 512GB SSD for Christmas, and felt it was probably time to upgrade the rest of my PC anyway and went for Windows 8 as it was
so much cheaper than 7 (previously running XP). The "Modern" (previously called "Metro" ) front end is simply a very bad joke
for non-touchscreen desktop use as far as I can see, but the rest of Winodws 8 seems pretty good. I bought
Start8 to get me a proper Windows 7 style start menu, and I am very happy with it. Win 8 is
supposed to be a little faster booting that Win 7, and with the SSD it is insanely fast. It boots to the login screen in about 5 seconds after the
BIOS screen finishes, and from "sleep" it's ready to use in under 2 seconds.
The only significant issue is I've had is a couple of "white screens", a bit like a BSOD but a plain white screen with no
information shown. After googling this seems to have happened to quite a few people, but no explanations or fixes as yet.
My wife also upgraded her laptop from Win 7 and has so far not seen any problems.
[Edited on 20/1/13 by MikeRJ]
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 20/1/13 at 09:11 PM |
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There's another front end (free) called Classic Shell, which gives you several start menus to play with.
I've got it, but not installed it yet - I'm trying to see if I can cope with the Win8 interface before I do. Managing OK so far, so may
not bother.
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Ninehigh
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| posted on 25/1/13 at 09:27 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
The experience of using Windows 8 is like putting your brains through a mincing machine, the guy that was in charge of windows development got
kicked out just after it was launched.
Not surprised. Mum's new laptop has it, took us BOTH 20 minutes to find out how to turn it off.. Only to find the next day it wasn't
turned off just logged out. I can't get it to do squat
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 26/1/13 at 10:30 AM |
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I've just set mine up so that it shuts down cleanly when I push the big on-off button on the laptop... look in the power setup part of the
control panel.
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onenastyviper
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| posted on 26/1/13 at 11:15 AM |
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Running Linux Mint on a 7 year old laptop formerly XP and struggled with AV, Flash, M$ updates etc.
Can now watch videos with no problems, some HD video as well.
The wierd thing is that now the wireless LAN performance has greatly improved as well - this was an immediate change, go figure?
Managed to get wireless printer drivers and installed within 5minutes and printed 30 seconds later.
OK, it is not quite the same as windows bu I am getting used to it and finding it easier every day.
I think I am just about done with M$ products.
No sermon on how Linux is better and M$ sucks but for me and my elderly machine, it is a great change.
If you are seriously considering an OS change, try a live CD of a flavour of Linux (Ubuntu, Mint or one of the others). They don't install
anything and just run from the CD...OK they may not be super fast but remember that it is running from the CD or DVD. I believe that there are also
versions and tools that will enable the transition from windows to linux.
One word of warning, like anything, if you are tempted into changing OS, remember to backup all your important documents just in case.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 26/1/13 at 11:24 AM |
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I run Linux Mint on my main machine - I also have a spare HDD with Linux on it for putting in my laptop when I want!
As I've said before, I only use Windoze for those times when only Windoze will do - thankfully, not too often.
The only reason I moved to Win 8 was because I hated Vista so much. Now, I'm starting to like Win 8! I wouldn't change my main system to
it though, not in a million years...
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