Desktop mode, lower left side – right click on the little windows emblem.
Win 8.1 doesn’t really have a start button as understood in Win 7 and before.
Windows 10 beta and the upcoming Windows 10, however, does.
Cobrat, will we still have the task bar? I missed the start button at first, but once I pinned my frequently used programs to the task bar, I found that easier – I wouldn’t want to give that up.
Yes, it does have a taskbar.
Microsoft’s already been scolded by corporate/institutional customers for radically changing the user interface from Win 7 and before to Win 8/8.1 Metro UI.
Unless Microsoft feels antagonizing their main bread and better customers will facilitate increased business despite evidence to the contrary over the last few years…they’re not going to eliminate features most Windows users…especially corporate/institutional users are familiar with.
Then again, one can never be too sure if they’re always logical and rational about their decisions as Win 8/8.1 debacle has illustrated in terms of corporate/institutional market acceptance.
I agree that Windows 8 was a marketing fiasco.
One reason that I like it is that I do all my work on a laptop – so for me the upgrade to 8.1 also entailed buying computers with touch screens – I like the touch screen integration, but I don’t like the tiles on my main computer. Nothing annoys me more than when I click something that switches me over to the tile view unexpectedly.
On the other hand, my 2nd computer is a little Lenovo Yogo that folds into a tablet – and I tend to use that computer more often in tablet mode. So I like the option – it’s just that I think that Microsoft made a mistake in developing that as the primary mode. They should have either stuck with Windows 7 & developed/marketed 8 as a product meant for tablet users - or they should have given users a desktop-only set up option.
I use my Surface mostly in the “laptop mode” when I type, but I enjoy having the touch screen option for quicker scrolling and other things. The keyboard on the Surface exceeded my expectations. The tiles are annouing even in the tablet mode. I got rid of most of them and pinned more useful stuff to the taskbar. So yes, a more familiar interface would have been nice to have, and I am looking forward to the update!
Sounds like Windows 8 is as much of a pain as I have always heard, I am sorely tempted to return this new laptop and try to make it to Windows 10 rather than struggle to learn 8 & then upgrade to 10 ASAP and learn that.
I have had no issues with Windows 8 on my touchscreen laptop. Used it for over a year. I may have a much harder time if it wasn’t a touchscreen. I do use my search function a lot to located what I need.
Today it was announced that a free, 1 year upgrade to Windows 10 will be available for Windows 7 and 8.x users.
We ordered two laptops here. Both have Windows 8 and both are getting returned. We would rather pay more when windows 10 comes out than deal,with the hassles of Windows 8.
re: post 28: YAY!! Of course, what happens after that year???
Then you’d have to pay. However, the reports I read stated the one year limitation was only for Win 7 users…Win 8/8.1 users get free upgrades without that limitation.
However, the reporters may have gone off half-cocked so best to wait for the full story.
There are also some limitations to this policy such as whether the machine to be upgraded meets the minimum technical requirements.
I want my (%(#&%%# old start button back.
The Microsoft announcement for free upgrades after Win 10 sounds like they’re going the way of Android with free OS and paid apps.
my laptop is 2 mos old, cobrat. If it doesnt meet specs, heads will roll! Its plenty fast and had plenty of memory. Dont recall all the specs. I ended up with an HP instead of a dell.
If it’s 2 months old, it’s unlikely your notebook would fail to meet the minimum specs for Win 10.
Incidentally, the notebook I am running Win 10 beta on is a 5 year old core2duo based notebook with 4 GB of RAM a client dumped on me. Runs 64-bit version of Win 10 fine with the exception of some serious bugs one would expect from beta software.
However, if your machine is say…from the early 00s or if you want to run the 64-bit version, mid-00s, you’re out of luck even if you had 4 GB or more of RAM due to CPU instruction set limitations of the processors current back then. In some cases, the OS won’t even allow itself to install.
This is a bit of an issue considering Windows 7 can actually run decently on old PIII/IV computers with as little as 768 MB of RAM if all you need to do is run office applications and browse the web. I’ve even managed to get Win 7 to install on an old PIII Toshiba notebook with 384 MB of RAM once…though I wouldn’t recommend that configuration for daily use unless you’re a bit of a masochist.
Microsoft literally could not bring this out fast enough - Windows 8 was Apple’s biggest success since Jobs died!
The biggest problem with 8 was that it thought every type of computer was a tablet. Not only did this mean that desktop/laptop users had to learn a whole new operating system (without any discernible upside), but the inflexibility played havoc. We bought a laptop with Windows 8… and despite the fact that it had a built-in keyboard, it flashes a virtual keyboard onto the touchscreen every time you go to type. Who wants to do office work on a computer that steals half your screen!
It looks Windows 10 corrects most of these problems. It auto-detects keyboard and mouse and sets the operating mode between a Windows 7-like desktop or a Windows 8-like tablet based on what it finds, but gives the user the option of overriding if they want.
Oh, and Windows is keeping IE but is ALSO including a more streamlined Chrome-like browser as well!
I am happy with windows 7 on the other computers . It’s just this new laptop. Grrr
I just purchased DH a Microsoft Surface Pro last week. Will there be ant issue with upgrading to The new program with this tablet?