Ha, not just me then Windows 8 IS crap

[JustinBsMum]

Got a new laptop recently and in the shop all laptops were Windows 8 so no option.

Found it infuriating. I don't have a touch pad anything so it was a real pain relearning stuff, and even the Skype version which I use a lot is not straightforward, in fact have just been looking for the calculator but goodness knows where that is.

But search online for 'Windows 8 problems' and you get rants from geeks saying users just need to read the instructions blah blah or download such and such and it's just like 7, sneer sneer, it's great for my game stuff - huh! ............so eat your words idiots.

[MrsPaddington]

I hate it!

[oldsilurian]

I think those who defend this Windows 8 rubbish must have a vested interest.
It's dreadful, as is Word 2013. Nothing wrong with Word 6 or
Offfice 4.3 !
Windows 8.1 is a bit diffrent to 8 but its still horible. BRING BACK XP !
When I buy a desktop I want a system designed for a desktop not something cobbled from a smart phone operating system.
AND why should I have to register as an XBox user to play CDs on the desktop ?. Is it Microsoft intruding into ones private life to get info that they can sell to spam email senders and people with funny accents who ring up trying to sell something you don't want or or are they just trying to convince the world Xbox is more popular than Nintendo.

[chateauferret]

It is banned from this house. We do have one PC with Windoze 7 but it's that old that it would collapse in a wheezing heap if that shite were ever installed on it.

[Turbowan]

My new computer seems to have been raped by one of those new gen tablet. Now I have little apps offspring popping up left and right and getting in the way all the damn time. Seriously though If I want a bleeping tablet by George I'll go out and buy the damn thing Microsoft. A button or shortcut to apps would have done just fine, then switching to tablet mode is just a click away. But no, you just want to force this ungodly cross breeding of PC and Tablet on an already happy PC user with simple practical needs. Oh and no start button? WHY? Start Button is the reason windows lovers keep hanging on, hypothetically. In a nutshell from a consumer's stand point: GIVE ME BACK MY PC!!!!! PS: NOT EVERYONE LOVES THE XBOX!! Too far? Well I just thought I'd throw it out there for all you Play Station Fans..

[Turbowan]

You sound like a Microsoft associate to me...

[CatsAndTheirPizza]

I really like Windows 8. I've only been using it for a couple of weeks, so maybe it's early days, but it seems quite intuitive when I didn't expect it to be and was dreading the change having read so much about it.

If you use the desktop view there is little difference. I use a tablet quite a lot, but I imagine if you have gone straight from vista without using a tablet, it could take some getting used to. Plus, it might be a bit more cumbersome without a touchscreen. Maybe it's because my expectations were so low to begin with, but I'm very happy with it.

[PedroYoniLikesCrisps]

Windows 8 is windows 7 with the metro apps added.Download classic shell,you have a start menu.Do people actually expect Microsoft not to develop and bring out new things.

I'm with you here. You can't expect Windows to stay the same forever. But really and truly 8 is the same as 7 but with some extras to match the touch screen UI. Still baffled why people seem to have such a problem with a bit of change now and again.

[Chanatan]

Windows 8 is windows 7 with the metro apps added.Download classic shell,you have a start menu.Do people actually expect Microsoft not to develop and bring out new things.

[cliveire]

You are so right, Windows 8 is a total joke, Windows 7 is so much better, I have never sworn at my pc until I got Windows 8, it is just as bad as anyones worst nightmare gets.

[cliveire]

Been using Microsoft products now for nearly 20 years, got a lap top with Windows 8, it is by far the worst product I have ever used on any pc or tablet, the people at Microsoft should be ashamed at releasing such a cowboy product and they really do deserve to lose their share of the market, it is atrocious. Windows pop up all over the place should you accidently drag your finger across the mouse pad in a manner that Windows 8 thinks you mean you want a new window, meaning you have to constantly close windows down, move back to what you were doing, it tries to be something it is not. Windows 7 knocks spots off it. I would not advise anyone to purchase any pc with windows 8 until Microsoft have sorted the problems, which are huge. Given that, it does run quicker and slicker, but the problems outweigh this a million times over. It takes me 2 to 3 times longer to do my work than it did with Windows 7, hope you are reading Microsoft, what do you pay your developers and testers for? Maybe they were on holiday!

[fukdat123]

Android OS and Apple iOS dominate the market for touchscreen phones and tablets. Microsoft came very late to the game and desperately needed some of that market so rather than develop a separate OS for touchscreen devices they push the crap that is Windows 8 on us, calling it a unified OS. It was crap when it came out and it remains crap now. Businesses don't want it, Gamers don't want it, and people using non-touch screen displays in their homes don't want it. Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with windows 8 and adding a start button to Windows 8.1 will not fix the problem, nor will installing "Classic Shell", you still have that ridiculous "Modern UI" running in the background even if you don't need it or don't want to use it, you are forced to. My advice when you buy a new PC or Laptop with Windows 8 is do a full backup of the OS first, there are lots of programs out there that can do this, then wipe Windows 8 from your HD or SSD and install Windows 7 which is supported until 2020 and will make your computing far more pleasurable.

[Stellarpunk]

It IS demonstrably counter intuitive. Someone up thread mentioned 6 clicks to shut down! I mean WTAF!

I have just tried to buy a pc with 7 on it in pc world... No can do

I shall mod my 7. Bunch of arse! MS will go down by the head. Its as bad as vista ( and dear god that was bad)

[Chanatan]

8.1 will be a free update to 8,it wont be a traditional start button from what I have read.If you want a start buton,download classic shell,I run windows 8 and only see the Metro screen when I choose to.

[LIZS]

I hear the Start button is being reintroduced for v8.1 - will that be retro installed in any updates to 8.0 ?

[Bunbaker]

OH got rid of them and put in a start button, but he has gone to bed now. Will return tomorrow.

[devilinside]

so, anyone know how to get rid of those annoying coloured tiles, or get rid of the clock that pops up and gets in the way?

[Bunbaker]

"I genuinely don't understand. I found the transition to be unbelievably easy. I'm not saying people don't have problems, but I simply don't get what all the fuss is about. There's always people who struggle with change but I've been really surprised at the issues people have been having with Win8."

Well, bully for you. You are obviously in a minority.

I agree with flatpack that Windows 8 is counter intuitive. Microsoft have made changes for the sake of change and not IMO made any improvements. If it was that easy and wonderful why are Microsoft making so many changes so soon after its release?

Once past the front page it works, but those annoying coloured tiles don't mean anything to me or to most people. I don't want to be steamrollered into making radical changes about how I operate my computer thank you.

[mummylin2495]

I have just read in the paper that Microsoft admitted users of windows 8 found it difficult. Head of marketing said " key aspects of the software will be changed in a forthcoming upgrade " A return to a more familiar PC interface -
including the start button is expected.

One analyst hailed it as the biggest U turn since Coca Cola's " new coke " 30 years ago !

[PedroYoniLikesCrisps]

I don't have a problem..... That's my point.

[flatpackhamster]

PedroYoniLikesCrisps
Self employed geek and you had problems with these things? Ok......

I didn't say I had problems with them, I said they were counter-intuitive. Moving from XP to Vista/7 was relatively easy because little had changed. Win8 has changed an awful lot. It took longer to find stuff and do it, and it was annoying because none of that stuff needed to be shoved around.

I genuinely don't understand. I found the transition to be unbelievably easy. I'm not saying people don't have problems, but I simply don't get what all the fuss is about. There's always people who struggle with change but I've been really surprised at the issues people have been having with Win8.

Perhaps, then, it's you and not everyone else who has the problem here.

[PedroYoniLikesCrisps]

Where do I install a printer? How do I connect to a domain? What about a link for my memory stick? How can I quickly and easily import my emails?

Self employed geek and you had problems with these things? Ok......

I genuinely don't understand. I found the transition to be unbelievably easy. I'm not saying people don't have problems, but I simply don't get what all the fuss is about. There's always people who struggle with change but I've been really surprised at the issues people have been having with Win8.

[flatpackhamster]

Bunbaker

One of the other main problems with Windows 8 is that it uses up a huge amount of disk space (with a load of crap you don't need)

With a typical PC coming with 500GB of disk space, I don't see that as a problem. If you said it ran slower on older processors (and it doesn't but if it did) that would be a royal PITA, but disk space isn't (in my experience at least) something anyone these days is short of.

[flatpackhamster]

PedroYoniLikesCrisps

Try moving to Apple after using Windows for years, you'll find it just as tricky (if not more so) to find your way around, but because it's an entirely different OS you'll probably accept that you need some time. But you won't bother doing the same with Windows?? Come on.

I'm a self-employed geek. I'm on these machines all day. WinXP, Vista, Win7 and 8, and MacOS. I did find working on a Mac tricky, and I still don't like the way it refuses to let me do what I want.

But at least it has the good grace not to put a crappy designed-by-a-five-year-old interface in the front. There's lots of counter-intuitive stuff in Windows 8. Where do I install a printer? How do I connect to a domain? What about a link for my memory stick? How can I quickly and easily import my emails?

With Vista to Win7 it was easy. With XP to Vista, or XP to 7, it's a touch harder but not much. But Win8 is a total swine to work with. It tries to force users who've never been forced. If you've grown up in Apple's playpen you're used to knowing your place and doing things their way. And why does Win8 do that? Not for a better or more secure user experience, but to satisfy this group of Microsoft execs' control freakery.

[Bunbaker]

One of the other main problems with Windows 8 is that it uses up a huge amount of disk space (with a load of crap you don't need)

[PedroYoniLikesCrisps]

Much preferred having a little plan in my head of the hierarchy of folders so if I didn't remember the exact title of something, or had misspelt it I knew where to look.

Ummm... Everything still works the same, you still have folders just like before (just a much more powerful search function as well).

Honestly, it's like people see the Start screen, decide they hate Microsoft and don't even bother looking at anything else. Windows 8 still has the Win7 engine underneath, it's really only the start screen which is that different. Everything else is exactly like previous versions of Windows.

Try moving to Apple after using Windows for years, you'll find it just as tricky (if not more so) to find your way around, but because it's an entirely different OS you'll probably accept that you need some time. But you won't bother doing the same with Windows?? Come on.