can I come late to the party and say how much I hate Windows 8?

[carlajean]

I'm semi-computer literate and have just bought a new mid-range laptop after our previous one was stolen. I thought I hated it because it was an Acer, but no, it's Windows 8. I can't believe how awful it is. It seems to be designed for touch screen devices, but I'm not, and I really can't work out how to do so many things, or why certain things happen. Plus, it's so ugly and the charms, it makes me wince to think of the word.
Worst of all, unless you're a geek, or want to spend £££££s on an iPad, you have no choice. When Microsoft respond to criticism of this, they always point to how many have been sold, but very few people have a choice.

Hard to switch between apps? I guess you mean in "metro" mode rather than desktop mode? The app I mentioned in my last post (Start8) has a "sister" app for running metro apps in desktop mode: www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/ Again, it costs a few £ but there's a 30 day free trial.

I didn't get on with Classic Shell at all :\

I don't know what the difference is between metro mode and desktop mode; essentially the taskbar doesn't seem to work properly.

I'm slightly reluctant to pay for something bloody Windows should be able to supply for free!

Oh, it could be you've got taskbar icons grouped. If you right-click the taskbar and click Properties and to to the Taskbar tab, there's an option called "Taskbar buttons", you probably want the "Never combine" option.

Sorry if you know about that already. It's kinda hidden so a fair few people don't know how to get "XP" style taskbars back. The windows 7/8 grouping does take a lot of getting used to and it can be a pain if your mouse is slightly off.

Thanks whattherainknows, that is really useful. I'm on my lovely work XP computer at the moment but will get onto this as soon as I get home!

I agree window 8 gets some getting used too, but if you buy a new laptop, there is now hardly any stock left with Windows7, and it appears the manufacturers are only installing 8.
Desktop systems would appear to still have the option for 7 depending on the system builder...I still offer it to my customers.
It is very very difficult to downgrade a win 8 laptop to win 7...mainly because of the new bios and lack of drivers from the manufacturers.
Also, please don't be tempted to keep Windows xp, support will be stopped in April, so no more windows updates for it , which will mean security vunerabilities and potential other problems.!
Chris Jones Pc Support.