Vista to Windows 8.1

Chimpie

Chimpie

Well-known member
Back in (I think) 2008, I bought a Dell from their Outlet site, $287 for a Vista OS desktop. I never had any problems with Vista and found it perfectly fine for what I needed it to do. For the past year I've been using a Chromebook and had the desktop sitting in the closet.

This weekend I decided it was time to build the home office, spent a bit on furniture, and booted the desktop for the first time in 13 months. It worked for a bit and then after a reboot I couldn't get it past the BIOS bootup screen. I decided now is the time to upgrade.

I just purchased another Dell running Windows 8.1. Yeah, this is going to take a little getting used to. Nothing like Vista, and definitely nothing like Chrome OS.

Thankfully I had my old desktop being backed up via SugarSync so I still have access to all of my old stuff, but yeah... Windows 8.1 is weird.
 
There's nothing wrong with Windows 8. And Windows 8.1 is an even bigger improvement with the most recent update, and further improvements expected this year.

Windows 8.x takes a bit of getting used to, but it is a reliable and stable OS.
 
Windows 8.1u1 is different.
It is also very good. Quick and efficient.
There is a learning curve. If you set your mind to it and don't fall into the trap of different = bad, you can use it as it comes, with no add-on menus, with very little functional difference to Win 7 for example.
 
90% of the complaints I've seen levied against Windows 8.1 are "OMG it looks different and I fear change."

Technology changes. Adapt or die.

The vast majority of the workflows are exactly the same anyway. The dreaded "start screen" which everyone screams about gives you basically the exact same ways to access it as the old Start menu. Did you used to use a mouse to click on the lower left and navigate to your program? Still there. Did you used to hit the windows key and start typing? Still there. Did you used to pin your favorite programs to the menu and never navigate any deeper? Still there. Did you used to like your computer management shortcuts by right clicking on Start? Still there and more.

My experience in a lot of years in IT is that it's futile to continually try and shoehorn new technology into old practices. Learn how to use the new OS instead of installing crap to make it look like an old OS. It's really pretty good overall.
 
I'm W 8.1 user and I really like it. Fast, simple to use etc. Really big improvement from previous versions (and using Windows since W 95 :D )

But the version I really didn't like is Vista. Still have it at work and can't get used of it (or let's say I don't like it), specially after upgrading my home computer to W7, W8 and now W8.1.

Mac is also ok, but can't get used of it. I think it's just a matter of taste here.

Also tried Linux but not for me. Never tried Chrome OS.
 
I never had a problem with Vista. It worked for what I needed it to do.

I definitely don't want to add addons to make it work like something else. If I wanted something else, I would have bought something else.

I just have to figure out how to add Chrome and Firefox icons to the Start Menu Screen.
 
Chimpie said:
I just have to figure out how to add Chrome and Firefox icons to the Start Menu Screen.
Click to expand...

8.1 no longer allows applications to just randomly dump crap on your start screen. So you just go into the All Programs section of the start menu (scroll down or click the down arrow at the bottom) and right click any icons you want to add to Start.

Similar to the way it used to be with the Start menu to pin applications to it - go into All Programs, right click on the icon you want to pin.
 
Ridemonkey said:
8.1 no longer allows applications to just randomly dump crap on your start screen. So you just go into the All Programs section of the start menu (scroll down or click the down arrow at the bottom) and right click any icons you want to add to Start.

Similar to the way it used to be with the Start menu to pin applications to it - go into All Programs, right click on the icon you want to pin.
Click to expand...

Ahh, that was my problem. I knew about the down arrow to view the apps/programs, but I didn't see that there were more to the right. I'm all good now.

Another reason why the XF community is the best.
 
Chimpie said:
I never had a problem with Vista. It worked for what I needed it to do.

I definitely don't want to add addons to make it work like something else. If I wanted something else, I would have bought something else.

I just have to figure out how to add Chrome and Firefox icons to the Start Menu Screen.
Click to expand...
Me too. Former vista user and had no problem. I wonder why people complain about it.

Anyway, I run vista in 1,5GB RAM with 1.8 GHz Celeron 347.
 
Sheratan said:
Me too. Former vista user and had no problem. I wonder why people complain about it.

Anyway, I run vista in 1,5GB RAM with 1.8 GHz Celeron 347.
Click to expand...
Maybe my computer wasn't powerful enough, don't remember any more. Ihave Vista for a year and then upgraded to W7. Way way better. Maybe that's why Vista stays in my mind like not good enough.

Also remember that my computer restarts a lot etc.

Anyway, I'm fine with W 8.1 now. But it's true I really don't use a lot of apps in W8. I just like it that it's very fast for me.

W8 also runs well on older computers of on machines that are not that powerful.
 

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