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Windows 8 ARGH!!!!

W

wornout wrench

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2012
Messages
740
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canada
My old laptop just got to the point where it wasn't worth trying to repair.
So several months ago I went out and bought a new one.
When checking out the different stores for the best price, one of them would do something to the system so that it was running windows 8 but still looked like 7. They only wanted another $100 or so to do it.

Oh no, says Brian, I need to keep up with technology, I'll go with the OS on the unit and get used to it.

I HATE IT BIG TIME :bash:bash:bash

Between freezing up and every time you get close to an edge, you wind up in a different app.

Some days I think that it is possessed by some kind of demond

GAHHHHH :Banghead:Banghead

The $100 might not be so bad after all.

What are you guys doing to get past this silly OS that was designed for a tablet, not a laptop?:beatsme
 
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L

lantraxco

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
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7,704
Location
Elsewhen
Ummmmm... Stay with Windows 7? I finally had to go to 7 because Quickbooks won't run on XP anymore, and because they're all in collusion, the integrated credit card processing in the older version of Quickbooks was shut off to force those of us that use it to buy the newer version. I loved XP Pro for years, and although there were some issues with it and I see a couple improvements in 7, there are a lot of things that were obvious in XP that apparently I have to look up to be able to do them in Win7, the buttons ain't there anymore. So far I have been too lazy to switch to Linux and too stubborn to go Mac, but I can feel it coming.

Good luck with it.....
 
W

wornout wrench

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2012
Messages
740
Location
canada
JD955SC said:
Don't pay some fool to change the format for you. That's throwing money away IMHO.

http://blog.laptopmag.com/make-windows-8-like-windows-7
Click to expand...

That is just the kind of thing that I am looking for. Ten to One that is what the local guys were going to charge me the top dollar for.
I have to head out the door for work soon (nightshift and today is my Monday:( ) but I will have a good look at it later.

Have you used this one?

Many thanks

Brian
 
JD955SC

JD955SC

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2011
Messages
1,356
Location
The South
wornout wrench said:
That is just the kind of thing that I am looking for. Ten to One that is what the local guys were going to charge me the top dollar for.
I have to head out the door for work soon (nightshift and today is my Monday:( ) but I will have a good look at it later.

Have you used this one?

Many thanks

Brian
Click to expand...

I have not, as I do not have a Windows 8 machine (yet) but I've heard a lot of people talk about changing the appearance.

I have heard Classic Shell, as mentioned in the article, plus it's free, as a good one to try out.

All I did was google "how to make windows 8 look like windows 7" and several useful links came up.

Any time I have a computer issue, I google it first. I have solved many, many, many problems by doing that simple step. Also learned a lot, too.

When an electronics retailer offers to "set stuff up for you" it's usually a giant rip-off. Try it yourself first.

Hell I'm not even the most computer smart person but I just fixed my laptop today...the power port was messed up, so I took it apart and swapped in a new one and put it all back together.

My coworkers think I'm a computer genius but in reality, all I do is try to do some research before tackling a problem.
 
still learn'n

still learn'n

Senior Member
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Feb 6, 2012
Messages
455
Location
Kansas
did you have to solder in a new one to mother board? Mine went bad then I was using a dock and that worked and now it bit the dust!
 
RonG

RonG

Charter Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2003
Messages
1,833
Location
Meriden ct
Occupation
heavy equipment operator
That power jack install can be a hit or miss operation because the motherboard is a sandwich of circuit boards with plated through holes for the power jack leads and the removal of the old power jack properly is a chore by itself being careful not to destroy the ferrules that insure continuity to the board layers.Once you install the new jack the conventional means of checking your work such as resistance/voltage etc without a board schematic as not possible because you are never sure where each board should be getting what without putting it all back together again and firing it up to see if it works and if it does not then you will probably have to reflow the solder joints again which means having to take it all apart a second time.Ron G
 
S

Scrub Puller

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
3,481
Location
Gladstone Queensland Australia
Yair . . . I just bought a new Asus laptop and the dealer quoted me his list price of $505.00 for a basic unit, two hours at $80.00 to transfer all the files from my old machine which included the free app. to make 8.1 behave and look like 7. . . seems to work okay and I am happy enough with the setup.

Cheers.
 
uffex

uffex

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2012
Messages
4,464
Location
Lincoln UK
Occupation
Admin
Dump Microsoft its --ht
They are just in the window for bucks try downloading Zorin it costs zero and works good.
Kind regards
Uffex
 
RonG

RonG

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Joined
Dec 2, 2003
Messages
1,833
Location
Meriden ct
Occupation
heavy equipment operator
JD955SC said:
I have not, as I do not have a Windows 8 machine (yet) but I've heard a lot of people talk about changing the appearance.

I have heard Classic Shell, as mentioned in the article, plus it's free, as a good one to try out.

All I did was google "how to make windows 8 look like windows 7" and several useful links came up.

Any time I have a computer issue, I google it first. I have solved many, many, many problems by doing that simple step. Also learned a lot, too.

When an electronics retailer offers to "set stuff up for you" it's usually a giant rip-off. Try it yourself first.

Hell I'm not even the most computer smart person but I just fixed my laptop today...the power port was messed up, so I took it apart and swapped in a new one and put it all back together.

My coworkers think I'm a computer genius but in reality, all I do is try to do some research before tackling a problem.
Click to expand...

Over the years the definition of a computer genius was someone who knows just a little bit more than you do yourself.I concur.I got hit with a virus about a month ago (TeslaCrypt) which is ransomware and they wanted a grand to send me the decrypting software to get my files back.It took out three hard drives on my old P4 desktop.Google is your friend.The guys at Cisco have it figured out and I was able to download what I needed to get my files back.Thanks to the real geniuses among us,not to say that you are not JD955SC but this encryption had me locked out for a month.I had everything backed up of course and have several computers but hard drives don't grow on trees and I did not want to wipe them to do new installs in case I was able to find a solution which I did.Life is good.LOL.Ron G
 
zhkent

zhkent

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2007
Messages
294
Location
Kansas
Occupation
Earthmoving
Have used linux - ubuntu- for a decade or so. It certainly has advantages and disadvantages.
The main pro is no anti-virus is needed, and it doesn't slow down like windows over time. Other pros; it doesn't take as much memory, it has improved greatly, reconizes most printers and things pretty easy, updates are my "choice", and it seems to work.
The cons; I don't like to update so flash sometimes isn't right in web pages. To get quickbooks to work I have a program called "virtualbox" that runs in linux, and in "virtualbox" I install a complete windows program and then install quickbooks.
 
simonsrplant

simonsrplant

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
Messages
558
Location
Alberta CANADA
Occupation
Heavy Duty Off Road RSE
I've been out to take a look at new laptops today, thinking of grabbing a black friday deal... windows based so I can do accounting and office (just for business)
Basically: disappointed.
Junk. Nothing is based on actually doing work, its all surfing, music and whatever. Now at this point I will say, I am an Apple convert. Been using my macbook pro for years now, Ive upgraded it since buying it and its still way ahead of everything in the stores.
Im going down Parallels for Mac and adding old windows, direct from Microsoft, and quickbooks. Best of all, because its a Mac, so it will work.
 
W

wornout wrench

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2012
Messages
740
Location
canada
I never did try any of the programs that were suggested by people.

When the windows 10 upgrade came along I went for it.

Worked good for about a week than crashed big time.

Went back to 8

Stupid thing kept asking to update so went for 10 again.

So far it has worked okay.

Now all I use it for is surfing the net, music and movies.
No buisness at all.
Use the one at work for that.

I have had more than one person tell me to go with apple the next time.
When that time comes, I will definitely have a look at Apple products.
I have an iPhone and an iPad,
Easy to operate for us dinosaurs.
 
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