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My Windows 7, 8 & 8.1 experience/update The office manager where I'm working mandated we cannot use any Windows XP computers on the office network anymore. I'm already using a fast Intel i7 3.4Ghz running Windows 7-64bit for nearly everything now and recently replaced my 2nd system, a old AMD dual core computer running XP Pro with an off-lease (refurbished) $150 dual core computer running Windows 7-32bit. Sometimes I have several programs going and an interruption of closing one to view another another is non-productive, therefore I have 2 computers side-by-side for research. Two of my home-work computers are running windows 8 and 8.1 Due to my corporate network requirements, all the versions are Pro. I've got Windows 7 'toned down' to look and work as much like Windows XP as I can and I like only a few differences. Having the date on the taskbar and the ability to slide tabs around. What pisses me off most is active windows dropping behind other windows... especially when you are working on one. Let's say I'm going to save a file and expect the save box to open on top... it doesn't. You have to search for it beneath other windows. I'm told there are no setting changes to correct this and you must buy a 3rd party software to control screen layer priority. There are times when I want to slide a window over or out of my way and the default thinks you want to split screen that window, so whatever size you had it, expect it to resize to 50% of the screen. It's a good thing this edge detect feature can be turned off... That was really annoying. 64bit allows me to utilize all 8gig of ram installed on this computer and take advantage of it's power, but I lost the ability to see thumbnails in folders. For example, all my PDF files are icons with the logo. When I switch to my 32bit computer, I can see the thumbnails just like XP. Another glitch with 64bit and I'm told there is a 3rd party program that makes thumbnails and creates a huge thumbnail management system... totally the wrong program for me. Windows 8 wastes too much of my time maneuvering around. What good is the W8 interface if it brings up the W7 desktop to run programs? I'm thinking of refreshing my other i7 computer back to factory specifications with Windows 7... Yes, getting rid of Windows 8.1 That leaves at least 2 more desktops running 8.1, a laptop on 8.1 and a tablet on 8. Unfortunately, those are secondary computers and will probably stay with the O/S they have now. What I dislike most about 8.1 is it's just like an android phone nagging me to update apps. I don't want to add all 4,000 of my photos into a library. Stop forcing me to load new apps that can better enhance my viewing experience... the old way was just fine. Oh, yeah... another thing I dislike about W7 is printing photos. Let's say you have 20 photos in a folder and you open the photo viewer. In XP, If you want to print, you have the option to select the photos you want within the viewer and print them. Now, you have to select them directly from the folder. That's a step backwards to me, especially if you don't have thumbnails turned on. |
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Windows finds a way to screw up one things in the claim to improve something else. They will never leave well enough alone. I use windows picture manager to reduce the size of images I receive, as many people send large file photo, to get to windows picture manager, I have to go to the Start Menu and select Office Tools. Well, it has a Pin to Start menu feature. So I used it. But its not like before, when you could go to "open with" and the options was available. It's no longer available by that method. I use Access frequently, and some feature are just not readily available, its taking time to learn the modified navigation's.
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