Since I installed the previews of Windows 8 on my computer last summer and realized they were about to expire in about a week, I updated to the official release of Windows 8 Pro on my computer today and spent a lot of time reinstalling my programs. Since I have a dual boot OS, I also updated my Ubuntu OS to 11.10. Of course, all of this came after I bought a bigger and newer external hard drive because my last one went on the fritz around Thanksgiving and I nearly lost all of my files on it. I had to use a recovery program to salvage the files, but it renamed them to a bunch of alpha-numerical chararcters which made me have to go through all of them and rename them back to the original files.

Anyone else doing some technical housekeeping or updating to Windows 8? And if you have upgraded, what do you think of it?

I'm reluctantly getting an additional windows PC to compliment my mac to help the University out with a couple of apps that are Windows only (MS-Access, Visio, etc.).

I can dual boot my macbook of course, but I'd rather not put MS on it.

So many years on, you'd really think that personal computers would be just as capable but far easier to use (I'm including Macs in this). I'm an IT guy with 15+ years of experience all the way back to mainfraims, so I can pretty much figure out anything on a computer and have a firm grasp of what's going on underneath 'the hood' of a Windows device. But, seriously--why should ANYBODY need to know how to do these things? WIndows is even worse, because you have to do stupid shit the computer should just do by itself (like defrag).

It's 2013---computers need to be far more useful. I can't even get my mother to use one so she can skype family instead of paying for calls.

Since I went Mac ten years ago, I have not looked at a Windows based PC. I have had no issues since, and have no desire to go back to Windows.

shorttrini said:

Since I went Mac ten years ago, I have not looked at a Windows based PC. I have had no issues since, and have no desire to go back to Windows.

I remember when I swapped to Mac back in 06.

My primary concern was that there wasn't enough selection as far as software.

And although, some Microsoft titles would be nice to use (MS-Access, visio, etc.), Filemaker and other titles more than make up for it.

Plus the old excuse that there is nothing written for macs is over and done with now. I can pretty much find and app that does ANYTHING I want on Mac for my needs.

Unless Apple really screws up (and let's face it, companies on top tend to do that eventually), I'll stick with Mac. This has been the lowest maintenance, most problem free years of personal computing I've ever had .

I'm even starting to enjoy Pages and Numbers, although I like the Microsoft Office apps far more for power user features.

imago said:

shorttrini said:

Since I went Mac ten years ago, I have not looked at a Windows based PC. I have had no issues since, and have no desire to go back to Windows.

I remember when I swapped to Mac back in 06.

My primary concern was that there wasn't enough selection as far as software.

And although, some Microsoft titles would be nice to use (MS-Access, visio, etc.), Filemaker and other titles more than make up for it.

Plus the old excuse that there is nothing written for macs is over and done with now. I can pretty much find and app that does ANYTHING I want on Mac for my needs.

Unless Apple really screws up (and let's face it, companies on top tend to do that eventually), I'll stick with Mac. This has been the lowest maintenance, most problem free years of personal computing I've ever had .

I'm even starting to enjoy Pages and Numbers, although I like the Microsoft Office apps far more for power user features.

Like I said, I have both mine, (white macbook and an Imac) for the last ten years, and I have never had an issue with either of them. They run just as good today, as they did when I took them out the box. Before that, I had a pc that I would have to regularly maintain, (Scandisk, defragment, etc) Don't have to do that with my Mac's. I wish my girl was as low maintenance as these machines are.

[Edited 1/7/13 8:23am]

Man, it's so cool to hear Linux being mentioned on here. I'd like to hereby take this chance to advocate it a bit to all who read this - it's free, better than Windoze and readily available for download, so PLEASE TRY IT OUT! orgNote ME any problems you have and I'll solve 'em.

I was thinking of upgrading my old desktop with a new hard drive and OS

Is there any issue with upgrading something 10 years old to Windows 8?

NDRU said:

I was thinking of upgrading my old desktop with a new hard drive and OS

Is there any issue with upgrading something 10 years old to Windows 8?

memory and processor speed, might be an issue. Check the requirements...

shorttrini said:

NDRU said:

I was thinking of upgrading my old desktop with a new hard drive and OS

Is there any issue with upgrading something 10 years old to Windows 8?

memory and processor speed, might be an issue. Check the requirements...

ah, yes, memory, definitely! I think I have 256 MB!

But the processor is faster than my new desktop. Of course, those numbers might be misleading, I am no expert.

NDRU said:

I was thinking of upgrading my old desktop with a new hard drive and OS

Is there any issue with upgrading something 10 years old to Windows 8?

YES! MS are known for making SLOTHFUL software which will try the hardest possible to get you to upgrade your hardware!

Use one of the Linuxes instead which runs on older hardware.

NDRU said:

shorttrini said:

memory and processor speed, might be an issue. Check the requirements...

ah, yes, memory, definitely! I think I have 256 MB!

But the processor is faster than my new desktop. Of course, those numbers might be misleading, I am no expert.

Nowadays, that's minimum. Best if you have, over a Gig or more....

domainator2010 said:

NDRU said:

I was thinking of upgrading my old desktop with a new hard drive and OS

Is there any issue with upgrading something 10 years old to Windows 8?

YES! MS are known for making SLOTHFUL software which will try the hardest possible to get you to upgrade your hardware!

Use one of the Linuxes instead which runs on older hardware.

I don't know the first thing about Linux, but it might be a fun experiment

I'm using Linux so I have to regularly do "housekeeping" on it. Those configuration files are spread all over the system.

Yeah, Linux doesn't have a "Program Files" directory. When you install a program the files get installed all across the system. Often in dozens of different directories.

Sometimes I dive into the file structure and I'm like when I realize how much stuff there is in a completely non-organized, chaotic state. That happens because the programmers and the maintainers of the distributions will by default have the files installed in places where they would be on their own systems - now, my system is of course not going to be similar to theirs...

I like using Linux, but sometimes trying to remember where some file that's needed to modify even something simple like the size and the colour of the taskbar applet you're using is just..

You mean like the folder where I've saved the photos of female orgers?

novabrkr said:

NDRU said:

domainator2010 said:

YES! MS are known for making SLOTHFUL software which will try the hardest possible to get you to upgrade your hardware!

Use one of the Linuxes instead which runs on older hardware.

I don't know the first thing about Linux, but it might be a fun experiment

Damn straight. You can use one of the LIVE CDs - Live means it runs completely off the CD, you don't have to install anything. Go to distrowatch.com and do some reading. When you find one you like, download it and burn it to a CD - be very careful to burn an "IMAGE file", else you'll have a CD with a .iso file on it which will be useless. Then set your BIOS to boot from CD...and, ENJOY!

If you want, I can make some recommendations - what're you looking to DO on the computer anyway? Ubuntu is a common consumer distro which will make it easy for you to play MP3s, for example. However its bad point, as I've found out much to my dismay is that it updates itself, using your Internet connection, and you can't stop that - if you're on a limited plan or whatever, you might want to be careful.

The problem with Linux and older PCs is that the newer kernels don't really work that well with many old video cards. Nobody has bothered to update the drivers for those older cards properly - they're available but in many cases just don't work that well (i.e. just about any "legacy" driver from NVIDIA). You might have luck with that one, but don't count on it. One option would be to use an older distribution with an older kernel I suppose, but seriously, just sticking to an older version of Windows with an old PC might be the easiest solution.

I put the latest version of Debian on a 10 year old PC about 1.5 years ago and it took several days for me to even get Youtube to work.

BTW, what's the most popular Linux distro out there?

Actually, it's Android. But that's really Google's version of Linux which is primarily run on smartphones and tablets.

Among those users who use computer desktops, laptops, and servers, here's how it stacks up.

1. Linux Mint

2. Mageia

3. Ubuntu

4. Fedora

5. Debian

NDRU said:

shorttrini said:

memory and processor speed, might be an issue. Check the requirements...

ah, yes, memory, definitely! I think I have 256 MB!

Whaaat?!

Unless I buy a new computer, which I'm not planning on doing, I'll be able to skip Windows 8 completely. I guess I might end up buying a tablet that runs on Windows 8 before they've moved on to whatever comes next. But my desktop and laptop are pimped out way solid as far as processor, memory and hard drive space go (plus I have externals), so I won't NEED a new PC for another two or three years. Unless BOTH of them die before whatever comes after 8, I'll skip it.

Cerebus said:

Unless I buy a new computer, which I'm not planning on doing, I'll be able to skip Windows 8 completely. I guess I might end up buying a tablet that runs on Windows 8 before they've moved on to whatever comes next. But my desktop and laptop are pimped out way solid as far as processor, memory and hard drive space go (plus I have externals), so I won't NEED a new PC for another two or three years. Unless BOTH of them die before whatever comes after 8, I'll skip it.

Come back and give us a review of Windows 8 via the tablet. I"m not sure I'll ever buying another Windows again.

For all who have windows 8, can't stand it and thinking about going Linux, read this.

http://www.zdnet.com/shim...000008246/

Just went to this site:

http://lubuntu.net/