Hello, is anyone in the same boat as me? Windows 8 is so vastly different from previous operating systems that I find it hard to transition to it. Any shortcuts or pointers would be appreciated. Right now I just want to take the computer back to the store and ask them to put Win 7 on it.
I think the best approach is to spend time trying to adjust. I disliked it when I first used it and I realised that I might, because changing anything can lead you to dislike it through unfamiliarity and feeling like you don't know where things are, and even after a couple of weeks I still didn't really like it. It was only when I put it on my desktop as my main OS that I grew to like it, as now I know how it all works and where everything is.
For example, a lot of people installed 8 and then shouted "where's the Start menu???" then they rushed off to download a third party app to replace it. I decided against that and now that I'm used to not having one, I don't miss it at all. In fact, I kind of wish I could get rid of the Start button in Windows 8.1, lol.
I'm certainly not saying that you can't have the opinion that things in Windows 8 are worse than 7, but you simply have to give yourself time to get used to it. If you moved from Windows to Ubuntu, you might hate it at first because it's so different, but then over time you might grow to like it and even prefer it to Windows. While there are a lot of similarities between 7 and 8, there are also so many differences that you get that same "I'm using something totally different here" feeling at times.
For me, things got better as I discovered new ways to do things. For example, the menu you get if you right-click in the lower left corner of the screen has a whole bunch of shortcuts in it that I find useful and in 8.1 that also includes a quick way to shut down your machine. But a lot of people don't know it exists. Another example would be closing a Metro app, as some people think you either can't or that you have to use that somewhat clunky bar that pops up on the left hand side, but you can actually just move your mouse pointer to the top of the screen, it'll turn into a hand, then left-click and "throw" the app off the bottom of the screen to close it. Once you get used to those kinds of things, it becomes second nature and you start to miss less about 7. But if you do give it time and you still dislike it, you can always install a Start menu replacement, boot to desktop, disable the hot corners (which you can do natively in 8.1 or in a third party app) and you'll have the same core experience as you had with Windows 7.