First Impressions of Windows 8.1

[Joan Archer]

I've just noticed something and hope it's really back, animations on the Bing picture of the day. I used to love those when they happened on Windows 7 but of course had Aero and such on there but it wasn't on 8.

I've just seen the photo for today and it's a leaf frog and mushrooms and the frog is breathing and his throat is moving, yippee.

I Have Bing Desktop with daily pics, which I've also have configured as my Start Screen background as well. I also use Bing as my home page in IE11 to see the animated pics. I agree > The pics are great!

I'm a bit confused, Joan (which isn't too difficult!) > I had the animated pics in 8 with IE10. You did not? Are you saying you had animated pics on your desktop with 7?[/QUOTE]

On my Windows 7 desktop if the Bing photo of the day was animated I'd see it, I didn't bother with the Bing Desktop on there or use it for my home page but would get the photo of the day in another tab in IE10.

When I got this Notebook it came with 8 and I just used BT/Yahoo Home page with IE because BT is my ISP. I'd never noticed any animations if I looked at a Bing photo I just used a theme for my Desktop wallpaper which ran as a slide show with whatever photos were in the theme.

Moving up to 8.1 I thought I'd try out Bing as my Home page when first launching IE, haven't worked out yet how to make the photo of the day my desktop wallpaper yet, still finding my way around the update but was thrilled when I saw the animation on the photo of the day with the frog.

 

[my2cents]

It has been a real pain for many; myself included, but after all is said and done, it seems to work for my purposes,

 

[MrShowdown]

Currently using Glass8.1 (DWMHook) for Windows 8.1 Beta 2, YAY it's updated

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Good for you, MrShowdown! :thumb:

 

[MrShowdown]

It took me about a week to figure out the issue on public symbol downloading from Microsoft Symbol Server. I took a work-around by using Windows Debugging Kit (symchk.exe).

 

[vrosa]

Currently using Glass8.1 (DWMHook) for Windows 8.1 Beta 2, YAY it's updated
View attachment 30451

Good to know ! I've been waiting for that !

 

[MrShowdown]

List of things i have done to personalize my Windows 8.1:

1. Aero Glass
2. Start Screen automatic Apps view
3. Renamed "This PC" back to "Computer" (yeah i didn't like the new "This PC")

What to do next..?

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
after testing on 5 PC's - apart from the Language pack unavailability - Windows 8.1 passes all the relevant tests -- I still have TWO applications that won't run on anything later than W7 so VM solution for that otherwise W8.1 passes all the tests.

This is what W8 SHOULD have been.

(@Mr Showdown -- Windows 9 maybe !!!!).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[MrShowdown]

Hi there
after testing on 5 PC's - apart from the Language pack unavailability - Windows 8.1 passes all the relevant tests -- I still have TWO applications that won't run on anything later than W7 so VM solution for that otherwise W8.1 passes all the tests.

This is what W8 SHOULD have been.

(@Mr Showdown -- Windows 9 maybe !!!!).

Cheers
jimbo

Hmm, what program that wont run on Windows 8.1? Have you tried compatibility settings?

Yeah LOL, maybe it'll be 8.2 or something.

 

[Lensman]

I did a 'clean' install of 8.1 and it performed flawlessly. This OS has a Cornucopia of things to discover and is a real joy to use. Admittedly, I am using the more classic desktop, with the philosophy that 'tiles' are for bathroom floors.

All in all, I think that this is the best OS that MS has created so far, learning curve aside. Oh yes, Vipre 2014 works just fine on 8.1 Windows.

 

[MrShowdown]

I did a 'clean' install of 8.1 and it performed flawlessly. This OS has a Cornucopia of things to discover and is a real joy to use. Admittedly, I am using the more classic desktop, with the philosophy that 'tiles' are for bathroom floors.

All in all, I think that this is the best OS that MS has created so far, learning curve aside. Oh yes, Vipre 2014 works just fine on 8.1 Windows.

Thanks for sharing your opinion Lensman!
But still the WiFi issue is not fully gone, i randomly get the bug, although it was 1 per 25 boots, and can be fixed with a restart.

 

[strollin]

I've upgraded 3 machines from 8 to 8.1, 2 went smoothly with few to no issues. On one, after the upgrade to 8.1, no MS programs could access the internet. For instance, IE 11 and the Windows Store could not access the 'net but programs such as FireFox and Chrome worked fine. I found that to be amusing since I would have expected MS programs to be the ones to work while others didn't. I solved the problem by using the 8.1 RTM ISO and doing a clean install. Of course that meant I had to reinstall everything.

I'm quite surprised by the reception that 8.1 is getting. I see comments like "this is what 8 should have been" and I scratch my head because the differences between 8 and 8.1 are extremely minor to the point that I wonder if the hours spent doing the upgrade via the store are well spent. There are a few improvements in 8.1 that I really looked forward to (#1 is boot to desktop) but nothing really compelling to the point where I would tell someone they really need to update. I know MS tweaked a lot of the Metro apps such as the Mail app but I don't use any of the Metro apps so I consider those tweaks irrelevant.

All in all, I do consider Win 8.1 to be an improvement over 8 but I'm just not convinced that the improvements are worth the hours involved in doing the upgrade as there just isn't enough there for it to be compelling. I tell people that, if they don't like 8, upgrading to 8.1 won't do much to change their opinion.