Computer Hope
Microsoft => Microsoft Windows => Windows 8 => Topic started by: missyis2blessed on February 07, 2013, 06:33:17 PM
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I need a computer wise person to please help me get rid of Windows 8. I hate it. I want Windows Vista back or anything else but this!! I had a Toshiba with Windows Vista and loved it. We recently had a house fire and I had to replace my laptop...I love the computer but not Windows...can someone please help me or is my case hopeless? ???
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What Toshiba model is it? When you open my computer, do you see a recovery partition drive?
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I believe the new laptop shipped with Win8...which means thats what would be on the Recovery partition...
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It is a Toshiba Satellite P855-S5312 and I do not see the recovery partition and yes...the other post is correct. My laptop came with this already on it...
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To prevent having to pay for it i would contact Toshiba and see if they offer a downgrade option to Win7...
It's newer than Vista of course but i believe you will find it to your liking...
It wont do any harm to mention you are dissatisfied enough to consider returning the PC altogether...that'll get their attention.
This can als o be attempted thru the retailer as well.
Best of Luck.
P.S. If you or any household member is a student there is a healthy discount program should it turn out that you have to re-purchase Windows...
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thank you for your help...I am a student and will look into that if necessary!
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You're more than Welcome...
And Welcome to Computer Hope...
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I'm with you on this Windows 8. I can believe MS would try to sell this crap. I can't do anything on it. Luckily, I have a dual-boot with XP on the other partition. Monday morning this computer is going back for a downgrade to 7.
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I'm with you on this Windows 8. I can believe MS would try to sell this crap. I can't do anything on it.
Wow, I'm amazed to hear that coming from you. I bought a new laptop with Windows 8 about 2 months ago. Of course, any new OS is going to take some time to get familiar with and, granted, Win 8 is a major change from Win 7. Still, I just don't get the "I can't do anything on it" complaint. My HP laptop came with a simple 14-page booklet on Windows 8 Basics. And, many tutorial-type videos can be found on youtube and elsewhere. One of the first things a former Windows 7 user would benefit from knowing about Windows 8 is the tile for Desktop on the Win 8 Start screen. Clicking it takes you to a Desktop view which is basically the familiar Windows 7 desktop.
Is your Win 8 system new? Did it not come with any printed info on using Windows 8?
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Wow, I'm amazed to hear that coming from you. I bought a new laptop with Windows 8 about 2 months ago. Of course, any new OS is going to take some time to get familiar with and, granted, Win 8 is a major change from Win 7. Still, I just don't get the "I can't do anything on it" complaint. My HP laptop came with a simple 14-page booklet on Windows 8 Basics. And, many tutorial-type videos can be found on youtube and elsewhere. One of the first things a former Windows 7 user would benefit from knowing about Windows 8 is the tile for Desktop on the Win 8 Start screen. Clicking it takes you to a Desktop view which is basically the familiar Windows 7 desktop.
Is your Win 8 system new? Did it not come with any printed info on using Windows 8?
I just received it Friday March 22 and it came with no instructions. I will admit I was speaking out of frustration. I was up until 0500 hrs. trying to make some sense of it. I went back to the shop today and they gave me a basic tutorial and I'm starting to make some headway. I will check out Youtube for more tips and helpful aids first chance I get. I'm off to play hockey.
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I didn't have any issues with Windows 8. I like most of the changes. I basically use it the same way I use Windows 7. It's not that different unless you use Windows 8 UI apps from the store.
The only thing I don't like is the API used to write Windows 8-style applications, but I don't think I like any phone/tablet oriented API interface so that's nothing new, and with few exceptions my other programs still work on Windows 8 without issue- both those I've written as well as those that I use.
Anyway, that isn't to say I think the OP should stick with Wndows 8 either. I upgraded to Win8 by choice, and in the same fashion if somebody wants an Older OS they should have that choice. MS does provide that choice through downgrade rights (http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/pages/downgrade_rights.aspx), which might be worth looking into.
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Here's one reference I think you'll find very helpful. http://adrynalyne.blogspot.com/2012/09/windows-8-survival-guide-v-10.html
Every new computer with Windows 8 should come with a basic user guide to Windows 8. Shame on manufacturers who don't do this. My HP also had tile/app on the Start screen which contained a series of videos on using Windows 8. I believe all those videos are on youtube. If you go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idzmza-OWTE&feature=player_embedded (one of the videos embedded in the app on aforementioned app on my HP laptop) you can watch it and numerous other videos that should appear on the right side of that youtube page.
Windows 8 has two "views" of Internet Explorer. If you click the IE tile on the Start screen, IE will open in the full-screen "modern view" which occupies the full scree. The other view of IE is the more familiar view that you would see in Windows 7. To open it, you need to go to the Desktop; there, you'll see the familiar IE icon on the taskbar. If you have not yet discovered the Desktop tile on the Start screen and you do not yet know how to access the Desktop, you can just type Desktop anywhere on the Start screen and you'll see a box appear with Desktop inside it. Clicking on it will open Desktop.
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I'm with SuperDave on this.
I don't like the Windows 8 Metro Interface. It's designed for a touch screen. You always have to switch to the Windows Desktop to do anything. There are no menus on the apps, i.e. File, Edit, View...
Microsoft offers no way to disable Metro. The hackers have found a way to permanently delete it, but this is not it: http://www.classicshell.net/
It works pretty nicely on Windows 7 Home Premium.
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I'm with SuperDave on this.
I don't like the Windows 8 Metro Interface. It's designed for a touch screen. You always have to switch to the Windows Desktop to do anything. There are no menus on the apps, i.e. File, Edit, View...
Microsoft offers no way to disable Metro. The hackers have found a way to permanently delete it, but this is not it: http://www.classicshell.net/
It works pretty nicely on Windows 7 Home Premium.
This is the equivalent of complaining that you have to close the start menu on earlier versions to work with applications.
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I'm with SuperDave on this.
I don't like the Windows 8 Metro Interface. It's designed for a touch screen.
It is designed for a touch screen but it works very well with a mouse also. Using a mouse wheel makes scrolling the Start screen quick and easy. Or, the scroll bar at the bottom of the screen can be used.
You always have to switch to the Windows Desktop to do anything
And, switching to the Desktop is a matter of one click on the Desktop tile.
There are no menus on the apps, i.e. File, Edit, View...
Generally, the apps are designed for one specific purpose, so there's no need for the common File, Edit, View... menu approach. And, right clicking on an app will usually display some options for the user to modify how they want to use the app. For example, with the Weather app (one of the pre-installed apps which I believe is a standard app on all new Windows 8 installations), right clicking displays controls at the bottom of the screen to change location for the weather's reporting of data and to change from Fahrenheit to Celsius.
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Another week has gone by and I'm starting to configure Win8 to my specs. I finally got the START button although I will have to pay $5 when the trial runs out in 30 days. I do find that a lot of applications such as my script editor and other malware removal tools will not yet work on Win8. Thankfully, I have a dual-boot to XP. I suspect I will be working mostly in that OS.
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Another week has gone by and I'm starting to configure Win8 to my specs. I finally got the START button
Why is having the Start button so important?
I do find that a lot of applications such as my script editor and other malware removal tools will not yet work on Win8. Thankfully, I have a dual-boot to XP. I suspect I will be working mostly in that OS.
What are you going to do when you start getting malware questions from Windows 8 users?
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Another week has gone by and I'm starting to configure Win8 to my specs. I finally got the START button although I will have to pay $5 when the trial runs out in 30 days. I do find that a lot of applications such as my script editor and other malware removal tools will not yet work on Win8. Thankfully, I have a dual-boot to XP. I suspect I will be working mostly in that OS.
Classic Shell will do what you want for free. http://www.classicshell.net/
* Highly customizable start menu with multiple styles and skins
* Start button for Windows 7 and Windows 8
* Toolbar and status bar for Windows Explorer
* Caption and status bar for Internet Explorer
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Installing something that brings back the older Start Menu is equivalent to using Program Manager instead of the Taskbar in Windows 95. It's simply sticking with the familiar while providing the illusion of embracing the new.
That isn't to say it's a bad thing, just that, if somebody wants Windows 7, they should be using Windows 7, not using Windows 8 with some aftermarket applications to make it act sorta mostly like Windows 7.
Why is having the Start button so important?
I have to agree with the nature of this question. I can move seamlessly from my desktop- which has Windows 7 and I've used for around 3 years- to my laptop, without any issues at all. The lack of a start button never bothered me because I never actually clicked the start orb anyway. Of course this is just me- my method has always been to press the windows key- which still opens the Win8 Start Screen. (Why move the mouse and click when you can press a key right next to your hand?).
I think they thought of the mouse method too though, since clicking on that blank area still shows the Start screen.
What are you going to do when you start getting malware questions from Windows 8 users?
My personal take is that if a piece of software doesn't work in Windows 8 as-is, it was probably broken to begin with. I'm surprised some tools don't work with win8. Either way, I Imagine there will be new versions of those programs available before it becomes much of a problem.
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Windows XP offered the choice of "Start Menu" or Classic Start Menu". I would like a similar choice for Win7 & Win8. Would also like the choice of Win8 starting with the classic desktop instead of the Metro. For my needs, Metro is unnecessary. I know it's one button or one click away. I also noticed that shutting down is many clicks away. Clicking the mouse on certain areas to do certain things is not all that obvious. Using the mouse is meant to take the place of a finger on a touch-screen, so at the edges are where most things happen. If you have no mouse or keyboard, it's understandable why it is what it is.
I've been using my laptop with Win7 for over a year & only tried Classic Shell yesterday. I don't have a Win8 machine, was working on a neighbor's. They, too, are having difficulty adjusting to Metro.
If a computer comes with Win8, it makes no sense to downgrade to Win7; i.e., extra cost, no future support, drivers, etc.
You make feel that Win8 is the best ever, but there are probably more that don't. Classic Shell has more than 4 million downloads.
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Windows XP offered the choice of "Start Menu" or Classic Start Menu". I would like a similar choice for Win7 & Win8.
You do have that choice. You can install Windows XP. The removal of the Classic Start Menu feature from Windows was a result of user testing paired with the support cost of keeping that feature, which is always non-zero.
Would also like the choice of Win8 starting with the classic desktop instead of the Metro.
Because pressing Escape is simply too much effort.
I also noticed that shutting down is many clicks away.
I wouldn't think extra keystrokes to shut down would be particularly troublesome. It's only one or two keystrokes: select a desktop icon (to make sure the focus is on the desktop window) and use Alt-F4. I believe pressing Windows Key+D will activate it, but you might need to use Windows Key+M. (Actually this works on all versions of windows back to at least windows 95, if memory serves).
Clicking the mouse on certain areas to do certain things is not all that obvious.
Luckily, that's not a feature, to my recollection. Closest I can think of would be the Charms Bar. But stemming from that there isn't really anything 'obvious' about the association between a taskbar button and an application; it's just something we learned; before that the association was Icons to Windows; now it's simply using the hotspots methodology that was rather popular for screensavers and has been since Windows 3.1.
I've been using my laptop with Win7 for over a year & only tried Classic Shell yesterday. I don't have a Win8 machine, was working on a neighbor's. They, too, are having difficulty adjusting to Metro.
They should be switched to something they will be more comfortable with.
If a computer comes with Win8, it makes no sense to downgrade to Win7; i.e., extra cost, no future support, drivers, etc.
Ahh. Yes, the extra cost of using the free Windows 7 downgrade rights (http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/pages/downgrade_rights.aspx#fbid=B2RudL94d9s) can definitely burn a hole in one's pocket...
There are still those that hold to Windows 98SE, and will use it no matter the cost. If Windows 8's UI annoyances that people experience (Just to clarify: It's not called Metro!) aren't enough for them to justify downgrading, than those annoyances cannot possibly be very bad. I can at least respect those that stick with Windows 98 because they have taken affirmative action, but a lazy stance of "I'll go with the flow, but I'm complaining the entire way" is not productive, especially when the majority of criticism boils down to "it's different".
You make feel that Win8 is the best ever, but there are probably more that don't. Classic Shell has more than 4 million downloads.
well, 4 million is certainly larger than 1. But it's not the majority of the 100 million that have Windows 8. This is nothing more than an ad populum fallacy; "A lot of people think it's not good, therefore it must be", which is not necessarily the case. Every windows version has had it's detractors and every Windows Previous-Version-feature advocate has pulled out the "but this utility that brings back feature X is popular, therefore MS should bring the feature back" sort of argument; (eg. when Windows briefcase was removed people made a similar fuss). A lot of functionality in any OS is not obvious. The start button showing a menu is only obvious because we've learned it. But from a pure perspective, there is nothing obvious about the Start Orb that tells me "pressing the button while the little arrow is over top of that shows me a menu that provides a lot of functionality". There isn't anything obvious about the system notification icons, or about the taskbar buttons. Some might argue this is reducing the argument to an absurd level, but what it boils down to is the argument that the only reason a feature wouldn't be obvious isn't because it's not obvious from a "pure" perspective but because it's not obvious based on the non-obvious functionality we've already memorized; Most of us, I imagine, have an understanding of drop-down menus and how they work. But they are only "obvious" because we've learned them. It's actually interesting because you can find a lot of Computer-Literate people making fun of or otherwise insulting people that don't understand completely non-obvious behaviours- and I'm not putting myself aside from those myself, I've certainly done my fair share of that too.
Anyway, what is obvious to one person is not going to be obvious to another; in some cases a person that is familiar with one system can actually be at a disadvantage compared to a person that has used no system at all, because they come into that new system with certain expectations about how it works; and if those behaviours are changed, in some ways, their world "stops making sense"; whereas for the person that hasn't used the system before, the world doesn't make sense either way and they have to figure it out; and once they do, now their future interactions with systems are going to be coloured by interaction.
Of course that isn't the say that Windows 8 is unilaterally better than previous versions, even in the UI department. But it's a good change because the model we had gotten so used to- and to which many of our experiences with Windows 8 are coloured- has become stagnant. Just as there is nothing "intuitive" or "obvious" about, say, Office 2003 Commandbar functionality, there is nothing obvious about Start Menus (or start screens, for that matter); at least not to people that have never used a machine, so it doesn't really matter.
Another good example would be comparing to Mac OSX. I had to use an OSX system for a moment, and I found myself frustrated by a rather simple mechanic: on OSX, you have to keep the mouse held down when selecting items from a menu, and then release to choose the desired item. With Windows, you can press and release on the menus or submenus, and then click the desired item. The number of times I released the mouse and selected the wrong item was infuriating. Nonetheless, this particular functionality is "obvious" to OSX users; for me, my experience was coloured by Windows so it wasn't obvious at all.
I think a good analogy would be the advent of Mice. A menu was not really "obvious" either; there wasn't any innate reason to think clicking on a word at the top of an application (or for the Mac, the screen) would cause a menu to appear. This is sort of the same with Touch gestures such as showing the charms bar or dragging applications. Like Mice, once you've used it for a while, it becomes almost second nature- those "non-obvious" features- such as the charms bar- become second nature.
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Why is having the Start button so important?
It's my Security blanket but I suppose I could live without it.
What are you going to do when you start getting malware questions from Windows 8 users?
I'm already getting them. All I can do is see what scanners work on Win8
Classic Shell will do what you want for free. http://www.classicshell.net/
* Highly customizable start menu with multiple styles and skins
* Start button for Windows 7 and Windows 8
* Toolbar and status bar for Windows Explorer
* Caption and status bar for Internet Explorer
Yes, one of my hockey buddies was telling me about that. I'm going to give it a try. Thanks.
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Unfortunately, I had to revert to using my old computer. I couldn't get my laser printer to work. I suppose I could always use the new one for a door stopper.
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What make and model is your laser printer? Did you visit the manufacturer's website to find a driver/software for it for Windows 8 (64-bit, I presume)?
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What make and model is your laser printer? Did you visit the manufacturer's website to find a driver/software for it for Windows 8 (64-bit, I presume)?
It's a Panasonic KX-P7100 purchased in 2004. I realize it's quite an old printer but working very well. I did find some drivers but none for 64 bit. I'm trying to install the printer on my dual-boot machine on the XP partition. Do you suppose that it being 64 bit is the reason I can get the printer to work. I can install the printer but I get the "Device is busy or printer is not ready" error.
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I'm pretty sure you need a 64-bit driver. My HP laser printer is 1999 (1st toner lasted 10 years), but I have an HP parallel port network adapter. I have to use the 64-bit driver for the Windows Home Premium laptop.
Panasonic has some 64-bit drivers for other models, i.e., KX-P7105/7110
http://panasonic.net/pcc/products/printer/download/p7105download.html#download1
Found this Panasonic Printer Compliance List:
http://panasonic.net/pcc/products/printer/windows_compliance/windows_7.html
There are still plenty of HP JetDirect external adapters for sale, used.
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Thanks CC. I tried downloading the drivers but still "device not ready" error. The printer is over 9 years old and I'm sure the toner will run out soon. It'll probably be cheaper to buy a new printer.
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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upgrade-your-life/microsoft%E2%80%99s-embarrassing-change-to-windows-8-035124800.html
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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upgrade-your-life/microsoft%E2%80%99s-embarrassing-change-to-windows-8-035124800.html
Thanks CC. I can certainly see why some people are frustrated. I just found out the Windows MovieMaker won't work on Windows 8 even though it allowed me to download it.
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I believe Windows Live MovieMaker is a standard app in Windows 8. Do you not have it? Have you looked the "All apps" view?
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I believe Windows Live MovieMaker is a standard app in Windows 8. Do you not have it? Have you looked the "All apps" view?
No, I didn't. I just searched and downloaded it. I'll check to see if I have that app.
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Thanks CC. I can certainly see why some people are frustrated. I just found out the Windows MovieMaker won't work on Windows 8 even though it allowed me to download it.
They made it even more confusing.
Windows 8 calls Microsoft Security Essentials, Windows Defender; even though Windows Defender was the name of a previous product. Windows Defender is included as part of Win8 & some branded computers disable it when they install Norton Suite; then the retailer tries to sell you McAfee Suite, so Norton has to be disabled. This is an Office Depot ploy & on the computer I had to fix, they screwed it up so bad, there was no AV installed at all.
Some good Q&A here:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/mse-protect_start/windows-defender-and-microsoft-security-essentials/5309cb8d-02e1-40e8-974f-0dcedb9ab9fd
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No, I didn't. I just searched and downloaded it. I'll check to see if I have that app.
In case you don't know yet, to display all apps, right click on the Start screen somewhere outside of the tiles. You'll see a bar appear at the bottom of the screen and a button titled "All apps". Click it to see all apps. Or, just type movie anywhere on the Start screen and that should bring up the button for Windows Live MovieMaker.
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I was able to find and download Windows live movie maker then ran the compatibility test and was able to get it to run correctly.
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Here's one reference I think you'll find very helpful. http://adrynalyne.blogspot.com/2012/09/windows-8-survival-guide-v-10.html
Every new computer with Windows 8 should come with a basic user guide to Windows 8. Shame on manufacturers who don't do this. My HP also had tile/app on the Start screen which contained a series of videos on using Windows 8. I believe all those videos are on youtube. If you go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idzmza-OWTE&feature=player_embedded (one of the videos embedded in the app on aforementioned app on my HP laptop) you can watch it and numerous other videos that should appear on the right side of that youtube page.
Windows 8 has two "views" of Internet Explorer. If you click the IE tile on the Start screen, IE will open in the full-screen "modern view" which occupies the full scree. The other view of IE is the more familiar view that you would see in Windows 7. To open it, you need to go to the Desktop; there, you'll see the familiar IE icon on the taskbar. If you have not yet discovered the Desktop tile on the Start screen and you do not yet know how to access the Desktop, you can just type Desktop anywhere on the Start screen and you'll see a box appear with Desktop inside it. Clicking on it will open Desktop.
Once I discovered I could have my old Desktop back minus the Big start menu I was happy. I did have to add a start button but the Big Bad Start menu I don't have a problem with it anymore. I just access everything from my Desktop like I always did.