Is Windows 8.1 still the enemy?

[beachrat]

I blew up my laptop and needed a replacement in a hurry so I ordered a refurbed Dell Inspiron,only because I'm broke and wanted a 17" screen,and that's what was available.
It was cheaper to get it loaded with Windows 8.1 than 7 (which I guess I'm familiar with) so I took it.
Now, I know NOTHING about "user friendly"(no idea wtf that even means),operating systems,start menus or anything like that.
I mean nothing.
Since I'm so oblivious,will that give me an advantage or will it possibly even confuse me more than I already am on a computer? I don't know what an "app" is either but I'm told I should start uninstalling them and only keeping what I'll use.
I'll figure that out later,but for now I just need to know if I'm going to wind up adapting to this thing or smashing it into a million pieces.
Anybody use it here?

edit: it's not a touchscreen

 

[480sparky]

Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements

 

[Overread]

Windows 8.1 is honestly the best windows OS I've used (and I was on Vista before and xp before that).

It's fast, stable (most crashed I've had thus far - and its been very few - were games messing up not the OS), pretty compatible with most older software. The only thing it messes up on is the interface.

They've fixed it so that it now goes to desktop automatically so the only thing you really miss is hte start-menu (and if you want you can go into the windows folder and its there so you can stick a short-cut to it on your desktop).

I was worried about it before I got it, but honestly since getting it I've not looked back.


edit - and yep as Sparky shows there are LOADS of 3rd party mods that bring the start menu back

 

[spiralout462]

I was in the same exact boat as yourself. I ended up with a 17" Inspiron with 8.1 pro. I have had no problems since April. I choose to not use the "start" menu thing. I just keep it in desktop mode and it behaves exactly like Win7.

 

[MOREGONE]

I like 8.1 a lot. Works well for me. If MS hadn't made some silly decisions such as hiding the Start button and burying the Power options, I believe people would have been much happier with 8.0. Under the hood they're the same OS with some UI refinements.

 

[beachrat]

I'm starting to feel a little better already.
It can't possibly be as bad as what I've heard just like most things in life.
It'll be here tomorrow, I think, and I'll keep this thread alive to provide some info from a computer imbecile point of view.

 

[Ysarex]

Windows 8/8.1 are both quite good. They boot fast and run stable -- Microsoft bloated but the only way to avoid that is Linux. I still have Win 7 on one of my laptops and I wish it was 8.1. The Start button fracas was just and adult/nerd problem. It took a seven year old under 10 seconds to figure out that the Start Screen was just a bigger Start button with more features.

Joe

 

[Braineack]

It's fine now that I have a touchscreen laptop.

using tapatalk.

 

[480sparky]

Windows 8 is just a 64-bit upgrade of a 32-bit patch for a 16-bit re-write of an 8-bit OS based on a 4-bit beta made by a 2-bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition.

 

[dennybeall]

Win 8.1 is on this laptop and it's been very good. I run Photoshop and Lightroom and Outlook and sometimes also have my security system cameras from work all running at the same time and 8.1 handles all with no problem. If it does get hung up the operating system just handles it without crashing (so far)
APP is just short for application and an application is just a computer program. Just a new word for an old thing.

 

[beachrat]

Windows 8 is just a 64-bit upgrade of a 32-bit patch for a 16-bit re-write of an 8-bit OS based on a 4-bit beta made by a 2-bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition.

So it's basically the same as the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference across the two points?

 

[480sparky]

Windows 8 is just a 64-bit upgrade of a 32-bit patch for a 16-bit re-write of an 8-bit OS based on a 4-bit beta made by a 2-bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition.

So it's basically the same as the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference across the two points?

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[beachrat]

Hell yeah.

 

[fotomonkey]

Windows 8.1 is awesome...when it's OS X instead.

Sent from my M470BSA using Tapatalk

 

[beachrat]

Well this was pretty painless.
Did a bunch of research last night(480sparky's recommendation was a great one),and figured I'd wait until the laptop got here to see what all the fuss was about.
Ysarax was exactly right.
Most of the complaints must be a computer geek whine for people that really know a lot more than I ever will.
I looked the whole thing over,set it up to boot to desktop and everything works fine.
Maybe all the complaining forced Microsoft to create updates to make the system easy to work,but whatever they did it works just fine.
Even for a dope like me.