Nice one. Totally agree with those sentiments. Win8 is superb IMO. Kudos to MS for trying to tie Windows, Windows Phone and Surface together. Apple did it with their OS, and we don't here any 'whining' from their user base or the IT community in general. Windows 8 is here, get over yourselves!!!!
there's no need to be so defensive. We're here to discuss... i appreciate MDL for listening to users.. i would love to be able to use Win8 for my purposes.. but i can't seem to get it to work the way i want it.. even with all the necessary modifications.. and yes.. im not a noob.. i know how to tweak an OS to my preferences.. can anyone answer me this: is there a way to enable power usage for Windows 8? for instance.. in Win7.. i was able to use it as a power user.. i noticed in Win8.. even with UAC disabled.. i would still get the Admin. prompts.. also.. is there a way to switch the context menu popping up to the right side vs. the default left side? lastly.. anyone have a pack of tweaks, recommendations, etc? (win7 has a post w/ a bunch of really cool tweaks) oh and 1 more: is there a way to enable the startmenu w/out 3rd party software?
I'm NOT being defensive... just fed up with people saying Win8 is horrible or 'the worst OS in history'. It isn't. It's a huge step forward.... In answer to a few of your questions. If you disable UAC, you shouldn't be getting any 'prompts'. Maybe your account is not an Administrator, I would check. Context menu to the left is the default behaviour, unless the mouse pointer is at the left of the screen. then is pops up to the right. Search in the Windows 8 forum. There is a thread about Win 8 tweaks... No way to enable start menu without 3rd party software at the moment. You could use the Win 7 explorer method to replace the shell. This gives you back the start menu and 'disables' the Metro start screen. this is the method I use, and am happy with it. Again, search the forums for that method....
thanks for the reply.. i use portableapps on my computer... this is why being a power-user is so important to me. either it's related to NSIS or Win8.. im not sure.. but apps that are designed to request admin. rights still require a right-click > run as admin. it's only in Win8.. also.. the left-hand side pop-ups.. i always get it on the left side regardless of where the window position is.. so you're saying it's dependant on window position? but honestly. . windows 8 looks cool.. and i'll refrain from bashing it.. i'll just say it's not for me.. it may be a great os, fast, etc.. for my purposes.. it's not a productive environment.. thanks for your help!
So you converted Win8 back to Win7 and say it's a huge improvement. How so? Because it has number 8 in its title?
I agree, and really most people claiming this are people who "think" they hate Modern UI (yes, people who haven't even tried the OS), or people who've tried Modern UI for 5 minutes and decided they hate it. Me personally, I don't "hate" Modern UI, but I do wish it had more customization and options. However, I don't spend most of my time on Modern UI to complain (I run desktop apps just like I did on Windows XP, Vista, and 7). I hated trying to shutdown/restart Windows in the beginning too, but I eventually got used to it I use Windows 8 because of the technical improvements and new features, such as DirectX 11.1, WDDM 1.2, and etc. In other words, I don't care how something looks if it performs well, and W8 performs quite well in my case I'm not a Windows "fanboy" at all though really; I'd be on Linux right now if it wasn't for 3 games/apps that didn't work well under Wine, with no Linux alternatives (Path of Exile, Evolve, Guild Wars 2)
I haven't read through the 11 pages of comments, but in reply to the original post, hibernation should be able to be turned off with powercfg -h off, at least it works here We all know the 'against' arguments for Modern UI, but what about the 'for' arguments. The truth is, they are few and far between. If it is the case that 'you have gotten used to it', or 'I spend most of the time in desktop mode anyway', 'I use it because of Directx 11.1, WDDM1.2, native USB3 support' or any other reason or variations upon that, it really isn't a 'for' argument! The UI is impractical for desktop/laptop use, the live tiles can chew through download even if you don't case what they actually say, the 'Windows Apps' are very, very space inefficient (and have way too many files involved), most apps are clearly aimed at touch screen devices, and a touchscreen on a desktop PC or laptop (to a lesser extent) is just impractical, the icons on the start screen are unattractive and reminiscent of Windows 95, (square solid green background to the icons and text), and they Windows are made to look very unattractive. Microsoft seems to love the 'plain and boring' white now. White active title bars, white inactive title bars, white Office theme as default (eye-straining), list goes on. Microsoft had a real chance to do great with Windows 8, the fact is they don't need to make it the same as the tablet/phone UI for people to be able to work between the two without much knowledge. They could have made the desktop UI a beautiful masterpiece (not just a style that looks like a primer to the actual 'paint'), and a easy to use, efficient, functional beautiful masterpiece at that. They could have also made efficient Windows Apps, and had different 'cues' for PC and phone/tablet use. By cues I mean basically the same app, but with a different tailoring file that makes it suited to each platform. They could even provide 'UI choices', such as a hybrid desktop. Normal legacy apps on the left of the split, Windows Apps (on a desktop background) on the right, with modern edges to them instead of just square blocks. A problem with the Modern UI is the start menu is just dumped with unattractive icons on the desktop, meaning you have a lot of useless crap listed. People tend to have bloated start menu's too, but at least if there's 10 crap entries for a program they aren't listed by default (only when you select that program folder). A hybrid UI could have a 'start menu', basically an updated Windows 8 concept. At least things would be itemised. Sure you can search, and on a hybrid desktop the search bar could be permanent, but not everyone will want to keep typing the name of the program they want. I didn't explain it too well, but I can visualise the concept in my head. It looks nice, is fully functional and easy to use, it has the touch style elements without the hassle (so people can still relate to the mobile UI), and it's attractive, not some purposefully boring UI. I'm pretty sure Microsoft are trying to reduce productivity with Windows 8/Server 2012 UI stylings and Office 2013, the plainness helps put workers to sleep, and the eye-strain of the Office 2013 UI default white them will help people reduce work efficient through eyestrain. Now I know some people will comment that attractiveness of the UI doesn't matter, but it does. It really does mean a lot! After all, the typical person doesn't buy a car if they think it is ugly, no, they want a nice looking car. I'm sure if you have a nice looking car you wouldn't want the pain peeling off (but still have the metal protected with the primer), and have a third rate patch up job with the wrong colour paint splothy all over it! But why would you care about that if attractiveness doesn't matter? Truth is, I do not know of anyone with Windows 8 that actually finds the new UI good when compared to Windows 7. Some have stuck with it, but get frustrated all the time because things are actually harder to find and harder to use, and one poor sap had masses of GB's of space taken up on his small 128GB SSD through the grossly inefficient Windows Apps. One of them with a Windows Phone said they couldn't care less whether the desktop UI was the same as the phone UI, and if they used Windows 8 first, they definitely would have got an Android phone instead. It is putting people off Windows phone and tablet devices! She said the UI isn't too bad on the phone, but for desktop use 'it is ludicrous'. I think, at least in part, that Windows 8 is riding on the success of Windows 7.
Yeah, that's why I did it!!! Duh!!! It's only the shell that has been replaced. All the improvements are still there: WDDM 1.2, quicker filing system, DX 11.1, quicker than Win7, etc, etc... That's my personal preference. If you think Windows 7 is great, then stick with it. I just like the way MS has tried to tie the OS, Windows Phone and Surface tablets together. They could just write Windows 7 forever with every new OS. But what's the point?? All we would end up with Apple's horrible OS X and iOS. The same thing over and over again. Zero innovation!!! I've since gone back to the Win8 shell, as there were a few bugs with the Win7 method... I like the the new 'Metro' UI too. Basic, but seems to work well. I have a WP8 phone, so the interface is familiar to me. If you don't like Win8... don't use it
I wonder why people keep mentioning WDDM 1.2 and DX11.1. WDDM 1.2 is only good for you if you are a video driver developer. I'm sure you're not one. As a user you just install the drivers and play your games. Same as under Windows 95. Less memory usage? Anyone still with 128MB RAM in their computer? DX11.1 is totally useless at the moment with zero games using it. It probably won't be relevant later either as developers will stick to DX9c/11.0 because of market share. Almost no one has 11.1 compatible hardware. These are nice features on paper, but completely useless in real life. Fact is: You can do stuff with Windows anything, Mac OSX anything, Linux anything and so on. Out of all these, doing stuff on Windows 8 is the most complicated and most inconvenient. You can say you like the metro ui and be happy with it and you have the right to do so and to like it. Still, the number of mouse clicks or keystrokes to do something is much higher than on other operating systems. Finding your way around as a new user is much harder than on other operating systems. And not because people are stupid. They are, but still can use Android or Windows 7 easily.
I think you will find that the latest video card offerings from AMD and nVidia ARE DX 11.1 compatible...
Microsoft have ported Directx 11.1 (all of it which is actually useful anyway) to Windows 7 with an update a couple of months ago. If you use the latest display drivers, Windows 7 is Directx 11.1! I'm not saying Microsoft should have stuck with the exact same Windows 7 UI, I just think they should have done it very much significantly better which they could have easily have done. Tying the 'three' platforms (desktop/laptop, phone, tablet) isn't really a good idea, because it's not suited for the desktop/laptop platform. How many 2-wheeler motorbikes do you see with a steering wheel? how many cars do you see with a motorbike handlebar for steering? Why don't you see this? because it is NOT practical. Yet why not, hey you could put a steering wheel on a bike so people can learn to drive, right? Doesn't work that way, nor does putting a phone interface on a desktop PC. As I said, I think a stylish hybrid UI would be good for PC, the only downside being that 'Windows Apps' are grossly inefficient for what they are.
Win 8 will never do has will has win7 for the simple fact business and people in them don't like change.If they would have done something better for the desktop (had a start menu that works ) It would have been ok.
You have a lot of patience. I spent about six hours on it to come to the same conclusion. And if MS wants to pursue this road, more people will change to Mac OS X or Linux.
Yes powercfg -h off still works! I actually really appreciate the performance boost from Windows 7/Server 2008 to Windows 8/Server 2012. If I don't like the way a computer is running I just put Server 2012 on it if it has enough RAM and wham bam, it's pretty responsive. I had a ASUS G75 3D that I bought last year and gave to a friend. It came with Windows 7 Home Premium which was slow as molasses in January, once I replaced it with Server 2012 it ran like lightning and confused many people on this board! Cheers!
Maybe you can ask MS to create a custom, personlized OS for you next time? It seems you expect this. Wrong world...sorry