A New OS for Next to Nothing
January 22, 2013Who doesn’t like getting things for free or cheap? Since Windows 8 was unveiled last October, there was much hype about Microsoft’s latest version of their operating system, Windows 8, and a somewhat anemic initial response to it, even with the discount offer. Microsoft has offered similar discount deals in the past. Windows 7 is still available at its discount price of £69. This time, however, Windows 8 is cheaper – £25 – but the discount offer has an expiration date.
One of Leon’s PCs had the Vista 64 bit operating system on it; he decided to try the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro 64 bit. It was quite a painless process, only needing to re-install his programmes afterward. When upgrading from Windows 7, most programmes will not need to be re-installed. It’s interesting to note that Leon actually got a newer operating system for much less than the previous one.
Is it worth getting Windows 8? We’re not really fans of any operating system. Leon has only ever been happy with the Amiga OS, and even then it wasn’t perfect, but you can’t ignore the discount price at £25 ($40 USD). Consider also that you can get the Windows Media Centre for FREE, if you got the Windows 8 Pro.
Some have criticised the new Modern UI of Win 8, saying it’s not as easy to use. But you don’t just get into a car and drive it, do you? You have to learn how to use it so you can navigate and operate the controls properly. The simpler looking interface does not mean it was dumbed down. All the features are still there, just in a cleaner, better organised way. You only need to know how to find them. The learning curve in Win 8 is surprisingly short.
To take advantage of the available upgrade discount, you can start at one of these links:
- In the United Kingdom: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/buy
- In the United States: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy
- For the Windows 8 Media Centre: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/feature-packs
Keep in mind that Microsoft’s offer is only good until the the price goes up to $199.99 USD on 1 February. Why wait and pay through the nose?
An FYI, for those of you who own multiple Windows PCs, this discount lets you upgrade up to five computers on one copy of the Win 8 upgrade.
I have had Win 8 for awhile now. I still don’t care for it. Too many necessary items are hard to find. The old Accessories button is gone and I used those items all the time.
I don’t trust the restore function. I don’t know what it will do to my programs.
I have also found it hard to install new programs. Invoking admin privileges to activate an exe file will sometimes do nothing. And if i am signed in as the administrator, I don’t see why I have to do that.
I think help from Microsoft is too difficult. Especially when I compare it to Apple and Norton. I don’t think 90 days of help is enough either.
Well Its quite a jump compared to windows7 from vista for example but I’m warming to it once I understood how it worked.
As for finding things it seems easier and quicker for me, you just start typing in metro view and it searches instantly. In desktop view move mouse to right hand corners and the search option is there. Right clicking in metro view in a blank area brings up the “all apps” view too. From there can pin to metro or desktop.
If you upgraded rather than fresh install there is an issue if you created a new user account, some files still have owner by the old account.
This may help you http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/take-ownership-of-files-folder-and-change-permissions-in-windows-8/
Yes, the search works if you know the name of everything. But, in Win7, I just knew where everything was and what it did and did not pay much attention to its exact name. The ‘all apps’ feature has helped, but there does seem to be some things missing from there. Thanks for the permissions link, that seems possibly helpful.
I just pinned what I wanted to metro then arranged them in groups to the order I liked so can see visually without needing to read what they are called now, after got used can find anything pretty quick. But if you want to have more like win7 you could get the start menu back using either:
start8 http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
or
pokki http://www.pokki.com/windows-8-start-menu
start8 is a 30 day trial but pokki is free. just be careful what you allow when installing it or it gives you a pointless adware toolbar (but easy enough to take off after)
I hope you give the metro interface more time to get used to as i’m already finding it quicker to access once I got over the learning curve. I will do another post next week with anything else I can think useful to know that may help you and thanks for letting us know.