Windows 8 woes!
 

I went and upgraded to Windows 8- BIG mistake- Can anyone advise how to remove?
I now also cant read Pprune as it just comes up in IE as a "TYPED" page with no familiar formatting and functionability. Anyone know how to fix this?
Thanks in advance.

Try using the desktop "app" then opening IE from there or downloading chrome/ firefox.

Windows 8 is fine when you get used to it.

I have just bought a new laptop with W8 and am finding it very hard to get used to. I don't like the 'apps' layout on the opening page, but my 17 year old son thinks it's 'cool' and I suppose that's the market it's aimed at, people who use smartphones, tablets, etc. They are probably in the majority.

Even simple things like finding the 'power' options are difficult, but I am slowly getting used to it.

Bit bleeding edge, W8. I recently got my first machine with W7 having decided it had probably just about settled down enough, other than that I'm using XP and W2k3. I think I'll let other people work the bugs out of W8 for a year or two before I try it.

Tableview, you might find Classic Shell handy as it takes you straight to the desktop at log-in and provides a "Start" button. You can largely avoid the Metro interface if desired.

Welcome to Classic Shell

Gertrude: But by then Win 9 will be on the horizon.

Will Win9 be "what Win8 should have been" ... similar to Win7 being "what Vista should have been".

jimgriff, near as I can tell there is no easy or reliable way to roll back Win8 to a previous version. The safest way is to use your back-up to replace the Win8 installation.

Googling "roll back win8" without the quotes produces results that detail the steps required to attempt a roll back.

Ok, running IE10 on Windows 7 to see if the problem exists, and everything looks "normal" and is functioning like it should (with the blooming ads I don't normally see. Grrr) so one is wondering if there is an issue with your installation or if there is a setting that needs to be changed in some way.

Oh, never used "compatibility view", site loaded in normally with no changes to IE from the original "Do not use recommended settings" option checked when IE10 first loaded up. If you did tell it to "use recommended settings", if such an option was available to you when you first used IE10, that could be where the problem is.

My brief guide to surviving Win8
0. Do not use "online" account! They suck. Local account is a must
1. Unpin all metro apps from start screen
1.1 Sensible colour scheme (blue on grey or something) makes it look less Fisher-Price
2. Change default file opening programs to non-metro apps (photos, audio, video, PDF, etc)
3. Win-X or right-click on start pop-up thing for power user menu!

I don't quite agree with Win8 as a concept, but overall it's pretty awesome once you get used to it. Lots of worthwhile upgrades. Server 2012 too / especially. Good luck!

Its Windows. Its tightly integrated everywhere.

You're going to waste away hours of your life trying to do an unsupported downgrade. You are obviously not that much technically minded when it comes to computers (otherwise you wouldn't be asking the question here).... therefore you can probably expect to spend days not hours !

Backup your files (just your files, not any software that you should simply be reinstalling). Then format and re-install the prior version you desire.

Win 8
 

I have been using Windows 8 for about a month and find it faster and slicker than Win 7. I mostly use the desktop, where it is possible to pin your programs to the Start bar as in Win 7.
Yes the new interface is a bit glitzy but very customisable. My only gripe is the number of key presses to turn it off. However, CTRL-ALT DEL works as before.

What's the deal with memory useage and general sucking up of the processing power? I supposed it's got to be better than Vista which I want to replace.


I have a HD out of my wife's old Laptop Similar spec machine. Could I instal 8 on that and hardware swap between the two until I get used to 8?


Would anyone at MS care if I did that? Vista came with the Sony.

What is the best way to get 8 ? Cheaply, that is.

8 is a cheap download direct from Microsoft.

Yes, that's what I did with Win 7 / XP.

As long as you have the installation media and drivers, you can test without screwing up a working PC.

SD

Downgrade to Win 7
 

I assume that you have a Win7 CoA from your first installation but you lack an installation DVD.
You can download an official Microsoft Win7 SP ISO from here: Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life
Then you can reinstall Win 7 again.
I must agree with you, I did not care for Win 8 and have gone back to Win 7 myself - put it down to old age especially as I started with 3.1!

Loose rivets: Whole OS is somewhat faster and more efficient, but memory usage is about the same. 2gb perfectly usable but realistic minimum.

Old age is about right
 

Win 3.1: no issues, Win XP: fine, Win 7: okay after a while, Win 8: where is all my stuff??

By the way, (I'm still very happy with DOS 5.0 (yes, that is the pre-workgroup variety).

I now work (in the day job) with everything from DOS 2.0 to XP Pro x64 and am not a complete PC numpty (2x motherboard swaps, reinstall DOS 6.22/Win 3.11, multiple OS upgrades, multiple HDD upgrades, OS to SSHDD migration etc, etc.)

I'm sure the average 17 yr old has no problem at all. Unfortunately, I'm from the ZX81/Sinclair QL (remember those??) generation......

without trying to pry, what on earth do you do that needs DOS2?

As for DOS5, that had a few handy utilities that were missing from the DOS6 variants and were always worth copying onto 6
DOSSHELL comes to mind as one

What about the ones in the middle - Win9x and Win2K? I can't believe you jumped from Win 3.x to XP!

That's a 23 year span right there!

Admittedly I get to use Win2K and Server 2012 concurrently, so that's 12 years, but 23?

So am I, but I didn't stay there! ;)

SD

Interesting to state that so far I've not been asked to either install or repair a Windows 8 computer.
When Win7 came out I was inundated with calls
Seems to me things aren't happy with Win8 sales