Windows 8.1 woes

[Heliomance]

So I just "upgraded" my computer from Windows 8 to 8.1. I hate it. I don't know or particularly care what under-the-hood improvements have been made. I know how many people had a problem with the start screen. I didn't. I actually quite liked it. But now I've got 8.1, it's a horrible garish mess. The tiles are all different (clashing) colours, apparently pulled from somewhere on the icon that's on them. I'd far prefer them to be coloured the same, as they were in 8. Also, whereas before I had three columns of tiles on the front page of the start screen, it's now in a solid block, which is much harder to interpret as anyone who's seen a wall of text will understand.

I gather there's no way to roll back the 8.1 update short of reinstalling Windows. Can someone at least help me get my Start screen to stop looking like it was thrown together by a colourblind chimp?

[Hiro Protagonest]

Download Classic Shell?

[Emperor Ing]

Classic Shell is one of the first things I did when I got a windows 8 computer. It upgrades the OS from "Completely unusable" to "Tolerable."

[Heliomance]

I don't want to revert to a Windows 7 look. I liked the Windows 8 interface. I just hate what 8.1 has done to the colour scheme.

[Flickerdart]

Also, whereas before I had three columns of tiles on the front page of the start screen, it's now in a solid block, which is much harder to interpret as anyone who's seen a wall of text will understand.

Pick up and drag a tile to the far left margin; a vertical rectangle should light up indicating that dropping it there creates a new column. All of my columns were intact after the update, so it's weird that yours would have vanished...

[lesser_minion]

In theory, using the "Refresh your PC" option from PC Settings will uninstall Trollface Edition for you if you had Windows 8.0 installed before. In practice, there are reasons why I just called it "Trollface Edition".

Otherwise, the start screen works mostly like Windows 8's -- if the positioning of your tiles has been messed up, you should be able to fix that manually.

As far as colours are concerned, there's a surprise waiting for you in TE's start menu background and colour customisation settings. It won't solve your problem, and I didn't consider it particularly pleasant when I encountered it either.

Windows TE's app screen is better than Windows 8's thanks to some subtle spacing and padding alterations, but that's the only definite improvement I can think of off the top of my head.

[LaZodiac]

Hope you don't like playing video games that use both mouse and keyboard. The way they've set things up, keyboard, mouse, gamepads, and touchpad, all use the same "tech term I forget", and as a result weird things (like sometimes the mouse being disabled when you touch the keyboard buttons) happen.

The best fix that I know of is just reinstalling, sadly.

[ShadowFireLance]

Hope you don't like playing video games that use both mouse and keyboard. The way they've set things up, keyboard, mouse, gamepads, and touchpad, all use the same "tech term I forget", and as a result weird things (like sometimes the mouse being disabled when you touch the keyboard buttons) happen.

The best fix that I know of is just reinstalling, sadly.

Say what.
How do I stop my update. :smalleek:
*Has not yet updated*

[Heliomance]

Hope you don't like playing video games that use both mouse and keyboard. The way they've set things up, keyboard, mouse, gamepads, and touchpad, all use the same "tech term I forget", and as a result weird things (like sometimes the mouse being disabled when you touch the keyboard buttons) happen.

The best fix that I know of is just reinstalling, sadly.

I've never been able to use keyboard and touchpad at the same time on this computer; I assumed it was a hardware shortcoming. Mouse and keyboard works fine though.

[lesser_minion]

Say what.
How do I stop my update. :smalleek:
*Has not yet updated*

That's not actually true, to my knowledge. TE has a feature that disables your mouse for a few hundred ms the first time you try to use it, but you can switch it off. I've never actually seen it cause an issue in any of the games I've played under TE, though.

[Elemental]

It is indeed fortunate then that I have decided to keep XP all these years rather than go through the rigmarole of updating to the newest version. Alas, I have a feeling this keeping to what has always worked rather than what is new may eventually fail me and cause more problems than it has prevented...

[Castaras]

It is indeed fortunate then that I have decided to keep XP all these years rather than go through the rigmarole of updating to the newest version. Alas, I have a feeling this keeping to what has always worked rather than what is new may eventually fail me and cause more problems than it has prevented...

Windows 7 is better than XP in general, Windows 8 is better under the hood than Windows 7 (although the interface is very controversial).

[factotum]

It is indeed fortunate then that I have decided to keep XP all these years rather than go through the rigmarole of updating to the newest version. Alas, I have a feeling this keeping to what has always worked rather than what is new may eventually fail me and cause more problems than it has prevented...

Microsoft end support for Windows XP in April. That means no more security updates...if a hacker finds a way to break remotely into your computer, Microsoft won't fix it! And I believe XP is already something like 6 times as vulnerable to hacks as Windows 7 is, so frankly, you should be upgrading now, rather than waiting for your machine to become zero-day-funtime next year.

[Elemental]

Yes yes. I know I should update. I'm just always hesitant when the time comes for that to happen. That and I just know it'll take me ages to get used to it...

[TuggyNE]

I liked Vista better than XP by a large margin, and 7 rather better than Vista. 8 is … only marginally better than 7, even after Classic Shell and co moved in. And the 8.1 upgrade process was uncool in various ways, but I lived.

I've not had any problems with games that use keyboard and mouse, either with my built-in touchpad or an external mouse/keyboard, so not sure what the problem is. It doesn't seem to be 8.1's fault directly though.

XP, though, is loooong past its prime, and switching away from it will definitely improve your life in the long run. Even if you switch to Ubuntu. :smalltongue: (Various relatives still use it, and tech support/help is not fun for me; there's so many things it doesn't do right or at all.)

[Hiro Protagonest]

Yeah, my policy with Windows 8 is "don't cross the street to avoid it, but don't cross it just to get to it". If the computer you want has Windows 7 or Windows 8, it doesn't matter. But if you already have Windows 7, there's really no reason to upgrade.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I would feel lukewarm about 8.1, save for the fact that it regularly crashes. Windows 8.0 did not. I have made no other changes.

[lesser_minion]

I would feel lukewarm about 8.1, save for the fact that it regularly crashes. Windows 8.0 did not. I have made no other changes.

Interestingly, there are decades of evidence to suggest that such things usually aren't Windows' fault, even when "the only thing I changed is the OS".

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

Interestingly, there are decades of evidence to suggest that such things usually aren't Windows' fault, even when "the only thing I changed is the OS".

It could be my fault, but I seriously doubt it. My computer is pretty new. I do not do dangerous things with it.

[bluewind95]

It could be my fault, but I seriously doubt it. My computer is pretty new. I do not do dangerous things with it.

Well... most of the time, it's some other program's fault, not yours, either. Things like a manufacturer not updating a driver can do it. Or a program you're running that's totally safe, but not quite compatible with the new system version.

[Ravens_cry]

Yeah, Windows gets a lot of flack, and sometimes justifiably so, but they deal with a very difficult environment, with more hardware and software configurations than particles in the observable universe I wouldn't doubt.
That's tricky.

[Flickerdart]

I would feel lukewarm about 8.1, save for the fact that it regularly crashes. Windows 8.0 did not. I have made no other changes.
The likeliest explanation is that you're not using the latest drivers for your system - a lot of manufacturers have been dragging their feet with upgrading drivers for 8.1, since apparently some of the changes under the hood have struck down a lot of technically incorrect things that people have been doing in their code. Make sure you're keeping an eye on when your hardware manufacturers release 8.1 drivers.

[TuggyNE]

The likeliest explanation is that you're not using the latest drivers for your system - a lot of manufacturers have been dragging their feet with upgrading drivers for 8.1, since apparently some of the changes under the hood have struck down a lot of technically incorrect things that people have been doing in their code. Make sure you're keeping an eye on when your hardware manufacturers release 8.1 drivers.

This totally doesn't remind me of anything released in 2006, nosirreebob. For sure, history don't repeat itself much!

[Heliomance]

I think I will try that refresh thing at some point. Because not only is my start screen an eyesore now, the new search functionality has completely murdered the search speed, and I primarily use the start screen search as a quick way to start apps I don't use often enough to keep on the front of the start screen. I don't want it to look for files - if I need to find a file, I use Windows Explorer's search function. Bah.

[lesser_minion]

I think I will try that refresh thing at some point. Because not only is my start screen an eyesore now, the new search functionality has completely murdered the search speed, and I primarily use the start screen search as a quick way to start apps I don't use often enough to keep on the front of the start screen. I don't want it to look for files - if I need to find a file, I use Windows Explorer's search function. Bah.

As I said, it's theoretical. It's what Microsoft says will happen in the docs, but if you picked up the free upgrade via the store, you'll find that what actually happens is that 8.1 declares the recovery partition to be corrupt and refuses to use it.

IIRC, there's also a clause in the "friendly" Windows 8.1 EULA that forbids you from going back to 8.0.

[Mauve Shirt]

I kind of really want a Surface Pro. Thoughts of you guys?

[Flickerdart]

I kind of really want a Surface Pro. Thoughts of you guys?
The new Pro is indeed pretty sweet, but it's a class of machine that I have no interest in anymore. I'd rather have one solid all-around device than a portable gadget without the beefiness to do some gaming once in a while.

[Heliomance]

As I said, it's theoretical. It's what Microsoft says will happen in the docs, but if you picked up the free upgrade via the store, you'll find that what actually happens is that 8.1 declares the recovery partition to be corrupt and refuses to use it.

IIRC, there's also a clause in the "friendly" Windows 8.1 EULA that forbids you from going back to 8.0.

So the only way to manage it is a clean install? Yay!

I think I have an installation disk around somewhere. I hope. But seriously, that is one dumbass decision.

[lesser_minion]

I kind of really want a Surface Pro. Thoughts of you guys?

I've heard nothing good about the Surface RT, but I've seen various glowing and less-glowing reviews of its big brother. The main complaints I've heard are the expense, and the fact that it's heavy for a tablet.

As far as gaming is concerned, I can't actually think of many worthwhile games that require better hardware.


So the only way to manage it is a clean install? Yay!

Google yields vague suggestions that some awful hackery exists that will get the refresh option working again, but I'm afraid I can't advise you on the matter.

[Mauve Shirt]

I've got a gaming desktop, I'm really just wanting to replace my old laptop. Which is what I hear about the pro; It's less an iPad, and more a laptop replacement/tablet pc.

[Flickerdart]

If you do get the Pro, spring for the Type Cover. The Touch Cover is thinner, but it's really awkward to use until you get used to it because the "keys" have no give at all.