Windows 8.1 Review - Small improvements fix some annoyances

But its still 8 ?

 

Windows 8.1 RTM leak reveals major changes to reduce hatred from first-time users

It appears the biggest obstacle to Windows 8's success continues to be Microsoft.

They used to listen ... now they dictate.

 

If you round off 8.1, it would come to 8.

 

Hi Arie,

I'm a bit confused. I don't have the 8.1 preview, but when I restart my system, if I do nothing - after logging in - the screen will go to my desktop and bring up those apps in the Startup portion of my menus ... er, uh ... folders.

So what is the big difference with the update?

And as you point out in your [excellent] write-up, big whoop on the Windows Icon on the Taskbar, since it only brings up the Win 8 'block' screen!

Am I missing something here?

Cheers!

 

No Joke

Seriously, Arie, unless your little start menu thingie is the cause, I have no third party anything to cause it, but it simply does go to the desktop - once I've logged in - after a normal shutdown/restart. True, it does take a few minutes. I discovered that it does this after I was working on another PC with Win 7 64-bit, leaned over to put in my password, and hit Enter, then leaned back to continue working on the Win 7 box.

Next thing I knew, it had gone past the usual Win 8 Metro, or whatever that start screen is, and was bringing up Outlook, Mailwasher, and the others in the attached JPG.Alex

 

That's very strange because Win 8 is meant to boot to Metro interface by default. Are you sure there is no add on installed ?l

 

Nope! No add-on. I kept downloading different ones from the CNET site, but never installed one. I simply didn't trust that they were not going to mess things up. And especially after I did that "refresh" that Win 8 provides, and things were running so well.

 

. . .

 

Is this still a non finish update or is it now the finish product for all that wants it ?

 

It has been released to OEM's but for general public it would be available in October. Hold your horses till then.

 

Really Bad Move, Microsoft!

[FONT= "Verdana"]From what I've seen and read so far, it ain't worth the wait. They're only going to pi$$ off the public further.

IMHO that is ...[/FONT]

 

I thought it was in August but October it is , thanks

 

Having beta tested for Microsoft for more than 15 years, I really should have known they would miss their target date!

 

I got a chance to tinker with a Windows 8 laptop for two weeks. Installing Classic Shell brought back the start button put the apps in a folder just above the list of programs on the start menu - which I though was a nice move by the third party software maker. It made Windows 8 much more navigable and much less confusing.

In addition, Classic Shell allows a person to come back to desktop via the Windows key if you are using an app (such as the photo viewer).

 

I know this thread is a little old but I figured I'd drop my two cents. I have been using Windows 8.1 RTM for a few days now and here is my review. Windows 8.1 won't sell you if you didn't like Windows 8 however installing Classic Shell will. Can't recommend Classic Shell highly enough. Windows 8 with Classic Shell is superior to Windows 7 in my opinion. As for any real differences between the two versions of 8.x... I didn't really notice any other than different tile sizes and an improved modern control panel. The "Go to desktop after closing app" option is nice as well. I found that the removal of the Windows Experience Index and renaming of "My Computer" to "This PC" annoying but trivial. Windows 8.1 with Classic Shell is my preferred OS for now