Advice Request Windows 8.1 - Pros and Cons

Please provide comments and solutions that are helpful to the author of this topic.

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cdnsempre

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Jan 17, 2013
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Pros:
Speed.
Windows 8.1 starts up faster, switches between apps faster, and uses power more efficiently than previous versions of Windows, including Windows 7.

Cons:

-Microsoft is still too focused on the Metro interface. Desktop is relitively unchanged.
-Still no start menu like in previous versions.
 

cruelsister

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Apr 13, 2013
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Totally agree with what you wrote- but the Start Menu/Desktop issue (yes, I consider Metro a needless issue) can be resolved very nicely and cheaply with StartisBack. I love it.
 

Ink

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Cons:
Windows 8.1 Search is a lot slower than compared to Windows 8.

Anyone else experience this too?
 

samit

Level 12
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Nov 4, 2011
830
Earth said:
Cons:
Windows 8.1 Search is a lot slower than compared to Windows 8.

Anyone else experience this too?

ya same here.......also I have problem with IE11.....IE11 keeps on freezing when I open youtube....when I play video in youtube, I keep on getting video can't be displayed currently....if I refresh couple of times then it starts to play.....except that everything is okay so far....
 

BoraMurdar

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I am talking about Windows 8, since 8.1 is minor update and correction of Windows 8
Pros - It's slightly faster and more secure
Cons - I don't like the direction where Microsoft is heading... productivity for office and business PC drops because of "Metro" stylish features. Microsoft couldn't make a stupid X (close) button for Apps so you need to slide to down (Windows 8) and slide down and hold for 3sec for close (Windows 8.1). I mean, if that was illogical to develop I don't need to talk about anything else what I don't like about it.
Windows XP - GREAT
Windows Vista - BAD
Windows 7 - GREAT
Windows 8 & 8.1 - well... not so bad but needs a lot of improvements to satisfy tablet and desktop users dropping attention on both sides...equally.
Waiting for Windows 9 :D
 

cdnsempre

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Jan 17, 2013
296
Pros: Introduce the Microsoft SkyDrive cloud storage is also built in to the OS. This allows you to save files in your SkyDrive folder and have them automatically show up on other devices that are linked to your SkyDrive account. It's very fast and convenient. I rarely need to use a thumb drive any more. SkyDrive is free and currently has the best cross platform compatibility of all the cloud storage providers.

But, can we keep same personal account of windows 8 or i have create one outlook account?
 

rebel4life

Level 9
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Sep 30, 2012
667
CON - still alot of software out there that doesnt support windows 8.1 i like windows 8 little better i think my computer HP laptop is having some issues with win 8.1 too
 

Ink

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Actually, on Windows 8.1 holding the App at the bottom of the screen restarts the app (notice it flips).

Dragging the App to bottom and releasing closes the app, except on Windows 8.1, some apps linger in the background.

Since Windows Store apps are similar to Windows Phone apps, they don't require to be close, instead they are suspended (check Task Manager). Even iOS and Android don't close apps, instead are left in a suspended state.

In Windows 9, I think MS will merge the WP and WStore together. So you'll have Touch functionality for Apps and traditional desktop Windows apps.

BoraMurdar said:
Microsoft couldn't make a stupid X (close) button for Apps so you need to slide to down (Windows 8) and slide down and hold for 3sec for close (Windows 8.1).
 

BoraMurdar

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In Windows 8.1 sliding the app down just postpones the resources for handling that app. Microsoft made that move to camouflage the time needing for reopening the app. When your app is just "minimized" it reopens very quickly again and you have the face of "Oh my God, my PC is so fast" but I don't like the idea behind sliding the app down in the first place. They could just make the close button. There are PDF documents weighting over 20mb and when Reader opens it (then you slide down the app), check the Task Manager and you will see a lot amount of RAM taken by the Reader, well, in my case.

There are many problems that Microsoft needs to improve, just my suggestions :

- Automatically updating everything upon installation of OS
- Better detection of all drivers for every device you have connected to your computer
- "Windows is checking for the solution of the problem" improvements
- Windows Defender improvements
- Making Windows Media Player that can actually compete with VLC, MPC, PotPlayer or KMPlayer and automatic detection of missing codecs
- Windows Explorer (Copying) Improvements, example, when you are copying multiple files, first file starts copying, second waits until first finishes and then it starts automatically and then third file etc.
- Extensions for Internet Explorer
- Windows Burn improvements
dunno... those are that crosses my mind at the moment

Microsoft and all "Technology Direction" are heading to make all apps touchable, rely on syncing over all devices you have, make it all "in the cloud", embellishing all programs and windows, connecting all accounts into one, and ultimately make humans lazier then we actually are.

It's like buying an 70inch 3D TV for your home that actually doesn't have doors and windows and it is ready to collapse every moment.
Fix what needs to be fixed and only then go for new stuff.

Thanks :D
 

Purshu_Pro

Level 29
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Aug 3, 2013
1,879
This my Fustrating update to win 8.1, though all softwares are working fine, after updating
* My bluetooth device stopped working. wasted more than 48 Hours over internet but still not solved.
* My CPU Fan keeps spinning like rain noise! Before i didnt have this issue.
* And Finally My Battery lasts only for 1 hour which was supposed to give 4 Hrs before upgrading.

What do u say about this? is it a good os or bad os. when i contacted my pc manufaacturer support they said i must switch back to windows 8, and wait until they release proper drivers.... HA HA HA business world !!!
 

jim lin

Level 8
Aug 6, 2012
505
i restored my pc Win 8 back to factory original then got all the updates then installed Win 8.1
so far my only problems are

1:the added partiton that stays fragmented (\\?\volume)

2:it changed my virtual memory from system managed size/automatically manage paging file size for all drives
to custom size:initial size 400mb max size 4096

3:now i'm getting errors in my event viewer i was not getting before
i get these 3 errors when i turn on the pc but not on a restart
event id:11
1:The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk2\DR2.
2:The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk3\DR3.
3:The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk4\DR4.

other errors i'm seeing in event viewer

event id:10016
DistributedCOM
The machine-default permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{C2F03A33-21F5-47FA-B4BB-156362A2F239}
and APPID
{316CDED5-E4AE-4B15-9113-7055D84DCC97}
to the user NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE SID (S-1-5-19) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC) running in the application container Unavailable SID (Unavailable). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

this one happens sometimes
event id:7023
service control manager
The Superfetch service terminated with the following error:
The service has not been started.

this one alot
event id:46
volmgr
Crash dump initialization failed!

the crash dump one i think if i changed the virtual memory from system managed size to custom size i would get it to BSOD
so i could see the crash dump with blue screen view or something but i'm not sure what to set the virtual memory initial size/max size
to with 8GB of memory and one would think the system managed would make a crash dump

computer management/disk management in windows is seeing 2 recovery image's but not minitool partition wizard 8 see pic's

other than that everything seems ok i guess not very much defferent between the 2 to me

:)

james
 

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Littlebits

Retired Staff
May 3, 2011
3,893
I found the source of my laptop battery getting drained within one hour which use to last 5 to 6 hours before 8.1 upgrade.

It was the apps, they never close by themselves. I had several games apps which continued to run for hours and never closed.

After manually killing them with Task Manager after I got done using them, the battery started to last much longer.

Even leaving the Metro environment open in idle drains the battery but if I switch to Desktop mode the battery doesn't get drained in idle.

Microsoft really needs to do something about this.
Windows 8 suppose to be for mobile devices which require batteries.
But you have to keep your laptop plugged in to electric to use it for long than one hour.

Thanks. :D
 

MetalShaun

Level 1
Mar 3, 2011
424
samit said:
Earth said:
Cons:
Windows 8.1 Search is a lot slower than compared to Windows 8.

Anyone else experience this too?

ya same here.......also I have problem with IE11.....IE11 keeps on freezing when I open youtube....when I play video in youtube, I keep on getting video can't be displayed currently....if I refresh couple of times then it starts to play.....except that everything is okay so far....

I have the same freezing issue with you tube, rather annoying.
 

cdnsempre

Level 1
Thread author
Verified
Jan 17, 2013
296
Littlebits said:
I found the source of my laptop battery getting drained within one hour which use to last 5 to 6 hours before 8.1 upgrade.

It was the apps, they never close by themselves. I had several games apps which continued to run for hours and never closed.

After manually killing them with Task Manager after I got done using them, the battery started to last much longer.

Even leaving the Metro environment open in idle drains the battery but if I switch to Desktop mode the battery doesn't get drained in idle.

Microsoft really needs to do something about this.
Windows 8 suppose to be for mobile devices which require batteries.
But you have to keep your laptop plugged in to electric to use it for long than one hour.

Thanks. :D
This reply comes to meet one of my problems.
Windows 8 for some time I stole a useful battery time.
Thanks for the tip and I go to the task manager to kill any process that is active and demanding battery.
I'm suspicious of AdGuard .. but soon I will take my findings.
Thank Littlebits
 
I

illumination

Littlebits said:
I found the source of my laptop battery getting drained within one hour which use to last 5 to 6 hours before 8.1 upgrade.

It was the apps, they never close by themselves. I had several games apps which continued to run for hours and never closed.

After manually killing them with Task Manager after I got done using them, the battery started to last much longer.

Even leaving the Metro environment open in idle drains the battery but if I switch to Desktop mode the battery doesn't get drained in idle.

Microsoft really needs to do something about this.
Windows 8 suppose to be for mobile devices which require batteries.
But you have to keep your laptop plugged in to electric to use it for long than one hour.

Thanks. :D

When dragging the Apps down to close them out, stop with that App half way off the page for a couple seconds, it will spin and close out.. You can then open Task manager, and watch the process close out, it takes a couple seconds once you have closed it for the process to stop..
 

Ink

Administrator
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Jan 8, 2011
22,361
Odd, I haven't any battery draining issues, plus my batteries wear level is 75%, and lasts over an hour.
 

Littlebits

Retired Staff
May 3, 2011
3,893
illumination said:
Littlebits said:
I found the source of my laptop battery getting drained within one hour which use to last 5 to 6 hours before 8.1 upgrade.

It was the apps, they never close by themselves. I had several games apps which continued to run for hours and never closed.

After manually killing them with Task Manager after I got done using them, the battery started to last much longer.

Even leaving the Metro environment open in idle drains the battery but if I switch to Desktop mode the battery doesn't get drained in idle.

Microsoft really needs to do something about this.
Windows 8 suppose to be for mobile devices which require batteries.
But you have to keep your laptop plugged in to electric to use it for long than one hour.

Thanks. :D

When dragging the Apps down to close them out, stop with that App half way off the page for a couple seconds, it will spin and close out.. You can then open Task manager, and watch the process close out, it takes a couple seconds once you have closed it for the process to stop..

That used to work with Windows 8, but after the 8.1 upgrade it no longer works on my laptop. The apps still continue to run until I manually kill them.

Thanks. :D
 

Ink

Administrator
Verified
Staff Member
Well-known
Jan 8, 2011
22,361
In Windows 8.1, dragging the App to the bottom of the edge will restart the App, it doesn't close them.
 
I

illumination

Earth said:
In Windows 8.1, dragging the App to the bottom of the edge will restart the App, it doesn't close them.

You have to drag it to the edge, then hold it half way on the page and half way off, in a couple seconds, the app will spin in place and will close "including the process"


Littlebits said:
That used to work with Windows 8, but after the 8.1 upgrade it no longer works on my laptop. The apps still continue to run until I manually kill them.

Thanks. :D

You must have something wrong with your installation then, as it still works on mine.
 

rebel4life

Level 9
Verified
Sep 30, 2012
667
no its windows 8/1 it should of been tested for a few more months it came out too quickly still alot of software and devices not compatable or support windows 8.1
 
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