Windows 8.1 Rolling Out Worldwide

[talos_2002]

They didn't fix the blurry text rendering.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/poor-font-rendering-in-windows-8-blurry-text/f52a2002-d748-485c-8b9c-4862806ea94a?page=1&tm=1375496761047

It's the only thing keeping me from upgrading.

It's been a very long time is has been reported by so many people, that I doubt MS will fix it. Could Tom's Hardware contact MS and help us? Please

 

[gibbousmoon100]

There is nothing 'old school' about a mouse and keyboard, Kevin. It is merely a different control scheme from touch. Or would you prefer to hunch forward in your desk, stabbing at the screen with your greasy fingertip, hoping to highlight your intended word?

 

[lp231]

Anyone who can't see Windows 8.1 in the Windows Store needs to run Windows Update first and get all the updates. After that, then it will show up. If all the Windows Updates has been downloaded and it still does not show up. Open run command and run wsreset.exe.
Then close store and reopen it.

 

[Belardo]

Anyone who can't see Windows 8.1 in the Windows Store needs to run Windows Update first and get all the updates.-

That seems retarded... can't update OS without updating patch filed?! Oh this is Microsoft.

 

[stevejnb]

There is nothing 'old school' about a mouse and keyboard, Kevin. It is merely a different control scheme from touch. Or would you prefer to hunch forward in your desk, stabbing at the screen with your greasy fingertip, hoping to highlight your intended word?

If he does, I hope he washes his hands first 😉

The reality is, the people pretending the Metro interface is ideal for the desktop are almost as annoying as the people pretending that the desktop mode doesn't exist. To paraphrase the late Steve Jobs, if you're trying to use a touchscreen rather than a mouse and a keyboard at a work desk, you're doing it wrong. Hit the big desktop button and use your mouse and keyboard.

 

[Belardo]

@belardo
First mistake you made is calling Android and iOS a "Computer" os (you effectively did it when you compared their and Microsoft's share.) Brb, I'm going to go and write code on my Android-based PC.

Android is good, it just has a lot of fragmentation, same as the rest of Linux.

And yes, I'm a Linux user. But due to the trolling you and others in some parts of the community do, I'm no longer running it on my main machine.

Now, your issues with windows 8? First you claim it to be unusable, what in the world could you not use it for..

Android. IS a computer OS... its not usually optimize for desktop usage... but yes, you can write and run code within android. There are some android PCs out there... some of them even plug into a TV from a tiny little USB thumb drive size thingy. Today's phones have more CPU, more GPU, higher resolution display than typical desktop PCs 10 years ago... yet somehow we were writing code, drawing art, editing video and writing letters to mom in the 80s on computers running at 8mhz with 512k ram and 16 colors.... yeah, I think an android tablet has it beat. Bluetooth a key/mouse and plug in an HDMI cable to a tv for easier work... people do these things.

The fragmentation remark is very stupid. Anyone with a brain knows that's a none issue. A program written for android 4 will run on any android 4 device... doesn't matter brand or if its a phone or tablet. What about the MS fragments? XP, vista , w7 , w8, wp8, wp7, winRT ... that is a mess.

If the trolls made you stop using Linux, then that is your problem. Linux itself may never be supreme... but it can be the OS people use to get things done.

Also the speed issue is a joke. Windows always feels faster when its a new install... until the stupid registry and other junk gets bloated and slows things done.

-typed on a 5" android cellphone.

 

[stevejnb]

Belardo, may I ask why you are posting about the virtues of Android in a thread about the release of Windows 8.1?

 

[lp231]

Anyone who can't see Windows 8.1 in the Windows Store needs to run Windows Update first and get all the updates.-

That seems retarded... can't update OS without updating patch filed?! Oh this is Microsoft.

If you have automatic updates turn it, it should already download the required patch. But for those who has manual updates (like what I have), then I have to make sure I get the require update first before it shows up.

 

[coolronz]

better? they took the image creator away and certain programs i like have compatibility issues, to be expected nonetheless... will be imaging my PC back to windows 8 after I receive my second samsung 840 in the mail.... and quite honestly the driver supports not there yet, maybe try again in a few months....

 

[g-unit1111]

FYI - the Windows 8.1 installation process takes a good solid 2+ hours with multiple restarts required. It will take at least one hour to download the 3.62GB file needed to complete the install, and after that it will take a good solid hour to get it installed and configured before your system is finished. Is it worth it in the long run? Yes.

 

[Belardo]

So... let's say 6 months from now. You need to do a clean install... do you get to do an 8.1 from the start or have to pend 2-3 hardware again patching up?

 

[back_by_demand]

ISO for clean install isn't available now, but not to say it won't be available soon

 

[InvalidError]

So... let's say 6 months from now. You need to do a clean install... do you get to do an 8.1 from the start or have to pend 2-3 hardware again patching up?

The Windows Store upgrade does not give an option to write the "update" (which is as big as the RTM ISO) on a DVD for future re-use so you would have to re-install 8.0 to download and re-install the Windows Store update.

I downloaded the update from the Windows Store last night. When I found out it does not give an option to save it for future re-applications, I decided to get the SHA1 from MSDN and find a torrent for next time.

 

[back_by_demand]

I was going to wait till next week but had some time to kill and I was eager to see how much space the extra install would eat from my SSD. I decided to do a fresh install of Windows 8 to use as a benchmark, installed Office 2013, then got every available update from both the desktop and Metro versions, then ran the clean-up (including system files) to get to a definitive size.

I got 25.9Gb of used space, which sounds about right with my auto-installed devices and Office. Then I ran the 8.1 setup, seeing the 3.63Gb file I wondered after decompress how much space it would use. After it had finished I ran the updates again for desktop and Metro, then ran the clean-up with system files again

I got a final 19.1Gb of used space, meaning that even after downloading 3.63Gb I reduced my previous used space by 6.8Gb - for SSD users where space is a premium (and that includes any tablet users) the recovered space is like gold dust. Previous Service Pack installs I have done have always taken additional space, I have never had one give it me back again so this is very much appreciated. If anyone else can replicate this and confirm it would be nice, don't forget when doing clean-up to select system files and select all items.

 

[Belardo]

That's cool... getting back 5gb.

 

[back_by_demand]

Yeah, is actually, hard to spin a negative on that isn't it?

 

[Belardo]

Why spIn a negative on something that is positive? Give credit where credit is due. When MS does something good even on Windows 8 , well that's fine. But that isn't going to make me our others wet their panties over 8.1.

I grew up with 80s tech when the commodore 64 was state-of-the-art for home computing. It wouldnt be until 1995 that ms releases a modern OS. I don't see a reason to go back to low-color / huge icon UI. I remember being stoked having 640x400 res in 1990. This is 2013. I used to run metro on my phone 2+ years ago until last Oct when I got a new phone with Android 4. I then found metro... limiting. Win8 also hurt wp8 sales big time... when it was supposed to catapult the wp platform. So weak sales and actual market share numbers and trends shows what's happening to ms. Their actions are of a dumb greedy company with little talent. Only thing keeping them afloat is the businesses worlds reliance on ms-office. Perhaps MS is right to go with TIFKAM if its only a launcher for office and IE.

Sorry JTS funny as hell when ms promotes "you can run 3 programs side by side now" gee in a windowed environment, we can do far more than that. Oh... even android can do two apps side by side (50/50 split) on phones and. Tablets. That is handy.

IOS and android has shown the world that MS windows is not important as it used to be. There isn't much ms can do to fix that... and I have no love for the OS to keep using it anymore than I have to. This is healthy for the computer industry... maybe ms will learn to innovate (doubt that) rather than buy someone else's tech over and over again since the days of MS-DOS. 1.0.

 

[back_by_demand]

It's hard to detect sarcasm in typing, you can have a deadpan delivery sometimes. My testing over the next few days will also be benchmarking some of my gaming, productivity and browsing. I can only take the bullshit reviews and opinions, even about a product I like, so far before I have to roll up my sleeves and do it myself.