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Windows 8
- polloloco51
- Sep 20, 2019
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13
Is anyone here, still using Windows 8(.1) in 2019? If so, what is your experience? Especially, reliability and usability wise?
Has anyone discovered, any modern apps not working, or removed from the Windows Store?
Conversation 13 comments
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chaoticwhizz
Log in to Reply<p>Windows 8 was essentially abandoned by Microsoft and everyone else by the time Windows 10 came out. Windows 8 (and 8.1) reaches End of Life in January 2023. You will get security updates until then but nothing else. I upgraded to Windows 8 as soon as it came out but mostly hated it and never looked back once I got Windows 10. Windows 10 is not perfect but is a huge improvement over Windows 8. I honestly can't fathom why anyone would want to use Windows 8 over 10.</p>
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polloloco51
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#468532">In reply to Chaoticwhizz:</a></em></blockquote><p>Agreed! Windows 8 was a design failure! It was too touch centric.</p><p>Windows 8.1, did considerably improve upon Windows 8. The only, truly good thing that came from it, was Windows 10! My question was, if anyone here was still using it. Also what their experience is, given it's low usage!</p>
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nadal
Log in to Reply<p>Still use Windows 8.1 for my daily desktop because of Windows Media center. It is pretty reliable, only the occasional freeze, and that's prbly due to my hardware. Usability is fine. The desktop by the time 8.1 came out works well. Don't really use modern apps though, they are pretty useless on the desktop and haven't been updated in years. And really every so often my modern app icons, including the store with randomly stop working. Don't really care though. Only modern app I ever use is photos, and it works ok.</p>
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Tony Barrett
Log in to Reply<p>I'm still running 8.1 on my main home machine – with the Start8 menu replacement. It's quick, and devoid of any Win10 junk. I can actually pick'n'choose updates as well, which is very nice. I'll stay there for as long as I can, before deciding on Win10 or Linux (Linux is sounding mightly tempting right now!)</p>
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chaoticwhizz
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#468550">In reply to ghostrider:</a></em></blockquote><p>Fair enough. I actually kind of hated the start menu replacement programs. Mostly they emulated Windows 7 and I didn't like how it arranged programs. I actually memorized a ton of keyboard shortcuts before Windows 8.1 came out. In Win10 1903 you can also delay many updates for awhile. </p><p><br></p><p>I do agree with you on linux tho. I love my home linux server. Main reasons why my desktop isn't linux is because I work from home and my job is very Microsoft-centric and PC gaming. Gaming in linux has gotten a lot better compatibility wise but you still take a performance hit on any game that was designed around DirectX only (most of them)</p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>This might be a good candidate for a "Living with" series of posts.</p>
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rob_segal
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#468603">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>If in to Windows 8 you go, only pain will you find.</p>
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chaoticwhizz
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#468603">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>Hi Paul. I I would love to see a "Living with desktop Linux" series. May be out of the scope of this site but I think a compare and contrast article of Windows and modern Linux would be interesting.</p>
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infloop
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#468664">In reply to Chaoticwhizz:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>It may seem like it's out of scope for the site due to Paul's focus on Microsoft and Windows client, but he has also included covering other tech here.</p><p><br></p><p>I believe he has also stated that Linux will be a topic that he wants to cover in the "Living with" series.</p>
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Winner
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#468664">In reply to Chaoticwhizz:</a></em></blockquote><p>Chaoticwhizz has a great idea.</p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#468664">In reply to Chaoticwhizz:</a></em></blockquote><p>That is on the list, yes.</p>
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jimchamplin
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I enjoyed 8.x personally. I liked the "modern feeling" I got even when using a mouse. I might upgrade my Windows 7 box to 8.1 instead of 10 just for the fun of it.</p>
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infloop
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I am. It is on my gaming desktop that I built back in 2012, and it has been working fine.</p><p><br></p><p>It is true that a lot of the Windows 8 apps have stopped working (e.g. MSN Money, News, Weather), so I have uninstalled most of them. Outside of the start screen, it is still largely the same Windows, with some improvements like the new Task Manager, the file copy dialog that includes pause and resume, and integrated Windows Defender. I also use it to run Hyper-V Manager to manage my virtual machines running on my Hyper-V Server boxes.</p><p><br></p><p>And it still has the Windows Update control panel, where you can hide updates that you don't want to install, and change the updates setting. I have it set to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them." I manually do the Patch Tuesday updates when they are released, and reboot when I am ready to do so.</p><p><br></p><p>In addition to Windows, I use macOS on a MacBook Pro, and Ubuntu Desktop on an Intel NUC, and I am comfortable with using any of them for what I need or want to do.</p>
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