Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8?

   / Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8? #171  
passcode / password issue?


the only issues I've ever had with xp on wifi was when choosing 'who' was going to handle managing the link. IE.. windows or the wifi dongles software.

I've found belkin and linksys to have among the VERY WORST wifi connection software out there.

I always opt to let windows handle the connection in these cases.
 
   / Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8? #172  
passcode / password issue?
the only issues I've ever had with xp on wifi was when choosing 'who' was going to handle managing the link. IE.. windows or the wifi dongles software.
I will find out later. All computers are frozen, so theoretically no changes were made... One stopped working last month, then the rest stopped on Sat or Sun.

I've found belkin and linksys to have among the VERY WORST wifi connection software out there.
I always opt to let windows handle the connection in these cases.
I always use Windows to handle WiFi connections as the OEM software is usually junk.

Aaron Z
 
   / Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8? #173  
The update from the installed W-8 to 8.1 was smooth as silk. I got up for 5 minutes at 0130, 4 minutes of which were used to go to the XXX, and clicked on the update to 8.1 in Windows store. Went back to bed and this morning at 0600 when I got up it had finished downloading some time during the night. Just a matter of accepting the license, signing in,
and entering the "Trust Code" That didn't work, so clicked on the call us on phone, which rang immediately with a new code that worked. I imagine they do that as another measure to protect from bootlegging the software, as well as extra protection for those that go to their cloud account from another computer. The establishment of a Microsoft account is really for access to the 7 Gig cloud account that comes with the system if you are inclined to use it. All the bootlegging in earlier years by the hackers and still going on in most of the rest of the world caused more and more controls to be added. Those that want everybody else's stuff for nothing but wouldn't give away a dime of their own products or services are the ones that always complain.

As for the B&S versus Honda comparison, I have always wanted to know how things work, from the time I was a kid.
My Dad was always telling me it was fine to tear stuff that was working apart to learn, but I dang sure better put it back together in a working fashion with no parts left over.
The B&S vs. Honda comparison reminds me, from the opposite viewpoint, of an incident in the spring when I was taking tractor equipment to another plot up the road and came across a young couple that waved me down. They had come from the big city to hike in the woods and see nature as they had only seen via TV before, or as so they said..
The young lady was crying and said that the battery in her door/alarm opener wasn't working and they had left their Smart phone in the car locked up. She asked if I could please help.
So I shut down the tractor and asked for her remote locking device. I looked at it and then walked over to the driver door and stuck the key that was on the end of the remote in the door lock and opened it. They both started laughing and thanked me for not verbally admonishing them for their own stupidity.
I'm afraid a large majority of our younger generations are becoming to busy at playing, just pushing buttons, and have no interest in learning how stuff works in case they get into a situation where they may have to think out of a solution on their own. Having someone else do it by just swiping a credit card and getting deeper in debt doesn't seem to bother them. After all, they see plenty of other examples of, "that's the way to live."

Didn't mean for this to become a rant. Sorry.
Thanks to Soundguy and the others that helped this old man think his way through the download of a big file problem in advance.
It was really kind of off subject, but does involve the OP's question about a W-8 purchase.
I think it will be a fine system now that this year long coming update has arrived. Probably fine before but MS was listening to customer complaints of W-8 and realized that there are still a lot us old time desktop folks that need a large monitor, a fast chipset, memory, and large hard drive that won't bog down when we play with a 30 MB RAW file from our DSLR camera and increase it to over 100 MB with layers in Photoshop.
 
   / Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8? #174  
I always use Windows to handle WiFi connections as the OEM software is usually junk.

Aaron Z

that deserves to be said again! ;)
 
   / Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8? #175  
I will find out later. All computers are frozen, so theoretically no changes were made... One stopped working last month, then the rest stopped on Sat or Sun.


I always use Windows to handle WiFi connections as the OEM software is usually junk.

Aaron Z

When I downloaded and installed the 8.1 update plugged into the modem, there was a setting that came up about public and private WIFI in the Windows Firewall. They are both blocked by default. I clicked on the make private WIFI accessable and things were fine when I unplugged the modem wire.

When I first set up the W-8 that was preinstalled on the tower I did it via home WIFI and Windows found it and used it for the set up.
Maybe the firewall is your problem?
 
   / Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8? #176  
I will find out later. All computers are frozen, so theoretically no changes were made... One stopped working last month, then the rest stopped on Sat or Sun.
They have the Netgear WIFi Software installed (which I recommended that they remove), but the bigger problem appears to have been a printer that had "wireless access" enabled sitting on the same channel as the wireless access point.
No idea who's printer it was and didn't have time to look for it, so I switched the WAP from channel 5 to channel 1 and they went from 2 solid bars (3 intermittent) to 4 solid bars with no other changes.

Aaron Z
 
   / Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8? #177  
i love the easy fixes.. and hate the boneheads that cause the easy fixes to be needed. :)
 
   / Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8? #178  
Well-upgraded to Windows 8.1 for free and must say I am now happy with the OS. It even mixed the startup problem I was having.
 
   / Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8? #179  
what startup prob?
 
   / Want a new laptop but do I want Windows 8? #180  
Well-upgraded to Windows 8.1 for free and must say I am now happy with the OS. It even mixed the startup problem I was having.

My 8.1 system is randomly doing what I call mini reboots. The system is not doing a full reboot but all applications are closed and the desktop cleaned up. It has done this 3-4 times in the last two days. After I left work last night, it did a mini reboot and this morning I was working on the image, turned away to look at some email and a mini reboot had occurred again. I did not see this with Win 8.0.

I have seen some other strange behaviors as well. I am running a program that allows a "window" in the program to maximize itself in the program. This was working a few hours ago and now does not work. Tiles in Windows 8 Start page have moved around. I thought the icons had disappeared during one of the mini reboots but I found them in a different spot on the Tile Screen. I have do click on the little down arrow on the Tile Screen and scroll to find my missing application icons.

Windows 8.1 is very unstable for me. Windows 8.0 was a PITA to use but it was stable. Windows 8.1 is a bit easier to use but unstable.

While I was typing this post, Windows 8.1 did another mini reboot. My application is gone along with what I was doing. Poof! Thankfully, I was able to recover my corrupted data. Danger Danger Will Robinson!

This ain't my first rodeo, I have been using computers from the micro computer days of the PET 2001 and Apple II plus. Windows 8.1 is POS. Never seen anything this unstable before.....

Later,
Dan
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

2 Vintage Metal Signs (A48082)
2 Vintage Metal...
2018 Caterpillar 416F2 4x4 Extendahoe Loader Backhoe (A50322)
2018 Caterpillar...
1984 AM GENERAL HMMWV HUMVEE (A51222)
1984 AM GENERAL...
2018 Nissan Altima Sedan (A48082)
2018 Nissan Altima...
TEST YOUR BID BUTTON! (A51242)
TEST YOUR BID...
2018 KENWORTH T680 TANDEM AXLE SLEEPER (A51222)
2018 KENWORTH T680...
 
Top