My eMule computer

[starfish21]

If you've got win 8,you'll be eternally nagged to upgrade to 8.1,the os was designed with touchscreens in mind,it's actually pretty good once you find all the tweaks and the settings that microsoft hid,theres a great little app called 'classic shell ' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Shell,that gives you the old style desktop and start menu back.Apparently Microsoft plan to block it .

[emuler]

ClassicShell was great but stopped working when I went to Windows 8.1. I see they've come up with an updated version.

If you prefer, there is a nice menu built into Windows 8 and 8.1 - Win+X. I use it very frequently.

[Phuzzy4242]

Win-X doesn't show a start menu, it shows a settings menu. Most people, once their system is set up, don't change settings very often, so replacing an actual program menu with it was ignorant. It's all a push by MS to get you to use a droid-like interface, including their crappy apps, which you can't get unless you sign up for a MS user account. If I want to use droid- or ipad-quality apps I'll use a droid or an ipad, not this expensive PC that lets me run lots of programs simultaneously.

[Phuzzy4242]

If you've got win 8,you'll be eternally nagged to upgrade to 8.1,the os was designed with touchscreens in mind,it's actually pretty good once you find all the tweaks and the settings that microsoft hid,theres a great little app called 'classic shell ' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Shell,that gives you the old style desktop and start menu back.Apparently Microsoft plan to block it .

[rant ON]
MS is trying to push everyone to cloud-based computing so they can charge by the minute for using things like MS Office apps and maybe even the OS itself. Maybe they'll be able to do it eventually because I see a big trend in having most apps in the agencies I support be browser-based instead of local. There are lots of advantages to do it that way both in costs and support. For the common user who has to pay and pay and pay... not so much - they'll use freebies when they can but may still have to pay for OS time.

As far as touchscreens go, they're fine for tablets or smartphones, but stupid for desktops. If you've used a touchscreen for any length of time you know how much hand spooge accumulates and has to be cleaned constantly - lots of chances for scratches and/or abrasion to eventually make it unusable. A touch screen on the desk doesn't eliminate a keyboard and you end up with a monitor almost in your lap just so you can reach it. Tired arms, too. Might as well get a tablet or ipad.

I'm not against the improvements in Win8.1, I'm against the sheer stupidity of the user interface, and some of the "security" tweaks they put in that are just f@#%ing irritating and don't provide any real safety improvements. I prefer the common-sense way Linux does security. MS has been trying to 'dumb down' the users for a long time and hiding settings and moving them around is another big-time irritation to me. If you spend more time searching for where to change a setting than you do the change itself, the interface is wrong. MS knew about the complaints because the beta teams were all telling them years ago but we were ignored. And anything with the word 'Wizard' in it infuriates me because of how often the wizard gets it wrong and how much time it takes to get around the wizard to make to correct settings.

MS can try to block stuff but people will always find a way around them. If they piss enough people off, they lose. We can always run Linux.
[rant OFF]

[emuler]

Like a friend on FB keeps saying, if Microsoft made a automatic self-navigating car, the first thing they would do is throw out the steering wheel.