reviews,  techno-babble

Windows 8: A Review

I’ve been reviewing a lot of tech lately, including my Windows Phone, my MS Surface running Windows RT, and even my Mac. It’s only fair that I review Windows 8.

I upgraded to Windows 8 last weekend after I got a wild hair up my @$$. After all, I kind of liked the idea of integrating all of my tech and social networking like that. As a busy writer if I’m not writing, I’m social networking and marketing my books. It’s what we writers do if we want to survive.

The awesome thing about Windows 8 is the whole live tile thing. I am loving the live tiles. And I suppose if I ever update to a laptop with a touchscreen Windows 8 would be even more awesome than I think it is. But truth be known, aside from being able to get cool apps from the app store, and the new Metro interface, and the increased speed — Windows 8 may not seem like anything special, especially to Mac or Linux fans.

The biggest benefits to the upgrade:

  • Search Charms
  • Graphical Interface Start Menu
  • Easy Swipes for switching between apps + closing apps.
  • Programs from the app store.
  • Increased speed.

If anyone is expecting anything more than that – you might be sadly disappointed.  One thing I did sacrifice for my upgrade to Windows 8 was my Dell Integrated camera software. I had to uninstall it so my onboard laptop camera would work and find new software to replace the Dell stuff. That was simple enough.

Otherwise – all my existing programs work with Windows 8 just fine. Most of my old programs run off my desktop anyway and the only difference in my desktop post Windows 8 is that the start menu is now to the right instead of the left. No biggie.

It’s really more of an integration thing. If I change my desktop on the computer or on my Surface, it now changes it on the other. This includes graphics and color schemes. Kinda cool if you’re into that sort of thing.

I’m not sure it would be worth it to upgrade if you don’t have a Windows RT or Windows 8 tablet + a Windows Phone unless you like having the latest and greatest. You might just want to wait until you get a new machine (with touch screen) to experience Windows 8 the way it’s meant to be experienced.  But if you love the metro interface – get it.

The upgrade itself was simple and took under an hour for me. It told me ahead of time the updates I would have to do to software and which software might have issues migrating to the new system.

My machine does seem to run a little faster overall and start a little faster. It turns off faster, too.  My husband upgraded an old Windows XP machine to Windows 8 and it runs much faster now.

Steph is an award winning and bestselling author of thrilling steamy and paranormal romances, dark urban fantasy, occult horror-thrillers, cozy mysteries, contemporary romance, sword and sorcery fantasy, and books about the esoteric and Daemonolatry. A Daemonolatress and forever a resident of Smelt Isle, she is happily married and cat-mom to three pampered house cats. Her muse is a demanding sadistic Dom who often keeps her up into the wee hours of the morning. You can contact her at swordarkeereon@gmail.com

2 Comments

  • jaken

    I find it a new experiance using windows 8 and it took a little bit of getting used to but now i like it. I have ran into some bugs and every now and then a program will hang and sometimes flash player crashes, but they will no doubt fix that in the not to distant future

    • Steph

      And those are totally software issues (up to the software manufacturer to remedy) that have nothing to do with the operating system. The operating system itself is pretty stable.

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