Windows 8.1 Preview Feedback

vivek.krishnan

vivek.krishnan

BLR~ZRS-TX-1-MX
Level K
Created a new thread - Mods can join if its needed with the W8 thread.

Installed on a new Sony VAIO. Running the MSDN version as I was too lazy to download from MS's website - Got it from TPB :P

The new start button? BS. Its a stupid icon which does not even work properly - sometimes clicking on it would not bring me back to the desktop - Leading me to go the older way - click on the Desktop tile. Or maybe thats how it is - But them Win + M and Win + D shortcuts were not of any use either.

It just acts as a pointer to the BS which MS calls 'The New Start Screen'. Thats all.

The Boot to desktop feature works. To remove the edge swipes had to install the generic touchpad drives.

The new start menu options of the icons being smaller and all - more BS. They have put it up as groups and horizontally placed and its big. In short - if you enjoy scrolling - Keep it up. You have to scroll still :yawn:

Something new which I found amazing was the ability to be connected to two routers - one wired and other wireless - when I was doing the repeater thing with the TP-Link 740N was amazing. Dunno if its present with W8 - but its a great feature.

Since as usual I got fed up of the New Glorious Start Menu v8.1, I decided to search for the start menu software. Only Start8 had a beta version. Startisback had mentioned that a newer version would be out. Oh Microshit, why did you have to bring it back, and that too handicapped?

A new problem - Battery Drain. Cannot pinpoint on what exactly was the issue - But putting the laptop in hibernate drained the battery more than 60% by morning - say 6 hours, 10% an hour.

In short - Use Ex7forW8 OR Classic Shell OR StartisBack OR Start8, with the first two being freewares, and the others paid. However, you will need to wait for the last three to be updated for W8.1
 
I installed the preview on a VM with remove/replace everything option. Installation went fine, but it never gave me an option to create a local user (don't think I missed it) and was forced to login using a MS account o_O.
Had to create a local user after logging using Passport a/c.
 
theoracle said:
I installed the preview on a VM with remove/replace everything option. Installation went fine, but it never gave me an option to create a local user (don't think I missed it) and was forced to login using a MS account o_O.
Had to create a local user after logging using Passport a/c.
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Yeah - I too had that issue. And skipped that part by not connecting to the WiFi network - Else you will need to give MS account details. Had to jump thru several hooplas too. That was a nasty thing IMO.
 
Found a new issue today - Bluetooth does not work. It says OFF in the Metro Modern UI - I make it ON and when I check the same setting, its back to OFF. :mad:
 
Forcing people to create MS account to use pc is just terrible. 8 has gone from bad to worse. This 8 version is like windows ME. Like dog poo.
 
Have been testing Windows 8.1 Preview on a touchscreen laptop. There are lots of minor features that all come together to make it a properly major update. The focus is obviously on Metro UI which is shaping up quite brilliantly. I find myself dropping to Desktop rarely now. But it has one killer feature - the new search. It is obviously early stages but the idea of having one place that will seamlessly search everything - all your files, inside your apps, settings, internet - is clearly the hero feature. Usually Windows beta software is remarkably stable but 8.1 Preview behaves more like usual beta software - definitely has bugs. Probably a result of the new rapid release cycle. They will surely fix them for RTM though.

Overall, very impressed with what has been achieved in a year's time. A lot of the things that were missing in Windows 8 have been addressed. Definitely upgrading all my devices to 8.1 when it is out, and excited to see the future.

PS: For those running Intel's graphics, do download the 8.1 Preview drivers. Quite buggy without it.
 
Sub said:
Have been testing Windows 8.1 Preview on a touchscreen laptop. There are lots of minor features that all come together to make it a properly major update. The focus is obviously on Metro UI which is shaping up quite brilliantly. I find myself dropping to Desktop rarely now. But it has one killer feature - the new search. It is obviously early stages but the idea of having one place that will seamlessly search everything - all your files, inside your apps, settings, internet - is clearly the hero feature. Usually Windows beta software is remarkably stable but 8.1 Preview behaves more like usual beta software - definitely has bugs. Probably a result of the new rapid release cycle. They will surely fix them for RTM though.

Overall, very impressed with what has been achieved in a year's time. A lot of the things that were missing in Windows 8 have been addressed. Definitely upgrading all my devices to 8.1 when it is out, and excited to see the future.

PS: For those running Intel's graphics, do download the 8.1 Preview drivers. Quite buggy without it.
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8.1 is buggy as hell - plus the search now is as bad as Bing - slow and useless. I cant install the newer drivers - stupid Sony. Forgot I was running Radeon graphics :P
 
vivek.krishnan said:
8.1 is buggy as hell - plus the search now is as bad as Bing - slow and useless. I cant install the newer drivers - stupid Sony. Forgot I was running Radeon graphics :p
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It's not that buggy after updating drivers. Definitely usable. But feels like a beta preview, which it is. I am not concerned though, pretty sure all bugs will be fixed when 8.1 releases. Also, search is instant for me. It was instant in their demos too. I am curious how it will scale if one has a couple of hundred apps installed though.
 
Sub said:
It's not that buggy after updating drivers. Definitely usable. But feels like a beta preview, which it is. I am not concerned though, pretty sure all bugs will be fixed when 8.1 releases. Also, search is instant for me. It was instant in their demos too. I am curious how it will scale if one has a couple of hundred apps installed though.
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Its usable - if you install Start8/dont use modern UI. Else - the menu feels a bit laggy. But I could put it down to my touchpad too.
 
One of the most amazing things about the Windows 8's new interface was it's chromeless nature, made possible by unified charms. With Windows 8.1 they are plopping up search boxes and stuff inside apps which just makes them more cluttered. I am amazed that people couldn't grasp such a simple concept! Check out the reviews for Wikipedia, people are complaining that there's no search feature! Maybe they should have just had a spoonfeeding tutorial. I am so used to the search charm and now having to use search boxes is simply backwards. This reminds me of WP7 which had a contextual search button but was changed in 7.5 to just go to Bing.
 
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