Windows 8 - support thread

[geogteach]

Anyone want to join a thread to discuss why it drives you potty and maybe trouble shoot some of the problems we've encountered (unless i'm the only one feeling like this )
My current issues are how do I get the task bar at the bottom of explorer? I am sure I saw it a couple of times when I first got it and had it come up by mistake, now when I swipe from the bottom of the screen it is nowhere to be seen.
Also someone sent me an email with a docx attachment which it won't open.
Also (all my issues are flooding back to me) I can't get dropbox to install

[LIZS]

I posted the other day about how many times it took for an update to configure on Restart - got caught in a loop at 15%. Email feed isn't always updating either.

[geogteach]

Yes I have the problem with the email too and it isn't obvious how to refresh it.

[ladyWordy]

Win8 seems fast, at least, and I like it when I'm not aware of it. Rather like films which you enjoy - you shouldn't be saying 'great camera work' IYSWIM.

The desktop is a love/ hate thing. I might grow to like it but for now....ugh.

The docx problem is Office version related, rather than Win8. If you have an old version of Office, try getting hold of the compatibility pack so you can view docx formats.

www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3

Dropbox should be ok on Win8? No problems with that yet.

I haven't seen the task bar or email problem yet. I did install Stardock's win7 lookalike start menu though!
www.stardock.com/products/start8/

[geogteach]

Thanks these look helpful.

[headlesslambrini]

i'm not sure if this is what you mean but on the windows desktop
, try right clicking when cursor is at the bottom of the screen to bring up the task bar /applications.

[headlesslambrini]

sorry also meant to say that from there you can go into the applications and find whichever one you want, hover over it and right click and it should come up as attach to start / task bar etc. Then they are at the bottom when I am in the normal desktop version. hope this makes sense.

[geogteach]

Thanks for the task bar tips.
I have finally got dropbox tonight. For some reason it was downloading but didn't want to run, after trying for 24 hours it changed its mind and opened - what's that all about? Also doesn't seem to like adobe often gets stuck opening documents in that. I seem to be wasting so much time on things that I didn't even think of before.

[wordyBird]

Yes! I found the same re wasting time when I didn't have to think before. Unlike win 7 which was just better straight away (IMO).

amicissisimma, when you go to the 'open with' option, you should see 'choose default' as the last option on that menu ... if you pick the program from there it ought to save your preferences.

Geog, I just remembered my firewall jumped in front of Dropbox and said 'do you want to continue blocking'... so maybe security software played a part?

[PedroPonyLikesCrisps]

It's certainly not the MOST intuitive OS, however, that's mostly because Windows had remained essentially unchanged for 17 years, so everyone 'knows' how it works. Despite some minor frustrations initially, I still found it much, much easier than when I first used a Mac! Change just requires a bit of patience. I love the way the OS is now so much more consistent than it used to be.

Re the mail app, I don't really like it, but I just continue to use Outlook as I did before, so no real issue there!

[LIZS]

Same problem occurred with W8 Update this morning . Asked to Restart , tried 5 or 6 times to Configure Updates but failed then Reverted. Maybe that is what happened the other day and it never actually installed the update.

[maxmillie]

Are you guys using win 8 with a touchscreen device? I recently switched and it makes an enormous difference to the experience - it was driving me mad using it on a non-touchscreen

[wordyBird]

No I'm not, maxmillie - I'm sure this is the key to it.

They've made the interface touchscreen- friendly and kind of hoped it would work on an ordinary desktop. :) it just looks oversized and clumsy, failing to make use of screen space, and .... non-intuitive. Wish you could switch between interfaces according to device type!

I might well get to like it, it will take time though.

[maxmillie]

You kind of can in that when I was using it on my non touchscreen laptop I just stayed in desktop all the time, pinned all my apps to the task bar erc and then change all the file associations to use my normal apps and not open the win 8 video apps etc it was a lot better. And use outlook for mail client.

I upgraded jut after Xmas and I have to say it is growing on me. At first I found it incredibly frustrating as it is quite a change compared to other upgrades. I am getting used to it and one thing I have found is it is a lot faster to boot and switch between apps (as long as you have a modern laptop with lots of memory of course ....)

Then switching to a touchscreen tablet really made the difference.

Think on balance I would say this is an is for touchscreens. And if you already on win7 maybe not worth upgrading?

[LIZS]

Another one - was using a memory stick (d:/) which listed under Libraries Computer along with the W8 icon and an entry for ds' laptop (switched off). Having used and ejected the memory stick the laptop has also disappeared . Is this a problem ?