In place Upgrades to Windows 8 ($39.99)

[Marou]

Microsoft announced upgrading from any OS from XP forward to Windows 8 Pro will be $39.99. Given that, and it's high performance enhancements plus nice usability additions make it a no brainer.

Just make sure you install Classic Shell so you can ignore the Metro stuff, it adds no value to the desktop/laptop experience.

http://arstechnica.com/information-t...aper-than-ever

[Sillywilly]

Microsoft announced upgrading from any OS from XP forward to Windows 8 Pro will be $39.99. Given that, and it's high performance enhancements plus nice usability additions make it a no brainer.

Just make sure you install Classic Shell so you can ignore the Metro stuff, it adds no value to the desktop/laptop experience.

http://arstechnica.com/information-t...aper-than-ever

I know you hate it when I say this but.....I avoid windows 7 like the plague. I'll see how windows 8 goes for people and consider it but I'm skeptical. I have Windows Vista 64 bit on my gaming PC and have never once had a virus, a blue screen, a crash-reboot or anything of the sort on that machine running Vista. I don't ever even recall a single instance of it freezing up and me having to restart it by powering down. I ran all kinds of applications at the same time on that computer, I would be working on a flash website (just to learn something about flash), so I'd have flash from CS3 running, I'd have Warhammer running so I could run around taking screen shots of something I wanted to manipulate for graphics on the website, and I'd have photoshop open to make some quick edits before loading the screenshot or what I cut out of the screen shot into flash. I beat the hell out of that computer, crafting on LotRO while PvsP'ing in Warhammer, etc and it never let me down. It booted fast, it opened applications fast, it shut them down immediately even if I had to alt+tab+del them closed. Perhaps it was the PC, perhaps it was Vista, all I know is that 2 vista computers were far more responsive and far more reliable on 2 desktops (1 severely underpowered in comparison) to the 2 windows 7 computers (one desktop and 1 laptop) I'm using now.

Does anyone have an experience with trying to use windows 8 for gaming, etc? Cause the cold harsh reality is I won't be able to use 64 bit Vista forever.

[Marou]

I know you hate it when I say this but.....I avoid windows 7 like the plague. I'll see how windows 8 goes for people and consider it but I'm skeptical. I have Windows Vista 64 bit on my gaming PC and have never once had a virus, a blue screen, a crash-reboot or anything of the sort on that machine running Vista. I don't ever even recall a single instance of it freezing up and me having to restart it by powering down. I ran all kinds of applications at the same time on that computer, I would be working on a flash website (just to learn something about flash), so I'd have flash from CS3 running, I'd have Warhammer running so I could run around taking screen shots of something I wanted to manipulate for graphics on the website, and I'd have photoshop open to make some quick edits before loading the screenshot or what I cut out of the screen shot into flash. I beat the hell out of that computer, crafting on LotRO while PvsP'ing in Warhammer, etc and it never let me down. It booted fast, it opened applications fast, it shut them down immediately even if I had to alt+tab+del them closed. Perhaps it was the PC, perhaps it was Vista, all I know is that 2 vista computers were far more responsive and far more reliable on 2 desktops (1 severely underpowered in comparison) to the 2 windows 7 computers (one desktop and 1 laptop) I'm using now.

Does anyone have an experience with trying to use windows 8 for gaming, etc? Cause the cold harsh reality is I won't be able to use 64 bit Vista forever.

I've been using it for like a month. Upgraded from Vista x64 Pro to the developer preview. I get about the same game performance, maybe marginally better, but the performance of windows itself is much better. The only thing I didn't like was Metro, but it only took me about 20 minutes to figure out what I needed to do to not use it for anything anymore.

[Ziel]

Could I use this to upgrade from WinXP 32bit to Win8 64bit?

Also how would this work in future, for formatting/reformatting and such?

[Marou]

Could I use this to upgrade from WinXP 32bit to Win8 64bit?

Also how would this work in future, for formatting/reformatting and such?

Yes to the first. Unsure on the second, but I know they offer to mail you physical media of the upgrade for $15, presumably you could burn it yourself for free.

[Ziel]

I mean, would I always need to install XP then patch Win8? Seeing as you end up with a full version of Win8 with an XP pre-requisite, I would have thought they could just offer you "full" Win8 installs that required your XP key to be provided...

[Marou]

I mean, would I always need to install XP then patch Win8? Seeing as you end up with a full version of Win8 with an XP pre-requisite, I would have thought they could just offer you "full" Win8 installs that required your XP key to be provided...

My understanding from various things I've read is if you are installing fresh from a disk you have the option to put the earlier version of XP in the tray and provide the key during Win8 install to bypass installing the older OS. Much like it worked on all their older disk installs.

[Valec]

I know you hate it when I say this but.....I avoid windows 7 like the plague. I'll see how windows 8 goes for people and consider it but I'm skeptical. I have Windows Vista 64 bit on my gaming PC and have never once had a virus, a blue screen, a crash-reboot or anything of the sort on that machine running Vista. I don't ever even recall a single instance of it freezing up and me having to restart it by powering down. I ran all kinds of applications at the same time on that computer, I would be working on a flash website (just to learn something about flash), so I'd have flash from CS3 running, I'd have Warhammer running so I could run around taking screen shots of something I wanted to manipulate for graphics on the website, and I'd have photoshop open to make some quick edits before loading the screenshot or what I cut out of the screen shot into flash. I beat the hell out of that computer, crafting on LotRO while PvsP'ing in Warhammer, etc and it never let me down. It booted fast, it opened applications fast, it shut them down immediately even if I had to alt+tab+del them closed. Perhaps it was the PC, perhaps it was Vista, all I know is that 2 vista computers were far more responsive and far more reliable on 2 desktops (1 severely underpowered in comparison) to the 2 windows 7 computers (one desktop and 1 laptop) I'm using now.

Does anyone have an experience with trying to use windows 8 for gaming, etc? Cause the cold harsh reality is I won't be able to use 64 bit Vista forever.

Why would you avoid Microsoft's best operating system to date in favor of the absolute worst, especially when Windows 7 is basically a fixed Vista?

[Sillywilly]

Why would you avoid Microsoft's best operating system to date in favor of the absolute worst, especially when Windows 7 is basically a fixed Vista?

Because Windows 7 isn't a fixed Vista it's a clunky piece of shit riddled with errors like that bullshit white flag system in the corner that keeps finding an 80% free hard drive to be almost full, or the fact that closing out anything from a browser to a video game takes forever?

I don't give a rip about system calculations or anything else that looks good for windows 7 on paper if it doesn't work faster for me in real world use. Blogs about processes necessary to achieve remote networking yada yada yada don't affect my opinion at all. If it doesn't do what I do on a daily basis better then it's not better for me.

On my father in laws desktop and his laptop he's already gotten Windows Defender virus among about a dozen other various forms of virus and spyware. The "defense" windows is supposed to come with is hocus pocus. All it does is annoy the fuck outta me by asking me for permission half a dozen times before I get anything done. It's still just as prone to virus and just as prone to errors as any of the other versions. At least vista didn't bog everything down to the point that I end up staring at a black screen for 20 seconds after closing out a game. Upon my wifes XP laptop crashing we got her a windows 7 with much better hardware and all it really does is run games at higher resolutions. Because of windows 7 triple the hardware is barely noticeable except in that the new laptop has a dedicated video card. Firefox takes just as long to load and do anything, games take as long to load, and there's always some kind of stupid ass problem with W7 simply because W7 is the cause of it's own woes. For example on my wifes laptop gaming was impossible for the first month we had it because she kept getting dropped wireless signals. I had to install some 3rd party software to keep windows 7 from fucking up the wireless connection by searching for new connections every 15 seconds or so. WHY THE FUCK would I want to search for new wireless connections if I'm already connected to one?

I was going to post an article I came across when searching for a solution to the windows 7 reboot repair loop. It was written by someone who sells systems for a living and hates all the problems windows 7 has caused him. I couldn't find that article but upon looking at my bookmarks jeebus there must be 30 of them for like 8 different major problems I've had with windows7 just since we bought my wifes laptop. It's absolutely ridiculous.

And the worst part about Microsoft in these situation is that they can't fix their own shit so you have to rely on 3rd party information/downloads to take care of the problem.

[Valec]

Because Windows 7 isn't a fixed Vista it's a clunky piece of shit riddled with errors like that bullshit white flag system in the corner that keeps finding an 80% free hard drive to be almost full, or the fact that closing out anything from a browser to a video game takes forever?

I don't give a rip about system calculations or anything else that looks good for windows 7 on paper if it doesn't work faster for me in real world use. Blogs about processes necessary to achieve remote networking yada yada yada don't affect my opinion at all. If it doesn't do what I do on a daily basis better then it's not better for me.

On my father in laws desktop and his laptop he's already gotten Windows Defender virus among about a dozen other various forms of virus and spyware. The "defense" windows is supposed to come with is hocus pocus. All it does is annoy the fuck outta me by asking me for permission half a dozen times before I get anything done. It's still just as prone to virus and just as prone to errors as any of the other versions. At least vista didn't bog everything down to the point that I end up staring at a black screen for 20 seconds after closing out a game. Upon my wifes XP laptop crashing we got her a windows 7 with much better hardware and all it really does is run games at higher resolutions. Because of windows 7 triple the hardware is barely noticeable except in that the new laptop has a dedicated video card. Firefox takes just as long to load and do anything, games take as long to load, and there's always some kind of stupid ass problem with W7 simply because W7 is the cause of it's own woes. For example on my wifes laptop gaming was impossible for the first month we had it because she kept getting dropped wireless signals. I had to install some 3rd party software to keep windows 7 from fucking up the wireless connection by searching for new connections every 15 seconds or so. WHY THE FUCK would I want to search for new wireless connections if I'm already connected to one?

I was going to post an article I came across when searching for a solution to the windows 7 reboot repair loop. It was written by someone who sells systems for a living and hates all the problems windows 7 has caused him. I couldn't find that article but upon looking at my bookmarks jeebus there must be 30 of them for like 8 different major problems I've had with windows7 just since we bought my wifes laptop. It's absolutely ridiculous.

And the worst part about Microsoft in these situation is that they can't fix their own shit so you have to rely on 3rd party information/downloads to take care of the problem.

I'm not really sure why you'd have so many problems, it's good to keep your system updated and have a proper anti-virus. Also, don't click on popups that try to sell you anti-virus.

Honestly, there's no excuse for having viruses. It's not related to the operating system. It's related to the user. It's easy to avoid getting any viruses whatsoever. Considering the content I personally download and porn sites and whatnot, i'm considerably 'higher risk' than the average user should be, if they weren't complete morons. However, I get zero viruses, because that's what anti-virus does.

As far as the technical issues go, again, I really haven't seen any of this. However obviously, it doesn't affect everyone. I literally don't know anyone IRL that it has.

I honestly believe the problems are related to user error.

[Ziel]

My understanding from various things I've read is if you are installing fresh from a disk you have the option to put the earlier version of XP in the tray and provide the key during Win8 install to bypass installing the older OS. Much like it worked on all their older disk installs.

I've never done this, so thanks for the info. <3

[Boxy Brown]

Windows 7 has been nothing short of amazing for me. I have no idea why it sucked so badly for you. I also hated Vista.

[VKhaun]

Windows 7 has been nothing short of amazing for me. I have no idea why it sucked so badly for you. I also hated Vista.

Ditto

[Sillywilly]

Windows 7 has been nothing short of amazing for me. I have no idea why it sucked so badly for you. I also hated Vista.

When you say amazing, what do you mean? A lack of errors/crashing? General performance? Gaming performance?

Why did you hate Vista? Did it crash or error frequently? Poor performance?

I honestly believe the problems are related to user error.

For example the last 3 times I was using my wifes laptop. Last night I was playing The Old Republic. Logged out to desktop. Laptop was sitting on a black screen forever. Had nothing else running the entire time I was playing. I went and got something to drink and came back to the desktop. Logged off of windows got a screen saying something was still running and needed to be shut down. I clicked for windows to shut it down and continue closing down. Laptop finally shuts down 5 minutes later. That's happened 3 times in 2 days.

Completely ridiculous. I've experienced the same thing on the in-laws desktop.

Windows 7 has been nothing but a constant barrage of headache, nuisances, lack of performance in general and inconveinces for me.

If this were some kind of error from installing new hardware and my father in law had done it then yeah, he could fuck up a wet dream so I'd say user error amongst other things. I've built my own system, I've been upgrading systems since the 90s with everything from video cards to motherboards. I've brought friends computers back from the dead, networked their shit, etc.

There is no way "user error" on my part is causing LotRO and Star Wars to take 3 minutes of black screen just to close out. Unless there is a special technique for the clicking of "quit game" that I'm missing.

[Ziel]

Have you tried playing SWTOR on your wife's laptop with Vista installed?

[Zoobi]

There is no way "user error" on my part is causing LotRO and Star Wars to take 3 minutes of black screen just to close out. Unless there is a special technique for the clicking of "quit game" that I'm missing.

That's not Windows 7, that's those games being awful. I had the same issue with Star Wars and my computer is as optimized as can be and it doesn't happen with other games.

[Valec]

When you say amazing, what do you mean? A lack of errors/crashing? General performance? Gaming performance?

Why did you hate Vista? Did it crash or error frequently? Poor performance?



For example the last 3 times I was using my wifes laptop. Last night I was playing The Old Republic. Logged out to desktop. Laptop was sitting on a black screen forever. Had nothing else running the entire time I was playing. I went and got something to drink and came back to the desktop. Logged off of windows got a screen saying something was still running and needed to be shut down. I clicked for windows to shut it down and continue closing down. Laptop finally shuts down 5 minutes later. That's happened 3 times in 2 days.

Completely ridiculous. I've experienced the same thing on the in-laws desktop.

Windows 7 has been nothing but a constant barrage of headache, nuisances, lack of performance in general and inconveinces for me.

If this were some kind of error from installing new hardware and my father in law had done it then yeah, he could fuck up a wet dream so I'd say user error amongst other things. I've built my own system, I've been upgrading systems since the 90s with everything from video cards to motherboards. I've brought friends computers back from the dead, networked their shit, etc.

There is no way "user error" on my part is causing LotRO and Star Wars to take 3 minutes of black screen just to close out. Unless there is a special technique for the clicking of "quit game" that I'm missing.

Here's the thing. You describe doing something, having a problem, and that's the end of it. I have absolutely no idea what your computing habits are. For all I know, you are partaking in activities inviting these problems in. I'm not suggesting this is the case, i'm just trying to paint a picture here. Computers are complicated. There are many, many factors involved in how stable your system will be. Truth be told, i've gotten every operating system i've ever used to be quite stable, however, some require more work than others. In the case of Windows 7, I really only have to concern myself with basic shit, for the most part. Use a decent browser, use a decent anti-virus(hell i'm using Avast! free), and fairly safe browsing habits(for my level of usage).

I'm not trying to be condescending but literally your experience with windows 7 resembles nothing like mine. If anything, i've found i've needed significantly LESS work to have a stable system. Sure, hardware requirements are more demanding, and getting used to the different locations of system tools can be annoying, as can the whole permissions setup. But at the end of the day - i've simply had far, far fewer problems than I have with any other windows to date. I know plenty of people on these boards have been at it longer than I have, but this is a gross improvement over every generation of Windows since windows 95(my first usage of windows).

[Sillywilly]

Here's the thing. You describe doing something, having a problem, and that's the end of it. I have absolutely no idea what your computing habits are. For all I know, you are partaking in activities inviting these problems in. I'm not suggesting this is the case, i'm just trying to paint a picture here. Computers are complicated. There are many, many factors involved in how stable your system will be. Truth be told, i've gotten every operating system i've ever used to be quite stable, however, some require more work than others. In the case of Windows 7, I really only have to concern myself with basic shit, for the most part. Use a decent browser, use a decent anti-virus(hell i'm using Avast! free), and fairly safe browsing habits(for my level of usage).

I'm not trying to be condescending but literally your experience with windows 7 resembles nothing like mine. If anything, i've found i've needed significantly LESS work to have a stable system. Sure, hardware requirements are more demanding, and getting used to the different locations of system tools can be annoying, as can the whole permissions setup. But at the end of the day - i've simply had far, far fewer problems than I have with any other windows to date. I know plenty of people on these boards have been at it longer than I have, but this is a gross improvement over every generation of Windows since windows 95(my first usage of windows).

I understand what you're saying. I'm just in the same boat myself with Vista. Everyone else is having a jolly ole' time with W7 except me. :-/ If my habits weren't severely restricted on W7 then I'd probably cut W7 some slack but the fact that I really only use it for facebook, this website and gaming means I'm at much lower risk than I was on my gaming rig. On my own rig I only had AVG. On this W7 desktop I've installed AVG and Avast and run MalwareBytes on a regular basis just trying to keep in clean. (I of course use gaming mode for Avast when I'm playing something). Back home on my own two rigs I used to download torrents for programs, use P2P for music, wound up on all kinds of weird websites downloading add-ons for different programs, etc. Never got a single virus.

Perhaps I'll try windows 8 when I get back home and will get different results.

[Draconian]

Finally, the 50+ unused legit XP CD keys I have will come in handy! And before anyone asks: no, sorry.

[Andile™]

Released today. Anyone upgrading??

I have a $15 upgrade option since I bought a Windows 7 computer recently but the mixed reviews are preventing me from diving head first.

[Valec]

Finally, the 50+ unused legit XP CD keys I have will come in handy! And before anyone asks: no, sorry.

I wasn't going to ask... but when it's 50+, I have to. Why?

And no Andile, i'm skipping out on 8 unless a really compelling reason to 'upgrade' reveals itself.

[Marou]

Doing the in-place upgrade now. $15 since I got the new laptop recently. You can check hur to see if you can get a promo discount: https://www.windowsupgradeoffer.com/

[Ziel]

I'll be getting this with my new rig. I'm willing to learn/adapt and I'm okay with shortcuts. As far as I know, that circumvents the only aspects people consider worse than Windows 7.

[Valec]

I'll be getting this with my new rig. I'm willing to learn/adapt and I'm okay with shortcuts. As far as I know, that circumvents the only aspects people consider worse than Windows 7.

The lack of Steam support is huge for me. Most of the games I own legitimately are on Steam, so... kind of a big deal here.

Honestly I think one of the main things to think about is, what reason is there to switch? What is Windows 8 providing that you covet over Windows 7? Certainly nothing on the gaming front. Accessibility is probably not one, either, since any enhancements in this regard are nullified by the fact that most of us probably know Windows 7 well enough already.

As far as I can tell, it simply offers no real reasons to switch. Just "Hey, i'm shiny and new!".

I'll be interested to see how the experience goes for those of you who choose to make the switch.

[Marou]

The lack of Steam support is huge for me. Most of the games I own legitimately are on Steam, so... kind of a big deal here.

Honestly I think one of the main things to think about is, what reason is there to switch? What is Windows 8 providing that you covet over Windows 7? Certainly nothing on the gaming front. Accessibility is probably not one, either, since any enhancements in this regard are nullified by the fact that most of us probably know Windows 7 well enough already.

As far as I can tell, it simply offers no real reasons to switch. Just "Hey, i'm shiny and new!".

I'll be interested to see how the experience goes for those of you who choose to make the switch.

I made the switch months ago to the developer preview version. My in place upgrade is already done. No idea what you mean on lack of steam support. It's worked fine ever since the developer preview that came out a longass time ago. The performance enhancements made the downgrade to Windows 7 irritating when I got the new laptop, but I didn't want to do developer preview again when the real shit was so close to release.