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Windows 8.1 is like a virus AGGHGHGHHFollow

#1 Nov 30 2013 at 9:29 PM Rating: Excellent
I've tried to be patient. I've tried to give Windows 8.1 a fair shake.

Ever since I installed it earlier this week, I've been drowning in constant BSODs (with no consistent error message) and total system lockups.

I'm so frustrated that I think I am going to do a complete system refresh. I'm quite annoyed that only "Windows Store" apps are kept installed and the actual programs I use on a daily basis will be blown away in the process because that's not what they promised us a year ago, but whatever.

If this system refresh fails me, I'm going back to Windows 7.

Smiley: mad
#2 Nov 30 2013 at 9:41 PM Rating: Excellent
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Windows 8.1 is still a horrible user interface. tey knew what they needed to do to make it a success, and they did not do those things. What happens next to microsoft they brought upon themselves, and the computer world as a whole will be a poorer place for it when we are all locked into restrictive operating systems that don't allow the freedom we need to innovate and the only alternative will be half polished half abandoned desktop linux variants.
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#3 Nov 30 2013 at 9:55 PM Rating: Good
I don't even care about the interface. I just want my computer to do the most basic things expected of it, like not crash when I'm trying to unzip a file or view Facebook. I'm getting a lockup and a bluescreen (or just a lockup with no bluescreen) a dozen times a day. It's absolutely awful.

Now I'm running into problems where Windows refresh says my installation media for Windows 8 isn't valid (what? how did I install it the first time...?) and my product key isn't valid (because Microsoft is a schoolyard bully.) So I can't use my old installation media to do a refresh, nor can I make a new one.

FINE! **** YOU MICROSOFT! I'll install Win 8 from scratch! Smiley: bah
#4 Nov 30 2013 at 10:34 PM Rating: Good
I cannot believe they do not have an option to just blow away your existing windows partition and start from scratch. Who was the genius who left out that basic option that was available on all previous installations of Windows?

So I tried loading my trusty old Windows XP disk, and got blue screens of death there too. I'm going to try Windows 7 next.

This thing really is like a virus, doing everything in its power to stop you from getting rid of it. I am soooooooooo pissed off right now.
#5 Nov 30 2013 at 10:48 PM Rating: Good
Even DBAN has failed me. I just don't understand.
#6 Nov 30 2013 at 11:02 PM Rating: Good
Since I apparently am permanently stuck with Windows 8.1 until I get my media center PC rebuilt and I can load the SSD as a secondary hard drive and destroy the data that way - and that isn't going to happen for at least a week - I've given up for the night. I've just uninstalled any program that was probably superfluous and also anything I know I wouldn't need, in the vain hopes that it was one of them causing the program.

Seriously though, whyyyyyy don't they give me the option to format and start from scratch on the Windows 8 disk? Why? Why why why? Smiley: cry
#7 Dec 01 2013 at 1:52 AM Rating: Good
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This is what you get for installing Windows 8 in the first place. Really, you should have known better.
#8 Dec 01 2013 at 2:49 AM Rating: Excellent
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Wow, well that kills my hope for things. I was hoping 8.1 would save it but bleh. The wife's windows 8 thingy has been nothing but trouble. Guess I put off buying a new PC until the release windows 9 or whatever they'll call it... Smiley: glare

Best of luck getting the thingy to work. Smiley: frown

Edited, Dec 1st 2013 12:50am by someproteinguy
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#9 Dec 01 2013 at 6:17 AM Rating: Good
Whatever I uninstalled allowed it to be stable enough to stay alive overnight. The only critical program I'm short of right now is Drop Box. I would not be surprised if Microsoft "accidentally" sabotaged that to force us to use their SkyDrive instead.

Windows native hardware doesn't seem to have these problems. My husband's Surface took a look at 8.1 and went "Okay boss, got it" and has been totally glitch free. Figures.
#10 Dec 01 2013 at 4:47 PM Rating: Good
Drop box is back and I'm not crashing. I can live without everything else.

I've narrowed it down to the HP printer spamware or the extras that came with my motherboard. The printer has been sick and ailing anyway and we're treating ourselves to a half off color laser printer for Christmas (arrives Tuesday! Squee!) so I'm in no hurry to reinstall them to verify that they were the true culprit.

I'm still bothered by the fact that Microsoft doesn't like my Windows 8 product key and won't let me create a Windows 8.1 restore disk.
#11 Dec 01 2013 at 5:05 PM Rating: Good
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Software for the HP All-in-One machines is garbage. At work I can get in 1 or 2 scans before it locks up and I have to restart the printer and PC. I've gotten to where I just don't use it any longer. I have a Dell All-in-One machine at home and it's software is trouble free.
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#12 Dec 01 2013 at 8:38 PM Rating: Good
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someproteinguy wrote:
Wow, well that kills my hope for things. I was hoping 8.1 would save it but bleh. The wife's windows 8 thingy has been nothing but trouble. Guess I put off buying a new PC until the release windows 9 or whatever they'll call it... Smiley: glare

Or you can build a pc and install W7 on it.
#13 Dec 02 2013 at 11:26 AM Rating: Excellent
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His Excellency Aethien wrote:
someproteinguy wrote:
Wow, well that kills my hope for things. I was hoping 8.1 would save it but bleh. The wife's windows 8 thingy has been nothing but trouble. Guess I put off buying a new PC until the release windows 9 or whatever they'll call it... Smiley: glare

Or you can build a pc and install W7 on it.
I'm too lazy to do that.
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#14 Dec 02 2013 at 11:53 AM Rating: Good
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It's kinda cool though. And you get it cheaper/you get a better PC for your money.

Edited, Dec 2nd 2013 7:05pm by Aethien
#15 Dec 03 2013 at 10:38 AM Rating: Excellent
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I have Windows 8 (now 8.1) on my ideapad (. . . what happened to thinkpad?) and it works fine but that only tells half the story. I hate it. I hate that Micro$oft insists on thinking they're better than me, and dictating "new ways" for me to work and play. I don't want new ways to do things, I just want my operating system to work in the background. It should be like a good referee - it does its job and when it does it well you don't even know it's there.

And as for Micro$oft killing Dropbox so that you have to move to SkyDrive, well just remember that this is the company whose mantra once was "DOS ain't done 'til Lotus won't run."

Other than that, I love it.

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#17 Dec 18 2013 at 3:56 PM Rating: Good
After installing all the latest drivers for my motherboard, and getting another round of Windows updates last week, my issues seem to have been resolved *knock on wood.*

I got another round of problems with a corrupted Office 2013 installation, but thankfully I was able to do a restore of that using the product key (not obtained through my school account like Windows 8 was) and all is now well.
#18 Jan 10 2014 at 9:35 AM Rating: Good
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someproteinguy wrote:
Wow, well that kills my hope for things. I was hoping 8.1 would save it but bleh. The wife's windows 8 thingy has been nothing but trouble. Guess I put off buying a new PC until the release windows 9 or whatever they'll call it... Smiley: glare

Best of luck getting the thingy to work. Smiley: frown

Edited, Dec 1st 2013 12:50am by someproteinguy


You can still buy computers with windows 7 on them. I bought one for my dad for Christmas since I didn't have time to build one for him. It even cost me $20 less to have Window7 pro put on it instead of windows 8.1.
#19 Jan 10 2014 at 10:15 AM Rating: Good
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Glad to hear the problem was solved. I haven't done anything with windows 8 yet since I am on my skip plan for that OS.

Was you 8.0 and 8.1 disks upgrade disks? I know microsoft doesn't put everything on the upgrade disks. I have a windows 7 upgrade that doesn't have format everything, and a regular 7 disk that does.
#20 Jan 13 2014 at 4:08 PM Rating: Excellent
These were ISO files that I had to burn onto disk myself. Not upgrade disks, but clean OS installs.
#21 Jan 14 2014 at 12:10 PM Rating: Good
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I may have found a tutorial to reformat using windows 8. (I hope you never have to do this again, but just in case.)

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/ss/windows-8-clean-install-part-1_12.htm

It is kind of scary that it takes 32 steps to install. I am just glad we aren't supporting Win 8 yet.
#22 Jan 14 2014 at 5:41 PM Rating: Excellent
Nice guide, except that when it came to deleting partitions, Win8 locked itself down and didn't give me the option. Smiley: bah
#23 Jan 14 2014 at 7:15 PM Rating: Excellent
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It does that unless you disable stupid security mode inside the bios. I forget what the exact flag is, but its something like "UEFI enhanced security mode ******** flag that is just there to annoy people"
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#24 Jan 15 2014 at 1:16 PM Rating: Excellent
Ahhhhh that I didn't know about.

That changes everything!
#25 Jan 17 2014 at 9:04 AM Rating: Good
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Secureboot my bane when it comes time to change linux versions for different projects.
#26 Jan 24 2014 at 9:19 AM Rating: Good
SecureBoot -- Making me want to beat an engineer in the face senselessly as though I lived in Russia since 2012
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