How to spend your first hour with Windows 8.1

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	TOP STORY How to spend your first hour with Windows 8.1
	By Woody Leonhard Windows 8.1, currently available on MS TechNet and MSDN, should roll out on Oct. 17 for both new PCs and Win8 upgrades. Here’s what every knowledgeable Windows user should know about setting up Win8.1, whether they’re coming from Windows 8, Win7, Vista, or XP.

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The full text of this column is posted at windowssecrets.com/top-story/how-to-spend-your-first-hour-with-windows-8-1/ (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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Woody, in your article today about Win 8.1 you mention Foxit and junk apps during the installation. I have another one which I think is very bad. I have been a long time user of Avira Antivirus Pro (paid) and now released a couple of days back as Avira Antivirus Suite 2014. Unlike earlier versions this one is OK for Win 8.1.

During installation you are asked if you want to install a fancy toolbar with some supposedly useful function. I always decline and that is the end of it. The reality is that this toolbar is put out by the AskPartnerNetwork aka APN and http://www.ask.com. Like always I declined to install this toolbar. However at the end of this installation I was asked to activate the toolbar on IE11 despite refusing to install it.

As I pointed out to Avira, I consider that this toolbar is close to being spyware. They did not comment except to point out how to uninstall the toolbar. It is possible to uninstall it by just going to Control Panel ==> Programs and Features and doing a conventional uninstall. It removes the program folder but does leave a couple of registry entries around but since they refer to the program folder (now gone) they seem to be harmless.

I find it hard to believe that Avira would install this toolbar after being told not to. It is a considerable risk to their reputation as a security vendor. When renewal comes around I will be looking for a new AV supplier.

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Every one of these software installs that asks you if you want to install a toolbar is just one millimeter this side of installing spyware. The only real functions of these gawd-awful toolbars is to get you to use THEIR search engine, FWIW, and to generate revenue for whichever software package is being installed. And the search engines get revenue, too, whenever their search passes you through to some commerical web site. Toolbars are all about the benjamins.

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“Here’s what every knowledgeable Windows user should know about setting up Win8.1, whether they’re coming from Windows 8, Win7, Vista, or XP.”

Well, I’m a satisfied XP user and couldn’t find any reference to what I should know.

What I did learn though, is that unless hours of tedious hassle with an operating system is what turns your crank, sticking with XP is by far the best move at this time.

I have a relatively large home system that has been built up ever since XP made it’s first appearance. It contains perhaps a hundred or more applications and patches/add-ins/plug-ins to those applications that even the thought of having to reinstall them under a new operating system is enough to make me seriously consider giving up computing as a hobby. I mean stuff from Adobe (Photoshop, Lightroom), and Photodex (Proshow Producer), and dozens more required hours of installation and tweaking to get them to work smoothly. Only at gunpoint will I go through all that again.

As much as I dislike sounding like/becoming a luddite, but if it ain’t broke I don’t fix it. Win XP, with MS Security and Malwarebytes for protection, has served my every computing need perfectly well for years. At this point I haven’t been given any reason to “upgrade,” other than threats from MS that support will no longer be available.

I sure would like to see a short article on “How to upgrade your Win XP system to Win 8.1 (or ???) the easy way.” And by “easy” I mean, insert disk in drive and reboot. I’ll come back in an hour to find my Win XP gone, Win 8.1 will be installed and operating PERFECTLY, and ALL my applications will be present and accounted for, and also operating PERFECTLY. As far as I’m concerned, computers are supposed to be doing all the work… not ME. So, programmers, get with it. Program a conversion program that works to accomplish this task, or turn in your certificate of competency! In the meantime, you keep playing with your unnecessary/unasked-for “upgrades” and leave my XP alone.

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”Here’s what every knowledgeable Windows user should know about setting up Win8.1, whether they’re coming from Windows 8, Win7, Vista, or XP.”

Well, I’m a satisfied XP user and couldn’t find any reference to what I should know.

What I did learn though, is that unless hours of tedious hassle with an operating system is what turns your crank, sticking with XP is by far the best move at this time.

I have a relatively large home system that has been built up ever since XP made it’s first appearance. It contains perhaps a hundred or more applications and patches/add-ins/plug-ins to those applications that even the thought of having to reinstall them under a new operating system is enough to make me seriously consider giving up computing as a hobby. I mean stuff from Adobe (Photoshop, Lightroom), and Photodex (Proshow Producer), and dozens more required hours of installation and tweaking to get them to work smoothly. Only at gunpoint will I go through all that again.

As much as I dislike sounding like/becoming a luddite, but if it ain’t broke I don’t fix it. Win XP, with MS Security and Malwarebytes for protection, has served my every computing need perfectly well for years. At this point I haven’t been given any reason to “upgrade,” other than threats from MS that support will no longer be available.

I sure would like to see a short article on “How to upgrade your Win XP system to Win 8.1 (or ???) the easy way.” And by “easy” I mean, insert disk in drive and reboot. I’ll come back in an hour to find my Win XP gone, Win 8.1 will be installed and operating PERFECTLY, and ALL my applications will be present and accounted for, and also operating PERFECTLY. As far as I’m concerned, computers are supposed to be doing all the work… not ME. So, programmers, get with it. Program a conversion program that works to accomplish this task, or turn in your certificate of competency! In the meantime, you keep playing with your unnecessary/unasked-for “upgrades” and leave my XP alone.

Thank you, rae2, for brightening up my day. Yes, Woody, there is someone else in the world who is still happily working – hard and fast – with good old XP.

When I saw the title, I was going to write something along the lines “why not do something useful with your time rather than learn about yet another reincarnation from Microsoft”.

As rae2 said, I want my computer to work for me, not the other way around!

All the best from your Luddite friend in Phuket!

Nil illigitimi carborundum

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In the past, anything that required a ‘work-around’ was typically considered a bug!

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April 8 of next year XP won’t get any updates for security. Please understand that XP won’t be supported next year. Any security issue will be that much harder to deal with, vendors will drop support.

You shouldn’t be using XP as your main Internet machine come next year.

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I think they should set the date back to April FIRST – April Fool’s Day. It will be that day that Microsoft will be allowed to make fools of millions of us satisfied Win XP users by pulling the security blanket out from under our systems. (You Windows 8.1 proponents do realize, don’t you, that Microsoft will do EXACTLY the same thing to you a few years down the road?)

My point in an earlier post, SusanBradley, is that for many of us, Win XP is all the operating system we need. It works as perfectly and reliably as any normal user could require. If you and/or your company have applications that demand greater perfection then perhaps… just perhaps… that’s another story. If I were to be blasted into space on a trip to Mars, I think I’d want something even more reliable and capable than Win XP running things. But since I’m an earthling with modest requirements, Win XP has been just fine for a decade and I see no reason why I won’t continue to use it for at least another decade to come.

I doubt “vendors will drop support” while millions of us continue to use Win XP after Microsoft abandons us. What I do expect to see is that vendors will be stepping into the spot vacated by Microsoft and coming up with products that will ensure continued security on our machines.

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Woody,
In your article you said “Windows 8 and 8.1 have two types of accounts – Microsoft and local – and choosing one over the other isn’t especially easy.”

I’m about to build a new PC and I plan to install Win 8.1. It will be my first Win8 machine. My account choice is “local.” How exactly do I specify that? Does it ask during installation, does it ask later, do I need to know some trick?

Thanks!

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Woody,
In your article you said “Windows 8 and 8.1 have two types of accounts – Microsoft and local – and choosing one over the other isn’t especially easy.”

I’m about to build a new PC and I plan to install Win 8.1. It will be my first Win8 machine. My account choice is “local.” How exactly do I specify that? Does it ask during installation, does it ask later, do I need to know some trick?

Thanks!

In win 8.1 Microsoft does not make it easy to “go local”. They only present you with the Microsoft option. You have to ignore that and select Add Account on the same page. Follow that through and you will be asked what sort of account and then you can select local. If you select Microsoft then “you are all the way with the NSA”.

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So I guess the quick one-sentence summary here is that Windows 8.1 is just about the same as what one would have with Windows 8 plus Classic Shell. Honestly, if one does not have a touch-screen PC, unaugmented Windows 8 Metro is an serious impediment to doing real work. And it took Microsoft’s vaunted user interface research people how long to figure this out???

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You refer to PDF-XChange Viewer as a free program. But, so as I could find it is not free, but only a trial version available. Uninstalled immediately.

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The free version can be found on this page:
http://www.tracker-software.com/
Look for the “Get Free PDF-Exchange Viewer” icon at the upper left.

Jerry

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The free version can be found on this page:
http://www.tracker-software.com/
Look for the “Get Free PDF-Exchange Viewer” icon at the upper left.

Jerry

When you install it you will find it has an online search function. One of those search providers is ASK.com. You should adjust the order of these so this one is at the bottom or turn off that function completely.

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Dear Woody
you refer to “Sign in without a Microsoft account (not recommended) link at the bottom of page.” but this option isn’t there (anymore?) !!
After logging in as local user I had to sign in on a microsoft account. without any alternative.
Finnaly I found a way out: I denied to be the person of the local account (there was a link : “I’m not ……” ) then the instalment was finished without any more questions and after I could log in normally with the local account.

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Woody, please don’t confuse people by saying Win8 is “two OSes in one.” It is not. It is one OS with two distinctly different user interfaces. The OS is the low-level software that controls access to the hardware, the file system, security, and so on. Microsoft likes to blur this distinction, too, but you certainly know better.

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Woody, 8, 8.1 or 8.99 if it were not for the “Start 8” app I’d have dumped this OS within a week and gone back to Windows 7. At least I have a rational start menu and GUI. This is one instance where you can put lipstick on a pig to good effect.

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Woody,

The Web Of Trust (WOT)
WOT
blacklists your choce of download sites for 7zip.

The WOT posters recommend http://www.7-zip.org/ as the original site.

ABG

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When you install it you will find it has an online search function. One of those search providers is ASK.com. You should adjust the order of these so this one is at the bottom or turn off that function completely.

I just installed it on my laptop and it didn’t add Ask search to either IE 10 or Chrome’s list od search providers.

Jerry

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I just installed it on my laptop and it didn’t add Ask search to either IE 10 or Chrome’s list od search providers.

Jerry

Sorry, I didn’t explain it clearly. In PDF xchange viewer there is a toolbar with a search function. This invokes an external searcher (Google, Bing, ASK etc.). In Edit > Preferences > Search Providers , change the order (and the default) or “Switch off all search providers”.

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Sorry, I didn’t explain it clearly. In PDF xchange viewer there is a toolbar with a search function. This invokes an external searcher (Google, Bing, ASK etc.). In Edit > Preferences > Search Providers , change the order (and the default) or “Switch off all search providers”.

That make more sense. Since I only use that function to search within an open PDF, never to do a web search, I left it alone and it works fine as is.

Jerry

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Thanks, Woody for a very informative article. I waited until two weeks ago to purchase an ASUS Windows 8.0 laptop to enable me to assist my clients who have purchased a computer with the new OS. I uninstalled apps on the Metro interface that I have no use for, recognizing that they adversely impact performance. Then I added the Computer icon and the Control Panel Icon to my traditional desktop.

One of the laptops belonging to one of my clients had a program installed that bypassed the Metro interface. However, the laptop “locked up” when Internet Explorer was invoked. Eventually, I discovered a series of add-on programs that installed toolbars, etc. that were the culprits. After restoring the “Internet Options” menu that was greyed out, I was able to remove all of the malicious content which locked up IE. I was surprised to note that similar add-ons and toolbars had been installed in both Firefox and Google Chrome. So, I had to delete those as well. I wonder if the bypass program also contained the malware.

I’ll advise my clients with new Windows computers to alternatively either use the method that requires editing the system registry, or better yet, wait until Windows 8.1 is released on 17 October and tick the checkboxes that allow direct booting to the desktop that you documented in your excellent article.

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In the main article article, Woody outlined installing desktop apps into W8.1. Included under the sub-heading “Install a desktop app from start to finish” were:

“[INDENT]As a final exercise, you should try installing a classic Windows desktop application or two — just to take back the file-name extensions automatically grabbed by the Metro side of Windows 8. Here’s my list of must-have desktop apps I always install on Windows …

VLC media player:

PDF-XChange Viewer:

IrfanView: Excellent for viewing pictures. (Bold mine)[/B]

7-Zip: [/INDENT][/I]

Notice what Woody said about IrfanView”Excellent for VIEWING pictures.” (Bold and italics mine).

I’m not complaining about the article, just his description of IrfanView. :blush:

Please … IrfanView is much, much more than a viewer. I’ve been using this program for years just as an image viewer , and only since 2010 used it as my “goto” first image editor. I usually used CS2 or The Gimp, but was shown the quite powerful editing options by a friend.

It’s not that they’re fantastic or better than the Gimp or Photoshop, but the program’s so quick and easy to use. I collect 1950-1960 image memorabilia, and use IrfanView as the editor of choice for resizing, blur, sharpen, enhancements to gamma, contrast, saturation and so on. The Gimp and CS2 only now gets used for advanced stuff like layers, major cleaning and so on.

IrfanView has a lot of other stuff built in, including scanning, filters, effects, red-eye cleaning plus an audio and video player available through the plugin pack. And lots more besides …

So describing IrfanView as an image viewer – which it is, and a very good one too – is like saying a Rolls Royce or Bentley is a car. Get The Point?

[YMMV]

:flee: :flee:

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During the installation of win 8.1 you get to a panel where it almost forces you to have an online login to continue. On that panel, down the bottom in small print is an option to create another account. That may not be the exact words but will be close. Click that and the next panel will allow you the option of creating a local user account (again down the bottom in small print).

Another way to go to get a local account is to disconnect from the internet (after the download) for the install and you will be offered to make a local account. This is not the best because it means that the installer cannot look online for drivers and updates.

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thanks DB1245 – in the netherlands the exact wordings are: “I’m not ……” where … is the name of the old local inlog. Maybe I did not expllain cleaerly enough that I had found a “work-around” what I did : In state of logging in, during installment , I clicked the denial to be that person, then the installment was finished without any inlog. Restart and log in locally as before. No microsoft-account is asked anymore.

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