# Windows 8 is the worst piece of shit I've ever used in my life. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 22, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464 "2013-09-22T20:47:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/141 "2013-09-28T07:48:18Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Classic Shell works a treat for the most part and solves all my problems with Win8 but one. The keyboard layout keeps changing to a different country setting intermittently. I have it set to Irish. Apart from the switched @ and ", ALT GR + vowel no longer gives me the fada over the letter. I tweet regularly in Irish so it’s a pain in the arse. [Try this, maybe.](http://superuser.com/questions/602788/how-to-disable-automatic-keyboard-layout-change-in-windows-8) I’m not sure if this is what’s happening with you, as I only use British English on mine, but it might be worth looking at. ---
**Author:** ![JayRx1981](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71e660/32.png) [@JayRx1981](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayRx1981)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/142 "2013-09-28T09:02:00Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Anyway… Has anyone tried using Win8 with a multiple-monitor setup? I use two monitors, and Windows 8 is driving me crazy. If I have a metro screen open on one monitor and the desktop on the other, Desktop apps will often pop their dialogs under the metro screen, so you can’t find them at all. Or sometimes something you do in an app on one screen will cause the other one to toggle to the desktop or to metro. Multiple monitors and Metro were the final straw for my decision to go back to Windows 7. I would have been content if I could have pinned the Start Screen functionality permanently to my flat screen TV. It does, after all, make for a semi decent looking 10-foot display (not perfect, but I’ve yet to find something that is), and would have allowed my gaming monitor to always boot to the desktop. I would have then been able to launch full screen Metro apps on a big display where their full-screen view would have made some sense, while leaving my desktop environment untouched and the way I wanted it. Except, of course, you can’t do that. Metro apps that you launch due to the system defaulting to those apps over the desktop equivalents launch on the monitor you activated them on and pull the whole start screen with it. Activate something from the charms bar on your non-10-foot display? Say hello to the Start Screen on that monitor too. Are there workarounds? Sure, but even those didn’t fix the problem completely for me. Maybe they have since fixed it. At this point the only computer actually running Windows 8 in my house is my Acer Iconia W700 tablet–which is a touch screen device, where the start screen and Metro Internet Explorer actually work fairly well–so long as you don’t go into desktop mode, without a mouse attached, too often, where scaling issues mess with a number of applications, whether you stay at the default 150% (text and pop up text boxes break for a number of Windows applications) or change it to the desktop 100% (good luck hitting that maximized Chrome window back button with your finger). Other reasons I upgraded back to 7: (1)I own a full license for 7 Ultimate. I can access my linux fileserver NFS shares in 7 Ultimate. Only way to do that in 8 is to buy Enterprise. They eliminated an “Ultimate” option from 8, and 8 Pro lacks any installable NFS support. I will grant you that 7’s NFS implemenation is…fickle…but I can at least get it to work. I could probably just switch to a Samba implementation in Linux, but I have my reasons for not doing so. (2)I have a Ceton InfiniTV tuner card. The **ONLY** solution for watching CableCARD protected content on a PC is Windows Media Center. Windows Media Center was removed from 8. If you want it back, you not only have to pony up an additional $99 bucks for the “Pro” upgrade, you have to chuck in another (I think) $10 on top of that to bring back the exact same (un-upgraded) WMC software that every copy of 7 except for Home Basic (I think) comes with by default. $110 bucks just to do what I’m already doing with 7? No thanks. The same applies if you want the DVD playback licensing with Windows Media Player. Granted, for DVD playback, free software solutions are a helluva lot better (VLC, MPC-HC, XBMC, Plex) anyways. (3)Non-signed drivers require not just a UAC override but a reboot. Not just a reboot though; a reboot option “hidden” if you don’t know exactly what you are looking for. Which, after all is said and done, requires…another reboot, back to protected mode. Now I know, this is to protect the less tech savvy from installing something which turns out to be a huge security risk because they complained at the constant UAC prompts in Vista and ignored them in 7, so this rates the “lowest” of my complaints, but it is still annoying. I’d rather have 3 consecutive UAC warnings–“This Program wants to do this: Are you sure?” “Are you REALLY sure?” “Clicking past this one is on you, buddy”. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/143 "2013-09-28T19:24:04Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > What the hell were they thinking? Bought a new laptop last week and am about ready to return it and never buy a new PC again. I’ve had a litany of problems since I got the PC and it has less functionality than my old Win XP Netbook (RIP). The Metro UI thing is next to useless, like Microsoft Bob but as executed by an idiot. The ESC button doesn’t seem to work if you’ve accidentally selected any of those goddamn Metro Apps. It appears to be impossible for me to use the Start button-less desktop with the trackpad without superfluously calling up the Metro UI multiple times. The whole thing is a halfbaked disgrace. Nothing is intuitive. What were Microsoft thinking? > > Other problems, that may be hardware related but who the fuck knows. The trackpad intermittently stops working. The keyboard has reverted to some foreign setting even though it still says it is in the Irish config. I need a PC for work, no bells, no fucking whistles, and things that have worked grand for close to 20 years in Windows PCs have been thrown out the goddamn window because some people use tablets or some shit. I can’t even find SPIDER FUCKING SOLITAIRE!!! Fuck Microsoft and Toshiba. “It never ends, this shit”: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1\_vWYQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ) NSFW! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/144 "2013-10-02T16:05:40Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > I understand that Classic Shell is invaluable for Win8. But I see from the website that it improves upon Win7 and Vista as well. Comments? Should Win7 and Vista users consider installing it? I was intrigued by the possibility of a Start Menu where application links could be sorted into directories, just like XP. If you want a menu that’s like the one in XP, it does that pretty well. If you want one that’s like Windows 95–it does that really well. The latter is actually what it was originally designed to do (as that option doesn’t exist on Vista+) The only downside is the lack of a “frequently used programs” feature\*. It is replaced with a “recently used programs” feature instead, which can be good enough for some, but was not for me. Also, the search isn’t quite as good, but usually it’s good enough. \*At least, as of the last time I tried it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/145 "2013-10-02T16:18:57Z")
As for Windows 8: Sure, I defend it against what I consider unfair criticisms, but I do think it was a huge misstep on Microsoft’s part. I do not agree, however, that an attempt to create touch-friendly desktop OS was as doomed as you guys seem to think. I think they just screwed it up. For example of a big mistake, I’ve often pointed out that the Start Screen makes a more logical replacement for the Desktop, not the Start Menu. Just add a couple more features, like a customizable background and the ability to pin tiles in place, and it pretty much is the desktop but with more features. Sure, the tile size is a bit big for mouse use, but that could be tailored to each version. The start menu should have stuck around (and should show on the Start Screen/desktop), but the All Programs item should have changed the desktop into the Apps screen (save with hierarchical bend) with a clearly visible back button to take you back to the main desktop. Finally, they should have focused heavily on keeping old apps but making them work in the touch environment. The advantage of having Windows on a tablet is being able to run the same apps you ran before. They should have went out of their way to make it easy for developers to make a touch version of their app. Doing these things, plus the changes they are making 8.1, would have made the experience much more interconnected, and thus achieved their goal of getting desktop users familiar with the new touch interface, so that they would be more likely to buy Windows-based tablets. Ultimately, that was the point of having tablets and desktops share an OS. With the tablet market the way it is, a new OS would not have made headway against the giants of Android and iOS, any more than Windows Phone did on phones. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/146 "2013-10-02T23:33:03Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Question, for those of you who would know: > > Can a person who owns Windows 7 (the full-blown retail installation CD, I mean) go out and buy a Windows 8 PC, then reformat and partition the hard drive, and install Windows 7? Is there any meaningful hardware that is Windows-7 incompatible and therefore _requires_ Windows 8? > > (I’m a Mac person; if this is an ignorant question in either direction, just pardon my ignorance and help to dispel it, thanks) As others have pointed out, touch screens would be a problem. But I think you may be ignorant of(or forgetting) another aspect of PCs. If you’re setting out to own a new PC, and have a copy of Windows 7, why on earth would you buy something loaded with Windows 8? You would buy/build a machine with no OS, thereby reducing that portion of the cost of your PC, and then install Windows 7 on it. I don’t think Mac users have any equivalent option, so it may not have occurred to you. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/147 "2013-10-02T23:59:59Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > As for Windows 8: Sure, I defend it against what I consider unfair criticisms, but I do think it was a huge misstep on Microsoft’s part. I do not agree, however, that an attempt to create touch-friendly desktop OS was as doomed as you guys seem to think. I think they just screwed it up. To be fair, Microsoft was just copying Ubuntu’s earlier enforced introduction of Unity, a toylike multi-gadget touch-orientated shell which alienated users and other distros: that copying had to include the OS failing. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/148 "2013-10-03T00:33:06Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > You know, the whole “we’re going to update your program NOW whether you like it or not” is the biggest reason why I dropped AOL back in the day. Turn off all updates. Problem solved; your computer won’t cause you to wait, won’t change operations, procedures, functions and menus unexpectedly. Everything will work as expected. Updates are the Devil’s spawn. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/149 "2013-10-03T05:15:27Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > PS: I’m still happily running MacOS 10.6.8 although the current official edition is 10.8.5 and the advance copies of “Maverick” (10.9) are getting reviews everywhere; and I see no reason yet to upgrade. I’m happily running 10.5.8 and will continue to do so until the hardware finally drops dead. Macs cost more in the beginning, but IME last much longer. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/150 "2013-10-03T05:47:58Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Turn off all updates. Problem solved; your computer won’t cause you to wait, won’t change operations, procedures, functions and menus unexpectedly. Everything will work as expected. Updates are the Devil’s spawn. Yes, I have. AOL did not give people the option to turn off updates, though, unless we shut down the computer. Actually, I do manually check for updates on a regular basis. But I really don’t need most of the updates. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/151 "2013-10-03T06:49:08Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > I’m happily running 10.5.8 and will continue to do so until the hardware finally drops dead. Macs cost more in the beginning, but IME last much longer. My XP running laptop is from 2006. I paid half the price of an equivalent mac. I recently paid 25 USD to upgrade the RAM, which has significantly improved performance. I too expect to run the laptop till it refuses to run. Something tells me I wouldn’t have been able to get double the life/value out of the equivalent mac. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/152 "2013-10-03T20:58:05Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > The people who designed this one are fucking idiots. I have to remember to press the windows button then the c button then the settings button just to shut the computer down. > > Assholes. I just added a shutdown tile and a restart tile to the start screen. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/153 "2013-10-03T21:11:54Z")
I still don’t understand why some people are having such a problem finding the settings button. It’s right there in the Charms bar. It’s not functionally different from having it in the old start menu - the bar’s just on the right instead of the bottom. I agree that Windows 8 isn’t all that great, but complaining about them moving the power button to the right side of the desktop is a little absurd. It is NOT hard to find. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/154 "2013-10-03T21:18:46Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > I still don’t understand why some people are having such a problem finding the settings button. It’s right there in the Charms bar. It’s not functionally different from having it in the old start menu - the bar’s just on the right instead of the bottom. I agree that Windows 8 isn’t all that great, but complaining about them moving the power button to the right side of the desktop is a little absurd. It is NOT hard to find. I’ve been finding my Start Button in the same place for almost twenty years. I hope it never moves. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/155 "2013-10-03T21:47:32Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > My XP running laptop is from 2006. I paid half the price of an equivalent mac. I recently paid 25 USD to upgrade the RAM, which has significantly improved performance. I too expect to run the laptop till it refuses to run. Something tells me I wouldn’t have been able to get double the life/value out of the equivalent mac. Sounds like an anomaly to me, tho I’ve only had one non-Mac laptop. I’ve ended up destroying most of the PC desktops I used at work and the Compac laptop was useless quickly due to software upgrading past it’s ability to deal with it. OTOH, I have one of the original Mac desktops (something II) and an old Powerbook (2000? earlier?) that both still work. If I only used my laptop for travel, I’d still be on the Powerbook, but I have to upgrade occasionally to be able to use the newest software for Photoshop, etc. Except when my cat manages to spill a glass of wine on it, which is why this one is only seven years old. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/156 "2013-10-03T22:11:26Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Sounds like an anomaly to me, No, it’s a pretty standard HP laptop actually. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/157 "2013-10-03T22:55:01Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > I’ve been finding my Start Button in the same place for almost twenty years. I hope it never moves. The second thing I do after installing on KDE is to set the menu to Classic Menu Style with a right click. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/158 "2013-10-04T14:56:31Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > Sounds like an anomaly to me, tho I’ve only had one non-Mac laptop. I’ve ended up destroying most of the PC desktops I used at work and the Compac laptop was useless quickly due to software upgrading past it’s ability to deal with it. OTOH, I have one of the original Mac desktops (something II) and an old Powerbook (2000? earlier?) that both still work. If I only used my laptop for travel, I’d still be on the Powerbook, but I have to upgrade occasionally to be able to use the newest software for Photoshop, etc. Except when my cat manages to spill a glass of wine on it, which is why this one is only seven years old. 🆒 How would you be using the latest Photoshop, web browser, office suite, etc running 10.5.x? It is obsolete. Any pre-Intel Apple is fairly worthless unless you stick with old software all-around. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/159 "2013-10-05T03:21:37Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > How would you be using the latest Photoshop, web browser, office suite, etc running 10.5.x? It is obsolete. Any pre-Intel Apple is fairly worthless unless you stick with old software all-around. I’m not using the latest Photoshop - it’s when I cannot do what I want and have to buy the latest Photoshop or whatever that I finally buy a new laptop. You may think that 10.5 is obsolete, but it does everything I need it to do and its the only computer I use these days. Never have understood the rush to buy something just because it’s new. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464/160 "2013-10-06T00:48:10Z")
I’ve also noticed another advantage to Win 8 over previous versions (although I’m not sure how much has to do with the specifics of this particular computer): It’s seems a lot more stable. Whenever a particular program or process hangs, I’m almost always able to pull up the task manager, find whatever is causing the problem, and kill it, as opposed to having to restart the entire system, which was much more often the case in the past. In fact, I don’t think I’ve had to restart this computer even once so far because of something crashing. Although, to be fair, I’m not sure exactly how much this differs from Win 7, as I only ever really used that on a rather shitty laptop that never really behaved sensibly in the first place. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-8-is-the-worst-piece-of-shit-ive-ever-used-in-my-life/669464.md?page=9)