Nordic-vikings.net IT

Since our old test computer did’nt meet the minimum system requirements of windows 8, we had to use Vmware, but after about 3 seconds we incountered a new error and in that way also the new blue screen

this was due to our Vmware being outdated so after a quick update we were rolling

INSTALL:

The install is per this version very much the same as Windows 7′s installer

It was only at the end of the install we saw the difference

In use:

First thing that pops up when you log on is the new start screen they have made instead of the old start menu. Since we only installed it on a virtual machine we had limited resources available for graphics and also a lower resolution than if we would have installed it on our test computer, due to this the start screen was a bit laggy and slow so that spoiled some of the experience but part from that the start screen takes some time to get used to, for more expert users this might be a bit dull in a way.

The start screen looks like this and has allot of boxes floating containing apps, programs and shortcuts to settings and stuff like that so it’s basically like the old start menu but allot bigger. When opened the apps open in fullscreen and work as they normally would on windows 7. There is a social app called Sosialite this connects to your Facebook account and shows you what’s happening on there in a new but nice way and there is a twitter app called Tweet@rama which does the same for Twitter. The apps can be moved around so you can sort the  most used ones at first and if you right click one you can make it smaller/larger and also quickly uninstall them without having to go through the control panel.

If you move the pointer to the lower left corner of the screen a small menu pops up that gives you access to settings and devices and the new search.

The new search is a great way to find what you’re looking for it allows you to enter a search term and then choose where to find it, like search through social medias, internet, local files, and many more

it also has a share button which allows you to share what your doing through Facebook and Twitter right now, but were assuming support for other social medias will come.

The only thing that sort of rubbed us the wrong way about the whole start screen is that there seems to be no back button as of yet so if you enter a program you have to press the start menu button to get out of it but there will probably be this in the released version of the OS.

You can customize allot from the new control panel located on the start screen, such as the lock screen image appearance of the new lock screen:

To unlock you grab the picture and slide it upwards then you can log on with the logon type you choose, there are regular password logon and there is gesture logon if you have a touch screen, which we recommend using with windows 8, even tho we don’t have a touch screen our self.

The new logon screen

Conclusion:

Windows 8 is quite nice to use actually even tho without touch screen it does present some issues, horizontal scrolling is not a task we like without touch but overall it like a boosted Windows 7 for now. Keep in mind that we are talking about a preview version here folks so alot can and probably will change from now and to the released version from the rumors we have heard and the hints Microsoft has given us. Lets all hope that the touch screen monitor price will go down a fair bit until the release. And we hope the price for Windows 8 in Norway is not the same as Windows 7 was when it was new.

The OS in it self looks and feel quicker than Windows 7 and it is rumored to be just that. We can hardly wait for the release and will follow the development of Windows 8 closely!