Before I jump into the review, I just want to tell you guys a story first: As I'm sure some of you know, I was recently in the process of repairing a PC that was given to my husband and I. It was pretty much going to be our family PC with everything on it -- games, internet, blah, blah, blah -- and after doing a bit of research on which OS to get, we decided to give Windows 8 a try.
So we put in a order for Windows 8.1 because, apparently, that's like the brand-spanking-new-less-buggy-and-glitched version of Windows 8, which I heard had a LOT of problems. When we went in to pick it up last week, we were told it had yet to arrive and should turn up some time the next day. Which it did, thankfully, otherwise that'd have been $120 down the drain.
After we came home from picking it up the next day, I pranced off to our bedroom where the new PC was, plugged in all the cords and wires, and put the disc in. I put in the key number and then it started installing. Then five minutes later, I received a message of doom: WINDOWS 8 HAS FAILED TO INSTALL.
Needless to say, I was perplexed, so I booted up the laptop in the other room and did some research. Turns out there are number of things that can cause the Windows 8 installation to fail and one of the most common causes is that the drivers need to be updated. I checked the drivers on the PC and found out they hadn't been updated since 2006. I downloaded the necessary drivers onto a thumb drive via my laptop and installed them on the PC.
Again, the installation failed.
By this point, I was starting to get pretty pissed because I knew it met all the system requirements for the OS. I couldn't figure out what the problem was. So I pretty much uninstalled everything that could be easily uninstalled and did some digging around on the C: drive, which uncovered a freaking Conduit virus. Seriously, beware ANYTHING baring the word Conduit anywhere in the name, title, description, whatever -- those viruses are pretty much impossible to get rid of without wiping the motherboard.
Anyway, upon spotting the virus, I really didn't know what to know. I mean, our roommate had wiped the motherboard to get rid of this virus BEFORE he gave it to us and it was still freaking there. The thing was like a damn cockroach -- it just wouldn't die. I decided to check the drivers again and see if there was anything else that needed updating only to find out that the previous updates had never even gone through. I had installed updated drivers, but there was no visible change to prove that I had. It was like the changes had never freaking happened.
When I saw that, I decided to just leave it alone and give up. Then when our roommate came home, my husband discussed the situation with him and that was when we found out that the PC had originally been built for Windows XP. For those of you who don't know, PCs that had been built for XP are NOT compatible for Windows 8. Rather than apologizing for not making us aware of this ahead time -- you know, BEFORE we spent $120 on Windows 8.1 -- our roommate then said, "Well, you guys should have gotten Windows 7."
Never before I had wanted to kill someone so badly -_-
After I was calmly reminded that murdering our roommate would probably result in some prison time, I spent the rest of the evening talking things over with my husband. We didn't really know what to do. Did we sell the OS online and settle for a cheaper OS for PC that could maybe, probably handle everything we wanted it do after we spent the money to replace the motherboard for it? Or did we simply use it to update our laptop?
In the end, we decided to use the product we had paid for and updated our laptop to Windows 8.1.
The installation took about an hour, and I was a little surprised when I first started using it. The tile interface was surprisingly easy to use, despite what reviewers had said about it. It was made even easier by the "Desktop" option, which brought me to a Windows 7-esque desktop interface. However, unlike previous versions of Windows, this one seemed to be lacking some key features -- mostly Microsoft Word (which had been only a free trial version in other versions of the OS) and Windows Movie Maker. I quickly learned that was because they were trying to peddle users to buying full programs like Word and the Wondershare video editor.
Naughty, naughty, Microsoft.
If you run a quick search in the App store, though, you'll easily find Microsoft's newest video editing toy for Windows 8.1. It's called Movie Moments and, well, it's free for a reason. The reason being that this simple to use little device will only allow you edit and create sixty second-long videos and movies. Which isn't really much of a movie at all. That's more like a preview for a movie, IMO. So, yeah, it's not something I would recommend downloading.
Instead I would recommend some freeware. For example, in order to replace Microsoft Word, I would say you should just go ahead and download LibreOffice. It's a German program that is highly recommended by Fanfiction.net and basically operates the same way as Microsoft Word. It also will restore your documents upon start up in the event of an unexpected computer restart or shut down, so that's also a cool feature. I know what you're thinking, though: Hmm, well, that sounds good and all, but you're a know-nothing blogger whose site gets hardly any views and that's a piece of freeware I've never even heard of -- sounds fishy.
To you I say sure, go ahead and try out one of the included three writing apps that comes with Windows 8.1. I should warn you, though, one requires you to actually hand-write what you want to write in it -- which is pretty freaking hard to do with a mouse if you lack experience and a touch screen -- and none of them have spelling or grammar check. So, by all means, don't trust me and enjoy subjecting yourself to the wraith of internet grammar-Nazis.
As far as video editing goes, as long as you're not looking for a high-end editing program, then I would just go ahead and download the 2012 version of Movie Maker from the Microsoft website for Windows 8. It's free and easy to use, but doing this will require you to download and install some features on your PC in order to make the program work. The Windows 8 version also seems to come with fewer animations and effects, but the trade-off is that we're given the option to include a voice-over narrative rather than music (of course, we still have the option of putting music in the vid).
The only other thing I would suggest downloading is nifty little program called CCleaner, which is pretty much the working, non-virus-infested version of mycleanPC....I would put the whole URL, but I don't want to be blamed just in case someone is stupid enough to click on it and infect their computer. Anyway, CCleaner essentially cleans up your PC by clearing your caches and getting rid of unused files. This includes files and caches having to do with your apps, which can take up a lot of a space on your hard drive if they're not emptied periodically. There is a free version of the program, but it's also available in a professional version. Though seeing as I plan on buying some anti-virus and anti-malware programs sometime next week, I plan on just sticking with the free version.
Overall, I would have to say that I believe some of the Windows 8 haters were severely overreacting with some of their negative reviews. Yes, the new tile interface was a little hard to get used to at first, but I was able to figure it out in a manner of minutes and, honestly, I don't see how anyone could have a hard time figuring it out unless they'd never used a computer before. Granted, I'm using Windows 8.1, which is supposed to be the better version of Windows 8, but I'm also a person who has never even touched a smart phone before and was able to make use of the new interface, without help, after about fifteen minutes of exploring.
Trust me when I say, Windows 8 is not nearly as bad as some reviewers -- who really could just be biased fanboys -- have said it is. Aside from the lack of traditional features, the only problem I have with it is that I really can't figure how to uninstall an app. Seriously, I downloaded a free game and ended up hating it -- my fault, I know -- and now, it's just there taking up space. If anyone knows how to get rid of it, please, let me know. Otherwise, though, I've had no problems with it and really don't see myself switching back to Windows 7.
Though, please, note I will be returning to the topic of Windows 8 after we purchase a new PC and try to do some gaming on it.
Just as a basic OS, though, I'd have to give it a seven out of ten. This is because the newest version of Internet Explorer is an absolute b!tch to freaking navigate because navigation bar seems to be gravely misplaced and because of the lack of features. The IE issue is easily remedied, though, by simply downloading a new default browser. After doing that, it's really a non-issue.
I also really like the design of the new tile interface and love that Microsoft include a desktop interface option because, let's face it, the tile thing isn't for everyone. A lot of new apps are cool, too, and my favorites just so happen to be the Weather and News apps. They allow to me view the weather in my hometown and follow the news with my favorite online newspaper.
There you have it. The story of how I ended up with an updated laptop and my review of Windows 8(.1). I hope you've enjoyed. Please, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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