Review: My experience with Windows 8 Consumer Preview

[st_7 138]

First of all the following pros & cons are my observations of Win8 in my usage of Win 8 CP, downloaded & installed Win 8 CP on the (29th)night it was released to public, actually I wanted to write what has changed from Win 7 to Win 8 in detail starting from installation, but it is time taking, I may do that later. May be some of the below points are wrong, so feel free to correct if u find any wrong in the below points.

Note: If u want try it out Win8 directly on a physical System, don't waste DVD, u can make Win 8 Installation Flash(Pen)Drive by using Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool, or u can use even ur external drive. Make a 4GB partition in ur External HDD(just to be safe not to mess up with the data in External HDD), mark the 4GB partition active in Computer Management->Diskmanagement, extract the downloaded Win 8 CP iso to the 4GB partition using 7-zip software, that's it u r good to go, reboot ur PC, Enable USB Boot option in BIOS(if not done already) & Enable 'Boot from USB first' option in Bios or just press F10 or F12 key during system startup to choose ur External HDD to boot from.

Pros:

1) Installation times improved especially I noticed that it takes much less time compared to Win 7 @ "Expanding Files" Stage.

2) Boot times are improved(even in my four year old PC), some people claim that they get win 8 beta to boot in 8 seconds

3) It is open secret that Metro UI is built with Tablets(or any gadgets with Touch capability) in mind, the UI feels fluid, simple, it would be great on a tablet(or even on desktop depending on ur taste)

4) One of the best thing of Win 8(UI) for me is notification system, if u open a file u get a message that there is or there are x number of apps that can open that particular file(I generalised this msg not the exact one u would get), there are notifications in other instances too, the notification appears on top right of the screen. And one more thing is that the notifications are displayed in the lock screen too just like on mobile, u can control what apps notifications to display on the lock screen like Message, Mail, etc,.This notification system proves the fact that the Win 8(with Metro UI) is more like a Mobile(Tablet) OS than a traditional Desktop OS. You can control what notifications u want in settings-more PC settings-Notifications.

5) You can enjoy both Metro UI & traditional Desktop Interface(u can get Traditional Desktop Interface by clicking 'Desktop' tile or 'Windows Exlporer' tile in Metro UI.

6) The file transfer status notification(tab) got revamped, in Win 8 the new 'File transfer Status tab' u get the all the details like from where to where the files are being transferred, remaining time, total size, name of the file along with a graph showing the speed at which files are being transferred. And You Can pause the file transfer whenever u want & resume it whenever u want.This is very cool feature for me.

7) The New Multitasking is very interesting in Metro UI but not the best one,when u take ur mouse pointer to the top left u will see the last open app or window or whatever it is,right below it u will see a big size closed bracket symbol, when u hover ur mouse pointer over the big closed bracket symbol,u will see the other opened apps in the descending order of their usage, see below two pictures for what I mean.

One more interesting thing is that it shows all the Metro apps but only last used application or window from the traditional desktop interface, see the below picture, I've few metro apps opened & in desktop UI I've firefox,IE10,Notepad, but the Multitasking bar shows only firefox which is last accessed window in Desktop UI but all Metro apps.

You can use this new way of multitasking even in Desktop UI along with traditional taskbar.

8) Taskmanager: This is one of the best thing I found in Win8, it's so cool,informative & fantastic. You will get more information than you need in the new Taskmanager in Win8, there are lot of positives to write about this, i'll discuss only few. First,you can manage startup applications right in taskmanager, no need go to 'msconfig'(infact msconfig has no option for managing startup programs, it links back to taskmanger. Second, under process tab, u find all the process wich are divided into different groups such as Apps, Background process & Windows Process, which is fantastic to say the least, u even can see the network(data) usage of every process and if any application has two windows opened for ex: firefox, if two firefox windows opened then u will see number 2 adjacent to firefox.exe process, see the below picture.

Third, under app history tab, u will find some great information about the applications, like how much time an application used cpu, how much it used data etc.

9) Microsoft Developed Win8 with tablets & cloud computing in mind so much so that win8 allows u to create new user accounts using hotmail or live e-mail accounts, that's right, if u want to create a new user account in control panel(PC settings) it gives u the option to do so with a microsoft e-mail account as a default one, ofcourse u can choose to create a local account too. There are new apps in Metro UI for video playback, musci & photo viewing, to get full potential out of those apps u need to sign in to a microsoft account when u start them. Note: By default the video,music & photos are opened with Metro UI apps, but u can open them with the traditional desktop apps WMP, WPV & WMC.

10)You may know that the Windows Explorer Interface too changed & now use Ribbon Interface like MS office 2007 & 2010(which I never liked). But so far I'm liking the new Ribbon Interface in Win8 Explorer, one of the cool thing about is the last option in the menu bar, it get's changed depending on what u selected or opened, if u open a drive, the last option becomes 'Drive' with highligted message or heading 'Disc Tools' just above it, upon clicking that u get Ribbon UI with the options related to the drive such as Format, Cleanup & Optimize etc,. Likewise if u selected a video file immediately the last option becomes 'Play' with Higlighted Message 'Video Tools' just above it. It changes according to the file you select, if you select a DVD or CD image, the last option becomes 'Actions' with Highlighted Message 'Disc Image Tools'. See the below pictures for what I mean

11) Some Very Useful Builtin tools are added to Win8 like Disc Image mounting tool which helps you to mount iso images without installing any extra softwares. And also "ereader" which opens pdf files automatically.

12) And last but not least Microsoft has added two options Refresh & Reset in Windows 8, the Refresh option re-installs Win 8 without effecting any of the installed Metro apps & some Settings(it's like image backing, formatting, installing & restoring) except it wont restore installed desktop applications, the Reset option does format everything on the partition and installs fresh copy of Windows 8. You can change some options to make the formatted data non recoverable for privacy issues. These two work using Window RE(with out needing u to have Installation disc, ofcourse u have these two options in Win 8 installation disc too), when u choose one of these in control panel ur system boot's into Windows RE, then the task would be completed. (I think this is the reason why the System Reserved Partition in Win 8 has swollen to 350MB compared 100MB in Win 7, may be I'm wrong on this).

13) May be this is not related to Win8, but I find IE10 especially in Metro UI is super fast, it's like opera, if I find any equalent to Ad-Block Plus(firefox addon), I'll definitely use IE10.

Cons:

1) May be the worst omission from Metro UI, a 'Close Button', You can't close an app opened in UI from the app itself, you have to switch to another app & Righ click on the app you want to close in the Metro UI Multitasking bar(which u get when u put ur mouse pointer on the top left of the screen) & close it. This is rediculous to say the least. I hope common sense prevails in Redmond Office & hope Microsoft rectify this by adding a close button.

2) The second worst omission from Win 8 is that there is no traditional Start Menu even in Traditional Desktop Interface, how can I open a program like notepad(ofcourse u can still open them by pressing Win+R & entering notepad), what if I've to open it with administrative rights, I've to go to windows-system32 folder & then find the notepad.exe, from there I can run it as administrator,(which I did when I wanted to edid 'hosts' file). I hope that Microsoft wakes up and add this option in the RTM. I think Win 8 DP had this start menu I don't know how it was b'cause I didn't use Win8 DP, but some sort of start button in traditional Desktop Interface is necessary. There is a tool called "Vistart", which is intended for Xp will help u to have tradtitional desktop start menu as in Win 7. You can find the tool here: http://lee-soft.com/vistart/ (I didn't try this tool yet but read on internet some people writing that it worked for them)

3) If u set up a Broadband Connection like BSNL in Win 8 giving all the necessary credentials then there is no way to change them when we need to at a later time, in previous windows versions when u click connect button, the connection tab appears where if u want to change the credentials u can change, if not u can continue connecting to the broadband. In Win8 there is no such option even under Network Connections in control panel(atleast I couldn't find it yet).

4) I think Microsoft trying to force people to accept & use Metro UI by not allowing us to disable Metro UI(YES YOU CAN'T DISABLE METRO UI IN WIN8 CP), which may be a good UI & some people(I'm one of them) like it but there are many people who don't b'cause of the some serious omissions that I pointed out above. The Registry hack of 'RPEEnabled' key is not working anymore, b'cause the key couldn't be found in the registry in Win 8 CP.

Edited March 2, 2012 by st_7

[ami1 237]

^ Thanks for such an extensive review & comments. Quite helpful. +1

[rajanmehta 4,056]

^^^

Second that. Nice review.

[Saurav 22]

Emission of Close option is really ridiculous.

But the Cloud computing and Market Place to download applications is very useful.

[Genius 817]

just great - nice helpful and to the point

[kundalus 24]

Windows has added lots of new long awaited features like u said mounting drive, fast boot, secure boot from malware like IE, updating windows once in a month with all the updates at one go, factory reset like on mobile devices, faster transition & not to forget Win mobile type lockscreen. But i think adding metro ui (rather forcing metro ui on a non touch device seems a bit odd. They are trying to go mobile way by creating more of internet kind of os (by integrating windows live, mail, etc.) But certainly they are missing a few key features like closing an app, start menu button and also a button to shut down the pc. as a consumer, i rather found it too confusing and a hybrid of mobile os/ui & computer os which is difficult to use....

[_Kailash_ 63]

Superb Man!!! so nice +1 for u

[Honest 836]

@st_7

Thanks for the great review. +1 for the good one.

[digitalnirvana 646]

It is expected and rational that Metro UI will be the main UI because the exact same Win8 will run on x86 and ARM or in other words on PCs and tablets.

[KumaarShah 143]

@ M S Raju,

Wonderful review, keep it up...

[csmart 472]

I installed MS Office, chrome and other required apps gtalk, skype etc. all these apps are not integrated with Metro UI. so whenever you run these, it goes to desktop mode, similar to win7 and look and feel is exactly that of win7, without start button. Even the control panel is the same.So i feel that metro UI is just a "layer" over and above desktop.

[st_7 138]

WINDOWS 8 RP REVIEW:-

What has changed from Win 8 CP to Win 8 RP:

1. Gone is the fish image in the center with blue bakground booting screen(which I never liked), now you see full black background screen wit "Windows" word in white letters in the middle of the screen during booting. The new booting screen is very nice & simple.
   
2. In Win 8 CP, I couldn't use metro apps except 'reader' unless I sign in with my Microsoft Account(e-mail). But in Win 8 RP, you can use metro apps(which doesn't require Internet connection) like music, videos, etc., without any loging in required, which is fantastic.
   
3. Overall the UI in Win 8 RP feels so refined(may be it just me feeling that).
   
4. The basic Metro aps does the work they supposed to in a simple & effective way:
   

• Mail app: You can set it up to use with one of your Microsoft E-mail account. To add other account just hover your mouse to the bottom-right corner or top-right corner for charms bar, then on charms bar Settings --> Accounts--> Add Account, to remove a account or changes the settings of the account Settings(charms bar) --> Accounts --> click on the account you want to remove or change the settings for then you are given a host of options like the frequency of account syncing etc,. and you can remove the account from there itself.
  
• People app: You can set it up with Microsoft & you can sync contacts from other accounts like: Facebook, Google, Linkedin, Twitter etc, by adding those accounts to the app, for adding an account hover your mouse to the bottom-right corner or top-right corner for charms bar, then on charms bar Settings --> Accounts--> Add Account
  
• Message app: You can sign in with your MSN & you can also add your facebook account.
  
• Photos app: You can set it up to sync your flickr, facebook, skydrive, other deivces(cameras) photos and ofcourse you can local library too.
  
• Video app: You can add a local library or you can simply navigate to the desired video file within the video app.
  
• Music app: You can add a local library or you can simply navigate to the desired audio file within the music app.
  
• News, Sports, Finance apps do work & display the local content if you allow them to use your location(you will be asked to do so at first setup during the installation process), you can turn off the option which allows apps to use your location in PC settings --> Privacy.
  

5. Among all Weather app is wonderful, the main screen displays the Weather forecast for next 5-6 days, scroll horizontally you will get hourly weather forecast of the present day, scroll further you will get a graph with Historical stats of the weather of your city of whole year, not only that they divided the Historical weather stats into three categories namely Temperature, Rainfall & Sunshine, if you select Temperature category(below the graph) the stats of the temperature of complete year will be displayed in the graph & further if you select a month in the graph the corresponding stats of the selected month will be displayed adjacent(right side) to the graph. All in all this is the best weather app I've seen so far. See the below pictures to know what I'm saying.

Tips:

1) By default the Windows 8 RP doesn't contain Media Center Enabled, to enable the Media Center on your system, you need to upgrade or add new features by using the following the following key: MBFBV-W3DP2-2MVKN-PJCQD-KKTF7, Go to My computer Properties, Click "View Details in windows Activaton" under windows activation details", then click "Add Features" and follow the onscreen options & use the given key when asked.

2) Every Metro App has it's own settings, access these settings by hovering your mouse at bottom-right or top-right corner to get the charms bar & on charms bar you can access the settings of the particular app. The options you get under settings depends on the app you selected.

3) You can get old start menu using 'Classic Shell' & 'Vistart' Softwares & enjoy both Metro UI as well as classic Aero Desktop in Windows 8 RP.

4) Allow apps to use your location to get the location relevant content on the Metro apps, you can enable this option while setting up the system first time during the installation or by going to PC Settings --> Privacy

5) This is more an opinion of mine than a tip on Reset PC feature that Microsoft introduced with Win 8 CP. I used this to test it out. To start with it asks the Installation Source to copy some missing files to start the RESET process, once you provide the Installation Source, it asks to you to wipe all the drives or the only the drive on which Win 8 is installed, obvisiouly we choose the later one, then it asks how to wipe the selected drives(like slow or fast format) here also we choose fast wipe option unless we need the slow one. Then it starts the process, restarts the PC, Reset's the PC, after that it reboots, now it asks for product key & you can skip entering it too, unlike in normal installation procedure, where you have to enter the product key before itself & you can't skip entering the key. Then the normal first time system set up procedures to follow. All this process took about 15-minutes on my system. I think normal installation procedure is much more than this.

[rahuldixit2010 13]

Is it commercially released ? if not when it is releasing..

[sliver1 102]

wonderful review......very informative