Jump to content

Windows 8.1 now available. DON'T DO IT!!


Recommended Posts

Linda,

you turn off rtf using the toggle switch on the left top corner of the reply editor.

Click on the toggle switch and you will be able to paste text into the editor.

the issue is a bug with php used for the forum, I think there is a bug fix out to correct it.

Hope that helps

Yup it did the trick. Thanks. Never had to click on anything there to post links before

Linda S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

im surprised all the diy'ers here are not using linux. Ubuntu is so easy and stable! Software should be free

Link to comment
Share on other sites

im surprised all the diy'ers here are not using linux. Ubuntu is so easy and stable! Software should be free

needsunenergy, "pain" is something I don't enjoy, fighting computers is pain but something I did in my first life being a Operating systems programmer from back in the day.

Here is what I do for my personal pcs [non work] I get a good install going, say win7 and apply the patches and software I need, delete all the crap and then burn an image to a dvd and/or to share.

and when needed I can apply the image back with few minutes of work, it does not matter if the harddrive dies or machine is infected.

Ubantu is easy in most cases but not all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

im surprised all the diy'ers here are not using linux. Ubuntu is so easy and stable! Software should be free

I have Ubuntu on one of my dual boot computers. I would use it more except that I frequently use a 3D CAD drafting program and it is not written for Unbuntu. There is nothing offered in open source drafting programs that can even begin to approach the functional quality of my CAD program. As to software "should" be free, yes basic software should be available at no cost. But writing free software won't put food on the table of programmers so that is essentially a self defeating concept unless a government is subsidizing all software development. Since we don't want that situation as it would throttle creative development we need to have a mix of free essential functioning programs and commercially developed programs that are not free. There is a need to have both.

A lot of people don't do all that much with their computers. Mostly email, shopping browsing, a bit of research on various things such as fixing motorhomes, some photo editing and video watching. Tablets and free apps can easily handle those needs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

looks like the new Microsoft IE is not compatible with the forum PHP.

Such a simple fix I would not have known without you. Everything else on this upgrade seem to work fine. I still have to deal with a bios upgrade from Toshiba though. Never done one before. What is a bios upgrade. I have no idea

Linda S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bios is the "starter" for your computer. It is the first software activated when you switch on the computer. It contains the directions to load in all of those software programs called drivers and some of the other program functions that are always running in the background. Stuff like the monitor, keyboard, mouse and lots more.

So a Bios update is nothing more than a software update to that particular program. But before you do it create a backup of the current state of your computer. On a PC it is called a restore point. That way you can roll it back if something goes wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He would have had to make the recovery CD before the upgrade and in Derek's and my case the upgrade was done without our knowledge. No way to make one when you wake up to a new program already on your computer. No we were never given the opportunity to make one.

Linda S

Turn off the automatic upgrade. You will find the option to uncheck that box in the Windows update function.

I don't allow automatic updates either as it can disrupt my computers when I am running cut files on the CNC machines and crash those specialized "printers" by hogging all the available RAM. It will also crash graphics programs that use a lot of RAM, which will hang up the computer forcing me reboot without properly shutting down programs. Most people don't get those issue as they are not utilizing a lot of RAM. I have plenty but I am running very large files sometimes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Such a simple fix I would not have known without you. Everything else on this upgrade seem to work fine. I still have to deal with a bios upgrade from Toshiba though. Never done one before. What is a bios upgrade. I have no idea

Linda S

Make absolutely sure your laptop battery is charged and use it if a bios flash fails your computer may not start at all. The soft ware is stored in bios not on your hard drive it is not an operating system system like Microsoft. If you know a geek let them do it. Bios has to be accessed on start up before the computer boots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Such a simple fix I would not have known without you. Everything else on this upgrade seem to work fine. I still have to deal with a bios upgrade from Toshiba though. Never done one before. What is a bios upgrade. I have no idea

Linda S

Linda, pls don't do it unless you are having issues, no upgrade is good upgrade.

you can read the list of issues they fixed in the version they are asking to download, unless you absolutely need any of the corrections, pls pass on the bios upgrade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

I prefer Ubuntu 14.10, a linux OS. I am absolutely NOT very computer literate, but still find it to be a very easy system to use. And it is free. I installed it on my old Toshiba laptop and everything works just fine. I also switched from Google, Bing and the rest to Duckduckgo as it does not track your searches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

New Win8.1 problem this morning. Last night when I went to shut down the laptop, my options included 'Shutdown & Update' and 'Restart & Update'. This happens from time to time but last night when I chose to shut down the screen immediately showed the message 'Keep your PC on until this is done. Installing update 12 of 27.' Not too unusual except usually it starts with Update #1 and 27 is an unusually large number of updates. So I went to bed and left Bill alone to update my Windows. Well, when I got up this morning the screen is still showing the same damned message. Still @ '12 of 27'. Any computer Nerds out there with any suggestion? Alt Control Delete does nothing. Before I pull the battery, I thought I'd ask here.

Fortunately, my Son gave me his 'old' iPad 4 at Xmas, so I'm not completely shut off the 'net. ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Derek up North said:

New Win8.1 problem this morning. Last night when I went to shut down the laptop, my options included 'Shutdown & Update' and 'Restart & Update'. This happens from time to time but last night when I chose to shut down the screen immediately showed the message 'Keep your PC on until this is done. Installing update 12 of 27.' Not too unusual except usually it starts with Update #1 and 27 is an unusually large number of updates. So I went to bed and left Bill alone to update my Windows. Well, when I got up this morning the screen is still showing the same damned message. Still @ '12 of 27'. Any computer Nerds out there with any suggestion? Alt Control Delete does nothing. Before I pull the battery, I thought I'd ask here.

Fortunately, my Son gave me his 'old' iPad 4 at Xmas, so I'm not completely shut off the 'net. ?

its hung. just press and hold the power button in and let it set for 10 seconds until it hard boots. the failed updates can be run again in update manager. no biggy.

highly advise the free upgrade to windows 10 over the 8.1... vastly superior OS and way less issues.

Edited by Totem
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I went into my local computer store. Powered down with the 'Power' button then crossed my fingers and switched on again. All seems OK after 5 minutes.

Even though I refused their kind offer to 'Upgrade' to Win10, MS did it anyway without my consent (like they did from Win8 to Win8.1). With Win10 installed I suddenly almost completely lost my sound (barely audible) and it messed up my trackpad (couldn't scroll on the right side). I managed to mostly fix the former, no luck with the latter.. After suffering through it for a couple of weeks, I finally reverted to Win8.1. Now I can scroll like before and the sound is fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the arrogance of MS.......imagine how people would react if any other manufacturer of any product acted like that, and consistently produced products that introduced new problems that didn't exist in last year's model..........

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes I got those huge updates too. I hard powered my computer off because I want to see what they were downloading first. Luckily for me it didn't freeze my computer. Even after I looked and did the upgrade half of them were unsuccessful. Took a couple of try's to get it all to work. All security upgrades. Not a bad thing. I asked my local computer nerd what it was all about and apparently they are to trying to make the 8.1 system safer for the people who opt out of windows 10.

Linda S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the preference of 8.1 over 10 is entertaining. Our standard build OS deployments at work skipped windows 8 series all together and went from 7 to 10.

Bit of wisdom for you.. its not witchcraft its just like a toyota; you just need to upgrade your sound drivers and possibly some others post upgrade.

like when you put a new cam in would you try and still ride on your old Tappets? they might work but not well or for long.. and thats what happens when your OS is upgraded from another; its still stuck with the same drivers until you update them.

 

Continuing on in an obscure and antiquated OS increases the risk that some pesky Americans, Russians or Chinese take over that PC.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, if my mechanic (if I had one) snuck over to my place one night and installed a different cam even though I'd repeatedly told him I didn't want it, I'd be ticked off, especially if he didn't bother to install tappets that would work.

My laptop is only 2 years old and was built for, designed for and sold with Win8. Win8 is not 'antiquated and obscure'. Microsoft is still supporting it (which is what caused my problem this morning). Win XP is, unfortunately, antiquated and obscure. I think I still have Win3.1 on 3 1/2 " floppies somewhere. :D

I don't waste my time looking for updated drivers any more. I leave that to a program called DriverMax which does it for me. They're all up to date.

http://www.drivermax.com/

It's just like a Toyota? Who's infallible? Is Windows Vista Microsoft's version of the 3VZ-E? :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the only proper way to install drivers dereck is to manually download them from the vendor.. DriverMax is not the vendor of the equipment. So for example... if you have a sound card in your PC the soundcard makers download page is what you are after... bulk driver tools are ASKING for trouble. just a word to the wise.

8.1 is antiquated. How so? because they are giving 10 away free; and they dont like to give free away; they are trying to erase the embarrassing mistake it was. As to hardware being "designed for" software that's amusing; Because all hardware needs to run is a driverset. since the 10 OS wasnt released yet there was nothing to certify the drivers against; it doesnt mean that you cant run higher. Latest greatest is usually better because the bug fixes are present and the progress of the lessons learned are incorporated.

I always took you for a progressive yet you seem conservative on this confounded IT technology; resistant to change. Never trust a one for all approach for a PC's drivers unless its done by the PC maker themselves and even then you are only getting second hand updates. The first hand will always come from the vendor. Since you decided to go with new class of pc supporting 8.1 and higher you should make note of the top 6 devices on the pc. The main/motherboard, the sound card, the graphics card, the wireless, the usb controller, and the bios and start there after an upgrade before slandering and complaining about the "fallible" OS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So if some mechanic installed a cam in your car even though you'd said 'No Thanks' repeatedly and as a result your gas consumption increased and the CEL came on, you'd be fine with you having to reprogram the ECU to fix it? I doubt it (though I suspect you'll say yes anyway). :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually no, that wouldn't happen to me. My mech would know better than to do things I don't specifically request or even not to. (aka I don't have automatic updates turned on, but instead have download and let me decide what i choose to install setting in windows updates - that's a setting in there you can find it and having it would have put you in charge and have avoided the problem in the first place).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just go to the support section of the website for the maker of your computer. Type in the model number of your computer. That should bring up the list of all the driver updates available for Windows 10 along with instructions for installing them.

Of course Sony did not bother to get all the driver updates written for upgrading my computer to 8.1 until they got around to writing the Windows 10 updates for it. The USB drivers still flake out now and again. If I decide to bother updating it again I am going to revert to the original Windows 7 since obviously that is what it was designed to run on.

 

Edited by snail powered
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If its not a touch screen; agree ... There is no benefit .. But if you have a touchscreen run 10. They didn't put any more effort into 8.1 drivers once 10 began.. 8.1 is a " vista" or millennium edition (for those that remember)  type os... A schism slated for the garbage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...