Windows 8: A Computer Repair Guy’s Thoughts.

As a computer repair shop owner here in Tucson, I thought I’d share my experience and impressions of Windows 8 to help people make sense of this drastically new version of Windows that we’ll all have to get used to sooner or later.

I’ve been playing with Windows 8 since the preview release came out in the summer.

So what did I think when I first fired it up? I HATED it!

I thought to myself, “what the heck is this?”; “this isn’t Windows!”, “they ruined it!”; “this is totally unusable!”. But I had to slog on with it, because I was going to have to learn it so I could help and support people with it when it was to come out in October 2012.

This is exactly what I’m hearing from the brave souls who just bought a new PC with Windows 8, or took the plunge to upgrade their PC’s. I’m not surprised, and was expecting this. I had to become a “therapist” to help people through the initial shock.

So what do I think of it now? What did I go through? What will you go through?

Once I got over the initial shock, I dove in and started playing with it. I explored around, clicked here and there, and basically just stumbled around aimlessly. Then something strange happened…. not only did I get used to it, but I actually started to like it!

Windows 8 is fast, stable, sleek and very innovative. It’s actually a Two-in-One operating system. The traditional “Desktop” is still there, in addition to the new “Tiled” interface. They used to call it the “Metro” interface, but got sued over the name, and haven’t come up with a new name yet. Hilarious.

The “Desktop” is still a bit shocking though. There is no Start Button or Start Menu. I still hate that, but guess what? There is already a slew of 3rd party downloads you can get to put it back on. These programs make it look just like Windows 7 or Vista, or even XP.

One of them is called “Start 8”, and is available from Stardock Corp’s website. It costs $5, but is the best one out there.

There’s also a great free app called “Classic Shell”, available at the SourceForge Software site.

Get one of these and you’ll immediately be comfortable with Windows 8. I’ve posted lots of great articles on using Windows 8 on my Saguaro PC Tech Facebook page, so go on over there and take a look (and Like our page too, if you would be so kind). Trust me, you will get to like the new Windows.

As always, we’re here to help with all your Computer and Laptop issues. Find out more about us by visiting out Tucson Computer Repair Service site. Thank you and Happy Computing!