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From a "normal" user POV it's a PITA: it's schizophrenic, it treats you like a baby in metro apps (only showing about five "things you can do" in large icons is even worse than the damn ribbon: see the "Pictures library" app which won't even let you print the damn things!), it's slower and harder to get at apps you want (unless you work out how to group things, and then you still have to swipe sideways for an hour before you get there), etc., etc.
It's a tablet OS, and as such it probably works well (a bit clunky compared to the competition, but...)
As a desktop OS it's a major step back in usability. Most users don't care that "it starts fast" or any other technical improvements - if it slows them down during their normal tasks it's a POS... 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Clear as glass! 
Thank you!
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Thank you Peter! yours are always helpful posts...
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I know it's bad of me to answer your direct question with a "don't do it!", but I really can't see what advantage you would get from upgrading whatevering from Win 7 to Win 8.
Joan Murt wrote: I like being able to change the input language by pressing windows + space
That's been the default since XP, at the very least, but you can set any keyboard shortcut you like for it.
Joan Murt wrote: being able to pause file transfers
Wow! Are you one of the few who actually uses Windows Explorer?
There are sooooo many better, smaller, faster apps that have all the functionality that explorer should have.
Joan Murt wrote: the possibility to put the more used shortcuts at the first "start menu" stage
Even if you only use the desktop and shortcuts, you can arrange them how you like -- and never have to scroll sideways to see them all (although it's best to get something like Iconoid, to remember the positions of everything).
And if you really want to, you can even make your Win 7 Desktop shortcuts larger -- all the way to baby-block size -- with Ctrl + mouse-wheel up.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Oh come on, it's not that bad. There are plenty of reasons why you might want to use 8(.1). Picture passwords, practically instant start up, metro apps (ok, not so much). I presume its got better handling of touch. Just get it to go straight to the desktop and use a start button if you want one. I've been using it since it came out and it doesn't offend me!
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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Rob Philpott wrote: There are plenty of reasons why you might want to use 8(.1)
There are plenty of reasons why you might want to use LSD, too, but include me out of both groups.
This machine I'm typing on is 8.1, and it annoys the Hell out of me.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: That's been the default since XP, at the very least, but you can set any keyboard shortcut you like for it.
Not in Spanish windows versions  In our case it looks like it is left shift + left alt... 
Anyway the behavior is completely different: now I'm writing here after having changed the language to English and therefore the Internet Explorer is spell checking what I'm writing using English as language to check, in Win7 this is not happening at all, therefore I can change languages but I can't get the extra benefit of being spell checked using the right one... At least I don't know how to do it...
Mark_Wallace wrote: Windows Explorer
I don't know if I'm in a minority group or not here but yes... I do use Windows Explorer... 
Mark_Wallace wrote: Even if you only use the desktop and shortcuts, you can arrange them how you like
Yes I know, in fact I'm thinking of leaving the Win 7 there until windows 10 appears...
What is really frustrating is going back with the Windows + Space keystroke and the extra correction I get in windows 8...
Thank you for posting!
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Joan Murt wrote: Not in Spanish windows versions In our case it looks like it is left shift + left alt...
That's weird.
My missus is Chinese, so we're always switching language; have been for years. It's always been either Winkey+space or Ctrl+space, on every machine we've bought -- in fact, on her machines, I move the combination to only toggle between English and PinYin (Chinese), rather than rotate through all installed languages.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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But... do you have spell check according to the language you are using in i.e. a post here in CP? this one is being posted from my new laptop, I've changed the input language to English but no spell check is working for me... this orks perfectly in Windows 8 and 8.1...
It looks in Windows 7 intenet explorer is selecting the spell checking language based on the display language more than the input language... 
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That's dependent on the browser, I think. I use Maxthon, and I believe I have to switch dictionaries manually.
Everything switches over to Italian easy enough using IE on this machine (Win 8.1 + IE 11).
...
I've just used Team Viewer to try it out on a Win 7 machine, upstairs (which is obviously too far to walk, you understand), but that's only got a never-updated version of IE 8, and I can't even find where to start the spell-checker functions.
Maybe it's IE-version dependent, rather than OS version. I shall try to find the IE updates I rejected, and install them.
heh. I've changed my keyboard and dictionary back to English, but the right-click menu is still in Italian.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Yes, you are right, it is browser dependent... I've seen that in IE11 you can bad spell a word and then right click it to be able to change the language...
Not easy, but at least possible.. it is much, much easer to do it in Win 8.1 and it follows the same for all the applications, but nothing to die about...
Now I have to see how to pause copy operations and I'll be happy... until win10 appears of course!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: Wow! Are you one of the few who actually uses Windows Explorer?
Explain... I don't get it. You say this like there's something wrong with it. In my 30 years of development experience, the first thing I open is Windows Explorer. It's the GUI to your pc.
I still use the QuickLaunch toolbar, with my taskbar auto-hidden, and the first icon on the left is Windows Explorer. When I open it, the it's the first app on my taskbar.
Most devs I know have it open because they're constantly moving/copying files around.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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OK, I mean the parts of Explorer.exe that replaced Fileman.exe, thereby allowing simple file operation errors to crash the whole OS.
If you want to move or copy files around, then apps like xplorer2[^] or Q-Dir[^] are way more usable, configurable, robust, and elegant (if you want elegant; if not, configure some inelegance in).
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: If you want to move or copy files around, then apps like xplorer2[^] or Q-Dir[^] are way more usable, configurable, robust, and elegant (if you want elegant; if not, configure some inelegance in).
Right-Click=>Copy, RightClick=>Paste
What am I missing? Why do you need a third-party app to do this?
What does "elegance" have to do with it?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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Kevin Marois wrote: Right-Click=>Copy, RightClick=>Paste
What am I missing?
How about because Windows appears to have done something to its clipboard that allows it to paste things that you cut or copied one or more cut or copy operations previous to the one you want to paste now?
Kevin Marois wrote: Why do you need a third-party app to do this?
Ever wanted to cut/copy and paste from more than one location to more than one destination?
Use Win Explorer to do that without waiting for each operation to complete, and the file ops can bog down to bits per month.
An elegant solution to this is to optionally queue cut/copy/paste operations -- but if you don't want elegance, don't bother. Just go off for a couple of hours, until your machine is usable again.
Kevin Marois wrote: What does "elegance" have to do with it?
(if you want elegant; if not, configure some inelegance in). I'm sure you don't need my help to do that.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I have no clue what you're referring to...
I cut/copy/past from one to may locations all the time. And my machine doesn't bog down.
With the exception of very large files, it's never been an issue for me. But no third party app is going to get around a huge file being copied. It's just going to take some time.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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Kevin Marois wrote: I cut/copy/past from one to may locations all the time. And my machine doesn't bog down.
Yeah, right.
You've got one of those HDDs that were handed down by God, obviously.
Bored with this. T'ra.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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You're right... I'm clearly lying to you. Everyone has the same problems as you, and should run right out & pay for a third party explorer replacement.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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Kevin Marois wrote: I'm clearly lying to you
If you say that you can run several file operations simultaneously on a PC without losing performance, then I'm afraid you quite obviously are.
Kevin Marois wrote: and should run right out & pay for a third party explorer replacement.
Q-Dir is free, as are several other Explorer replacements. I chose to pay for xplorer2 because it is quite simply the best, but Q-Dir in particular is catching up with it extremely fast, so I shall probably not be renewing my xplorer2 license.
And I'm not an apple-y or linux-y type, who is saying "This is the best because I like it!". There is quite simply no comparison between what you can do with Win Explorer and the better tools; they are worlds apart.
I suggest that you try one of them, before continuing to troll with ignorance of the tools being discussed.
Or don't. I don't care. I'm not interested in discussing it with you, any more.
You can take the piss as much as you like, and you'll get no complaint out of me, but nobody likes a troll.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I'm happy with the tools I have
"Troll"??
We're done.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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Kevin Marois wrote: "Troll"??
The first step in recovery lies in seeing that you're doing it.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Insults are the last refuge of the out-argued.. You've now insulted me twice over a simple conversation. It's clear you're unable to contribute to a serious debate without demeaning other people.
Which one of us is trolling?
Don't bother replying, you'll get no more responses from me.
Have a nice day.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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There are no insults in what I say. This is the CP Lounge; I only insult people here in fun, and this thread certainly doesn't qualify as fun.
Why did you take part in this thread?
- To have some fun? Hell no.
- For an exchange of ideas and opinions? Hell no.
- For rational discussion of preferences in tooling? Hell no.
You wanted an argument; you wanted to start and win a fight.
That's known as trolling. Ask any dictionary.
You weren't interested in talking to me or having a laugh with me; you wanted to humiliate me, in the way that only trolls believe that they can humiliate people who are thousands of miles away, and whom they will never meet.
You failed, by the way, because causing such humiliation is beyond the realm of the possible.
All you really did is make yourself look foolish, for arguing "I know nothing about B, but A is better than B!"
(That's troll behaviour, too, BTW.)
Like I said, if you won't admit it to yourself, you'll just keep doing it.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I have to back Mark on this one. In the 10 last years, I have maybe fired up an explorer ten times on my machine. I only use it on other people's machine.
Try TotalCommander, and you will never ever want to come back. The two panes are gold, it makes copy and paste so much easier. Mutliple-files renaming. Quick launch bar, quick shortcuts to special directories, thumbnail views, previews, etc... Ultraquick copying, works also in the background, almost accurate timing. Create a directory in one click with a proposed name. Actually, it has A LOT of small but obvious features a real file manager should have.
To me, when copy/pasting in Windows Explorer, you must leave the source directory to get to the target directory. This is a no go, so the simple fact that TotalCommander makes it possible to keep source and target visible is already a reason to ditch the windows explorer.
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