If you can read the fine print at the bottom of this window, it has some bad news for those of us downloading our new Windows 8 from the web, and then making our own DVD from its ISO Image, to create our own Installation DVD.
It says we can't keep anything from our existing installation's files or apps.
That's not an entire loss, though, because we can go into 'Windows.old' in the
Windows Explorer tree after installation, and in there, we can find and restore
those cherished items not yet quite gone. Just don't re-format your drive before you use the newly-created Installation DVD, because if you do that, it won't have anything to save to the 'Windows.old' folder for you. And you'll hate yourself for not "reading the directions". That said, I'm off to install the retail version of Win-8 onto the partition of the drive presently occupied by its Release Preview. And in case something goes horribly wrong for me, you've been warned about one of the dangers..... (to be continued...)
Forty-four bucks and change (including tax) later, I'm frantically downloading the retail version of Windows 8 Pro as we speak.....and I'll have more on all this a little later on, so please stay tuned...
And later still.... Here's what the new Windows 8 Pro Desktop looks like. You'll maybe notice ( I sure do!) that there's none of those Sidebar Gadgets here, because Mighty Microsoft in its venerable wisdom has decided arbitrarily to remove those from the system because they were just too damned handy, or
something like that..... actually, they said they were a security hazard, but you
couldn't prove that by my own experience with them over nearly four years.
I've never had a problem that could be attributed to those gadgets. Maybe one of those whiz-kids in Redmond, Washington decided these gadgets were a bit
too distracting to the computer slaves in the offices of the world, or something.
But I digress - sorry about that - and you wanted to know how the installation
went? Not as well as Windows 7 has done, and not as quickly as Windows 7,
and when they said they wouldn't save a whole bunch of stuff you'd probably
want to keep rather than hunt the web to replace again, they were right. So now I have to again spend time 'rebuilding' my set of programs and goodies I've found so handy, and now so familiar.
And while you're reading the directions as the whole thing progresses, and at
the beginning, it shows you a list of things that it found compatible and others it didn't, I'd just like to say that my treasured old Arcsoft PhotoStudio 5.5 from back about six years ago or so and which Windows 8 says "has compatibility issues" (I knew that already, thanks!) still works just fine in the new and improved Windows 8 Pro, just like it did in Windows 8 Release Preview, so in case anyone at Microsoft reads this, please take notes, Kiddies. It's my favorite editing program for photos and for accessing my flatbed scanner, and I'm quite attached to it. In fact, I'm so attached to it, I'd rather throw out Windows 8 rather than lose my favorite editing program, which I use almost constantly.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go play with the latest version of Windows 8, and find out how it differs from the Release Preview which it has
just replaced. There's not a lot of difference that I've noticed so far.... but I will know more about that a little later....
Continuing notes....
Before I forget to mention it, during the installation process, you will have the options of directly installing Windows 8 from the files it downloads onto your computer drive, or you can simply leave those files as-is when the download finishes, and install from them later, or you can convert them from within the
program into an ISO file, which you can then use in your favorite burning program ( I prefer ImgBurn which you can find here ) to make yourself a DVD
from which to install Win-8 on another partition (or another PC) - and you will
also by then find an icon on the Desktop for installing Win-8. So you can make
your own installation DVD, and save that for later, and still install Win-8 directly from that Desktop icon's link. And Windows 8 does recognize a dual-boot setup and it will install itself without wiping out your other (Win-7) operating system.
It will, however, juggle your partition designations so that it becomes the "C:/"
partition. (Mine previously was Win-7 = C:/) And that, I hope, helps to clear up a few little mysteries about the process. Windows 8 Pro is now on the job.
And finally.... Here's the Desktop again, with my own icons, and with those ugly little shortcut overlay arrows removed from them, using an old freebie program called Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover 2.0. There are several sites on the web carrying it, so I'll leave that one to you. And also, Windows 8 Pro also accepts the use of your own choice of security programs, even though it comes out of the box with everything it needs already, from Windows. I like Avast 7 because it talks to me when it's updating or finds a problem. Very nice feature, and it
also is the most popular such program on the web these days, we're told. But more importantly, it works. You can find it here.
I read your blog religously and I admire your honesty about Microsoft's products and their uses...(I don't know if I said that right?)... but...I think Microsoft should hire you as a consultant and let you play devil's advocate with their new programs and software, etc.,etc...You are very knowledgeable about what's going on inside these crazy machines we now have on our desks and breakfast tables that were not there decades ago...Your way of describing these new fangled products and software is quite humorous and informative...
ReplyDeleteCheers...
@ Uncle Ron -
ReplyDeleteThank You, Kind Sir!
You're exactly the kind of person I'm hoping to be able to help with my rambling rants about this stuff.
And it's very gratifying to know that someone actually appreciates my efforts.
A lot of us older folk seem to be quite intimidated by these marvels of modern technology, but when we take a look at them in their bits and pieces, a little at a time, it's not so mysterious.
A modern computer's operating system is still very much like a set of those Russian dolls, called Matryoshka Doll, being a larger doll with nested smaller and smaller ones inside it. Or maybe like a filing cabinet with its drawers, and then folders, and then within those, other files.
The trick is to learn where the stuff you want is being stashed inside there.
And of course, we can now drag & drop files and folders to and from others, to mess it all up to suit ourselves. For example, I just made
a couple of new folders, one within the other, into which I put five images sized to match the resolution of my monitor screen, and then dragged that whole thing into the Windows\Themes folder to
create a new changing background set for the desktop. And that is still done the same as we did in our Windows 7. I won't bore you with the whole set of instructions,
but if you want those, please ask
and I'll be happy to oblige. The point I think I'm stumbling toward here is that we shouldn't be afraid to try things like that, because that's how we build up our confidence, and learn how it all works. So in other words, "Fly while you still have wings." As long as you have a DVD of the operating system with which to restore it if the worst happens, you can't go too far wrong. And you may even get a chance to practice some of your fancier cuss words in the process. Sometimes not a bad thing either.... it beats kicking the cat or beating the wife I'm told. And all I'll say about that is it's a good thing Steven Sinofsky the head honcho of Windows isn't sitting here listening to me sometimes when I'm running into another example of double-distilled and triple-chrome-plated ignorance in the construction of Mighty Microsoft's pet product. They do things so well sometimes, and then so badly other times, it confounds me completely. And they need frequent reminders that without we of the unwashed masses and our sweat-stained cash, they'd all still be slinging burgers at some
fast food joint and wishing they had a 'real job'.
I couldn't have said it better, Ollie...(Laurel & Haedy)
ReplyDeleteI meant Laurel and Hardy...
ReplyDeleteHey Ray... I looked up your photo studio Arcsoft 5.5...and found out it's not free...I guess you can try it for a while but the bottom line is...it costs over 50.00 bucks...I'm a little pissed at my photo studio on line called PICASA...When they changed to a newer version they left out some important devices for changing photos quite notably making caricatures from normal portrait shots...(Actually when thinking about it...they didn't leave them out...they pu them in a category which you have to pay for...Smart little buggers those Googleheads are...Oh well ...I'll see if my old version of Adobe Photoshop will work with Windows 7..
ReplyDelete.Have a good one Ray...
@ Uncle Ron -
ReplyDeleteI've sent you an email with some links to follow for some possible solutions to the graphics programs problems.
I may do a blog posting about it, for others who may be interested. I hope some of that helps you.
The reason I'm trying to stick with the older PhotoStudio 5.5 as opposed to its newer version 6.0 is because the older one, like your favorite version of Picasa, has features not found in the same forms in the newer version. As we know, 'change' is not always good, nor always an improvement over whatever we were familiar with before. I think a lot of the changes being made these days, especially to computer software, are being made more for a "make work project" than for any necessity to fix any problem in the programming. All of that "fine tuning" may be keeping the programmers off the streets, but a lot of it is also giving guys like me a needless pain in the ass! We get used to a program, and able to use it comfortably, and then along comes some underemployed coder and changes the goddamned thing beyond recognition, and then wonders why we're not embracing his changes with open arms and handfuls of cash. I have two words for those guys, and out of respect for the censors let's just say one word involves sex, and the other travel. And a couple of those guys ought to be taken out in the bush and have their gonads nailed to a stump and then be pushed over backward....