I only remember seeing some - not many - retail-market PCs with 8 and hating the "tablet" interface and touchscreen madness that was forced on the market. I never ever came across anyone who had one or did, since it was only on the market a short time, before it was replaced by Windows 10 and most people were going for the Windows 7 hardware.

I just used a 3rd party tool that restored the normal desktop and start menu .. it pretty much removed the stupid as shit tablet UI. So my experience of 8.1 was no different than the one I had with Win10, a very stable and usable OS, more stable than Win7 with better DirectX 12 hardware support.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-01-11, 13:01:

I just used a 3rd party tool that restored the normal desktop and start menu .. it pretty much removed the stupid as shit tablet UI. So my experience of 8.1 was no different than the one I had with Win10, a very stable and usable OS, more stable than Win7 with better DirectX 12 hardware support.

Windows 8.1 is DirectX 11; 11.2 was the latest.

I stuck with 8.1 for a while. I had used Classic Shell for Windows 8. I also had a stable experience, but I finally moved over to Windows 10 in 2019.

It's the only win i skipped since i started using windows in 95, but it looks solid and funny enough i finished building a retro pc (if it's 10 years old it's retro to me) that would be perfect with win 8.1 (i5 3570-GTX780)
The only thing that truly scares me every single time a thread like this pops up is that i will soon need a method to make my win7\win8 build use my steam games without steam, it pisses me off thinking about the inability to use an older system because of DRM.

Meatball wrote on 2023-01-11, 14:48:

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-01-11, 13:01:

I just used a 3rd party tool that restored the normal desktop and start menu .. it pretty much removed the stupid as shit tablet UI. So my experience of 8.1 was no different than the one I had with Win10, a very stable and usable OS, more stable than Win7 with better DirectX 12 hardware support.

Windows 8.1 is DirectX 11; 11.2 was the latest.

I stuck with 8.1 for a while. I had used Classic Shell for Windows 8. I also had a stable experience, but I finally moved over to Windows 10 in 2019.

Yup

Point still applies to dx11, dx10 wasn’t that great.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-01-11, 13:01:

I just used a 3rd party tool that restored the normal desktop and start menu .. it pretty much removed the stupid as shit tablet UI. So my experience of 8.1 was no different than the one I had with Win10, a very stable and usable OS, more stable than Win7 with better DirectX 12 hardware support.

My experience wasn't different either but for a completely different reason.

I never used any third-party tool like Start8 for Windows 8, since Vista I only ever used the Start Menu/Screen for quickly searching an application to run without having to navigate thru folders. Hotkeys (especially those involving the Windows key that certain people dislike 🤣) are also extremely useful and save some precious time.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-01-11, 15:08:

Point still applies to dx11, dx10 wasn’t that great.

DX11 completely replaced DX10 for all intent and purposes. 😀

My dentist wanted to use his Core2Duo computers longer than XP, so I replaced the HDDs by 128 GB SSDs and reinstalled the software on a fresh 8.1 install.
I just used Classic Start Menu and some logon script.
No worries due to semi-annually upgrades.
Just added some RAM from 1 GB to 2 GB, later to 3 GB.
Skipped Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.0
Now: Skipping Windows 10. New hardware with Windows 11.

Server? From Windows Server 2003 R2 directly to Windows Server 2019. (Temporarily a Windows Server 2008 R2)

Windows 7/8.1 support from Steam will most likely end very soon, due to Chromium integration, which will end support in February.

The main thing I don't like about Windows 10 is the search system, which is frustrating to use compared to Windows 7/8.1. This is non-trival for me since I use Windows Search continuously.

Just use Everything.

I tried Everything a few years ago, and IIRC, it doesn't support file-contents search. I need the ability to type a string into the Start Menu (e.g. "Longhorn") and have the associated document ("Notes on Windows Vista.docx") immediately appear. I could do that in Windows 7/8.1, but not in 10.

(I get web links to local steakhouses though, which is nice I guess, but not what I'm looking for.)

ETA: No, reindexing and changing various settings changes nothing.

Errius wrote on 2023-01-11, 17:37:

I tried Everything a few years ago, and IIRC, it doesn't support file-contents search. I need the ability to type a string into the Start Menu (e.g. "Longhorn") and have the associated document ("Notes on Windows Vista.docx") immediately appear. I could do that in Windows 7/8.1, but not in 10.

(I get web links to local steakhouses though, which is nice I guess.)

Windows 10 support file-contents search. It works fine for me.

Perhaps you have corrupted indexes, or something else is going on. Also, make sure you have "Enhanced" search enable in the 'Find my Files' category under Home --> Settings --> Search --> Searching Windows. Otherwise, or in addition, you can use Control Panel to manually adjust Indexing options.

EDIT: Nevermind - I understand what you meant, now. You meant from the start menu - it works from Explorer, but not directly in the start menu.

Windows 8-11 are all the same, essentially. No need to worry.

They use the same foundation like Vista/7, which was a big re-write after XP.

Windows Vista/7 were kind of special in so far that they could still use XP drivers (WDMs and XPDM).

Even though support has ended, I'm keeping my Skylake i5 build on Windows 8.1. All I use that computer for at this point is disc ripping/burning and running certain Windows software. I just won't use it online often. I've moved onto Mac for a daily driver (it was the only system I could use other than Windows because I'm a content creator, and the photo/video editing software available for Linux just wasn't cutting it for me).

As for my secondary computer, which is running Windows 7, I'm keeping it that way at least until Firefox ends support. When that happens, I'll likely install Linux on it since it doesn't look like my dad can get me a Windows 10 LTSC license (which is ironic considering the company he works for is a Microsoft partner) anytime soon. Either that or replace it with my older Mac Mini from 2015 running Monterey (the last supported OS for it).

I'm also sticking with Windows 8.1 on my old laptop since all I use it for now is recording videos onto VHS tapes for getting that old school VHS look without going through the trouble of using artificial "VHS" filters that look unrealistic IMO. I haven't gone online on it it a while since I now use my iPad for that purpose when I'm not using my desktop computer.

I just can't stand GAC Windows 10. Every time I used it, I kept getting stopped in my tracks by unwarranted notifications and advertisements for Microsoft products that I don't want to use (e.g. Office, Edge, OneDrive, and Microsoft Accounts) and the workarounds I find online don't always get rid of them for some strange reason. I wish I could say Windows 11 is better, but unfortunately it's looking like it's not, so as a result I made the switch to Mac. I know it's not perfect, but at least it doesn't annoy the hell out of me like Windows 10 did.

I find this odd ...Windows 10 professional has never thrown adds at me, don't even have them in my start menu, Ive run Windows 10 for Workstations previously and same there. (Win8 and 11 also never had adds though 8 did have the stupid candy crush shit but its not hard to get rid of)

Must be just the Home version that does this, or perhaps its just a US thing where MS can get away with stupid adds . .not even sure why people buy the home version. (Home = non professional)

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2023-01-11, 16:59:

Windows 7/8.1 support from Steam will most likely end very soon, due to Chromium integration, which will end support in February.

Chromium integration into every thing is becoming a pain in the ass, I get why they use it but having long term support essentially being held hostage by the chromium team is terrible.

Then again Steam is just as much to blame .. I doubt it would be hard to have a legacy client that simply allows access to your current library and doesn't require Chromium.

Personally my experience with Win8/8.1 was mostly positive. While it does have this problem of being very desktop-unfriendly, that I kinda have to mimic touchscreen-like behaviors with a mouse sometimes, most of the OS' functionality remained in-line with its predecessor, Windows 7. Everything that worked with Win7 continued to work on Win8/8.1, and I eventually became familiarized with how things work there.

The only annoying issue with Win8/8.1 is that I have to unplug the PC from internet during the whole install process, or I'll have a very hard time looking for the option to create a local account. To me, the very idea of using Windows with a Microsoft account is a security disaster, despite its convenience, and this applies to future Windows versions as well.

Sadly Win8/Win8.1 never got any more popular. While it only went EOL recently, in practice, the system was declared EOL by some vendors a long time ago, namely AMD. From what I remember AMD pulled support for Win8/8.1 for their video cards at around 300 series.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-01-12, 01:40:

I find this odd ...Windows 10 professional has never thrown adds at me, don't even have them in my start menu, Ive run Windows 10 for Workstations previously and same there. (Win8 and 11 also never had adds though 8 did have the stupid candy crush shit but its not hard to get rid of)

Must be just the Home version that does this, or perhaps its just a US thing where MS can get away with stupid adds . .not even sure why people buy the home version. (Home = non professional)

I've been assuming it's an US thing, as an european I've only ever seen Edge periodically getting up your face if it's not the default browser which alone I find annoying enough. I'd been a Linux user for non-gaming for years now if W10 had been pushing ads to me at every turn.

LSS10999 wrote on 2023-01-12, 02:38:

Personally my experience with Win8/8.1 was mostly positive. While it does have this problem of being very desktop-unfriendly, that I kinda have to mimic touchscreen-like behaviors with a mouse sometimes, most of the OS' functionality remained in-line with its predecessor, Windows 7. Everything that worked with Win7 continued to work on Win8/8.1, and I eventually became familiarized with how things work there.

The only annoying issue with Win8/8.1 is that I have to unplug the PC from internet during the whole install process, or I'll have a very hard time looking for the option to create a local account. To me, the very idea of using Windows with a Microsoft account is a security disaster, despite its convenience, and this applies to future Windows versions as well.

Sadly Win8/Win8.1 never got any more popular. While it only went EOL recently, in practice, the system was declared EOL by some vendors a long time ago, namely AMD. From what I remember AMD pulled support for Win8/8.1 for their video cards at around 300 series.

Ironically, the Windows 8 Beta looked and behaved pretty much like Windows 7.
I remember I was testing it at the time, still have the ISO somewhere..

Microsoft kept the new UI a secret for the release, as far as I remember.
If they just hadn't presented it, at all! Windows 8 could have had been a success.

The most noticeable new feature in 8 was its software-rendered Aero Glass, which removed the need for the ugly "Aero" Basic design.
It even supported Aero's transparency, still.

The second improvement was native USB 3 support and support for HDDs with 4K sectors (4kn).
Taskmanager also got slightly revamped in 8.x and later releases.