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OverlayHunter
10-26-2014, 04:13 AM
I've got Windows 8 on my laptop. For over a year, maybe once a month or so, I'd get a pop-up nag screen suggesting an update to 8.1. It was easy to essentially say "No".

Starting about 4 or 5 days ago, the choices (that can I find) have gotten increasingly more aggressive. "No" was no longer offered as a choice, only varying lengths of time ranging from a few days down to an hour.

Yesterday, the longest choice was about day (if I remember correctly) and just a few minutes ago, my longest choice was 4 hours.

Is there anyway to avoid what appears to be Microsoft's requiring that Windows 8.1 be installed?

OverlayHunter
10-26-2014, 04:23 AM
Via Google I found http://www.askvg.com/how-to-disable-update-to-windows-8-1-for-free-notification-in-windows-8-store/ and have used the gpedit.msc option. I'll report whether or not it is successful. In the mean time, if anyone has any other ideas or insights, please share them.

OverlayHunter
10-26-2014, 06:39 AM
I turned off my computer about 5:00 AM and just restarted it, about 90 minutes later. Upon starting, it began installing 8.1 - well before the 4 hour choice I had earlier made. Then, about 75% into the 8.1 installation, an odd thing happened, it showed a message that the previous Windows version was being restored and, after that, provided a message (without an explanation as to why) that it couldn't install 8.1. I'm guessing it was the change I made via the Group Policy Editor but I can't say that with certainty. Perhaps time will tell.

Longshot6977
10-26-2014, 03:01 PM
Is it a legitimate version of MS Win 8 or a downloaded/copied counterfeit? Makes a difference since MS may see it as non-genuine copy and not allow the upgrade and applies nag screens. Just my 2 cents and guess, but could be wrong.

OverlayHunter
10-26-2014, 03:59 PM
It's a legit copy. It was pre-installed on my laptop at the time of purchase. At this point I choose to believe it was my proactive change to the GPE.

The bottom line is, I didn't want 8.1, Microsoft tried to force it on me, and for whatever reason I've so far avoided it.

reckless
10-29-2014, 04:57 PM
A few months ago I posted on PA worrying about Microsoft ending support for Windows XP, an operating system that I loved, was used to, and never had a single problem.

Truthfully, it bummed me out and being a level or two above a luddite, I hated the fact that I needed to learn a new system, regardless of the promised simplicity.

Well, soon after that post I had three great weeks at Saratoga, so one day I walked into a store, peeled off five bills and bought a HP TouchSmart laptop, with Win 8.1 op sys, 6 mg RAM and 500 MG of hard disk space, plus other bells and whistles.

For both price and 'value', I figured I did well. I still do, in a way, except, today, months later, I also feel like a total schmuck.

Please note that I have no problem whatsoever with the computer itself; none at all.

But, HP and Microsoft have loaded up this machine with bloatware, spyware, cookies, pop-ups and every money grabbing stunt imaginable. I fired up the machine one night for my wife to play FreeCell Solitaire and the first three programs I tapped for her to play were all pay and subscription programs with the constant pop-ups to sign up and get a week of playing, free. For chrissakes, she plays simple card games, not Steam or some of these other sophisticated air battles against 16 year olds in Finland !

I did find her some 'free' games but she said they were not as nice as the older games she played these past 5-6 years on XP.

Also, I am now getting two clouded pop ups at startup: one is to 'renew' my Microsoft log-in account (huh?), and one other asks me to give them my cell phone number 'for my protection' just in case someone steals my username and password for my Hotmail/Outlook mail account (even more huh?). All this for my own protection, they say. Of course, of course. :lol: :lol:

Again, I repeat, I feel like a schmuck because I am now fooling around with some Linux based distros (operating systems) for my old XP machine. So far, so good. If I knew what was out there in Linux world, I would never have bought a new machine, good price notwithstanding.

Sorry for venting. I know this post isn't exactly on topic, so please forgive.

Dave Schwartz
10-29-2014, 06:23 PM
Overlay,

Actually, you DO want 8.1. It is more stable than 8.0 and apparently they plugged some security issues (a story we hear again and again).

The fact that you want your desktop back can be remedied in other ways.

There is just no logical reason to not plunge ahead with 8.1 - that I am aware of.

whodoyoulike
10-29-2014, 06:43 PM
... Again, I repeat, I feel like a schmuck because I am now fooling around with some Linux based distros (operating systems) for my old XP machine. So far, so good. If I knew what was out there in Linux world, I would never have bought a new machine, good price notwithstanding.

Sorry for venting. I know this post isn't exactly on topic, so please forgive.

I pretty much have the same feelings. I also like my XP. How do you find Linux OS? What do you need to do to load it? What happens to the MS OS? I use my new machine less than the XP. And, learning Excel 2013 is taking me longer than I anticipated, there are no manuals for anything. I did buy an Excel book which is about 4" thick. If you switch to Linux, will you still be able to run all of the existing programs which ran under XP, i.e., MS office, windows media player etc.?

Thanks.

PaceAdvantage
10-29-2014, 08:36 PM
I don't think I've experienced any of the problems written here with my two Windows 8.1 touchscreens (one from Samsung, which is a number of years old now), and the other the Dell Venue Pro. The good thing about both these devices is that they didn't come with a lot of bloatware installed.

Windows 8.1 works wonderfully on touch devices...still using 7 on my desktop though...

headhawg
10-29-2014, 10:59 PM
But, HP and Microsoft have loaded up this machine with bloatware, spyware, cookies, pop-ups and every money grabbing stunt imaginable. Bloatware, yes, but I doubt that you have spyware installed on a factory-fresh machine. Anyway, try bloatware removal (http://www.decrap.org/). I know that it's chic to be a Microsoft hater...fine. But they didn't put this stuff on your machine. Blame HP.

whodoyoulike,

Linux will not run Microsoft applications without using something like WINE.

GameTheory
10-29-2014, 11:40 PM
Ya know...XP still works. "Ending support" really doesn't mean all that much. It even still gets security updates, I'm not really sure if it means anything at all to the average user other than they can expect newer software to not necessarily work on it. But it isn't like it is suddenly broken...you can use it just like always. I am still running several virtual XPs for various purposes, they work fine.

reckless
10-30-2014, 07:43 AM
I pretty much have the same feelings. I also like my XP. How do you find Linux OS?
There are plenty of ways to find a Linux distro. The easiest is to go online and google 'linux' or better yet type 'Linux for Win XP/Vista/Windows 7 users', or 'Dump Windows for Linux', questions like that. A more direct link is www.distrowatch.com.

Another option, if you're willing to pay between $15-20 is to go to a large book store with a magazine section and look for current issues of the Linux User or Linux Format magazines. There may be more titles available provided you live in a relatively larger city or one near a college. Be careful, though, because there are many programming type and high-tech type mags that aren't really for common folk users such as ourselves.

I suggest the magazine route because these Linux mags always have a 'free' DVD/CD attached that has Linux programs. Right this second, I am looking at a DVD taken from a current Linux mag I bought and it has nine distros! Some distros will install and work easier for older 32-bit computers and some distros are for those newer 64-bit machines. To me, this could be the best option to try Linux for most people, although the magazines are pricey.

What do you need to do to load it?

This is what makes Linux very appealing to people with relatively older and slower computers. You can download distros (programs) of your choosing (and there will be literally 100s of different distros, all with a slight twist. It could get confusing, understand that, but there are enough offerings to fit your needs to your computer requirements and to your skills. Most distros today have the look and feel and ease of use as what is provided by Microsoft and Apple.

Back to your question: the smaller size of the Linux distros is a major plus in the practicality and appeal of Linux. Many of the larger distros are less than 3-4 mb in size; most are much, much less than that, and a few are real tiny. Yet all of them, even the tiniest, pack much punch.

You can download a distro just like you download anything today, an e-book, music, handicapping software--no different. If your computer is 'old' with a slower processor or a slower internet connection, it could take awhile in download time but you could still get there. If you have any broadband or high-speed access, it takes just a couple of minutes. Again, the larger distros are still very small in size compared to Microsoft.

I use USB drives, aka pen-drives or flash drives. You can buy them at any computer or electronics store, and sometimes I have found them at places like Wal-Mart and neighborhood drug stores like Rite Aid. They are just about everywhere now. I bought a 32 gb USB drive for about $23 dollars at an Office Max. You can download 100s of distros and not fill up that USB drive. I saw a 16 gb USB drive at Wal-Mart yesterday for $13. The 16 gb size is also way too large for most needs. The only thing I suggest about size is to not buy a 2 gb drive. You want more size than that just so you can try some of the larger, more popular Linux distros.

What happens to the MS OS? I use my new machine less than the XP. And, learning Excel 2013 is taking me longer than I anticipated, there are no manuals for anything. I did buy an Excel book which is about 4" thick. If you switch to Linux, will you still be able to run all of the existing programs which ran under XP, i.e., MS office, windows media player etc.? Thanks.

You could do a number of things. (1)-You could run your Linux distro solely off the USB drive. If you download the distro from the Internet and burn the program to a DVD/CD instead of a USB drive, you are then able to run the distro off the DVD/CD drive as well as the USB drive. By running off of the removable HD drives, you leave MS/Windows as is. You could try the distros to your hearts content and have no reason to ever install it to your computer. (2)-You could install the distro to your machine's hard drive. If this is a better option because of your computer being older with limited hardware resources, then you'll find that most of these user-friendlier distros will install quite easily, often just click OK. No really. Some are that simple. If your computer has a large enough hard disk, you could partition part of that HD for Linux. Again, even the most current and largest Linux distro is about 3-4 gb, that's it. Many are less than 2 gb. If you're adventuresome, the install makes it possible to wipe the HD clean, but if you're not, you could still run both MS and linux in a duel-boot environment.

As was mentioned earlier in this thread, a Linux user has available all the programs we may have in Windows: there's Libre-Office for a complete productivity suite: word processor, data base and spreadsheet, just like MS Office. A similar, more popular alternative is Open Office. Main stream, popular third-party software programs such as audio-video players, document readers, games, on most computers today, all have Linux based counterparts. Most of the distros include a total package of programs; some lighter versions have less, obviously, but included in the distros is a Software Center where one can download other programs not included in the particular distro.

Plus, You Tube has countless amount of videos on all this, and much more. Good luck. I hope this helped a little.

whodoyoulike
10-30-2014, 04:58 PM
... As was mentioned earlier in this thread, a Linux user has available all the programs we may have in Windows: there's Libre-Office for a complete productivity suite: word processor, data base and spreadsheet, just like MS Office. A similar, more popular alternative is Open Office. Main stream, popular third-party software programs such as audio-video players, document readers, games, on most computers today, all have Linux based counterparts. Most of the distros include a total package of programs; some lighter versions have less, obviously, but included in the distros is a Software Center where one can download other programs not included in the particular distro.

Plus, You Tube has countless amount of videos on all this, and much more. Good luck. I hope this helped a little.

Thank you, I appreciate the time and effort in your reply. I've investigated LibreOffice but, it won't run VBA macros from MS Excel. And, I don't have the time or remember how to re-create them in BASIC which is used by Libre. Although, the formulas seem to convert okay. Also, another problem I had with Libre was the lack of a book to read but, I never looked for one on the internet.

Again, thanks.

OverlayHunter
10-30-2014, 09:01 PM
There is just no logical reason to not plunge ahead with 8.1 - that I am aware of.

Dave, I appreciate your input and easily concede that you are far more knowledgeable than I on these issues. However, I've learned from the school of hard knocks that program updates and OS updates sometimes have real negative consequences. I've had very little in the way stability problems with 8.0.

I've heard that once you go to 8.1 it can't be undone and right now things are working okay (though I also concede I don't know how much better 8.1 may be security-wise). So, for example, I know that a number of people on this site have had trouble with BRIS' PP generator and 8.1. I find that program very handy for a variety of purposes and would hate to lose it. I have maybe 2 or 3 dozen programs I rely on a lot and the thought of one or more of them becoming unusable sends a chill up my spine (I've had some serious losses in the past from program upgrades - thank you very much Microsoft and some other vendors).

If I determine that the security issues rise to the level of being very or extremely serious I would have to re-think my current logic. If anyone has anything helpful to say on this issue, I'd appreciate the additional comments.

Dave Schwartz
10-30-2014, 09:23 PM
Overlay,

My feelings are not hurt.

I'd say that Ralphie is one of the best guys to listen to, so whatever he says is probably right.

Generally, the issue with older DOS programs is (ultimately) traceable to either a 64-bit OS, needing to run in compatibility mode or need to run "elevated." I do not believe that any of that has changed from 8.0 to 8.1.

BTW, I know I have preached this before but Stardock's Start8 (http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/) is the best $4.95 you will ever spend to get Win8.x back to a usable interface.

Good luck.

Dave

Red Knave
10-30-2014, 09:24 PM
Also, another problem I had with Libre was the lack of a book to read but, I never looked for one on the internet.
PMFJI but here is one source of 'books' --> http://www.lulu.com/shop/see-more-from-shelf.ep?name=moreFromAuthor&productId=4074150

JustRalph
10-30-2014, 10:37 PM
If it ain't broke, don't fix it