Windows 8 question

[ah1g]

I am running XP sp3 right now but with 8 being so low in cost I am looking into it. It states that when upgrading from XP the only thing that will be kept is personal files. Does this mean I will have to reinstall all my software, if it is even compatible?

[Noland]

Re: Windows 8 question

I am running XP sp3 right now but with 8 being so low in cost I am looking into it. It states that when upgrading from XP the only thing that will be kept is personal files. Does this mean I will have to reinstall all my software, if it is even compatible?

Yes. Any programs that you have will need to be reinstalled since you are moving from XP.

Try it out, if you haven't already, before you switch. Many people, including me, do not like it. There are also many that do, of course. Different strokes and all.

[Herr Walther]

Re: Windows 8 question

I don't really have an opinion one way or another on Win 8. I don't find the Metro sceen useful. Anytime you select anything from the Metro screen it automatically opens the desktop just before running whatever you selected from the Metro screen.

It might be great if you have a touchscreen, but those are not in widespread use yet. It was designed mostly for mobile applications since virtually all smartphones use a touchscreen for navigation.

My preview copy expires on 13FEB13 and I will have a new laptop by then with Win7 installed. I'll probably use it like I did XP Pro for more than a decade until it's not supported any longer.

I have never had a computer with Win7 installed. I went from XP right to Win8.

The laptop I currently have Win 8 installed on had a corrupt copy of Vista with no recovery CD or partition. I bought it for $20. Best $20 I've ever spent.

[Noland]

Re: Windows 8 question

HW, if that laptop has a sticker on it (or under the battery) with the Vista product key, then I can give you a DVD to use to reinstall it so you can keep using it past February without having to pay for an OS.

[Herr Walther]

Re: Windows 8 question

The product key sticker is still on the bottom, but it's not in the best of shape. I can't turn it over right now as I'm using it at this moment.

I'll PM you my address. Let me know what postage is. I'll send the disc back when finished.

I'd planned on buying a new laptop in Febuary even if I had not had to buy an upgrade to a consumer copy of Win8. If I can succesfully load up Vista on this machine I'm probably going to donate it to a Veterans organization that distributes used laptops to Veterans that cannot afford one.

[ah1g]

Re: Windows 8 question

Okay I would have to reinstall everything. How much backward compatible is it? I have a lot of older programs that I do not want to lose because it is incompatible. Mostly it is audiovideo/photo editing software but there is a lot of smaller less known programs.

[Noland]

Re: Windows 8 question

Okay I would have to reinstall everything. How much backward compatible is it? I have a lot of older programs that I do not want to lose because it is incompatible. Mostly it is audiovideo/photo editing software but there is a lot of smaller less known programs.

I want to say that they will probably work because Windows is usually good about supporting legacy stuff, but I just don't know. Sorry

Maybe someone else will chime in.

[Herr Walther]

Re: Windows 8 question

When you install the programs you have the option of running it as a XP, Vista, or Win7 program. Right click on the program icon and click on properties. It should give you the choices of which software.

[ah1g]

Re: Windows 8 question

okay. Thanks.

[Led]

Re: Windows 8 question

No.......they are not good at preserving "legacy" programs......

If you are graduating from XP, to ANYTHING else Microsoft offers, you WILL be doing a "ground up" rebuild of everything you have ever known and loved.

I "rebuilt" on first "Vista", and now Windows 7, and it has been the BEST thing I have done! Yes, there was a "Texas Hold Em" game that 7 would not allow me to install.......but I got over it.........

I am passing on Windows 8, as it does seem geared more towards "mobile" units, of which I do not have..........

[Bagboy]

Re: Windows 8 question

Same ole-same ole ever since DOS.

More problematic today trying to transfer apps. The data that any app has created will always be easy to copy & transfer, but apps are different. Apps are too infused into the registry when installed.

MS would need develope a way that you could incorporate some way of transfering a good portion of the old registry, that all your apps reside, without hosing the initial OS and it's registry to pieces.

[Herr Walther]

Re: Windows 8 question

We used to call them 'programs'.