I started using Windows 8 tonight.. I watched the "Getting Started with Windows 8" videos and I now know how to actually navigate, switch and close apps, get to the control panel, etc.. and honestly, this OS would be fine on a phone or a tablet. But on a full PC, this OS sucks balls compared to Windows 7. To see what apps are all open and to be able to right click and close those apps, you have to move the mouse to the top left corner of the screen and then move the mouse down the side in a kind of crappy emulated swiping gesture. This also applies to the right side "charms" menu. The "metro" tiles that everyone knows as Windows 8, is a menu of apps that can be modified to have different tiles, but it cannot be removed or even have the computer boot to the desktop. On a tablet this would be fine, but I'm currently not interested in accessing Window's app store, installing apps and other programs that want to harvest my data.. I simply want a powerful PC for work and gaming. Without a touchscreen for a PC, this operating system is horrible. The shittiest part is that all the settings, control panel, etc. that is the core of Windows 7 is there, but Windows 8 wants you to ignore the hardware and potential of the system and instead sign into your Microsoft account and keep up to date with your friends and tiles.
 
I'm currently doing all my windows updates and then I'll be upgrading it to Windows 8.1 which will allow me to boot to desktop and it'll have a start button with quick access to the control panel and all the other administrative options I actually used the start menu for. However, it still doesn't have an "all programs" list in the start menu, which means I'll have to use the search function to find my programs if I don't have shortcuts on the desktop for them.. and I will still have to turn on the "Metro" tiles, right click on a blank area and then click "all apps" to see the apps which are separate from normal programs.
 
Once I get these updates done, I'll try to change some settings around to see if I can get this computer running more to my liking.

Its the end of an era. Windows XP support will end soon. Anyone still running XP machines? I have 2 and Lady has an old laptop with XP also. Windows has a site about the end too:
 
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/xp/
 
I'm tempted to find a copy of Windows 7 and upgrade one of my old computers, but I don't think the hardware will support it well considering how old the system is. I have a decent firewall for it and I never use the Internet Explorer on it either. I figure I'll still use it for my old files and storage still but I might disconnect it off the internet sooner rather than later. It kind of sucks that XP won't get software updates anymore but at the same time this will finally give web developers an excuse to finally stop making their sites and products work on IE 8. I hate that browser with a passion. I have seen so many bugs with forum, cms, blogs, etc. software all because of compatibility fixes for IE8.