Showing posts with label Windows 8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Windows 8. Show all posts
"There is nothing wrong with your computer. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. ... We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour (if you're lucky!), sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awful and mysterious way Microsoft automatically updates Windows, which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits of your patience!"
Apologies to the classic Outer Limits TV series -- see the 1963 opening ►
I can tweak Windows 8 to be fairly unobtrusive. I can disable, and hide the Metro/Modern interface. I can run Windows versions of most of the opensource programs I use in Ubuntu Linux. And I do like how fast Windows 8 boots up, and shuts down, But one thing I don't like is the awful way Windows 8 handles automatic operating system updates -- the same as Windows 7, which was the same way updates were handled in Windows Vista: When you least expect it, instead of your laptop shutting off, it informs you that it is "Configuring Windows updates," and whatever you do, "Do not turn off your computer." Both Ubuntu Linux, and Apple's Mac OS X can perform system updates in the background while you -- the User -- are using your computer. Windows does not seem to be able to install system updates while the User is logged in. You can't actually turn this off, but you can turn it down a little.
Wherein I pine for Apple's Preview, and Quick Open, but console myself by installing Irfanview in Windows 8.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Well, I couldn't be any fonder of Apple's Preview application than I am right now, toying with Microsoft's "pieces o' eight" operating system. Preview is part of the Mac OS. Double clicking on PDFs, JPEGs, GIFs, TIFFs,, and 25 other image file types, automatically opens them in Preview. It's a cornerstone of the Macintosh User Interface. Users generally take it for granted -- until they don't have it anymore.
[caption id="attachment_3624" align="alignnone" width="497"]
A wallpaper to tide me over. It's rougher than I intended, and there's a typo. Click on the image to see the 1366 x 768 pixel image.[/caption]
I've put the Pavilion dv6000 in my storage locker, so I can "bond" with the Pavilion g6 -- same size, but half the weight, and twice the hardware specs of the dv6000. It doesn't feel twice as powerful, but it smoothly plays any HD video I can throw at it., and it's USB read/write is much faster. However, compared to the three or four earlier Pavilions I've played with, the g6 looks, and feels cheaper; the case actually creaks a bit. The real issue though, is Windows 8. Since my previous post on the same subject, I've done a few more things:
This is the doorstep Windows 8 drops you on when it finishes booting up. In principal it's supposed to be a dashboard the user can customize with live notifications, and stuff. By default, it's just an illustration of the Seattle Space Needle which is between you and the log-in screen. The function of both screens could be rolled into one, thus eliminating a step, but this would appear to go against Windows 8's "journey of a thousand steps" approach. The lock screen can be turned off several ways. I chose the easiest, a Registry hack, neatly packaged as two little apps -- one on, one off, courtesy of How-To-Geek.
Pinning is one of the ways Windows allows users to customize how they access the contents of their harddrive. The Taskbar is always visible along the bottom of the desktop, so I think it's a good place to "pin" frequently accessed applications, or directories, aka. folders. Apps can be pinned to the Taskbar from the right-click menu, but not folders. You have to make a shortcut, and in the right-click menu > Properties, add "explorer" at the beginning of the Target field. The instructions are here, scroll down to step 5. Under Properties I applied the basic User icon from the C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll directory.
Boot screen > Lock screen > Login screen > Start screen > desktop screen; Windows 8 opens the way the Control headquarters opened in the credits of the 1960s TV series Get Smart, except in Windows 8 it's not funny. I installed Classic Shell 3.6.8, a freeware package of Windows enhancements, which goes back to the Vista days. Among other things, Windows 8 users can restore a desktop Start menu, and disable the Start screen.
The g6 is a 64-bit computer, so I kicked plain-old Firefox to the curb to try Waterfox, the 64-bit variant of Firefox. It's supposed to be way faster -- it's certainly not slower. I'm considering installing the Windows version of Banshee, an opensource audio player, which was once the default audio player included in Ubuntu, but for Ubuntu 12.04 was replaced with RhythmBox, which I don't really like. Banshee, which I do like, is built partly using the Mono development framework, which implements components of Microsoft's .NET development framework, and is thus controversial within the opensource community. I assumed the point of Mono was so Banshee code would be easily cross-platform for both Linux and Windows, yet the Windows version of Banshee is an alpha preview, and two versions behind the Ubuntu version! I installed the portable Windows version of Audacious, which is a very lean music player I use in Ubuntu. I'm not planning to install iTunes.
A wallpaper to tide me over. It's rougher than I intended, and there's a typo. Click on the image to see the 1366 x 768 pixel image.[/caption]I've put the Pavilion dv6000 in my storage locker, so I can "bond" with the Pavilion g6 -- same size, but half the weight, and twice the hardware specs of the dv6000. It doesn't feel twice as powerful, but it smoothly plays any HD video I can throw at it., and it's USB read/write is much faster. However, compared to the three or four earlier Pavilions I've played with, the g6 looks, and feels cheaper; the case actually creaks a bit. The real issue though, is Windows 8. Since my previous post on the same subject, I've done a few more things:
Turned off the lock screen
This is the doorstep Windows 8 drops you on when it finishes booting up. In principal it's supposed to be a dashboard the user can customize with live notifications, and stuff. By default, it's just an illustration of the Seattle Space Needle which is between you and the log-in screen. The function of both screens could be rolled into one, thus eliminating a step, but this would appear to go against Windows 8's "journey of a thousand steps" approach. The lock screen can be turned off several ways. I chose the easiest, a Registry hack, neatly packaged as two little apps -- one on, one off, courtesy of How-To-Geek.
Pinned a folder on the Taskbar
Pinning is one of the ways Windows allows users to customize how they access the contents of their harddrive. The Taskbar is always visible along the bottom of the desktop, so I think it's a good place to "pin" frequently accessed applications, or directories, aka. folders. Apps can be pinned to the Taskbar from the right-click menu, but not folders. You have to make a shortcut, and in the right-click menu > Properties, add "explorer" at the beginning of the Target field. The instructions are here, scroll down to step 5. Under Properties I applied the basic User icon from the C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll directory.
Turned off the Start screen
Boot screen > Lock screen > Login screen > Start screen > desktop screen; Windows 8 opens the way the Control headquarters opened in the credits of the 1960s TV series Get Smart, except in Windows 8 it's not funny. I installed Classic Shell 3.6.8, a freeware package of Windows enhancements, which goes back to the Vista days. Among other things, Windows 8 users can restore a desktop Start menu, and disable the Start screen.
Installed more software
The g6 is a 64-bit computer, so I kicked plain-old Firefox to the curb to try Waterfox, the 64-bit variant of Firefox. It's supposed to be way faster -- it's certainly not slower. I'm considering installing the Windows version of Banshee, an opensource audio player, which was once the default audio player included in Ubuntu, but for Ubuntu 12.04 was replaced with RhythmBox, which I don't really like. Banshee, which I do like, is built partly using the Mono development framework, which implements components of Microsoft's .NET development framework, and is thus controversial within the opensource community. I assumed the point of Mono was so Banshee code would be easily cross-platform for both Linux and Windows, yet the Windows version of Banshee is an alpha preview, and two versions behind the Ubuntu version! I installed the portable Windows version of Audacious, which is a very lean music player I use in Ubuntu. I'm not planning to install iTunes.
Installing Ubuntu Linux on the HP Pavilion g6, which happily fell into my lap, will have to wait. Not because of UEFI, or Secure Boot, but because the wireless card -- the Ralink RT3290 802.11bgn Wi-Fi Adapter -- is too new for Ubuntu -- versions 12.04, and 12.10 couldn't see it at all, while Ubuntu 13.04 saw the card, and Wi-Fi networks, but couldn't connect to anything. Sadly, being able to simply download and install a Linux driver for the Ralink RT3290 is not an option, so far as I can see -- just not Linux-y enough.
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I'd already seen the Windows 8 icon on the bottom of the laptop, but seeing the Metro Start screen was still a shock.[/caption]
The woman said it didn't work -- the HP Pavilion G6 pictured above -- that it was only good for parts. The yellow-tipped AC adapter was what caught my eye -- it looked right for the HP tank top. I told the woman if I did get it working, I'd wipe it clean, that I didn't care about her files, that I ran a different operating system. She had pretty, light hazel eyes that did "deer in headlight" beautifully. He boyfriend came out, having heard the salient points, and declared she didn't have anything on the laptop worth worrying about.
I'd already seen the Windows 8 icon on the bottom of the laptop, but seeing the Metro Start screen was still a shock.[/caption]The woman said it didn't work -- the HP Pavilion G6 pictured above -- that it was only good for parts. The yellow-tipped AC adapter was what caught my eye -- it looked right for the HP tank top. I told the woman if I did get it working, I'd wipe it clean, that I didn't care about her files, that I ran a different operating system. She had pretty, light hazel eyes that did "deer in headlight" beautifully. He boyfriend came out, having heard the salient points, and declared she didn't have anything on the laptop worth worrying about.
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