wow thanks, but what happens to the metro UI? Will it be accessible somehow? Because it might be ugly yet useful sometimes!
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This. I've been using for months. Best solution so far, free alternatives suck hard.
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okay, that's great, last question. Is it possible to delete this thing afterwards or it requires re-installing windows.(The thing is that I bought my PC from HP with pre-installed Win 8 and I have no idea where to access my product key and therefore reinstall windows, which is weird)
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since you bought it from a big corporation like hp, the "windows genuine key" or something like that should be on the tower somewhere, maybe in the back or on the top... that's where they usually put them but I haven't had a prebuilt computer for 15+ years. if its not there it might be on a sticker on the back of the manual that came with it.
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I've contacted their chat support and they told me that my product key was installed on the motherboard and the Windows will activate on its own every time I connect to the internet. I bet that self-made computer can't do that! Nor it can have fancy Beats audio support. That's and the price(definitely not any higher than self-made, but without windows and beats) made me buy prebuilt computer.
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I wouldn't want my computer to transmit information without my knowledge, so you're welcome to that feature. Besides, my Windows install media doesn't require me to enter a product key, so that's hardly a plus in my book.
And Beats? Really? Is this a serious thing we're talking about? Have you read up on what Beats audio actually does? Its benefit is questionable at best. I'll keep full control over how my audio sounds, thanks.
Lastly, HPs are cheap because they're cheaply made. It may work well and for a long time and I truly hope it does--if you're happy with it then I'm happy for you--but I'd rather spend a little extra for the quality and flexibility I get from a machine I built myself. For my money there's no substitute.
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First, it doesn't transmit anything unless I allow it to do so, because this is how the OS works. If you are not using your own OS, it has the same features.
Then Beats are not questionable, since I listen to music a lot and I've got good audio system. I've got my audio on an external hard drive and I've noticed a change in the sound from the very beginning. Furthermore, my HTC smartphone has Beats too and it also gets the job done.
And please define "cheaply made". My computer might have an HP logo on it but its insides are manufactured by Intel(i7 CPU @ 3.4), Gigabyte (Nvidia 660) and so on. These are not any different from what you buy yourself in a shop.
And yeah, calculate the value a computer in a case, with windows (which is at least 70 euro extra), i7 CPU @ 3.4, Nvidia 660, 8gb RAM, 1TB Drive, DVD drive and fancy sound card. Unless you select the cheapest motherboard(which is not my case), I doubt you can stay below 900 euro.
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So it doesn't quite "activate on its own every time I connect to the internet". Gotcha.
The benefit of Beats is questionable, because it applies EQ settings to music so that it sounds like Dr. Dre thinks it should sound. That's great if all you want is bass and vocals, but my midtones are very important to me (and no shit it'll sound different than what you had previously, as would any change). Also? It boils down to a fucking EQ filter because the hardware "features" it claims don't necessarily have any effect on audio quality, especially compared to USB audio or a discrete sound card or even halfway decent onboard audio. People buy Beats for the same reason they buy Apple or Monster Cable.
Great hardware, especially the "and so on" part. But who made the motherboard? What chipset? How many PCIe/PCI/USB/etc. does it have? How many RAM slots? How many are free? What brand is the RAM? Speed? Is it overclockable? What's the BIOS like? How about the PSU? Brand? Is it proprietary? What's the wattage per rail? Is it modular (lol)?
Those are the kinds of questions that matter to me as someone who insists on getting his money's worth. They may be inconsequential to someone like you--and that's fine--but don't claim that a stock HP is superior to a custom-built rig as though you've actually done a fair and honest comparison.
At any rate, I priced out those parts--i7-3770, 8GB, 1TB, case, PSU--and it came to about 575 Euro ($759 USD). With that much left you could throw in a standalone sound card, and I'd also double the RAM and replace the spinner with a 256GB+ SSD. Tweak that config to your heart's content, but as stated it comes to 862 Euro ($1138 USD).
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Okay, you were talking about those fancy specifications. Although I am not a 13 years old girl I am not really keen on knowing everything about them , so you better take a look yourself at the PC. http://tinyurl.com/n6evrwb (this leads to hp's official website which has really big link). You can do the math again I guess
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Please don't make fun of 13 year old girls, my niece chose her own computer parts since she was 13, she's 15 now...I've been putting together custom built rigs since I was 15 as well, and I do care about all those fancy specifications. So yeah, STFU...you wish you were a 13 year old girl.
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Yeah, those "fancy specifications" that tell you about the hardware you own and what it's capable of. The brand names that determine the quality of construction and reliability. I'm not sure what else you could have thought I meant when referring to the quality of HP.
Of course, I didn't actually need to see the machine you're talking about; half the questions I asked I already knew the answers to and the other half I didn't care about. Spoiler: it's a consumer HP machine. It's cheap by definition.
I'm genuinely happy that you're content with this PC, but do know that you paid more for it than you would have for higher quality parts in a custom build. Please remember that next time you feel like talking about custom builds as though they're some lower form of PC.
Correction: I forgot to include OS and wifi in the above prices. Even so, you'd still get better parts, higher specs, and lower price, so the point stands.
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Excuse me sir, but I want to accuse you of being a hypocrite. Instead of recalculating the value with motherboard I provided to you in the link you just said that you "don't care" and it's "still cheap". That looks like you're just afraid of admitting that buying a prebuilt PC might not be superior, but at least a solid alternative to building your own from components.
And my previous computer was self-built. While I was content with it too, I just couldn't get specs this high(HP) for 900 euro, at least with our component prices in Estonia.
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So because I didn't need to know specifically which ODM provided the motherboard for your specific machine (in this case it's Pegatron, the proud recipients of a class action lawsuit alleging "inherently defective" products) because HP (and all OEMs) rely on outsourced third tier--and generally lower quality--components as compared to the enthusiast-grade parts I regularly price out, that makes me a hypocrite?
I'm not sure you understand what that word means.
I will, however, grant you that prices in your locale may vary and your HP may have actually been cheaper than the parts I priced out would have been (and which my direct US-to-Euro conversion would not have taken into account), but I honestly just don't care enough to do a in-depth cost analysis to explore the extent to which that may be true.
Once again, however, the point remains: you got an inferior machine to one you could have built at a similar price point. I'd expect that to be the case regardless of your location, though I would be happy to concede if you provide a itemized parts list from a local vendor that I can cross-reference.
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please dont post when you got nothing to say....
at least one FREE solution works as it should be, is stable and exactly what he needs.
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It's too ugly in my opinion. And it looks much like windows vista. my $0.02 though.
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bla bla bla...its the same as your suggestion, same style, same look, just FREE
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I have been using this on Windows 7 also to bring back some of the functionality they removed. Great software, and free to boot.
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Pretty sure Microsoft will bring it back in a patch or SP or something like that
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I've heard that they wiped out everything concerning start menu from the code.
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It brings back the start button. There is no good reason to go back to the start menu.
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Let's see. Jumplists, recently used list, cascaded menus, filling up all the screen so one has to move the mouse lightyears to reach stuff? No reason, right..
Is there any reason to USE the start screen besides MS trying to push it down my throat, and trying to sell the whole desktop OS as an advertisement for WP8?
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Ah...you're one of those mouse users. You got a keyboard...use it. Quite strange actually you complain about mouse movements as in the old start menu you have to the mouse a lot more than in the new one. But you most likely haven't even tried it fully.
And the menu is customizable. You can do anything you want with it. So you won't even have to move your precious mouse far to open stuff.
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Why would I use the keyboard to start applications when I can use my mouse? It's not 1994 anymore!
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Are you aware how long does it take to move the hand from the mouse to the keyboard and back? Do you know what does "train of thought" mean, and do you realize why does changing input device break it? By that logic, the whole start.. thing.. can be a command prompt as well.
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No, it just brings back the Start button. What opens that retarded Start screen ("metro menu").
I personally use StartIsBack. Not free, it's 3 USD for 2 licenses or 5 USD / 5. Basically the only I found that actually works, does not miss any Win7 feature unlike ClassicShell (where are the - working - jumplists??), not a bloatware like Pokki (app store in a start menu??). Also the beta version for Win 8.1 actually uses LESS resources than the factory start button.
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The safest way to bring Start button back is to get over yourself and use Start Screen to its fullest.
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Yest, that happens a lot with some people. If your mind hasn't been blown so easily, you'd realize that installing any third party software is a potential risk.
Most people use Start menu for one purpose only, to access their installed applications. And Start Screen does that a lot better with much more space for all your favourite and often used programs and the ability to search right on the screen.
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Risk? That's your argument against a third party Start menu? Again: wow.
And no, there isn't "much more space" on the Start screen. It's a tile-based touch UI, which necessarily means that any apps available on that screen take up more real estate than they would on a text-based list such as the Start menu. Not only that, but even the icon-based layout of the desktop offers more efficient use of space if you want to use it for that purpose.
Look, for a tablet UI it's great. I don't know anyone who would dispute that. And it works for traditional computers. But to say it's better than the Start menu is not only highly subjective but next to impossible to quantify. You can claim it's a more efficient use of space, but opinion and wishful thinking do not equate to fact.
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He was asking for a safe way to bring back Start menu. The safest way is to not bring it back.
Start menu has a list of the programs you use most often. This list is limited. Start Screen is able to have more staff on one screen than Start menu's list.
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Start menu actually has all your applications neatly organized, instead of the start screen mess that takes pages after pages after pages of large ugly unorganized tiles to do the same job.
Install a dozen applications and the start page is already a cluttered mess, now try to do some real work and install over a hundred pieces of software. It's a sure way to not find anything again.
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If you right click on Start Screen, a bar will appear at the bottom of it. On the right side of that bar there will be a button to show you all your installed applications.
As for "pages after pages of large ugly unorganized tiles" you can actually arrange them to your liking and remove the ones you don't need.
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So, basically, the start screen serves the same purpose as adding icons to your desktop, except every single icon gets automatically added and it's up to you to remove them, and the list of applications is one more step away from you. No thanks, I prefer the self-organising simplicity of the Start menu. Heck, even Windows 3.1 back in the early 90's had better a better organized layout.
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Tiles don't get added if you tick create desktop shortcut option off during the installation. Just like on any other Windows.
List of all installed programs is to clicks away. The same as in any Windows with Start menu.
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Okay, we can do baby steps if that's what's required. I'll break it down for you. If someone asks what the best way to do something is, the answer is not "don't do it". The answer is some method of doing the thing asked about. That's an inherent requirement of the question posed. And for the record, Stardock's Start8 and Classic Shell are perfectly safe. Don't be an ass and try to confuse the issue.
Second, no. The Start menu is in fact a list of every program on your computer, not just the ones you use most frequently. It's that All Programs item down the bottom that you apparently overlooked. It can list much more than that, but I'll assume that's also a surprise to you.
So. Let's play a game. I call it "how many apps can you launch from a 150k square pixel area?" My Start menu gets twenty-seven in a 250x600 pixel region--and easy access to my recent items for each--all without having to take my eyes off what I'm already working on. You talk about efficient use of space, so I'm curious how efficient yours is given that you've got more experience with Windows 8 than I do.
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If someone asks me how to cross a road safely without using a subway, I'd tell them to use a subway.
Risk of installing third party software goes beyond malicious programs. Mostly I was talking about compatibility issues that could arise.
Strangely enough Start Screen is also a list of all installed applications, not just tangled mess tiles (aka shortcuts).
I'd prefer to play a game of "how many apps can you launch from a single OS component". Because your game is inherently biased.
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Ok, but I seriously don't have any need for the start menu since I started using Win8...
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I thought M$ did a U-Turn on that and were officially patching the start button back in as part of a system update?
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How can they bring back one without the other, when the entire job of the start button was to bring up the start menu ?
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It's a compromise really. The old menu won't come back for good reasons. It had to get replaced by something that is easier to use and more customizable. Stuff evolves, so this had to happen. Not long from now people will finally realize it when they understand.
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Good reasons, hmm? I don't find the Start screen easier to user or more customizable, so those "reasons" would appear highly subjective. Plus, it obscures the desktop, which is where a lot of additional customization occurs, further obfuscating another functional layer of the UI.
It does less and takes up more space. Overall, not a great step in the evolution of desktop/mouse-driven UIs. Pretty slick for tablets, though.
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Comments like that prove that you didn't give it a fair try and actually tried to understand how it works. But what else to expect from a thread like that, of course this type of person had to show up. How good the topic was basically solved already.
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You do realize that on Start Screen you can do everything you did on Desktop and in Start Menu and then some, don't you?
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And then some
and even more; and more than has been mentioned.
John is going to have to run like a deer and then some to win this race. The cook put the amount of salt called for into the soup and then some.
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I was actually asking you to enumerate your particular list of more than has been mentioned, but you're so right that my comment could easily have been mistaken for a request for the meaning of the phrase in question.. I'm glad that we can now move past this linguistic confusion and continue in our fact-based rational discourse.
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Start8 by Stardock if you really need to be stuck in the past with something that is outdated.
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Windows 8 is awesome... I understand in a certain point the start menu is useful however when you use a hot key it helps out a lot. For an example pressing and holding the windows key + c would bring the charm menu. I think the search is very useful and well organized. Another hot I would use is window key + d for straight to desktop. For the programs I use the most I have a short cut in the desktop. I also use shutdown 8 (free) and its just a button allows you to one click shutdown.
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Thank you for pointing out the win+d hot! Sometimes I got lost in the metro UI and couldn't made my way back to desktop. What I really don't like is viewing photos and listening to music in the Metro apps. It's fine for a tablet but for a desktop it's just stupid
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So uninstall those apps. Don't use them. The new menu is customizable so you can just arrange stuff the way you like it. Give it a try and you'll realize it's even better then the old start menu.
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Why would you want the "old" messed up start menu? The new one is much more "clean" ...
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Until this very moment I was using windows xp and was fully content with it. The only thing that made me move on was DirectX 11
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I still have windows 95 installed, not something I use on a daily basis but I do still use it every now and then... If I had drivers for all my hardware that were fully windows 95 compatible I would use it more often.
For that matter I still have windows 98, xp, and 7 as well. ME and Vista have been ditched due to being rubbish.
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well yeah, you've got a point there. And the first game I installed to my new PC was.. yeah, Battlefield 3 :D
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Right click and simply click "unpin from start" or "uninstall" :)
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that's what I thought but Win 8 is really smoother and nicer than Win 7
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Oh my god please compress your images! Jeez. That and using imageshack.us (one of the slowest services ever) is a REALLY bad combination dude. xD
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tinypic
imgur
Maybe it's because imageshack is US based...but either way compressing would be a good idea xD
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Yeah, it looks nice if you hardly got anything installed like you do. Try installing hundreds of applications and trying to find them on that cluttered mess of a start screen.
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OK, please tell me what's the first letter of that app, you know, that I installed 6 months ago and need now. Don't remember what it's called but hey... you seem to know everything. Or I could just open my start menu and have a quick glance at the folders to find in a a couple of seconds.
Plus, if I wanted to type the name of my apps to find them, I would have stayed with MS-DOS.
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Erm wait for a few months, windows 8.1 which is a huge but free upcoming update for Windows 8 users will come with a start button, for free
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For the millionth time: Start button != start menu
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Sorry, kinda read too quickly, was missing the start menu for a few months, then started thinking that the metro ui is the "start menu" and now, i dont even want it back any more haha
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I was dual booting for a while, but happy with 7 for now. Perhaps Microsoft will be bringing sexy back with their new update?
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Just another vote for Classic Shell. Most awesome open source piece of free software you can get at repairing some of the damage MSFT has done to Windows.
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"some of the damage MSFT has done to Windows."
loled hard xD
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Classic Shell is the one I liked the best of all the ones I tried.
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As some of you might remember I created a thread about buying new computer a few weeks ago. I've made up my mind and now I have superb gaming PC which runs win8. And while I actually enjoy the system I miss the start menu a lot. I googled "start menu for win8" but all I found was a bunch of really shady sites which suggested me buying some weird stuff from them. So I'd like to ask you guys , is there an actual safe way to bring the start menu back without screwing up the whole system?
Thanks in advance!
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