Win8 problems

Clare46 · Senior Member

Win8 problems

bill12 · Guru

I have just bought a new laptop, and had a lot of trouble getting my email to work. First , you have to get a ms outlook account, and register with them as win8 won,t let you use anything else.Then it started to load all 3500 emails from the last 18months, which takes a lot of megs, andI couldn,t stop.Went to bigpondmail and it wouldn,t let me delete the emails, more fun and games. I tell you , if I could get rid of win 8, I would.Also, it won,t recognise older versions of ms office and publisher files, you have to buy the new version, which I declined.Open office is free and willrecognise word docs.If you can,don,t get win8!The only good thing is the new laptopis faster. Bugga!, Bill

Grams · Guru

Wow, that's crap. I will stick with my Mac, I have never had any problems with mine.

bill12 · Guru

I had win7 on the last laptop, and it worked well. Win8 is a completely different platform. It will take time to learn the ropes.Bill

GaryKelly · Guru

I'm still using Vista on the ol' Toshiba, and Win7 on the Acer. No probs. But I hate anything new and the learning curve that inevitably goes with it. I'm a firm believer in if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, I must admit, the more I buggerize around with computers and software (and I have for many years) the more intuitive I become. One neat trick I've learned... if something is particularly perplexing, take the problem to bed and sleep on it. It's amazing how the brain can solve problems when its left to do its thing without interruption or interference by such things as anxiety or temper.

_wombat_ · Master (of Mischief)

I do not have Win 8 but have a look here bill

http://lifehacker.com/5974318/downgrade-your-new-windows-8-computer-to-windows-7-for-free

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/software-and-web-apps/how-to-make-windows-8-look-like-windows-7-50009546/

Cupie · Guru

GaryKelly wrote:
I'm still using Vista on the ol' Toshiba, and Win7 on the Acer. No probs. But I hate anything new and the learning curve that inevitably goes with it. I'm a firm believer in if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, I must admit, the more I buggerize around with computers and software (and I have for many years) the more intuitive I become. One neat trick I've learned... if something is particularly perplexing, take the problem to bed and sleep on it. It's amazing how the brain can solve problems when its left to do its thing without interruption or interference by such things as anxiety or temper.

Something in that advice.

In the remote past where I worked for a quid, that is exactly what I did.

Also if I went to bed or woke during the night with a problem, I would just write it down - kept a notebook & paper beside the bed - and invaribly went straight back to sleep, rather than rolling from side to side developing all sorts of solutions in my mind for what seemed like hours. Funny how when I woke up in the morning I usually had the solution.

Maybe the only thing that saved my sanity (at least somewhat) or even my marriage, in the last decade of my working life.

As for operating systems ... I hate changing them with all the compatability problems that come. Though I am a sucker for new technology ..... Must have a go at Apple one day.

Member

This may help with win 8

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

PeterD · Guru

_wombat_ wrote:
I do not have Win 8 but have a look here bill
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/software-and-web-apps/how-to-make-windows-8-look-like-windows-7-50009546/

The first trick there makes it look a bit like XP. I used that trick on Win-7

PeterD · Guru

bill12 wrote:
I have just bought a new laptop, and had a lot of trouble getting my email to work. First , you have to get a ms outlook account, and register with them as win8 won,t let you use anything else.
snip
I would.Also, it won,t recognise older versions of ms office and publisher files, you have to buy the new version, which I declined.Open office is free and willrecognise word docs.If you can,don,t get win8!The only good thing is the new laptopis faster. Bugga!, Bill

Â I'm sure you would have been able to install Thunderbird or open your G-mail account without having to invoke M$ Outlook. You would have to go to your ISP to find the settings for Thunderbird but even that would have downloaded all your previous mail. At least you will no have not lost any mail you wanted to keep.

By the sounds of things you either don't delete your old e-mails or you have set your ISP mail account up to not delete e-mails afte you have read them.

There is another thing you could have done to minimise the download account pain with Thunderbird. You can set Thunderbird up to only download the headers of messages over a set length (the size is set by you.) This is great for people using ISP mail accounts. You can set your mail reader up to just download the headers when you are travelling. When you get home and on a good download limit you then download the large jokes and stuff.

Regarding thwe M$ Office problem, I have not had it on my computer this century. OpenOffice org, which is not maintained and now LibreOffice are not far behind MS Office in features. LibreOffice looks likd the M$ one before M$ introduced the ribbon. This could be a big plus for those who particularly dont like Win 7 or 8. You can download it from here.Â If you ude the help features on these programmes, download both packages, install the main programme first and then theÂ built in help programme second.

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