Living the Windows 8 Experience

Introduction

I downloaded Windows 8 when it was released to Developers back last year and installed it on a virtual workstation with a 2 gigs of ram running from my Windows Home Server. I thought it was shaky and slow. So I decided to abandon it. Until recently when the Consumer Preview release came out and I decided to give it another try. Getting windows 8 up running was actually quite simple. Downloaded the Consumer release preview and burned the ISO to a DVD was all that was required. Besides an operating system key of course. I decided to install windows 8 my primary laptop Toshiba T205 Satellite laptop so that I can get a full experience by using it day in and day out. Just a few specs on my laptop has 160gb hard drive 2gb of ram and is running a Intel Dual Core Pentium 1.6ghz processor so nothing fancy and no touch screen. But this being a five year old computer I expected for the operating system to sluggish.

Getting Things To Run Smooth

After getting the operating system up and running I have to install a few basic or essential drivers. Surprisingly all the drivers for Windows 7 are compatible with Windows 8. Video card checks out, soundcard checks out, Wi-Fi works, Ethernet works, and touchpad works. After installing a couple of updates from the Toshiba website to fix my Dolby sound card and make it sound freaking amazing.

The First Seven Days

The first biggest difference between Windows 8 and any other Windows operating system is the boot up time from power on until it’s usable. The first thing you’re greeted with is the Metro screen, think of it as a quick way to get around and get simple task done. This is perfect for hoping online looking up some, checking your email, weather, calendar, checking stocks or any one off task you may just hop on my pc, tablet, or whatever device you choose to run Windows 8 on. Windows 8 also introduces us to a quick built into the OS marketplace called “Store” I’m not sure if that’s the actual name but hey that’s what the icon said. In the store at this time I would stay there are fewer than 200 apps. A couple of applications I found that I like are from Evernote, Amazon Kindle, and an awesome pinball game. Prior to the rebirth or restarting on Windows 8 my laptop was filled with iTunes music, video, and app. As of now there three music apps installed my computer is two built into the operating system and Spotify. The apps built into the OS are great and all they function well but I really love Spotify. If you’re not familiar with the service you should check it. Better yet email me and I’ll hook you up with a free month trial.

Thanks for joining me on my first seven days of usage keep an eye out for my first posting about my daily usage. In the mean while check Dr. Z’s blog on Power user usage.