Windoze 8

My notebook/laptop sort of died. Well it didn’t really die, but the display went all freaky. It was filled with lines and became blurry because of this. It was not a new computer. I have had it for quite a while, it got me through much of University so it had a lot of taps on the keys as I wrote thesis after thesis after thesis… uhm after dissertation, it is even half way though yet another one.

The battery sort of gave up on it also, I know I can buy a new battery for it, it would last 15 minutes or so I think. That is good right? well for moving across the house to a new plug… not so much for going from lecture to lecture though. But then the display went and it was just after Christmas so I groaned. I know this is another thing you can fix. But then between the battery and the screen or motherboard the cost of repairs is beyond what it is worth. Well that may not be true but beyond what you can buy another one for. My last two laptops were expensive ones based on what new ones cost. One had a very fancy touch pad. I really liked it. but the display went on it also. I understand now, that 4 years is the life of a laptop computer. Sheish that is not very long. I heard on the news tonight that they are getting better. Last year 24 percent were returned in the first year for repairs. Sheish.

So why are they producing such cheaply manufactured items? The operating systems are another example of this. Hence the title of the post. I guess this is then a rant of some sort. but then I haven’t done one for a while, I am sure I am overdue.

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The new pc came with Windoze 8. I have seen it on friends computers and heard them grumble about it. I didn’t want to buy a pc with it. Interestingly enough I am not the only one. I read pc sales dropped last year almost 20 percent because people did not want windoze 8.

If you have a touch screen maybe it works better, honestly I don’t think so. Windows noticed people liked using their phones and tablets to replace their computers… so they made the new operating system to resemble a phone. But you can’t make phone calls…. 

Huh? If I want to do computing on my phone I will… but when I switch to my computer… I don’t want a phone anymore. It is not so complicated.

Windoze 8 comes with all these apps, like a phone, programs are now called apps… well by windoze. My new computer came with a bunch of them, useless ones, lots of them. Many were accessing the internet using my bandwidth… Even Office was installed on my computer. I checked it was taking up over 700 megabytes on my hard drive…. but when you clicked on it  the screen came up asking how you wanted to pay for it. Huh?

I uninstalled it, along with almost every other app that they put on MY pc. Then I found out how to make the silly thing stop going to the screen with all the apps, I think they call it the metro screen. It is useless, why would I want to see it?

Then I can’t find anything, no start button. Windoze decided that we didn’t need that anymore. huh? without the start button..  how do we start?

So I found out how to put the start button back. YAY ME.

Now as you move the curser across the screen and it hits the side or a corner..  the computer starts freaking out and all kinds of things pop up… settings…. ways to get back to the stupid metro screen that is totally useless and filled (well not anymore) with apps that are not installed and they want you to purchase or do nothing….  eeeeeeps

I think they are called hotspots. well were as they are all gone now also.

The keyboard is different on my new pc, I am blaming windoze for that too as there are buttons there that I have not had before and positioned where more useful keys would be… like shift. Who decides to change the keyboard layout when people learn to touch type? Has it not been the same for quite some time? Do they think changing it is wise? It is like on the singing shows when someone is voted off as they took a very nice song and “made it their own” I don’t like Hey Jude sounding like a polka… and I like all the keys to be where my fingers expect them to be.

Try touch typing when your pinky can’t find the shift key but keeps hitting \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\   eeeeeeeeeps it is soooo annoying. or you hit the period and a menu pops up… ahhhhhhhhh

There seem to be combinations too, that activate those silly hot spots and other things, I so cleverly disabled…  when you stumble across them. So when touch typing while not looking at the screen… suddenly you notice new programs are launched and you are changing the settings on a blue tooth device that is opening your neighbours garage door and turning on a blender in the kitchen that doesn’t have the lid on it……..  what you don’t have a blue tooth blender?

I have a battery though now, that lasts, and the new laptop is much smaller and very thin, so it is lighter. But I am not sure if I like the smaller display… but lighter is very nice and the power cord is not strangling anyone sitting beside me on the couch. Oh don’t roll your eyes, that sort of thing happens often I am sure… when your laptop is tethered to the plug on the power bar and someone plops beside you…. you move and the cord creeps up and attacks them. OH OH I found out my power cord on my dying laptop was frayed and if you touched it you received a tiny shock, that is bad right? Well it does get your attention. I put a band aid on it.

The new laptop has a huge hard drive, massive. Much more ram too but I think windoze just needs that to turn on all the apps….. sheish

I am trying to get accustom to the new keyboard, but then when I switch to another computer my fingers go..  huh? I am not sure how this is going to work out. I keep looking at my hammer wistfully, I know that fixes a lot of computer problems.

Oh to really annoy me, my old laptop doesn’t have a fuzzy screen anymore, perhaps it was just resting? Will it fuzz up again? Probably, but maybe not. I  still have many things to transfer from it to the new one. Though I back up, I am pleased that a certain very large document was transferred with no problems. Now when I add to it though, many letters are not capitalized…. I think I am getting better at this though. It would have been terrible to lose that. Always back up things you want, and don’t back up only one copy of them or two. Otherwise you may lose a favorite picture, cute poem or lengthy dissertation. This would be very annoying.

So as my new laptop more resembles windows 7, than windoze 8… it still has its quirks as things pop up. After deleting all the silly apps and making it look like windows 7 I peeked at the update part. yay I found it. There were five updates due… ok I clicked on go ahead.

A little while later they were finished some security fixes I think. ok so they rushed windoze 8 out and missed some things…

Then it said it found more updates.. 70 of them. 70? sheish

ok go ahead, then I start thinking is this just sloppy programming? and not just this but what does it say about windoze? To put a product out that is not ready? not just a few things.. but over 70. Can I then work this way?  eeeeps

A longer while later they were installed. Off to the update page and low and behold there were more… what are they breeding?

The first day was installing updates for a while, then the second day I visited the microsoft site, to see how to remap my keys so my pinky could find the shift key where it should be… a window pops up and tells me my operating system is out of date. What?

but but but…. oh windoze 8.1 was out now. well has been for a while. I should upgrade at no charge. No charge… hmmm people pay for this?

So I peek and sure enough on my update section it says windoze 8.1 is available. Only a 3.6 or so gigabit download.  WHAT? how long does that take? Isn’t that larger than the operating system is that is now on my hard drive? When I download it, and install it…. is it still there wasting space? I mean the new hard drive is huge, but eeeps.

ok… maybe it fixes some of the silly things. I heard this was their answer to sending out an operating system that the world hated….

So I clicked on go ahead…. it took most of the day to download and install. I honestly don’t see a difference, but then I didn’t have windoze 8 for long to see what changed. I did receive more themes I think and one of the start up screens changed to some goofy swirls…. which was my next task to change.

Windoze 8 or 8.1 sure keeps you busy removing parts of it…. it is like that game at the fairs.. whack a mole (hmmmm you get to use a hammer with this game)

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