Microsoft Windows 8 Professional 32-bit (Full Version) - OEM

Pros: Had newest IE. Explorer is a bit fancier.

Cons: Not much better than Windows 7 for desktop computing - but I could see how its good on a touch screen surface. Pricey for pro - got it for the remote desktop.

Pros: Runs great. It's basically Windows 7 with a tablet OS layered on top. This is not a bad thing. I'm actually enjoying discovering the different features and I like the idea of downloading apps for the Start page. In the future I think this will solve some of the security issues of the past, such as surfing the net and accidentally clicking on the wrong link that may send Windows into a black hole. Performance is exactly like Windows 7. I like the look. It's very attractive and the active Tiles work very well. Installation was a breeze. It only took 10 minutes installing on an SSD.

Cons: Learning curve... Jumping into Windows 8 will take some time to learn where everything is and how it works. The Start menu is no longer a menu list. It's now the home page with tile-like icons (this can be modified). One of the tiles IS the access to the Desktop screen. A little tricky to understand at first but not hard to get the hang of it. I'm still trying to get my Desktop screen to look the way I want it to. Not having a Start button confuses things. But I think sooner or later I will get the hang of the fact that the new home (START) screen is where most of the control will be done.

Overall Review: I'm reviewing this from a desktop standpoint. You can definitely tell that Windows 8 was developed to integrate touch screen devices. But controling it with a mouse is very easy to do. I'm excited to learn more about it and happy to know that almost anything running on Windows 7 will run on Windows 8 too.

Pros: ya its fast and easy but for what ? read other thoughts not enough room in other thoughts i just like to say after using this operating system for a few months i leave it with a feeling of there's more to life then fussing around with computer and settings. this operating system is simple to use once you learn it. you go to it to use it do what you have to, then leave. no more fussing around with settings or changing drivers its on the most part automatic. it easy to use almost simplistic. not like windows 7 at all. this gives me more time on my hands to do other things in the real world.lol the fact that i know microsoft has geard it to be used and is pushing all fuchure software interfaces for touchscreen makes me simpathetic and understanding of this operating system. also disappointed feel like it's half there and thats where it is at this point its software with out the hardware. so start pricing touchscreens microsoft has builitins on this is your future weather you like it or not. lol. if you don't need to use pc software there's always apple

Cons: didn't come with free touch screen

Overall Review: i have beta tested microsoft operating systems for 20 years and my first impressions was wow this is touch screen (shell) software for a tablet pc. not power user friendly at all. its set up for people that just go online or housewives that could use cookbook apps. apps are much better in widows 8. everything is connected with your msn or hotmail account. seems like there using this operating system for easy syncing with microsoft smartphones. for a power pc user to change settings there hidden and or many clicks away. now personally if 8 is more secure and not vulnerable to viruses like 7 than i would take the change to 8, it can be configured just have to learn where setting are and i sure patches come out soon for games. but there the same, give me a good reason to upgrade and i will, i see nothing so far. although i was kinda starting to like the apps and the cooking magazines app. the operating system so easy and boring maybe i turn to cooking. lol

Pros: There's a lot of things to like about Windows 8, and the one thing I'm getting from all the mostly negative reviews is that one thing is perfectly clear: people hate change. This is perhaps the single most significant change to the start menu since it's introduction in Windows 95. Yeah sure, it makes your desktop now look like a cell phone. Yeah you can bad mouth Metro all you want. But it's not as bad as everyone says it is. It makes accessing things like e-mail, MS Office, and everything else much easier. The original desktop is still there - it hasn't gone away, and it will not go away. Everything you know and love about Windows 7 is still there and the desktop is better than ever - it's more Mac OS like in comparison. To access the control panels, etc you move your mouse to the top right corner of the desktop. To access the start menu it's in the bottom left as usual. The difference is now the start menu can be customized with any app you can think of, making it more in tune with Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. In that regard it's easy to see why people hate it, but once you get past that fact it's no different than any regular Windows OS - but with a much prettier interface.

Cons: There's a few things that are indeed frustrating about Windows 8. First and foremost is that not all apps work as advertised - even with an i5-3570K and 16GB of RAM apps still hang on launch, and the XBOX media player is incredibly frustrating to work with - especially after how good Windows Media Player 11 was. You can't add your entire music library as you were once able to. Installation methods have also been changed, and Windows 8 no longer uses the FAT32 filing system, instead it uses an entirely new type of filing system - so for your primary HD / SSD, you must completely delete all formatted partitions and start over. It also creates two dummy / hidden partitions to be used for system restore as opposed to a single that Windows 7 did. But on the plus side Windows 8 installs much quicker than any Windows before it.

Overall Review: Just like the way MS has operated on all it's past operating systems - Windows 8 is a good start but it will take at least until SP1 when it's perfected. Hopefully they bring back the option to use the classic start menu, and take out the bugs that are plaguing the XBOX live media app. Until then it's not perfect but its' a start.

Pros: They made some obvious performance gains with Windows 8. From boot times & shut down times, to the general user interface feeling more responsive.

Cons: A lot of why I couldn't stand windows 8 had to do with how it tries to force you into things. Almost 20 years of a start button/menu on an OS? ... lets force the Metro UI on you. You want to use the new apps?, that are kind of like programs, or you want to use the programs you're more familiar with? We'd like you to login to your MS account online. Would you like to login now? How about now? or now? The apps/program distinction was grating on me too. I could've spent the time to fine tune it but with Metro and MS always wanting me to be online and logged in. All of this really annoyed me ... but what finally was the last straw was that my graphics card, while giving better performance then in windows 7 also started over heating in games I was playing. I tried different drivers - same issue. I went to the web and there were other reports of certain video cards running hot or overheating now under windows 8. So basically I was like: ok, ...I'm done. Uninstalled 8 after like 3 or 4 months and reinstalled Windows 7 Pro.

Overall Review: I really wanted to like Windows 8. I feel like I put in my time too in getting used to it. At the end of the day though ... it feels oppressive. (sorry, don't know any other way to describe it). You'll notice it in at least a few different ways. It always wants you connected to Microsoft as you use your computer. Always connected to the Cloud. Why? The included apps and/or the ones you can download conflict with you using Programs that you might be more familiar with. A lot of the apps are limited too and want you to pay $1.49 or $1.99 for a version without advertising. The funniest thing is that ALOT of the advertising is Microsoft related stuff. I was able to get over the lack of a start menu - but it floors me that they didn't even allow it for an option. I'm sure the UI feels great on a smart phone, but on a computer though it drove me nuts. Maybe 8.1 will fix a lot of these issues with Windows 8? Maybe. Between the XBOXONE (with their attempt to force an always on camera and microphone into your living room, and their attempt to force always connected to the internet, in addition to MS being the first major company to sign up to the NSA's illegal PRISM program ...) I seriously just don't trust MS anymore. I'm also seriously put off by them forcing anything on consumers. All of the major defects of windows 8 were probably called out by testers months ahead of release and ...ignored. Windows 8 is kind of a last straw for me. I'll be switching to Linux on any machines I can, and as soon as I can ditch Windows entirely, I will.

Pros: Everything that doesn't have to do with the UI was improved.

Cons: The UI is so messed up that this OS is unusable for any real work. The Metro screen is a complete failure on a desktop os (and on a cell phone OS if you look at the sales numbers). It is many times more difficult to find what you are looing for in the metro Start page over the start menu because it is much harder to search visually through a list that goes both horizontral and vertical made up of obscure "tiles" than is to scan through a text list that scrolls horizontally. Second, the "live tiles" (which are mostly worthless on real programs) will update on certain trendy web apps by changing the pictures and contents meaning that they will look different almost every time you see them. Once again, this makes it much harder to find things in the start page. All the controls are hidden and you can not display any off the windows 8 apps in a window (odd for a program called windows). Adding the "ribbon" to the Explorer is yet another example of Microsoft being completely out of touch with usability. Anyone who uses office on rare occasions knows what a nightmare the ribbon is. It can take me 5 minutes or more to find something that would have taken less than a second to find in the "old menu system" This is as bad as OSX lion replacing "save as" with "Export" and replacing "save" with "save a version". Talk about confusing people for absolutely not good reason other than to be different. Finally, the start page is just plain ugly. Its a complete eye sore and you are forced to use it when there really is no use for it.

Overall Review: I would have given the metro UI a pass if they had allowed us to hide it and continue to use the start menu they way they would leave older features in Windows XP, vista and Windows 7. Yes, I kow I can buy a 3rd party product that will give me the start menu back and turn off all the windows 8 metro crp, but I'm not going to reward Microsoft with my money for giving me a crpy OS that is nothing more than Microsoft trying to leverage their desktop dominance to shoehorn their way into the Cell Phone/tablet market. I really don't care about how many copies of Windows 8 they sold, what I would love to know is how many people who bought it are still using it. And for the people saying anyone who doesn't like this OS is afraid of change, I've been one of the first upgraders for the windows OS for a long time. I love change when it improves my workflow, but this is a change for the worse, an that is something I will reward Microsoft for.

Pros: Looks pretty

Cons: 1) confusing, 2) LEAST intuitive application I've come across in 2 decades 3) NOT COMPATIBLE WITH MS OFFICE apps 2007 & down!! 4) Full of GARBAGE business people DONT NEED! 5) Best ANTI productivity app that MS has developed yet 6) Can DOWNGRADE ONLY if you got 8 PRO on new PC

Overall Review: I really really wonder how MS is going to extricate themselves from this fiasco! I was so disturbed by my experience that I did research and found that the market share is HALF what VISTA was this point in release. That says a LOT! As a business person this is laden with tons of non productive items that you would never want on your machine. Ohh sure...the critics say..hey download or buy this app or utility and it removes this or that, or gives you a start button. REDICULOUS! Win 7 was a great Operating system....very productive....I'm going back to 7 and XP pro, and hope that MS comes to their senses otherwise I will look at other OS's.

Pros: Easily replaced with Linux? I was able to get the Start Menu back with Classic Shell, but that's not a "Pro" towards the OS itself.

Cons: A tablet interface on a desktop operating system Ugly full-screen Start Screen that takes up the whole screen instead of a corner like the Start Menu Almost all default programs are set to Metro applications Submenus in Metro apps are annoyingly hidden and require a right click or swipe in (This is a HUGE waste of space on any display above 10") Ugly minimalist interface that wastes lots of space (go look at the Metro Twitter app) Tries to lock in the user by enabling Secure Boot by default on OEM systems Tries to have the user use their Microsoft account as the way to log in, hiding the option to use a local PC account as soon as possible. What if your Hotmail account gets hacked? Snap in of Metro apps is nowhere near as good as the multi-window multitasking that has been in use since the origin of the GUI and limits you to two applications at a time

Overall Review: Whoever thought THIS was a good idea should be fired. The world is not and never will be ready for a full touch-screen operating system on desktops and laptops. The reason touch exists is to remove the reliance on physical hardware (such as keyboards and mice) on devices so that they can be even more portable than a traditional laptop. In the few months I have been using Windows 8, not ONE single aspect of the system has made me say "Gee, I wish this was a touch screen; I'd love to reach out and use my finger on that instead!" Not to mention that touch screens of any decent size are still prohibitively expensive. The new UI is a distraction and a hindrance. When I want to open up a new application, I don't want to look away from what I'm doing; I want to keep looking at it so I know what I need to do and open next. The prior Start Menu was a handy way to get to the software and files you needed without being distracted from what you were doing. As mentioned above in the cons list, Windows 8 tries to cram this new experience down your throat as much as possible. Trying to open a file? I hope you've configured your software under Default Programs, because almost everything is pointed to a Metro app, which most of the time is an inferior experience that wastes space on a large display for the sake of being pretty, with less features than its equivalent desktop application. Want to actually use a Metro app in a size worthy of your screen? No thanks, all you can do is choose to snap it in to take up 25% of your screen or over 75% of your screen. There is no windowing of a Metro app without third party software. Also, you can only have two non-desktop apps open at a time, which is really limiting. The desktop is also changed as well to accommodate this beast. There's no Start Menu; you touch or hover over a corner to use the "Charms" menu or see what Metro apps you have open. That's another problem with the whole system; everything is hidden and requires a swipe in or right click! On any screen over 10", there is no need to do this! Why is it hidden when I have more than enough room on a 20" 1600x900 pixel display? It's lunacy! The speed enhancements, the native USB 3.0 support, the built in Windows Defender suite, all of this is rendered meaningless by an operating system that throws away usability and user friendliness in hopes of trying to squeeze into the tablet and smartphone market. Just because those two markets are the fastest growing segment of tech does not mean that the desktop and laptop platforms are dead. To kill off the features that make a desktop or laptop a productivity powerhouse to try and force users to join the new mobile paradigm is a stupid move. Users don't like being told what is right for them. The worst part? This is the future of Windows. Microsoft isn't going to go back! Do yourself a favor and just give a distribution of Linux a try. Burn one to a DVD and install it; you may find you like a lot of features