Windows 8 – The Developer Preview

[anon]

I was able to install 8. I think I will keep it for the sake of all the internal improvements and having the latest version of the OS. I'm not letting the Start button go that easy, but apparently Start8 is the best tool to bring it back.

"Microsoft.Windows.8.x86-LiTE" is what I used for this run, in case anyone wants to know.

[anon]

No classic theme = back to 7 it is

[BrianBosworth]

What about Welcome to Classic Shell? There are a few others too.

[anon]

I know about that utility, but apparently it only readds the Start menu and changes a few other UI layout things?

According a little reading I did, the code for the Basic theme is gone from Windows. You can only choose between the Aero UI and a hidden "lite" version of it. In either, customization potential is limited. That's a bad change

[piratemeister]

Well, what about performace? Better stay on 7 or move to 8?

About the Metro (pffff... that shit...) I already know how to remove all these annoying things

[anon]

Well, what about performace? Better stay on 7 or move to 8?

Well, it did seem to be a bit faster once I tweaked it and disabled useless services. Startup times are said to be lower too, but I always hibernated my Win7 PCs so I couldn't compare.

I want to give it a second chance, though (I'm fickle like that), and am currently looking at something called ex7forW8 which looks pretty neat.

[anon]

Well, I gave up. Intel doesn't want to support my GMA 3150 under Windows 8, which means I can only use the standard style, or else the OS is unusable (perpetual black screen after bootup).

Hope this share of my small experience helps someone:

• Ex7forW8 is the best solution to return to the old interface. It's a wrapper for Windows 7's explorer.exe that brings the Start menu back using the old code and completely disables Metro, corner spots and all that clutter, without even loading it in memory, unlike other programs. That's the most efficient way.
• You can recover the old Task Manager too, if you replace taskmgr.exe with 7's one.
• WinAERO.com has many programs to tweak the interface, e.g. remove the Ribbon from Explorer. Check them out.
• This is a classic theme I wanted to use: Windows classic theme for Windows 8 RTM by ~kizo2703 on deviantART

[cheatos]

"Told ya"

a big no-no to change holy Windows files


also shouldn't Windows 8 (just like 7 & Vista) automatically installs the Intel GMA drivers?
or do you want the latest bleeding-edge driver for power management and better Hardware-acceleration...etc?

[anon]

also shouldn't Windows 8 (just like 7 & Vista) automatically installs the Intel GMA drivers?
or do you want the latest bleeding-edge driver for power management and better Hardware-acceleration...etc?

Yes, it did install Microsoft's drivers, but they had all the appearance of being generic (lists appeared one entry by one, some flickering). And indeed I prefer to install the manufacturer's whenever possible, in case they're any better.

"We have no interest on updating our software to let *big list of entry-level cards, including mine* work under Windows 8. Use the official drivers or install Windows 7's." -- Intel representative on their support forums.

[ParamouR]

I'm not letting the Start button go that easy, but apparently Start8 is the best tool to bring it back.

Try this open license app called Pokki? I find it much better than Start8.

[anon]

I found Ex7forW8 after making that post, which is better than any other similar program because it brings the Start menu right from 7's code, and disables Metro entirely.

[cheatos]

"We have no interest on updating our software to let *big list of entry-level cards, including mine* work under Windows 8. Use the official drivers or install Windows 7's." -- Intel representative on their support forums.

That's lame,
I was going to suggest modded drivers but they don't support your graphic adapter either.

well,there's nothing 'easy' you can do :dunno:
you might want to force installing it? by editing INF files.. although I don't recommend that and 90% it is not going to work..

[piratemeister]

Annoying thinks such as open every image with metro, can be removed ? How ?

Because if not, windows 8 can't be my main OS...

[BrianBosworth]

Well, I gave up. Intel doesn't want to support my GMA 3150 under Windows 8, which means I can only use the standard style, or else the OS is unusable (perpetual black screen after bootup).

There may be a workaround for this issue. Some users had to install the official Windows 7 drivers from Intel and apply a registry hack that supports downscaling. From what I've read, your video card doesn't fully support the resolution requirements neccessary to run all programs on Windows 8. Obviously there's a chance that it won't work, but it could be worth a try.

After installing the latest Windows 7 drivers from Intel, open up the registry editor and apply the following: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Cl ass\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001]
"Display1_DownScalingSupported"=dword:00000001

In some instances the key may be located in other places. Just search for “Display1_DownScalingSupported”
Others have said that the search function didn't find anything. They had to manually find it. Which can be time consuming.


Here are a few semi related articles to your video driver problems.

Fix for The Screen Resolution is Too Low for This App to Run - Useful Windows, Tips and Tricks

https://slo-tech.com/forum/t524600

How to enable Windows 8 Metro style apps on an older netbook - Liliputing

There are some users reporting that the registry key doesn't exist. If that's the case, it's not recommended to create the entry. (Although after going this far, why not?) There are reports that others have upgraded to Windows 8 and said the video drivers have always worked even without a registry hack. The only complaint is they can't adjust the brightness settings. Keep in mind that the registry trick does nothing except fool Windows into thinking that you are using the correct resolution. There could be some images, text or fonts that look stretched or just doesn't look right.

[anon]

Well, I guess I could make a disk image of the entire drive and try 8 one more time!