Windows 8 FREE Developer Build

[Completely Bonkers]

We have come full circus. This reminds me of WFW3.11 with the taskbar addon. Just running at modern resolutions, contemporary colour swatches, and 32bit colour and not VGA 16bit. I still have an old COMPAQ 486 running WFW, and it's true!

Either WFW3.11 was brilliant and we are going back, or we are going back.

Next up: Similarities between URL entry and DOS command line.

 

[digibucc]

i like people whining about metro when THAT IS THE POINT OF THE RELEASE. it's the development version meant for DEVELOPING METRO UI APPLICATIONS.

HURR

so the fact that the release is centered around metro means i have to either like metro or shut up?

what kind of logic is that? well, guess i shouldn't expect much...

This reminds me of WFW3.11 with the taskbar addon.

except, i liked the taskbar

 

[LiveOrDie]

WINDOWS 7 AND VISTA DRIVERS WILL WORK WITH THIS

They mite install but can not run games they just crash or i end up with a black screen i cant even ctrl alt del out of.

 

[Drone]

One dumb question I couldn't figure of my own: how do you close a Metro app

I would like to know the same....I have just used task manager so far but I really shouldn't be that worried with 8GB RAM.

Windows 8 comes with memory optimization (at last) which means it uses less memory. It puts apps with similar memory usage in one group or something like that. That means more organic memory handling. And if you have a lot of memory it's even better because unused memory is wasted memory. Don't worry about suspended apps

 

[Mussels]

^ interesting on the memory stuff, so if say, 3 apps wanted the same .dll loaded into memory, they'd share that one 'file' in memory?

 

[Drone]

They didn't spill the beans just vaguely said something about it that's why I forgot about it. I can't find that exact link but I found another one with different details:

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/desktop-os/2011/09/13/windows-8-developer-preview-40093921/2/

Windows 8 also brings deduplication to memory pages, consolidating memory used by shared libraries and common data. It's a process that only works when memory pages are identical, but can save several megabytes of memory on a busy machine. It's a lazy process, periodically scanning memory and combining where possible.

 

[Drone]

Update:

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't find where initially I saw W8 memory optimization article but found another one which is similar to that. It's hands on review from Techradar:

The system tries to save on memory by sharing it between applications rather differently. Because a lot of apps use the same libraries and runtimes, they can have a lot of the same code in memory. So whenever Windows 8 finds that one of the 4K pages of memory one app is using is the same as the one another app is using, it only keeps one of them and shares it between them.

I don't know how efficient it is in the preview build and how will it change in the final version but I hope there will be a lot of apps tools and programming languages that can benefit this method. And I hope developers will invent more tools to use this. They said theoretically it's possible to reduce memory usage drastically.

Operating systems indeed need a better methods of optimization and parallelization. If OS will efficiently handle memory, cores/threads and also will better use virtualization and multitasking I can imagine that it will save power and cpu cycles.

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/hands-on-windows-8-review-1025259?artc_pg=4

As I see the reviewers had the same glitches as I did:

From the testing we've done so far, the developer preview of Windows 8 itself is pretty reliable, but the same isn't true of some of the Metro apps. Initially some of these froze or showed only a blank screen. And because Metro apps get suspended automatically if you're not using them, there isn't an easy way to close an app except through Task Manager.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Update:

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't find where initially I saw W8 memory optimization article but found another one which is similar to that. It's hands on review from Techradar:



I don't know how efficient it is in the preview build and how will it change in the final version but I hope there will be a lot of apps tools and programming languages that can benefit this method. And I hope developers will invent more tools to use this. They said theoretically it's possible to reduce memory usage drastically.

Operating systems indeed need a better methods of optimization and parallelization. If OS will efficiently handle memory, cores/threads and also will better use virtualization and multitasking I can imagine that it will save power and cpu cycles.

http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/hands-on-windows-8-review-1025259?artc_pg=4

As I see the reviewers had the same glitches as I did:

This is kind of what happens in a terminal server OS, multiple users log on and run Word for instance and it only uses one set of DLL's to keep memory usage under control, so slightly different but the same technique, I am surprised it has taken MS this long to incorporate it into the desktop environment

 

[LifeOnMars]

They mite install but can not run games they just crash or i end up with a black screen i cant even ctrl alt del out of.

Have you tried running them in Windows 7 compatability mode? I have had no issues so far with any games, I haven't even had to use compatability but it may work for you.

 

[Steve-007UK]

Installed directly to my second hard drive and so far so good, took a while to get used to the layout but i think i like it. Here is a quick run of 3dmark 2003 default settings.

Going to test some games in a few mins to but so far everything has installed fine, No probs with installing Win 7 ATI drivers or programs yet.

 

[LiveOrDie]

Have you tried running them in Windows 7 compatability mode? I have had no issues so far with any games, I haven't even had to use compatability but it may work for you.

Yes your using an ATI card there was no driver for my 480 in windows update.

 

[HalfAHertz]

So if you're not interested in Metro, don't need faster boot times coz you put your PC to sleep and don't need a few extra MB of spare RAM, you won't really benefit from windows 8?

Am I missing something? Is there anything else that is new?

 

[digibucc]

So if you're not interested in Metro, don't need faster boot times coz you put your PC to sleep and don't need a few extra MB of spare RAM, you won't really benefit from windows 8?

Am I missing something? Is there anything else that is new?

there are some nice ui changes, like the file copy dialog and task manager.
there is also a new system reset feature, as well as some other features idk.

i don' think it'll be necessary but there are definitely some improvements.

 

[Mussels]

So if you're not interested in Metro, don't need faster boot times coz you put your PC to sleep and don't need a few extra MB of spare RAM, you won't really benefit from windows 8?

Am I missing something? Is there anything else that is new?

apart from the fact this OS will end up on phones, tablets, laptops and desktops all at the same time, no not really.



look at how apple strangle everyone with their apps, and think how awesome it'd be if those (well, MS equivalent) apps worked on your PC and your phone at the same time.

 

[LifeOnMars]

Yes your using an ATI card there was no driver for my 480 in windows update.

Hey bud, I was trying to help. I'm actually using betas which are not verified, using win 7 compatability they installed without a hitch but the games have run as is with no need for any compatability tweaks. Hopefully Nvidia will get their asses in gear and sort out a driver for you.

 

[Steve-007UK]

Was trying to get dirt 3 running but no good so far.

 

[Dos101]

Has anyone seen this:

Windows 8 Running From A USB Drive

Small Quote from the article:

The new feature will allow Windows 8 users to boot the operating system from USB on any other PC. Microsoft is targeting big business and enterprise with Windows To Go, a perfect market for such a feature. Windows To Go works by effectively ghosting a Windows 8 install onto a USB drive. Windows 8 users will be able to take their entire install with files and data and run it on a PC without needing to install it on the host PC. It’s simply a plug and play method.

This feature alone makes it worth buying for me.

 

[cheesy999]

Hey bud, I was trying to help. I'm actually using betas which are not verified, using win 7 compatability they installed without a hitch but the games have run as is with no need for any compatability tweaks. Hopefully Nvidia will get their asses in gear and sort out a driver for you.

nvidia 7/vista drivers work for me but i can't fullscreen on most games

EDIT:Fixed the problem

 

[gbird]

Can someone please give me a step by step showing of how to take control of a .dll file in Windows 8? It looks totally different from 7, where the "Owner" tab is not there.

 

[LifeOnMars]

nvidia 7/vista drivers work for me but i can't fullscreen on most games

EDIT:Fixed the problem

Care to share so other Nvidia users will benefit?

 

[cheesy999]

Care to share so other Nvidia users will benefit?

it was one of these 3 things

A)Updated to latest beta drivers
b)Changed theme to Basic
C)Validated the game files in steam

i think it was actually C that did it

 

[LiveOrDie]

Can someone please give me a step by step showing of how to take control of a .dll file in Windows 8? It looks totally different from 7, where the "Owner" tab is not there.

Just use this it always comes in handy use the InstallTakeOwnership.reg and it will add a entry to the right click menu saves a lot of time.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/kljc2dhnjgr9dsj/Take%20Ownership.rar

 

[gbird]

Thanks man, however i tried it before and it did not work. I am trying to take ownership of "shell32.dll.mui" in Windows 8 Preview to get rid of the watermark. The guy who posts the instructions/worked on the hack, did not explain clearly about taking ownership of the file.

 

[GodfreyOuwens]

Thanks man, however i tried it before and it did not work. I am trying to take ownership of "shell32.dll.mui" in Windows 8 Preview to get rid of the watermark. The guy who posts the instructions/worked on the hack, did not explain clearly about taking ownership of the file.

try right click file, properties, security tab, click your user name, then check the boxes in the bottom window. If they are grayed out, try clicking the advanced button and change settings in there.

..I am having a problem writing to c:\users\name\appdata\local the folder and files stay read only no matter what I seem to try... I am trying to copy over my google chrome files with all my book marks and such... anyone have success in doin this? I used the takeownership app, change settings so I have persmission to write and still a no-go..

 

[GodfreyOuwens]

found a fix for my problem and most likely others also having trouble with the take ownership etc:

- open 'properties' on the highest level folder you want to change attributes
- click 'security' tab
- click 'advanced'
- click 'change permissions'
- click 'add'
- enter 'Everyone' in the 'enter the object name to select' dialog box
- click 'check names'
- click OK
- click 'full control' in the 'allow' column
- click OK
- click the box (turn on) 'replace all child object permissions with inheritable permissions from this object'
- click OK
- confirm any 'are you sure' type messages that pop up along the way