Windows 8 Ugrade with Classic Shell... Very good indeed

So I finally took the plunge and purchased my Windows 8 upgrade for £25 (you can use Paypal). I actually used the Windows 8 trial to run the Upgrade Assistant (XP was also resident on the system) and that caused the Assistant to say that the upgrade wasn't available, but, following a thread on a Microsoft site I ran the assistant in Windows 7 compatability mode and hey presto!. I already had the 64 bit version installed so I can offer no advice on choosing 32bit or 64bit when upgrading.

The upgrade was a piece of cake. I selected 'custom' and wiped the Windows 8 trial version (as it was on my new SSD. Windows 8 activated without asking me (in fact I had to check it had happened.)

You are then presented with Metro which you instantly have to do something about - so off to Classic Shell (and why not donate and buy this chap a drink for all he's done). With Classic Shell installed Windows 8 boots to the desktop rather than Metro and you can choose between Windows Classic, XP or 7 menu. I chose Classic. Classic Shell also adds the XP file manager menu we miss so much.
(Get rid of the stupid ribbon on FileExplorer with http://winaero.com/download.php?view.18)

Apart from that it's plain sailing. Windows 8 boot up times are fantastic. I was able to install all my old software. The taskmanager has great new features and the File Copying in progress dialogue has natty graphs if you want them.

One note though. Windows 8 seemed to find all the drivers without so much as a dialogue box. When I went to install my manufacturers video drivers (coz I thought they would be better), the screen stopped working on reboot and I had a hell of a time - eventually going back using a restore point.

Windows 8 desktop design seems more thorough (windows 7 looked pretty ugly if you turned off Aero). Working with two monitors is easy and the Taskbar now works in all monitors and you can choose how it works.

Not much else to say really. My PS2 keyboard wouldn't work and apparently that's a bug that being fixed. Apart from that it's business as usual.

Metro really is an irrelevant bolt on. Using IE brings you to the desktop. With two monitors you can have Metro in one and the Destop in another, but Metro disappears when you touch the desktop so there's no multiple screen working. Metro shows an irrelavent bunch of your programmes cluttering the Metro desktop. All in all, Metro is a dead loss on a desktop system, but with Classic Shell you don't have to worry about it.

All in all, if you fancy a few days mucking about with your computer, £25 will give you a fresh, new and most useable OS. I don't really know why its getting such a lack luster press - Microsoft have done a good job!

enjoy