Replies

HI Martin,

said he needs to find this: … … Network authentication method – peap – mschapv2

Does this make sense?

Certainly not an expert in Windows 8, but for what it’s worth, I think Tinto Tech’s response is spot on the money here.

Your Uni has wisely chosen to use a strong WiFi authentication method and Windows 8 isn’t providing the required credentials to establish a connection, or hasn’t been correctly configured to do so. This could be a bug in the operating system due to it still being in its infancy, or a lack of knowledge on how to correctly configure Windows 8 by the Tech’s who are helping you.

Tinto’s link is a good one I’d be browsing through.. you may also like to look here;

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/ms772425 – Original link mangled – Search here with Bing using a term like “Windows 8 Wifi” Lots of hits to browse through.

Good luck with this and do let us know what the problem turned out to be once you’ve nutted it out.

Note: Public Wifi hot spots generally allow you to connect without any authentication required. Or an Open WEP configuration without a password required to connect, hence I suspect your ability to connect in the city without any issues.

Cheers…

Many university IT depts. do not allow connection to their network in certain instances … … … I am not sure how they prevent it, but they do

Depending on the Server software they’re running, it’s quite easy to prevent anything connecting up. Operating systems or entire PC’s. Same goes for Wifi connections to routers.

Even most (decent) home grade routers provide an ability to restrict connections to a Wifi connection only to white listed MAC addresses of Wireless Network Interface Cards. Entire PC’s can be blocked from servers using similar methodology. I’d expect the Tech’s Martin asked for help to pick up on that fairly quickly though, as you will more often than not establish a connection, but one that is so limited that nothing can be accessed, neither on the Wan or the Lan. Those symptoms (should) be a dead giveaway as to what the problem could be.

I hadn’t even considered Martin may have been talking about not being able to connect to the Uni’s Server via a WiFi connection though – to me his post indicated that he couldn’t connect to the Universities Wireless connection – not even getting as far as the server with a signal that did not connect with sufficient authentication to allow any meaningful access, thus pointing to either buggy Wifi implementation in Windows 8 on the authentication method being used, or a lack of experience with the operating system on the part of the Tech as I mentioned earlier.

He did mention he wrote his post in haste however, so I hope he does follow up on this here or in another thread as I’m now curious to what the problem turned out to be.

Cheers..

I’m having trouble getting through to my University’s wi-fi. The techs at the uni can’t do it either.

Understandable and to be expected at these early stages to my mind Martin. The operating system is still in its infancy so there could be bugs with wifi connectivity and/or the lack of familiarity of the operating system by your Universities support techs. I enjoy an occasional punt so I’d put 2 bob each way on the latter if I could.

What I dislike is the hotspots on the screen and charms vs control panel etc.

You can rest assured you’re not alone on that front

putting a start button in won’t satisfy me, but since that’s getting all the attention, that is what MS will probably address. I expect them to put it in, otherwise MS would be shooting themselves in the foot for no good reason

Given Microsoft’s track record on how much weight they place on listening to what end users want, I wouldn’t be expecting them to make the Start button appear in a default install in the final release of Windows 8 either. “Our way or the highway.. don’t like it, then figure out how to do it the way you want to yourself” seems to be their motto.

In a similar example, it would have been a trivial matter for Microsoft programmers to provide users with a button to click on to revert back to a Menu interface in Office 2007 yet they didn’t do it, despite the tens of thousands of posts all over the web discussing various workarounds to achieve exactly that.. a quick check on Google shows people continue pleading for the functionality in Office 2010 as well. Third party software add-ons have been written to provide that option, but how well they work or what they cost I’ve no idea – never tried them. Microsoft seems to enjoy shooting themselves in the foot for some reason.

there are other contributors here who agree with you. Don’t let two or three people shout you down.

I thank you for the supportive words Prescott.

A bit of self-restraint on my part was purely a courtesy to the moderators and partly that I would have just been repeating myself anyway – I consider this forum to be one of the friendliest I lurk in, but when I believe I have something valid and of value to say, I’ll rarely hesitate to do so. I’ve never been known to be shy to share my thoughts so it would take more than a few disgruntled members to shut me up completely

Cheers…

Andy

Though I continued to follow this interesting thread, I decided to bow out of contributing to the discussion for a while due to the apparent havoc that my initial statement(s) caused. Whilst a moderator kindly assured me that I’d broken no forum rules, nothing I’ve read here since my post has changed my opinion of Windows 8, so contributing further would have just been repeating what I’d already stated.

I remain convinced that Windows 8 will be amongst Microsoft’s biggest disasters – those being Millennium (Windows ME) the initial release of Vista, which did not become even remotely stable until after SP2 was released and the Microsoft Office “Ribbon” interface.

That said, perhaps I can clarify the reasons I feel so strongly about this, hopefully without raising too many folks blood pressures.

There is a rumor that the RTM will include an option to boot to the desktop. In my opinion MS would be
smart to allow this.

I’m pleased to see that even from a person who is clearly sitting on the opposite side of the fence to me about Windows 8, it’s remains possible to find ‘some’ common ground Ted. I agree entirely, apart from the fact that I believe MS would be even smarter to boot the operating system to a somewhat familiar desktop as default, after a default install. This presently isn’t the case and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change.

I say that because I have considerable experience dealing with people in the business sector. The simple fact of the matter is that they do not like radical changes – The people I dealt with absolutely hated Office 2007’s radical Ribbon Interface introduction, and after running a trial, most reverted back to Office 2003 and continue to use it to this day, along with the FileFormatConverter Microsoft released that I wish I had a dollar for every time I gave someone a link to, or went ahead and installed for them while on site.

Had Microsoft simply allowed an option to revert to a familiar interface when Office 2007 was released, or learned from their mistake with the release of 2010, sales of both Office 2007 and 2010 would have probably sky rocketed. In the company I look after, I take care of 22 workstations. The only machine in this office with 2010 on it is mine (as I provide external support, I’m forced to keep up to date), 1 has Office 2007 (transferred from my machine because it was required to be able to product certain graphical reports in Excel on one of the major software packages we use) but the rest of the workstations continue to run on 2003. I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that until it’s unavoidable, no one else wants the Ribbon Interface – and it’s been out how many years now?

For my own part, I got used to the Ribbon interface fairly quickly and though I continue to believe it’s nowhere near as functional as the old interface was, I’ve gotten that used to it now that I can get around doing most things I need quickly by using short cuts rather than need to keep reaching for the mouse all the time. But I digress..

I played with it and got tips from this forum over the first 36 hours of having the CP installed.
I spent maybe 8 hours on it. But yes, even that is too long

Precisely my point.. and you’re an experienced computer user. The vast majority of employees are not – they know how to use Word, Excel, the firms accounting package, how to research something on Google etc.. but re-configuring and tweaking an operating system that has been so radically changed to what they’ve been used to for so many years? Forget it.

It will be up to Systems Administrators to do that. I only have 22 workstations to worry about internally, but what of those poor Admins that might have 2200 to deploy to? Sure it can be automated, but at what time investment and then you need to consider dealing with the inevitable bugs that come with every major Software re-write. Those can’t be automated and the huge potential loss of productivity is something that can’t be ignored.

And what of the companies who outsource their IT Support requirements – are they willing to pay for the additional hours that will be involved in getting Windows 8 configured back to a way their employees can simply use it, or do you think they will opt to just stick with the status quo, despite the promises of a browser or software package opening a second or two faster?

You already know my prediction on that one. Both System Admins around the globe and small, medium and large company owners alike will reject this operating system as a bad joke being played on them – and thus why it is my belief that it’s doomed to fail.. Microsoft will likely persist, but I think it will take quite a few years before it’s finally accepted. I might have to have a copy in the office just to keep an eye on its progress, but the only external support I’ll offer for it is to format it out for those who might get caught out by blindly purchasing it with a new computer.

In the meantime.. Mac’s remain pretty easy to use, straight out of the box. I own one, so I know. I still prefer Windows.. but I mean Windows in its current form – not the disaster Microsoft are about to release on the world! Improve Windows 7 by all means.. I’m all for change and improvement – but don’t replace a glass to drink out of with a shoe and then expect me to like or embrace it. That’s just crazy!

I think the changes can be easily fixed, but judging by the lack of change from CP to RP, those
changes won’t be made.

Indeed.. and that is the biggest problem of all. Microsoft aren’t known for their willingness to listen to the masses once they’ve made up their minds about something.

Andy,

My feelings were not so much upset by what you say about the new OS but, as an IT Pro, it was what you sent out to your clients or that someone would do such a thing.

I did a very similar thing when Office 2007 appeared with its new ribbon interface. I predicted most would hate it and most did – and thanked me for the warnings. Some went ahead and upgraded anyway, their calls for help later on to revert them back to their previous versions caused no guilt feelings on my part when I invoiced them for my time.

I think the problem is that you and I are looking at this from two totally different perspectives Drew.. If I may be so bold as to suggest this, you’re looking at it on a very small scale – a change that will only affect users in a minor way… a small inconvenience. I’m looking at it from a much larger perspective. Though I understand some IT Pro’s might relish the idea of an injection to their workload with this pending release, I try to take the approach of helping people help themselves and saving them money. If I can do that by warning those who choose to trust me that “I believe” they’re in for serious troubles by purchasing Windows 8, then I make absolutely no apologies for doing exactly that.

Ergo, for not biting my tongue, I am sorry

I appreciate the sentiment, but it’s really not necessary. Forum moderation spared me having to read whatever was said that was objectionable, but I can assure you that even if that were not the case, I am quite thick skinned and would not have “bitten back” – more likely I would have just ignored anything I considered a personal attack about me rather than my opinion on the subject matter

Peace..

Andy

Drew, try this…
Go and re-download Speckie and re-install it.
Maybe your original d/l got corrupted..

Aways a possibility I guess.. Will do that and let you know.

Cheers..

Andy

“learning curve the size of Mount Everest.”

I figured out the basics within 36 hours.

..and you don’t consider 36 hours to figure out the basics excessive? lol..

I’m assuming here you’re an experienced computer user and have tried other operating systems like MACs? Compare your Windows 8 learning curve to jumping from XP (or Vista) to Windows 7 – even only moderately experienced Windows users could figure their way around in less than 36 minutes after a default install, never mind hours.

The change(s) in Windows 8 are way too radical to be embraced by the general computer using public in my opinion – and it’s certainly miles away from being an acceptable operating system in a business environment where learning curves and training to employees can cost huge amounts of dollars to an employer – and for what gain? Pretty screens, headaches for System Administrators and the ability to use touch screens that will probably never be used in the average business environment? I just don’t see any benefit to Microsoft’s biggest money spinners, and that would have to be the business sector(s).

As for home users.. well, apart from perhaps a fun factor in the ability to to be able to use Windows with touch screen swipe technology similar to an IPad, I honestly don’t see any benefits for the average home user either.

I’m really enjoying Windows 8. Speed of response and speed in getting where you want to go are greatly improved.

That’s great.. From my experience and dealing with many corporate clients however, I think I can confidently say that you will almost certainly be in the minority with your enjoyment of the Radical Change(s) Windows 8 introduces after a default install. Even demonstration video’s presented by Microsoft representatives to promote the operating system that can be found on YouTube are enough to put people off even wanting to try it.

Soon after Vista came out, the company I work with made thousands formatting the thing out for clients and re-installing XP for them. I predict the same scenario for Windows 8 – in spades!

It’s better than buying a new computer!

I’m glad you’re finding such a positive experience with it. Hope that never changes for you

What Learning Curve???

In 30 minutes I can customize Win 8 and teach the basics to anyone

Ok, but in less than 5 minutes, most people (professionals and average Joe users alike) could just go ahead and use previous major Windows re-writes / upgrades after a default install with no requirement for configuration changes or having to be taught the basics. The “basics” stayed the same. That may not mean a lot to some, but to most, it will. I’m certainly not against change – never have been, but to go from what the world is used to using, to what Windows 8 is at the moment, is just suicide on Microsoft’s part in my opinion. It’s just too radical a change, for little or no real productivity benefit. If there was ever a time to purchase shares in Macintosh, the pending release of pre-installed Wndows 8 machines is it imo.. :D:

Makes, me, an IT Pro, a wee bit sick to my stomach.

Really? As a fellow IT professional who’s been in the game for well over 15 years now, I think you seriously need to learn how to chill out and accept that not everyone will share your opinion(s) Drew. You should have a browse through Microsoft’s Technet’s forums sometime.. you’ll be amazed at how even highly qualified Microsoft Certified Engineers bag the heck out of Microsoft’s creations at times. :P:

IF he hates it so much, why the hell come here talking about it.

Isn’t this called a Windows Lounge and not a Windows Fan Club where nothing but positives are allowed to be said..?

At least that’s my understanding after reading the forum’s rules for posting here.. and no, I’m not here to troll. I’m dead serious and firmly stand behind every word I’ve written about this topic.. and not just here I can assure you.

Of course it’s always possible that I’m incorrect about the forum’s purpose – if that’s the case, please feel free to point out which of the lounges rule(s) I’ve broken.. or even gone against the spirit of the forum.

I’ve been lurking around here (in particularly the threads that are highlighted in the paid version of Windows Secrets edition that I’ve subscribed to long before Fred Langa stopped his Langalist newsletter, which I also had a paid subscription to for years).

I’ve not felt passionate enough about anything (or motivated to contribute anything) until I saw the OP’s post asking about the benefits of Windows 8 – As I see no benefits (quite the contrary), then I felt compelled to give my opinion. I absolutely make no apologies for that.

While I happily accept you may not share my views about the “usefulness” or “useability” of Windows 8, they are my views and I’ve made them public in many ways. Though I have no way of proving it, I can assure you that many people have verbally mirrored my opinion about Win 8 to me, using terms that I wouldn’t even think of repeating in what I consider to be a family rated forum.

Several posts that failed this criterium were “moderated” this morning.

Had I thought stating what I felt was the obvious about Microsoft’s latest operating system would cause the forums moderators work in having to delete posts, then I would have kept my opinions and thoughts to myself. So for that – (and only that) – I do apologise. I had no idea that people here could be so touchy to negative words being said about a pending operating system re-write. Anyhoo..

Cheers…

Andy

Drew, I would suggest you play with it a little more.

Haha.. Reminds me of a little saying that goes something like.. “The more I play with it, the more it grows on me” .. use your imagination there to figure out what that refers to.

If you have another spell check, IEspell, disable it first and then re-install Speckie….

Actually I don’t have any spell checkers installed on this box (well, apart from the built in Microsoft Office Pro 2010 spell checker) so there “shouldn’t” be any conflicts. (?)

Assuming IE9, have you tried going to “Manage Add-ons” directly from the File menu in IE without any issue? Is your version of IE9 fully up to date with patches and updates? Are you on XP or Windows 7 and 32 or 64bit installs?

I just installed Speckie again a short time ago, this time re-booted my machine before trying to go directly to Manage Add-ons from the file menu and experienced the exact same problem.. IE9 (both 32 and 64bit versions) crash as soon as I do that. Navigating to the Add-ons via Internet options route causes no problems so it’s a curious one. I do have a ton of other software installed on the machine that all behaves itself, but very little in the way of IE Add-ons.

I’ve gone and removed Speckie again, but now I’m curious what it might be conflicting with.. My machine is totally stable in all other respects and automatically backed up with Incremental Acronis Image backups every night at 4:00am to make sure I can keep it that way, but I have a tendency to dump anything that even hints at causing issues as a rule, unless it’s something I consider worthy of my time to try and nut out what the problem is. A spell checker.. well, it would be nice, but I’ve lived without one this long so…

Cheers..

Andy

”Windows 8 is merely a phone OS on a desktop.”

That is 100% incorrect!

Regards,
Drew

I agree.. I’ll quote my 18 year old son with regards to his impression about Windows 8 – “Windows 8 looks like Microsoft has tried to nail a disfunctional and poorly designed IPAD to the top of a computer monitor” ..

I’ve personally tried 2 release candidates of Windows 8 – to me, it’s a load of crap and I’ve been a staunch Microsoft user since Windows 3.11. I will not buy it in any shape or form and have already sent out newsletters to all my clients advising them to avoid it like the plague.

It’s a piece of junk and will surely fail miserably .. in my humble opinion of course. I’m betting I’m right.. Microsoft is committing corporate suicide with this crap they’ve decided to dump on the world!

Cheers..

Question: I’d jump at the chance to install Windows 8 if I could see any reason at all to do so. Does Windows 8 have ANYTHING to offer that we do not now have with Windows 7?

It sure does Patrick.. A heap of frustration and a learning curve the size of Mount Everest.

At home, 3 Laptops (XP and Win 7) 3 Windows Desktops ( 2 x XP Pro, 1 x Win 7 Pro) 1 x beefed up 27″ iMAC purchased several months ago.

The latter and newest Windows 7 Pro machine at home was installed with Windows 8 at least 3 times – and formatted out after a week or so just as many times.

I work in IT Support and am the System Administrator of a large corporate organisation running 3 Windows Servers of various flavours. At work we’re all Windows XP Pro or Windows 7 Pro. I cut my computing teeth on an Amiga 500, have used IBM clones since the old 286 processors using things like DeskQview and OS2 to multi-task and have used and embraced all Windows incarnations since Win 3.11 – All that said, never in my life have I seen a Microsoft product I hated as much as I do Windows 8. I gave it three goes on a desktop, a couple of installs into Virtual machines and just can’t warm to it – it has NO redeeming features that I can find.

I’ve gone out of my way to bag the Release Candidates of this operating system to all my clients and told them to avoid it like the plague in all shapes and forms.

As I mentioned in another thread, I beleive Microsoft is committing Corporate suicide with Windows 8 – heck, it makes the likes of Windows ME and Windows Vista that I consider to be two of Microsoft’s biggest disasters seem like the most stable operating systems ever invented! lol.. :rolleyes:

I’ve just gone past 51 years old and I absolutely love and embrace new technology.. Windows 8? Microsoft have lost their minds.. if you want a MAC, just buy a MAC. Want to use swipe technology – get an IPad. In my view (and that of MANY of my peers) – Windows 8 is a piece of garbage that has zero redeeming features in its current form.

/rant

Cheers

IESpell doesn’t work that great with IE 9 so I now use Speckie… http://www.speckie.com/

This little utility looked great, so I installed it – but it immediately caused problems on my System.

I run a Windows 7 64Bit SP1 PC with 16GB RAM – I have both 32Bit and 64Bit versions of Internet Explorer 9 installed, fully patched.

I downloaded Speckie, installed it and opened my browser and enabled Speckie when prompted – so far so good.

I wanted to see how many Add-Ons Speckie installed so I clicked on Tools > Manage add-ons in IE9 and bang.. Immediate crash. Same thing happend in both the 32Bit and 64Bit versions of IE. I finally got to see the add-on by going a different route .. Tools > Internet Options > Change Search Defaults Settings button, then when that opened, went to the add-on tab – disabled the Speckie add-on, closed browser and tried “Tools > Manage add-ons” again – opened without a problem. Re-enabled Speckie and back to IE crashing again as soon as I tried to access Manage add-ons from the Tools menu.

Glad it works for you Banyarola, but for me, well, it lasted on my system for less than 5 minutes lol..

Cheers..

Hi folks..

Long time lurker, first time poster

I don’t know if I’ve just been lucky, but I’ve managed to fix a whole host of IE7, IE8, and IE9 problems (I work in IT Support) using the .cmd files found on this page.. For me, they’ve been like a magic bullet for IE problems.

http://iefaq.info/index.php?action=artikel&cat=48&id=133&artlang=en

So far as I can tell, the scripts just use Regsrv to re-register a whole host of .dll files. The scripts don’t always fix everything, but they’ve worked for me at least a dozen times or more.. and a couple of times to fix exactly the problem being described – albeit with IE8, not IE9. There are fix script downloads there for Internet Explorer version 7 and up.

Note – be careful to download the appropriate one depending on whether you have a 32Bit or 64Bit installation of Windows.

Hope this helps..