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I use Media Player in Windows 7 to manage all my CDs and rip them to MP3. How do I do this in Windows 8?

Wonderful.

I downloaded it and installed it. Then, not really “with it”, I thought “OK, How do I start it”? So, I clicked on the “Start” button to find the app – DOOHHH!!!!!!

Ok- Understand. Sounds reasonable to me (for now).

Alan

Drew,

That looks nice, but I would forget and click the “full Screen” button. My way, I don’t have to worry – the gadgets are just “there”.
Like this:

Pinned to the task bar. When it starts up, it always comes up as “tiles”. Is there a way to get it to come up as “Small Icons” and sorted by name?Alan

Ted/Drew, thanks for the link. I thought about this last night but the issue is that the Window stays open once clicked. With a “real” start menu, once you select your app, the apps list goes away again. Also, the real start menu has everything organised into sub-folders, which I like.

I will give this a try (the shortcut is an easier way than the method I was thinking about), but it’s still (to me) a retrograde step.

thanks
edit – got it up and running. Not too bad.
Alan

Here’s a picture

Drew – re .-2, I know about the Windows 7 free floating gadgets, but they either disappear if you don’t have “always on top” or they overwrite parts of the underlying window if you do.

With the Vista version, the apparent screen size for apps is altered so the gadgets stay around but don’t interfere with the apps. It seems to be a good compromise to me.

re -1, Yes, it’s a spare box that I use for testing and playing. Now completely wiped and given over to Windows 8 (it was dual booting with Windows 2003 server, but I didn’t need it).

Alan

Agreed again.

I do everything from the desktop. The “Start” button – or some othe way of accessing the hundreds of programs I have installed – is essential. Yes, I have shortcuts for the most used, but I still would like easy access to the rest of my apps.

So, MS (or a spokesman), tell me what advantage you have given me by removing it?

Alan

Having got my W8 PC looking similar to my W8 PC, I am becoming less convinced that the upgrade is necessary.

It does seem to use less resources and is a bit faster to load – but can I get real work done any quicker? Not sure yet – the jury is still out.

Alan

Yes it is enabled. And since my W7 PC’s all talk to each other, I would assume that IPV6 is being used.

I have also tried rebooting the master server. No difference.

Alan

Still doesn’t work after a complete rebuild.

Alan,

Will be anxious to hear the results.

Drew

So, a complete brand new install, wiping out all partitions etc.

First thing: The installation did not recognise my video driver (on-board Intel one). Into “Device Drivers”, right click on the driver found and click on get update – and it found the right one. So, still some work to be done there.

Second – HomeGroup still does not work to my Windows 7 PCs. It sees the “Master”, but comes back with the same error as before (see other thread for details). However, conencting to \servershare works OK.

So, onto the Gadgets. Now, it works. I can load them in. I have loaded in my CPU meter (not the standard one) and that works fine. However, my network meter doesn’t see any interfaces so there is something fundamentally different underneath that will need fixing.

Next step is to see if the Vista Sidebar program works. This one sits there all the time and windows maximise to one side – so my gadgets are ALWAYS in view and never overlap with programs. Well, it seems to do OK.

So far – so good, apart from the network meter.

Alan

Personally, I haven’t worried about performance. I assume there is still beta and debug code in there. Having seen the fast boot, I don’t expect it to be any worse that Windows 7 and probably better.

Stability? Not had it running long enough, but no crashes yet.

Alan

OK – maybe I’ll trash it all and try a new install this weekend. Doesn’t bode well for the real thing though….

Alan