Windows 8 is appealing in some ways. I like the idea of apps on the desktop. Everything is right at your fingertips. Windows 8 is very different from previous versions of Windows. I took me a few days to figure out how to get to the desktop, when I finally noticed there was a desktop app located on the app screen. I am not too fond of hovering over to the side to power off the computer or view settings. It takes some time to get used to, but it can be done. Windows 8 has apps you can use for games, software applications, pictures, and more. It is very similar to using a tablet or smartphone. The start screen is accessed by hovering to the bottom right side on my computer and then selection start. The start screen then takes you to a page of apps. You can also download additional apps from the Microsoft store. Hovering to the side also gives you a search option, which I have used quite frequently to access the control panel and other areas of my computer that are not as easy to find anymore. Once I find what I am looking for I just set it on my desktop for easy access. Ease of Use It is not the easiest version of Windows I have used and it takes some time to get used to. There are many things that I still do not know or possibly understand. It requires a bit of exploring, but can be fun at the same time to learn new things.

SBarbour

Undisclosed

Absolutely love my new touch screen laptop with Windows 8.1. Finally a touch screen product that is familiar even though I am a first time user. Also with most editions the upgrade from 8 to 8.1 is free. The apps are useful and sometimes entertaining, they are relevant to all users and age groups. The main thing that is a leaps and bounds impovement to the Windows family is the fact that in 8 you can customize just about everything to your liking. What's not cool about that? Performance Windows 8 is completely optimized to effectively use all its components and processor to the max. As an example my former laptop was an i5 with 8GB ram. My current laptop running Windows 8 has an i3 and 4GB ram. Point being that Windows 8 outperforms all previous editions of Windows. Speed Once again Windows 8 delivers on an umbelievable speed increase when complared to all previous releases. Mac has some real competition out there now with all the improvements that have been made in this latest edition of Windows. Ease of Use I give it a 7 on ease of use simply because if you are a beginning computer user, you may find it overwhelming to learn not only a brand new computer but a totally new Windows and operating platform. However for people like myself who have just an average knowledge of the workings of a computer it was no problem at all to quickly get acclimated with Windows 8. Virus Protection How cool is this: Windows 8 comes with its own virus protection and spyware detection. No need to try to sort through the dozens of different anti-virus programs available. Also, they update themselves via Windows Update - which by the way works flawlessly.

stumbler28

USA

Once you have upgraded, going back isn't easy. It's difficult if you don't have a touch screen tablet/laptop, but once you master isn't not as bad as I thought. Forget everything you knew about every other Windows OS prior, because this is ALL very different and you probably need to go through a tutorial before installing. Performance Once mastered, and if using a touch screen it's quite pleasant and the performance is good. Speed Because it is connected with a "cloud" it is always backing up your information which makes it run a lot slower than expected. Ease of Use It's not easy to learn to use without a tutorial. I work with new software programs on a regular basis and I work through and find what I'm looking for on my own. It helps learn the software better as well. However, if you're in a hurry, take a tutorial online before getting frustrated and not being to complete your project. Virus Protection I really haven't worked with the Virus Protection, but I haven't had any viruses so far. Compatibility I haven't had to reload drivers for any of my external devices such as my Wi-Fi, printer, etc.

julzdelaney1

USA

Having the start button return just makes this OS. it works with all my Steam games. Office 365 is awesome and Skydrive shuts google down if you haven't tried it Performance starts up fast and load applications fast Speed depends on hardware Ease of Use very straight forward and comes with a great support system

seekingvirtue

USA

Windows 8 is worse than slow wifi. It's really annoying and if you buy a laptop with Windows 8 as it's operating system, you'll be disappointed if you're anything like me. I definitely was. Overall, this operating system is not something I would suggest to anyone that I didn't hate. If you don't have the option in using it, I feel your pain, and I am deeply sorry. Performance I think this sucks. If you scroll to the right corner to exit out of a page, you end up at the start menu and settings area. That was definitely poor planning. Speed The speed isn't bad, but you can't really determine speed of the system well because speed of the device itself has to be factored in so it could be super fast or slower than a tired snail. That really depends on your device. Ease of Use This confuses me. I end up viewing pictures or at my email when I mean to be at the desktop on google chrome. Virus Protection I don't have any viruses, and I download things a lot. It works for me.

silentescape

USA

The new windows 8 operating system is pretty dang cool. I've been using it for a few months now. At first, it can be very confusing because it's completely different than operating systems like Windows 7 or XP. The main part of the system is apps like apps you would have on a smartphone. Your desktop is an app. You can still mostly use it like any other operating system for the most part. You still have desktop icons and everything. Your programs, however, are your apps and are not accessed via a normal start button. You can get through the other programs that aren't apps through the desktop assist button. So, at first I was lost. It will take time to get used to where to find everything you're used to. But once you get it, it's great! Performance I think it works great performance wise. Speed I think it's just as fast as any other windows operating system, if not a little faster. Ease of Use It's easy to use once you get the hang of it, but that may take a bit of time because it's so different. Virus Protection It all depends on what anti-virus programs you get. But I haven't had a single virus affect my computer yet, so it's doing pretty good so far. Compatibility Of course, with any new os, there's going to be a lot of products that aren't compatible, but that can be corrected as time goes on.

ShelleyRenae

USA

Coming from Windows 7 on my Sony Vaio laptop (f2390x), Windows 8 started off with a bit of trouble here and there. Obviously with time comes polish. The live tiles on the home screen are great if you like to have a certain style with push notifications for your email, messages, and whatnot. With Windows 8.1, there's relatively less restrictions on setting up how the home screen looks, the live-tile sizes, and there's more apps if you're into that. The potential use of Windows 8.1 reveals itself if you have a touch-screen. Granted, I don't have a touch screen but everything works out fine with a mouse and keyboard alone. If you're the type who really hates to move your hands a lot (i.e. prefer using the mouse) then the touch screen might not matter as much. I generally use the desktop version of everything more simply because it is efficient for me since I already know my way around. Additionally, I can multitask much more easily since I'm using a keyboard and mouse. I'm giving this score an overall 9/10 for style, ease of access, improved start-up time, system efficiency, and the many features Windows 8.1 comes with. Keep in mind this is on a laptop from 2011 with specs that were mid-high grade at the time. Windows 7 would take 1 minute to start up, then another 1 minutes for me to load (that's after defrag, disk cleanup, correct ram upgrade...). Windows 8.1 takes max 20 seconds. Not bad when you have relatively outdated hardware. Performance There's an increase in performance. However, ram does get used more due to live tiles. This only affected me when trying to process a video I've recorded of myself for Youtube using Sony Vegas 10. Speed Immense increase in speed not only of the system, but how I get around. There are so many convenient setups that the OS encourages (They existed before on Windows 7, but weren't as emphasized for efficiency). Compatibility There are some compatibility issues I've encountered. I don't know if it's attributed to the hardware on my laptop, or from the OS itself. I imagine some is due to the OS as there are a few drivers for existing peripherals that do not have updates for this OS yet. However, I have managed to find my way around easily so it's not a big problem to me.

fdesa12

USA

Windows 8 is completely different, I downloaded a 3rd party shell just so I could use it normally on a regular laptop. It seems to me like it would be better fit for a phone.... Performance I haven't had too many errors with this OS..... Speed It seems to load just as fast as any other OS Ease of Use It's not very good for a laptop. Unless however it's a touchscreen or telephone.

CarolReed

USA

Windows 8 has shown to be more time consuming because I am constantly trying to figure out how to accomplish simple tasks. Such as downloading photos from my camera. The hidden menus are difficult to find when needed but for some reason they pop up at random which is very annoying. But the presentation looks nice. Compatibility It's been an ongoing struggle to sync my samsung camera with my samsung computer. I shouldn't be that hard but for whatever reason windows 8 will not recognize any usb I plug in.

J1zizzle

USA

The newest version of Windows is certainly one of the best operating systems out there, but that is really by default. Much of what Microsoft has gotten right since the '90s, namely user control over the OS and universal compatibility, seem to take a backseat in Windows 8 to things like tablet functionality and Cloud connectivity. Microsoft really hit a homerun with Windows 7, and so I think that's the OS I'll be staying with for now. Performance Load times are very fast. Startup and shutdown are much faster than Windows 7. The OS seems very stable. Ease of Use There will be a learning curve for anyone that is used to older versions of Windows, but for newcomers and those who take the time to learn it, the interface is quite intuitive. This comes a the expense, though, of functionality and user control. Virus Protection I have never used Window's built in virus protection, so I don't know how it works in Windows 8. Compatibility As with all Windows systems, 8 plays friendly with most everything you throw at it. It does seem to have fewer built in drivers than Windows 7 had, though, which I find odd and a bit frustrating.

jamesj2001

USA