Windows 8 review

Microsoft has long dominated the desktop and laptop markets with its Windows operating system, but things have started to change; Apple has started to gain market share with its Macs, while tablets, led by the iPad, have started to eat into the traditional PC’s dominance. It’s clear, then, that Microsoft has to change to keep up and that’s where Windows 8 comes in: it’s an OS designed for traditional desktops and tablets alike.

It’s a brave move, as even Apple has decided that it needs on OS for real computers (OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion) and one for its mobile computers (iOS for iPhone and iPad). There’s a real danger that Windows 8 will end up being poor for both tasks, alienating all the operating system’s potential users.

With the final Released to Manufacturing (RTM) version of the OS now in our hands, we decided to find out if Microsoft has created the perfect hybrid operating system or a complete mess that tries to mash together a laptop and a tablet.

TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE

The first thing to get your head around is that Windows 8 now has two interfaces. So, as well as the Desktop view that we’ve all come to know and love, there’s also the Metro interface, with its Live Tiles. Or rather, it was called the Metro interface until a supermarket with the same name complained and Microsoft was forced to drop the name completely, changing the interface’s name to just plain Windows 8. As the new interface now has the same name as the operating system, to avoid confusion we’ll call the new interface the Start Screen.

The Start screen replaces the Start menu and has Live Tiles, shortcuts, built-in search and its own applications

As the name implies, the Start Screen replaces the old Start menu. It’s more than just a program launcher: as well as plain shortcuts, the screen can house Live Tiles, which update to show you live information, such as how many unread emails you have or what the weather is like. Live Tiles are a great way to keep up with what’s going on and having all this information on a single page is very useful and a vast improvement on the old Gadgets in Windows Vista and 7.

The Start Screen is beautifully smooth to navigate. With its large icons, it certainly looks like it’s designed for tablets, and it has some touchscreen-ready features. On a touchscreen device, you can swipe to move between Start’s multiple screens, drag-and-drop tiles where you want them and pinch-to-zoom to get an overall view of your Start Screen. Fortunately, Microsoft has remembered desktop users and you can use a mouse’s scroll-wheel or the scroll bar to move left and right through the pages.

SEARCHING

Searching your computer is now done through the Start Screen, and you can just start typing to bring up the search dialog. This defaults to searching for Apps, but you can also filter by Settings and Files. One of our big bugbears with the Consumer Preview was that once you’d searched for files, your only option was to click a search result and have it open in the default application. Fortunately, Microsoft has fixed this and right-clicking a file now gives you the Open location option, which opens an Explorer Window on the Desktop, where you can copy, rename or delete the file, as well as right-click and choose which application you want to open it with.

Search has been improved since the Consumer Preview and you can now open a file’s location

It’s still a bit of a kludge that you have to swap from the Start Screen to the Desktop to perform a simple task, but it’s a lot better than it was in the first versions of Windows 8 and, based on several days of solid Windows 8 use, this behaviour is something we can happily live with.

START SCREEN APPS

The Start Screen is designed to hold its own apps, with built-in email (Mail), contacts (People) and calendar (Calendar) programs as standard, as well as Photos for browsing pictures. The apps are designed to be used primarily with a touchscreen interface and are brilliantly simple to use. Their large, clear interfaces are slick and easy to understand. Most impressively, animations are slick and smooth – this doesn’t fell like using Windows, but more like an Apple tablet. The apps are also easy to navigate with a mouse and keyboard, showing Microsoft hasn’t forgotten about its largest install base.

Start screen apps are large, bold and very easy to use

Where things are really different to normal Windows is that Start Screen apps work and function more like they’re on a tablet. For example, there’s no file menu and you swipe in from the side or bottom on a touchscreen device or right-click or hover the mouse in the top-right corner on a desktop computer to access options. You also don’t have to worry about closing applications down, as they pause automatically in the background and terminate when not in use.

Start screen apps run full-screen, but you can place two side-by-side

So far, so easy to get used to, but there’s a problem in that the apps are also designed to be run full-screen, so you can’t resize them to fit your monitor. The only consolation is that you can put two Start Screen apps into side-by-side mode, where one smaller app takes up one-third of the screen’s resolution and one takes up the rest. It’s a useful way of fitting more on the screen and you can put a Start Screen app side-by-side with the standard Desktop if you want to.

Mail is really easy to use, but lacks the advanced features of a ‘proper’ email client

What’s more surprising is that the apps generally don’t have as many features as real Desktop applications. Take Mail, for example, which won’t let you create rules to filter your email. Ultimately, this is likely to mean that you’ll end up using a combination of Start Screen and Desktop applications, depending on whether you want the full functionality or just a quick peek at some data.

WINDOWS STORE

It should come as no surprise that the only way to add new Start Screen apps is through the Windows Store. There’s a whole bunch of free software available at the moment, but as paid-for software will only come online with the full release of Windows 8 on 26th October 2012, it’s hard to comment on how good the selection of apps in the store will be. However, given the number of Windows PCs out there and the number of Windows 8 PCs that will ship just with people buying new laptops, we expect developers will get behind the store.

The Windows Store is your place for new Start screen apps, but there’s not that much available at the moment

At the time of writing, the store is a little bare and it doesn’t yet replicate everything that was available as a Windows Gadget: we really miss the XE Currency convertor, for example.

CHARMS

It also takes a while to get used to the fact that, in order to perform various tasks in Windows 8 apps, you need to use Charms. Charms are shortcuts for various tasks that exist in their own bar, which appears if you hover the mouse at the top-right of the screen or slide in from the right-hand side on touchscreen devices.

Charms give you quick access to some features, such as Search, Devices (for printing and the like) and to Share data

One of the key Charms is Search. You’ll be using this a lot, as there’s no search bar in any application. For example, if you’re using the Windows Store and want to find a particular application, you need to bring up the Search Charm first.

Charms can make some jobs quicker. If you’re viewing a picture in Photos, you can click Share and quickly attach it to an email. The Devices Charm is also useful. For example, if you’re viewing a photo you can select your printer from Devices to get a physical copy. It’s a little alien using Charms at first, but once you’re used to them they’re a great shortcut when using both regular desktop and touchscreen devices.

DESKTOP

When you want to get down to some serious work, there’s the standard Desktop for regular Windows applications. This looks very similar to the Windows 7 desktop, only there’s no Start Menu. It didn’t take too long to get used to using the Start Screen to launch applications, then switching back to the Desktop when we needed to.

Microsoft has put a lot of work into new Desktop features, particularly if you’ve got multiple displays. The Taskbar now appears on all screens, although you can modify it so that each monitor’s bar only shows applications open on that screen. It’s not perfect, though, as Excel 2010 refused to appear on the display it was open in, and would only appear on the main Taskbar on the primary display. You can also set different wallpapers for each screen or span an image across all your displays.

The new Desktop looks like the old one, but there are some key improvements, particularly if you use multiple monitors

As much of Windows 8’s interface, when used with a keyboard and mouse, requires the use of hotspots (hovering the mouse over the top-right of the display opens the Charms bar, for example), Microsoft has created hard edges on each display. You can’t move the cursor past where the corner of one desktop meets another one. Instead, the mouse hits the edge and activates the hotspot. It’s a small change, but one that makes multiple desktops and the hotspots much easier to use.

There have been some bizarre decisions, though. Looking for the Backup utility we instead found the Desktop File History application. This backs up and stores files in your Libraries (Documents, Photos, Videos and Music), and keeps multiple versions of them, similar to Apple’s Time Machine. However, we couldn’t find the old System Image option when we wanted to take a complete backup of the system. Instead, the system imaging functions are found under Windows 7 File Recovery, which admittedly lets you restore Windows 7 backups, but why the System Image option isn’t more obvious is a mystery to us.

It’s strange how the System Image function is hidden, with more prominence given to File History

We love the new Task Manager, which organises running processes into Apps (things you can see), Background processes (things you can’t see) and Windows processes (things you should probably leave alone). Each entry tells you the amount of CPU, Memory, Disk and Network the process is using, helping you troubleshoot more effectively.

The new Task Manager is brilliant: it’s easier to use and gives more detail than the old one

We also have to mention the improvements to the copy dialog. First, copying starts immediately, rather than Windows calculating how long it will take; secondly, there’s a pause button, so you can temporarily suspend a large copy if it’s slowing your computer down.

We’re pleased to say that the excellent window management remains and Microsoft is a long way ahead of Apple here. You can snap windows to the side of a screen, where they take up half the available resolution, or snap to the top to maximise them, and there are keyboard shortcuts for these features too. It makes keeping abreast of all your open applications really simple.

However, we have concerns at how easy the Desktop will be to use from a touchscreen device, such as a Tablet, and we can see people either being stuck using the Start Screen or having to get a keyboard and mouse to access all the operating system’s features.

DISJOINTED

So far Windows 8 sounds pretty good, with an improved Desktop sitting next to a full-screen Start menu replacement. However, it’s the way in which these two systems interact, or rather don’t, that starts to cause problems.

For example, there’s a new PC Settings Start Screen app, which acts like a simplified Control Panel replacement. It’s incredibly easy to use, with simple on/off switches for most settings, but, it doesn’t let you do everything and, in some cases, it doesn’t even let you do simple things. For example, you can create a User using PC Settings, but you can’t set it as an Administrator or delete the account; to do this, you have to switch back to the old Control Panel using the Desktop.

The new PC Settings app is really easy to use, but you’ll have to go back to the old Control Panel for some jobs, such as deleting a user account

Some things you absolutely have to do through the Desktop, such as managing hard disk partitions. These jobs are more frustrating as there’s no Computer icon by default – in previous versions of Windows, right-clicking on Computer gave you access to a lot of powerful functions. You can add Computer to the Desktop easily, but we preferred to use the Windows-X shortcut, which brings up a menu with options for Device Manager, Disk Management and Control Panel, among others. Quite why Microsoft can’t put all of the options in one place is beyond us, as it can be frustrating searching through the Start Screen app only to find it has a limited choice of options.

The Desktop quick menu is a lifesaver for all of those management tasks you’ll still need to do

JUST BROWSING

Another niggle is the web browser. This is set to Internet Explorer 10 by default, which can run in Desktop and Start Screen modes. The mode is chosen automatically based on where you launch the app from: so Desktop if you click the IE10 icon on the Taskbar and Start Screen if you launch it from there. This means you have to have the browser pinned to the Taskbar to run it in Desktop mode, or it will always start in Start Screen mode.

There’s little difference between the two versions, bar the Start Screen version running full-screen, having a simpler interface and limiting the range of internet options you can touch. Fortunately, Microsoft has fixed the issue in the Consumer Preview where you couldn’t access Favorites from the Start Screen version or Pinned sites from the Desktop version. You can replace IE10 with Chrome and, if you set Chrome as your default browser, it will run in Desktop and Start Screen modes. Strangely, you have to log both versions of Chrome into your Google account if you want to synchronise your bookmarks, passwords and history. It’s a shame that there’s no interconnect between a Live screen app and the Desktop.

You can run IE10 in both Desktop and Start screen modes

PERFORMANCE AND SECURITY

These annoyances are frustrating, as underneath it all Microsoft has done a good job rewriting Windows, making it faster and more responsive. Boot times are impressive, with our PC booting from its SSD in around eight seconds. Resume from hibernation is much quicker too: if you’ve used a MacBook and have opened the lid to find out that the computer is ready for use in seconds, this is what you can also expect from Windows 8.

We generally found the OS more responsive than Windows 7. Our benchmark results seem to back this up. While the Image editing and Video editing tests are slightly faster than on Windows 7 (we’d put this down to better file system management), the Multitasking test is slightly slower. Our guess is that some system resources are kept in reserve to make the computer more responsive and to keep the Start Screen smooth. It’s this tactic that Apple uses on its operating systems, with the result that the its OS still responds quickly, even when the CPU is really busy. It’s a good decision, as we’d rather have computer that always responds, even if it means that really heavy jobs take a few seconds longer to process.

On our Core i5-2500K PC, Windows 8 was slightly faster in all but our multi-tasking test; we think that’s because it holds back system resources so it feels more responsive

Security has been beefed up, with SmartScreen filtering designed to detect unknown applications and prevent them from running, although it’s easy to override if you know an application is safe. Buying applications through the Store should also be safer, as they can be checked before they go live, giving you some more confidence. However, security software is still a must. Dennis Technology Labs, our security-testing division, has seen the preview edition of Windows 8 compromised by a virus, showing that it is possible. That’s to be expected, but with the right security software installed Windows 8 should be secure.

CLOUD

Microsoft sees the cloud as an incredibly important part of its OS, down to the fact that you can now log in to your Windows 8 computer using a Microsoft account. The benefit of doing this is that you can synchronise your wallpaper, settings, themes and passwords between all your computers.

SkyDrive lets you save files to online storage, but the app is pretty clunky

Windows 8 also comes with the SkyDrive app, which lets you upload new files and folders. SkyDrive is clunky, to say the least, however, and you have to revert to the web interface to do some simple jobs, such as sharing a file with someone. Our advice is to ignore SkyDrive and install SugarSync for your cloud storage and file synchronisation needs.

UPGRADERS AND SYSTEM BUILDERS

In terms of installing Windows, this is the fastest and easiest version we’ve ever installed. With USB3 support, you can install the OS from a flash drive in less than 20 minutes. Excellent driver support means all your hardware should work when the install has finished. We also found that Windows 8 worked with pretty much every bit of software that ran on Windows 7, with the only exception being the proprietary VPN software used to access our company network. In terms of upgrading, Microsoft now lets you install a fresh copy of Windows 8 using your upgrade disc. There were workarounds on previous versions, but none so easy as this.

Windows 8 is also the first version of the OS available for purchase as a download, and it can even perform an in-place upgrade on your computer online. All this means that it’s easier than ever to buy and install Windows.

EDITIONS

Microsoft has massively simplified the range of Windows 8 Editions. The standard Windows 8 version will include everything that home users will need, while Windows 8 Pro adds in BitLocker and some extra tools for corporate networks and Windows 8 Enterprise is just for businesses. In addition, there will be Windows 8 RT, which is just for tablets using the ARM processor architecture.

The simplification makes choosing an edition a lot easier than before and there’s no high-priced Ultimate edition to worry about. The only strange thing with all the Editions is that Windows Media Center is no longer part of Windows, although it will be offered for download separately.

WORTH BUYING?

Whether Windows 8 is worth buying is a tricky question. Windows 7 did such a good job and is so stable that many people won’t see the need to upgrade. Microsoft is combatting this with a very competitive $40 upgrade price (we expect it to be £40 in the UK) to take any previous version of Windows XP or 7 up to Windows 8 Pro – the highest version available. This is staggeringly good value and could well tempt a lot of people to upgrade. Even more tempting is the £15 upgrade price for those who have bought a Windows 7 PC recently and who register at www.windowsupgradeoffer.com.

If you don’t already own an OS and are going to be paying full price, there’s no denying that Windows 8 is an accomplished operating system. We found its two halves a little disjointed, but it didn’t take us long to get used to the Windows 8 way of working. With its faster boot times and more responsive interface, we think it’s worth buying to install on a newly-built PC; we don’t have a final price yet, but expect Windows 8 to cost around the same as for Windows 7. For people looking to buy a new PC before Windows 8 is launched, the upgrade offer means you shouldn’t delay just to get the new operating system.

Overall, Windows 8 isn’t perfect and there needs to be more seamless interaction between the Start Screen and Desktop, but the core improvements are a big leap forward. Microsoft’s new OS also makes the prospect of proper Windows tablets a reality and will help spur innovation among laptop manufacturers, which can only be a good thing.

INSTALL GUIDE

Microsoft has worked hard to make its new OS the easiest to install yet, but it’s easy to get caught out unless you follow our step-by-step guide, below.

Getting Windows 8 installed on a computer is a mostly pain-free task, thanks to Microsoft’s excellent installation routine. There are a few things to watch out for, particularly if you’re using an Upgrade version of the software, which can replace an in-situ version of Windows 7 with Microsoft’s latest OS. Typically, we think it’s best to avoid such upgrades.

SOFTWARE AND DRIVERS

An operating system install is always better when it’s done fresh, as it gives you a good excuse to clear out the clutter on your old computer. Make sure that you back up all of your important files and applications before you start.

If you’ve got software that has to be de-registered, so you can install it on a new computer, such as Adobe Lightroom, make sure that you do this first. Thanks to modern browser-centric computing and cloud storage this is far less hassle than it used to be.

It’s worth downloading all of the drivers you need for your hardware from the manufacturer’s websites, saving them to a USB flash drive, just in case. Windows 7 drivers should work with Windows 8 if you can’t find the right version.

BOOT MEDIA

Once you’ve got everything you need, you may have one more job, as Windows 8 is the first version of Microsoft’s popular OS that has a download version available from the Windows Store. If you go down this route you’ll need to create your own boot media, so that you can install the OS on your computer.

The only exception to this is the Upgrade Version, which should download and install in one go; however, for safety, we recommend following the alternative method and downloading the Upgrade ISO file, which you can then burn to DVD or copy to a USB flash drive. If you’ve bought a retail copy of the software, you can skip this section and jump straight to the installation instructions instead.

USB OR DVD?

You have two choices for creating installation media: a blank DVD or a USB drive. If you want to go with a USB drive, you’ll need one with at least a 4GB capacity. It will be wiped when you put the software on it, so insert it into a slot and make sure you’ve copied everything off it first. Leave the USB drive inserted. If you’re going to use a DVD, insert a blank disc into your drive.

The Windows 7 USB Download Tool lets you create a bootable flash drive for installing Windows 8

Next, download the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool and install it on your computer. Run the software and click Browse, then navigate to your Windows 8 ISO file. Click Next, and you can choose DVD or USB as the installation method.

If you click DVD, you’ll need a blank disc in your optical drive; click Begin Copying when you’re blank disc is detected. If you’re using a USB drive, select the right one from the drop-down list and click Begin Copying to wipe the drive and copy the files. Once the process has completed, your boot media is ready for use.

Before you start, though, make sure that your computer is connected to the internet. You can do this via an Ethernet cable to your router if you used wired networking, while wireless users will be prompted to connect to a network during the installation process.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTALLATION GUIDE

STEP 1
Insert your Windows 8 boot media (DVD or USB) drive into your computer and restart it. Make sure that your BIOS, or UEFI if you have a newer computer, is set to boot from the correct media first.

For USB drives, this could either be a generic USB option, or you may find that your USB drive appears in the list of hard disks. For the latter, make sure your USB drive is first in the list. Some modern UEFI motherboards have a boot menu: open this and click on your USB drive.

Look out for a message telling you hit any key to boot Windows 8; you may not get this if you’re booting from a USB drive. Check your motherboard or laptop manual for specific information on booting and your BIOS or UEFI.

STEP 2
When you get the Windows 8 installation screens, make sure that your language is set correctly and click Next, then Install Now. Enter your licence key into the box provided and clickNext.

Select the ‘I accept the licence terms’check-box and click Next. You’ll get a choice of Upgrade, or Custom. We think that Custom is the better choice and this guide is based on a clean install of Windows. Click Next when done.

STEP 3
Windows 8 should detect your hard disk automatically. If it isn’t, click on the Load Driver button and insert the CD, USB key or floppy disk with the relevant driver. You should need to do this only if you’re using RAID or you have a brand new motherboard that Windows doesn’t recognise.

If you’re using an old hard disk, it’s best to start afresh. Select the partition that contains your old operating system, select Advanced and click Delete. You can also delete any other unwanted partitions this way too. You’re now ready to continue, as if you had a new computer with a fresh hard disk.

For a fresh disk, or an old disk on which you’ve already wiped any partitions, you can just select the Unallocated Space and click Next. Windows will automatically create the necessary disk partitions and perform the installation.

STEP 4
After a process where the Windows 8 files are copied to your hard disk, your computer will reboot. If you’re booting from USB, you may have to remove the drive, or your computer will try and boot into the setup programme all over again. Let the installation do its thing and you’ll get to the setup wizard.

First, pick the colours you want the OS to useand then enter a name for your computer. Click Next and, if you’re not already connected to a network, you’ll be asked to join a wireless network. Select your WiFi network from the list and enter your username and password, then click Connect.

Windows 8 will ask if you want to use Express settings or Customise them. Click Customise, so you can choose exactly how Windows 8 sets itself up.First, you’ve got security settings. The default options are good, with important and recommend updates downloading and installing automatically; there’s no option to only warn of new Updates. Click Next.

Next, you can choose whether to send information to Microsoft or not to help it make the software better. If you’re fine with this anonymous information click Next, otherwise turn off the parts you don’t want to share.

Next, you are asked about online services, such as checking online for solutions to problems. Unless you have a specific reason to turn these settings off, we recommend leaving them alone.

STEP 5
You need to enter your email address to access your PC, which will let you download apps from the Windows Store and access your online content.

You can enter any email address, although you will have to enter a new password and set up some security questions if this address isn’t registered as a Microsoft Account. Follow the wizard through to configure your account and your computer will start for the first time. Log in with your new account details.

STEP 6
Although Windows is now working, you still need to install all the relevant drivers to make sure that everything works smoothly. The trick here is to install any drivers that are for Windows 8; only install Windows 7 drivers if a component isn’t working, such as a printer or scanner.

The first place to start is with your motherboard’s drivers. If you downloaded these earlier, insert the USB key or disc you saved them to. If you couldn’t do this, insert the driver disc that came with your motherboard and follow the onscreen instructions. You’ll need to download the updated drivers later, and then follow these instructions.

For each driver you downloaded, run the associated file. It’s best to start with the chipset driver, but the order afterwards doesn’t matter. If Windows displays any warning messages, just click OK. Be careful, as some files you download are actually just archive files that extract the actual driver files on to your hard disk. If this is the case, navigate to the folder the files were extracted to and run the Setup program that you find there. You’ll probably need to restart your computer after each driver installation.

STEP 7
Windows will install its own graphics drivers for any onboard or dedicated cards that you have. These are fine for running Windows, but you won’t be able to play games properly. For this, you’ll need to install the latest graphics drivers.

Both AMD and Nvidia provide a single driver, so just run the file that you downloaded. If you couldn’t download the drivers earlier, you should do so now. Restart your computer after the graphics driver has installed. Right-click on the desktop, select Screen Resolution and adjust the resolution to match your monitor’s native resolution.

STEP 8
You can now install the other peripherals that you’ve added to your PC. Install the relevant driver files for each device that’s plugged into your motherboard. For USB devices, you need to install the driver file first and, when prompted, connect the device to a USB port. If you’re in any doubt, you should read the manual that came with your peripheral.

STEP 9
Windows 8’s installationonly lets you choose to automatically install updates. To change this press Windows-X and select Control Panel. Type Windows Update into the search bar and click Windows Update.

Click Change Settings and you can use the drop-down menu to select ‘Check for updates but let me choose when to download and install them’. This lets you choose when it’s convenient to update. You can choose any other setting that suits you, but this is our favourite option. Click OK when done.

Press the Windows key, type Windows Update and click Windows Update. Click Install to install the latest updates and make sure your computer’s up-to-date.

STEP 10
Windows 8 has an option to let you create a recovery drive, which you can use if there are problems. Press the Windows key and type ‘recovery’, click Settings and click Create a recovery drive.

Click Next, insert a USB flash drive when prompted (256MB or higher) and select this drive from the list, using its drive letter. Click Next, read the warning that everything on your drive will be deleted and click Create. It will take a while for the process to complete, so sit back and let it do its job. Click Finish when done and keep your USB drive safe.