Hi CARedHair,
I am not sure if I have either missed the point you are making, or if by now you already know what I have outlined below, however I hope my comments might help you.
- You said "the charm appears out of no where without any reason and no clue when or when not". Yes, I have heard that a number of people have this issue, even if I have not. So I would suggest that this is a real fault with Drivers/Hardware related software.
We will have to wait for hardware manufactures to fix this issue.
- You said, "The shut down is very hard without a mouse". If this is what you mean, then I do not understand why you say this, using a Acer Windows Tablet PC, I simply press the power switch (which I think makes it go to sleep, but it is great). If I
want to shut down, it is very fast and easy, I swipe from the right hand side of the screen to show the charms, then I press on the "Settings" cog icon, then press on the power icon, then press "Shut down". It might be a few steps, but very easy to do. Maybe
this is not working for you?
- I am confused, what do you mean when you said "I have no problem with their mail since I use Chrome" ? Mail is a email client, and Chrome is a Web Browser, I do not see the connection. I use Thunderbird for a Desktop Email client. You also said " I
resent having to log on", does this mean that you are using a Web Browser to access your email via a Web page style email client (and this site does not allow your web browser to remember your user ID and password? My ISP's web browser email client's UserID
and Password are remembered by Internet Explorer or Firefox and it is easy to log in again, when needed.
4) You also said, "Microsoft needs to give our options back for logging on", so maybe you were also referring to logging into Windows 8 each time you turn it on, or bring it out of sleep. Did you know that there is a setting in the Charm's "Settings",
"PC settings", "Users", "Any user who has a password must enter it when waking this PC", while a somewhat insecure, it does mean that you can bring your PC out of sleep straight into the screen you were last working in. An alternative method would be to set
a Picture Password, but this is something I have not managed to succeed in doing as yet. I also have one old style Tablet PC that has a finger print reader, this is a great option and I wish the newer Tablets still had it.
- You said "You cannot create shortcuts but can see all your programs provided first you return to the clutterted mode". Did you know that you can pin any program to the Start menu, that you find in what you call the "cluttered mode", by which I guess
you mean the "All apps" view. And for programs that do not create menu tiles in Windows 8, I use File Explorer to locate the program's executable and right click it, there is then an option to pin this to the Start Menu. I can even pin folders to the Start
menu, which can be hand for folders containing photos or videos. While I currently still prefer the original Start menu of Windows 7, I find the Windows 8 full screen Start menu very easy to use and the least of my frustrations. It took me some weeks to
get around to reading Windows 8 own help file which explained that if you swipe down on a tile (for example when in All apps view), that it brings up the "Pin to Start" menu option (and other options). I have a lot of learning to do yet.
Are there any other issues you have not resolved with Windows 8?
My current issues are "learning how to get Picture Password to work for me", and b) "getting Apps Store to complete an upgrade". I am open to useful suggestions on these points, but I have raised separate questions for these issues.
Thanks Windows8TabletPC but some of the points you did misunderstand.
That's probably because I have a laptop withuot a touch screen so it is not a tablet. hence all the functions that you may be able to use with ease with your fingers I need to dodge with my fingers on the mouse pad... I am answering each point you made by
numbering them the same way.
- The charm: yes, when moving my fingers across some direction (and I still don't know which since I cannot replicate it when I want it) appears out of nowhere blocking temporarily what I am doing. And because it is on the right side and most of my Photoshop
controls are on the right side, I tend to get it a lot... annoying but I understand that this may be a Dell problem so I will wait for a fix and can live with this.. minor annoyance
- The shut down "was" hard since with the mouse pad the charm would pop up when it wanted but not when I wanted.... so to get to the "settings" on the charm to be able to shut down sometimes could take a 30-minute game... grrrrrrrrrrrr This problem is
now resolved since I purchased Start8 and I am back to the Win7 look--albeit not fully. Desktop shortcuts still are hard to come by unless the program you install asks you if you want a shortcut... If they don't, it is impossible at my current state of understanding
to get a shortcut if I use Start8... Without Start8 I can but those "shortcuts" clutter my desktop as icons by the 100 if I have so many programs and plugs installed as I do (I do a lot of photo processing and also painting so my plugs and software number
in the hundreds).
- Mail and Chrome. I understand what you are saying. What I was trying to say is that I never used Outlook for the same reason I won't even consider their mail client... in fact I don't use IE at all... When the initial screen (before Start8 and my change
to no password) asked for my Windows Live ID I nearly fainted... I use my Windows Live ID for my junk email account... the one I only use for shopping and nothing else.. now I cannot even log on to my Skype (on my Win 8) without using my hotmail password..
I resent that! I did not and do not want a password unification into my Live ID... That is a total joke and this is the biggest Apple imitation that is not going to succeed...
- The password. I understand that commputers are more secure if upon awakening or being turned on, a password is required... I don;t care for that. What I want is that when I turn my computer on, it comes to "desktop" and I can work. Although I was able
to deactivate the password requirement by switching to "local" )and I still don;t know if that's good or bad idea), I am still getting a beautiful Seattle skiline as my startup screen when I turn the computer on and it disppears only after pressing any key,
then the log on screen appears which takes a minute to discover that I don't enter a password and then finally, as the 3rd step, I can see my desktop... annoying..
- Pinning programs to the start menu versus having them as short cut... pinning to the start menu means you need to manipulate the mouse pad (don't forget the forever unannounced Charm appearance!) to see the start menu and then click on the program of
your choice. At best this is 2 steps... at worst (if charm keeps on appearing) it can be a 5-minute + exercise... If I have a shortcut on the desktop... double click and off I go. I don't see why this had to change.. works perfectly.
It is my understanding (very well indeed) that new things are good, technology advances and makes things better, faster, easier, and saves time, money, energy, etc. As Win 8 is presently on a laptop or desktop from what I read and hear, it does none of
the above "visibly". It may improve things in the background by speeding up applications but that is a techie thing that belongs to a different discussion.
I am also familiar with dragging the tiles down to have instant access to things.. but can you imagine 30-50 tiles on that one tiny bar with my 15' laptop and my mouse pad that likes to kick Charm in my face when least expected? nah... not possible.
Hope this explained it a bit better now what my original problem was before the discussion became a useless PhD stuff with one of the persons in this forum. Thanks for your effort in trying to help!