I HATE Windows 8. This is the worst OS ever invented.

I don't know much about Windows 8, and I truly dislike it. It's not intuitive, and those charms - WTH are they good for? Once it was set up, most what they do is redundant,. and everything else could easily be done through my computer or a start button.

  7 out of 10 times, when I touch my mouse, no matter where the cursor is at that moment, the charms activate, and I can't do the work I'm working on. I have to sit there, hitting the Esc button, and trying to move it, but it'll still take about 5 or 6 tries to get it to move over my work again.

I'm an author, and I bought new laptop because I liked the keyboard, but in order to write my books on it, I have to use ALL keystrokes, because using a mouse is an exercise in frustration. To go onto the internet, I go upstairs and use my desktop computer with XP, because it's simply impossible to use Windows 8 and those Charms to surf the net. Not happening. I went out and found 2 registry fixes that were supposed to turn off the charms, and they both worked, for about 5 minutes, and then I was typing and went to go back and edit a word, and there were my little friends the CHARMS again. I've read every single article/fix/recommendation for shutting them off completely, but nothing will turn off these little Demon Charms.

I don't think I've ever seen such a mess. I loved my XP; it wasn't hard to learn and it was intuitive to a great extent.

I've contacted my neighborhood computer guy about removing the Windows 8 OS and installing XP, or Windows 7 - IF it doesn't have Charms. By the way, I went to the school for running Windows 8 after I got my laptop, and even the guy teaching the course doesn't know what to do to stop the Charms from popping up every time you touch your mouse.

Blaming the end user for a brand new, faulty application, Ken? Not cool. You've put out a product that is NOT intuitive, interferes with the ordinary user's operation of a computer system, and you'd rather assign blame than find the problem and offer solutions. It's not like you shouldn't expect there will be bugs to work out on something this new.

I for one think that these Charms are one of the worst things ever devised for an OS. They're bound to be controversial, and you should offer a way to remove and replace them with something user-friendly.

J

Hi rcskypilot,

I can appreciate your frustration.  I have yet to "appreciate" metro/modern apps.

However I do suggest that you take time to learn the Windows 8 interface. I am forcing myself to do so and am growing to like it.

I don't have a touch screen as yet, though I have set up a Acer Touch Screen Tablet PC (a very nice device). 

Using my 24" monitor on my i7 PC I find that it is very easy to use the mouse to manage the "Charms", and to find the Start page (though I am also learning to use the "Windows key" as it is a very easy way to access the Start page. 

I certainly do not have the issue that you report "7 out of 10 times, when I touch my mouse, no matter where the cursor is at that moment, the charms activate", for me the Charms only display when I purposely activate them.   I wonder what program you are using when you have this issue.

I have found that if I move the mouse to the bottom right hand corner of the screen, and right click, a very useful menu appears.

I have been using Windows 8's mail program and have been able to add more than one email account, which is very useful. A few things I have yet to learn how to do is 1) to search my email for emails from a particular person on a particular topic (and only search my email), 2) change the display so show more subject line and less actual email, 3) sort an email folder by topic or by sender.

I think I need a instruction manual or a help file that fully explains how to use Windows 8, not a just quick guide to start using it.

 

I certainly do not have the issue that you report "7 out of 10 times, when I touch my mouse, no matter where the cursor is at that moment, the charms activate", for me the Charms only display when I purposely activate them.   I wonder what program you are using when you have this issue.

 

 

It happens in every program, and on the internet. I don't have a touch screen setup.

I was at a large dinner last night, and found myself near several IT people, ALL of whom have been experiencing the same thing on their own new laptops, and NONE of whom have been able to get rid of the Demon Charms, or even slow them down.

I DID find one thing we had in common. We all loved the new "Chicklet" tablet keys on the new Lenovo laptops, and we all bought one. They're wonderful to type on (especially for me; I'm an author).

Is this issue common only to them? I don't know, but I seriously doubt it. And I know I'm not alone, because there are many links telling how to to make registry changes to solve the problem. Unfortunately, so far, none of them work.

I've double-checked the Regedit changes I made, and they're still in effect, but at the same time, they have no effect.

And it's closer to 8 or 9 out of ten times that it happens. I've gotten very, very good at using only keystrokes, to avoid the dreaded Demon Charms.

Hi,

I had a very low opinion of Win 8, and to a certain degree I still do. My biggest objection was being forced to use the new Start Screen on a Desktop machine.

I have found a way around that now with an app. called Start 8. It calmed me down enough that I was able to find some more workarounds for other things that were missing, and find a a number of features that I actually like.

Microsoft could have dramatically reduced the animosity towards Win 8 simply by incorporating what Start 8 does, but someone there is simply to stubborn and pigheaded to permit that. I personally think that individual(s) should be fired.

Prior to trying Start 8, I had located the folder that used to be ALL PROGRAMS, and created a shortcut to it on my Desktop. I also created my own Toolbar by placing shortcuts to my most frequently used tools and applications in a folder and then linking it to the taskbar.

It turned out to be so convenient that I added it to my XP and Win 7 machines.

There are still a number of things that annoy me, though not that much more than learning the new tricks for each new OS, but at this point it is quite close to using Win 7.

I use absolutely none of the Win 8 apps. The ones that were turned on by default are now off, and every time I get a message that "There's a New App For That", I make sure to set the default to the way I have been doing .it

I still think that some Execs at Microsoft need their ***** kicked for unnecessarily causing this type of uproar. Part of which is somewhat mitigated by the temporary bargain basement prices.

It's a whole lot easier to swallow trying a free version, or a $30 to $70 ticket for an upgrade, than several hundred dollars just to find out you hate it.

Hi rcskypilot,

I am amused by your use of "Demon Charms".  I was disappointed that Microsoft wanted to call there menu "charms", as in the real world "charms" don't work except to the simple minded who are superstitious and believe that they do.   Myself, I just keep thinking of "Snake oil".

I never understood the use of the word "Metro" but now that has been dropped, I don't need to.  I used to think of city train stations.  Have you watched "Dumb ways to die" ?, it was originally organised by Metro Trains in Melbourne, Australia to promote rail safety.

However despite what I think of what words Microsoft decided to use for Windows 8, on my i7-920 PC with 24" monitor (and no other hardware related software other than that which comes Windows 8, I still cannot reproduce the issue of the charms showing unless I place the mouse in either the top corner or the bottom corner of the screen. 

Earlier today I was reviewing a few very nice ASUS Tablet PCs and Laptops, I thought I noticed this behaviour on the ASUS VivoBook laptop, but it may have been just myself not being familiar with the touch pad on the device.

I am currently using IE 10, do you ever have the issue that this forum entry screen jumps up and down when you are trying to type/read when making a reply?  I am hoping that it is just to do with my own configuration. And for some reason, the data entry area is not large enough to display a full line of text before it wraps, so I have to keep scrolling left and right to read what I have written.  This behaviour is very annoying, do you also have this issue?  I also have the bottom scroll bar keep covering the bottom line of text that I am entering.   I keep wondering why Microsoft has not yet fixed these issues.  Other frustrations are not being about to use Flash* or Java in Modern IE 10 are annoying too.   * flash does not work because I cannot control [whitelist] which flash sites I want to visit, thanks Mom for looking after me (Mother Microsoft ), who knows maybe I might visit a site Mom does not want me to visit.

I do not like the full screen nature of the "Windows 8 Modern Apps", I would like to be able to have an option where I can make them windowed, after all, this OS is called "Windows".

I guess we all have our own pet dislikes and frustrations.  I would be interested to learn about other things that you either like or dislike about Windows 8.

There are things in Windows 7 that I never appreciated, like the odd extra "wrapper" pages around Control Panel items, for example the computer name and remote settings.