Windows 9 release Date?

Well, I read all of this crying about Windows 8, 8.1, and the recent update, and I don't quite get it. I have been using Windows 8 Professional since it came out. So what's not to like. If you understand about security and permissions you can do anything you like. For instance, the start menu is not available to the user. Simply go to the user\start menu folder and modify the permission to get rid of the "deny all" and allow all for your user, and voila, you can do anything you like. I have all of my desktop icons and links on the Start Menu and have set up the groups to reflect the various types. This technique is available to the entire system. Simply learn how your computer and OS work.

The one thing that gets to me is that when I run an application or go to a web site from the Start Menu, I would expect to be back at the Start Menu when I exit the app or link...not so. But punching the left windows key put you back...so big deal.

This OS is almost bullet proof. I rarely need to go to task manager to get rid of an offending application.

So...understanding your system is the key to success

I don't use second party AV apps. I stick with Windows Defender, and use Hitman Pro to clean up the nasty stuff. Defender doesn't slow sown your system. It is integrated and simply runs in the background as all AV programs should.

Well, I read all of this crying about Windows 8, 8.1, and the recent update, and I don't quite get it. I have been using Windows 8 Professional since it came out. So what's not to like. If you understand about security and permissions you can do anything you like. For instance, the start menu is not available to the user. Simply go to the user\start menu folder and modify the permission to get rid of the "deny all" and allow all for your user, and voila, you can do anything you like. I have all of my desktop icons and links on the Start Menu and have set up the groups to reflect the various types. This technique is available to the entire system. Simply learn how your computer and OS work.

The one thing that gets to me is that when I run an application or go to a web site from the Start Menu, I would expect to be back at the Start Menu when I exit the app or link...not so. But punching the left windows key put you back...so big deal.

This OS is almost bullet proof. I rarely need to go to task manager to get rid of an offending application.

So...understanding your system is the key to success

I don't use second party AV apps. I stick with Windows Defender, and use Hitman Pro to clean up the nasty stuff. Defender doesn't slow sown your system. It is integrated and simply runs in the background as all AV programs should.

As I mentioned at the start, anything running 8.1 gets returned to the store at an alarming rate while Ipads and Android devices nearly never come back. This seems to be the consensus among retailers, users and the IT folks I know.  I know I feel pretty much vindicated in my decision to return the Yoga 2 Pro I bought.  What this tells me is that the end users have decreed that MS released an OS that's anything but intuitive and a real PITA to get around on.  I'm a few notches above average in computer literacy and it flummoxed me. Did MS yet again fail to do it right the first time? Oh yes, big time.

Alas, Fred55110 brings some sanity to the discussion. Why would MS purposely develop an OS that would lose them customers and money? 

I spent about 30 years using only Macs and I got my first PC in 2008 which had Win7. I had used XP in my work place but never owned a PC, and i could only do what the corporate PC wanted me to do. Then I found PC gaming. WOW!  Macs just don't do it as well. 

Anyway, WIN 8? I think it is amazing! And maybe that is because I came from the Mac world and don't have the prior experience. But i realy don't understand why so many people don't like it. It does so many things so well. 

I also want to thank you Fred for the beta testing you did. It's guys like you that made it work.

And thanks again for your thoughtful answer.

From the stand point of someone that works on computers, Windows 8 is much more difficult to get into what you are wanting to work on.  They have removed a lot of the tools that someone uses to get in and fix them before the computer is even up and running.  As a user it is not too bad once you find where everything is.  However, in the last 5 years so many things have been phased out that it isn't even funny.  With the upgrades to the explorer for instance it has made so many of the operating systems unusable, including some that are running windows 7.  Depending on when the software was released as they have more then on version of windows 7 some are not able to go up past the explorer 9, which now means that the computer don't work correctly on many sites, they are being pushed into upgrading to a new system or to use a different browser.  At the rate they are doing all of these upgrades it is affecting the way people look at a Windows computer at all.  Doing an upgrade in software used to cover a lot of the issues but many people don't like the Windows 8 so that is not something they want to do and I fear what messes will come with Windows 9.  They are pushing things out way too fast and removing a lot of people from using the systems.  Upgrades are great until they start making it to where you HAVE to upgrade.  It used to be a choice and just dealing with it going a little slower.  5 years ago you were still able to use a windows 95 on the computer and deal with slowness and it is almost to the point of you have lost everything including Windows 7 for usage.   Just wrong to do this in my opinion as a lot don't handle change well and they don't want to go get a new computer every couple of years.