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Windows 8 Feels Like a Dud

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I have been tinkering around with Windows 8 since the developer preview and I was pretty excited initially about it’s release, but now that it’s finally here, I am feeling like something is majorly wrong with this version of Windows.

One only needs to spend 60 seconds with Windows 8 to realize that it’s not Microsoft’s best work. I have been working with people just about everyday trying to help them easily transition to the new operating system and it’s proven to be quite a challenge. You know something is wrong with your shiny new OS when PC hardware manufacturers, like Gateway, need to place an icon somewhere on the screen to help you shut down your computer. In case you missed it, we have put together a brief how-to that shows you how to make such an icon for yourself.

Windows 8 dosen’t fully commit to one user-interface and that alone will drive you crazy. You will find yourself wanting to exist in one space or the other but ultimately you will need to switch between both. This issue leaves Windows 8 feeling disconnected from itself and it’s just downright frustrating. There a many aspects of the new tile UI that I enjoy but it’s just not built to be productive. Many of the applications that I use day-to-day require me to move to the legacy desktop and therefore I spend almost all of my time there.

There are hidden menus in each corner and once they are open, they frequently disappear unexpectedly. When the menus do stay open, I have trouble fumbling through a poorly designed search system to find files or applications that I need. Changing settings or just trying to obtain Windows updates through the new tile based UI is buggy and most of the time I end up, once again, heading back to the legacy desktop.

Your design should be intuitive and new users should feel welcome when they first see Windows 8. Even though you shouldn’t have too, there is almost no attempt to guide the user in the right direction besides a small animation toward the end of the Windows 8 installation that explains how to bring up the hidden menus that are at the edge of the screen.

Even app developers don’t seem confident in the new OS. The lack of a solid app base is killing Windows 8 more than anything, we need a reason to enjoy our new tile system with full screen applications. Many major software companies have avoided making Windows 8 apps that work with the new tile UI, and those who have adapted have buggy applications that don’t feel like their worth the hard drive space.

I believe Windows 8 is the worst release of Microsoft’s OS software to-date. I would consider myself to be advanced user with knowledge of many different operating systems and yet I find it difficult to perform routine tasks. This one screams out “I’m a DUD!”. What’s worse is that I am starting to feel like the guinea pig here and I am just waiting for Microsoft to ask me to shell out more money for a rushed copy of  Windows 9 due to the failure of Windows 8’s poor design.

Honestly, Windows 8 is a mess and we can only hope that Microsoft will do the right thing and fix many of the issues that plague the new OS today, with the release of a service pack in the near future. I am trying to remain optimistic about Microsoft’s ability to create a next-gen OS that’s sleek, functional, easy-to-use, and that works seamlessly across all of my devices, but I’m loosing faith.

Featured App: Angry Birds Star Wars

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Everyone knows the original Angry Birds was a huge hit back in 2009. Since then, they have released many different versions and add-ons for this game, and has become a great franchise.

Ever since the original though, I have not been interested. It’s all been pretty much the same game to me, but this year they announced and released Angry Birds Star Wars, and being the Star Wars geek that I am, I had to try it out. To my surprise, I was hooked pretty much instantly. Yes, it is still the classic Angry Birds game-play, but the additions made are amazing. The birds are dressed up as all the characters from Luke Skywalker to R2-D2. As you go through the levels you can unlock new characters. Each one has a unique ability (e.g. Han Solo will shoot his gun, Luke has a lightsaber, and Chewbacca just plows right into everything).

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The game also has nice cut scenes, which are very short, but still a great addition. The artwork and music are fantastic, and I love the way each level is designed. Everything about it has the look and feel of Star Wars. You will fight your way through stormtrooper pigs and go up against Darth Vader pig. It’s like playing through scenes of the movie.

If you are a Star Wars fan this is a must try. Check it out!

Available for download here: Angry Birds

 

 

 

How To Quickly Shut Down Windows 8

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With Windows 8 it seems just a bit difficult to simply shut down your computer. Unlike previous versions of Windows, you can no longer just click Start and then proceed to shut down your PC.

Instead, Windows 8 makes you take the scenic route and either go through the process of logging off or flipping through the Charms menu, diving into Settings then pressing power and finally clicking Shutdown. Super intuitive right? Well, there is an easy way to get around all of this and quickly shut down your PC.

  • Head to your desktop.
  • Right-click and select New.
  • Create a shortcut.
  • Type the following in the text box: “shutdown /s /t 0″(that is a zero at the end.)

Once the shortcut is created you can change the icon of the shortcut to something a little more interesting by right-clicking the shortcut, selecting Properties, and then under the “Shortcut” tab, click Change Icon.

Now you can shutdown Windows 8 in record time!

ShutdownHowToSS

Let’s go a little deeper into what we’re asking the system to do when creating our new shortcut.

When we type “shutdown” we are simply asking the system to execute the shutdown.exe file located in the Windows System32 folder. The “/s” lets the shutdown.exe program know that we intend to shutdown our computer. I know it seems redundant but there are a bunch of other options (sometimes referred to as flags or switches) that the shutdown.exe program can perform including restarting the computer after it shuts down (/r). The “/t” lets the shutdown program know that we are about to tell it the time-out period we wish to use for this shutdown, which is then followed by the actual time-out period we want, in this case we used “0”.

For a full list of options to use with shutdown.exe, you can simply type “shutdown ?” in your command prompt or power shell.

 

iTunes 11 Has Finally Arrived

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Yes, Apple has officially released iTunes 11, which I must say is the biggest change to iTunes in sometime. My first impression of the new iTunes is a bit of a surprise, Apple has done a really nice job with this release. Of course with all things that are new, it will take a while for us to truly evaluate the new and improved iTunes, but so far things are looking pretty impressive.

So what’s new? Well, quite a bit actually. iTunes has essentially been completely redesigned and you will notice these changes the moment you first launch the application.

iTunes 11 ScreenShot
(Credit: Apple)

Preview History:

iTunes 11 now features preview history, something that I greatly appreciate. I actually find that I will preview certain songs and then move on with out keeping track of them, then when I want to go back to the one I liked, I completely forget the song name. This new feature gets rid of the guessing game and it does so across all of your devices thanks to iCloud. The preview history is not just for music, it will also store any movies or TV shows you previewed as well.

Saving your place:

You can now pause any movie, podcast, TV show, iTunesU Lesson, or audiobook and pick up where you left off on any device.

New Mini Player:

Apple is all about mini these days and it’s no different when it comes to iTunes. The new mini player offers up a nice way for you to be able to gloss through your library by providing you with a mini version of it. You can also see what song is going to play next by clicking on the new “Up Next:”  button. The “Up Next:” feature is also available in the full size version of iTunes 11 and will also allow you to queue up music ahead of the song your currently listening to. This feature should come in handy when you’re in charge of the party music.

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The New mini Player in iTunes11 (Credit:Apple)

A Clean New Design:

Yeah, I know looks aren’t everything, especially when it comes to software. I use a ton of great apps that for lack of a better word look like, crap, but are extremely useful. iTunes 11, however, looks great. The new redesign is enough to make you feel uncomfortable at first, but once you settle in you quickly realize that things are where they need to be and that everything looks great. The interface just seems to get out of the way and it lets my content shine. This is also true of the iTunes Store which now features a very image rich experience.

iTunes Store Now Features a Gift Card Scanning Feature:

 

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New iTunes11 Card Redemption (Credit:GWE)

You can now just take a photo of your iTunes Store gift card to redeem it, which is actually a really nice little feature that I missed initially, thanks to MacRumors, who pointed this out.

 

How To Play Diablo II LOD on Windows 8

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Many of us are enjoying the recent release of Diablo III but some of us still love to play Diablo II Lord of Destruction, and with Windows 8, that can be a little problematic.

Diablo II Lord of Destruction is an outstanding game that became an instant classic when it was released on June 29th in North America. Even over a decade later, Diablo fans still play Diablo II LOD on Battle.net and in single player mode. However, the operating systems we use have changed quite dramatically over the years and with each new version usually comes a new set of problems for gamers who enjoy playing classic titles.

DII LOD Cover Art Diablo II Lord Of Destruction
Diablo II Lord of Destruction Cover Art (Blizzard Entertainment®)

If you have attempted to play Diablo II LOD on Windows 8 you will notice many issues, including some serious lag. Here are a few steps you can take to make sure your Diablo II LOD experience in Windows 8 is just as good, if not better, than it was back in 2001.

This quick “how to” assumes that you have already installed and patched the latest version of Diablo II LOD on your system. If you need patch information you can obtain it through Blizzard’s official patch site.

Before launching the game, right click on the game’s shortcut and select “Properties”, then select the “Compatibility” tab.

Once on the Compatibility tab, select the following options:

  • Check “Run this program in compatibility mode for” and set the value to “Windows XP SP 2/3”
  • Check “Reduced Color Mode” and set to “16-bit (65536) Color”
  • Check “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings”
  • Optional “Run this program as administrator”

Once you dial in these settings click Apply and then OK.

The next step is crucial if you want to reduce or eliminate all of the glitching and lagging that is known to plague Diablo II LOD on Windows 8.

Obtain an 3DFX Glide Wrapper, this is a little application that will allow you to use the Glide interface with Diablo II LOD. I have found that GLIDE3-to-OpenGL Wrapper by Sven Labusch seems to work the best out of any I have tried so far.

Download the files from Sven’s site and read the “ReadMe.txt” file. This will contain the most current instructions for installing and setting up the wrapper. Be sure to re-run the video test after the wrapper is installed and set it to use Glide.

** Note: You Will Also Need to apply compatibility settings to run the Diablo II Video Test (D2VidTst.exe) * *

 

That’s it! Hopefully you will be successful in your attempts to get Diablo running smooth. Just follow the directions closely and have fun!