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Windows 8.1 |OT| There's your start button

Veal

Member
Do you have an AMD GPU?

Nah Nvidia. I just found out you can't use the refresh feature once you've upgraded to 8.1 unless you have physical media. Even using the recovery disk function doesn't work. The one time I actually needed the feature, they make it unusable. Really?
 

dLMN8R

Member
Okay, I just updated to 8.1. All my icons and tiles and Windows related stuff looks like a crisp 1080, but chrome, steam, and itunes look like shit and are clearly a much lower res. Why is this, and what can I do to fix it without messing anything else up besides moving my couch back? I've already tried fiddling with displays in personalize, which fixed chrome but made all my icons incredibly small.

They look like crap because they haven't properly adopted Windows DPI scaling that's existed for a decade. Windows has previously handled them by leaving them at their native DPI, but with 8.1 we finally say "fuck it" and force-upscale applications that don't properly support it. Same thing that OS X did last year with the release of the retina Macbook Pro.

It's either that or get more reviews like Windows 8 on high-DPI devices complaining that things are "too small" on the desktop.

Anyway, you can modify it by playing with the display settings. Right-click on the desktop, Screen Resolution, and click "make text and other items larger or smaller". Chances are you want to select the setting "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays".



Personally, I got used to Chrome's blurriness pretty quickly. I prefer it to it being way too tiny on my 12.5" 1920x1200 laptop screen.
 
Forgive me if this has already been asked/answered, but is there a downloadable ISO of a full Win 8.1, so that when I format I don't have to install 8 then update through the store ?
 
Anyone else been having issues with Windows 8.1 waking laptops in the middle of the night?

It's happened consistently every night ever since I upgraded my other half's laptop to 8.1 ...


Nothing better than the other half going ape shit because her laptop is dead in the morning because it woke it self up and drained the battery doing ... nothing.

I've looked at it when it when it turns on, nothing. It does nothing. Downloads nothing, installs nothing. Just boots up from hibernate or sleep regardless.
 
They look like crap because they haven't properly adopted Windows DPI scaling that's existed for a decade. Windows has previously handled them by leaving them at their native DPI, but with 8.1 we finally say "fuck it" and force-upscale applications that don't properly support it. Same thing that OS X did last year with the release of the retina Macbook Pro.

It's either that or get more reviews like Windows 8 on high-DPI devices complaining that things are "too small" on the desktop.

Anyway, you can modify it by playing with the display settings. Right-click on the desktop, Screen Resolution, and click "make text and other items larger or smaller". Chances are you want to select the setting "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays".



Personally, I got used to Chrome's blurriness pretty quickly. I prefer it to it being way too tiny on my 12.5" 1920x1200 laptop screen.

If you mess around with Chrome inner settings, there is an option to enable high dpi mode. It's a bit broken at the moment, some extensions and settings popups are rendered completely wrong, but for daily navigation it's already good enough.
 

DeVeAn

Member
Question: I am on windows 7 ultimate, I want to get 8 home. It says I can keep personal files. What does that mean exactly? I have an SSD with my OS and a HDD with my libraries on it. Only my SSD will be affected right?
 

kitch9

Banned
Nah Nvidia. I just found out you can't use the refresh feature once you've upgraded to 8.1 unless you have physical media. Even using the recovery disk function doesn't work. The one time I actually needed the feature, they make it unusable. Really?

for the refresh my pc just make your own recovery option.
run cmd as admin
type recimg /createimage c:\refreshimage
there done.
 

hipbabboom

Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
Question: I am on windows 7 ultimate, I want to get 8 home. It says I can keep personal files. What does that mean exactly? I have an SSD with my OS and a HDD with my libraries on it. Only my SSD will be affected right?

If you are installing to the same partition with a Windows folder then it will rename the old windows folder and install the new version. Your personal data files on a different partition will definitely not be touched.
 

Veal

Member
for the refresh my pc just make your own recovery option.
run cmd as admin
type recimg /createimage c:\refreshimage
there done.

Whoa I'm trying that right now! Will update!

EDIT: Success! I lost a few things but they were easily redownloaded. Thank you so much for the tip! Things are way better now! I can actually play my games!
 

DeVeAn

Member
If you are installing to the same partition with a Windows folder then it will rename the old windows folder and install the new version. Your personal data files on a different partition will definitely not be touched.

Should I unplug the HDD with my personal files so I can make sure it installs to the SSD? I want a clean install.
 

StudioTan

Hold on, friend! I'd love to share with you some swell news about the Windows 8 Metro UI! Wait, where are you going?
Should I unplug the HDD with my personal files so I can make sure it installs to the SSD? I want a clean install.

That's not how it works, it'll ask you which drive/partition to install it on, there is no spillover to other drives or partitions on the same drive. Just make sure you know the size of your partition so you can pick it out from the list.
 

DeVeAn

Member
That's not how it works, it'll ask you which drive/partition to install it on, there is no spillover to other drives or partitions on the same drive. Just make sure you know the size of your partition so you can pick it out from the list.

I remember reading somewhere that even if you know you are installing to a certain drive, in this case SSD, that it was a good idea to unplug the other drive, in this case HDD, in case of windows doing something I forget what exactly.

EDIT: "Disconnect all the drives but the one you are installing to. You will reconnect them in step 5 of "System Setup after Installation." This is to prevent the installer from installing the Windows 8 boot partition on another drive in the system." that is from Sean's Windows 8 Install & Optimization guide.
 

cyberheater

PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
Well I finally got around to upgrading my gaming PC to Windows 81. It was a windows 7 machine which I upgraded to windows 8 then downgraded back down to win7 because I couldn't get along with win8. But I've got win8.1 on my music PC and it's working out well for me.

Looking forward to trying the program that allows you to navigate Metro with your Xbox 360 controller.
 

see5harp

Member
Is there a way to have different (custom) backgrounds on the desktop and the start screen?

I don't think you can use custom art for the start menu without third party software unless you don't mind using the same background as your desktop. I imagine this will be added down the line as that seems ridiculous to me. Personally I like the backgrounds to be the same, however.
 

Exuro

Member
Anyone know why my product key would allow me to download a windows 8 iso but not install it? i've been spending like 3 hours try to redo my computer and its been a pain in the ass with 8.
 

fosholv

Member
I have an ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboard with a 4770K CPU. After updating to window 8.1, the usb keyboard and mouse (Logitech) would not work anymore after a restart. I had to go into bios and switch Intel xHCI mode from Smart Auto to Disabled for the USB ports to work again. I'm not really sure about this but I believe turning xHCI off will also disable USB 3.0 speed. Anyone else have this problem and know a way to get the USB mouse and keyboard working without having to turn off Intel xHCI mode?
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
I installed this about four hours ago, and it COMPLETELY ruined my computer. It now goes slow as fucking hell and the colours are seriously washed out. Also, chrome is acting wierd, and the resolution is much lower than what it claims to be. Sounds like a driver-issue right? Right, so I go to the homepage of my computer (a Dell Laptop from earlier this year), and start to lnstall drivers, and guess what - the computer fucking freezes every time, making the process impossible.

After spending a few hours on this, I decide to tell MS to fuck off, and restore my computer to pre-8.1 days - but of course, in its trickery, the installation have actually managed to remove all restore points from before the install. Seriously wtf. Now im stuck with a completely useless laptop without working graphics drivers that also runs terribly slow. I am so mad right now.

(Also, if anybody could give me some guidance, that would be lovely).
 

see5harp

Member
I really don't understand how so many people are having issues. All I did was install fresh. I didn't even have to download drivers for any of my devices. Network, sound, video, hell even my wireless mouse (exact model) was detected by windows. It was only after I upgrade from 8 to 8.1 that I actually went online to grab all of the actual drivers.
 

braves01

Banned
I installed this about four hours ago, and it COMPLETELY ruined my computer. It now goes slow as fucking hell and the colours are seriously washed out. Also, chrome is acting wierd, and the resolution is much lower than what it claims to be. Sounds like a driver-issue right? Right, so I go to the homepage of my computer (a Dell Laptop from earlier this year), and start to lnstall drivers, and guess what - the computer fucking freezes every time, making the process impossible.

After spending a few hours on this, I decide to tell MS to fuck off, and restore my computer to pre-8.1 days - but of course, in its trickery, the installation have actually managed to remove all restore points from before the install. Seriously wtf. Now im stuck with a completely useless laptop without working graphics drivers that also runs terribly slow. I am so mad right now.

(Also, if anybody could give me some guidance, that would be lovely).

Well, I can't help you with everything, but my fix for blurry Chrome was to right click on its icon and go into properties, find the compatibility tab and check the box for "disable display scaling on high DPI settings." That fixed it right up.
 

Symphonia

Banned
I really don't understand how so many people are having issues. All I did was install fresh. I didn't even have to download drivers for any of my devices. Network, sound, video, hell even my wireless mouse (exact model) was detected by windows. It was only after I upgrade from 8 to 8.1 that I actually went online to grab all of the actual drivers.
Same. My installation was smooth as fuck.
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
I dont get it either, but my computer is still a complete mess now, and I did nothing more than upgrade. :(
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Well, I can't help you with everything, but my fix for blurry Chrome was to right click on its icon and go into properties, find the compatibility tab and check the box for "disable display scaling on high DPI settings." That fixed it right up.

This actually worked fine for chrome, thanks!

I have also finally managed to get a video driver installed, so that is something. Now the only problem left is the terrible load times, it takes forever to start the machine, to start chrome, a game, whatever. Really strange :(
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
False alarm earlier, I thought I had fixed the graphics drivers - but of course I had not - I had just managed to install some drivers, but Windows immidiately turned them off for some reason. Have been doing some googling, and it seems with my model there are a ton of users having the same issues, and that Dell/AMD/whoever is responsible, doesnt really care to adress it much. I have found some solutions including downloading beta-drivers from AMD, so hopefully that will work. 7 hours and counting on this problem now :(
 
what laptop are you using. What Video Card. Go to your device manager and find out. Maybe someone can help you find the proper drivers working with 8.1. You might need a fresh install
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
I have a Dell Inspiron 15R SE with AMD Radeon HD 7730M. After some googling, I have found a few solutions that I am trying out now, but no luck so far, so would be grateful if anybody with same machine knew what to do.
 

bkw

Member
Is there a popular/preferred podcast app? Ideally an "app" (is that what you officially call "metro apps"?)

I'm using Podcasts! right now, but I think it streams when you want to watch/listen. Is there one that downloads automatically?
 
SteelSeries put out an update for their drivers that supposedly supports Windows 8.1. I wouldn't know if it actually does though, because the installer for their new drivers hard locks my system every time and has also seemingly broken the currently installed driver in the process :(
 

Lima

Member
SteelSeries put out an update for their drivers that supposedly supports Windows 8.1. I wouldn't know if it actually does though, because the installer for their new drivers hard locks my system every time and has also seemingly broken the currently installed driver in the process :(

Wow

Such driver

real mouse

much hardlock
 

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
So let me get this straight. The start menu they said they'd be putting back, is pretty much a desktop version of your keyboard's windows key? Because being able to pop into metro is what we were asking for.
 

Lima

Member
So let me get this straight. The start menu they said they'd be putting back, is pretty much a desktop version of your keyboard's windows key? Because being able to pop into metro is what we were asking for.

Just install Start8 and be done with it.
 
Is there a way to sort music within the Xbox Music app? I have a collection of 80s music for example that I've become accustomed to listen to in alphabetical order by way of the band but when imported it did so by song.
 
So let me get this straight. The start menu they said they'd be putting back, is pretty much a desktop version of your keyboard's windows key? Because being able to pop into metro is what we were asking for.

They said they'd bring the start button back, not the start menu.
 
Anyone else's webcam die after updating to 8.1? All the drivers are up to date, its Enabled, the camera app recognises that there's a camera connected. Doesn't work though :(

edit: The microphone appears to work fine :s

edit2: Fixed, had to roll back the driver. Don't understand why the old driver works with the new OS but not the new driver. PCs are silly
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Just a heads up if anybody else experience the same problem that I encountered. I have a Dell Inspiron 15R SE with AMD Radeon HD 7730M, and for some reason, the official drivers on Dell and AMD's pages doesnt work. Windows shuts them down saying that there is a problem with the hardware, and the fan runs like crazy making you think that there actually might be a hardware problem.

However, I fixed this with a few simple steps (wasnt simple in the middle of it, but hey):

1. Uninstall all display drivers. Both for the integrated and dedicated graphic card.
2. I used the program "Driver fusion" to make sure everything was completely erased.
3. Restart the machine
4. Get the drivers not from the official page, but from this ftp-page: http://ftp.dell.com/published/Pages/inspiron-15r-se-7520.html#TopSolutions
The ones you want are the 10.18.10.3277 (for the integrated intel card) and 13.151.0.0 (for the AMD card)
5. Install both of them, but the intel one first, and the AMD one afterwards
6. It should now work as it did in windows 8.0

So there might be some side-issues to this since the drivers are not on the regular support site, meaning they are still beta-drivers, but I havent had any issues so far, and from googling, it doesnt seem anybody else had it either. Hope this solves some problems for other Inspiron-users!
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Well, I can't help you with everything, but my fix for blurry Chrome was to right click on its icon and go into properties, find the compatibility tab and check the box for "disable display scaling on high DPI settings." That fixed it right up.

So I had to use this trick in steam as well, and Im sure there will be other programs I have to use it also. Could anybody explain to me what this means and why its a problem in windows 8.1?
 

maeh2k

Member
Just a heads up if anybody else experience the same problem that I encountered. I have a Dell Inspiron 15R SE with AMD Radeon HD 7730M, and for some reason, the official drivers on Dell and AMD's pages doesnt work. Windows shuts them down saying that there is a problem with the hardware, and the fan runs like crazy making you think that there actually might be a hardware problem.

However, I fixed this with a few simple steps (wasnt simple in the middle of it, but hey):

1. Uninstall all display drivers. Both for the integrated and dedicated graphic card.
2. I used the program "Driver fusion" to make sure everything was completely erased.
3. Restart the machine
4. Get the drivers not from the official page, but from this ftp-page: http://ftp.dell.com/published/Pages/inspiron-15r-se-7520.html#TopSolutions
The ones you want are the 10.18.10.3277 (for the integrated intel card) and 13.151.0.0 (for the AMD card)
5. Install both of them, but the intel one first, and the AMD one afterwards
6. It should now work as it did in windows 8.0

So there might be some side-issues to this since the drivers are not on the regular support site, meaning they are still beta-drivers, but I havent had any issues so far, and from googling, it doesnt seem anybody else had it either. Hope this solves some problems for other Inspiron-users!

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably do the upgrade on my sister's 15R SE this weekend, so this comes just in time.
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
Thanks for the advice. I'll probably do the upgrade on my sister's 15R SE this weekend, so this comes just in time.

Good, hope it works out for you! You should also tick the "disable display scaling" trick for most programs as well, as they will look blurry as hell without it. For some reason MS decided it wasnt worth it to include a systemwide option, so at least I had to do it manually on all the programs :(
 

hadareud

The Translator
Is there any way to add swear words to the spell checker dictionary?

I like the auto correct, but it's driving me fucking mental that it won't let me use normal, common language. So bloody stupid. No Microsoft, Jamie Redknapp is not a count and Michael Owen is not plucking stupid.

Been searching google for the last hour and couldn't find anything.
 

maeh2k

Member
Just a heads up if anybody else experience the same problem that I encountered. I have a Dell Inspiron 15R SE with AMD Radeon HD 7730M, and for some reason, the official drivers on Dell and AMD's pages doesnt work. Windows shuts them down saying that there is a problem with the hardware, and the fan runs like crazy making you think that there actually might be a hardware problem.

I've just done the upgrade to 8.1. Maybe it's because I don't usually use that PC, but so far I haven't noticed any issues. Maybe I should install the new drivers just to be safe.
 

Morfeo

The Chuck Norris of Peace
I've just done the upgrade to 8.1. Maybe it's because I don't usually use that PC, but so far I haven't noticed any issues. Maybe I should install the new drivers just to be safe.

If you dont notice any issues, you should probably not do anything. Not everybody had this issue, and the most important is, after all, that stuff works.
 

jl4855

Member
just upgraded to windows 8.1 on a new machine and want to import my .pst files from my old desktop into 8.1 and use it with mail. any idea if this is possible?
 

TrounceX

Member
just upgraded to windows 8.1 on a new machine and want to import my .pst files from my old desktop into 8.1 and use it with mail. any idea if this is possible?

I don't see why not.

Just make sure you point your new outlook installation to your old .pst files. I'm pretty sure it's as simple as a file -> open -> import -> import from another file or program -> outlook data file .pst

Or something like that anyways, it's been a while but i did it 1000x upgrading people from XP to W7 at an old job.

edit: Oh, wait. Are you talking about using .pst files in that new metro mail app? If so then fuck it idk.
 

jl4855

Member
I don't see why not.

Just make sure you point your new outlook installation to your old .pst files. I'm pretty sure it's as simple as a file -> open -> import -> import from another file or program -> outlook data file .pst

Or something like that anyways, it's been a while but i did it 1000x upgrading people from XP to W7 at an old job.

won't be using outlook, using the windows live mail app that defaults with 8.1. is it possible to migrate a .pst data file into windows live mail?

edit: yep, seems to be a bit more tricky.
 
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