Picked one up today
- Thread starter raqball
- Start date
TeknoBlast
Active Member
Bandito
Active Member
To answer your first question, you can't really have the battery status displayed all the time in the Modern UI. There is simply no area dedicated to statuses such as the battery's level or the time.
I use a program from the app store (free) called Battery Level, which gives me a live tile on the start screen with the battery's status, but that's about as close as you can get. The app could use a bit of fine tuning and it requires you to run a couple of .BAT files on the desktop to make it work, but it's useful, nonetheless.
Your second question really depends upon your Internet and external file usage. You're generally okay with only Defender if you don't go to any malicious websites or download things from unknown sources. The same goes for external storage. If you don't use it much and know the source, it's usually okay. If you're constantly swapping files from friends on USB memory sticks or micro SD cards, then you may want something more than just Defender. If you're only going to run Defender, you should be sure to make current backups on a frequent basis, just in case.
Finally, for your third question, the onscreen keyboard only pops up regularly for Modern UI apps. For desktop apps, you must bring it up manually by touching the keyboard icon that should be pinned to your task bar. I'm pretty sure that I've noticed a few desktop apps that will actually launch the keyboard for you, but it is completely app dependent.
As far as Windows 8.x goes, I'm not a big fan. The desktop side is great, but really the same as Windows 7, just without a good way to start applications. The Modern UI side is half-baked and incomplete. For example, you cannot completely set up and administer a Windows 8.x machine in the Modern UI. You are forced to go to the desktop for many, if not most, of the settings.
Since it is necessary to rewrite all apps for the Modern UI anyway, I really don't understand why Microsoft didn't completely abandon the Windows XP-7 code base and start again from scratch. They could have given us a new and modern operating system without the limitations carried over from the past. To maintain compatibility with older Windows applications, they would only have needed to provide a virtual machine in which to run Windows 7 and you'd have both the old and the new. You could be a Modern UI diehard and stay in there all the time, once the software starts to catch up, or stay completely on the desktop side if you wanted to or jump between the two at will.
Microsoft appears to have attempted to give us two operating systems in one, but with the usual compromises, so it's not nearly as good or complete as it should have been - IMHO, YMMV.
I use a program from the app store (free) called Battery Level, which gives me a live tile on the start screen with the battery's status, but that's about as close as you can get. The app could use a bit of fine tuning and it requires you to run a couple of .BAT files on the desktop to make it work, but it's useful, nonetheless.
Your second question really depends upon your Internet and external file usage. You're generally okay with only Defender if you don't go to any malicious websites or download things from unknown sources. The same goes for external storage. If you don't use it much and know the source, it's usually okay. If you're constantly swapping files from friends on USB memory sticks or micro SD cards, then you may want something more than just Defender. If you're only going to run Defender, you should be sure to make current backups on a frequent basis, just in case.
Finally, for your third question, the onscreen keyboard only pops up regularly for Modern UI apps. For desktop apps, you must bring it up manually by touching the keyboard icon that should be pinned to your task bar. I'm pretty sure that I've noticed a few desktop apps that will actually launch the keyboard for you, but it is completely app dependent.
As far as Windows 8.x goes, I'm not a big fan. The desktop side is great, but really the same as Windows 7, just without a good way to start applications. The Modern UI side is half-baked and incomplete. For example, you cannot completely set up and administer a Windows 8.x machine in the Modern UI. You are forced to go to the desktop for many, if not most, of the settings.
Since it is necessary to rewrite all apps for the Modern UI anyway, I really don't understand why Microsoft didn't completely abandon the Windows XP-7 code base and start again from scratch. They could have given us a new and modern operating system without the limitations carried over from the past. To maintain compatibility with older Windows applications, they would only have needed to provide a virtual machine in which to run Windows 7 and you'd have both the old and the new. You could be a Modern UI diehard and stay in there all the time, once the software starts to catch up, or stay completely on the desktop side if you wanted to or jump between the two at will.
Microsoft appears to have attempted to give us two operating systems in one, but with the usual compromises, so it's not nearly as good or complete as it should have been - IMHO, YMMV.
OP
raqball
Active Member
Thanks for the responses.
My one and only serious issue is the font size in outlook. I have everything adjusted just fine and can read everything great except in Outlook.
I changed the font in the Outlook setting but it only appears to apply the font settings when I compose an email. When I receive an email the font is so tiny, its not readable.
Anyway to fix this?
My one and only serious issue is the font size in outlook. I have everything adjusted just fine and can read everything great except in Outlook.
I changed the font in the Outlook setting but it only appears to apply the font settings when I compose an email. When I receive an email the font is so tiny, its not readable.
Anyway to fix this?
malberttoo
Well-Known Member
Outlook on the Desktop? And what version Outlook?
ipaq_101
Active Member
Honestly, you will like this machine more and more as the days goes by. Were there problems day one? Sure, but MS has done a great job with updates and now my SP3 is running perfectly.
I am averaging 8 hours of battery life.
If you have any questions just ask, you will have multiple responses from actual users within a few hours, if not minutes.
Welcome aboard and hope you enjoy the device as much as we do.
I am averaging 8 hours of battery life.
If you have any questions just ask, you will have multiple responses from actual users within a few hours, if not minutes.
Welcome aboard and hope you enjoy the device as much as we do.
ipaq_101
Active Member
Have you tried this to make the text larger?
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/make-text-screen-larger-smaller/?v=t
OP
raqball
Active Member
I have 'small' 'default' and 'larger''
I did change it to larger but it didn't make much of a difference in Outlook. It also made all the icon/apps larger which I don't like.
I am not seeing the settings you posted as far as font size percentages. I do have and am using a setting like that in internet explorer
I did change it to larger but it didn't make much of a difference in Outlook. It also made all the icon/apps larger which I don't like.
I am not seeing the settings you posted as far as font size percentages. I do have and am using a setting like that in internet explorer
markusbeutel
Member
Uhh... not sure if serious. You honestly think it's a remarkable achievement? Candyland on the screen? Little to no UI customization options? IMO it's sad when knockoff Metro UI's on Android offer 1000% more customization and functionality options than the product they're ripping off.
Not to mention - years later now, and the Windows app store is still a joke. Not sure why Microsoft doesn't just put ALL its desktop programs on an app-store-like environment for download - something akin to Steam. They would clean up.
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