Windows 8 theme controversy.

[Fragil1ty]

Right, so a tiny back story before we actually get into things, I used Windows 7 heavily as I am sure  most of you guys/girls have done so also.

I used to love the Windows 7 Basic theme, I loved it, it was perfect me, I just really enjoyed it, nothing else to it.

But a few months back I finally made the switch to Windows 8, not because I wanted too, mainly because of the performance boosts that it gives and what not and I searched high and low for a way to get the Windows 7 Basic theme onto Windows 8, but to no avail. If you're wondering what the basic Theme looks like, here's an image;



And I bought Plague Inc: Evolved recently, and I was watching streams, working and because Plague inc isn't exactly a game that requires a whole load of attention I thought I'd put it up on the second screen and work, while gaming, while watching some streams.

Suffice to say, I put it in Windowed mode and then this happened:



When in windowed mode it was using the Windows basic theme, bear in mind that I am on Windows 8, so my question is this.

For this to happen, then obviously this theme is integrated somewhere in Windows 8 and because of this, does anyone know how to activate this theme for Windows 8? I'd love if anyone had any more information regarding this because I would love to use this theme again.

[baldgye]

I came here looking for controversy.... I'm disappointed

[Fragil1ty]

I came here looking for controversy.... I'm disappointed

=[

[Novus]

Not exactly an answer to your question but I know that windows 8 doesn't have the themes from windows 7 (aero or basic).
The new windows 8 theme is some new "metro" crap.

I think what you're seeing, above, is sort of a lower resolution mode that your desktop goes into as a sort of intermediary mode when you switch from your desktop and go in a game.
Well I'm 100% sure and I'm sure somebody else can explain this better.

[Elrick]

I came here looking for controversy.... I'm disappointed

Same here.  Incidentally, the current Windows 7 Pro is exactly the same in performance as Win 8 Pro so I don't know where you got your so-called analysis relating to speed?

Don't rely on propaganda sites which have been PAID to promote this latest junk-pile operating system, because Windows 7 is still KING across all of Microsoft's Operating Systems.

[Fragil1ty]

Has better start up times and better gaming performance, newer DX versions also.

[oscillik]

also has a tick-less kernel.

[Novus]

You can pause multiple file transfers which is useful when you are moving/sorting multiple large files ... Although honestly why windows doesn't just automatically smart queue them is beyond me. Its like they only expect you to move small files or expect you to select  everything at once before you initiate a move ... Ugh disgusting.

Then again windows has never consistently understood the concept of large files to begin with.

[tbc]

windows 8 absolutely murders win7 under the hood in every way that I could find.

it's only the UI that can be disagreed with.  which is weird; apparently buttloads of people spend alot (alot alot) of time in the start menu in win7


I honestly can't help you too much because i don't think i'm actually understanding your problem correctly.  But stardock has historically been very interesting when applying themes; try a look at their homepage and see if anything will work for you.

[daerid]

In every way that actually matters, Windows 8 is vastly superior to Windows 7. The problem with it is a perceptual one, not technical. If you boot do desktop and remove all the tiles, and basically just remove all the Metro crap, then it kicks the absolute crap out of Windows 7.

The problem is that you have to do that in the first place.

[bueller]

In every way that actually matters, Windows 8 is vastly superior to Windows 7. The problem with it is a perceptual one, not technical. If you boot do desktop and remove all the tiles, and basically just remove all the Metro crap, then it kicks the absolute crap out of Windows 7.

The problem is that you have to do that in the first place.

I suspect a lot of the haters of Windows 8 haven't even tried the 8.1 update. Once you remove all the swiping gestures and hot corners etc it becomes a pretty decent alternative to W7. There are still some things that annoy me but I suspect once the next update hits it will tick all my boxes. Definitely seems to be a lot faster than W7 for me, boot speeds on SSD especially are a definite improvement. I don't even use the start menu any more, I just hit the win key and type the first 3 letters of the program - way faster than going through a menu.

I will definitely agree that stock Windows 8 is a steaming pile of **** though, had to use it while I waited for the 8.1 update to come through recently and that download couldn't finish fast enough.

[daerid]

I didn't really mind stock Win 8, once I deleted all the Metro apps, and completely disabled UAC (which prevents any Metro apps from running).

I got used to it, and actually was annoyed that Windows 8.1 brought the start button back. It totally screwed with my Win+1-9 shortcuts (since I couldn't just quickly count the icons to get the number to hit anymore).

[baldgye]

In every way that actually matters, Windows 8 is vastly superior to Windows 7. The problem with it is a perceptual one, not technical. If you boot do desktop and remove all the tiles, and basically just remove all the Metro crap, then it kicks the absolute crap out of Windows 7.

The problem is that you have to do that in the first place.

I suspect a lot of the haters of Windows 8 haven't even tried the 8.1 update. Once you remove all the swiping gestures and hot corners etc it becomes a pretty decent alternative to W7. There are still some things that annoy me but I suspect once the next update hits it will tick all my boxes. Definitely seems to be a lot faster than W7 for me, boot speeds on SSD especially are a definite improvement. I don't even use the start menu any more, I just hit the win key and type the first 3 letters of the program - way faster than going through a menu.

I will definitely agree that stock Windows 8 is a steaming pile of **** though, had to use it while I waited for the 8.1 update to come through recently and that download couldn't finish fast enough.

My problem with win8 is exactaly that, they ruined the best thing about Windows with metro. Soon as they fix that so it works like a proper desktop OS I'll make the switch.
Having the start menu take up my entire screen is the exact opposite of how it should work....


Oh and I was in the beta for win8 and metro drove me insane, especially how it sorted items you searched for in fb start menu...

[Elrick]

I suspect a lot of the haters of Windows 8 haven't even tried the 8.1 update. Once you remove all the swiping gestures and hot corners etc it becomes a pretty decent alternative to W7. There are still some things that annoy me but I suspect once the next update hits it will tick all my boxes. Definitely seems to be a lot faster than W7 for me, boot speeds on SSD especially are a definite improvement.

I have tried to use 8.1 for that past month and still find myself going back to my Win7 Pro.  The data someone mentioned about moving from one HD to another for me is identical.  Not any faster or slower.  Also setting up my VPN address is so simple with Win7 but with 8.1 is a convoluted joke just to input the data necessary in establishing an outside link.  Win7 was simpler and quicker.  Just simple jobs have been complicated for no reason in 8 which has me always going back to my preferred OS.

The facts are in - Win7 still rakes in the market share far more than any of Win 8 and 8.1 combined.  If the market (business mostly) has always been quoted and admired by people here then that alone seals the latest version as the most ignored OS since Vista was first released. 

I wonder when the idiots at Redmond will decide to quickly move onto Win 9 and leave the 8 travesty behind......  .

[bueller]

I suspect a lot of the haters of Windows 8 haven't even tried the 8.1 update. Once you remove all the swiping gestures and hot corners etc it becomes a pretty decent alternative to W7. There are still some things that annoy me but I suspect once the next update hits it will tick all my boxes. Definitely seems to be a lot faster than W7 for me, boot speeds on SSD especially are a definite improvement.

I wonder when the idiots at Redmond will decide to quickly move onto Win 9 and leave the 8 travesty behind......  .

From what I hear they've already moved onto prioritising development of the next OS.

[baldgye]

I really hope Win9 gets delayed massively until they have justified the existence of Win8. How are they ever going to get the business sector to move off XP when they can't even decide what OS they want to sell consumers...

[bueller]

I really hope Win9 gets delayed massively until they have justified the existence of Win8. How are they ever going to get the business sector to move off XP when they can't even decide what OS they want to sell consumers...

Business sector for the most part has moved on from what I've seen. Even the company I work for has rolled out W7 in the last few months and they've been ridiculously slow to take on any new technology.

[baldgye]

Yeah, I know some our... Have to say most of the businesses I've seen are still on XP for the most part and I see no reason to change

[Elrick]

Yeah, I know some our... Have to say most of the businesses I've seen are still on XP for the most part and I see no reason to change

Business is about making profit and if the old XP or Win 7 still helps to make their business profitable there is NO inclination to switch to another OS.  Because they paid thousands of dollars for their current licenses and support - why pay more again for something weird and ugly looking?

Business sector is the most conservative here in Australia (3rd world style) and they won't upgrade to the current version, so even Local, State and Federal Governments refuse to use Win 8 anytime soon  .

[bueller]

Business sector is the most conservative here in Australia (3rd world style) and they won't upgrade to the current version, so even Local, State and Federal Governments refuse to use Win 8 anytime soon  .

This is why I'm getting out of desktop and related fields, **** supporting a 13 year old OS just because some bean-counters won't pony up for new licenses. The amount of problems I ran into at my old company was astounding, they were all pretty much caused by software not playing nice in XP.

[baldgye]

Yeah a lot of it is money, but also the knowledge base and support for XP is still greater than any other OS. I know people in IT depts who know XP inside out and while it's not perfect, all it's flaws and problems are known and so is how to fix them. Win7 and 8 are a lot more unknown and if your responsible for your companies IT and you decide to switch to Win7/8 and several months later there is found to be a vulnerability in the system (that no on knew about before hand) guess who's the one who takes the blame...


I don't blame anyone who's in that position to not upgrade, I sure as hell wouldn't.

Which is why I think that switching again to another OS (win9) would be horrible for MS because by doing that your not even giving general consumers time to get upto speed with Win8... Let alone businesses

[tbc]

not as much pf a big deal as you think.

windows is now approaching a 1-year cadence.  so every new OS is just a UI update.  of course there will be changes to learn, but it's not like a new kernel that fundamentally changes the capabilities of the system.

your concerns are obviously still correct, i'm just saying the damage from each new OS is less than from xp to win7

[wuqe]

...I got used to it, and actually was annoyed that Windows 8.1 brought the start button back. It totally screwed with my Win+1-9 shortcuts (since I couldn't just quickly count the icons to get the number to hit anymore).

Amen! I'm reduced to pretending that the list is zero-indexed.

[IvanIvanovich]

I'm sure there is a 3rd party msstyles that recreates the older 7 looks somewhere like on deviantart, then you just need the uxtheme patcher to be able to run them. Alternately, I just elected to use the Win8 lite theme which simply disables transparency and etc.

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

Alternately, I just elected to use the Win8 lite theme which simply disables transparency and etc.

Which is essentially what "Basic" themes are to begin with.

Unless you're still using XP, then pretty much every theme can be considered "basic"...

[paicrai]

wer  is ze controversy

[oscillik]

I got used to it, and actually was annoyed that Windows 8.1 brought the start button back. It totally screwed with my Win+1-9 shortcuts (since I couldn't just quickly count the icons to get the number to hit anymore).

Start Is Gone is your friend

[daerid]

Start Is Gone is your friend

So much <3

[wuqe]

Start Is Gone is your friend

Thank you! Controversy resolved.

[Novus]

Start Is Gone is your friend

Thank you! Controversy resolved.

No, you just started a controversy storm by implying there was a controversy when in fact everybody else implied there wasn't a controversy to begin with.
#24hournewscycle

[hashbaz]

Reasonable discussion of Windows 8??  Is this real life?

[IvanIvanovich]

While it's true that the start screen button isn't really necessary to summon start screen (I use the keyboard key 99%)... what is there on right click is useful as hell. I don't get how it's a problem to not count the Windows logo for win+# shortcut. But then again I went from 7 to 8.1 and never really used 8 at all so it's all the same to me.

[oscillik]

While it's true that the start screen button isn't really necessary to summon start screen (I use the keyboard key 99%)... what is there on right click is useful as hell.

you can bring that menu up by hitting Win+X

[IvanIvanovich]

I still haven't learned all the 'new' Win+ shortcut.