official Windows 8 Consumer Preview Discussion

[Muhammad Farrukh]

There has to be a way around this. :/

[Anthonyd]

Hey does anyone know if there's a way to have Windows 8 autologin with a Microsoft account so that the user just gets the Start screen automatically upon bootup? Thanks in advance.

Yes it's possible but it's a huge security risk, why would you do that? Just create a pin password if you are too lazy to type password.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

He obviously knows the risks.

And care to elaborate on how it is possible, please?

[azspeedbullet]

What i did was go to run (win key and the R key), and typed in control userpasswords2

then uncheck the Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer

[King Lizzle]

He obviously knows the risks.

And care to elaborate on how it is possible, please?

Winkey + R then type (minus the quotes) "control userpasswords2" and hit enter. It brings up a dialog - untick the box which says "users must enter a user name and password to use this computer". If you have multiple accounts click on the one you want to autologin then hit apply. A dialog will appear asking you to enter and confirm your password. Hey presto! Next time you boot it will autologin to the Start Screen. This works for both Microsoft accounts and local accounts. More secure than having a blank password as you still now have the option to lock your computer if you need to and your password will still be required to unlock it.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Cool thanks. (Y)

Won't, for sure, gonna use this feature, but might come in handy some time in the future

[Dot Matrix]

Power Options mockups Microsoft should look into:

[BajiRav]

Cool thanks. (Y)

Won't, for sure, gonna use this feature, but might come in handy some time in the future

that trick is probably as old as Windows :p

[efjay]

Yes it's possible but it's a huge security risk, why would you do that? Just create a pin password if you are too lazy to type password.

Useful for things like an HTPC using a restricted account so anyone can use it, that's how mine is setup.

[Anthonyd]

Cool thanks. (Y)

Won't, for sure, gonna use this feature, but might come in handy some time in the future

It's been here since at least a decade, it's funny that you didn't knew this trick :p

Power Options mockups Microsoft should look into:

Nice mockup here!

Mind if I suggest them to MS? Or will you do it instead?

Useful for things like an HTPC using a restricted account so anyone can use it, that's how mine is setup.

Right.

[Dot Matrix]

Nice mockup here!

Mind if I suggest them to MS? Or will you do it instead?

Not at all, go right ahead!

[King Lizzle]

I've upgraded my HP laptop from Win 7 to Win 8 seeing as Marvell controller prevents me from doing so on the desktop. Although I've played around with it quite a lot in a VM it isn't the same as doing it on a laptop with all my stuff installed and files present. Here are my initial thoughts:

1. First thing I did with the Start Screen was have a look at and promptly uninstall all of the Metro cr-apps except the weather and calendar. The weather app is pretty good (except for a scrolling bug) and so I've left the live tile active. I left the Calendar app tile there because there's no date and time shown on the Start Screen, although that app is useless if I don't have the option to import existing calendars from Outlook. I then hit the All Apps pane and set about pinning all the apps I'm most likely to use to the Start Screen before putting them together in one large group and two smaller ones. I have to say that in that configuration I don't hate the Start Screen and stripped of the Metro apps it will probably be a useful replacement for the Start Menu. Quite surprised that I came to that conclusion!

2. For me the boot time to the Start Screen is faster than Windows 7, BUT the desktop, which is where I want to be, takes quite a but longer to load along with my autorun software. The OS is on an Intel SSD and in Windows 7 the desktop environment and autorun programs used to load in an instant once it came up. Pretty disappointed with that.

3. On Windows 7 I had 11GB free space on my 80GB SSD boot drive - that was fully clean with no temp, installation, service pack files or shadow copies. Post the Windows 8 upgrade, and after similar clean, I now have 26GB free space. That's a very impressive gain so the actually underlying OS must be very much streamlined. Dead chuffed with that!

4. I usually hit the power button on my laptop and it instantly sleeps. In Windows 8 it takes a very long time to sleep after I press the button. Not sure why this is. I've checked the power options and can find nothing amiss. Hopefully a bug which will be fixed before final release.

5. I've installed one thing since upgrading to Win 8 - that was the K-Lite codec pack. Really annoyed that it added about 20 tiles to my freshly organised Start Screen! Having to go through and unpin them all was an unnecessary pain in the backside. The default behaviour should be to just add them to the All apps area where they naturally go. I can then choose to pin to the Start Screen. This would be a major issue for me when doing a clean install.

6. I miss my old jump lists from the Start Menu. It'd be great if they could find a way to integrate that functionality into the Start Screen. Maybe right clicking on a tile could also bring a bar down from the top of the screen showing recently opened files for that application or a set of common tasks. As it happens I've had to clutter my desktop taskbar to get that functionality. I could live with that on my desktop at 1920 x1080 on a 40" screen, but my 17" laptop now has a full taskbar which is a shame and will cause issues when I have more un-pinned software open.

7. I don't like search functionality being split. It makes more sense for the results to be grouped on screen into Apps, Settings, Files than to have them as three separate searches. Takes some of the convenience out of hitting the Win-key and starting typing. I don't want to have to think of a category and use a different Win-key shortcut for each search. Also the Files search category doesn't show results for Outlook emails anymore or for individual calendar appointments. I used to use those a lot in Windows 7 as it was often more efficient that searching within Outlook. I have no idea why they'd remove that functionality but it's a definite step back.

So overall not as bad as I expected, particularly the Start Screen. It does take quite a bit of user effort to put it into a useful state but once done I can see the benefit of using this over the Start Menu. There are certainly positives about the OS but there are also some negatives, especially with the loss of some basic functionality (jump lists, search results) and silly default behaviours. I really wish there was a boot to desktop option as the group policy for it doesn't work and appears to be limited the the Server OS. I did add the "Shows Desktop" shortcut to my Startup folder but due to the slow desktop boot speed I still end up stuck at the Start Screen for a while before that works. The fact that I'm pretty much avoiding the whole Metro app ecosystem has helped my experience as it gets all those bright tiles off the Start Screen and means I don't have to worry about the lack of windowed multitasking and two apps limit etc.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

that trick is probably as old as Windows :p

It's been here since at least a decade, it's funny that you didn't knew this trick :p

:s

[King Lizzle]

Power Options mockups Microsoft should look into:

This is exactly how it should be.

[TruckWEB]

Is it possible to name a group of icon in the Start Screen? All the demo show you that you can name groups but I can't find how to do it....

[Active.]

Is it possible to name a group of icon in the Start Screen? All the demo show you that you can name groups but I can't find how to do it....

Click the magnifying glass in the lower right corner and then right-click on the group

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Is it possible to name a group of icon in the Start Screen? All the demo show you that you can name groups but I can't find how to do it....

On the Metro Start screen?

Sure.

Zoom out by clicking on bottom right.

Right click on a group and click add name

[Matthew_Thepc]

There is still lil sense in it. You have those live previews , so if like u are watching some interview maybe on youtube , and you don't really wanna focus on video , you can make desktop into 1/3 size and do some work on other apps , this way u can still see a small preview of the video and focus on other apps (However , i am still finding "what work" can i do on apps :p )

Agreed 100%. When I'm watching Netflix I simply do this to the Desktop app and then start up Metro IE or something and use that. It's actually easier for me than AeroSnap, since it more accurately reflects the fact that I'm focusing on Metro IE, and am just leaving the Desktop there to glance at when I wanna see what's going on in my movie.

[Quillz]

The Basic theme confuses me. It appears to be GPU-accelerated, since it supports things like Aero Peek, and yet it still won't do things like the Switcher. Is it still software-rendered like the old Basic themes?

[bbfc_uk]

The more I play around with Windows 8 the more I start to like it. The CP is incredibly fast on my Macbook Pro and when I when I load up OS X Lion I find myself missing Windows 8 in a strange way! :/

[KevinN206]

I honestly think they missed a good opportunity with integrating the Live tiles notification/toast with the desktop. I shouldn't have to bring-up the Start Screen to see new messages and mail. There should be a system-wide notification so that Metro apps can notify the user of updates including the Desktop.

I didn't see this in the Windows 8 CP installed on my laptop. I tested the Mail app by sending emails to the Live account from my Yahoo account. I then purposely stayed in the desktop environment. My Windows Phone 7 did a good job indicating a new mail arrived within about 3 minutes, but I never got any notification from the Mail app since I was in the desktop. I had to open the Start Screen to see the new message icon. This is the missed opportunity, and limits the usefulness of the Metro notification.

Does this feature exist for Windows 8? Do we have to manually go into the Start Screen to check for updates?

[V23]

Am I right in saying that you can't take advantage of Skydrive if you use a local account to log in?

[PGHammer]

But why do we need this on 20"+ monitors with 1920x1080 resolutions. Keep it where its supposed to be, on tablets.

Take a step back and listen to yourself.

What you are basically saying is that Windows 7 - the current version, which is basically an improved Windows Vista (which was originally roundly criticized and dismissed as a failure), is now suddenly the sine qua non of operating systems?

So tell me - what changed between Vista's release and the WDP?

Am I right in saying that you can't take advantage of Skydrive if you use a local account to log in?

No - in fact that is incorrect.

You can log on to any service or application that requires a Microsoft account/Live ID *from the service or app* - regardless of whether you have a Live ID-based login or not!

While I have no less than three VMs (plus the host) all running the WCP, one VM has a local account (on purpose); however, I can still access all the Microsoft services from all the VMs, and the host.

In other words, it's no different from Windows 7.

[V23]

No - in fact that is incorrect.

You can log on to any service or application that requires a Microsoft account/Live ID *from the service or app* - regardless of whether you have a Live ID-based login or not!

While I have no less than three VMs (plus the host) all running the WCP, one VM has a local account (on purpose); however, I can still access all the Microsoft services from all the VMs, and the host.

In other words, it's no different from Windows 7.

I'm using a local account and keep getting this message:

How do I log-in with a local account?

[PGHammer]

Then don't use Metro apps. Use a desktop app.

I don't run many (in fact, hardly any) Metro apps, for the simple reason that there are few Metro apps that fit what I do.

Instead, I run traditional applications (my default e-mail application remains Outlook 2010 x64 - the *same* Outlook I was running in Windows 7). I've migrated, in fact, my entire desktop application and game base.

The only application that has broken so far (in *all* my WDP/WCP testing) is Amazon Kindle e-reader software for Windows, and I think it's a quirk - it doesn't import *unencrypted* MOBI-based e-books. (My workaround is to use the freeware Calibre e-reader for Windows, which supports the same format.)