REVIEWS: MICROSOFT WINDOWS 8.1
5 out of 5 stars Free ugrade from Windows 8, From www.microsoft.co.uk VERDICT Many features have been improved, but some are more useful than others WINDOWS 8 WAS released earlier this year to a mixed response from reviewers and users. While many people appreciated its fast boot times, responsive interface and touchscreen controls, others were driven to distraction by the disjointed relationship between Desktop and Start screen, and by the poor default multimedia apps. The loss of the Start button was a point of contention, with many Windows 7 and even XP users citing it as the reason they wouldn't switch. Upgrading from Windows 8 to 8.1 won't affect your existing software and files, but it's still worth backing up important files to be safe. The upgrade involves rebooting your PC several times and took us around an hour to complete on our AMD Athlon II X3 PC. More powerful PCs may take less time to complete the update. When your PC restarts for the final time, you'll be asked if you want use the default settings or your own custom settings. It's worth checking these, as some of the default options share information with advertisers. You'll also be prompted to log in to your Microsoft account. As with Windows 8, it's not compulsory, but you'll need to do this if you want to access the Microsoft Store. HEAD IN THE CLOUD The OS also asks if you want to use Microsoft's SkyDrive online storage service to back up any documents and pictures you save to your PC. It's enabled by default and, while we're not fans of SkyDrive's web interface, it's a good idea to use online storage to keep copies of your most important files. You get 7GB of space, so if you take a lot of pictures, you might prefer to upgrade and pay for one of Microsoft's SkyDrive packages. However, we prefer other online storage services with more features, such as SugarSync. SkyDrive integration is only an option if your user account is linked to your Microsoft account. Local user accounts - which Microsoft discourages you from using - don't create SkyDrive folders for you. If you enable SkyDrive, you'll see a SkyDrive shortcut in the left-hand navigation pane of the Windows file manager in roughly the same place you'd previously have found your Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music libraries. These haven't been eliminated, though - they've simply moved to the This PC folder. A NEW START The most widely anticipated change in Windows 8.1 is the return of the Start button. This is just a shortcut to the Start screen, however, and is unlikely to satisfy those who want a Windows 7-style Start menu. The Start screen and many of its default apps have also been improved. You can now view two apps on a single screen, with each app taking up half the space, rather than one being a tiny sidebar. You can even split the screen so that one half is occupied by a Start screen app and the other half by the Desktop, which is handy if you have a high-resolution monitor. If you have two monitors, you can display a different app on each monitor. The search function is now much better. There are no longer any annoying distinctions between apps, settings and files, so you can search for anything and your results will appear in one pane. You can even search on the web using Bing, as well as restricting searches to specific types of content, such as files, settings, web images or web videos. In the search results, local settings, software and files are listed first, followed by online search suggestions. Sadly, Bing is the only search engine you can use for this. You can't use wildcards and it won't return results for partial words. For instance, you can only find LibreOffice by searching for 'libre'. You won't find it if you type 'office'. Other improvements to the Start screen include customisable category headers for your shortcuts, an optional smaller size for tiles, the ability to set slideshows on the lock screen and an integrated settings page that now includes options that were previously found only in the Desktop Control Panel. APPY DAYS The core apps have also improved. The previously clumsy Music app has a more streamlined interface and integrates more effectively with Microsoft's Xbox Music streaming service, so it's easier to search for the music you want. The free version of the service provides unlimited access to a vast collection of music for six months, after which you can stream up to 10 hours of music per month. Subscriptions are available if you need greater access to streaming music. You can also play music from your hard disk and from other Windows PCs on your network. Unfortunately, Music doesn't support non-Windows network shares, such as the NAS device we used for testing, as it's unable to index them properly. It's still by no means the best audio player you can get for the PC, and many users will still prefer Windows Media Player, but the Music app is certainly much more comfortable to use. The Reader app, which opens PDF files, was one of our least favourite Windows 8 apps, thanks to its slow response times and limited features. It's improved slightly and now lets you open multiple documents in the same session, displaying different PDFs in a bar at the top of the screen. It feels faster, and the ability to split the screen and use two Vapps or an app and the Desktop at the same time makes it useful if you want to have a PDF manual and an app open, for example. It's still no substitute for Adobe Reader though. The Photos app has seen the greatest improvement. It's smoother, more streamlined and now lets you flick through any directory of photos, even if they're not in the program's indexed Pictures library or SkyDrive locations. We're particularly pleased with this enhancement, as we can now stop using Windows Photo Viewer and take advantage of Photos' more convenient instant full-resolution display. Other updates include basic cropping and editing tools and the removal of Facebook and Flickr integration. These aren't the only default apps that have been tweaked. The Store now has a permanent floating search bar in the top right, which makes it much easier to find new Start screen apps. The Xbox Video app hasn't seen any overwhelming changes, but everything looks a little neater. The app version of Internet Explorer 11, which is only available if Internet Explorer is your default browser, now lets you open as many tabs as you want, and you can configure your tabs and address bar to be visible all the time, although this option is hidden in the Charms bar settings. The browser now supports WebGL, too, bringing it in line with rivals. While these improvements to the Internet Explorer app will be useful for touchscreen users who want to use the Start screen whenever possible, we'd rather use a Desktop mode browser, and these improvements still don't threaten Chrome's position as our favourite browser. Windows 8.1 won't please everyone, but it addresses most of our original complaints about Windows 8. The apps are gradually getting better and the Photos app in particular has become one of the best tools for browsing images in Windows. Many users will be glad to have the Start button back on their desktop, but the change is more cosmetic than functional. Clearly, Microsoft still has touchscreen users in mind, which is hardly surprising given consumer demand for touchscreen devices. The ability to run two apps side by side is a definite plus to anyone who uses the Start screen a lot, and the refined search tool makes life much easier. We found that working with Windows 8.1 on our touchscreen all-in-one felt much more natural. This is the perfect opportunity to upgrade your PC to a secure, up-to-date operating system. Windows 8.1 costs 75 pounds but is free for existing Windows 8 users. You can upgrade through the Windows Store, if you're logged in with your Microsoft account. You'll also need your original product key to complete the process. However, it's well worth the time it takes to upgrade. Kat Orphanides SPECIFICATIONS: SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: 1GHz processor, 2GB RAM, 20GB disk space, DirectX 9 capable graphics device PRODUCT CODE: N/A DETAILS: www.microsoft.co.uk OUR FAVOURITE UPDATES The Start button returns to the Desktop Better Start screen search with Bing integration for web search suggestions The Photos app now lets you flick through the pictures in any directory You can view two Start screen apps at once with new split-screen options SkyDrive folders keep your most important documents backed up online The OS comes with built-in 3D printing support You can use your Windows 8.1 laptop or tablet as a Wi-Fi hotspot See slideshows of your favourite photos on the lock screen Slick Xbox Music streaming Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. 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