Hi.
You're able to run jaws 15 on windows 8.1. You'll just need an available
authorization for your registration key. If you need to check that, go
to http://fsactivate.com and there should be a link there to check
remaining activations. It will want either your serial number or your
registration key. Find one of those and put it in. If it tells you that
you have either 1 or 0 activations remaining you have the option of
requesting a refresh of the activation count on that same site. That is
free, it just takes a day or so for someone at fs to get around to the
request.
Armed with a fresh activation, you'll be able to install and activate
jaws on the new computer even if it is windows 8.1. You may even have
upgrades remaining that allow to run jaws 16 without paying anything. To
check this, on the current computer go to the jaws help menu and choose
about. It should tell you how many upgrades your SMA has. If it is more
than 0 you can run jaws 16. That is of course, assuming you check that
on a copy of jaws15 which is activated to your activation code. If you
can, then on the new computer you might as well grab the latest copy of
JAWS16 and just install that instead of sticking with 15.
It is to your best interest to maintain the jaws SMA. If you have a home
license you can do that for 120 dollars every two years, which compared
to how things were a few years ago, is not too awfully terrible.
as to the start screen, to get windows 8.1 to have a start menu instead
of a start screen you require a third party application. The most
popular one is classic shell. When installing that, I recommend that you
have it do only the start menu, don't have it mess with windows explorer
or any of the other options. Those are all for features you'll probably
do just fine using as they are. Another user on this thread mentioned
that windows 10 has the option to use the start menu again, and this is
correct. Just wanted to try and avoid any confusion on that. Only
windows 8 and windows 8.1 are using just the start screen. Once you get
used to windows 8.1 you will probably like it a lot. It is a very fast
OS, pretty dog gone efficient, secure and stable. I have been using its
built in windows defender, which unlike windows 7's windows defender, is
an actual antimalware application quite like Microsoft's own Security
Essentials program. Windows 8.1 boots really fast and generally runs
well on even pretty lousy computers that you would expect to only see
windows xp run well on. I have it on a cheap tablet computer and a
rather expensive laptop and they both are doing pretty fine.
The biggest downsides are the start screen and the windows task manager.
If you like the task manager in windows 7 you will probably be
disappointed with the one in 8.1. I make do with a mixture of the
windows 8.1 task manager and another program from microsoft called
Process Explorer, which for you geeky types is part of the sysinternals
suite, and free in other words. Btw, the windows 8.1 task manager is
pretty nice, all things considered. My problem with it, which is just my
own oppinion, is that it takes longer to open than the windows 7 task
manager did, and it is more difficult to use when you have no speech
than the windows 7 task manager. That said it is even possible to get
the windows 7 task manager to work on a windows 8.1 computer but last I
tried that, there were certain tasks it couldn't kill that the regular
windows 8.1 task manager had no trouble with.
Also, the start screen for me is not too much of an issue either. I
solve the problem by not using it *grin*. I put shortcuts in my task bar
and on my desktop to most of the stuff I need, and I use windows
explorer to get to what ever I can't get to from the desktop, the task
bar, or the start screen's search box. Of course I do use the search
feature of the start screen, and so that makes a liar out of me. On my
expensive computer I have just the start screen. On my tablet, I have
installed Classic Shell. The biggest complaint about classic shell on
that tablet is that it doesn't always put input focus on the edit box to
search for items when I use my windows key, so weird things happen when
I immediately start typing to filter down to what I want. Btw, in case
you do get windows 8.1, you'll probably notice you can't really find a
search box on the start screen at all. Not to worry, just type what you
want it to filter for anywhere on the start screen and it'll give you a
list of results, even though you weren't typing in an edit box.
hth
Cheers, Sent with Thunderbird 31.3.0 portable
On 4/26/2015 11:04 AM, Chris Murphy wrote:
Hi Everyone,
I'll be getting a new PC in the near future. Currently, I am using Windows
7, JAWS 15.0.5056, 64 bit.
I think I'll have the choice of getting it with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
I'm inclining toward getting Windows 7 since that is what I'm accustomed to
using, but I'd appreciate any recommendations. I'm sure that many of you
have had experience dealing with this same decision.
I'm wondering if there are significant JAWS issues for Windows 8.1. I've
heard that the format of the initial information of the display for Windows
8.1 is very different from Windows 7 unless you modify the view.
I've also heard that in Windows 8.1, there is a way of having the usual
Start Menu listing the desktop applications so that it resembles Windows 7
but I'm not sure about that. I would want to have that view as the default
if I need to get Windows 8.1.
My sighted husband and I will be working on setting up the new system
together. I'm not clear about the logistics of establishing my JAWS
authorization for the new system, but I expect we'll we in touch with
Freedom Scientific for that and some other details.
I very much appreciate any suggestions or recommendations people may have.
If anyone has cautionary comments or concerns or information about potential
complications that I should be aware of, I'll be very interested to hear
those too. I admit I'd much prefer to get Windows 7 rather than Windows 8.1
unless I hear recommendations to the contrary.
Thanks very much!
Chris Murphy
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For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit:
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