Hi.
I'm doing ok with windows 8.1. I don't bother with the start screen much, I just use the desktop, the start screen search box and pretty much everything else. I don't run any metro apps hardly, when I do I have to mess around with my screen settings since I like to keep my computer outputting to a projector that isn't there to save energy. Result being that the apps won't run until I fix my resolution, so I have to switch back to my touch screen output. At first you think it's less accessible because, if you're using JAWS anyway, you'll notice things that the JAWS cursor won't read on 8.1 that it reads just fine on the same window in windows 7. third party applications like live drive desktop is what I'm talking about, not built in windows 8.1 applications that would be designed different possibly. Take the same version of live drive desktop and read the status window using the JAWS cursor on windows 7, now take same version of exact same app and install that on 8.1 and try to read the status window with JAWS cursor again, same version of jaws of course. You'll just be able to read the title of the status window and nothing else. You think ug this sucks why did they break it! But if you switch to the touch cursor in JAWS you can read it just fine, and if you touch the screen if you have a touch screen it works fine that way too. I encounter this in quite a few places, but the touch cursor always works well enough, sometimes it's nicer than doing it with the JAWS cursor.

One of my friends was talking to me, saying he was not liking something about 8.1, when you copy files into some place that already has existing files there, the dialogue asking if you want to overwrite etc isn't accessible. Won't read with the jaws cursor and you can't tab through the options. They were going to downgrade from 8.1 to windows 7 on a brand new computer. I got on my netbook at the time my only 8.1 computer, I installed a demo of 8.1 using Winstaller on that old netbook so I'd be learning about it. Anyway, I booted up my old netbook into my demo windows 8.1 and tried that, and discovered that you can't read it with the jaws cursor. You can, however, read them with the touch cursor and, even better, you can leave it on pc cursor and just arrow between the choices, tab doesn't work, but arrow keys do just fine and the wording of the choices is really an improvement.

So you see things like that happen a lot. People just need a couple of big problems and that ruins it for them. But the way around this is to approach this in the kind of manner of, this is ok in windows 7, how about I just assume they didn't completely break this and try for a while to really find a solution. I'll just do anything I can think of. There's got to be a way to make this work. And that has helped me find solutions for me and my friends quite a few times, especially now that my primary laptop is a Lenovo Yoga 2 pro that came with windows 8.1.

Folks complain about the start screen. Not me, I didn't use the start menu in 7 unless I had to anyway. That search box is great, only downside to how that is in 8.1 over 7 is it searches for a lot more stuff by default and it's slower at coming up with search results. I solved that problem by installing classic shell and just selecting to use classic start menu, not classic explorer and classic IE I like how those work in 8.1, don't need any modifications there. Then I noticed that classic start menu's search box is sort of lousy it doesn't come up with the same search results you'd expect from the 7 start menu, so if it fails on me I just hit windows+q and type into that search box what I want and that usually works fine.

That reminds me of another thing. Another friend was really disappointed that he couldn't adjust his detail view settings in 8.1's file browser (8.1's name for windows explorer). It took a while, but I figured out that in the ribbon if you hit alt v to get to the view tab, then use your tab key to find the views button dropdown grid, don't ask me what that actually means, and hit said button, it exposes other options that you can now tab through like add columns and such that gives you the same abilities you expect in the view menu of explorer on windows 7. Same goes for folder options, we knew we could go to folder options in control panel, but in 8.1 you can't seem to find folder options in the file manager, something you need to do if you want to modify folder options, namely going in there to hit apply to all folders of this type for making sure all music folders display the way the one you're currently in is set to display for instance. Instead of just complaining about it not being there, I went on a hunt for it, and finally managed to find it, took a while but I got it. It's in the views tab of the ribbon, it says something about options, gives a description for what the whole group is for, then it says options split button. You hit that and it gives you a vertical list of a whopping one item, change folder and search options. You can reach it by pressing the alt key and releasing it, then pressing and releasing v, then y, then enter. I'd have found it quicker if I'd have slowed down and listened to everything JAWS said before I pressed tab in there, I must have went through that tab of the ribbon several times before I found it.

Cheers, Sent with thunderbird 17.0.8 portable
On 2/15/2014 7:18 PM, Josh wrote:
I really like windows7 personally. I had linux for a month or two and went back to windows for the games and all the voices it offers and screen reader choices, too.

using windows7 laptop

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