Yeah, but there's a stuff I don't like about Win 8.  Firstly there's "don't call it Metro anymore".  I will switch to it occasionally to keep myself familiar and up to date if any changes occur via update, but it is butt ugly and barely customisable.  You can add, remove tiles and change their position, but that's all.  Can't change the colour; can't change the tile sizes; can't right click tiles to add a shortcut to the regular desktop.  Nah, it's pretty lame, and why most of my time is spent in familiar territory... on the proper desktop. A couple of guys came up with a tile interface that beat the pants off MS' dour offering, and were it possible I'd replace "don't call it Metro" with their far superior offing in Omnimo for Rainmeter.

Secondly; there's no MS games [solitaire, etc] in Win 8, or if there is MS has hidden them well so's folk spend more time on that effin' Metro crap.  In between things I like to have a game of cards to fill in a bit of time while I'm waiting, but not on Win 8.

Thirdly; the shortcuts to system tools that used to be in the Accessories folder in the All Programs menu, they're gone... Gawn, I tell ya!  So, to do something like a system restore, you got to go into the Control Panel and hunt down 'Recovery'... but can you find or right click anything make a shortcut for easy access and future convenience.  Nope, can't do that, you gotta go through several more steps to get where you want to go.

Fourthly; I used to be able to call up my Microsoft Lifecam from a shortcut and adjust settings, make short videos, yak on with family on video calls at will.  Not any more.  Win 8 installed the software and drivers but I can only access the camera and settings via a tile on the 'don't call it Metro" interface, or open up Messenger, etc, and it's a far cry from its previous capabilities.  Yup, I'm pissed off about that, too.

I was going for a fifthly but I thought I'd better turn the rant off and say something positive about Win 8 before I've convinced myself it's a total crock of crap and uninstall it, which would e a waste of $40 bucks.

Anyhow, Win 8 is definitely faster than Win 7, in more ways than one.  It starts and shuts down faster; it copies and moves files faster; it executes programs faster... and that's not all.  Things just seem to run more smoothly and transition more fluently. I'll get used to all the other stuff, and as time goes on I'm sure various developers will create stopgaps an software for where MS fell short.

Yeah, I'm now wishing I'd waited a few more months for the 8300 Piledriver series, given the improved specs.  Oh well, what I've got is no slouch, and by the time I'm in the market for another CPU, who knows, AMD may have developed something positively groundbreaking.

And I bet they cost money. Figures.

Thanks for the heads up there, Savyg, much appreciated indeed.  In fact, I'm feeling quite elated and feel Metro may yet prove to be useful.  While at the MS store I collected a few free apps for entertainment value and to help with with productivity.  There's one which has a cheat sheet for Win 8, showing various shortcuts and ways of navigating the OS, and an instructional app that shows videos on how to use Win 8, so yeah, I have a few more tiles to mess around with. 

In particular I'm looking forward to playing with one that accesses my webcam and all its features.  The original software that came with it and allowed me to perform various tasks, isn't compatible with Win 8 and the updated version for Win 8 just doesn't cut the mustard, feature or access-wise.  However this free app looks like the solution to my previous gripe

I got some apps for free internet radio and TV; apps to keep up to date with technology and science; an app for in depth local weather; an app for the local TV guide; one for local news and current affairs; a few more card games plus minesweeper and other old favourites.  Yup, there's a whole shipload of free apps in there for all sorts of uses, so Metro gets better looking by the minute.  I just with it were more customisable...as in be able to change the background to one of my own choice; alter the size of tiles; to be able to give category titles to the various groups; a right click capability to place shortcuts on the regular desktop; a quick hide feature on the tiles panel and a one click feature on the desktop or taskbar to show it again.

Yup, Metro could use some major love to make it easier on the eye, more efficient and user friendly.  Hopefully MS will consider these and other ideas to make Metro a more convenient and friendly environment for desktop users.

No, like I mentioned above, there literally hundreds of free apps there to cover a wide variety of uses and desires., so yeah, the app store is a worthwhile place to visit.  I saw a few pay for apps while I was there, and honestly, the prices seemed reasonable and usually well under 10 bucks.

Hey Doc, thanks for the heads up on that. However, I'm not too sure about using a 3rd party beta app to tamper with settings and the like.  It may be something to consider later on when more is known about Win 8 in day to day application, but for now is running very well and probably doesn't need and tweaks or optimisation.  Besides, if I were to invest in it, I'd wait until there was proven, stable edition rather than trusting a beta.

Anyhow, you old bugger, how the heck are ya... still forgetting to warm the stethoscope before listening to womens chests?

On the Metro screen (start screen) there will be a tile that is called "desktop". Click it.

Move the mouse to the bottom left corner, click the small thumbnail of Metro that comes up.

But why? Use Start8.

But why?  Then I'd have the same crappy start menu I had before 8.

(I'm kidding, just pointing out not everyone hates the screen.)

If you want to use gmail you need ChromeOS.

Windows ties into a hotmail account

Or at least, that is what they think... I do not approve of such lock in

Absolutely agree. This is the type of conduct which cost MS a pretty penny in a European law suit a few years ago.

There is no lock-in.  If you want to use their store and services, you need an account with them.  If you don't, you don't.  Windows doesn't suddenly shrivel up and die if you don't.

For several months now I've only used an email account provided by my ISP, but because Win 8 is tied to your email account, to log in and such, I opened a Hotmail account specifically for Win 8 and any communications there may be between Microsoft and myself.  However, I will use it only for this and my personal mail will still go to my ISP based account.  Thing is, when you're setting up Win 8 it asks for your fave email address, so I'm assuming this could be a G-mail or Yahoo account if you so desired.  I could be wrong, but it reads that way.

I don't see how that locks you in.  Sure, Win 8 ties to an email account, but it doesn't have to be a personal one you keep for friends and family, etc.  As I just explained above, I opened a Hotmail account purely for the purpose of logging into Win 8, etc, but it has in no way changed the way I send and receive emails  I still use my private account as I always did, it is separate from any dealings I may have with MS, and because I've not given the Hotmail address to anyone else, it just sits there unobtrusively on the desktop unless there's mail from MS.... the key point being, I don't have to use it should I choose not to.

Yes, it can.  You can make an account on passport.net that ties to any email.  It's possible Win8 will set it up as such automatically if you're not using a Live email...I wouldn't know.

Really hope if I ever get Windows 8 that I can use Gmail with it. Microsoft email services outright suck.