What's New in Windows 8

Published December 4, 2012 by Shane-Zentz

What’s New in Windows 8

A Breif Review of Windows 8 by Shane Zentz

Windows 8 Contains some New Features along with Familiar Windows Features

The first thing I noticed when first using Windows 8 was the new Tiled Start Screen. This is a little unusual in an Operating System and was a little unexpected, but after using it for a while I found it intuitive and kind of cool. At first I was at a loss as to how to find the traditional desktop, and I suspect that a lot of Windows users will have the same experience. Once I figured out how to get to the traditional desktop, I felt like I was using Windows Operating System again. Except for one thing. Where is the Start Button? Try as I might I could not find the Start Button. I have to admit that this is one feature of Windows 8 that I really don’t like, and I think that it is a mistake to leave out the Start Button that all Windows users will expect (and want) to see. Once you get past the missing start button and the new way of getting to applications and the new way of doing tasks in Windows, there are some cool new features that are worth a mention.

One cool feature is that now Windows 8 comes with anti-virus software built in. This used to be called ‘Windows Defender’ and in the past it had to be manually installed by the user, but now it is installed by default. This is really a good feature that any Windows user will appreciate. Another new feature is the Windows App Store, where Windows users can get both free and paid Windows Apps. I have to admit that I haven’t spent that much time looking through the App Store but I would assume that most popular Windows Applications could be easily found and installed through the App Store. I will post an update to this post when I have more time to check this Windows App Store out.

Another feature of Windows 8 that sounds promising is the ‘One Click Restore’ feature, which is now called a ‘Refresh’. This is just like the ‘Restore’ function of previous versions of Windows, except that now it can be performed in just ‘One Click’. Also ‘Windows Explorer’ has been redisigned, but still functions much the same as all the previous versions of Windows Explorer, but it does look better.

Windows 8 has promised performance increases which I would welcome and I think that most Windows users would like as well. The better start up times and shut down times are something that Windows has needed for a long time. Both Mac OS and any version of Linux OS will blow older versions of Windows away when it comes to start up times and shut down times, but Windows 8 should be faster. I noticed a slight increase in start up and shut down times, but not anything like what has been promised.

Overall, I like some of the new features of Windows 8 and I am taking a wait and see attitude to see if it will live up to the hype and expectations. I still feel the need to complain about the lack of the traditional start button on the desktop, but all in all there are some cool new features in Windows 8.

Shane Zentz