Win 8 Start Menu Discussion

A full-screen menuing application if you prefer.

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computerbasics/3

"You may have heard people talking about using an application or an app. But what exactly does that mean? An app is a type of software that allows you to perform specific tasks."

 

Don't you have to have a desktop to put your "Apps" on? That is what the url you quote says.
I said when I first did it there was little difference but after I fully populated the desktop is when I saw the big difference and when I unpopulated the "Start Desktop" the time went back to normal.
Can I be more specific than that?

 

I don't see where it states anywhere in the link I posted where it says you have to have a desktop to put your "apps" on.

I can't say I buy your big improvement by removing tiles from the Start screen. I have 84 tiles on my Start screen and yet my laptop boots in 20 seconds. What you say doesn't make sense since the Start screen actually has 2 pages, 1 page that contains the tiles that you can add or remove but the second page ("All apps") has icons for every single program installed on your computer. Even if you remove the tiles from the Start screen, the icons still exist on the second page, unless you actually uninstalled the programs.

 

And my fully built desktop has about 30 icons on it....as well as 845 on the Styart Menu that functions like your Aps menu and they all have to be colored in and ready to go before Windows is ready to use.

 

My desktop actually has no icons on it. I uncheck the option "Show desktop icons" then use a Desktop toolbar (right-click on Taskbar, select Toolbars->Desktop) to access the items on my Desktop. I also organize the various icons on my Desktop in folders such as "Utilities" or "Games" or whatever. With my desktop icons organized in folders, the desktop toolbar gives me a nice little menu. I have done it this way since Win 2000. The great thing about it is that I can access anything on my desktop without ever needing to actually go to the desktop.

 

I understand your logic here and it is a good trick but it also explains the difference in your setup to mine which is more like the average setup of the average user.

 

We all tweak our computers to suit our own style. Good to tell everyone these options are available if one would like to try them. I keep a number of software programs in the task bar for easy access without having to close the page which is open..
What ever rocks your boat.

 

Quite true Dougie and since no two systems are likely to be exactly the same it is quite logical to believe that boot times could certainly differ.

 

Even if you use "Boot Racer" every boot is a fraction different in times.
I can do the same tweaks on two computers and still have 15 seconds different in boot times.
I think any boot time under 60 seconds is no cause for concern.

 

I'm not concerned greatly with boot times anyway since I sometimes go days without rebooting my machines.

 

That's fine. I reboot once daily on all my computers and many times it seems better after I reboot.
Seems often to fix little things.

http://www.goamerican.com/finally-friday/why-you-should-reboot-restart-your-computer-every-day/

 

That's not my personal experience, I don't usually reboot unless an installation requires it. A lot of people believe you should also do a clean install of Windows once every year or so because the OS slows down. Again, that's not my personal experience. Most of my machines are running on the original OS install (with updates) and they aren't slowing down.

At work I have 2 test servers that were put into service in 2003, one runs Win 2000 Server the other Win 2003 Server. Both machines are still running the original OS on the original HDD (80GB) and both function fine. They're too old to bother with upgrading the OS or the hardware, if I called IT for any kind of repair, they would simply retire them. They still run, have never had any issues ever and are still useful so I keep them. They're also kept running 24/7/365.

We also have many other test machines (hundreds) that rarely get rebooted and never get the OS refreshed.

It's largely a matter of personal preference for you to reboot daily, there's no right or wrong way to do it. It's much like the question of whether you should shut down everyday or not. Some people say yes, others no. Again, personal preference.

 

Yes, all personal preference.
I reinstall my OS's about once a year because I like to and have time to.
Sometimes if I am bored I will do a reinstall. All my data are on other Drives anyway
I run all SSD's for OS's.

I like a fresh clean registry and I am convinced my windows OS's run faster after a reinstall.
I think everyone would agree on that point.

 

I agree it is up to the individual but somehow I tend to think we are finding what we want to find in many cases and I would believe the majority is with Dougie on this one that a clean install has to bring better speeds and faster response time just by removing all non essential clutter with a format rather than Windows Uninstaller that misses a large amount of what should be gone usually.
As for restarting once a day I agree it will run better but the best way is a full shutdown as that is the only thing that cleans the memory. One of the main reasons for a daily shut down and restart is to clear the memory and it is the only thing that will do that. If you have ever sat there asking yourself where that response came from just think about solving today's problem and you will get it. Personally I shut down when I leave the house and at night, as I once did a study and came to the conclusion the parts you replace from doing so are way cheaper and less work from the ones you replace when you don't shutdown.

 

I'm glad my experience is different because if I needed to shutdown/reboot all my test machines everyday, I'd never get any work done! Periodic OS refreshes would also be problematic.

When people say their system runs better after a reboot or after an OS refresh, I'd say the positive results can be more attributed to what's known as "confirmation bias" than anything else. You expect it will run better so your perception is that it runs better.

If you have the time to do it and feel you get a benefit from it then continue the practice.

 

Oh no strollin that is not true, there is no question in my mind they run better because error messages I was getting that I couldn't get rid of were gone....a total shutdown fixes a multitude of problems and I personally believe it has a lot to do with clearing the memory. YOu must have forgotten one of Microsoft's most favorite screen savers in Windows 95 which as "when in doubt reboot". Now what other possible meaning can that have but an improvement following!

 

If you were getting error messages, that's a whole different ball of wax and not what we are talking about which is just rebooting as a routine, not because it is required.

Have you ever seen the TV show The IT Crowd? They always answered the phone, "IT department. Have you restarted the system?" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487831/

 

OK I can see the confusion there because you state that restarting causes problematic situations and I say problematic situations require a restart or cold boot to fix often times.

 

I didn't say restarting causes problematic situations, I said if I had to restart all my test machines everyday or refresh the OS routinely it would be problematic. There are too many machines for me to do that routinely so it would never get done.

However, if any given machine has issues, it may need to be restarted (have never needed to refresh the OS) but I don't routinely restart machines "just because".