I’m going to stick my neck out here. I’ve never been one to recommend that anyone run Windows operating system betas. But if you’re using Windows 7, you might get a nice surprise if you download and install Windows 8 Release Preview. It’s the most polished Windows preview ever — and if you don’t like the Metro interface (see image below), you can use the standard Windows desktop sans start button. There’s no start button on Windows 8 so why does my Windows 8 have one? Because I added one with the help of a little freeware program called ViStart (beware, it wants to put other software on your computer — but if you’re careful and click the decline button when it asks to install the junkware, you’ll get a nice Windows 7-style start button on your Windows computer).
The Windows 8 Metro Desktop
The Windows 8 Desktop sans Metro – using ViStart to restore the start button.
Almost any computer currently running Windows 7 has more than enough power to run Windows 8. And all or almost all of your applications will run on Windows 8. My windows 7 laptop got peppier after installing Windows 8 — Windows 8 handles memory better than Windows 8 and I think it’s generally lighter on resources.
The official Microsoft minimum system requirements for the computers to run Windows 8 are:
1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver (If you’re running Win 7 Home Premium or better — you have these)
Taking advantage of touch input requires a screen that supports multi-touch.
Microsoft has a free tool that will analyze your computer and provide you with information about any incompatible devices and software on your computer so that you can upgrade them or remove them before installing Windows 8. One thing I’ll tell you right out of the gate is that you’re going to have to uninstall Microsoft Security Essentials before you can install Windows 8 Release Preview. Windows 8 comes with Windows Defender (an antivirus/antimalware) which is not the old clunky Windows Defender but a newer version of MSE.
To check your computer download and run the Windows 8 Consumer Preview installer http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download .
The program will run and start a compatibility checked instantly. It will take some time for the program to analyze your computer. Once it’s finished it will list all the devices and programs that you’ll need to update or remove before you install Windows 8 on your computer.
In my experience with this tool, only 2 software programs (one a virtualization tool, the other MSE) were not compatible. I had no hardware incompatibilities on my 2 1/2 year-old Windows 7 laptop.
Windows 8 runs so smoothly that many mornings, when I start work, I forget I’m using Windows 8. It has caused me no problems whatsoever. Windows Mail runs great on Windows 8 –even better than on Windows 7.
A couple of other things you should be aware of:
1. The final release of Windows 8 might be substantially different from Windows 8 Release Preview
2. You can’t go back to Windows 7 if you install Windows 8 Release Preview. That means you’re going to have to buy Windows 8 when it’s released, or start over from scratch by wiping your hard drive and reinstalling Widnows 7. But… you can get a great deal on Windows 8 Professional (upgrade). It’s only $39.95 between now and January 2013.
Windows 7 users can keep all their programs, personal files, folders and settings. Windows Vista users can keep their personal files and settings. Windows XP users can keep only their personal files. So if you’re a XP or Vista user — keep in mind you’re going to lose your programs and more if you install Windows 8 Release Preview.
Words of caution: This has been my experience with Windows 8. Your mileage may vary.
I think that I’ll let you be the stalking horse on this one. I don’t like the idea of non-reversability and then being stuck with an OS that I may have problems with.
If Windows 8 continues to default to the metro desktop on startup and doesn’t re-instate the start button and menu in the final build, Windows 8 will be another Windows Vista, a big flop.
The start button starts with Windows and the desktop is a tile on the Metro interface. So once booted– just click on the desktop tile.
How about advising folks to install Windows 8 on a separate partition to evaluate it and telling them how to do this instead of advising them to install Windows 8 over Windows 7?
We’re not advising anything. Dual-booting isn’t something for everyone — especially for novice users…and we’re not getting into it for the sake of a few months. If you don’t want to install it — then don’t. I’ve been using it for several months and have had no problem — and I intend to upgrade to Windows 8 in October anyway. Not sure how you construe my evaluation as a recommendation to install Windows 8 Release Preview. If you actually installed it you’d see where it has many options to prevent loss of data — such as Windows 8 refresh– which completely re-installs the operating system without disturbing anything else. Don’t want to install it? Don’t. Want to go through the hassle of partitioning and dual-booting for 3 months — that’s up to you. You can use Virtual Box or WMWare Player and create a virtual environment too.
You misunderstood the intent of the article — and also the failsafe features of Windows 8. Much better than the features of Windows 7 when it comes to getting out of difficult situations.
It’s your computer — install what you like — and don’t install what you don’t like.
Not sure when partitioning became a hassle with Windows 7 but recommending installing Windows 8 over Windows 7 is like recommending Vista. Hopefully your readers will forgive you.
Not sure why I would want to do this, other than change for the sake of change. I love Windows 7 and think it is a great OS for a computer. I would rather like to investigate Windows 8 but not if it is irreversible. I was not provided with a copy of Windows 7 when I purchased my computer and do not have an external drive to make a mirror image of my computer as it is presently configured.
I agree! I think I would personaly wait for the final release an see what that looks like on someone else’s computer. You may like it and you may not. Windows 8 is supposed to be a big change. I hope it is as good as Cloudeight is saying at this time. I’m sure they will keep us informed…
Does it have a new E-mail client or does it utilize the same Windows Live Mail ? Dave.
Can I still install my own choice of ‘Screensaver’;’desktop’; ‘Cloudeight Start Page’; etc. ? Dave.
Thank you for your evaluation. I appreciate you always checking out new programs and OSs for us. Since I made a recovery disk when I first purchased my laptop it really isn’t too much of a risk. I have everything backed up on my WD external hard drive, also. I think I’ll try it on my laptop first and if I like it I’ll put it on my touch desktop. The $39.95 upgrade to Win8 Pro is from the Win8 RP?
The Windows 8 Professional Upgrade for $39.95 will be available from the Windows store.
Can someone please tell me how to uninstall Windows 8 so I can re-install my Windows 7?
I have tried to reformat my hard-drive and all I get is that I can’t do it – so how do I get rid of Windows 7?
Many thanks
You cannot uninstall Windows 8. Windows 8 installer warns of you this during pre-installation. It’s very important when installing anything that you read and understand each dialog. There is only one way to get rid of Windows 8 — format and reinstall Windows 7. You can format using a boot disk.
I bought a new HDD (the Seagate SSHD 750GB) and cloned my old HDD to my new one using clonzilla. then, I swapped the drives and my computer loaded up windows 7 like it always did (a bit quicker thanks to the Hybrid drive). I installed Windows 8 Release Preview on to my new HDD. EVERYTHING works. even obscure programs on my computer. Norton360 updated itself to work on Windows 8, as did a few other programs. I lost nothing in the process. So, if you want to be able to go back to windows 7, Clone your HDD. I’ll lose nothing when if I reinstall my old HDD, cause it’s all there still. It’s the safest way to go IMO. Just food for thought.