Other than that, Windows 8 seems fine.
Metro Apps are those funky looking boxes you see plastered all over the start screen, as shown in the graphic to the right. If your computer is touch sensitive they are just a finger tip away. The apps themselves seem OK, but apparently they only run in full screen mode, and when they lock up they pretty much lock up your computer.
I’ve only added a few of them, both games (solitaire and mahjong to be precise), and they both lock up a lot. The old standby, CTRL ALT DEL brings up the Task Manager menu, but since the game is in full screen mode the focus remains on the game, meaning you can’t actually use the Task Manager.
To make sure it wasn’t just me screwing up (been known to do that) I went to the old standby, Google, to search for something along the lines of “Windows 8 locks up.” Sure enough lots of people have the same problem. One post mentioned a work-around, which is to set the Task Manager attributes to be Always On Top. Have not given that a try yet, but it will probably work. Still, I should not have to implement a work-around for killing an app.
These glitches, Metro Apps locking up and the Task Manager problem, sort of take the glow off my brand new computer. I realize Windows 8 is new, but come on Microsoft, the Metro Apps represent your whole new computing paradigm, you best get it right. I anxiously await your update that will fix both these problems. But I’m not holding my breath.
~jon
PS, I also was unable to get screen capture to work, something I do a lot of on my old PC. Also Googled that, and supposedly it works just like I’d expect it to, but it doesn’t. I’ll let you know if I get it figured out. ~jon
Image from Microsoft under the Fair Use doctrine, for commentary, criticism, and reporting.
