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How-To Geek Forums / Windows 8

Win 8 - BLECH!

(8 posts)
  • Started 5 months ago by tilzey
  • Latest reply from oldgeezer
  • Topic Viewed 380 times

tilzey
Posts: 1

I have a new Vizio ultrabook that I'm very happy with. However, since I just bought it (11/28/12), Win 8 and IE 10 are on the machine. Thanks to your site I was able to dump IE 10 (leaving my laptop with no IE at all), but that desktop screen with the huge, unwanted icons, and the hidden start menu, is still there.
I don't want a touchscreen look on a a non-touchscreen computer.

I do own Win 7, and don't mind installing IE 9, altho I use G-Chrome most of the time.
I am looking for guidance in fully removing win 8 and installing 7.

Posted 5 months ago #
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warlock
warlock
Posts: 4100

http://www.howtogeek.com/11116.....windows-8/ If you didn't already try this first.

Posted 5 months ago #
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germ-x
germ-x
Posts: 5310

tilzey hi,
A few things you need before even starting to revert back to Win7.
A Win7 installation disk
Download all Win7 drivers for your system and burn to disk. Most of your current drivers will work but you need them on disk for installation. You can get all the drivers from the mfg website.
Make your Win 8 recovery Disks. These should be on a hidden partition and you can access the recovery from one of the installed utilities.
You will have to wipe your hdd but if you use a utility like Dban it will wipe your entire hdd including your recovery partition. If you make your recovery disks and verify they are good you really won't need that image any longer so wiping the entire hdd is your call.
There is another utility called active killdisk that gives you a free trial plus it gives you some options like wiping partition, or entire hdd.
I suggest you partition and format your hdd before installing win7 so you don't end up with that 100mb partition that causes many headaches.

Posted 5 months ago #
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whs
whs
Posts: 17584

Your challenge will be the UEFI. Better have a look at this first: http://www.sevenforums.com/tut.....s-7-a.html

Posted 5 months ago #
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raphoenix
raphoenix
Posts: 14920

That UEFI Tutorial is NOT the way most UEFI installations are made.

I use UEFI on two new machines and Clean Install using regular MBR and not GPT.

BTW: The Start Button in Windows 8 is all the OP needs as Warlock CORRECTLY posted above. :)

This is NOT to say Windows 8 is really ready for Prime Time as it still has many Run Time Errors as evidenced in the Event Logs. Normally the First Service Pack is used to fix the glitches in the original RTM.

Rick P.

Posted 5 months ago #
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germ-x
germ-x
Posts: 5310

If the drive capacity is 2.2TB or less then the OP can use MBR.
From original post "I am looking for guidance in fully removing win 8 and installing 7. "

Posted 5 months ago #
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raphoenix
raphoenix
Posts: 14920

Don't know of any Ultra Books or Laptops with over 2TB real capacity HDD. :)

http://www.howtogeek.com/forum.....indows-7-8

Posted 5 months ago #
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oldgeezer
Posts: 211

Before you dump Win 8, you may want to consider a few tweaks. One of the best ones I've found is Classic Shell which gives you back your desktop and start menu straight from boot, there are also a couple of registry tweaks that can bring back the desktop from boot if you prefer. And the fast boot bit is the one (and possibly only?) thing that I do think is good with Win8, so rather than spending extra money on a Win7 windback, try modifying Win 8 first, you have nothing to lose.

Posted 5 months ago #
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