Don’t install Windows 8. Don’t buy a laptop that has it.

I tried. I installed windows 8 on my personal laptop. It was so cheap - $15 to upgrade - I decided to give it a shot.

What a mistake.

If you do anything at all with your computer, don’t use Windows 8. For a tablet - maybe, I don’t know. For a computer - no way. Just say no.

I’m not a hater or a flamer, I use almost only Microsoft products all day long (Windows 7 and Visual Studio most of my work day). I like Windows 7.

Here’s a very short list of stuff that kills me (there are many other problems):

1. Windows 8 restarts your machine WHILE YOU ARE USING IT to finish installing updates. It warns you but never gives you the chance to prevent it. You could be in the middle of reviewing an emergency patient’s diagnosis, and *BOOM* machine shuts down and is unusable for at least 5 minutes. You have no option to save your work. You have no option to stop this from happening.

2. The “metro UI” or “new start screen” or “tile area” is horribly confusing because it hides everything else. You can’t see what’s running at a glance. You can’t change this behavior.

3. The “charms” bar requires you to point your mouse to a magical location. You can’t change this. You can’t disable this (and make the freakin’ bar always visible)

4. There is no bloody CLOCK or calendar on the default screen, that annoying “start screen”. You can’t add one without installing a third-party “windows store app”.

5. The control panel is split between the “classic” control panel and some super-simplified - yet non-overlapping - set of options in the “charms” settings area. Go figure where to fix something.

Too bad, Microsoft really screwed this one up.

End of rant. Here’s a more scientific approach that analyzes windows 8’s usability issues.

p.s. some search engine food: windows 8 sucks, windows 8 is bad, windows 8 is horrible, terrible, nasty, don’t use windows 8, don’t install windows 8, keep windows 7, windows 7 is better than windows 8. Google, you get the point.