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30 best features of Windows 8
Posted on 11 May 2012 at 14:16
Not only will this save you having to pop to PC World for a fresh supply of blank DVDs, but it also provides the performance of running from a local hard disk/SSD, rather than an optical drive.
ISOs appear as virtual DVD drives, while VHDs are mounted in the same way as a physical hard disk in the new-look Windows Explorer.
4. No new hardware requirements
As with Windows 7, Microsoft isn’t raising the hardware requirements for the latest version. That means – in theory, at least – that any PC capable of running Windows Vista should be able to handle Windows 8.
Certainly, we’ve had no problems running Windows 8 on relatively ancient pieces of kit knocking around the PC Pro office. A touchscreen laptop running an AMD Turion X2 processor with 4GB of RAM coped perfectly with the new OS, as did a Core 2 Duo laptop with a mere 2GB of RAM onboard. Even a touchscreen Dell laptop with a lowly 1.66GHz Atom processor and 2GB of RAM passed with flying colours.
In short, if you’ve bought a PC any time in the past three or four years, it should cope fine with Windows 8.
5. Airplane mode
With Windows 8, there’s no more scrambling around for Wi-Fi or Bluetooth switches.
A new option in the Settings menu enables a tablet or laptop to be put into Airplane mode, just like a smartphone, so there’s no danger that you’ll send your easyJet flight catapulting into the South Terminal at Gatwick. Not that there was much chance of that happening in the first place.
6. SkyDrive integration
Until now, Microsoft’s SkyDrive has lacked a purpose in life. Beaten on features and flexibility by Dropbox and others, its chief benefit was 25GB of free online storage – but that was hard to take advantage of due to stringent file-size limits.
The integration of SkyDrive in Windows 8 could be the making of the service. The Consumer Preview includes a SkyDrive Metro Style app that provides access to any documents, photos and music you’ve uploaded.
It isn’t flawless at this stage; click on a document in the SkyDrive app, for instance, and you’re booted into the desktop version of Internet Explorer and asked to enter your login details again. The arrival of Metro versions of Office apps will hopefully smooth out that particular wrinkle.
Elsewhere, however, the SkyDrive integration works well, allowing documents, videos and photos to be saved through the Share facility (accessed from the Charms on the right-hand side of the screen). When emailing a photo from the Pictures app, the Mail app offers to upload it to SkyDrive instead of attaching it to the email.
What’s more, any Metro Style app that has an Open or Save dialog can access SkyDrive without the app developer having to add a single line of code.
The once crippling file-size limit of 100MB has also been upgraded to a far more generous 2GB. And SkyDrive will appear as a virtual disk in Windows Explorer; you’ll see it in the left-hand navigation bar next to local drives, although this has yet to be enabled in the Consumer Preview.
7. Windows Store
The Windows Store, while sparsely populated for the Consumer Preview, shows tremendous promise. Microsoft has borrowed the best features from other app stores and added a couple of unique features of its own.
I can't seem to click on your link to the ten things you would like to see in Win8? It asks for a server username and password..
By Connor on 11 May 2012 
So basically it offers very little to those of us using a desktop rather than poking at a tablet's 10" screen?
It doesn't say much for Windows 8 if you can't list 30 new features without including utterly trivial stuff like stretched background images.
Microsoft are lucky that they aren't facing more effective competition in the desktop OS market.
By davek99 on 12 May 2012
Broken link
Connor - apologies for the broken link. That's now been fixed.
Barry Collins
Editor
By Barry_Collins on 12 May 2012
Just a small point regarding feature 30, (stretching a single image across two screens) - I do that on my machine which still runs XP. In the Display Properties menu, Desktop tab, just choose 'tile'. Providing the image is the right size it will split across both screens evenly.
The screens don't even have to be identical size for it to work, as long as the dimensions of the picture are correct. I've been enjoying lovely landscapes for years!
As for the rest, I think there's more stuff putting me off Win 8 than enticing me, as it does seem overly tablet-orientated. I'm not writing it off yet, but I can't say I'm exactly looking forward to it...
By Mr_John_T on 12 May 2012
unwanted restarts with Windows Update.
Grow some balls and tell Windows 7 to download but not automatically install updates and Windows Update will never again restart without your permission.
Windows 8.. Patch Tuesday... Seriously ?
As to security updates from MS protecting you in real-time .. I dont think so. They are fixes to issues and vulnerabilities that have been known to the community for weeks if not months by the time MS rolls out a patch. You need something better than Windows update protecting your system so automatically installing gains you nothing.
By sminc on 13 May 2012
Windows Update Restarts not a problem.
Simnc, I've been using Windows 7 for over 2 years now and it NEVER restarts without permission. I get a dialog box asking for permission to restart. I then have the option to either accept the request or postpone it for a length of time. Or just let it sit there for as long as I want. You have something configured wrong. Better do more research.
By Big_Jojo on 14 May 2012
Windows Update Restarts not a problem.
Simnc, I've been using Windows 7 for over 2 years now and it NEVER restarts without permission. I get a dialog box asking for permission to restart. I then have the option to either accept the request or postpone it for a length of time. Or just let it sit there for as long as I want. You have something configured wrong. Better do more research.
By Big_Jojo on 14 May 2012
Windows Update Restarts not a problem.
Simnc, I've been using Windows 7 for over 2 years now and it NEVER restarts without permission. I get a dialog box asking for permission to restart. I then have the option to either accept the request or postpone it for a length of time. Or just let it sit there for as long as I want. You have something configured wrong. Better do more research.
By Big_Jojo on 14 May 2012
Playing DVD and CD
Oh wait...
By willy on 14 May 2012
Windows update
I only seem to get updates...and therfore install them, as I'm shutting the computer down. So this has never been a problem.
Am I doing something wrong?
By fingerbob69 on 14 May 2012
Windows update restarts
I don't have unwanted restarts in Windows 7, I was responding to 'Benefit No. 12 of Windows 8'
quote 'Desks across the country have fist-sized holes in them, caused solely by Windows’ habit of restarting to implement a security update, often losing unsaved work in the process. Windows 8 doesn’t promise to abandon forced restarts, but it’s much more considerate about them.'
The above can be very easily avoided in Windows 7 so it's hardly a world shaking benefit of Windows 8.
By sminc on 14 May 2012
Having used the CP I will not be 'upgrading' to Win8.
The OS is designed for a touch interface and is useless on a desktop.
As for the dropping of WMC and native DVD playback - big mistake.
By Coltch on 25 May 2012
Worse than Millennium
I made the mistake of firing up the evaluation of Windows 8 and from the get go I found nothing to recommend it. It is clearly designed for a touch screen and any other medium is going to suffer. I have used every version of Windows since Win 3.11, this, in my opinion, is the worst yet.
By SabreT on 28 Jun 2012
Is it going to work?
I just wish Microsoft would make a version of Windows that works. Why do we consumers tolerate slap dash programming? I have a PC with a version of Windows XP Professional SP2 customised by Red Submarine. It has never crashed in 5 years. I think Microsoft need to talk to them to work out what to dump to make a PC stable and reliable.
My new Windows 7 Ultimate [64-bit] crashes more than I would wish. Aero stops occasionally and it 'forgets' its internet settings. It's really annoying.
By BoredWithBeingAskedToChooseAnotherScreenName on 5 Jul 2012
@BoredWithBeingAskedToChooseAnotherScreenName
Maybe you need to learn to maintain a computer? I've had Win 7 since the pre-beta release and had one crash in all that time. Programmes can crash occasionally, but the OS has only ever done so once. I have 5 networked PCs and that is one crash only overall!
By cooloox on 12 Jul 2012
File copy revamp
Not just that: If you copy multiple files separately (separate copy/move session at the same time that on previous Windows OS would have progress windows each shown on your desktop and taskbar), now there will only be one window showing them all in a list with separate progress bars (and a scroll bar if it won't fit all in the window) and still can be paused/cancelled individually. And also, file overwrite window (that appears when a copy/move operation detects a duplicate file/s) also has an improved and detailed screen :)
By _no3L on 20 Sep 2012
For more details about purchasing this feature and/or images for editorial usage, please contact Jasmine Samra on pictures@dennis.co.uk
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