A request for general feedback on Windows 8...

[pianowizard]

On my new W530 SSD C: drive shows 48GB used but I can only see about 25GB in explorer file manager.....Anyone know what might be hidden on it? My files are unhidden in windows explorer.

I have Windows 8 on two of my machines and it seems to take up even less space than 7, although I am sure it will grow fast as Microsoft keeps releasing security patches. Besides checking "Show hidden files", did you also uncheck "Hide protected operating system files"? Hibernation might take up several GB (depending on how much RAM you have), and the pagefile takes up several more GB. In addition, did you upgrade to 8 from 7? If you did, there could be about 10GB of old Windows files. You can go to "Properties" of your SSD, then click "Disk Cleanup" --> "Clean up system files" --> select "Previous Windows installations" and "Temporary Windows installation files" --> click "OK"

[Tim-ANC]

Ah page file. Big thanks. It was 16GB and purged that. I did uncheck hide the system files, but did not look at the C: drive files. I know, rookie mistake. A 13GB file hiberfil.sys is there too. What is this? Hibernation? I have that toggled off.

BTW, new W530, win8 native. I did a reload for some hardware issues after I first got it. I've uninstalled most of the metro crap and use windows shell. On disk clean up there is a clean up system files which removes old updates. Gained 9GB on that.

[Tim-ANC]

Found this:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/windows_7/D ... dows_7.htm

Another 13GB down. Now I feel better.

[piledriver]

My X300 (now with 4GB RAM) boots to Win8Pro desktop (via classic shell, and using Authentecs FP reader/software)
In ~10-12 seconds, to a usable condition. (still loading stuff in the background, but you can start Chrome, open files etc)

I tried all the usual windows "boot speedup" procedures to no effect, the 10 second boot is basically clean install w/finger login.

I also noticed Win8 seems to be MUCH better at not fragging the drive.

The new 320G in the DVD bay seems about as fast, stuck 8 on the SSD as it would fit, and I install Linux/grub on the HDD, keeps the boot loaders separate.

Only issues I have are I haven;t managed to find a GM845 graphics driver that works for Angry Birds yet, and the Ultranav driver has to be reset for touchpoint "press to select" after every reboot. (the settings stick, but it stops working)

For the latter I'm probably going to try the X200T Touchpoint driver as it doesn't have that issue, the touchpad is not a feature if you have a fully working touchpoint.

EDIT: The X200T trackpoint driver would not load, but re-enabling the touchpad in the BIOS and turning it off in the control panel allowed it to work as expected.
I'll have to track down a Synaptics touchpad so it supports multi finger gestures etc. (has Alps, of course, currently set up for scrolling only)

[GomJabbar]

Just installed Windows 8 Pro on a spare hard drive for my X220 to play around with a bit. Knowing a couple of the keyboard shortcuts really helps out.

[Windows key + x] brings up a menu with control panel and other useful things.

[Ctrl + Alt + Del] brings up Task Manager from where you can reboot or shutdown without needing to log out.

Only an older version of the Hotkey Features Utility [previous to v 3.84] really works as expected. Lenovo Settings Manager is apparently not available for pre-Windows 8 era laptops, and Lenovo Settings Dependency Package is useless without it. The Windows 7 version of the ThinkPad Communications utility seems to work fine AFAICT for the camera and mic.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 09#p701309

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Windows-8/T ... =Skimlinks

[piledriver]

The Fn key OSD utility appears completely borken.
(Sticky Fn works regardless, as it's in hardware, but no OSD)

On the X300, if you disable the touchpad in bios, the press-to-select setting for the touchpoint does not work right---stays selected, but stops actually working. Can be disabled/re-enabled but does not survive reboot.

Works properly if both selected, but then you have a touchpad in the way.
Haven't figured out how to turn it off ONLY in Linux, as having both on baffles xorg and you lose press-to-select as an option.
Win8 is going to lose.

Did they make X300s/X301 with synaptics touchpads, or are the all ALPS?
I could deal with a synaptics version for the multitouch etc, but the ALPs is an albatross.

Looks like intel abandoned support of 965express before they stopped actually shipping it, which is very weird.
Most recent driver is from 2009. The Lenovo supplied drivers are even older, and no opengl.

Latest vista/7 driver working OpenGL video driver direct from Intel, win7_64_1512754.exe, Vista/7 driver, no "disable on Windows 8" shennanigans. DriverVer=09/23/2009,8.15.10.1930 still looking for something newer as it tried and fails to load DX10 textures (hangs) during "Windows Experience" scoring. (it shouldn't even try, may be an error in the .inf as far as capabilities, I'm pretty sure Win8 honors driver capability definitions)

You even get the Intel control panel interface if you unpack it and install it via device manager.
(clicking on the exe seems to do everything but)

Meets modern software/hardware minimum requirements now in that it runs "Angry Birds" well.
Should work on X200/T, haven't tried it yet.

[piledriver]

The wacom pen does not work for navigation in the lame Metro (or whatever it's called) interface, works great for everything on the desktop, and it can do accurate handwriting recognition on my scrawl, which borders on miraculous.

The lack of proper pen navigation is a bug in win8 IMHO, but as it's only in Metro it's no real loss, it just will not get used.
(classicshell is my friend)

Android doesn't discriminate against pens in its GUI, a pen is a first class citizen, works just like a finger, if your finger had a button and eraser...

The voice recognition also seems to work very well.

Angry Birds now working on X200T under win8. (Short: OpenGL working)

Had to fix the Lenovo drivers "graphics\64bit.inf" "no install on Win8" BS (installer conveniently copied by the installer to C:\SWTOOLS\VIDEO\7XD658WW), turn off driver signature enforcement, reboot. install, then reselect the NOT "WDM 1.1" driver a couple times before it "stuck". Never could get the original driver to uninstall, had to argue with it a bit but working now. (the internal driver version is the same, last updated in 2009)

Install via device manager or you don't get the Intel control panel item.

Generally followed the procedure here:
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thread ... -Windows-8

The X300 still seems to run circles around the X200T, even running off the (new 320gb) HDD in the X300s media bay
(via PATA chip on MB)

i think I need a faster HDD, I SATA2 is turned on in the hack BIOS, so the 4 year old factory HDD is all that I can think of to pin that on.
(The X300 SHOULD be much slower, but isn't, despite the 1.2 GHz cpu, lower spec graphics/higher res screen + sata hdd via pata interface handicaps)