11/22/14 3:03 PM

When I buy a new PC, I don't have a choice of OS version. I'm stuck with whatever MIcrosoft wants to push out. And since I never actually 'buy' the OS separately, I don't have the option of installing the previous version either.

In the past, I muddle through for a few month hunting down the controls hidden in different places and eventually adopt to the new version. But the latest version really got me...

My biggest problem is the automatic update 'feature'. It wants to do the update at time of its choosing and I can't seem to be able to choose to do it manually!

tthe reason I want to do it manually is, when the computer is off (or even sleep), the update doesn't install. So when I need to use it, it starts to install which could take a long time!

Ideally, I'd like to manually trigger it to run when I'm finish for the day and let it run while I go to sleep. But I can't seem to find where to 1) disable auto update, 2) manually trigger the update to run

II know a couple of you are Window lovers. Can you point me to the right place?

11/22/14 3:19 PM

Go to the control panel. Select windows update, click Change Settings, and set it as shown below:



This will give you the option not to install updates at any given time. There are some additional options you can try if this one doesn't do it for you.

11/22/14 3:50 PM

Oh, I already had that set.

But I'm struggling to figure out how to trigger it manually when I'm ready to run it. I'm sure it's there somewhere but I've just lost it trying to find it amongst the constantly shifting clutter that's Windows UI!

(if you've seen my apartment, you'll laugh about my talking of clutter. But I think I lost fewer things in my house than PC commands and applications I lost in ONE version change)

11/22/14 3:54 PM

Go to:

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Windows Update

Click "Check for Updates."

11/22/14 4:36 PM

An option, find and download the Classic Shell, you can make your WIN8 look and navigate like XP or other versions.

I have been using it for two years on this WIN8 lap top. Although, since I got the Yoga 2 Levono for Elaine with the touch screen and folding keyboard I have actually got used to it. I did not take off classic shell on my laptop, I am using the Metro more and a few apps I liked once put them on the Yoga.

11/22/14 4:57 PM

I got Classic Shell installed within a few days of installing Win8.

But it's still not all that hard to get to the control panel. Just go to the start screen and start typing "control panel." Before you're done, the machine is ready to launch it. And once it's running, it works just like Win7...

11/22/14 5:15 PM

My real peeves are the pop up charm bar mostly. That is annoying frankly, really annoying..

I figured out a fix for it though. In the touch pad settings.

11/22/14 5:55 PM

Stardock Start8 is another alternative to get back to normal desktop start menu and layout - I've installed that on my laptop that came with Windows 8.

Regarding changing the default behaviour of Windows Update, be aware that unlike previous versions of Windows, where Windows Defender virus signature updates were not tied to the Windows Update settings, on Windows 8.x, if you change Windows updates to not be automatic, then this also means that virus signature updates for Windows Defender will not happen until you manually run an update. As I don't trust MS not to release bad patches occasionally (as they did in August, for example), I have automatic updates disabled and used Task Scheduler to create a scheduled task to run the signature update command below at every login:

"C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -signatureUpdate

This opens a command window on the desktop that stays open for as long as the signature download and update process takes. If you're in the habit of staying logged in for days at a time, then you'd probably want to change the trigger condition for the scheduled task to be once a day or every x hours.

11/22/14 5:58 PM

yes, Nick, that's what I was really trying to achieve!

11/26/14 2:32 PM

"My real peeves are the pop up charm bar mostly. That is annoying frankly, really annoying.. "

If you're referring to the bar on the right edge of the screen, the one that always blocks any move to use the scroll bar, I gotta say that seems like an unimaginably-stupid feature to have imposed by default.

I'd sure like to disable it, and hopefully still be able to access the Control Panel.

As for the automatic updates, I don't have the ability to evaluate each update, so my laptop is left running at all times to the extent that this is possible, and the machine lets me know when a re-start is needed.

11/26/14 3:44 PM

Re: Charm bar popping/annoyance.

On my lap top in the deep settings for the pad. I moved the right border/setting tap zone all the way, as far as it would go, to the right. Then the charm does not get grabbed all the time.

11/26/14 5:13 PM

"deep setting for the pad"

Various searches for charm-related terms came up with nothing, so now I'm wondering which "settings" I need to acces. Oh, and what's a "pad" in this context?
This is a laptop btw.

11/26/14 5:43 PM

The touch pad. Go into the device settings for the touch pad in the mouse applet in the control panel.
That is where mine was. Probably can get to it in the driver via the device mangr as well.

For my Lenono, it is under pointing, edge motion, edge motion region. Yours may or may not have a driver that tweakable...