Windows 8 Consumer Preview boots faster than an iPad

Speed is everything with computers and Windows 8 is headed for the Indie 500 winner’s circle

Most of the articles that are being printed about Windows 8 imply you must upgrade and adopt Windows 8 this fall. Windows 8 is being designed for new computers.

However, Windows 8 is such an improvement over previous versions of Windows, I predict tens of millions of people will want to make the upgrade. Continue reading

First Look – Logitech Wireless Touchpad adds touch to Windows 8

Point, swipe and scroll easily added to Windows 7 and Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Logitech Wireless Touchpad (image Logitech)

By Stephen Pate – The Logitech Wireless Touchpad is one of the best and easiest ways to add multi-touch computing to Windows 8 (Win8CP) and Windows 7.

Win8CP is still a beta release so not all applications support full multi-touch. Using the Apple TrackPad, I assumed swipe hadn’t been implemented by Microsoft. Not so, the Logitech Touchpad swipes almost all screens.

Within a half an hour, I disconnected the mouse to give the Logitech Touchpad full control of mouse/touch. It works like a charm, including the login sequence which includes swiping the background image up.

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Windows 8 Consumer Preview is faster than Windows 7 and Vista

Microsoft promised a more efficient operating system and they delivered with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Windows 8 Consumer Preview loads faster than Windows 7 and Vista, even on older computers

By Stephen Pate – With Microsoft aiming Windows 8 at mobile and desktop computers, the operating system had to get smaller and more efficient.

They succeeded with faster boot and restart times even on older computers.  This is impressive for a beta release which probably hasn’t been finally tuned for performance.

For desktops, a few seconds saved won’t add any productivity to an 8 hour day. Should that speed occur during processing, which wasn’t thoroughly tested, it could extend the performance life of 2-4 year old computers. Continue reading