Windows 8 Will Remember Your Settings Across PCs

Businesses will NOT like this, unless they can create something on their secure domains that can do the same things for users on different PCs at work.

If there is a way to completely disable and hide all elements of the Metro UI, will that be reflected over all computers I use?

Let us be honest, it just means they won't use it.

I'll go against the tide here and say that anyone who will use the metro UI crap and all that will probably like this feature too. It makes "their" computer much less what they have in front of them and more their cloud storage and whatever they have online.

I'm just curious how you open a video on a system thats stored locally, log out, and log in across town on a friends pc and have that running still. Because I'm sure M$ isn't trying to copy everything you are doing to the cloud. So this feature is only for web apps, its basically firefox sync with the entire OS through windows live.

bs cloud sucks

um how would this work with for example server 2000 - server 2008 r2 domain controller role functionality as per how i read it in the Microsoft certification book the administrator of the domain sets up all the accounts and privileges of every one of them using what methods they deem to be appropriate for the business which they are administrating. but with windows 8 this seems to NOT be compatible with windows server up to windows sever 2008 r2 thus windows 8 will be a dud unless they can disable metro from even being available to the users who they are the admins over. otherwise business will just NOT BUY windows 8 due to lack of control over what the users can and cannot do on it with this i also doubt that a linux, unix, mac, etc. with middleware sever system will be able to administrate windows 8 any better then the windows servers out today. windows 8 so far just sounds like it is a dud for anyone who needs any real security on their machine even if they need a private and/or a public data center cloud that can be made with a little hardware change to their network to make the data center cloud without having to migrate to windows 8.
windows 8 was a good idea but it tried to hard for to many things and didnt get the major ones done right thus without a fix for disabling metro on a domain, a fix to disable it on a stand alone workstation for desktop/laptop users, and other modification to the OS and better support for the x86 multi-core CPU structure on x86 versions and better ARM structure for ARM CPUs, and a better BSOD with the location of the memory dump for the ones of us who want to look at that then it will not sell very well unless they take windows 7 off of the market.

It doesn't look like having access to all your files on any Windows PC you log onto is the point or purpose of this feature. It's to sync commonly used windows settings and themes, the purpose being to give you a more seamless user experience across multiple systems you use on a regular basis. And just like Metro itself, they're not forcing you to use it.

I wish they put in a setting to go back to the regular desktop/start menu. In the dev preview the new tile interface completely replaces the start menu. Every time you click the start button it takes you to the tiles.

The only way to get the normal desktop/start menu back permanently is through a registry hack that also disables the new explorer/file transfer dialogues/task manager too

MS has stated publicly that the Metro UI will be optional in the final release (you can disable it entirely).

Link please?

Cool, same everywhere like the black Ford Model T. But i want some variety in life.

Seriously? Every Win8 article has some guy going "OMG I HATEZ WIN 8 CUZ METRO SUXZORS!!!" As said by Microsoft themselves A LONG LONG TIME AGO (and in the comments of all these articles), metro is OPTIONAL. This means theres an off button.

IE should have its own Sync feature w/o using Live Mesh, just like the other browsers.

How come they didn't include this option in the developer build? In fact they didn't say you'll be able to disable Metro UI entirely, only that you'll be able to go to the standard desktop interface which is not good enough if the Start Menu is gone.

This is stupid, make it like they been since they started, just more features like the did with Visa to Windows 7.. This is so dumb I'll stay with Win 7 if its going to be like this.

Copied what Chrome OS does.

"Businesses will NOT like this, unless they can create something on their secure domains that can do the same things for users on different PCs at work." you mean like group policy and roaming user profiles?

Windows 8 Will Remember Your Settings Across PCs - totally useless feature if you ask me..

As someone who uses multiple computers and has used win8 on 2 of them, I LOVE this feature! Personally I use my desktop, my netbook, my wife's computer, plus my work laptop and work desktop. Having just 2 logins (one personal, one work) across all these computers, and keeping consistent setting across all devices, would be WONDERFUL.
I set up win8 on my netbook and desktop, and this feature worked well. I set everything up on my netbook first (as it is my non mission critical machine), and later slapped in a spare drive for my desktop to try it on. When I logged in the first time the settings didnt transfer (later found out they were still downloading). After 2-3min I reset the computer after installing some software. When it came back it had my user pic, background pick, lock screen pic, transferred my login settings (Pin, password, touch password), and synced my little test folder for the new file syncing through skydrive. In theory the final version will also transfer all programs purchased on the marketplace, and some other things.
Obviously the down side is that if your liveID is compromised then it is just about the end of the world as the person could change your user password and lock you out of all of your computers at once. But practically speaking I doubt this would happen unless a specific person is targeted (or leaves their computer on in a room full of teenagers!)

All of that said, I think I am going to sit out on win8 (unless RC is amazingly good). I love win7, and as much as I like the general direction they are going with win8 (the detail and control over the system is amazing) I do not see an immediate reason to upgrade. Traditionally I have skipped every other version (with the exception of win2K to XP), and I think I will continue that trend. It is just too expensive to update the 5 home computers OS every 2-3 years, better to wait 5-6.

uh... is my playboy desktop picture going to be copied as well?

Um, because it is the dev build. It is intended for developers to begin designing programs arround the new metroUI. It is not (by any means) complete (not even an exit option in metro apps lol). There will be many thousands of changes before the final build release. Metro UI is easily bypassed with a simple registry tweak, and the final version will likely have a 'classic' option. If you watch the build conference the version they used in their examples have features not available in the dev version (like changing your metro background color, titling groupings, and the overall ram usage was smaller than the released version)

There are quite a few great improvements to the traditional windows UI such as the new task manager (epic!), file transfers, and the ability to mount VOB and VHDs natively just to start with. The startUI/metroUI really isnt that bad. Not perfect, but I find it more useful than the start menu which was broke from win95 on. Besides, there are other reasons (like financial investment) that are much more valid to skipping a generation.


Microsoft is always (except Vista) a Business First company. I am sure network admins will have full and complete control over everything as they always have. To think I could just log in with my personal information (and metroUI programs) on a work domain in the final version is a silly idea.

You obviously have not used this at all. It transfer settings, synced folders, and (supposedly) metro apps across PCs. It does not transfer your user session, unsynced folders, or other programs/files from computer to computer. It does this through liveID, and it will only transfer settings you allow it to transfer. You could turn it off if you like. Or when setting up your user acct you can make a traditional userID instead of using your liveID.

When you jump from computer to computer it is a major blessing to know you dont need to change your password/backdrop/other settings on each and every computer. I really liked (though not sure I trust) the synced folders. This would be handy for music, or my current projects that I may want to work on elsewhere, and I dont have to think about updating all 3 of my computers. Change it once, and it is done across the board (after a download delay). Not for everyone, but I love it. I have been doing the same thing with firefox and chrome for about a year now, it is not that much different.

explain how the start menu was broke?
show us the new task manager
personally i dont like the native mounting, as i see it as bloat.

i am just hoping that win8 doesnt go the route of "if you dont use metro, well this and this wont work either..."

Hasn't this been around in roaming profiles since.... NT 4.0?

This will only work if all computers have same apps installed which is not a case but only on corporate domain networks. In some instances even hardware will have to be same. This is FAIL. Next...

Businesses have had this ability for over a decade, it's called a domain controller with roaming profiles.

Pretty useless for the home market if you ask me(creative use of a few free apps can give you this anyway, dropbox, etc.) and since it's already standard operating procedure for a business environment this hardly seems noteworthy.

I'm willing to bet that a lot of you that are complaining about Windows 8 now will be one of the first ones to buy it when it comes out. I didn't care for Windows 8 all that much when I first read about it but it's growing on me little by little. If they fix some of these issues and if it is true that there will be an option to disable metro UI then that will be a good thing, considering not everyone likes this Metro UI. If Windows 8 has better USB 3.0 support, better backup software, Better file transfer filing and uses less resoruces then Windows 7 then heck i'll give it a shot. I mean what's the worse that can happen not liking it and going back to Windows 7. I guess when the RC of Windows 8 comes out i'll make that judgement, but until then i'm willing to give Windows 8 a chance.

Maybe they will. I work at a company that provides IT services to a bunch of business and technical schools in the area. We've already outsourced our students mail system to outlook.com and soon's we're able to implement it in a meaningful way, we'll probably move their storage system to skydrive as well.
There's no way we'd use this new settings system (in the way presented here) for the employees, but I happen to know we're looking at xencenter, vda and other terminal server like solutions we possibly could extend to handle more or less all employee related things. At least if vmware's solution is chosen I know we can even run autodesk and adobe products in such a manner.

Anyway, I see the potential of this system. As a techie I wouldn't much like it myself, but we've got some tablets running windows 8 and it seems to still have the explorer shell as well as the interface I'm used to from my phone (Windows Phone 7.5). So if we still have access to cmd with 1.2 extensions, powershell and explorer, I don't think it'll be a complete distaster like vista (out of 2300 systems in our sccm database, only 1 is vista).

We're currently using a mix of group policies, unc based menus and a website menu to control access to the right applications. With those shared settings, we could ditch those. Provided we have some sort of access to the user defaults that is.

In any event. I'm skeptical when it comes to power users, but I think it's a brilliant interface for grandma's and technical analphabets. And they're the majority of the windows user base. Anyone sitting with a mac now, will feel right at home with a new windows 8 system - except they'll be wondering why it doesn't feel slow of course.

Oh I was lying. Only 2297 systems are in the sccm database at this time. Oh well. Close enough.

I signed in with my Windows Live user ID on my first install. When I screwed up and had to reinstall, it promptly retrieved my settings when I signed in again.

I love it.

The fact the Microsoft already has a copy of your Windows Live user ID and password makes the privacy issue a bit of a moot point.

Do you know a lot of businesses that use Windows Live for signing into machines?

Optional feature is optional.

The only thing the start menu was good for was 'run' and 'search', and it use to be good for sleep and shutdown before I got my new keyboard. Other things are easier to access with the quicklaunch/superbar, windows explorer, or to open a program by file association. Having things forced to be alphabetized makes it a little easier to find things on newer versions on windows, but it is still a disorganized mess where nothing can be found.
If you are new to windows, or have terrible file management, then the Start menu is a great way to get use to finding things, and get beginners to use a computer without understanding what they are doing. For those of us who control our computer instead of just use it, the start menu is just useless. But it is still a very necessary part of Windows for 80% of the people who use it, so I don't complain about it just because I don't use it.

MetroUI is not much better, but I am excited to see that they are at least trying to change something, and try something new. And no, it did not take away from my desktop experience. Switching between the 2 has (so far) been a smooth and seamless experience. Sure improvements need to be made, but as it is now just a proof of concept, and not a final product, I would expect nothing less.

The new task manager basically combines the old task manager with the old resource monitor. You now not only see how much CPU a program is taking, but also memory usage, idle/active state, network bandwidth, and HDD bandwidth. With more details you can see a breakdown of not only programs, but also Windows services and their usage. You can also change your startup items directly from task manager which is handy. With all of this new detail on what exactly is going on with the computer it will be very easy to trouble shoot problem programs, or at least rule out potential problems that were guesswork before.

As for native mounting; Some of us have big HDDs and put all of our program CDs on it so we don't have to deal with the evils and annoyances of optical media any longer (with rare exception anyways). It is much easier to find an image than to go through spindles and binders, and 'free range' discs that are stroon about the basement. For years we have had to use 3rd party mounters (which have much improved over the years), but now we just load Windows, and it is all ready for me.

Again, I dont want people to get me wrong. I will likely skip win8 as I don't feel I have gotten my money's worth out of win7 yet, and I believe win9 will have a much more mature metroUI. I have just been annoyed at people knocking win8 when they obviously have not used it (or at least did not give it a fair shake). The dev build is pretty fun to use (if a bit buggy). Many of you have a spare HDD laying around. Go install it and try the new features then come back and give some constructive criticism. What exactly is wrong with metroUI? It is the ugly green? Is it the fact that you can get quick look information without having to open anything? Is it that you fear it 'wastes too many resources' when in actuality the 64bit version runs just fine on a netbook with 1GB of RAM? Sure, metroUI is not something I particularly like, but it does not get in the way and there is potential there, so why complain?