Windows 8

[Occulus]

91. I have a lot of "stuff" installed, though, and I'm on an upgrade from 7.

Lots of stuff to set up when you've upgraded to 8 from a 7 install that's several months old. That is a pain, but it's kind of unavoidable given how much stuff I have on my PC.

Most of the things I have under "apps" are Metro apps (that Music Maker Jam thing is kinda cool, check it out). The thing is, I don't ever have to look at it if I don't want to; many of the items there are just Metro versions of websites. All the apps I actually use with any regularity that aren't "system" related are listed under my desktop icon, in two columns, under the word "Apps". Those are not Metro apps, except for the Netflix one, which I feel is much better than the website itself.

Hmmm. You're right; I could clean that up a bit, I suppose.

That "All apps" page is horrible. I saw it once and resolved to find a way to never ever use it. Fortunately, I can stay away from it. I don't know why it's even there.

Since I'm just using it on my home PC, I don't really care how "messy" it looks if it works for me. If you're using it in a business environment, though, by all means rid yourself of the clutter.

One interesting thing about the pop-in bar on the right is that the Windows Search "charm" (I hate calling it that) is context-sensitive. Search, in one place, doesn't behave like Search in another place. Using Search on the desktop, for example, takes you to that horrible "all apps" screen, but using it in Netflix searches Netflix, while using it in the Cracked app does nothing ("this app can't be searched&quot . It takes a little getting used to- it isn't at all how 7 behaves- but it has the virtue of searching only what you're doing at the time.