Bumpkin
Registered user
I bit the bullet a month ago upgrading from XP Pro 32bit to 8.1 Pro 64bit. I did this as part of a hardware update. Classic Shell brings back the start menu which, for me anyway, is preferable.
I have had a few problems with Thunderbird (only officially available in 32bit) freezing randomly. I have set this to start in Windows 7 Compatibility Mode which has improved things considerably, still an occasional minor, momentary, freeze. Other 32 bit applications seem fine so far without any adjustment. As part of the process new licences for 64bit applications were purchased or downloaded where the vendor supported the option to swap FOC.
I terms of familiarity in use, compared to XP, the combination of Windows 8.1 and Classic Shell make it a non issue as far as I'm concerned. There were a few little aspects, which coming from XP, took a while to find out how they worked. Minimising everything and showing the desktop was one such point. Google is your friend here and should easily find answers to any such questions.
I have had a few problems with Thunderbird (only officially available in 32bit) freezing randomly. I have set this to start in Windows 7 Compatibility Mode which has improved things considerably, still an occasional minor, momentary, freeze. Other 32 bit applications seem fine so far without any adjustment. As part of the process new licences for 64bit applications were purchased or downloaded where the vendor supported the option to swap FOC.
I terms of familiarity in use, compared to XP, the combination of Windows 8.1 and Classic Shell make it a non issue as far as I'm concerned. There were a few little aspects, which coming from XP, took a while to find out how they worked. Minimising everything and showing the desktop was one such point. Google is your friend here and should easily find answers to any such questions.
