Windows 8

I helped a friend set up a new computer and its operating system is Windows 8. There are some neat things about it and then some not so neat things. I spent much of the 2 hours we spent on it looking for things. So my final assessment is that it will be all right once you "find" all the stuff they have stashed away on it- things that used to be obvious.  It has a bigger learning curve, much bigger curve than from say XP to win 7. For instance- lately, like in the last year, I have been using Microsoft Security Essentials for antivirus protection. It is one of the few things Microsoft has done right. It is free, works very efficiently, updates automatically and never tries to encourage you to buy a bigger and better version. So on Mary's computer we planned to take off Norton and put MSE on it. So I go to Microsoft's website to find MSE for Windows 8 and there isn't one! I googled it and discovered that there is one but they have renamed it Windows Defender. It looks the same, acts the same and is the same wonderful little Antivirus program they just renamed it AND they used a name that means something entirely different on a Windows 7 machine. In addition by googling it I find that most manufacturers disable it in order to put a "free" trial of Norton or McAfee on  it. So then the we had to remove Norton-Done- and then enable Windows Defender-Done. Easy you say? We had to find it first! We were like two blind people trying to find our way. We did get a fair amount done but it was very much a learning experience for BOTH of us.
It was a fun evening and I am not being facetious in saying that. For me learning is always fun. Can be a bit frustrating at times but fun. Patience is my middle name- not really. But it could be.