Problem with utorrent and AVAST

[Bob2004]

Normal games. It only applies to games running in full screen, and it only seems to apply to games which switch to full screen in a certain way. As far as I can tell, certain games take over the entire screen, and take over all input, but once they've done that, they try to access some service or some protected directory/file protected by Comodo, and it pops up a warning asking if I want to allow it (though I can't see this warning, because the game is in full screen, so everything is just black). Since it blocks the process in question from executing any further until I respond to the request, I can't get out of full screen, so I can't respond - which means everything just gets stuck until I do a hard reboot.

It's not a problem running games in a window, or when using the Comodo sandbox (though that can bring its own issues), so it's not a huge issue. Just an annoyance.

How is it not a huge issue if it completely breaks several games which run in full screen?

Because there's almost always a way around it. The most obvious being to simply reboot the PC, manually add the game to the list of trusted files, then just play it normally. All it does is force me to reboot my PC every now and then when I don't really want to.

[Southrop]

Anyway, yeah, you cannot really claim that Windows 8 is not buggy or unpolished, when we have here a perfect example of a bug introduced by Windows 8, and which is most definitely not present in Windows 7.

But if you think about it, were these programs written specifically for Windows 8? No not really. In that case, wouldn't it be the creator's responsibility to ensure they worked on a certain operating system rather than assuming that if you write some code for one platform it works for all?

[occasional]

Regarding Win8 being "smooth and polished":  Not even close.  Just to mention one thing, using the Metro interface (as well as many standard OS features) with a mouse, rather than touch panel, is just terrible.

I don't understand why people keep bringing this up.
If you don't like Metro, don't use it.
I don't use it at all, aside from the search function. It's like having a snappier Windows 7.
I haven't had any problems with Windows 8. In fact, it's been much more stable than Windows 7 so far.

[Bozobub]

Regarding Win8 being "smooth and polished":  Not even close.  Just to mention one thing, using the Metro interface (as well as many standard OS features) with a mouse, rather than touch panel, is just terrible.

I don't understand why people keep bringing this up.
If you don't like Metro, don't use it.
I don't use it at all, aside from the search function. It's like having a snappier Windows 7.
I haven't had any problems with Windows 8. In fact, it's been much more stable than Windows 7 so far.

You didn't fully read my reply.  Especially the part "using the Metro interface (as well as many standard OS features)", apparently.

Yes you can turn off Metro.  No, you CANNOT disable the other horrible UI modifications, such as being forced to hover your mouse in ill-defined areas.  You can add utilities to undo some of Win8's most obvious ill-starred choices, but that doesn't excuse the bad initial design.

Win8's other issues are certainly resolvable; no Windows OS since '95 has been immune to the 1st batch of flubs and bugs, after all.  But radically changing the interface in a GUI, especially in ways that increase workload, number of clicks, and time taken with the interface, is just about always bad.  For a wonderful example of the problem in a different program, google "autocad ribbon (problem OR issue)".

Those few extra clicks and/or "hovers" Win8 tends to insert into any interaction with the OS add up significantly over time.  This becomes a serious issue, when you're a professional who interacts with the OS constantly, both in time wasted and bad ergonomics.  This is even more true if you buy a touch panel for your Win8 desktop; how long do you think you'll be able to pull 8-hour days, lifting your arms up and over to touch an LCD..?  Not long, bub.  You'll have a repetitive-stress injury in short order.

So, in other words, Win8 has additional time, stress, and retraining costs (for businesses) over Win7.  Not wise.

[occasional]

Not sure what you mean by turning off Metro. I just press the Win key after I've logged on and I'm in Desktop mode. No need to use any metro stuff save for searching.

What are these horrible UI modifications that you're talking about? 
And what exactly are you trying to do that requires hovering your mouse over "ill-defined areas" that cannot be achieved using keyboard shortcuts?

Want to access the control panel? CTRL + X, click on control panel. Windows 7 = Win key, click control panel
Want to search? Win key + type, CTRL + X and click search, or open Explorer, same as Windows 7
Want to shut down? CTRL + ALT + DEL or ALT + F4, same as Windows 7

I practically never use any of the corners or do any hovering.

[Bozobub]

Good for you.  Most users, however, do not use all that many keyboard shortcuts.  You are also not going to be able to convince me that any of the changes to the Windows UI were anything but arbitrary frippery.  There's simply no good reason for it (that anyone has been able to clearly elucidate)!  Nor has a single person been able to explain why it was impossible to simply have a tablet version and a desktop version.

You quite obviously have not had to deal with (re)training every damn half-computer-illiterate employee in a company how to deal with these silly changes.  It's exactly congruent to my example above re: AutoCAD (which I can tell you didn't google) and AutoDesk's  switch to ribbon menus for no damn reason, against their own users' input; they actually asked, first, although I can't imagine why, since they completely ignored the answer.  Can you think of a better way to alienate your userbase..?

Then there's the patent insanity of dumping the *entire* previous Windows development environment for Windows 8 "approved" programs.  This puts a HUGE burden on smaller software developers, as they have to purchase and retrain their entire staff on completely new software, from beginning to end (except for w/e compiler/interpreter they are using); that's exactly why so many indie devs are refusing to support Win8, not to mention the bigger devs.  I mean, even Google has publicly stated that they are not developing for Win8!  This should be a clue, don't you think?

You still think Win8 is "smooth and polished"?

Again, just about all of the UI issues are solvable.  I have no clue how they're going to fix the utter mess they've made of the devs' development chain, but that's not the end-user's direct problem.  So it's entirely possible that M$ will be able to knock off some of these sharp corners to make a nice, polished product; they were able to do so with Vista, eventually, so why not?  But just like Vista, M$ has already nearly guaranteed the early death of Win8, for similar reasons.

You don't have to take my word on this, occasional, it's pretty easy to research all of these problems on the net.  Some good search strings on the subject:
- "windows 8 slow adoption"
- "windows 8 (problem OR issue)"
- "windows 8 development changes"

[occasional]

You still think Win8 is "smooth and polished"?

For people who are not developers and are ok with using a couple of keyboard shortcuts? Sure.

[Bozobub]

Then you never did any of those google searches =3 .

[occasional]

Then you never did any of those google searches =3 .

Every OS has its problems, and the reason behind Windows 8's slow adoption is that people are afraid of change, and/or too ignorant to realize that Windows 8 is not that different than Windows 7.

[Al_Sleeper]

Or are aware of "The rule of odd and even OS versions from Microsoft" .

[Bozobub]

Every OS has its problems, and the reason behind Windows 8's slow adoption is that people are afraid of change, and/or too ignorant to realize that Windows 8 is not that different than Windows 7.

Then why buy Win8?  That, in fact, is probably the biggest the reason behind Win8's slow adoption: Lack of a compelling reason to do so.  Why go through the relatively major inconvenience of installing and learning the foibles of a new OS, when Win7 is peaking as a mature OS right now?

Look, you keep making assertions, such as "the reason behind Windows 8's slow adoption is that people are afraid of change", but you're not backing them up.  While I don't care to throw a zillion links at you — yes, I'm just too lazy — I HAVE given you several search strings that can bring up a good amount of info contradicting your position.  Furthermore, you're not going to have a difficult time explaining how Google (and Notch, creator of minecraft, and many major software dev houses) are "afraid of change".

Just about the only major improvement is in boot times and recovery from hibernation, yet my system already only takes 40-45 seconds from POST to boot, and I generally simply leave it running (seeding torrents, in fact).  Yet, they've added a host of problems right along with these incremental improvements, such as the very problem OP is having.

[occasional]

Then why buy Win8?

You don't "pay" for a Windows OS. It either comes with your computer of your pirate it. With Windows 8 it was especially easy, given that Microsoft is basically giving out free product keys.

That, in fact, is probably the biggest the reason behind Win8's slow adoption: Lack of a compelling reason to do so.  Why go through the relatively major inconvenience of installing and learning the foibles of a new OS, when Win7 is peaking as a mature OS right now?

Major inconvenience? Oh, please. It took me 10 minutes to get comfortable with Windows 8, and maybe 30 to get fully accustomed to it.
As for the new features, how about better performance, higher stability, new backup and restore features, better Office 2013 performance, better Windows Explorer? Not to mention the live account integration.
There's not much in terms of new features, it's mostly under the hood and small enhancements, but it's still better than Windows 7.

Look, you keep making assertions, such as "the reason behind Windows 8's slow adoption is that people are afraid of change", but you're not backing them up.

90% of the Windows 8 criticism I've read is: "There's no Start Menu, I don't want to use Metro," or "Windows 8 is too hard to use." All of which are lazy BS reasons.

  While I don't care to throw a zillion links at you — yes, I'm just too lazy — I HAVE given you several search strings that can bring up a good amount of info contradicting your position.  Furthermore, you're not going to have a difficult time explaining how Google (and Notch, creator of minecraft, and many major software dev houses) are "afraid of change".

“We have no plans to build out Windows apps. We are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8,” said Clay Bavor, the product management director of Google Apps.

There's not enough Windows 8 users to justify the cost. That's why they're not developing dedicated Win 8 apps.

Just about the only major improvement is in boot times and recovery from hibernation, yet my system already only takes 40-45 seconds from POST to boot, and I generally simply leave it running (seeding torrents, in fact).  Yet, they've added a host of problems right along with these incremental improvements, such as the very problem OP is having.

I can only say that I personally have seen a noticeable boost in performance (boot speed, shutdown speed, overall performance, multitasking) on both my laptop (2630QM, 4 GB RAM) and iMac (Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz, 4 GB RAM), and no issues at all. In fact, I was having more issues with Windows 7.


I have no problem with people not deeming the upgrade to Windows 8 worth. But I disagree with the statement that it's not smooth and polished, or better than Win 7.

[Bozobub]

Oy veh.

OK, in order:
- Quite a few people buy an OS separate from a new PC buy, and the numbers support me on this.  I certainly did with Win7 x64 Ultimate.  In fact, Win8 has terrible purchase numbers, outside of new PC installs (where the consumer often has no choice, or doesn't know to make a choice in the 1st place), relative to every other Windows version in the past, besides Vista.
- You apparently missed the "installing" part of "installing and learning".  YOU may enjoy (re)installing Windows (whether as an upgrade or clean install), but most people do not, and it takes a significant amount of time.

As for new features, very few of them are particularly compelling, or could not have been released as a service pack for Win7.  I also have never had WIn7 crash on me, except for cases involving a bad SATA cable on my boot drive; hardly the OS's fault.
- You simply have not done the searches I've recommended, and continue to state your assertions with little to no supporting evidence.  That is NOT sufficient in any debate; anyone can simply stomp their foot and insist they're correct, you know.

In general, there are only small improvements in performance over Win7, and in fact Win8 scores *lower* for gaming.  To quote you, "There's not much in terms of new features, it's mostly under the hood and small enhancements".  That says "service pack" to me, not "buy a new OS".
- Google and the rest of the dev world starting building applications for Win7 almost immediately.  You also did not see a single developer who simply refused to accommodate Win7 right from launch.  Win8 has already been given the thumbs-down from a good number of developers, both large and small.  Notch, for example, swears he will never develop anything for Win8, and Steam has started to develop for Linux, with Win8's problems as one of the explicit reasons.

I've used Win8, both RC and on several peoples' new PCs, and, in its current incarnation, Win8 is NOT yet "smooth and polished", although I imagine that will change eventually, as it has for every iteration of Windows so far; again, OP's problems with P2P are just one example.  Furthermore, many, if not most, of the changes to the GUI (as well as the development process) seem to be particularly arbitrary.

[Belmakar]

OP's problems with P2P are just one example.

I might be wrong there, but isn't the OP's problem more about AVAST than the OS? I don't use AVAST (there are enough free alternatives, and a lot of them are at least as effective as AVAST) and have no problems whatsoever with µTorrent on Windows 8 (aside from µTorrent 3.x's usual annoyances).
Bugged software and software incompatibilities usually aren't the OS's fault, as long as we're not talking about a part of the OS itself.

Please return to topic, everyone (or just shut the fuck up). Your whole "which version of Windows is better" flamewar is 100% off topic.

[Bob2004]

OP's problems with P2P are just one example.

I might be wrong there, but isn't the OP's problem more about AVAST than the OS? I don't use AVAST (there are enough free alternatives, and a lot of them are at least as effective as AVAST) and have no problems whatsoever with µTorrent on Windows 8 (aside from µTorrent 3.x's usual annoyances).
Bugged software and software incompatibilities usually aren't the OS's fault, as long as we're not talking about a part of the OS itself.

Please return to topic, everyone (or just shut the fuck up). Your whole "which version of Windows is better" flamewar is 100% off topic.

Well, it's an incompatibility between Avast and Windows 8, that was introduced by Windows 8. Avast changed nothing, Microsoft did, so I'd argue that it's the OS' fault. But regardless of the reason, the only solution is to wait for either Microsoft to fix whatever issue they've created (yeah, right), or at least document the changes they've made (also extremely unlikely), or for Avast to be patched to fix it - which could take some time given it only impacts a small group of users, and only in a limited way, and they don't know what caused it so it could be difficult to debug.

Until one of those solutions is completed, the only temporary options are to live with the problem, revert back to Windows 7, or change to another antivirus (and I'd argue there aren't many, if any, free AVs that match up to Avast, whereas Windows 7 is arguably better than Windows 8 at the present time - hence my recommendation to revert to 7 if the OP can't live with the problem).

[Southrop]

Microsoft changed a lot of underlying things in Windows 8, and I'm of the opinion that Windows 8 is a step in the right direction (functionality-wise anyway; not so much a fan of the whole metro/minimalism thing they're pushing now).

Now STFU.