Category: Windows 8

Day 47/ 365 – Internet sharing issues

~ Akshay ~ 2 Comments

Around a couple of months ago, I upgraded my phone and laptop from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 and around the same time I changed my Vodafone 3G internet plan from unlimited to 2 GB. The two events occurred around the same time. Before the upgrade and change in the data plan, I was able to use internet sharing on my phone without any issues. However since the upgrade/ change in data plan, I am not able to connect to the internet. I am able to connect to the network, but when I open the browser, the net does not work. I didn’t pay attention to this problem since I always carry a 3G data dongle with me. But today, I had a presentation to make for my MBA classes and forgot to carry the data dongle with me. I really needed the internet connection to work. So I tried connecting through the phone and as usual it didn’t work. I called up the Vodafone call center, assuming that it could be a problem at their end as earlier internet sharing on the phone was working fine. After being repeatedly kept on hold, the customer service executive informed me that since I have a windows phone and windows machine, internet sharing would not work. I was extremely surprised at this answer and told her that everything was working fine earlier and only recently since the change in data plans, things aren’t working. She told me that there is nothing that they could do over the phone for this and it was a known issue and I could try my luck at the nearest Vodafone store. Not satisfied with the answer, I decided to connect through a Windows 7 laptop. The same issue occurred – I was able to connect to the network, but not able to use the internet. So it leads me to believe that this is a Windows 8.1 issue.

I am now trying to search through the issue on the internet to see if this problem exists and what is the resolution. I am also going to go to local Vodafone store to check the issue. Hopefully should be able to identify a resolution to this problem.

Windows 8 and me

~ Akshay ~ 3 Comments

My association with Windows 8 began when I bought myself a Lumia 620 phone. While the interface on the phone works really great, I would not say that it is really the case with using Windows 8 on a PC. I recently got myself with laptop with Windows 8 operating system and now I am seriously thinking of re-installing the OS. First of all, there is no Start button. So people who are used to the button on the bottom left corner of the screen are definitely going to miss it. The entire front screen is cluttered with various apps. The look and feel of the screen comes out as if you are using a phone. There is a separate app/ window for the desktop, which you need to click to take you to the desktop. On the desktop, there are no buttons called My Computer etc and these need to be created as short cuts to create some of sort of look and feel like the previous versions of Windows.

It is also very difficult to actually shut down the machine. The easiest way to do is use Windows key + L. This will lock the PC and then you can choose a small icon on the right of the screen to shut down the system. The other way to shut the system down is to take the mouse all the way to the right and wait for menu to open up. When I did that for the first time, I was very surprised to find the Control Panel over there. Since there is no Start/Menu button, the entire OS is very difficult to operate (I feel). While I am still discovering new ways to use this system, within one week of use I have a feeling that I need to change the OS and go back to Windows 7 which was a much much better OS.