Back to Windows 8.1 and how to update when your system doesn't want to.

Sadly my trusty surface pro 3 developed a hardware issue with the Wifi/bluetooth chip.  I had to return it and after a month wait received my replacement.  Unfortunately the replacement machine only had Windows 8.1 on it (rather than Windows 10 which is what the machine I had returned was running).  Even worse, when I went to check for windows updates, the system wouldn't find any, just checking forever with no progress.

I tried the usual fixes, including using the windows troubleshooter, a refresh and even a couple of clean re-installs, all with no joy.

The solution that finally worked was to manually install an update (which deals with fixing update issues).  Here is a link on the update:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3112336/windows-update-client-for-windows-8.1-and-windows-server-2012-r2-december-2015

Once I had installed this update and restarted checking for updates finally worked (it found 183 critical updates!)  

The happy end to the story is that I got in touch with microsoft help and they were able to install windows 10 on my machine, so I finally have an up to date working OS, just in time for the start of semester.

Windows 10 on a surface pro 3

I've successfully migrated to Windows 10 with minimal pain.  The in place upgrade downloaded in the background and although it took a few attempts before it downloaded (probably due to my dodgy home internet connection) it then installed very smoothly.

I had the usual problem of my Targus video docking station no longer working properly with my external monitors but I expected that, as the same issue arose when migrating from 8 to 8.1.  The fix turned out to be the same too.  I just uninstalled the DisplayLink software, ran the cleaner and then reinstalled DisplayLink.  Full instructions on how to do these steps are here.

Since then things have been pretty smooth with the exception of one BSOD (Blue screen of death) and a few niggly wifi issues.

On the subject of wifi, it is now trickier to find your wifi settings (it took me ages to figure out how to reach the advanced security settings under windows 10).  The way to get to these settings is not at all intuitive and you may want to google it first rather than stumbling around for ages as I did.

Otherwise Windows 10 seems to marry the best bits of Windows 7 and 8.  I like the look and feel and some features are gold.  Swiping from the left finally works as I wanted it to, giving me a very quick way of switching between open apps.  This alone is worth the upgrade for me, particularly in a class situation where you want to toggle very quickly between apps and not always with a keyboard or mouse.

One note gotcha

I've been trying to use the "Print to Onenote" option for some time, with much frustration.  I wanted to be able to print pdfs to Onenote so that I could annotate them but everytime I tried I received the error message "Before you can use this feature, OneNote must start for the first time. You can return here and try again after OneNote starts."

The error message seems to offer a pretty obvious solution but I have been running Onenote frequently, so was perplexed as to why it kept popping up.  After much googling I was still none the wiser until I finally saw Onenote referred to as "Onenote 2013".  The penny finally dropped and I realised that windows 8 ships with TWO different versions of Onenote, the metro version (which I use) and the desktop version "Onenote 2013" which I had never started.  After digging around through the desktop apps I found and run the desktop version and ran it.  My problem is finally fixed (well sort of).  I still haven't figured how how to print pdfs to the metro version of Onenote, which is what I really wanted to do in the first place but at least I can print to Onenote 2013.

More investigation required!

Mail merging pdfs

In the past I have used software called pdf machine merge to email out personalised pdfs to students (sending personalised pdfs works well for certificates or project feedback).  Unfortunately my license expired recently and I recalled that in theory you can do the same thing with adobe acrobat pro and word.  In practice when I tried to work through a mail merge in word, there was no way to do a merge to pdf using the adobe plugin because the menu item didn't show in word.

After hours of searching/fiddling/updating I finally identified the problem.  It turns out that my version of office wasn't playing nicely with my version of adobe acrobat.  As I had the latest version of office (office 2013) I first had to update to the latest version of adobe acrobat (XI pro) AND then install the latest update for that version (to move to 11.0.10).  Once this was done the "ACROBAT" menu required to do pdf merging finally appeared again in word.  After that it was a fairly simple matter to do the merge as per these instructions.

Windows 8 update tip

It seems like whenever I update a Windows 8 system I get stuck in an "update loop".

Windows tells me it is busy installing updates, then it tells me that installing the updates failed so it is rolling back my system, then it trys to install the updates again: repeat ad infinitum.

Eventually, if you are lucky, it might actually allow you to login (having failed the update process for hours on end).  Sometimes I've waited SIX hours for this to happen.

Here is where I finally remember to do what I should have done before, the magic step that always seems to sort out this particular problem.  I recommend doing this step before any major windows 8 update (and also directly after an operating system update, before the rest of the updates get installed).

1) Swipe from the right and select "Settings".
2) Click on Control Panel.
3) In the top right search box type "Trouble" and then click on the "Troubleshooting" option that comes up.
4) Under "System and Security" click on "Fix Problems with Windows Update"
5) Click Next and then "Try troubleshooting as administrator".

This should fix your updater problems so that when you reboot you don't get stuck.

Hands on with surface pro 3

I'm typing this update on the new surface pro 3, thanks to a very kind colleague who lent me their machine.

Here are a few thoughts from setting it up.

Initially the surface refused to turn on, despite having been plugged in and charging it for a good length of time.  I worked through the instructions here: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/surface-pro-wont-turn-on

Fortunately the very last step worked (essentially a hard reset).  I was holding my breath for a while there!  It took a long time holding down various buttons before I saw the screen come to life.

Windows 8 setups are usually pretty painless. I've been through several windows 8 installs now but got thrown with this one because I didn't have the stylus handy.  As part of the setup you need to do a Bluetooth pairing with the stylus.  It took me a while to find the stylus, unscrew it and check the battery was present (I removed the little paper tab that was inside with the battery).  By the time I had it ready the surface had tried pairing three times and gave up.  I continued with the install but it said it failed at the end, so I  redid it with no problems second time around.

One think to be careful of is to make sure you select the correct keyboard type.  In a previous setup I inadvertently selected UK (thinking I was selecting UK English), only to discover that I should have selected the US keyboard I had was typing different symbols when I hit certain keys (including the @ symbol which makes it tricky to email anyone!).  It took a lot of fiddling to set the keyboard back to US.

As mentioned in other posts, the first thing to install is Classic Shell: http://classicshell.net/.  It really does make a difference if you are used to previous windows versions.  Unless you are an experienced windows 8 user, you'll be forever trying to find settings and apps that used to be "easy" to locate unless you install this little app which gives you back your start menu.

The display on the surface pro 3 is stunning.  The extra size really makes a difference, as does the ability to position the kickstand exactly how you want (it means you can reduce reflective glare).  When using the surface with the keyboard docked, the larger screen makes it feel much more like a laptop that a tablet (particularly when compared to the surface pro 2 which felt cramped). This is probably helped by the new 3 by 2 ratio (so it feels less like a widescreen machine). If you undock the keyboard you still feel like you have a tablet.

I like the new larger form factor and it doesn't come at the cost of extra weight or thickness (in fact it is thinner and feels lighter).  It feels really nice in the hand, with a solid build.

The new keyboard is an improvement on the old on in just about every respect.  There is a surprising amount of travel and while an external keyboard is always going to be nicer, this will do well for on the go.  The backlit keys are a nice touch and the trackpad is a bit larger.  I actually prefer the keyboard to the "Chiclet" ones that are becoming standard on many laptops.  It seems easier to hit the right keys on the this keyboard.  It is also very useable on a lap and MUCH more so that the surface 2 or 1 was.  The new attachment mechanism which relies on attaching at two points with magnets gives a lot more stability.  My only gripe with this attachment mechanism is that it gets in the way of swiping up from the bottom of the screen (which is sometime useful, particularly for charm apps).

The pen feels MUCH nicer than the stylus that came with the surface 2 or surface 1.  It has a good heft to it and feels solid and more "pen like".  It is also much more accurate and this is particularly noticeable in the corners of the screen (which used to be very problematic to work with on the surface 1, which made hitting the correct option on menus tricky sometimes).  It is also nice to have somewhere to stash it on the keyboard (they included a little loop that adheres to the keyboard, so you can slide your pen in for safe storage when it isn't in use.  Overall the pen experience is a big improvement and I can see why they switched from the previous stylus (which was a Wacom one) to the new N-trig version.  I am slightly concerned that the new one requires batteries and this needs to be kept in mind (you'll want a spare AAAA battery and a couple of 319 button batteries on hand in case they die during something important).  The other thing I noticed is that the screen seems to be more slippery than on my older surface (I suspect this may change with use and could just be because the new unit is still pristine and extremely clean)

The sound is surprisingly punchy and there is no problem relying on the speakers if you are watching YouTube videos and the like.  In fact you may even be reaching for the volume down button.

Overall first impressions are extremely positive.  Microsoft seem to have got a lot right with this iteration.

Setting up surface pro 2 (and wishing it was a 3)

So the surface pro 3 is out and it looks fantastic.  Microsoft have tweaked the design to add all the features I thought were missing from the 2  (in particular I love the look of the bigger screen, better "lapability" and improved stylus).  I think the surface pro has really come of age.  Unfortunately due to being at the ends of the earth and having to order through preferred supplies, rather than unboxing a 3, I'm opening up my new surface pro 2 (which took a VERY long time to acquire). 

As I run through setup, I'm reminded of a few things I found tricky when setting up my initial surface pro and also just how many additional apps I install.

Here's a brief list of apps I think are worth having

Helping to get things done
 - Classic shell (makes windows 8 MUCH more usable by creating a "start" button).  Install this FIRST as it makes configuring windows to your liking much easier.
- Wunderlist  is the software I use for tracking todos, which in the past has worked reasonably well across multiple platforms (I have used it on windows, osx, ios and android devices).  The 3rd version just came out for several platforms but is not yet available for windows 8 so I'm making do with the chrome browser extension.
 
Web browsing
- Internet Explorer comes standard so you don't need to install it (you actually get two versions, as the one launched from the charms area is different and works better if navigating by finger)
- Chrome is worth installing as google stuff works better with it but be aware the fonts will look fuzzy on a surface.  This is easy to fix if you find the right setting (which took me a LONG time to track down the first time).  You have to disable display scaling on high DPI settings for chrome, the instructions on how to do this are here: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fonts-appear-blurred-windows-8
- Firefox is still a favourite and I find some sites just work better in firefox.  If fonts look fuzzy try the same trick for fixing as described above for Chrome.

Mail
 - Outlook (I've switched to the dark side) although I really miss some Thunderbird features, I've found Thunderbird buggy of late (but Outlook isn't much better)

Media
 - itunes is particularly handy if you have an apple device but also helpful for managing media even if you don't
 - doubleTwist  is helpful for syncing music from an iTunes library to an android device
 - Quicktime  is handy for playing quick time movies and other media files
 - VLC player is still the best free media player out there
 - BBflashback player and recorder is the software I use this for screen capture (with audio) - Handbrake is great for optimising video files
 - Dropbox is handy if you have a dropbox account

 Office documents
 - Open office if I'm looking for a free solution, otherwise the MS office suite
 
 PDF creation
 - pdf machine merge  is handy for emailing personalised pdfs but it costs a bit of money, does a good job though and can save HEAPS of time.
 - pdf annotator is very good but again costs money
 - Adobe acrobat reader is an industry standard (although I find this can be a bit buggy)
 - Cute pdf editor (I sometimes use this to create pdfs if adobe products fail to work)

Technical
 - Matlab (ain't cheap)
 - Octave (free!)
 - Visual studio (for C++)
 - Tex works
 - Tex studio

Charms bar apps
Don't use these much as I tend to use other devices for touch based apps 
 - Kindle (for reading ebooks)