Bettyann's Move to Windows 8

Bettyann has finally moved to Windows 8.  Although, we kept her Windows 7 hard drive, she is in Windows 8 to stay.  She has never been back.  She is really liking it.  She adapted much faster than I did.  Originally apprehensive, the reason she sites for the move is that she wanted to be able to help others with Windows 8 but she says she is never going back.

The first thing she did was make the desktop and sign on screen look comfortable and familiar, using her own photos.  Then took on the monumental task of cleaning up her desktop by putting ALL the programs she accessed frequently on the task bar.  She developed the realization that the Windows 8 tiles were a different look for the Start Menu.
After downloading some games from the Microsoft Store she is now royally hooked.

Windows 8 Help

I thought I'd post this YouTube video for those who are trying to deal with the conversion to Windows 8 Pro.  This will help you to better understand if you have just converted from a previous version of Windows.

Here is the Link:  Windows 8 in 3 Minutes

iPad for RVers

I had a one hour meeting today with about 12 iPad users, here in the park.  I held the meeting to determine if we need to have iPad Classes and if so, what are people interested in learning.  I had a great response and lots of suggestions. 

Among the suggestions:  iTunes for transferring Music, Videos and Books.  Applications such as Allstays, iBooks, Kindle etc.  Getting data items from a laptop to the iPad via "the Cloud".   Many wanted to edit photos and Email them to family and friends.  There were many more.  The problem now is when to do each one.

The first class will be using iTunes.  We should have both Windows and MAC laptops in the room.

Disk Space on Windows 8

Since it was announced, I have planned to purchase a Microsoft Surface Pro.  I was intrigued by the concept of having a tablet that will run all the programs I had on my Windows 7 Laptop. Although I haven't yet seen an announcement from Microsoft, I expect that it will be available for purchase by the end of January.  Could I use the Surface Tablet as my main computer?

My Windows 7 laptop had a 500GB hard drive and it was pretty close to being full.  The most expensive model of the surface was $999  and only had 128GB SSD.  That was a big downgrade from my working environment.  Was it even possible to replace my Lenovo Windows 7 laptop with the Surface?

Windows 8 Pro was available on October 26, 2012 and, on that day, I downloaded it from the Microsoft Store on my journey to find out if it was even possible to get to 128GB from 500GB.  I started by purchasing a 256GB Crucial SSD, installed it in my Lenovo.  I calculated how much disk space I actually needed.   Now less than 60GB - Wow!

Libraries	Current Space (GBs) Windows 7	Required (GBs) Windows 8
Contacts	< 1.0	<1.0
Documents	13.1	1.0
Downloads	8.6	2.0
eBook Libraries	28.1	4.8
Favorites	<1.0	<1.0
Music	108.0	14.1
Pictures	21.0	3.0
Presentations	<1.0	<1.0
Videos	110.0	30.0
Tablet Files	19.6	0
Total Disk Space	311.4	57.9

I then installed all my Windows 7 programs including Microsoft Office, Quicken, Turbo Tax, Microsoft Streets and Trips etc. and copied my 57.9GBs of data.

I have been using Windows 8 Pro for 3 months now and it looks as if a replacing my Windows 7 laptop might actually be possible; from a disk space perspective at least.  I am only using 106GB for everything.

Windows 8 and the RVer

Let’s take a look at the technology requirements of RVers from a Windows 8 perspective.  To do a good evaluation of Windows 8, you need to look at what you will be using it for.  Most RVers both casual and full timers require:
1.  Email
2.  Web Browsing (and do online Banking)
3.  Social media (SKYPE, Facebook, Twitter etc.)
4.  Games
5.  Reading Books
6.  Ability to store and send pictures
7.  Trip planning and navigation.

With the exception of  planning and tracking trips,almost any tablet will do the trick and although many tablets have a GPS built-in, not all will provide the planning and navigation that products like Streets and Trips offer.

The big attraction to Windows 8, as I see it, is the ability to have a tablet when you need one and the ability to have full laptop functionality to run legacy applications you just can’t live without.  Many of us just don’t trust “the Cloud” to manage and store our financial information. 

Personally, I use Quicken to manage my day to day financials and I use TurboTax to do my taxes and submit them online while I am on the road.  I also use Microsoft Office, primarily Excel and Word, and you just can’t do that properly without a responsive computer and a keyboard.

While travelling, we plan all our trips.  We need to know, in advance, which roads we will be travelling and where we will be staying each night and want to be assured that the GPS is not going to lead us to a dead end road where we will have to detach the car from the motorhome and back up for a couple of miles to get out.  And trust me, if you have been RVing for a while this will happen.   Streets and Trip (I know some of you use CoPilot), not only allows us to plan but will provide turn-by-turn navigation.  We have come to trust it over the years.

More technical requirements include usability and how much storage you need on the device.  A Windows 8 tablet is very easy to use and there are a lot of very nice applications (Apps) available for download.  For most  RVers who require the basics listed above, almost any tablet will meet your needs and a Windows 8 tablet could be good choice, easy to use and very functional.  For those who require legacy applications and are coming from earlier versions of Windows, you will need a Windows 8 laptop and prepare for a steep learning curve.

Cancelled Satellite Service with Bell

I have used Bell ExpressVu in my motorhome for years now.  I continued to pay the monthly fee even though I really only used it for a week a month.  I did like to get Canadian business news while I was in the Florida for the winter.  Until this year, we were able to get full access to the Bell ExpressVU service while we were in Florida for the winter.  They have threatened for years to turn off the service for access in the USA and if you called they would tell you that you couldn't get it in the US.  This year they've finally done it.  On the way south this year, we lost the signal south of Elkhart, IN.
We called to cancel our account and typical Bell, they said we could only cancel it with 30 days notice.  I have to pay for 30 days of service I'm not getting.  They blamed it on the CRTC but we all know that's not true. So, if you are heading south for the winter cancel NOW.

Goodbye Broken Furniture - Hello Comfort

We have owned our motorhome for 8 years now and the furniture has shown significant wear.  It was primarily the 6 years we spent full-timing that caused the damage.  We have been searching for a new couch (sofa) and chair since the spring.  Our first instinct was to go to Winnebago’s Grand National Rally (GNR) and have them replaced by Winnebago Service.  The $4500 + Installation set us to search for other alternatives.  We got lots of great advice from friends who have had experience refurbishing their RVs.  Most of that advice pointed to companies in Elkhart, Indiana.

Bradd and Hall Store

Great Collection of RV Furniture

After some research, We narrowed down all the advice to 2 companies in Elkhart, Bradd and Hall and Factory RV Surplus.   We decide to reroute our trip to Florida to go through Elkhart.  Although, we planned to stay a week in Elkhart at the Elkhart Campground, it turns out we only needed 2 days.  We arrived on Sunday and started shopping after a Crackle Barrel breakfast on Monday morning.  Our first trip was to Factory RV Surplus.   They had some pretty good furniture and their store looked like a warehouse.  Their prices were very good but the selection was very limited and they had no installation capability.  They did refer us to a business across the street who would install any purchases we made.  I think that if you are an RVer that likes to do-it-yourself this is a great place to shop but for us this is not what we wanted.

Now to Bradd and Hall.  The experience there was terrific.  Within an hour we were able to select a couch and chair from the great selection of furniture in the store.  We spent over an hour trying out every possible purchase and finally chose some very comfortable leather items that perfectly matched our interior. Bradd and Hall has a few RV Bays and some very strong young men to do the installs.  We were able to book installation for Tuesday morning for 8AM. 

Up early Tuesday morning in -7 degree C weather, we arrived with the motorhome a 7:45AM for our 8AM appointment.  By the way they don’t open until 9AM.  Bradd and Hall service was very efficient..  While we were at breakfast they removed our old couch and chair.  We got back just in time to see them installing our new purchases.  They had taped up and cushioned any sharp portions of the door so that the furniture wouldn’t be ripped on the way in.  They even vacuumed the floor before installation.  And one thing we didn’t expect and didn’t discover until we were on the road.  They tightened-up our loose captain’s chairs.  We were in at 8AM and we had the car attached and were heading south by 9:30.

Inspecting the Service

All in all a great experience!  Thank-you Bradd and Hall for a good price and great service.