How to Dump Windows 8 on a new Dell computer

is there an alternative... Operating system besides Microsoft that will make this computer work Like a Real Dell Inspiron 3847 with Windows 7?

There is an alternative to Microsoft - it's called Linux - but if you have never used it, don't get your hopes up - the grass is not always greener. 

Or did you mean an alternative to Windows 8 that came with it?  You can always install Windows 7, but you will have to purchase your own license (unless you have Windows 8 Pro, which nearly no Home systems come with).

What is your specific issue(s) with Windows 8?  There are fixes/utilities for people who don't like particular things in Windows 8 and feel they need to change it.

 

I think some people needlessly whine about Windows 8 simply because the interface looks a little different. I personally can live with that. What frustrates me is the decrease in productivity forced upon us by Windows 8.

PRODUCTIVITY LOSS #1 -- For "power users" a key feature is minimal mouse moves and keyboard strokes. If I try to print one page from a multi-page document in the Windows 8 pdf reader I have to...

1. do the mouse wiggle to bring up the Charms

2. click on Devices

3. if my printer is not turned on, I have to select Other Devices

4. select the printer

5. click on the button that lets you do print page options

6. click on Custom

7. click on the field for entering the specific page number(s)

8. Enter the desired page number(s)

9. finally...PRINT

In pretty much all preceding versions of Windows...

1. Click File menu

2. Click on Print (the default printer is selected regardless if it is powered up)

3.a. Click Pages (many apps let you skip this step and go directly to 3.b.)

3.b. Click on the field for entering the specific page number(s)

4. Enter the desired page number(s)

5. finally...PRINT

That's it !! Windows 8 adds 3 or 4 extra STEPS to the process!!

PRODUCTIVITY LOSS #2 -- It seems that instead of menus the Windows 8 apps want to use Charms, and Charms are activated by a certain mouse motion. There are two problems with this. ONE is that such mouse motions can happen in normal app usage. So every once in a while I'm trying to get something done and my mouse motions unintentionally bring up the Charms. So now I have to stop my productivity to move the mouse away from the Charms so that I can get my screen back. This mouse method of activating Charms should be an optional feature. Microsoft should give users the choice to disable the mouse motion in favor of a button click OR key combo to bring up the Charms. A button click or key combo would be a deliberate act that is very unlikely to ever cause an unintended activation of Charms. TWO -- the second issue is that apps used to have a menu bar or a ribbon to activate commands. In one click you were already into the menu you wanted. With Charms you must do an extra action just to bring up the Charms "menu" of options. As stated before, power users want minimal steps and Charms has added an extra step.

 PRODUCTIVITY LOSS #3 -- The utterly stupid scroll bar timeout in many Windows 8 apps. If you want to read a long document or webpage, you used to be able to put your mouse cursor on the vertical scroll bar and click on it when you were ready to read further down. But now if you don't read the ENTIRE screen in three seconds, the scroll bar disappears. To get it back you have to move the mouse and once you do that you also have to look over at the reappearing scroll bar to make sure the mouse gets positioned back on it so that you can click it again to scroll. This is nonsense. The former method allowed you to focus on what you were reading and click to advance without averting your eyes, while the Windows 8 method forces you to divert your attention from the text to needlessly playing with the mouse.

Some might think these complaints are trivial, and some of them may have workarounds. I would compare it to how you used to be able to just stick the key in the ignition to start your car, but now you have to go to your neighbors and ask for the key which only opens the trunk. In the trunk is a key to unlock the car door. Inside the car is a small lockbox which contains the key to the ignition and finally you can start your car. That's what some of these touch-screen-oriented Windows 8 features are doing to us. Seriously looking into UPGRADING my new Windows 8 computer to Windows 7.

I recently purchased a new Dell with Windows 8.1. i had hung on to my old XP system until it died and was lost in the new interface.

i found a freeware program that creates an interface much like win 7. it is not XP but is close enough. it brings back the start button and program menus. it seems to work fine and i can use the computer again

http://www.classicshell.net/