After the transluscent, glassy windows of Windows 7 I was stunned - but not in a nice way - to be confronted with the bland, boxy and boring tiles of Metro and the windows. Thanks to a friend pointing me in the direction of Stardock I installed Start8 and stopped the appearance of the Metro doodah. It gave me a recognisable Start button where it normally is and the familiar menu that goes with it. This meant that I could begin to live with Windows 8, but was still unhappy with the boxy, bland and boring windows. To cut a long story short, Stardock created WindowBlinds 8 and StudioSkins 8 which gives you a choice beyond the Windows 8 enforced offerings. I chose Aero and am totally happy with the results. Edges of the windows are curved, gone is the boxy, bland and boring appearance replaced by transluscent surrounds on the windows and a new Start button.

It's mostly cosmetic but there are a lot of people out there who, like me, have been unhappy with the Metro doodah that is right in your face when you logon and certainly unhappy with the appearance of the tiles and the windows. I fully understand that many like the Metro and the new windows but equally there are enough people that are not happy with it for a company to create options for us.

Ever tried Ubuntu as an operating system?

No, have only had experience with Acorn / RISC OS, various versions of Windows and Mandrake when I used someone's laptop once.