Hmm. I'm not having any trouble with crashing unless I sleep the computer with the m-audio interface active. Then I get problems, but I always have.

So I don't usually use win+r for run because if you use win alone plus type, it's effectively the same thing plus a global search.

Yes if you make whatever.bat files with shutdown -s or shutdown -r you can shutdown and restart by running the files. I remote too at times, but I never create files for this purpose... you can hit win key then type shutdown -s and have the same effect.

I can get to safe mode at boot time. As your PC Starts, use F8 and follow instructions.
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-enable-windows-8-safe-mode/

If you hit win+f and type *.dmp you can hope to find dump files. Sometimes just the location of these files is helpful. Further, when my PC crashes because I slept it while the audio interface was active, it tells me in the corner that the m-audio power fault is the reason. This may not help you, but for me, it creates a crash dump before shutting down. In Windows 7 there was a handy cancel button so I could just restart. In Windows 8 I have to hold in the power button to avoid writing the dmp. Obviously, while I'm pretty good at saving and closing Sonar before sleeping, I'm not so great at remembering to turn off the m-audio.

Smiles. Your Video card shouldn't be the problem, but you can always update the driver to be sure. Further, if you go into device manager you can disable display adapter (don't disable the monitor itself). This should put you on default drivers that I find cause lower DPC latency than the one written for the device. The one written for the device has power saving features that cause DPC spikes... good to save the earth... bad for recording.

I counted the clicks for the new path to shutdown and it's the same number as the old path, btw, just a new path.

If you go to control panel and type 'appearance' in the search window, you can find 'adjust the appearance and performance of windows' and you can use this to disable the transparency, I believe. I didn't both since I kinda like it... but...

Thank you for your advice and tips.

I disable sleep on ALL my computers and ALL the computers I support. I only use hibernate. And I hibernate my main computers everynight.

But not on the music computer.

For laptops closing the lid and pressing the power button hibernate.

Using BlueScreenViewer to read the dmp files. But when the comp quick-crashes a dmp file is not created.

Can't adjust the transparency of the task bar. Lots os searches and confirmation.

F8 and sft-f8 do not start safemode.  Lots of posts complaning about this.

The vid card is a 2 year old, silent, asus/amd/ati gpu, device. The current drivers are supplied by MS update.   The dmp files suggest the vid card, via the hal errors. I will play with the settings you describe.

But, it may be an interaction with this asrock board. So am adjusting bios settings, timings, voltages,... lots of booting.

w8, 5 clicks to shut down, w7, 3 clicks.

All this work with w8 is preparing me for when my clients request upgrades, new comps, and changing configurations,...

Thanks

j

win 8 = 3 clicks to shutdown... mouse bottom right > settings (1 click) > shutdown (2nd click) > shutdown (3rd click)

sorry the other stuff is a pain.

Best

Ok... I think I may have found the answer to the transparency problem in title bars.

Hover bottom right > click settings > click Personalization > click color > set intensity at 100%.

It seems to have solved it for me. You can click the advanced button to manage hue saturation and brightness as well.

Hope this helps.

I've noticed that I can't set the bit depth to 24. I'm using an M-Audio Fasttrack Ultry with the win 7 x64 driver. Looks like I have to wait for the win 8 driver to be back to 24 bits?

@gswitz

I got Alpha Track working on Win 8 using the Windows 7 compatibility mode.
Right click on the alpha Track exe and select "troubleshoot compatibility".
Still doesn't do ProChannel properly but we already knew about that when X1 was first released.

Thanks for the tip, Mike. I'm doing something wrong though. I don't have it quite working. I followed your instructions and got the driver installed (1.3 version). In sonar, I can see the device under midi and check the boxes. Then I add the device to the controllers and ensured that the midi channels were set for in and out. I'm tired and will look again in the morning, but tonight, I'm missing something.

On another note, both my line6 and m-audio interfaces are not allowing me to set the bit depth to 24. They are both working at 16 and the box for setting it is disabled. I'm starting to think I might flip back to 7 until I see the 8 drivers show up on the various vender sites. I must say, I'm disappointed to say so. I do like 8 better, but I like to be able to record at 24 bit too.

When first using w7, I had to change the windows audiosettings to 24, 44 before the emu would change.  For both in and out.

@mikedocy

Yay I got the alphatrack working. I had it set to generic midi thingy rather than frontier alphatrack thingy. Now It works. 
 
I fixed the 16 bit issue as well. Under File > Audio Data > you can set the Record Bit Depth. It was at 16. The Audio Driver Bit Depth grayed out on Driver Settings apparently only shows the depth available. That's why it says 24 but was recording at 16. All fixed.
Thanks, Mike!

The only way to disable task bar transparency is to install the w8 classic theme.

Been using 2 monitors so not opening the charms bar from the desktop. Tis better now: thanks.

f8 does not open safe mode for me any 3 computers.
The solution is to add a startup menu item to boot to safe mode, using BCE editor.