Why is the default "Calculator" app in Win8.1 a Metro app?

[VirtualLarry]

Went to open Calculator the other day, in Win8.1, on the desktop. Clicked Start button, got to start screen, clicked the down arrow to get to all apps, found Calculator, and BAM, full-screen Metro app. Totally useless to me.

So I finally found the "right" calculator, if you hit Winkey+S (for Search), then type Calc, you get not just one, but two listings for calculator. The bottom one was the desktop, standard Windows Calculator.

What a PITA Windows 8.1 is.

 

[ninaholic37]

Security? You never know what kind of exploits might be hiding in the desktop calculator (it's an MS program after all) :awe:

 

[bbhaag]

Ya I was a little annoyed by that too. I hate how they make the metro calc the default one in Win8.1. If you use the desktop calc a lot Larry you can right click and either pin it to the taskbar or do what I did and pin it to the start screen/app screen.

 

[TuSpockShakur]

click on start button, Run, calc..... What is the problem?

 

[zokudu]

Why did you go to the all apps screen at all. When you clicked the start button you should have just typed calc. Why even mess with the all apps screen.

 

[bbhaag]

Why did you go to the all apps screen at all. When you clicked the start button you should have just typed calc. Why even mess with the all apps screen.

I think Larry is kinda new to 8.1 so going to the app screen might have made sense to him..maybe? Not sure though.
8.1 has a funky way of hiding some of those "go to" programs that were easily accessible in previous versions. Paint comes to mind as another one I had trouble finding. I dont like searching for a program every time I want to use it. I like a nice shiny icon I can click on. I guess they arn't called icons anymore they are called tiles but anyway..I like those.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I tried Winkey then typing "calc" initially, but nothing happened. I just tried it again, and it took 5 seconds of staring at the Start screen, before the search sidebar came up, and then another couple of seconds, before the search results popped up, with the two "Calculator.exe" programs.

Guess I didn't wait long enough the first time.

 

[Iron Woode]

I tried Winkey then typing "calc" initially, but nothing happened. I just tried it again, and it took 5 seconds of staring at the Start screen, before the search sidebar came up, and then another couple of seconds, before the search results popped up, with the two "Calculator.exe" programs.

Guess I didn't wait long enough the first time.

you should install Classic Shell.

Then you can disable unnecessary things like the charms bar, corner points and never see the Metro interface again.

Also for the calculator you would just need to click start button > all programs > windows accessories > calculator.

Pin it to start menu.

makes win 8.1 as livable as Windows 7.

 

[bbhaag]

I tried Winkey then typing "calc" initially, but nothing happened. I just tried it again, and it took 5 seconds of staring at the Start screen, before the search sidebar came up, and then another couple of seconds, before the search results popped up, with the two "Calculator.exe" programs.

Guess I didn't wait long enough the first time.

Not surprising the desktop calc took awhile to show up. It's been several months since I looked but I think its buried in the %windows/system32 folder. Weird place to find it but Microsoft decided that was the best place for the .exe.

System folder/files always take awhile to show up when searching.

 

[code65536]

[WinKey]+[R], "calc", [Enter]... that's the way I've been doing it since XP. (I also use this for cmd and charmap.)

Avoids using the search, and avoids ambiguity collisions with other programs that contain the letters "calc": a consistent 100% keyboard sequence with no need to touch the mouse to select the alternative in case there are multiple matches or to even pay attention to what's happening on-screen.

Search should be pretty fast, if you have a SSD (5 seconds?!??!!). Though running through the Run dialog as I do is still faster.

 

[Sattern]

I hated how Windows 8 turned out so I switched back to Wndows 7 Enterprise, if you keep having problems I would suggest you do the same.

There are so many exploits going around in their app store its not even funny.

Be sure to use the basic calculator as the other ones brought me trouble.

 

[lxskllr]

For Windows, Excalibur is a better calculator. It has many more functions, and uses the sane rpn interface...

http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=3650

or for real work, a fully emulated 48gx...

http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=3644

 

[code65536]

Actually, I have some beef with the "new" (well, "new" as in they changed it between Vista and 7) calculator in Windows 7 and 8.

The new calculator removed the hex/decimal/octal/binary conversions and bitwise operators and put them in a new Programmer mode. And it's nice that they prettied it up and added some new features. But Programmer mode is integer-only. No floating point whatsoever. So I need to switch modes if I need to do a floating-point calculation, which, surprisingly, happens more often than one might think, particularly with division. With the old calculator, I can divide two numbers and get the integer divisor and also know if the division was clean. And in many cases, I can determine the integer remainder from the fractional decimal, and if I can't, then I redo the division using modulus. With the new calculator, I'm forced to use a two-step divide-to-see-the-integer-divisor-and-then-use-mod-to-see-if-it-divided-cleanly-and-what-the-remainder-is. Grr.

 

[jkauff]

Interestingly, when I hit the Calculator button on my MS Natural Keyboard, it brings up the old style calculator. I've never even seen the Metro version.

 

[code65536]

Interestingly, when I hit the Calculator button on my MS Natural Keyboard, it brings up the old style calculator. I've never even seen the Metro version.

That's because it launches calc.exe, which is always the old calculator. The Metro calculator has a very different filename (numbers.exe), and it's not in %PATH%, so it can only be explicitly launched from its tile/shortcut, whereas calc.exe is in %PATH%, so you can run it from anywhere, on the command line, from the run dialog, etc., without specifying the full path. So it would actually be harder and require more active work to get the keyboard to launch the Metro calculator than the classic calculator.

 

[Ranulf]

I think Larry is kinda new to 8.1 so going to the app screen might have made sense to him..maybe? Not sure though.
8.1 has a funky way of hiding some of those "go to" programs that were easily accessible in previous versions. Paint comes to mind as another one I had trouble finding. I dont like searching for a program every time I want to use it. I like a nice shiny icon I can click on. I guess they arn't called icons anymore they are called tiles but anyway..I like those.

Welcome to the wonderful world of a "hybrid" operating system.

And now I head back to slowly updating a win 8.0 laptop to get it ready to update to 8.1. 83 important updates and the damn thing sat there for 15 minutes doing nothing. I had to start updating 5-10 things at a time. Only one update failure so far...

 

[shortylickens]

Remember when your mom shoved brussel sprouts down your throat regardless of how many times you told her you hated the things?
Even when there was god damn corn right there in the fridge?


Yeah, thats Microsoft.

 

[mikeymikec]

Actually, I have some beef with the "new" (well, "new" as in they changed it between Vista and 7) calculator in Windows 7 and 8.

Have you tried copying the exe from Vista and running that?