New guy, old Windows 8.1 desktop

[Pseudonymbrio]

I'm not any type of expert, wizard, or guru. I started with Windows 95 and finished with Windows 8.1 before age and finances basically limited my ability to upgrade any further. That's when necessity sort of became the mother of a Windows 8.1 hobbyist, and over the years it has become kind of like maintaining a classic car, renewing my interest in getting in there to keep her clean and purring under the hood. These days, as life's proverbial sun sets, I wouldn't have it any other way. It gives me something to do. I'm not stuck in the political discussion forums all day long, and games or YouTube were never really my scene. I enjoy tinkering with the old desktop PC as much as anything. All of which brings me to the point. I have wondered if there are any other aging Windows 8.1 enthusiasts out there who might enjoy the drinking of a virtual beer while sharing old Windows 8.1 stories and trading general and technically unspecific notes about the wonders of the last OS they ever really needed to make. (Windows 10, maybe, but Windows 11? SMH. One of my biased observations is that 95% of Windows is stuff that 98% of users will never need.) Anyway, I like the Disqus platform, if there is one of those for Windows 8.1, (mostly because I'm familiar with using it), or I can adapt to these types of forums. I hope to get a reply because a little socialization is always a good thing, and it might as well be built around the Windows 8.1 topic. Prolly better than politics, for sure. Of course, not being a guru or wizard, keeping her humming presents endless challenges and opportunities to seek out more experienced mechanics, and maybe even offer an experience-based solution of my own somewhere down the line, limited though they may be.

 

[TechnoMage]

Hi there!
I'm surprised that no one has responded to your post. Because there are still quite a bunch of us Windows 8.1 fans out here.

Even though I still have Win-8.1 on about 7 PC's and a Netbook, the one I'm typing on now is one that I had to totally refurbish earlier this year, and it's happily running Windows 11/Pro/64.

I did not get the ISO from Microsoft, and I burned it to a Flash Drive with the latest ver. of 'Rufus'. Which by the way, gave me the option to have it remove all the compatibility crap that MS puts in their ISO's.
I installed the new Classic Shell, to give Win-11 a little bit of the Win-7 look, which I like. I run that on 8.1 too!

So for the sake of having something to do, give Windows 11 a try, if you have a spare HD you can install it on.
I'm 80 now, and a retired Computer tech. So far I've installed Win-11 over 20 times. It's a great OS to play with. It's just SO tweakable and malleable. Reminds me of modeling clay, that I played with as a kid.

Drop me a PM if you want any of the details...like where to get a Win-11 ISO, etc.

Cheers Mate!
TechnoMage

 

[Pete Williams]

I know exactly what you mean_
I own desktops running Win X P, Vista, 7 and 8.1. (tried '10', did not like it, did not know that you had only 10 days to revert - cost me over £100.00 to have 8.1 reinstalled) all run perfectly except 8.1 It seem so me that Microsoft is doing all it can to make it increasingly difficult to use and maintain in it's effort to try to sell Windows 11 - I note that win 10 itself now has a 'sell by' date.
sorry about the gripe, but all the other computers run perfectly, no trouble at all!
a good few of my older games won't run on 'modern' computers.

 

[spapakons]

You can still use Windows 7 or 8 or 8.1 Just install all the available updates and a good third-party Antivirus to keep it safe. I have at work a computer running Windows 7 32-bit and I have the latest version of all the browsers for Windows 7 (newer versions are not supported). Thankfully I can go to almost any site I want with some exceptions that demand a newer browser. Also I can still use the latest VLC to play videos etc. Office has stopped to 2016. Office 2019 or newer demand at least Windows 10. Hopefully since Windows 8.1 is newer it will have fewer software compatibilities, but I don't have any computer running Windows 8.1 to confirm it.

 

[19jmsr56]

Hello. I am a computer layman - self-taught. My first contact with OS Windows was in 1998, it was a work PC with Win 98. I was 42 years old then. 3 years ago I bought a home PC jigsaw for €1300 with OS Win 98SE. And I began to learn, which I continue to do today...
Then I bought OS OEM Win Vista Home for €125. I ran into a HW problem there - it wasn't enough for Vista. An IT colleague from work got me the enterprise version of Win XP Pro together with a discarded Compaq D300V PC. That Compaq with OS Win XP after SP2 caught the right breath and was literally indestructible. Here I ventured to experiment x times with the different SW available and learned to reinstall the OS as needed without any problems.
So I ventured to switch to Win 7, but I was still tempted by the delayed Vista OS. The turning point came in 2013, when I bought a MB AMD 640VM-FMH with CPU Athlon 2x2Ghz (originally from PC Fujitsu-Siemens Scaleo Pa2553). I already assembled the PC myself and installed Vista 64bit SP2, which worked perfectly with 4GB of RAM.
For me, it is the last OS with the most beautiful GUI from Microsoft. For example in the 31-episode sci-fi series "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Story", it is often shown in scenes on monitors shot there...Real sci-fi...
A year later, I won a Lenovo Miix 3-1030 tablet with OS Windows 8 with Bing at work. Terrible GUI!!! So the update to Win 8.1 arrived, which I tamed by installing the Classic Shell application. I still miss the Aero-Glass look. Extended Vista support was about to end, so I bought an OEM Win 8.1 Pro 64bit license. The seller made a mistake and sent me a retail license. Excellent. 2 years later I used it for a free upgrade to Win 10 pro...
8.1 Prox64 as Microsoft Windows version 6.3 will have extended support for at least another 2 years with monthly updates for Server 2012R2x64 and with a daily Microsoft Defender AV update. How to do it? Google will find it, just search. Previously, for older PCs, it is necessary to upgrade the HW back to the MB options, and especially to install the OS on the SSD. Today, a good used 256GB SSD can be bought for €10. Don't let usable PC machines end up needlessly in the trash...

 

[TechnoMage]

Out of ten PC's, I think I only have Windows 8.1/Pro on one of them.
I started out in 1980, with my first home made PC, running DOS 2.0. And I've had just about every MS OS since then.
I'll get and run the latest OS, learn how to tweak and tune it for max performance, till the next one comes out, and then move on.

Windows 8.1 was the first OS I ever had, where I could install it on a HD/SSD on one computer and then move that drive to a completely different computer and it would make itself right at home. And tweaking 8.1 for max performance and user friendliness was a real joy.

But, love it as I did, time and Windows moves on. Today I'm running Windows 11/Pro/ 24H2, completely Rufusized and cleaned down to the core. DANG is it ever FAST. Much smaller and Much Faster than any Windows I've ever had.

Cheers mates
TM