Windows 8.1 Upgrade...Worth it?

[Phone Man]

Windows 8.1 was a major update for 8 and has some really nice improvements. The next update is coming in April and has some more refinements. W 8.1 used the Store to receive it but the update coming in April will be through Windows Update and will probably require you to have 8.1 already. The best way is make an Image of your OS before updating and if you do have any problems you can revert back. LPT, what is the KB number of that 8.1 update on your system. There is one KB that needs to be installed on 8 and then the 8.1 update will appear in the Store.

Jim

 

[Sven1458]

Mind if I bud in?
In May of last year I bought a win 7 desktop and a win 7 laptop because I could not deal with the win 8 tiles and no Start button. I guess I don’t like change. 2 month later I bought 3 laptops for my kids and wife and they on the other hand liked win 8 and got used to it real fast.
BTW, we all came of winXP.
Then my wife got offered Win 8.1 and installed it and all hell broke loose.
None of the tiles where working. I had to uninstall and then reinstall all of them. That should not happen in an update. Next, Windows live Mail did not work. I had to do a repair install on it to get it back.
The worst problem was that 8.1 did not like the USB driver installed by Belkin. My wife could not get on line and could not print anything since my printer it attached to the router.
After several weeks Belkin finally found a driver that would work and she is back on line and can print, but to this day, the network she is on, still says unknown. So I told my boys not to upgrade to 8.1, because I don’t have the time to spend to fix what 8.1 is destroying.
Just my 2 cents
Sven

 

[DustSailor]

^ sorry you had a bad experience with it. Some manufacturers were slow to provide drivers for it, and some didn't provide any at all. I would blame the computer manufacturer for that one

Here is a good tutorial to follow if you would like to try again, first checking online to make sure your computer drivers are supported: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/32995-windows-8-1-upgrade-windows-8-8-1-preview.html

 

[Sven1458]

I would agree with you if you go from XP to vista or from 7 to 8. but this was only from 8 to 8.1. I remember the upgrade from 3.0 to 3.1. I had no problems. we are not talking about changing operating systems, just an upgrade.

Sven

 

[ectech]

All of my personal computers took Windows 8.1 without any problems. Although I had upgraded everything (drivers, software) prior to installing to ensure it went smoothly. I know of a few clients I have which didn't have the same experience. The update itself essentially reinstalls the entire OS, changing a few key aspects of the underlying technologies with it. All I can say is, as long as Microsoft and other technology companies continue to push the entire ecosystem forward I will always have a job.

 

[alphanumeric]

Update 1 is not the pre release version of Windows 9. That's not my understanding anyway. It's just a further refinement of the 8.1 update. 8.1.1 if you like.

I think you're right. Strange how my brain started assuming these things. So it would be more like a service pack for Windows 8.1, right? Now it makes more sense that it was called 8.1 update one.

Guess I was thinking since 8.1 came after 8 (no service pack), that they were going straight to 9 (or 8.2). I read that they were doing a fast release of OSes to match apple or something, must have misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying.

This update 1 is more like a service pack. The 8.0 to 8.1 update was an OS upgrade. There is still a lot of mystery surrounding Windows 9.