Windows 8.1 Update…
Firstly, I choose not to be an operating system expert, the below are purely experiential, detailed technical information and guidance can be found from your search engine of choice i.e http://www.google.com
Some time ago…21st November 2012…nearly 2 years, if your counting, I installed Windows 8 on an old laptop, which I documented here https://infostocksy.wordpress.com/computer-stuff/ after quite some time the laptop curled up it’s toes and died and will no longer boot from a hard disk and this was the end of my experience of Windows 8 PRO update.
Personally, I found Windows 8 very frustrating i.e. the Metro / START screen interface was of no benefit, but was always present after bootup and the “charms” and other round the screen special access processes was very complicated, over the historical START menu access that we have all become used to over the years and was actually very disabling to the average user.
I replaced the Windows 8 laptop with a great refurbished Windows 7 laptop from http://www.csilcs.co.uk/ in Sheffield , who refurbish and redistribute used computers. It was great to get back to a usable environment that enabled day to day interactivity with technology without bumping into operating system barriers and headaches that Windows 8 brought to the table.
In the interim, I have used OSX Maverick and Linux Mint on a regular basis and not had the frustrations encountered whilst using Windows 8 !
After some considerable time, Windows 8 has now gone through the pains it has and has made changes to help facilitate the desktop environment we have all become used to, in my ultimate wisdom I have decided to give it another go, by setting up the replacement Windows 7 laptop with dual boot and update to Windows 8.1 UPDATE, this is not a simple or quick process !
In order to install and update from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 UPDATE I followed these processes :-
(i) Dual boot and install Windows 8 update
(ii) How to update Windows 8.1
http://www.gizmag.com/upgrade-windows-8–to-windows-81/29394/
incredibly this is a 3.5 GB download, bigger than the initial Windows 8 update !
In order to migrate the LICENSE key from the dead Windows 8 hard disk I had to go through the Windows activation process twice, as I was obviously unable to deactivate the license key from the old laptop, this entailed calling the UK activation line and keying in lots of characters into the phone and then typing the responding long code back into the Windows 8 and 8.1 activation processes in order to move the license and activate the operating system.
So currently, as of Sunday 17th August 2014 18:30, I am back using Windows 8.1 UPDATE, after a long break and seeing if the majority of changes have made it into an operating system that can be utilised easily by everyone, unfortunately the laptop’s battery is dead and this means I cannot just close the laptop’s lid and let it go into sleep mode and allow fast recovery of the desktop environment, luckily this is mitigated by the fact that Windows 8.1 UPDATE is designed to FAST BOOT.
Don’t forget to install VLC or another FREE video / DVD player as Windows Media Centre in no longer included for FREE in the Windows operating system and is a paid addition from the Windows App store – as of writing – currently an extra £2.66 on top of the NEW operating system you’ve just spent a lot of money on !
You can offset this cost by installing the FREE OPEN OFFICE productivity suite that can open, view and edit files created in the more expensive Microsoft Office suite.
http://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html
Windows 8 “appears” not to have been a great success for Microsoft and they had a great opportunity to provide a cheap / FREE upgrade route from the now unsupported and incredible best ever version of Windows – Windows XP.
Windows 9 is starting to gather a lot of pace and here’s hoping that it will be an operating system worthy of the 21st century and some of the incredible technologies that are common place and just coming on-line i.e. computing without a keyboard or mouse, which has demonstrated great success via the utilisation of touch interfaces on smart phones and tablets.
UPDATES
– Since updating from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 PRO Update I have experienced a BSOD (blue screen of death) system reboot
– I am currently getting Chrome running out of memory – strange
Windows 9 news
http://mashable.com/2014/08/21/windows-9-sept-30/
Infostocksy's Blog 
Leave a comment