Installing 8.1 was a Mistake?

[Vince53]

I constantly advise people never to upgrade the operating system on a laptop. And on another forum, we are getting upset posters who went from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. Microsoft tells them it is the manufacturer's fault.

First, understand that 8.1 is not an upgrade, as Microsoft falsely claims (for tax purposes). It is a complete operating system.

Second, understand that a laptop is far more specific than a desktop, and changing the operating system is often a bad idea. Yes, it can be done, but it isn't worth the risk.

Third, understand that when you went to 8.1, you deleted your drivers and are now using generic drivers.

Okay, now some solutions. Because 8.1 caused several problems, you will have to use several solutions. Fortunately, they are all free.

MAYBE you can go back by using your factory reset or your backup thumb drive. For some people that works great, although they lose all of their programs. For others, it makes things worse. I advise you not to do it if you can still get into your machine. And you can always try it later if my suggestions don't work.

1) SET A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT FIRST. Go to Control Panel, System, Hardware Devices. On the left side are four choices. The bottom one is "Advanced System Settings." Choose that, and select "Device Installation Settings." Then allow it to install drivers automatically. Select "Accept Changes" if necessary, and then leave your machine online for a few hours.

Windows will usually do a good job of finding and selecting the best drivers for your machine If it makes things worse, use System Restore to undo any changes.

2)Download ALL of these free programs: Malewarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot Search and Destroy, and CCleaner. None of these programs will interfere with Windows Defender. Be careful that you don't accidentally install malware that is hidden in the installation pages. Upgrade them and run a Deep scan, along with a Deep scan with your antivirus program. Yes, it will take hours, but it is good for your computer. In your case, there are probably minor problems that Windows 8 could handle, but 8.1 can not.

3) Go to IObit.com and download their free Driver Booster program. First, SET A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT, and then run it. On one of my computers, it found several drivers that Windows missed. On another computer, it did not find any.

4) Whatever else you do, DO NOT CHANGE THE BIOS! That is only done for major hardware changes, it voids your warranty, it cannot be undone with a System Restore, and it might lock you out of your computer.

 

[EphesiaNZ]

First, understand that 8.1 is not an upgrade, as Microsoft falsely claims (for tax purposes). It is a complete operating system.

1) SET A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT FIRST.....

When doing a major upgrade like this I would never use System Restore as a fall back solution. If System Restore itself gets an upgrade during the actual main upgrade and changes the way it restores then you have possibly no way of restoring back to your previous incarnation of Windows. To be fair, it may not apply to 8 > 8.1 upgrade but has been the case in a major upgrade.

The best solution IMHO is to use some sort of system imaging tool which creates a complete copy of your drive(s) prior to your upgrade. If your system gets trashed during the update or you are not happy with the upgrade then you can reimage your drive and go back to the pre-upgrade happiness you had. An example of a free imaging tool is Clonezilla

Windows 7/8 has an inbuilt system imaging utility and you can read an howto here. Just remember you will need to back this up to either a USB hard drive with adequate storage to accommodate your Windows install + any data you have on the current machine.

Another good insight into upgrading/downgrading 8 to 8.1 is here.

 

[Vince53]

Folks, I encouraged you to set a System Restore Point before updating the drivers on Windows 8.1. Setting a System Restore Point before changing your operating system is probably not going to work, and I did not tell anyone that it would.

I have heard complaints on other technical forums about Linux stalkers coming onboard and attacking people who try to help you with Windows. There are reasons why Linux is the main operating system on less than 1% of all computers. It does nothing that Windows cannot do, fouls up more than Windows, has less software, is harder to install, has less hardware, and cannot operate high-end software such as games.

 

[EphesiaNZ]

Folks, I encouraged you to set a System Restore Point before updating the drivers on Windows 8.1. Setting a System Restore Point before changing your operating system is probably not going to work, and I did not tell anyone that it would.

My bad then, but it sounded to me like you were advocating system restore as a fallback for a major upgrade.

There are reasons why Linux is the main operating system on less than 1% of all computers. It does nothing that Windows cannot do, fouls up more than Windows, has less software, is harder to install, has less hardware, and cannot operate high-end software such as games.

That's a good reason not to use Linux I guess...

 

[WalksWithChrist]

I constantly advise people never to upgrade the operating system on a laptop. And on another forum, we are getting upset posters who went from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. Microsoft tells them it is the manufacturer's fault.

First, understand that 8.1 is not an upgrade, as Microsoft falsely claims (for tax purposes). It is a complete operating system.

Second, understand that a laptop is far more specific than a desktop, and changing the operating system is often a bad idea. Yes, it can be done, but it isn't worth the risk.

Third, understand that when you went to 8.1, you deleted your drivers and are now using generic drivers.

Okay, now some solutions. Because 8.1 caused several problems, you will have to use several solutions. Fortunately, they are all free.

MAYBE you can go back by using your factory reset or your backup thumb drive. For some people that works great, although they lose all of their programs. For others, it makes things worse. I advise you not to do it if you can still get into your machine. And you can always try it later if my suggestions don't work.

1) SET A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT FIRST. Go to Control Panel, System, Hardware Devices. On the left side are four choices. The bottom one is "Advanced System Settings." Choose that, and select "Device Installation Settings." Then allow it to install drivers automatically. Select "Accept Changes" if necessary, and then leave your machine online for a few hours.

Windows will usually do a good job of finding and selecting the best drivers for your machine If it makes things worse, use System Restore to undo any changes.

2)Download ALL of these free programs: Malewarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot Search and Destroy, and CCleaner. None of these programs will interfere with Windows Defender. Be careful that you don't accidentally install malware that is hidden in the installation pages. Upgrade them and run a Deep scan, along with a Deep scan with your antivirus program. Yes, it will take hours, but it is good for your computer. In your case, there are probably minor problems that Windows 8 could handle, but 8.1 can not.

3) Go to IObit.com and download their free Driver Booster program. First, SET A SYSTEM RESTORE POINT, and then run it. On one of my computers, it found several drivers that Windows missed. On another computer, it did not find any.

4) Whatever else you do, DO NOT CHANGE THE BIOS! That is only done for major hardware changes, it voids your warranty, it cannot be undone with a System Restore, and it might lock you out of your computer.

Windows 8.1 isn't a complete OS as far as I can tell. If you say it is, please provide documentation.

Based on my very limited experience upgrading to Windows 8.1 on a laptop, I'd say it's not such a good idea either. Then again, my laptop was built for Windows 7 and never did run Windows 8 well. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a good saying when it comes to computers. It's a saying I often ignore at my own peril.

 

[EphesiaNZ]

Forget 8.1 now, next month (Jan 2014) it's 8.2 (or maybe 9) and rumour has it that the start menu might be back - well who knows to be honest. Well if you right-click the 8.1 start button on the desktop it does yields a sorta systems options menu.

Back to the future...

 

[MrJim]

I've held off on the 8.1 upgrade on my 8 box~~OK to go ahead on this you think?

 

[Vince53]

Jim, I advise you not to change the operating system on your laptop. Laptops are far more finickey than desktops. On another forum, we are getting complaints from people who can't even boot up after they installed Windows 8.1. In most cases, they have voided their warranty, Microsoft can't help them, and neither can the manufacturer.

My laptop is steadily running better as Windows automatically adds drivers and updates. It runs almost as well as it did before the kids accidentally upgraded me from 8 to 8.1. I'm more fortunate than a lot of other upgraders.

 

[WalksWithChrist]

I've held off on the 8.1 upgrade on my 8 box~~OK to go ahead on this you think?

I would hold off.

 

[EphesiaNZ]

In most cases, they have voided their warranty, Microsoft can't help them, and neither can the manufacturer.

Well, there is an answer to that, do no further business with either company if they treat customers like that. It's typical for one side to blame the other - this is both unprofessional and shoddy. People must understand that the IT business in general is about sales and not support and once you part with money its all over rover.

The IT industry has about as much ethics as an amoeba and as soon as the business learns it cannot treat customers (and their money) with contempt the better the industry and customers will be.

Thankfully there are exceptions to the above and they go out of their way to help customers.

 

[Vince53]

I thought I'd give an update on my laptop, which the kids at La Ola accidentally upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. It is now running as fast and reliably as ever, although I have to sign on to our wireless manually every time I turn it on. Over time, the automatic updates and automatic drivers installation has corrected most of the problems.

 

[EphesiaNZ]

...although I have to sign on to our wireless manually every time I turn it on.

You should try deleting the wireless profile and recreate it , if you haven't already tried it. That hopefully should solve this issue you are having.