Is Windows 8.1 pretty problem free?

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Hi,

I have been receiving messages to upgrade to Windows 8.1. Is 8.1 a solid program and pretty problem free? Thank you.

Moon

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This is a bit like the question ‘how long is a piece of string?’. I think the answer is ‘yes, it’s pretty problem free’, but others have had problems (as you can see from various threads on this forum, so it does all depend!

Best way forward, take an image of your system, then suck it and see. If it goes pear shaped (goes west, goes south, kicks the bucket 😉 ), you can always revert with your newly minted image (don’t forget to verify it first!).

Good luck!

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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Replying based on my own usage experience, I would be compelled to say yes. It is surely not worse than 8, but you should remember it is still a Windows upgrade and it can bring unexpected problems, drivers being one of them – I had to manually look for a driver for my wireless adapter since the Windows native driver was too flaky. When I did, it also fixed a BSOD problem when waking from sleep.

Would I do it? Well, I did and I would do it again. I would like reinforce the advice of access-mdb, though – create an image you can go back to, in case you don’t like 8.1 for any reason.

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There will be a few programs which won’t be 100% compatible with 8.1. But you might not even notice, because you’ll never try to do one of the now-incompatible tasks.

That’s been my experience after a short time (about a month) of 8.1.

If you run across such a program, all you typically need to do is reinstall it.

And as stated above, do a good image backup first. That way, you can easily get back to Windows 8 if there are problems with 8.1.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Thanks everyone for your responses. I will definitely back up my system before upgrading to 8.1.

Have a wonderful Holiday Season…

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It’s not 100% problem free for everyone, not by a long shot, so yes, back up your current system with an image prior to upgrading.

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Hi,

I have been receiving messages to upgrade to Windows 8.1. Is 8.1 a solid program and pretty problem free? Thank you.

Moon

Yes it is problem free once you successfully install it. After installing windows 8.1 you are less likely to encounter any issue.. But do not ask about the efforts required upgrade from Windows 8 to 8.1….

Well for most people, it was the probelmatic OS ever they tried to install because of one single message “Could not Update to Windows 8.1” acompanied with some error code… Here are the five of the most common errors http://www.optimizewindows8.net/2013/10/five-major-bugs-in-windows-8-1-release/ that appear while trying to install Windows 8.1……

Windows 8.1 is problem free, but path to reach it is not at all !!

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From my experience it is totally problem free with our 2 PCs.

You have to understand, generally the people that are most vocal about any OS are those people that have had problems. Those of us who have not had any problems are generally quiet about our success unless asked directly as you have. The people who have had a careful change to Win 8.1 just sit back and enjoy their updated OS. Those that have problems make noise, generally to ask for help. That’s human nature.

This is the first time in a very long time that I went the Upgrade route rather than the Custom (Clean) install route. Several important things:

– Make a back up of your entire system. This is critical!

– I made sure that our PCs were working very well, were totally cleaned of all temp. files, were defragged properly, were running as clean and problem free as I could possibly make them. Everything was working optimally. Many people think a new OS will cure their problems, then proceed to do an upgrade install. This just carries forward the problems into the new OS. To fix a problem child a Clean Install must be done.

– I upgraded my PC first, then waited a few days to work with Win 8.1 prior to Upgrading my wife’s PC. Both of these are conventional laptops that are 7 or 8 years old (not new PCs). I had to upgrade Classic Shell on my wife’s PC (mine uses Start8, this was already upgraded). Both PCs worked almost identically with Win 8.1.

I still have my final Win 7 and Win 8 Images for both PCs as a fall back option, but I do not see that as necessary.

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Although I am using 8.1 RT, I have to agree with most in here who say it is problem free, and I had absolutely no problem updating to 8.1. Yes, I have had/experienced the usual PICNIC errors, but with the help of people in here, the Windows 8 Community forums, most of the PICNIC errors were easily fixed.

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