[iVento]

Microsoft takes off Windows RT 8.1 update from site following glitches

The software giant did not give further details about the issue but assured that it is trying to fix the issue quickly.

Microsoft has reportedly taken off the update of its Windows RT after some consumers complained of issues after downloading.

The software giant did not give further details about the issue but assured that it is trying to fix the issue quickly.

According to stuff.co.nz, Microsoft removed the RT 8.1 update from its Windows Store during the weekend.

Microsoft said that RT 8.1 is an OS for tablets and light, thin personal computers and only runs built-in apps or apps downloaded from the Windows Store.

The company recently unveiled the global release of the update to its latest Windows 8 OS with a tweaked 8.1 version.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/1906...owing-glitches

[sa_kiran]

I updated to 8.1 yesterday. The process took a very long time even on my quad-core AMC machine with 4 GB RAM. The machines restarted 4-5 times during the process. Even though I did not have to intervene many times during the process, it is a pain considering how seamless is an iOS upgrade/update.

I've also noticed that the machine has become very slow compared to Win 8. Start up takes a very long time and application also take a lot of time to start.

[raghu.t.k]

I had downloaded the 8.1 update last night and had the installation complete this morning. Though I see a start button, the similarities ends there. Clicking it takes me to the start page that was there earlier.

Any way I can have a classic view as in Win 7 rather than a tablet look and feel ?

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

Any way I can have a classic view as in Win 7 rather than a tablet look and feel ?

http://www.classicshell.net/ Free, Open Source and will bring that UI back in few clicks

[raghu.t.k]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

http://www.classicshell.net/ Free, Open Source and will bring that UI back in few clicks

Thanks @NetfreakBombay. Does this have any processing overheads? I have installed windows 8.1 on a 2006 Dell Laptop.

[iVento]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

Thanks @NetfreakBombay. Does this have any processing overheads? I have installed windows 8.1 on a 2006 Dell Laptop.

Windows 8.1 on a 2006 Comp can be very slow. What is your Benchmark score?

I personally use the classic shell. It is the best out there & there are no performance issues with this program.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

Thanks @NetfreakBombay. Does this have any processing overheads?

Should not have any measurable overhead.

[raghu.t.k]

Originally Posted by iVento

Windows 8.1 on a 2006 Comp can be very slow. What is your Benchmark score?
....

Yes its slightly slow, especially when more processes are opened (compared to the performance when it was Win7). Its my test bed to try new software before I move them to the main laptop, so the slowness is not an issue!! I did not like the tile style of windows 8, and hence my main laptop is on windows 7

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Should not have any measurable overhead.

That's good news, let me try downloading this weekend.

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

Yes its slightly slow, especially when more processes are opened (compared to the performance when it was Win7).

I didn't notice any slowdown when comparing Windows 8 (I didn't try Windows 8.1 yet) and Windows XP. Can you try disabling Live Tiles to check if they speed things up? Also, create a separate user account and try to log in with the new account - some users actually reported performance issues till they switched to a new account.

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Tried everything like updating windows etc but still the update is not showing up!

Check if there are any updates that failed to install. Also, do you have any OEM software utilities? I recall reading about some HP utilities that can prevent the upgrade to Windows 8.1.

Originally Posted by iVento

Windows 8.1 on a 2006 Comp can be very slow. What is your Benchmark score?

I have a Thinkpad T60 from 2006. It has 3GB RAM and has a benchmark score of 2.8. Windows 8 runs perfectly well on it. What's the benchmark score of your computer? Is anything, such as indexing, running in the background?

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

Thanks @NetfreakBombay. Does this have any processing overheads? I have installed windows 8.1 on a 2006 Dell Laptop.

As long as you have enough memory, your laptop should be able to run Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 with ease. If you can perform a fresh install of Windows 8.1, it would be better, but you need separate keys for a clean install of Windows 8.1 (or so they say).

[raghu.t.k]

Originally Posted by k_nitin_r

I didn't notice any slowdown when comparing Windows 8 (I didn't try Windows 8.1 yet) and Windows XP. Can you try disabling Live Tiles to check if they speed things up? Also, create a separate user account and try to log in with the new account - some users actually reported performance issues till they switched to a new account.

Let me try this over the weekend. How do we disable the Live Tiles? For some reason, I am not comfortable with tiles, leave alone the live tiles on a Laptop or desktop.

That said, I like tiles on hand-held devices...

[roadjourno]

I have windows 8 on home computer. Can or is there a separate download available also to upgrade to 8.1. I have a low net connection at home so asking.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

I had downloaded the 8.1 update last night and had the installation complete this morning. Though I see a start button, the similarities ends there. Clicking it takes me to the start page that was there earlier.

Any way I can have a classic view as in Win 7 rather than a tablet look and feel ?

Right click on the start menu will give a menu with list of options for common tasks. For me those options were sufficient. Also if somebody wants desktop mode as default, setting can be made in control panel. Win 8.1 will boot directly to desktop mode in that case.

[Newpunter]

I have updated my Dell XPS 12 with 4th Gen Intel Core i7 and 8GB RAM to Windows 8.1 last week ( immediately after it was released ).

While I'm generally happy with Win 8.1 and think that it is a good improvement over Win 8, I have found a few new issues with this release.

My laptop is a convertible, which means that I can use it as a tablet or a laptop. Earlier, when I was using it in a tablet mode, the onscreen keyboard would automatically popup when using the Metro apps ( or even when I'm on the logon screen ).
Now, looks like Win 8.1 doesn't realize that I'm in the tablet mode. This isn't a big issue when there is an option to start the onscreen keyboard ( like on the logon screen ), but is a big issue when I'm on the new UI mode.
So if I start the facebook app, I cannot login as there is no way for me to start the keyboard ( the app is in fullscreen mode ). So the only option is to go back to the laptop mode and type in with the conventional keyboard, which defeats the whole purpose of the convertible. I hope MS or Dell release a fix for this soon.

Other than this, I don't find any major slowdowns after moving to 8.1. Things are as snappy as ever.
I do find the behaviour of the Metro apps very annoying though (it was the same on Win8 too, so no change there ). It looks like whenever I switch to the desktop mode after opening an app, the app just sits there without doing anything. And when I go back to the app, it starts loading again.
Also, the Reader Touch app is very annoying. It doesn't remember the last position of a book that I previously opened. So I have to scroll down a few hundred pages everytime I open a big PDF file. Besides, it doesn't remember the zoom setting ( and even resets the zoom back to the tiny font when i go to desktop mode and switch back ). It got so annoying that I switched back to the desktop Adobe Reader application. If MS wants people to give up the desktop apps and move to the new Metro apps, they are not really doing a great job of convincing the people so far.

[virgopal]

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

I updated to 8.1 yesterday. The process took a very long time even on my quad-core AMC machine with 4 GB RAM. The machines restarted 4-5 times during the process. Even though I did not have to intervene many times during the process, it is a pain considering how seamless is an iOS upgrade/update.

I've also noticed that the machine has become very slow compared to Win 8. Start up takes a very long time and application also take a lot of time to start.

Upgraded from Windows 8 to 8.1 on my PC. Download/installation took nearly 3.5 hrs with frequent restart as already informed by Microsoft.
I agree,iOS update to v7.o was much simpler

[k_nitin_r]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

Let me try this over the weekend. How do we disable the Live Tiles? For some reason, I am not comfortable with tiles, leave alone the live tiles on a Laptop or desktop. That said, I like tiles on hand-held devices...

On the Start Screen (or Home Screen, both terms refer to the same thing; I can't recall what Microsoft uses to refer to it), look for the tiles that seem to display data. The news tile and the weather tile are two of them; finance and sports are two other applications that have the live tile feature enabled by default. Right-click on the tile to see the menu on the bottom of the screen and one of the menu items lets you turn off the live tile for the application so it appears as just a regular square or rectangle with the name of the application. The first time I had Windows 8 running within a virtual machine, I had to disable the live tiles feature for it to be usable but it runs perfectly well on my old computer so I decided to get a new computer with Windows 8 on it, hoping to upgrade to Windows 8.1 yesterday.