Care to try W8.1? Quick guide for W7 die-hards

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You are probably sitting on Windows 7 and start to be worried about your what happens in 2020. You’ve heard Windows 8 is worst Windows ever. Maybe you even saw Windows 8 and somebody else’s computer and hated it right away. Well, my suggestion is – just give it a shot. If you’ll like it, you’ll buy yourself 3 years without Windows 10 :).

Here’s what to do:

1. Download a free 90-days trial:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-8-1-enterprise

You need to fill in a short questionnare and create a MS account if you haven’t got one already. The website says you might be contacted by MS, but I never have been, so no worries.

2. Install with dual boot next to your current Windows 7, update (for the purpose of testing, just leave at automatic updates, install everything, initial search might take 2-3 hours), install drivers etc. – I won’t get into details, you know the drill.

3. Tweak:

a/ remove all Metro apps: run PowerShell as admin (to run anything in 8.1 just press Win and start typing, ‘powers’ in this case, then right-click PowerShell, select “Run as administrator) , type:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage

That’s it. Remove Store icon from taskbar, remove Camera from the Start menu. You’re done.

b/ some taskbar and Start Menu tweaks:

* right-click on Taskbar and select Properties

* go to Navigation tab and check “Show my desktop background on Start”, uncheck everything else

* go to “All Apps” at the Start screen and pin your often used apps to Start screen (right-click, select “Pin to Start”), you can name groups and rearrange tiles to your liking

* you can add various other places to the Start menu, just browse through system and right-click to verify if you can pin them – for example I have Windows Update pinned

4. Start using – you’ll see it’s not that bad, there are more tweaks you can do, Noel might be your guide, but I prefer not to use any 3rd party software, there are of course many more tweaks within Windows itself, but this is meant to be a short, no-nonsense guide, so that’s it.

5. Don’t like it? Just uninstall – while it is a bit more complicated than uninstalling an app, there are a lot of guides over the net how to do it, one here:

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/210983-dual-boot-delete-os.html

6. Like it? Uninstall (example link above) and start searching for a 8.1 key :). Try amazon, ebay, whatever you have locally – it does not matter if it’s 8 or 8.1, upgrade from 8 to 8.1 is free, try looking for a Pro version in case you might want to upgrade to W10 Pro in future – W10 Home version is useless.

 

Any questions? I’ll gladly help.

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I’ll be happy to contribute here as well. I find Windows 8.1 a VERY good and reliable system – once suitably configured and augumented. I agree with radosuaf’s advice to remove all Apps.

I respect the desire not to use 3rd party software, but if you feel it’s okay there really is some out there that’s well worth looking into.

My suggestions might be to check these:

• Classic Shell – it will give you back a desktop start menu.
• Aero Glass for Win 8+ – only if you’re seriously geeky (like me).
• WinAero Tweaker – a nice set of panels for tweaking all kinds of things.
• Folder Options X by T800 – simple but makes File Explorer more usable.
• Sphinx Windows Firewall Control – powerful, maintainable firewall control, not subject to behind-the-scenes manipulation by Microsoft or software installers.

Keep in mind that you cannot, as far as I know, directly upgrade the Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation software to a licensed copy. I might suggest evaluating it and getting familiar with it in a virtual machine rather than dual boot, but both methods are viable.

-Noel

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jburk07, HiFlyer

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Noel Carboni wrote:

I might suggest evaluating it and getting familiar with it in a virtual machine rather than dual boot, but both methods are viable.

True, haven’t thought about it.

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radosuaf wrote:

Noel Carboni wrote:

I might suggest evaluating it and getting familiar with it in a virtual machine rather than dual boot, but both methods are viable.

True, haven’t thought about it.

…unless you want to test your hardware with the new operating system. In that case, only the dual boot method would work; hardware in virtual machines is always emulated.

César

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jburk07, Elly

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Not ready to try it yet, but will have to be in the future. Supposedly there is a free option on my W 7 to upgrade to W 8… this might be a way to take a peek at what it would look like, without jumping all the way in. Could create a Microsoft account just for this one download with a throwaway e-mail?

However, I would think there is a need to avoid any of the telemetry updates in W 8.1, so I wouldn’t just take anything even on a temporary trial basis. As I understand it, anything that dual boots has access to all the “stuff”. I’d go through the trouble of weeding out the undesireable updates… I don’t think I can use the upgrade to W 8 to dual boot in the long run, so it would just be a temporary look-see for me.

Okay, I was being brave there. You’ll probably think I’m silly, but I hate the idea of experimenting on my only (right now) used daily device, even with image backups (I’ve never had to reinstall)… but I do want to check out W 8.1…

Even VM is something I haven’t played with yet… barely getting comfortable trying out Linux distros from a USB stick… psychologically they aren’t “on” my machine, and are easily removed…

Maybe a link to how to set up a dual boot in the first place? And any problems that could be reasonably anticipated?

I appreciate your willingness to nudge me in this direction… a direction I will need to go eventually. Thank you, Radosuaf

 

 

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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HiFlyer

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Elly,

I understand why you think you might have to use Windows 8.1 in the future. I really think you should consider experimenting in a VM instead of dual booting. It is much less invasive. If you screw up something, just restart from scratch with a new VM no harm. A VM is just like a private place where you can install your OS, play with it, like a computer in your computer, and this computer can’t touch your main OS if you don’t allow it. It can be “upgraded”, destroyed, reinstalled, with no issue to your main OS. You could also install a Linux in a VM if you feel inclined to do so. You can create as many VMs as you want. Another nice feature of VM is snapshots. You take a snapshot of your machine state at a certain point in time. You do some tests and if you don’t like the results, you can easily restore your machine state to the snapshot. Great way to experiment without fear. The only thing maybe is if your machine is old and not powerful, it might be slow to run in a VM, but again, there is no harm in trying.

If you install 8.1 in a VM, you can try some tips people give to make it more comfortable and yes, it can become quite nice as an OS once tamed, probably the best finished OS. I suggest installing classic shell on it. I am not a fan of third party add-ons, but this one is almost mandatory for the nicest experience since it removes the fact that the start menu takes up all screen when brought up (which I find immensely distracting).

Maybe someone here could suggest what is the simplest VM program to use and a few instructions to create a simple virtual machine, then you could download the evaluation ISO of 8.1 as suggested above and play with it.

However, and here I will join my voice to ch100, I am not sure it is worth a lot of time to invest in 8.1. Althought Noel is right about the fact it has in theory longer support and certainly no constant features updates, and although I hope like you MS will have to back off and change course on some design decisions of 10 some time after 7 is out of support and some businesses complain loudly enough, I just think that Microsoft will even more aggressively than with 7 try to kill 8.1 as fast as they can when 7 is out of support. There is not enough market on 8.1 at all. Unless businesses start going to 8.1 instead of 7, which I doubt will happen on a large scale, the days of 8.1 are counted. I wouldn’t be surprised at all Microsoft will pull off bad tricks again to steer people away from it, they might also officially offer the free Windows 10 again or some companies will refuse to support it in the future like Adobe did with Vista before even the end of support for XP. I also wouldn’t be suprised to see issues with Windows update taking forever or other weird things.

In any case, experimenting is not bad if you want to do it. You might learn a lot in a safe environment and then you will be comfortable in general when the time comes to switch to something else, 8.1, a better 10 or even Linux. I encourage you to try and ask questions here.

 

 

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jburk07, Elly, FakeNinja

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AlexEiffel wrote:

consider experimenting in a VM instead of dual booting. It is much less invasive. If you screw up something, just restart from scratch with a new VM no harm.

It’s even better than that. With VMware at least you can make snapshots literally in seconds (okay, I have a great I/O subsystem, but it’s fast).

Botch something, restore a snapshot in 15 seconds. No starting over, just dropping back to something that worked.

Test multiple iterations of destructive things literally in a few minutes.

-Noel

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jburk07, Elly, AlexEiffel

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Do you use VMware workstation or ESX something?

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VMware Workstation. I still use version 11, though I believe I’ll upgrade to version 14 (or whatever they call the successor to 12.5) this fall to get more advanced OpenGL support.

-Noel

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AlexEiffel

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@Elly:

You could install a new hard drive and install Windows 8.1 on the new hard drive. Then, if you don’t like it, simply remove that hard drive and reinstall your Windows 7 hard drive.

If you keep your data on a separate hard drive, it would be available to both OSs.

Suggestion: Store your old drive in a static bag, and attach a note to it, describing what is on the drive, along with the date you removed it from the computer.

Jim

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

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Microfix, Elly

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My plan was to go to Win 8.1, at the end of last year… but had some challenges come up. I really, really like what I have now, so the idea is to preserve what works excellently, as long as possible.

I really like the idea of exchanging and saving hard drives. I’m on a laptop, but it is one where I can access the battery, RAM, and hard drive fairly easily.

I have a Toshiba Satellite P740. It has a hardened case, and a special feature that freezes and protects the hard drive when it senses movement. Having shaky hands, I drop everything! It works great, having (accidentally) dropped it from waist high, to cement, without a scratch or bobble… and there were plenty of less serious incidents, where a less hardy laptop would be toast by now. Sometimes features like this have little effective value, but this one has been tested over and over again. I have nothing but good to say about this laptop… however, does anyone know if there are any problems I might run into if I replace the drive? Would an SSD be too traumatized if dropped? Would changing the drive size diminish protection?

I was looking for a refurbished Dell business laptop with Win 8.1 Pro on it, and have a second, separate system… because business laptops tend to be hardier… and repairable… and they seem to be quite common… but I may just have to settle for changing out a hard drive… and I like the idea of storing it in a ‘static’ bag… and I do label everything!

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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Elly wrote:

however, does anyone know if there are any problems I might run into if I replace the drive? Would an SSD be too traumatized if dropped? Would changing the drive size diminish protection?

SSD is much much faster and almost 100% drop-safe since it has no mechanical parts moving in it. So basically it’s a win-win situation.

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This is exactly what I have done over the last few years with WinXP (offline), W7, W8.1 and Linux tagged and anti-static bagged on two PC’s. W7 and W8.1 both group A, so it’s easy to update once re-installed.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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jburk07, Elly

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I personally think it would be a waste of time for those who are not already on Windows 8.1.
Windows 10 is Windows 8.1 (or Windows 8.2).

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Windows 10 is Windows 8.1 (or Windows 8.2).

No, not really. Windows 8.1 is a more current version than 7 with some support time left but WITHOUT the “destabilize it every 8 months” aspect. That’s huge.

-Noel

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jburk07, Microfix, BobbyB, radosuaf, SueW, HiFlyer, Elly

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@ Ch100, for those of us who will never go to W 10 because of forced updates and telemetry, it will extend the length of security support for years. You are very clear that you are not concerned about those things, and have your expertise and reasons… but I can’t help hope that Microsoft will come to its senses and offer an operating system that can be secured against its marketing/ad scam, involuntary updates, and the ability to decline any and all telemetry, for home users… the users that really need those options to be there at a click, because we aren’t technically proficient and don’t have tech support.  There was a time I would have paid for that… and I have plenty of family and friends to this day that would prefer to stay with them. Having bouts of being unable to work due to disability I can say that any operating system or software that requires subscription or on-line access is a no-no for me. One time it took over 5 months before disability payments were authorized. Meantime, I had no income what-so-ever… just my savings, and that has never recovered. What a blessing to have my computer fully functional through those times. The fact that Microsoft is pushing/promoting/herding users into Malware 10 forever says it is no longer a corporation that I can trust. Migrating to W 8.1 is a stop-gap measure, part of keeping all my options open. Gone are the days of joyfully looking towards the next new thing. It feels much more like exploring a dark swamp, and wondering what will try to swallow me up next. Funny thing, all these years I was able to avoid any malware… now it looks like you have to dump the Windows experience in order to keep it off the system.

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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jburk07, The Surfing Pensioner, Microfix, HiFlyer

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@Elly
Based on what you say in your post, MacOS is for you, but then you will say it is too expensive. Really can’t have something for nothing. You will find out soon that Linux is not what appears to be and that there are good reasons why it has been adopted widely only at the server level.

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Really? LMint is easier to use than Windows, and Elly is allready using live distros.

[Edited by Woody]

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Elly, is there a Linux User Group near you (University or listed locally)? You could get some help in installing a distro onto an external hard drive, and booting your computer from that, and keep your Windows as well. They might also be good sources of knowledge about good seondhand or even free computers in your area.

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Sorry to take so long to answer, I appreciate and looked into your advice. Nothing local. HiFlyer kindly gave me a link to It’s FOSS-All we ‘Need to Know’ about Linux.

I’m moving slowly on the live distros, not even sure what I need to look at or for, other than ease of use. Its been a long time since I’ve had a blank system in front of me… all I can say at this point is that I’m very cautious about it but trying to convince myself it is okay to screw it up and try again, and trying to develop some sort of protocol so I can make useful comparisons. It is a whole new way of looking at what is possible with a computer, and what I need and want. I’ve always used programs to do what I want… not looking at the choices and how they work together. I know the techy types are way more in and facile with what I’m slowly experimenting with. Never would have thought I’d move from worrying about patches to playing with operating systems… and enjoying it… sort of a late in life revelation!

I really appreciate all the different ways of doing things put forth here… I’m no longer taking my own assumptions for granted (given all the really good input on this site)…

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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I did upgrade an old laptop to Windows 8.1 many moons ago, when it first came out, and have used it O.K. But I’ve recently given it to my granddaughter to pummel to death for her homework because I’ve never liked it much. I can’t shake off the feeling that the user interface was designed for some non-human intelligence……………………….

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Elly

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ch100 wrote:

I personally think it would be a waste of time for those who are not already on Windows 8.1. Windows 10 is Windows 8.1 (or Windows 8.2).

This is so not true – and I’m writing it as a person who literally HATED Windows 8 and had huge hopes associated with Windows 10. I won’t be repeating myself again, but 10 is pure evil, while 8.1 is an oldschool good OS.

I do agree that if somebody got the so called ‘free’ upgrade to Windows 10 and used it to grab the license, then I wouldn’t pay the full price of 8.1, I couldn’t justify it myself. But I managed to get a license for 55 USD, which is about max I would pay for 8.1 – if not, they I’d stay at W7 as long as it’s possible and then move to whatever we’ll have in 2020.

One more thing – Pro version is most common amongst 8/8.1, so if you’re on W7 Home, this is a good way to grab a W10 Pro license for cheap (I think you can still ‘upgrade’ for free).

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jburk07, Elly, Noel Carboni

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This is so not true – and I’m writing it as a person who literally HATED Windows 8 and had huge hopes associated with Windows 10. I won’t be repeating myself again, but 10 is pure evil, while 8.1 is an oldschool good OS.

Haven’t you just said that you hated Windows 8 and now promote Windows 8.1? 🙂
What makes you believe that you will not say the same thing about Windows 10 at some time in the future?
I also hated Windows 8 and still do it. 🙂

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jburk07

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ch100 wrote:

Haven’t you just said that you hated Windows 8 and now promote Windows 8.1?  What makes you believe that you will not say the same thing about Windows 10 at some time in the future? I also hated Windows 8 and still do it.  

8 was horrible. 8.1 isn’t :). I do hope 10 gets usable over time, I seriously do. But the direction MS took is quite opposite, I’m afraid.

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jburk07, HiFlyer, Noel Carboni

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ch100 wrote:

I also hated Windows 8 and still do it.

A few things make it more tolerable than it once was:

• 8.1 is more of a serious OS than 8.0 was. Microsoft backtracked a little bit in the right ways.
  
• A lot of augmenting software was written to overcome the things Microsoft screwed up. I myself use some of it on my critical systems, for example: Classic Shell, Aero Glass for Win 8+, and a number of other tweaking applications.
  
• We’ve learned how to deal with much of what Windows 8.1 does, and realized that with suitable tweaking there’s still a kernel of goodness at its base. It’s hard to argue with the quality of an OS that will “keep on ticking” on the same bootup with 2 months of hard daily engineering use, yet that’s exactly what mine does. To be fair, my Win 7 system did too, back before 2013.

If you’re not into tweaking and augmenting your OS, then you’re stuck with older versions that were better out of the box. On the other hand, if you’re willing to embrace reconfiguration and augmentation, 8.1 can be very good and has a longer support lifetime.

-Noel

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jburk07, Elly

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If you want to try Pro or Core (Home Vers) you can find them here https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows8 just select create .ISO for another machine. Ignore the Vers. with a letter after them e.g. N as they are a remnant of a little trade spat between M$ and the EEC over Windows Media Player i.e. the N Ver. doesent have it.
Windows 8.1 can live on a machine in perfect harmony with Win10 and/or Win7. (Space permitting)

Although major tip!!!! dont turn Windows update loose from the get go. Not because of the usual “update gripes” we have in here lol Its because the last time I fully updated an image (offline, dont worry about that) There’s at last count (Oct 2016) 2.3GB waiting in the wings for updates. Have fun 🙂

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jburk07

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Probably the best viable option for Vista users who were not offered W10 free and will have no updates beyond April 11th 2017.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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One additional note – you’d probably want to log into your computer using local account instead of MS one and MS made it a bit tricky during the installation process – details here:

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-8-1-without-microsoft-account/

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jburk07, Microfix, Noel Carboni, Elly, BobbyB

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Yeah good point its easy to miss if your not careful and they dont make it obvious especially with tired eyes on a late night in/reinstall. A little trick they seemed to have carried over to Win10 😉

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@Elly, did you ever try Windows 8?

@anyone, Are people still finding that they can buy a legitimate Windows 8 or 8.1 licence?  Yesterday, I couldn’t find any at the usual sites I look at — there were obviously some dodgy sellers that had bad reviews and people returning what they’d bought from them because the codes wouldn’t work.  I don’t have friends/family that would have a copy that I could buy or borrow long-term.

I was glad to bookmark the how-to-install-without-a-Microsoft-account link in case I need it in the future. (For Win7, Win8, Win10, Office2016, whatever.)

I also really appreciate the detail for beginners about virtual machines. Setting one up is still a “step too far” for me now, but it’s good to know.

I have a feeling that @AlexEiffel is right about how they’ll try to get people to pull the Win 8 plug well before the official support deadline, sneakily causing more and more discomfort, the way they are doing with 7.

(Additionally, some websites are already dropping their support of computers with 7 — and it’s just late 2017, not late 2019.)

Since I couldn’t find a proper copy of Win 8 or 8.1 for sale (in the more obvious/guaranteed channels), I will stick with Win 7 for longer, I guess.

Even if I don’t go down that route, I have appreciated @Radosauf and @NoelCarboni descriptions and recommendations on AskWoody about how best to try Win8.

—
P.T.

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I’ve had my hands on a Win 8 laptop… a friend’s that I was able to restore back from W10… but my own system will stay Win 7. I, too, couldn’t find a good Win 8 key for my current system.

Non-techy Win 10 Pro and Linux Mint experimenter

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HiFlyer

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Here’s a link to Win 8.1.  This is a reputable seller that I’ve done business with.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832397788

Additionally, here is a nifty program that came pre-loaded on my laptop when I bought it four years ago.
http://www.iobit.com/update/startmenu8/index.php

Win 8.1 has been very good to me.  I don’t notice much difference between it & Win 7, so I would encourage anyone to give it a try.

satrow EDIT: correction as requested.

Win 8.1 (home & pro) Group B, W10/11 Avoider, Linux Dabbler

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Elly

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Thank you, @Purg2, for providing that link and recommendation.

I also have bought from that seller a couple of times, with no complaints.

I did check that seller earlier this week when I was looking for legit copies of Win 8.1 and Office2010 or Office2013, so I’m not sure why I didn’t come across this listing!

—
I guess I have to revisit now my choice between Win 7 and Win 8.1, since 8.1 is demonstrably available to buy!

—
I’m glad the seller posted the following warning, to remind me that it is something I’d have to figure out before assuming that I could put this on a new laptop:
“Prior versions of Windows, including Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, have limited support when running on new processors and chipsets from manufacturers like Intel, AMD, NVidia, and Qualcomm. A device may not be able to run prior versions of Windows if the device hardware is incompatible, lacking current drivers, or otherwise outside of the Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (“OEM”) support period.”

—
P.T.

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The Microsoft Games like Minesweeper, Solitaire, Freecell (which were featured in Windows Vista & Windows 7) are not included in Windows 8/8.1 (and Windows 10). Download the MS Games package from here:
https://winaero.com/download.php?view.1836

Oh, I almost forgot – note to users with an ASUS PCE-N53 wireless LAN adapter; the built-in Windows 8.1 netr28x.sys driver causes blue screen crashes at startup for this specific wireless network card. You must manually install the updated Win8.1 PCE-N53 v5.0.35.0 (or greater) drivers first from the ASUS web site before inserting the ASUS PCE-N53 adapter onto a PCIe slot.
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/PCEN53/HelpDesk_Download/

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Microfix, radosuaf, BobbyB

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I installed windows 8.1 and loved it after a few hours. No tweaks for me.  I used to be a win 7-die hard. But Windows 10 is just junk. In 2023/2024 I’ll switch to linux or windows 11. Personally the tehnical preview was better. Now it’s complete awful.

Windows 10 shall not be the last windows.

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SueW, Microfix, radosuaf

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Install Classic Shell in Windows 8.1, and you can make Windows 8.1 look and feel exactly like Windows 7. Classic Shell is free, so it is the easiest way to keep using a supported version of “Windows 7” even after January 2020.

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

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HiFlyer, SueW

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No,  I want windows 8.1 like it is.

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To limit the W8.1 telemetry try Spybot Anti-Beacon.

cheers, Paul

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SueW

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