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I believe MS still has a S/W available for these type input devices. Check out this list and see if you can find what you need.

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.

I have used Kinston Memory in the past with very good results. However have never used their SSD’s. Kingston has always been know as one of the better manufacturers. Of course past performance does not always mean good performance now.

It sounds as though you are infected with some sort of redirect nasty. I would start with a complete scan with a good AV app, and a complete scan with MalwareBytes Anti-malware to see if anything is found.

Black Viper has a ton of info on his webpage for all versions of Windows, including info on Windows services. Take a look and see if his info will assist in your decisions.

Glad things worked out for you.

First, do you have the ability to go into the Bios and change the boot order?

If so, you should be able to plug the flash drive into a USB slot, then during the Rescue Disk creation you may be able to select the USB flash drive as the location to install the Rescue files. I am not sure of the exact size of Flash Drive you would need for this. I guess I never paid attention when I created Win 7 Rescue Disks since I was using CDs at the time.

I have also enabled the option to boot directly to the Desktop Mode. Both these replacements allow these 2 changes. I am not sure if these 2 changes are available with StartIsBack.

You can easily set up what the Win Key does with either of these 2 apps as well. Getting to “lala land” is as simple as pressing the Win Key. (I assume you mean the Metro Mode with “lala land”, LOL)

And of course, you are comparing apples and oranges. HIPS and AVs are not the same thing, have not the same goals and do not behave in the same way. Oh well…

The OP was commenting on a problem that seemed to be caused by OA. Perhaps it was just the firewall portion, perhaps not. I was attempting to point to an alternative app. The alternative can be installed as just an AV, or a full fledged security suite very similar to OA. Please do not continue to belittle my attempts to volunteer info to the OP.

Unfortunately, especially in free editions of S/W, the add-ons, including features you might not want, are enabled by default. You have to opt out of these things during the installation.

If you use a Start Menu replacement app such as Start8 or Classic Shell, you can choose the option to Disable Hot Corners in Desktop Mode.

35765-DisableHotCorners

You can also try Grant Admin Full Control, which is like Take Ownership on steroids.

The other day I received an offer from Acronis for an Upgrade similar to this. When I went to buy this I was offered a 3 license upgrade to Acronis TI 2014 Premium for $19.99. I jumped on it. I have used Acronis through 4 versions now and am finally happy to have gotten the $20 USD offer for 3 licenses of the Premium edition. Premium is the edition that includes what used to be the Plus Pack. Now rather than buying 2 separate products as I have done with each previous version, I got just one product that includes this feature (allows restoration on new H/W). I was able to install on both our PCs and have a license remaining in case we do finally get a tablet. Not sure yet, but you never know. It was nice finally getting this offer.

Have you tried Revo Uninstaller. Unfortunately the free version only sees 32 bit apps, whereas the Pro version sees all apps.

This Norton articlemay help.

George,

I am one of those that had OA for a year, at Rui’s recommendation, then abandoned it when they changed their system and went with AVG AV Pro and never looked back. In fact I was glad I did. AVG seems much more user friendly IMO. Plus, you can use AVG AV without the suite if you prefer, and AVG AV 2014 freeuses the same engine as the Pro version. The pro version just has a few more bells and whistles. I got a great price on a 3 license Pro version and went for it, but I would easily recommend the free version as well.