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“Plus, more on the issue of extremely slow Windows Update scanning on Win7 systems”

With Windows 8.1 selected updates download and install immediately once selected.
The checking of update validity and sequence can only take splits of a second.

When W7 SP1 after all the recommended updates and service stopping etc takes 4 hours or more and then does not find all important or optional downloads the proposition that W7 SP1 needs a lot of pre-checking does not seem at all plausible. Microsoft have messed this up intentionally or otherwise. After 3 days I have managed to download important updates by setting on automatic but unimportant downloads do not download even when it says they are ready to download. I cannot install any updates manually. One of my W7 Thinkpads has now got the W10 upgrade into the important update lists so I cannot use automatic, or W10 installs.

We really need a W7 SP2 to sort this whole mess out or people will just abandon trying to keep their security up to date.
Alternatively what users may prefer is a Chromebook system where Microsoft provide an up to date working OS at each boot up.

A couple of points:

My Windows 8 computer has a UEFI “BIOS”.
This has made it so secure that it is actually insecure in that you cannot easily repair things or recover from virus attacks.
I believe the manufacturer has set it so that even if you set the “BIOS” to be able to boot from CDs and USB they will still not boot.
As it is a security issue the manufacturers Help Desk say they cannot reveal anything about how the user is supposed to deal with restores via UEFI.
I doubt if many of the repair CDs , USBs in your article will actually boot at all on UEFI BIOS’s.

On Windows 7 I used to make OS images that were easy to run and reinstall your system within half an hour.
In Windows 8 I have no confidence that any of those restore methods will actually work should the time ever come.

If I create a Windows 8.1 recovery flashdrive I hope that the UEFI BIOS will actually run it as the UEFI security will presumably look for a Windows signature.
The flash drive needs to be 16GB to include the OEM original recovery partition. That partition is for Windows 8.0 so of limited use.
Will Part 2 tell you if you can make /include a recovery “partition” for Windows 8.1?

My desktop is a Medion with a UEFI BIOS.
You can change the BIOS boot order in theory but what is set by the manufacturer stays that way.
When you reboot the original settings simply get restored.
Their Helpdesk cannot help me.
Is there any independent source of help on this?

Commercial firms need to cause obsolescence as a modern business survival policy.
Make something that goes on working and sales die, then the company.
This happened to tire manufacturers when radials lasting 25,000 miles instead of cross ply lasting 5 years first came out.
Produce software that does not have the latest features and the reviews crucify it.

Car manufacturers have to agree to hold spares for each model (a safety issue) for a fixed time so there are plenty available for years. Computers are not a public safety issue so no such rules.

Consumer electronics are exactly that – produced to consume and throw away – a terrible model for the future of our planet.
80% of Western economies are based on consuming what the Far East produces so they in turn can lend the West money to be able to pay for the consumption.
The more we consume the cheaper the goods get.

If you want a top quality operating system that runs and runs with practically any device of any age then install Ubuntu Linux.
Open Source software is one part of the answer where thousands of programmers world-wide give their time and expertise freely to improve and share their work without costs for the benefit of all. Perhaps all a bit too socialist for those slavishly following the consume or die philosophy.