Win 8.1
- Thread starter Scouse
- Start date
soze
I am a FH squatter
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2004
- Messages
- 12,508
No it is free. You have to fully update the windows store to get the upgrade. As for if it is worth it. The main selling point is the return of the start menu which leaves you with Metro but you now have a flag button and the search results now show up on the right not the left. At work I have not noticed any real world benefits and I did have a few Win 8 drivers that would not install on 8.1 all Intel. And you cannot roll back if you want 8 back without jumping though hoops it is a reinstall.
Syri
FH is my second home
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2004
- Messages
- 1,019
I've had a few issues with the upgrade. The most prominent was my PC blue screening on boot, which was caused by having VirtuMVP installed. I removed that, and had to reinstall my graphics drivers (despite already having the latest ones installed, which are 8.1 compatible). The software for my samsung external HDD isn't fully compatible either. It will show the drive details, but anything else, including trying to remove it, will get errors that it isn't compatible. The lite driver pack for my HP printer also didn't install, so I had to use the full, bloated HP package.
Onto annoyances: Computer is renamed to "This PC", but you can at least right click and rename it. Someone also decided though to move documents, pictures etc from libraries into This PC, with no option to keep it as it was in windows 7 and 8 without resorting to deleting registry entries. I also found that skydrive no longer works with an offline windows account. If you want skydrive, you need to sign in to windows with your microsoft account, you can't just sign in to skydrive. I was using skydrive as it works better to edit files when I'm using the PCs at uni but I can't stand having to put my password in every time I boot up the pc.
Overall, my experience has been extremely negative, some of it due to personal preference and some due to specific pieces of software. The new start button (not menu, just button. If you want a menu, you still need a 3rd party one) isn't worth the trouble, and I've noticed nothing else positive about it at all. As with many such things though, personal experience and preference may vary.
Onto annoyances: Computer is renamed to "This PC", but you can at least right click and rename it. Someone also decided though to move documents, pictures etc from libraries into This PC, with no option to keep it as it was in windows 7 and 8 without resorting to deleting registry entries. I also found that skydrive no longer works with an offline windows account. If you want skydrive, you need to sign in to windows with your microsoft account, you can't just sign in to skydrive. I was using skydrive as it works better to edit files when I'm using the PCs at uni but I can't stand having to put my password in every time I boot up the pc.
Overall, my experience has been extremely negative, some of it due to personal preference and some due to specific pieces of software. The new start button (not menu, just button. If you want a menu, you still need a 3rd party one) isn't worth the trouble, and I've noticed nothing else positive about it at all. As with many such things though, personal experience and preference may vary.
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2003
- Messages
- 3,362