Last month, I mentioned that the latest release of Windows 8 (Windows 8.1) appeared to cause problems sometimes
– see this previous blog post on Windows 8.1
Not having heard any more discouraging tales, I bit the bullet earlier this week and started the download. If you have been receiving nags from Microsoft that 8.1 is available now and that they recommend that you go for it, then be warned – it’s a big download and then it takes forever to install. I didn’t time it as I wasn’t expecting time to be an issue, but I think it must have been about three hours in all. Admittedly, it doesn’t need much intervention, so you don’t have to attend to it all the time, but don’t start the process when you’ll need the computer in a few minutes.
Should you bother upgrading to 8.1?

The rather modest new Start button

Windows needs to be secure. We don’t want to let just anyone in.
We can’t have one without the other. Therefore, we just have to accept that security is important and that we really should take reasonable steps to keep it current. In my opinion, running the latest version of the operating system, and keeping it updated as much as possible, is a large part of the task of “taking reasonable steps”. So, as long as Windows 8.1 isn’t going to break anything or cause any other major problems, I’d recommend going for it.
What did I find on updating to 8.1?
The first thing I noticed when it had finished was that everything seemed so s—–l—–o—–w—-. Booting up, opening everyday programs such as Firefox and Outlook – it was all a pain. And then my Outlook broke. The calendar synch with Gmail (and thence to Macs and iPads, but that’s another story) stopped working and even send/receive wouldn’t work. Falling back on the timeless advice of both Douglas Adams and Corporal Jones (“Don’t Panic”), I just re-booted the machine two or three times. It definitely started getting back to normal as far as the speed was concerned. Outlook send/receive eventually came back (phheww) but the calendar synch is still broken. Maybe it’s a coincidence. I haven’t investigated yet.
So, what’s new?

Figure 1. Right-clicking on the new Start button brings up a useful menu.
Booting into the desktop instead of the Start Screen
If you don’t use the “Start Screen”, with all its bells and whistles and animations and stuff, and just want to go straight to the familiar territory of the desktop whenever you boot up, this is now possible with a little tweak:
- Right-click on any empty part of the desktop taskbar (the line at the bottom of the screen that includes icons for open and “pinned” applications etc)
- Left-click on “Properties”
- Left-click on the “Navigation” tab
- Tick the box next to “When I sign in… go to the desktop instead of Start” (see figure 2)

Figure 2. Tick the box to avoid the Start Screen when you boot up in future.
Maybe I’ve whetted your appetite – in which case, look out for the second part of this review of Windows 8.1 next week.