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Hello:

It's been a little while now so I'm thinking of bringing my desktop and laptop systems up to Windows 8.1.

The only specialized thing with real hooks into Windows (if they can be called "hooks") I use is Classic Shell 3.6. I know there's a new CS out there. I was planning to wait until my last October F@H work units finish (I'm participating in the annual TRFrankenbot Soire), take a fresh backup image of my C partition, then uninstall Classic Shell, upgrade Windows, then install Classic Shell 4.0...or whatever is most current, then test a bunch of stuff and restart folding.

An alternative plan is to do the laptop first (with the same steps above); it is less critical. If successful, then execute the same plan for the desktop system.

Opinions on 8.1?
Opinions on either plan above?

Thanks in advance!

I very much like 8.1.

I had nothing against 8 mind you. 8.1 is just better.

If you're already using 8, I don't see any reason not to use 8.1

jihadjoe wrote:

If you're already using 8, I don't see any reason not to use 8.1

Zero reasons not to use 8.1.

Do the upgrade and upgrade CS while you're at it.

Thank you all. Do you see any problems with the order of tasks in my upgrade plan?

Just do it...

The order of tasks looks OK to me.

Upgrading Windows has become very simple and easy, not like back in the days of Windows 98/XP. 8.1 is essentially just "Windows 8 SP1", so just go for it.

I was going to do the upgrade last night but when I ran the app to check for compatibility, a few of my games came up as non-compatible. For example, according to the app, Counter Strike: Source won't run (properly) under Windows 8.1

Granted that's not a newer game, but I still play it from time to time; and it made me wonder what else might not work properly. I'm going to hold off for now. I play a lot of older stuff.

Check to see if the website for Win 8 shows it's compatible... Can't imagine that it changed that much from 8 to 8.1.

Pville_Piper wrote:

Check to see if the website for Win 8 shows it's compatible... Can't imagine that it changed that much from 8 to 8.1.

It was the Microsoft website that was saying it was not compatible... they have a link you click to run an app that checks your hardware and software, and several of my games popped up as having issues. It didn't go into detail - that is, whether they would run poorly, crash occasionally, not run at all, etc. Based on some cursory browsing of various forums, it seems like at least some folks are having issues with games crashing, performing poorly, etc after upgrading to 8.1

Given that there aren't any real pressing reasons to upgrade right away, I think I'll wait a while.

FYI, you don't need to uninstall Classic Shell...just upgrade to v 4.X before installing 8.1; that's from my work on two laptops and a desktop.

I agree that you don't need to uninstall Classic Shell before installing 8.1 but you might as well. At least for me it turned off Classic Shell so I just reinstalled it once the upgrade to 8.1 was finished. Unfortunately my settings were lost in the process and it's still not quite where I want it but it isn't a big deal. One day I'll take a few minutes to figure out what I need to change to get it right.

That being said I will raise one issue to consider before upgrading to 8.1. There have been reports of mouse lag when running games under 8.1. I haven't seen it myself but it seems to be a common complaint. Luckily there does seem to be a workaround involving changing a few compatibility settings.

cphite wrote:

I was going to do the upgrade last night but when I ran the app to check for compatibility, a few of my games came up as non-compatible. For example, according to the app, Counter Strike: Source won't run (properly) under Windows 8.1

Granted that's not a newer game, but I still play it from time to time; and it made me wonder what else might not work properly. I'm going to hold off for now. I play a lot of older stuff.

I've been running 8.1 since it came out.
While there were some issues with rainmeter, I haven't had any problems with any of my games, CS:S included.

nanoflower wrote:

That being said I will raise one issue to consider before upgrading to 8.1. There have been reports of mouse lag when running games under 8.1. I haven't seen it myself but it seems to be a common complaint. Luckily there does seem to be a workaround involving changing a few compatibility settings.

It must be only specific games/hardware because I've never seen it or heard from anyone who has.

(And yes, my mouse is at 1000hz.)

Stop listening to retarded rumors, guys (or trusting the garbage "application compatibility" features), and just test stuff out by YOURSELF. I use Win8.1, I have 0 issues with my mouse (Logitech G400s, using latest Logitech's software) or with CS:S and CS:GO and I don't personally know anyone who does.

Just do a full backup before upgrading, so in case of a very tiny chance that your particular software configuration or your cheap, crappy hardware will have issues - you'll be able to easily revert everything

It may be only with specific games. I only know about it because I was looking to buy the Directors Cut of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and it is a game that has the problem as many people have reported it. Luckily it isn't that difficult to fix it if you just alter a few compatibility options.

The only issue I've had since upgrading from 8 to 8.1 is every once in a while my laptop (which I plug into a secondary screen when I'm at work and home) will forget the 'extend my desktop' setting, and go back to duplicating displays, which some times triggers text scaling to get stuck at 150%, even through the control panel says 100%. It's a pain to get restored when it happens, but I'm pretty sure it's due to crappy AMD beta (why the hell are they still in beta?!) notebook drivers for 8.1.

JohnC wrote:

:roll: Stop listening to retarded rumors, guys (or trusting the garbage "application compatibility" features), and just test stuff out by YOURSELF. I use Win8.1, I have 0 issues with my mouse (Logitech G400s, using latest Logitech's software) or with CS:S and CS:GO and I don't personally know anyone who does.

When the maker of the OS and/or the games in question post that there are potential issues, that's a bit more than "rumors". And, the reason I asked at this website is because a lot of folks here 1.) are gamers; and 2.) are pretty aware of issues that revolve around current upgrades. Personally, I'd rather take the few minutes to ask around and do some research than waste a few hours doing the upgrade and troubleshooting problems, only to waste even more time reverting back.

Hi guys.

8.1 went on okay, but wasn't quite troublefree.

1. I had a messy problem with unreadable fonts in Fire Fox and a couple apps. Based on a Google search, I had to go turn on "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays". Too early to say if this fixed it (I only just now rebooted).

2. The last time I did a "restart", it went to black screens but did not reboot Windows. Not even "reset" button worked; I had to punch it by holding down the power button.

3. Also, I get a message now every time I boot: "Smart File Advisor is not currently associated to Unknown Files. Do you want to run Smart File Advisor installer now to fix this problem?" Searches on the web don't give clear direction on this one and I am just paranoid enough to wait to hear from somebody else.

Smart File Advisor is not a part of the Windows 8.1. You have some "free" garbage program which probably installed it.

My suspicion is right then.

This is weird because I am very careful about where I go and what I do.

Edit:

According to Programs and Features, it is version 1.1.1 published by "Filefacts.net" and installed on 1/23/2013, which is about a month after I stood up this system.

Edit 2:

I just uninstalled it and.. haha, it opened a web browser at Filefacts.net asking if I would care to share my reasons for uninstalling their software and oh by the way, what's my email address. I just closed the web page without replying. I will watch to see if this thing mysteriously comes back someday.

BIF wrote:

I just uninstalled it and.. haha, it opened a web browser at Filefacts.net asking if I would care to share my reasons for uninstalling their software and requesting my email address. I just closed the web page without replying. I will watch to see if this thing mysteriously comes back someday.

Yeah that at least is relatively common practice. Panda Cloud does it, Google Chrome does it, cFosSpeed does it...I'm sure I could find plenty more, but that's off the top of my head.

Not always with the email part, mind you.