Anyone else struggling with Windows 8.1?

Hi Tony,
I've been using win 8.1 for a few months now on my studio PC. Here's what I think so far.

It runs really smoothly. I mean I thought Win 7 was smooth but win 8 is better. Is it more functional. I don't think so. The whole apps screen thing seems a bit strange and having to find the desktop and where seldom used programs hide, that is, ones not pinned to the task bar is all a bit weird. I'm sure I'll get used to it in time but while I spend most of my time working to learn X3 and get the studio setup I've got to say that win8 is pretty well transparent once I'm working in the software I really want to use.

I have a laptop and desktop that I have win 8 licences for and when I have time I will update them both but I'm in no hurry.

Better yet, stick with only the odd number releases of Windows. 

Note the qualification at the end: "of Windows." 
(I'm still using SONAR Producer v4!)

I use Win7 on my DAW and Win8 on my internet PC.
Win8 sucks. Microsoft thinks it sucks by user feedback and is working
on trying to turn that around with Win9...or so I've read, FWTW.
 
If can keep Win7, X3 and the computer working I'll stick with that combo as long as I can.
Internet PC...only a few things it's even worth using for and now little 400 dollar tablets can
handle that so internet PC is a dying market in my house.
My wife has a Kindle HDX and hasn't touch the PC since.

With Classic Shell, Win 8 works seamlessly for me.....(not 8.1). I tried that 8.1 update and that just was a nightmare. All my hardware have Win8 driver support, so no complaints/no complatibility issues, and I'm hoping to get a couple of touch screens soon (when they're more affordable).   

webbs hill, no, I'm not struggling anymore with Win 8 - I've used it for my DAW until I upgraded to Win 8.1 and both of them have worked well. Like mudgel, I find the Win 8.1 is very smooth, even more so than Win 7.
 
I originally did a fresh install of Win 8 and really tried to make Metro work for me... that's the only point where I struggled. Metro is a different design environment but I wanted to be open minded enough to see if it was the way of the future - after all, one would assume that Microsoft must have spent big money testing the interface. So I gave it a try for a couple of weeks, but I don't use a touch screen and Metro was just too inconvenient - it got in the way too much. So I installed Classic Shell and Win 8 worked as well for me as Win 7.
 
When Win 8.1 became available and I decided to upgrade, I again did a fresh install of Win 8 then immediately upgraded to Win 8.1. I'm running Sonar 8.5, X1 and X2 as well as Samplitude Pro X and everything works very well.
 
If you give Classic Shell a try, that may take care of a lot of your struggles - Metro is a pain but the operating system works quite well. Good luck.  

The convoluted procedure to power off and the "charms" bar were my only two initial gripes with W8. I solved the first by making myself an "off" tile for the metro screen, the charms bar remains an irritation. I believe you can (sort of) disable that it win 8.1 but I am reluctant to do the upgrade because of reports of it somehow being very slow compared to W8 and that aside everything runs super smoothly, so I'm reluctant to mess with it. I really don't get why people find pressing the windows key to bring up the start menu instead of clicking on an icon on the screen so difficult and I also don't understand how people find it difficult to "find" their programs ? I'm not sure how it could be much easier really.

webbs hill studio
"pressing the windows key to bring up the start menu instead of clicking on an icon on the screen"
 
thanks Paulo-good tip

No worries. This was also true of previous windows versions btw.
 
Here's something that may help if you are struggling to get to grips with W8..
 

webbs hill studio
 
if I wanted apps on my desktop I would have bought a Mac!!
 

Actually, the Mac desktop doesn't have apps on it, they don't show up unless you click "Launchpad". ;)
Here's mine. Personally, I have no use for apps view - I like to keep a clean desktop.
 

webbs hill studio
my bad-should have said an IPad-my wife uses one for work and the desktop appears to be totally run by apps.
nice clean desktop but what are all the icons along the bottom of the screen?
I assumed they were apps or is it a Mac taskbar?
cheers

They call it the dock. Considering that just about everything is called an app these days, I guess they are apps. For whatever reason, in my mind, app is a bit derogative and refers to all kinds of widgets and games and all. I guess in Windows lingo, the dock would be the equivalent (roughly) of the task bar and its quickstart icons + the start menu and its sub-menus.