stevec
 
Thanks, Jim, much appreciated.  I didn't realize the path from Win7 to Win8.1 was quite that extensive.   I'll probably just create a new partition (assuming that's feasible in this case) so I can continue with Win7 as my main OS.   For now.  
 

Just keep in mind that 7 and 8 each may have several 'hidden' partitions. Usually you need GPT drive partition support to handle a dual boot to Win 7 and 8 (to have more than 4 partitions). But there are ways to do this with MBR partitions, it's just something you need to consider.
 
This can get very complicated with UEFI booting.
 
The forums and tutorials at 
http://www.eightforums.com/
can be a great help with this.
 
 
 

hockeyjx
"I don't believe in upgrades, I never have, I never will" -Queensryche. 
 
Seriously. Upgrading just brings more problems ...IMO YMMV

You must be using DOS then. 

slam-dunk for W8.1 (and next year 10) totally disregard the "head in the sand" naysayers

Exactly John classic marketing brainwashing... When people think window 8 they think the start screen because they've seen screen shot after screen shot in the marketing and tv commercials. The reality is it's a lot prettier and easier to use than the start menu (and if you disagree you never bothered to configure it), and once you've launched the app it disappears. The rest looks like win 7 unless you decide to use the tablet functionality (if you are you need to read a manual).

If MS marketing (yup them again) hadn't had pushed the start screen so heavily their sales would have doubled IMHO. To some people it looks too alien for them.

You do know that Win 8.1 can use themes, right? 

johnnyV
Conclusion of this thread. 
There is really no big life changing difference one way or the other with Windows 7 and 8.1. 
If you have Windows 7... be happy and carry on. 
If you buy or build a new computer you might as well go with Windows 8.1. 
It's cheaper than comparable versions of W7, and no animals will be killed in the process. 
You will be a little more future proof as well. 

Exactly!  

Paul P

John
You do know that Win 8.1 can use themes, right? 

So show me how to round my windows corners without buying a third party patch.
(among other things)

http://winaero.com/blog/aero-glass-for-windows-8-1-released-download-links-inside/ and http://uxstyle.com/
hth

Paul P

John
You do know that Win 8.1 can use themes, right? 

So show me how to round my windows corners without buying a third party patch.
(among other things)

Win 7 also has square corners.  To many it lends a crisp clean look. Right now its either Win 7 or Win 8. Both look much the same. 
 
On the other hand show me how to square the corners on Vista? 

Paul P

John
Both look much the same. 

You seem to have a hard time accepting that I find win8 ugly.  I'm sorry that this bothers you so.
 
My opinion isn't worth the effort it would take to defend it.  Cheers !
 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It doesn't bother me that you think win 8 is ugly. I just wonder why. 

When I first installed (the beta of) windows 8, I didn't like it. I didn't like the flat look, the start screen and the fact that it was made for touchscreens and not for mouse/keyboard usage. I know you could work with it with KB/Mouse as well, but it was cumbersome (shutting down the computer was a hassle to say the least).
I did install Win8 (RTM) on one of my machines, and I did like the speed of it. It feels snappier and faster than W7 was on the same machine. Since 8.1 a lot of the issues I had with 8 have been "fixed". Update 1 fixed some more things. I still don't like the flat look of it though. If you have two inactive windows on top of each other, it is very hard to see where one ends and another starts. But overall, I like it, and I installed it now on all my machines (including the DAW system). No issues with any of the systems.
I also installed Windows 10 on a machine, and I like that better than 8.1(.1). It boots up really fast. The machine takes 9 seconds to boot Windows 8, it takes about 5 to boot 10. And, finally some shading behind windows again (even the inactive ones) :) The Start menu is not fully to my liking yet, but as it is a preview, I have a feeling this might still improve.
 
To the OP: If you have compatible hardware, go for Win 8.1(update 1).

bitflipperBut power users are going to feel like they've been demoted to the kiddie table. It's been dumbed down and idiot-proofed to the point where it's clear they just don't want you to do certain things. Call me a dinosaur, but I shouldn't have to resort to Google just to figure out how to open a port through the firewall.

If one can hate the smell of fecal matter then one can hate an OS.  It's as simple as BitFlipper suggests.  

Since one can make Win 8+ look like the Win 7 desktop without any trouble using the Classic Start program there is no argument in my mind about the GUI being ugly or not. No one needs to use the Start Screen on a desktop computer without a touch interface. There's no benefit.
 
The OS is definitely different, the kernel is two version numbers greater, so we may as well assume that this is due to improvements since the multi-core handling seems better. Whether one sees an improvement in a program due to this may well depend on how the thread handling is done by the program developers - so again you may or may not see any difference in apps running Windows 7 or 8+ unless they are specifically optimized for 8+.
 
There are two Win 8 GUI improvements that I really like. One is the Windows Explorer shell improvements. These may be disabled if you like the Win 7 shell, but you can add a ribbon and stick on some useful buttons like 'Elevated command prompt here' and many of the most common file and folder commands onto the top of the window bar. For example:
 

 
And the move/copy tool can now do a differential copy (only moves the different stuff not the common) with pause and performance display:
 

 
I think there are a lot of other minor changes to the task manager, but I don't remember how it worked in Windows 7, so I'm not so sure about that.
 
In my mind, there's really nothing to dislike. Now whether you want to upgrade or not depends on other issues - like whether you want a clean install or an upgrade-in-place install. For the latter, for those with too many things to attempt a clean install, you have to upgrade from OS to OS - you can't skip a step.
 
I suppose you could try an upgrade using something like Acronis dissimilar hardware restores, but will that work on a new OS? I doubt it. You'd be restoring the old OS.
 

From MS Technet:
 
Use Hardware Profiles to Troubleshoot Services
27 out of 71 rated this helpful - Rate this topic

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

You can use the Services snap-in in conjunction with predefined hardware profiles to troubleshoot newly installed services. For example, by associating a service with two different hardware profiles (one profile in which the service is enabled and a second profile in which the service is disabled), you can more easily troubleshoot hardware problems that might occur with a newly installed service, such as a driver not loading properly.

Membership in Account Operators , Domain Admins , or Enterprise Admins , or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Review the details in "Additional considerations" in this topic.
To enable or disable a service for a hardware profile


Click Start , click in the Start Search box, type services.msc , and then press ENTER.


In the details pane, right-click the service that you want to enable or disable, and then click Properties .


On the Log On tab, click the hardware profile that you want to configure.


Click Enable or Disable , and then click OK .
Additional considerations
To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Account Operators group, the Domain Admins group, the Enterprise Admins group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure.

Use caution when you use this procedure to disable services. If you disable a service for a certain hardware profile, the Hardware Profile settings override the Startup type setting for that service.

In most cases, we recommend that you do not change the Allow service to interact with desktop setting. If you allow the service to interact with the desktop, any information that the service displays on the desktop will also be displayed on an interactive user's desktop. A malicious user could then take control of the service or attack it from the interactive desktop.

If you receive a Connection Manager error message when you open the Properties dialog box for a service, verify that the Remote Registry service is running on the specified computer. If the Remote Registry service is not running, or if the specified computer is running Windows NT 4.0, you cannot view or modify hardware profile settings, but you can perform any other actions.

Hi John, unfortunately, although I do appreciate the effort, the information you posted does not apply to Windows 8.  If you read the comments below that article, there is confirmation to this fact.  Further, the process is so convoluted (in Win 8, I guess) that it would be another example of how much you have to dig into Windows 8 for things that used to be so easy and simple to access.  Nonetheless, the above does not described how to create hardware profiles (in Windows 8 or otherwise).  However, when reading the comments you will find a link to accessing devconx64 from the WDK (an article I had previously discovered).  Take note again, that this method (and maybe the only method) of creating hardware profiles for Win8 is just as complicated and convoluted and not for the faint of heart.  This is another excellent example of dealing with the features missing in Windows 8.
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker