Windows 8/8.1 was the last Windows that gave you proper control over updates. Even with 8 I wasn't bothered much by the lack of a start menu, as I was able to add my own simple start menu on the taskbar, basically the list of programs which is all what I really need the menu for. Windows 8.1 was also faster than 7 specially on old computers.
If you want to suspend updates indefinitely for free on any edition you can do this: Open services. Look for windows update and double click it. On the 2nd tab untick the “run with highest privilege checkbox” and select your own user BUT enter an invalid password (twice). Apply the changes and then restart the service. It will fail to start. Now your pc cant update no matter what. One side effect is that the Microsoft Store can install apps anymore but if you really use the store just tick the checkbox again and it instantly fixes itself. You can do this as many times as you want.
Thanks guys for all your feedback regarding disabling Windows updates. I am familiar with all kind of tweaks to disable updates and how that affects the Store as well, but what I meant is the ability to check individual updates and choose whether to download or install them separately. Anyhow, I have learned to live with this now.
Windows 8.1 was an OS I used for quite a while and didn't really have problems at all, I actually liked it, eventually I went back to Windows 7 and stayed until EOL of Windows 7, then I went to 10. I'll definitely miss it.
Same here. But I actually upgraded to Windows 10, only to realise it had a lot of issues, so I went back to 7. I eventually went back to Windows 10 after a year of EOL for 7. Fortanitly, it is a lot better now.
@@halo64654 So both of you liked it but not enough to not go back to Windows 7 - which is ultimately what I did but I never liked Windows 8. To be fair, I "endured" Windows 7 too given that XP was the best OS that Microsoft ever made - even as a now full-time Linux person, the "Windows Classic" interface is XP was one of the best and simplest GUIs ever made ("Give me access to my applications and then stay out of the way") and they ruined that with the ugly Aero interface in Windows 7.
Little known fact about Win8.1 (possible 8 as well). If you had a touchpad, you could use the same gestures that you would use on a touch screen. Swipe in from the right of the trackpad, to bring the charms menu. Swipe from left to access the previous app, etc. Just on the touchpad
8.1 was everything. Everyone didnt like it but i loved it. It ran so smooth, felt like the best os ever. did i also mention it booted faster than windows 10?
8.1 was great... as long as you installed the classic start menu lol. But yea it was fast and reliable, overall pretty dang good. I preferred it over 10 for quite awhile... now I am on 11 and miss the old days when things actually just worked.
Windows XP,Windows 7 and Windows 10 have always been my best operating systems,Rest not been to good for me,Worse thing in Windows 8.1 is the Start menu goes in to another screen,I find very annoying grrrrrrr Glad Microsoft changed that in Windows 10,Brought back to normal start menu
Worse Microsoft Operating system's Ive ever had was Window ME,That keep t on crashing all the time,Windows Vista run smooth,After a week later started crashing as well,They two where my worse ever operating systems
I agree. Very few bugs, crashes, blue screens and driver issues. It ran butter smooth on even mid-range hardware and it was quite secure. The user interface was the biggest let down but once you installed Classic Shell and configured it to boot into desktop mode it was honestly rock solid
Win 8.1 was a great os especially with all the color customization. You should have showed how programs open up in it with their nice background also the task bar being transparent was real eye catcher for me compared to win 10. Great video
It was an abomination of an OS, i still have a high end laptop from that era with a 4th gen 4core/8 thread i7 and that doesn't matter if the UI is so bad. Now it has Windows 10 since a very long time.
Same. Mine are quite fond. I held on to XP until like 2010 or so, then installed 7 which was a huge relief. I honestly can't remember why I upgraded from 7 to 8.1, but I do remember skipping 8 entirely because of the metro UI crap. At least 8.1 was advertised as a fix to that fiasco, and of course I had StartIsBack installed the whole time. I was just NOT having that whole tablet crap on my PC. I just got used to its quirks and had no problem using it. In fact I miss it and would still be using 8.1 if my modern hardware had drivers for it, despite the lack of support. Windows 10 is just a spit in the face to decades long Windows users. It's like it's built for dumb children. Can't even decide whether your machine should restart after an update or not without messing with group policies and getting lucky. I'd gladly deal with the occasional malware if at least I can trust my system to listen to me first and Microsoft second. Now those were the good ol' days. If anybody from Microsoft is reading this: I am literally ONE incompatible game away from completely switching to Linux and never looking back. Just saying, if you happen to care, which I doubt. The list of software keeping so many of us shackled to you is growing shorter and shorter every year. In the end nobody will love you, Microsoft. You accumulated many loyal followers in the 90's and 00's because you had a theme worth following. You promised us a bright future. What the hell do you think you're promising to those growing up with your contemporary products? Constriction, censorship, and manipulation, that's what. They'll leave you behind like you left us behind, and then you will turn to dust.
I have issues with a laptop after 10 years now on Windows 10 with the keyboard and touchpad drivers broken, thanks to the abomination of Windows 8. Every single laptop from 2012, 2013 came with Windows 8, my decade old laptop has a freaking i7-4700MQ (same perfomance as a desktop i7-3770). Windows 8 is a disgrace, for me it's almost as bad as ME, both worse than Vista.
Windows 8.1 pro - never a problem. All devices work fine on the first try. Windows 10 foced updates bsod crashed pc 4 times. W00ps. Windows 10 software uninstall also decided to uninstall the mouse (???) so that was fun putting the mouse back in, with keyboard shortcuts and no mouse. MS taking good things and making them worse . . .
Honestly, Windows 8.1 is kind of nostalgic for me, being the computer OS that I really started using (our old computer had Vista, but I wasn't really allowed to use the computer much at that time. I think Windows 8.1, with a simplified Windows 10 start menu and the start menu color theme, would be a pretty good operating system. Windows 8.1 also seems a lot more lightweight than Windows 10 and 11.
it was more lightweight. Less spooky too. The last OS from Microsoft before all the hidden telemetry to watch your every move. I loved Windows 8.1. Still do.
@@skinnypotato4452 Because it was the only computer OS I used at home until I got my own laptop. I didn't have a phone or tablet at the time either, so this computer was where I did almost all of my school research and typed papers.
I think I am one of the very few people that actually loved the interface of this era of Windows. Had a windows phone at the same time and it all felt so connected, so beautiful. I really do miss this.
Windows 8’s animations are still drop-dead gorgeous. The transition from the login screen to the start screen… wonderful. Always thought they should’ve used the tile flip animation in 10.
This OS gave me memories. Even when Windows 10 came out I was still using Windows 8.1 (although it was available as a free upgrade in 2015 and I wanted to press that windows icon my dad never let me) on my current pc. I use Windows 10 now but man I used to play COD Black OPS II at the time
This was exactly my experience. While me and my dad had our own laptops, technically he was still the owner of mine (I was maybe 10 at the time so quite reasonable). When that upgrade button showed up he said he didn’t trust the “free” update and figured it’d charge you at some point, but I begged him for months and once he let me upgrade from 8.1 I was so excited!
One thing that 8.1 introduced with the return of the Start button (and is still around in Windows 10 and 11) that made the UI a little less painful was the ability to right click the button to access a convenient menu of settings, tools, etc. IIRC, it could also be used to shut down back then as well, saving having to fumble with the charms menu, etc.
The funny thing about windows 8 / 8.1 is that it had two different calculator applications. One of them was a modern Windows 8 "App" that always covered full screen. In the video at 11:58 , you can its icon in the "Apps menu" .The other one was a traditional "Windows" application that looked the same as in Windows 7. You can see its icon in the video a few seconds later as he scrolls to the right in the same menu.
I used windows 8.1 ever since 2014 when I bought my current PC and I literally updated to Windows 10 just a few days ago because of the end of support for 8.1. It worked absolutely fine for me all those years, I didn't even mind the metro ui when I got used to it.
Yep, today is the end of an era for Windows 8.1. I never had an actual Windows 8.1 system until I received it for Easter / Resurrection Sunday last year (it's a Surface PC/tablet system). Great job on this retrospective video!
Ah, the very last Windows OS that doesn't perform like garbage using a regular HDD. I have no idea what MS did, but using Windows 10 (especially later builds) without an SSD or heavily modifying it is just... painful. One thing I loved in 8.1 was the fact that they introduced "online only" files in OneDrive, making it very space-efficient and convenient. It was VERY jarring when I upgraded to Windows 10 and it had to download everything. It took them AGES to reintroduce that feature.
This is one area that most people overlook because they're too quick to judge the entire OS by the UI's shortcomings. If you ignore the Metro stuff, you're left with perhaps the best performing version of Windows Microsoft ever put out. As you said it's the last version to work properly on a hard drive, but there's also no bloatware, it's light as a feather, fast, and stable. The flat UI may be dull but it really enabled the system to fly on older hardware, without bogging down the graphics chip showing a bunch of fancy transparency effects. Function over form.
I used Win 8.1 on my Core2Duo laptops and it just flies even on hdd Sadly its end of support But i finally found worthy successor Its called Win 10 Enterprise 2016 It comes close to Win 8.1 in resource usage although slightly higher RAM usage and runs similar on hdd like Win 8.1 And supported till 2026 👌
@@godmagnus every laptop i used with Win 10 on hdd it was literally unresponsive for like 20 mins after boot so it was unusable Win 8.1 on same laptop and hdd ran blazing fast compared to Win 10
@@filipb.8698 I had to setup Windows 10 on some crappy celeron AIOs with HDDs and it was painful. Too bad I never thought of downgrading to 8.1 back then, ended up debloating 10 with Win10-Initial-Setup-Script to make them bearable.
I always seem to be the person who loves those things that others hate. I personally liked Windows 8.1 alot. Windows 8, not so much because of the more tablet support and less desktop but when i upgraded to 8.1 alot of my memories of the older systems came back to me. There's something so nostalgic about using older Windows operating systems. Probably why i love this channel so much.
Hi Michael, I just have to tell you I actually watched the video. It was amazing! The only thing that hit me like a freight train is the shutdown option! You actually said it was obnoxious and it was my EXACT same thought when I used Windows 8 in 2018!
Man this makes me realize that I'm getting old. My first PC was running Windows 98 second edition and it's crazy that Windows 8 (which felt like it released last week) already has two successors.
I remember when I bought Win8 for Santa just after the premiere. This was my first genuine licensed Windows. The beginnings were very difficult because Avast caused blue screens. For this reason, I used the tablet more often. But after a few weeks an update was released and until the release of Win10 everything worked perfectly. Good times and a good operating system.
IIRC with the Start Screen disabled (I use/used StartIsBack but there are many free alternatives) Win8.1 was actually more consistent in terms of UI elements than Win10 was, where they never really tried to consolidate all of the old Control Panel into Settings properly (putting aside the fact that the Settings app has text that’s too large and generally is kind of ugly and clunky). Basically it felt like Metro was overlaid as a skin over the Win7 shell, and honestly that’s kinda nice!
I never hated the start screen because of the smooth animations that were cool as hell and the constantly updating widgets/tiles. I tried using classic shell but uninstalled it next hour.
Winaero Tweaker lets you customize all your windows settings, disable updates, and take back control of your PC from microsofts random changes... The OLD Control Panel system display is still in Windows 10 /11 , just hidden. To see it make a shortcut to: C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{BB06C0E4-D293-4f75-8A90-CB05B6477EEE}
i used windows 8.1 for many years and it was definetly a solid operating system when you added something like classic shell and i was pretty fond of it while i was using it
As a Mac user who uses hot corners all the time, having the charms menu come up by going to the bottom right felt natural to me. Same with the start menu coming up in the bottom left. I used 8 and 8.1 in bootcamp for years for games and I never hated it like all my friends did.
Never faced a blue screen. It was the most stable windows after windows XP sp2 and windows 7. I face bsod or bootloop because of those f*king updates that microsoft is too lazy to check before making you install them forcibly
A trip down memory lane, I still have a laptop with Windows 8.1 on it, and while I maybe boot the computer up 3 times a year, I don't plan on upgrading it. I also remember taking a desktop support class in college and one of the first assignments in class was, not even joking, installing Classic Shell on a computer to get the old start menu back. Fun times.
My experience was getting a new laptop with Windows 8 installed, it asking me to upgrade to 8.1. In short install later my shiny new 8.1 won't boot. Instantly dig out my Windows 7 CD and rolled back. Never went anywhere near Windows 8/8.1 again.
This OS got me through my final year of high school and college. It hardly ever gave me any problems unlike just about every other version of Windows I ever used. I'll admit the modern UI left much to be desired and Microsoft Store apps just weren't up to scratch with "classic" programs but once you installed Classic Shell (as it was known back then) and configured it to boot into the desktop at startup you were pretty much were good to go. Thanks for everything 8.1 😊
@@SirFaceFone Not gonna lie, this is the reason why i refuse to upgrade to Windows 10 till 2021 before Windows 11 released to the Public in October 5. It is because Windows 8.1 ran pretty fine on SSD, unlike on Windows 10, it runs painfully slow on my Toshiba Laptop because of HDD and 4GB RAM Combined, Windows 11 is much worse, MS Word didn't respond very quick which urge me to bought an SSD from Lazada (SEA equivalent of Amazon).
@@SirFaceFone ?? My setup is 7 years old with a HDD and win 10 never gave me issues? Hell I'm still using the same old ass HDD and every boot up is less than 30 seconds.
I never used Windows 8/8.1 myself, but my father did, and he is in no way technologically literate. I even struggled trying to figure it out in order to help him with stuff, and I've been using computers since I was 8 years old. I knew nothing of the third party programs, but I think towards the end before Windows 10 was released we did upgrade him to 8.1. Thinking back about how terrible the original Windows 8 experience was makes my blood boil! Love your videos, Michael, but now I need a stiff drink!
You are not alone, many Windows users hates Windows 8 because of the start menu and the impractical interface. One of the most annoying thing in Windows 8 is the system apps that placed outside the desktop (such as Maps, Microsoft Store, Media Player, and Photos app) and you need to use Windows + Tab button or go to start menu and click "desktop" just to go back to the desktop every single time after opening those apps
My laptop had windows 8 and later updated to 8.1, but because stability issues we downgraded it to W7, it is still going strong today. Windows 10 is a very cool OS, and Windows 11 is just a bad joke
I switched to 8.1 from 10 before switching to 11 because I have so many problems with 10, that are either not there in 8.1 or easy to disable in 8.1. I did end up not liking the start screen, so I got a start menu for 8.1. It's not anything like 7, but 8.1 is still in my opinion better than 10 & 11.
Used windows 8.1 on my parents computer all of the time until I was 12, and I just recently updated it to windows 10 in November, had to let go of that operating system, but it has lots of memories.
All of my later primary schooling was on Windows 8 (later 8.1) and I have decent memories of it. The lack of start button taught me to use the Windows key and started my heavy reliance on hotkeys :)
Windows 8.1 Update 1 was really nice. I still miss the desktop visual style today, and I liked the full-screen Start for holding all my desktop apps :)
I preferred Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, and I was planning to keep using it until this month's end of support, but I was forced to upgrade to 10 because 8 wasn't compatible with my VR headset, and even with 10 I sticked with the 2016 LTSB edition.
For me it’s the visuals of 8 that look way better than 10, 8 to me feels like a modern version of 7 where as 10 looks uglier than 9x versions of windows with the program windows being completely white
I love how 7 got official support dropped first, but had DirectX support for longer than 8.1 did. That was why I had to go to 10, they just didn't show 8.1 any love.
@@kokoamericano1233 LMAO, no , it's not. 10 is a bloated mess, spies on you, has terrible update problems, and has had more random, OS based issues that require entire re-installs than any other OS I've ever used.
@@sporemaster97 the UI sucks, windows 8.1 had vibrant colors that was fun and consistent. windows 10 is like a combination of a bunch of WordPress templates by a 5 year old
I'm so nostalgic for Windows 8 and 8.1. I loved it and nobody else could understand why. The branding and messaging at the time really felt fresh and new and showed a side of Microsoft adapting to the times. I had to root for the underdog. I had the box for both 8 and 8.1 as well. Such a neat box to have in-hand.
I’m been using windows 10 for half a year now, and let me tell you, this video may have brought me to tears. I used windows 8.1 for about 2 years before I upgraded to windows 10 and a huge wave of nostalgia ran through me when watching this video. Windows 8.1 is in my list of top Windows OSs and was so much better than 10 in my opinion. The stability, less bloatware, the simplicity, and the UI were great in my opinion. It also just ran better on my hardware. It was also great using my windows phone with my computer and they paired great together. I’m going to miss windows 8.1 a lot :(
Another legend that goes... I have not used Windows 8.1 much, but I have been using until November (now I have Windows 11 leak) a pre-release version called Developer Preview, which brings me back many memories playing the exclusive games that came on this OS by default, watching movies, browsing the web, customizing it like Windows 11 or Longhorn, and it still ran like a bullet and booted up in 3 seconds. Now you have to settle for the frankenstein of Windows 10 or the delicate Windows 11. Thank you very much, Microsoft
I'm still afraid to use Windows 11 so I continue to use my Win 10 desktop and do most things with my cellphone. Bought a Windows11 laptop for my sister and it came with Windows 11 S mode. I'm hoping it's not hard to turn off the S mode. Guess, I'll find out before long.
@@Eeveewashere it's very easy from the store with a login to a microsoft account. There are workarounds even for that though (loading the system registry hive in winPE and changing some value).
My work computer was running windows 8.1 pro up until today. Today I was given a *newer* pc to replace it. Funny how that happens in a workplace environment once security updates are no longer coming in. I hated 8.1 when I used it on my laptop. Files would randomly get deleted and the os would just stop working now and then. Turns out it was the HDD failing and not windows at all. And since using it for years on my work PC, I actually came to like it. Very rarely did I ever have any issues with it and I'll be sad to see it go.
Windows 8.1 helped me transition from 7 to 10. Unpopular opinion, but it made me fall in love with the start screen, live tiles and the whole Metro UI. I also used the charms bar to turn off my computer. I really liked it and I was disappointed when Microsoft announced Win 11, without start screen and tiles... And that made me transition over to Linux, and I really don't regret it.
I upgraded my sister's crappy laptop from 8.1 to Windows 10 when that free upgrade was available and it made the laptop unusably laggy. This made me realize that maybe 8.1 wasn't all that bad if you had a slower machine.
One thing that I have to mention though is that I absolutely love Windows 8 and 8.1 even for a desktop computer. Personally, I would give them the title of the best Windows versions ever made. It hurts that people unfairly hated it so much.
Windows 8.1 was actually the OS I used more than 7 or 10 on my old laptop, because it runs pretty fast even on slow HDD, things are responsive (just a bit slow but not entirely frozen), while after updating to windows 10 it's barely usable when every keep freezing
It was on my first pc. I have so many memories. I remember playing Minecraft in 2013 and it got updated to windows 8.1 then in 2015 windows 10 it now runs on 11. It’s a older pc but it’s crazy how quick time flies
8.1 is a very stable system, runs games and applications fine - older and newer ones. Also I prefer hidden search bar behind the right side of screen, I've got used to it
Even though Windows 8.1's UI was geared towards tablet users, I still liked using it over Windows 10, mainly because it was rock solid. Very rarely did it crash, it didn’t pop up annoying messages (at least most of the time) and it was lighter on resources than present day Windows 10, which has increased significantly in resource consumption since it's release in July of 2015. Even on Windows 7 I had more glitches than I did on 8.1
I think of Windows 8/8.1 as being the best of both Windows 7 and Windows 10. On one hand, you had the classic transparent Windows Aero taskbar, control panel, etc. on the other hand, you also could sign in with a Microsoft account (but were not forced to), you had the Windows store, Metro UI, and new settings menu. You also could use a web browser you actually wanted to use without being begged by the OS to switch to Edge. I have personally used Windows 8.1 for about 3 years and I really enjoyed it, until my PC broke and I got a new one with Windows 10. R.I.P Windows 8.1
Man i miss Windows 8.1 . Recently tried to actively use it and quickly found out that that would not be happening since Nvidia specifically blacklisted windows 8 & 8.1 on the 3000 series, but still have working drivers for windows 7
"Nvidia specifically blacklisted windows 8 & 8.1 on the 3000 series, but still have working drivers for windows 7" Yeah, what in the fuck is up with that? 8.1 is fully backwards compatible with Windows 7 drivers.
@@Leonard_MT damn i didn't know. I was mostly talking from experience here. That sucks so much. to see an operating system being handicapped like that on purpose is just incredibly sad
Windows 8.1 was really special to me. My first ever laptop had it pre installed. I actually really like most things that got criticised such as the full screen start menu and metro UI.
Windows 8.1 did bring the back start menu. As a Windows RT 8.1 user (me,) the OS came with an update allowing the user to change the start settings to Windows 7 style. On the taskbar, right click then go to properties, go to a specific tab (I don't remember the name,) and then find that option. This may require you to sign out...
I still use this OS in a desktop pc we have at home. The shutdown menu thing is a hassle, but I normally just circumvent it with the good old Alt + F4 while on the desktop screen and just hit enter when the pop up window with the shut down options comes up, and that's it lol.
@@TheExileFox I don't really use or mind w8's start menu, though. The only thing I really find annoying about it is the shutdown thing, but it's way simpler and easier to just use the Alt + F4 method that Open Shell would just be adding extra steps for me.
I used Windows 8.1 back when it was in its prime, and I can't believe you missed that Windows 8.1 actually got a "Service Pack" (Microsoft refers to it as Windows 8.1 update 1), which made the metro interface slightly more tolerable, and added a visible power button.
I remember using it, I use windows 11 now but when I used 8.1 not too long ago, it was so good, it was fast, gave you proper control over updates, much less simplified theme which made it look better
My sister had an old laptop that ran Windows 8.1, I always enjoyed looking around it and playing with it. I’m gonna miss 8.1… This was my second childhood computer OS I grew up with
I hated Windows 8 with a passion, but I also LOVED Windows 8.1 with the exact same passion. They fixed almost everything, it felt way more cohesive, far less confusing, and the performance was not compromised at all. So many quality of life changes and Windows 8.1 was just an awesome OS.
Windows 8.1 really was a OS which was nostalgic to me as it was on my first laptop. I later upgraded to 10 but I reverted as it performed like trash. Now I have switched to a MacBook but still have a connection with 8.1. RIP.
Windows 8/8.1 reminds me of my first personal laptop that I got in high school. Like you, I didn't get to use Windows 7 much, we had it installed on our school computers but at home I pretty much went from my family's old XP desktop straight to 8 on my laptop, so this was my first big 'modern' operating system and despite its all its flaws and limitations I was impressed by the flat UI and animations that 8 had.
Imo windows start screen was glorious, it was different and I loved it you can cover whole desktop by a single button. Plus so much life on screen with love tiles. it's a shame w10 got rid of it.
As much as 8.1 gets so much hate, I quite like it. I use windows 11 on my main machine don't get me wrong but for lower end devices like intel atom celeron ect and 2gb of ram 8.1 is like a stripped down debloated OS and uses so little ram to run its really amazing for my intel atom tablet
it's been so much more stable than the arcane mess that is win10. Only other problem is: Microsoft prematurely killing it instead of fixing 8.1 causing idiots at Dassalt to force me to be stuck with the 2018 version of Solidworks. I have some hardware that is incompatible with Windows 7 so downgrading was not an option. And other software I use does not and cannot run under the arcane mess that is Win10. Thanks Ms, i hate it.
Windows 8 was actually the only Windows, which needed less resources to run in comparison with previous major version. Actually, I still use Windows 8.1 as it is like Windows 10 without all of the bloat features it cumulated in the last 8-9 years of development. Since that is the case, it is a good alternative to run on old devices. I am going to install Server 2012 R2 updates until september and then I will see what can be done.
Server 2016/2019/2022 is actually a lot less resource-hungry than Windows 10. I actually ran in a VM as a desktop operating system in my mid-2010 MacBook Pro because it would run at a useable speed whereas Windows 10 didn't. 2019 & 2022 are essentially 2016 R2 and R3.
I wish Windows 10 would have been what the first Technical Preview was, basically Win8.1 but with a start menu. The preview ran really well on my LifeBook T4215 (C2D T7200) just like how 8.1 would. Modern Win10 struggles on even much more powerful hardware. I use Win10 LTSC 2019 on my main PC because it's way less bloated than the regular versions and it has support until 2029
Resource consumption doesn't matter when Windows 8 calls for much more modern hardware than Windows 7. 7 runs OK on a Pentium III and is perfectly nice on any old Pentium 4 or M but Windows 8 needs something from the 64-bit era just to boot.
@@Pasi123 People usually want lower resource software because it runs better on older systems. When the software flat-out won't run on older systems this benefit is negated. Resource consumption still matters but it's not as important.
Windows 8/8.1 was the first Operating System I started on when I bought my first Laptop and have so many memories playing emulators or being on UA-cam. It may not be popular with a lot of people, but I love it.
The "Hi screen" puts me on edge to this day because I'll always associate it with frantically trying to get my computer back up and running after some kind of major failure.
RT 8.1 Update 3 added a sort of Windows 10/7 Start Menu option. I believe it was used in early dev builds of Windows 10, but might be worth looking at/making a video of!
my first laptop (that wasn’t a hand me down) was running windows 8 and about a year later 8.1 had come out. i had a 7 GB data cap that i was sharing with my sister and parents, so i wasn’t able to upgrade immediately. i think i upgraded early to mid 2014 and that was a breath of fresh air for tweaking. i discovered this little program called classic shell and was a gateway for skinning
I went directly from 7 to 10 but a friend of mine stuck with 8.1 for a long time and thought it was better than 10. I still think 7 is the best windows followed by XP but I’m on 11 now but I am not used to it. In fact I barely ever got used to 10 despite using it for years.
Windows 8 was the first OS I used and I miss its style and colors. I really liked the fact that there was a mobile OS aligned visually too (Windows Phone 8)
13:05 Actually Windows 8.1 received an update that adds the power button and search icon to the Start screen next your profile icon there, you haven't installed the updates yet that improves Windows 8 even further.
As one of the 2% who use Windows 8.1 I would say that it's quite sad to see support for it ending! It was the last Windows OS where bloatware such as candy crush didn't exist and Microsoft accounts not being forced! R.I.P Windows 8.1! Anyways keep up with the wonderful content MJD!
Windows 8/8.1 was ahead of its time, although it was not comfortable to use if you did not have a tablet, it is still the best version of Windows for touch devices, even Windows 11 still has a long way to go in that section. PD: I don't know if it's because of the device's screen resolution or because it's the first version of 8.1, but the shutdown button appears next to the user's profile image, and if in Windows 8 I never knew how to turn off the device until Look it up on YT. 😅
@@tams805 Seems like Microsoft is trying to sweep up the touchscreen-based UIs from both Windows 8 and Windows 10 under the carpet by making Windows 11 more desktop computer like.
I think pretty much every executive at Microsoft at the time expected tablets and smartphones to completely replace desktops an laptops within the decade, they put all their eggs into that basket an paid the price for not hedging their bets enough.
Windows 8.1 was my favourite version of Windows from 2016 till 2022. Then when I started using Windows 7 more made me nostalgic for it so Windows 7 is my favourite rn
Personally speaking I enjoyed Windows 8.1 and I enjoyed the Metro/uwp applications especially the graphical colorful photographic UWP you can actually personalize your start menu make it unique to you with the right UWP in the past there were three or four good photograph applications that provided you your photos from your online sources and internal sources just as well as your games steam library and other libraries you could have photos of those games... This is not even counting the fact that personally speaking the Metro UI uwp gives you the ability to pin all your most important applications all I had to do for Windows 11 really was give you the ability to have pages for the start menu page one common Day apps page two all your games page 3 blah blah blah page 4 artistic apps blah blah blah page 10 utilitarian apps with two arrows left and right this would have made 11 so much better and people would be on board with it plus have the ability to have the seven layout if you want just like Windows 10 you can have the Metro 8 look or the 7 look or a mixture 10 but now they went back to plain boring windows with even more advertisement and invasive information gathering I will never upgrade to Windows 11 .... 10 is the highest I'm ever going unless they bring back the Metro UI element I want personality
I miss windows 7 and it's scary how many more people using windows 11 instead who using windows 7. Windows 7 is the best operating systems of all times after windows xp!
well theres the lack of drivers, im using a 2021 laptop and there are absolutely no drivers for windows 8.1 and below ive tried using windows 7, but with the default drivers its a much worse experience
Me still using my 2014 Laptop with w8.1 as my secondary. I moved onto making my own desktop years ago, but its still nice to keep the Lenovo Y510p around.
I had no idea Microsoft were ending support for 8.1 and I'm a little shocked the current usage percentage is so low! I have 8.1 on my secondary PC, an Alienware X51 that I bought in the latter half of 2014 and loved for years! I upgraded PC to Alienware's Aurora 12 in mid 2021 which came packaged with Windows 10 thus I've been using 10 ever since. I never hated 8.1, after using it for a while I grew to actually liking it, and was a little confused as to why so many people disliked it. Of course now going back to it every so often I see little nuance's and quirks of the OS that I'd grown so used to whilst using that machine daily. Still going to keep 8.1 on my X51 as thats what it shipped with and it runs well on there. Thanks for the video as always Michael. _To quickly shutdown 8.1 on desktop, right click on the Windows icon in the bottom left and the power options appear! :)_
RIP Windows 8.1’s whole line of OSes. While I do think that it wasn’t Microsoft’s best OS, it definitely introduced a lot of new features and paved the way for Windows 10’s success.❤
I remember getting a new hard drive and using it as an opportunity to "upgrade" to 8.1 from 7. After a couple of days of dealing with the infuriating UI I went straight back to 7 and did not look back lol.
I've had a similar path (95>XP>Vista>8.x>W11) Yes, i have skipped W10, too. Since i wanted to upgrade my desktop anyway, i will have to get rid of 8.1 eventually. However, i will keep it a bit longer on my Surface Pro 3. Dunno, somehow the touch stuff seems to be more in focus on 8.1 than on 10, and being a tablet, it makes more sense for me. Also, some quirks like the forced updates on W10 do make 8.1 feel like the better option for a device, that has a faulty battery and is just being used for media consumption and drawing. Hard to believe, that the Surface Pro 3 is now kind of a retro computer? How times have changed :D
This video inspired me to reinstall windows on my old hp stream 7 tablet. I remember windows 8 running way better than 10 on it and I was right. It's weird going back to 8, even just to play around with an old device but it's also oddly nostalgic.
win 8.1 was best for older hardware, snappy and fast, also games ran with higher fps than on win 7 and win 10 early builds. Sad that it didn't receive more love
Windows 8/8.1 was the last Windows that gave you proper control over updates. Even with 8 I wasn't bothered much by the lack of a start menu, as I was able to add my own simple start menu on the taskbar, basically the list of programs which is all what I really need the menu for. Windows 8.1 was also faster than 7 specially on old computers.
You can since 2017 trick Windows 10 to delay updates via registry
I particulary use the LTSC version that only gives security and fixing updates once a month. Of course it's not a legal copy.
If you want to suspend updates indefinitely for free on any edition you can do this:
Open services.
Look for windows update and double click it.
On the 2nd tab untick the “run with highest privilege checkbox” and select your own user BUT enter an invalid password (twice).
Apply the changes and then restart the service. It will fail to start.
Now your pc cant update no matter what. One side effect is that the Microsoft Store can install apps anymore but if you really use the store just tick the checkbox again and it instantly fixes itself. You can do this as many times as you want.
Thanks guys for all your feedback regarding disabling Windows updates. I am familiar with all kind of tweaks to disable updates and how that affects the Store as well, but what I meant is the ability to check individual updates and choose whether to download or install them separately. Anyhow, I have learned to live with this now.
@@_S.H_ Wsus does that I think
Windows 8.1 was an OS I used for quite a while and didn't really have problems at all, I actually liked it, eventually I went back to Windows 7 and stayed until EOL of Windows 7, then I went to 10. I'll definitely miss it.
Same here. But I actually upgraded to Windows 10, only to realise it had a lot of issues, so I went back to 7. I eventually went back to Windows 10 after a year of EOL for 7. Fortanitly, it is a lot better now.
@@halo64654 So both of you liked it but not enough to not go back to Windows 7 - which is ultimately what I did but I never liked Windows 8.
To be fair, I "endured" Windows 7 too given that XP was the best OS that Microsoft ever made - even as a now full-time Linux person, the "Windows Classic" interface is XP was one of the best and simplest GUIs ever made ("Give me access to my applications and then stay out of the way") and they ruined that with the ugly Aero interface in Windows 7.
Windows 8.1 was the last actually good OS by Microsoft
I stayed until EOL on Windows 7 too
Windows 8.1 is also faster than Windows 10
Little known fact about Win8.1 (possible 8 as well). If you had a touchpad, you could use the same gestures that you would use on a touch screen. Swipe in from the right of the trackpad, to bring the charms menu. Swipe from left to access the previous app, etc. Just on the touchpad
8.1 was everything. Everyone didnt like it but i loved it. It ran so smooth, felt like the best os ever.
did i also mention it booted faster than windows 10?
bro read my mind
8.1 was great... as long as you installed the classic start menu lol. But yea it was fast and reliable, overall pretty dang good. I preferred it over 10 for quite awhile... now I am on 11 and miss the old days when things actually just worked.
Windows XP,Windows 7 and Windows 10 have always been my best operating systems,Rest not been to good for me,Worse thing in Windows 8.1 is the Start menu goes in to another screen,I find very annoying grrrrrrr Glad Microsoft changed that in Windows 10,Brought back to normal start menu
Worse Microsoft Operating system's Ive ever had was Window ME,That keep t on crashing all the time,Windows Vista run smooth,After a week later started crashing as well,They two where my worse ever operating systems
I agree. Very few bugs, crashes, blue screens and driver issues. It ran butter smooth on even mid-range hardware and it was quite secure. The user interface was the biggest let down but once you installed Classic Shell and configured it to boot into desktop mode it was honestly rock solid
Win 8.1 was a great os especially with all the color customization. You should have showed how programs open up in it with their nice background also the task bar being transparent was real eye catcher for me compared to win 10. Great video
i think the color customization isn't much more than cosmetic
so besides it was apparently faster than windows 10
Windows 8 came with the first Laptop I got. Lot of memories using it. Thanks MJD for another great video!
It was an abomination of an OS, i still have a high end laptop from that era with a 4th gen 4core/8 thread i7 and that doesn't matter if the UI is so bad.
Now it has Windows 10 since a very long time.
@@saricubra2867 the UI was clearly designed only for touch screen users lol
I do have some memories of the Windows 8 era. It’s so interesting looking back at it all nowadays.
Same. Mine are quite fond. I held on to XP until like 2010 or so, then installed 7 which was a huge relief. I honestly can't remember why I upgraded from 7 to 8.1, but I do remember skipping 8 entirely because of the metro UI crap. At least 8.1 was advertised as a fix to that fiasco, and of course I had StartIsBack installed the whole time. I was just NOT having that whole tablet crap on my PC. I just got used to its quirks and had no problem using it. In fact I miss it and would still be using 8.1 if my modern hardware had drivers for it, despite the lack of support. Windows 10 is just a spit in the face to decades long Windows users. It's like it's built for dumb children. Can't even decide whether your machine should restart after an update or not without messing with group policies and getting lucky. I'd gladly deal with the occasional malware if at least I can trust my system to listen to me first and Microsoft second. Now those were the good ol' days.
If anybody from Microsoft is reading this: I am literally ONE incompatible game away from completely switching to Linux and never looking back. Just saying, if you happen to care, which I doubt. The list of software keeping so many of us shackled to you is growing shorter and shorter every year. In the end nobody will love you, Microsoft. You accumulated many loyal followers in the 90's and 00's because you had a theme worth following. You promised us a bright future. What the hell do you think you're promising to those growing up with your contemporary products? Constriction, censorship, and manipulation, that's what. They'll leave you behind like you left us behind, and then you will turn to dust.
I have issues with a laptop after 10 years now on Windows 10 with the keyboard and touchpad drivers broken, thanks to the abomination of Windows 8.
Every single laptop from 2012, 2013 came with Windows 8, my decade old laptop has a freaking i7-4700MQ (same perfomance as a desktop i7-3770).
Windows 8 is a disgrace, for me it's almost as bad as ME, both worse than Vista.
Especially leaked development builds! They have so many UI elements that look just awful.
I used windows 8 until 2019
Never had a problem with it
Windows 8.1 pro - never a problem. All devices work fine on the first try.
Windows 10 foced updates bsod crashed pc 4 times. W00ps. Windows 10 software uninstall also decided to uninstall the mouse (???) so that was fun putting the mouse back in, with keyboard shortcuts and no mouse. MS taking good things and making them worse . . .
Honestly, Windows 8.1 is kind of nostalgic for me, being the computer OS that I really started using (our old computer had Vista, but I wasn't really allowed to use the computer much at that time. I think Windows 8.1, with a simplified Windows 10 start menu and the start menu color theme, would be a pretty good operating system. Windows 8.1 also seems a lot more lightweight than Windows 10 and 11.
it was more lightweight. Less spooky too. The last OS from Microsoft before all the hidden telemetry to watch your every move. I loved Windows 8.1. Still do.
it is much lighter than windows 7 actually.
Why it is nostalgic? İt looks fking new
@@skinnypotato4452 Because it was the only computer OS I used at home until I got my own laptop. I didn't have a phone or tablet at the time either, so this computer was where I did almost all of my school research and typed papers.
@@leothehuman_9476 can you provide source for that claim?
I think I am one of the very few people that actually loved the interface of this era of Windows. Had a windows phone at the same time and it all felt so connected, so beautiful. I really do miss this.
Windows 8’s animations are still drop-dead gorgeous. The transition from the login screen to the start screen… wonderful.
Always thought they should’ve used the tile flip animation in 10.
I absolutely agree
Agreed. The dilution of the animations in Windows 10 was one of my least favorites things about upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1.
Also way smooter than faded animation from windows 7. Or maybe windows Vista/7 really that bad in optimising animation?
@FishNChips-kq3hkOnto something great, but then they messed up since Windows 10
This OS gave me memories. Even when Windows 10 came out I was still using Windows 8.1 (although it was available as a free upgrade in 2015 and I wanted to press that windows icon my dad never let me) on my current pc. I use Windows 10 now but man I used to play COD Black OPS II at the time
Why did your dad never let you install it ? It was your pc isn’t it ?
@@sprintertrueno1985 my dad actually owned it at the time. I owned it when he stopped using it
This was exactly my experience. While me and my dad had our own laptops, technically he was still the owner of mine (I was maybe 10 at the time so quite reasonable). When that upgrade button showed up he said he didn’t trust the “free” update and figured it’d charge you at some point, but I begged him for months and once he let me upgrade from 8.1 I was so excited!
funny thing is, you can still get the free upgrade (even on a oem activated win 7)
@@Kurumisama and most machines you find will have a Home license on the BIOS, except machines you assembly yourself.
One thing that 8.1 introduced with the return of the Start button (and is still around in Windows 10 and 11) that made the UI a little less painful was the ability to right click the button to access a convenient menu of settings, tools, etc. IIRC, it could also be used to shut down back then as well, saving having to fumble with the charms menu, etc.
8.1 was the best of them all for me. It was rock solid stable and fast too, even on hdd.
8.1 was what the 8 is supposed to be from the gecko.
Well said!
do you mean “get go” lol
@@qpol its just a phrase. get-go or gecko whatever.
@@SomeUnremarkableGuyfrom the get go is a phrase. From the gecko is not 😂
The update 2 was it's final form, but only released for RT machines. It was like the first builds of Windows 10.
The funny thing about windows 8 / 8.1 is that it had two different calculator applications. One of them was a modern Windows 8 "App" that always covered full screen. In the video at 11:58 , you can its icon in the "Apps menu" .The other one was a traditional "Windows" application that looked the same as in Windows 7. You can see its icon in the video a few seconds later as he scrolls to the right in the same menu.
I used windows 8.1 ever since 2014 when I bought my current PC and I literally updated to Windows 10 just a few days ago because of the end of support for 8.1. It worked absolutely fine for me all those years, I didn't even mind the metro ui when I got used to it.
Yep, today is the end of an era for Windows 8.1. I never had an actual Windows 8.1 system until I received it for Easter / Resurrection Sunday last year (it's a Surface PC/tablet system). Great job on this retrospective video!
@Maru Angelo Maglalang Santos he did not say 8.1 was bad
Ah, the very last Windows OS that doesn't perform like garbage using a regular HDD. I have no idea what MS did, but using Windows 10 (especially later builds) without an SSD or heavily modifying it is just... painful.
One thing I loved in 8.1 was the fact that they introduced "online only" files in OneDrive, making it very space-efficient and convenient. It was VERY jarring when I upgraded to Windows 10 and it had to download everything. It took them AGES to reintroduce that feature.
This is one area that most people overlook because they're too quick to judge the entire OS by the UI's shortcomings. If you ignore the Metro stuff, you're left with perhaps the best performing version of Windows Microsoft ever put out.
As you said it's the last version to work properly on a hard drive, but there's also no bloatware, it's light as a feather, fast, and stable. The flat UI may be dull but it really enabled the system to fly on older hardware, without bogging down the graphics chip showing a bunch of fancy transparency effects. Function over form.
I used Win 8.1 on my Core2Duo laptops and it just flies even on hdd
Sadly its end of support
But i finally found worthy successor
Its called Win 10 Enterprise 2016
It comes close to Win 8.1 in resource usage although slightly higher RAM usage and runs similar on hdd like Win 8.1
And supported till 2026 👌
10 on a HDD was fine for me.
@@godmagnus every laptop i used with Win 10 on hdd it was literally unresponsive for like 20 mins after boot so it was unusable
Win 8.1 on same laptop and hdd ran blazing fast compared to Win 10
@@filipb.8698 I had to setup Windows 10 on some crappy celeron AIOs with HDDs and it was painful. Too bad I never thought of downgrading to 8.1 back then, ended up debloating 10 with Win10-Initial-Setup-Script to make them bearable.
I always seem to be the person who loves those things that others hate. I personally liked Windows 8.1 alot. Windows 8, not so much because of the more tablet support and less desktop but when i upgraded to 8.1 alot of my memories of the older systems came back to me. There's something so nostalgic about using older Windows operating systems. Probably why i love this channel so much.
same here, windows vista too
@@Apersonig Windows Vista is still my #1 favorite of all the Windows OS.
@@klwthe3rd same
I also love Windows Vista while everyone else hates it.
@@ranchocommodorereef You rock in my book sir! 📖
Hi Michael, I just have to tell you I actually watched the video. It was amazing! The only thing that hit me like a freight train is the shutdown option! You actually said it was obnoxious and it was my EXACT same thought when I used Windows 8 in 2018!
Man this makes me realize that I'm getting old. My first PC was running Windows 98 second edition and it's crazy that Windows 8 (which felt like it released last week) already has two successors.
I remember when I bought Win8 for Santa just after the premiere. This was my first genuine licensed Windows. The beginnings were very difficult because Avast caused blue screens. For this reason, I used the tablet more often. But after a few weeks an update was released and until the release of Win10 everything worked perfectly. Good times and a good operating system.
IIRC with the Start Screen disabled (I use/used StartIsBack but there are many free alternatives) Win8.1 was actually more consistent in terms of UI elements than Win10 was, where they never really tried to consolidate all of the old Control Panel into Settings properly (putting aside the fact that the Settings app has text that’s too large and generally is kind of ugly and clunky). Basically it felt like Metro was overlaid as a skin over the Win7 shell, and honestly that’s kinda nice!
I never hated the start screen because of the smooth animations that were cool as hell and the constantly updating widgets/tiles. I tried using classic shell but uninstalled it next hour.
Winaero Tweaker lets you customize all your windows settings, disable updates, and take back control of your PC from microsofts random changes...
The OLD Control Panel system display is still in Windows 10 /11 , just hidden. To see it make a shortcut to:
C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{BB06C0E4-D293-4f75-8A90-CB05B6477EEE}
i used windows 8.1 for many years and it was definetly a solid operating system when you added something like classic shell and i was pretty fond of it while i was using it
8.1 was a really great thing for me. A great mix of every User-Interface you could use Windows on
Awesome video, Michael!
As a Mac user who uses hot corners all the time, having the charms menu come up by going to the bottom right felt natural to me. Same with the start menu coming up in the bottom left. I used 8 and 8.1 in bootcamp for years for games and I never hated it like all my friends did.
Been using 8.1 for years, absolutely rock solid OS
Never faced a blue screen. It was the most stable windows after windows XP sp2 and windows 7. I face bsod or bootloop because of those f*king updates that microsoft is too lazy to check before making you install them forcibly
This was my first OS, not the first one I ever used but the first one I got on a computer. I love it
same bro, had it on this massive gateway.
same
8.1 was my second os I got on a tablet pc, my first was xp
Fucking hell I'm old. For me it was Windows 95 at the age of 6.
Same! I had it on my first laptop and I remember having a program named "Classic Shell" to have a Windows 7 style start menu.
A trip down memory lane, I still have a laptop with Windows 8.1 on it, and while I maybe boot the computer up 3 times a year, I don't plan on upgrading it. I also remember taking a desktop support class in college and one of the first assignments in class was, not even joking, installing Classic Shell on a computer to get the old start menu back. Fun times.
My experience was getting a new laptop with Windows 8 installed, it asking me to upgrade to 8.1. In short install later my shiny new 8.1 won't boot.
Instantly dig out my Windows 7 CD and rolled back. Never went anywhere near Windows 8/8.1 again.
This OS got me through my final year of high school and college. It hardly ever gave me any problems unlike just about every other version of Windows I ever used. I'll admit the modern UI left much to be desired and Microsoft Store apps just weren't up to scratch with "classic" programs but once you installed Classic Shell (as it was known back then) and configured it to boot into the desktop at startup you were pretty much were good to go. Thanks for everything 8.1 😊
It was the last major Windows version that ran well on HDDs. I remember being pissed at how slow W10 was that I bought an SSD just for it.
@@SirFaceFone Not gonna lie, this is the reason why i refuse to upgrade to Windows 10 till 2021 before Windows 11 released to the Public in October 5. It is because Windows 8.1 ran pretty fine on SSD, unlike on Windows 10, it runs painfully slow on my Toshiba Laptop because of HDD and 4GB RAM Combined, Windows 11 is much worse, MS Word didn't respond very quick which urge me to bought an SSD from Lazada (SEA equivalent of Amazon).
@@SirFaceFone ?? My setup is 7 years old with a HDD and win 10 never gave me issues?
Hell I'm still using the same old ass HDD and every boot up is less than 30 seconds.
@@lasarousi laptop hdd. Desktop hdd are fine.
I never used Windows 8/8.1 myself, but my father did, and he is in no way technologically literate. I even struggled trying to figure it out in order to help him with stuff, and I've been using computers since I was 8 years old. I knew nothing of the third party programs, but I think towards the end before Windows 10 was released we did upgrade him to 8.1. Thinking back about how terrible the original Windows 8 experience was makes my blood boil! Love your videos, Michael, but now I need a stiff drink!
You are not alone, many Windows users hates Windows 8 because of the start menu and the impractical interface. One of the most annoying thing in Windows 8 is the system apps that placed outside the desktop (such as Maps, Microsoft Store, Media Player, and Photos app) and you need to use Windows + Tab button or go to start menu and click "desktop" just to go back to the desktop every single time after opening those apps
Windows 8.1 was DOA for many of us.
@@farsidesc4044 What?
That was my experience as well. I went from 7 to 10, but my parents struggled with Windows 8 and I struggled to help them.
My laptop had windows 8 and later updated to 8.1, but because stability issues we downgraded it to W7, it is still going strong today. Windows 10 is a very cool OS, and Windows 11 is just a bad joke
I switched to 8.1 from 10 before switching to 11 because I have so many problems with 10, that are either not there in 8.1 or easy to disable in 8.1. I did end up not liking the start screen, so I got a start menu for 8.1. It's not anything like 7, but 8.1 is still in my opinion better than 10 & 11.
my games run so much better than on 10
Used windows 8.1 on my parents computer all of the time until I was 12, and I just recently updated it to windows 10 in November, had to let go of that operating system, but it has lots of memories.
All of my later primary schooling was on Windows 8 (later 8.1) and I have decent memories of it. The lack of start button taught me to use the Windows key and started my heavy reliance on hotkeys :)
Windows 8.1 Update 1 was really nice. I still miss the desktop visual style today, and I liked the full-screen Start for holding all my desktop apps :)
ultra based windows 8.1 user
I preferred Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, and I was planning to keep using it until this month's end of support, but I was forced to upgrade to 10 because 8 wasn't compatible with my VR headset, and even with 10 I sticked with the 2016 LTSB edition.
For me it’s the visuals of 8 that look way better than 10, 8 to me feels like a modern version of 7 where as 10 looks uglier than 9x versions of windows with the program windows being completely white
I love how 7 got official support dropped first, but had DirectX support for longer than 8.1 did. That was why I had to go to 10, they just didn't show 8.1 any love.
Win10 is better than win8 in every way.
@@kokoamericano1233 LMAO, no , it's not. 10 is a bloated mess, spies on you, has terrible update problems, and has had more random, OS based issues that require entire re-installs than any other OS I've ever used.
@@sporemaster97 the UI sucks, windows 8.1 had vibrant colors that was fun and consistent. windows 10 is like a combination of a bunch of WordPress templates by a 5 year old
I'm so nostalgic for Windows 8 and 8.1. I loved it and nobody else could understand why. The branding and messaging at the time really felt fresh and new and showed a side of Microsoft adapting to the times. I had to root for the underdog.
I had the box for both 8 and 8.1 as well. Such a neat box to have in-hand.
I’m been using windows 10 for half a year now, and let me tell you, this video may have brought me to tears.
I used windows 8.1 for about 2 years before I upgraded to windows 10 and a huge wave of nostalgia ran through me when watching this video. Windows 8.1 is in my list of top Windows OSs and was so much better than 10 in my opinion. The stability, less bloatware, the simplicity, and the UI were great in my opinion. It also just ran better on my hardware.
It was also great using my windows phone with my computer and they paired great together. I’m going to miss windows 8.1 a lot :(
Another legend that goes... I have not used Windows 8.1 much, but I have been using until November (now I have Windows 11 leak) a pre-release version called Developer Preview, which brings me back many memories playing the exclusive games that came on this OS by default, watching movies, browsing the web, customizing it like Windows 11 or Longhorn, and it still ran like a bullet and booted up in 3 seconds. Now you have to settle for the frankenstein of Windows 10 or the delicate Windows 11. Thank you very much, Microsoft
I'm still afraid to use Windows 11 so I continue to use my Win 10 desktop and do most things with my cellphone. Bought a Windows11 laptop for my sister and it came with Windows 11 S mode. I'm hoping it's not hard to turn off the S mode. Guess, I'll find out before long.
@@Eeveewashere it's very easy from the store with a login to a microsoft account. There are workarounds even for that though (loading the system registry hive in winPE and changing some value).
I miss windows 8.1. I used this is for a long time because it had the nice interface for both tablet and desktop/laptop
My work computer was running windows 8.1 pro up until today. Today I was given a *newer* pc to replace it. Funny how that happens in a workplace environment once security updates are no longer coming in. I hated 8.1 when I used it on my laptop. Files would randomly get deleted and the os would just stop working now and then. Turns out it was the HDD failing and not windows at all. And since using it for years on my work PC, I actually came to like it. Very rarely did I ever have any issues with it and I'll be sad to see it go.
Windows 8.1 helped me transition from 7 to 10. Unpopular opinion, but it made me fall in love with the start screen, live tiles and the whole Metro UI. I also used the charms bar to turn off my computer. I really liked it and I was disappointed when Microsoft announced Win 11, without start screen and tiles... And that made me transition over to Linux, and I really don't regret it.
Same
I upgraded my sister's crappy laptop from 8.1 to Windows 10 when that free upgrade was available and it made the laptop unusably laggy. This made me realize that maybe 8.1 wasn't all that bad if you had a slower machine.
I loved 8.1.
It ran great on my Computer Back in the Day.
Rest in Peace!
Farewell 8.1, I loved the OS. Mainly cause I used the OS when I was younger.
Windows 8 will always have a special place in my heart
Time flies so fast nowadays
One thing that I have to mention though is that I absolutely love Windows 8 and 8.1 even for a desktop computer. Personally, I would give them the title of the best Windows versions ever made. It hurts that people unfairly hated it so much.
May Windows 8.1 rest in peace, I will miss it so much.
Its still in live.. Only not for important things.
Windows 8.1 was actually the OS I used more than 7 or 10 on my old laptop, because it runs pretty fast even on slow HDD, things are responsive (just a bit slow but not entirely frozen), while after updating to windows 10 it's barely usable when every keep freezing
It really did run so much better, and nobody seems to ever talk about it.
@@sporemaster97 yeah, people keeps focusing on trashing the start screen while ignoring the performance
It was on my first pc. I have so many memories. I remember playing Minecraft in 2013 and it got updated to windows 8.1 then in 2015 windows 10 it now runs on 11. It’s a older pc but it’s crazy how quick time flies
:(
8.1 is a very stable system, runs games and applications fine - older and newer ones. Also I prefer hidden search bar behind the right side of screen, I've got used to it
Im still using windows 8.1 since 2014 and I love it
Same!
Even though Windows 8.1's UI was geared towards tablet users, I still liked using it over Windows 10, mainly because it was rock solid. Very rarely did it crash, it didn’t pop up annoying messages (at least most of the time) and it was lighter on resources than present day Windows 10, which has increased significantly in resource consumption since it's release in July of 2015. Even on Windows 7 I had more glitches than I did on 8.1
I think of Windows 8/8.1 as being the best of both Windows 7 and Windows 10. On one hand, you had the classic transparent Windows Aero taskbar, control panel, etc. on the other hand, you also could sign in with a Microsoft account (but were not forced to), you had the Windows store, Metro UI, and new settings menu. You also could use a web browser you actually wanted to use without being begged by the OS to switch to Edge. I have personally used Windows 8.1 for about 3 years and I really enjoyed it, until my PC broke and I got a new one with Windows 10. R.I.P Windows 8.1
windows 8.1 was a good os. i loved it, just the only thing i did was change the start menu
I used Windows 8.1 when i was a kid in Bosnia, my dad said he upgraded it from 7 to 8.1, ive had many memories with it.
I've had so many issues with Windows 10 I want to go back to 8.1
I still question why Server 2012 had the metro UI. Nobody using a server was going to be using it on a tablet PC.
Man i miss Windows 8.1 . Recently tried to actively use it and quickly found out that that would not be happening since Nvidia specifically blacklisted windows 8 & 8.1 on the 3000 series, but still have working drivers for windows 7
"Nvidia specifically blacklisted windows 8 & 8.1 on the 3000 series, but still have working drivers for windows 7"
Yeah, what in the fuck is up with that? 8.1 is fully backwards compatible with Windows 7 drivers.
@@arnox4554 insane right? They went out of their way to block windows 8 & 8.1
@@Seikatsu121 AMD all did that crap as well
@@Seikatsu121 I have a tinfoil hat theory that Microsoft pays off Nvidia to cut support for whatever OS it doesn't want supported anymore.
@@Leonard_MT damn i didn't know. I was mostly talking from experience here. That sucks so much. to see an operating system being handicapped like that on purpose is just incredibly sad
Windows 8.1 was really special to me. My first ever laptop had it pre installed. I actually really like most things that got criticised such as the full screen start menu and metro UI.
because it was built for touchscreens which never caught on making things annoying to navigate
I liked the start screen even with a mouse and keyboard
@@scottishblacklab You could delete most of the metro apps yk and if you wanted regular windows programs instead of tiles, you could do that too
personally i dont really use windows 8.1 fanymore but i really do love its aspect and design
Windows 8.1 did bring the back start menu. As a Windows RT 8.1 user (me,) the OS came with an update allowing the user to change the start settings to Windows 7 style. On the taskbar, right click then go to properties, go to a specific tab (I don't remember the name,) and then find that option. This may require you to sign out...
I still use this OS in a desktop pc we have at home. The shutdown menu thing is a hassle, but I normally just circumvent it with the good old Alt + F4 while on the desktop screen and just hit enter when the pop up window with the shut down options comes up, and that's it lol.
Or you could make use of Open Shell.
@@TheExileFox I don't really use or mind w8's start menu, though. The only thing I really find annoying about it is the shutdown thing, but it's way simpler and easier to just use the Alt + F4 method that Open Shell would just be adding extra steps for me.
update your windows 8.1, they added that back. it won't update it to windows 10, but it will give you a shutdown button in the start *screen*
I used Windows 8.1 back when it was in its prime, and I can't believe you missed that Windows 8.1 actually got a "Service Pack" (Microsoft refers to it as Windows 8.1 update 1), which made the metro interface slightly more tolerable, and added a visible power button.
he mencioned it twice, i think you didnt watch the full video.
13:01
haha im that 2.59% of people who still use and love windows 8.1. Windows 8.1 imo was better and lighter then windows 10
Saaaamme
Saaaamme
make it 2.61% which includes me and another fellow commenter Cronuslite6358
I remember using it, I use windows 11 now but when I used 8.1 not too long ago, it was so good, it was fast, gave you proper control over updates, much less simplified theme which made it look better
My sister had an old laptop that ran Windows 8.1, I always enjoyed looking around it and playing with it. I’m gonna miss 8.1…
This was my second childhood computer OS I grew up with
I hated Windows 8 with a passion, but I also LOVED Windows 8.1 with the exact same passion.
They fixed almost everything, it felt way more cohesive, far less confusing, and the performance was not compromised at all.
So many quality of life changes and Windows 8.1 was just an awesome OS.
Windows 8.1 really was a OS which was nostalgic to me as it was on my first laptop. I later upgraded to 10 but I reverted as it performed like trash. Now I have switched to a MacBook but still have a connection with 8.1. RIP.
Windows 8/8.1 reminds me of my first personal laptop that I got in high school. Like you, I didn't get to use Windows 7 much, we had it installed on our school computers but at home I pretty much went from my family's old XP desktop straight to 8 on my laptop, so this was my first big 'modern' operating system and despite its all its flaws and limitations I was impressed by the flat UI and animations that 8 had.
Imo windows start screen was glorious, it was different and I loved it you can cover whole desktop by a single button. Plus so much life on screen with love tiles. it's a shame w10 got rid of it.
As much as 8.1 gets so much hate, I quite like it. I use windows 11 on my main machine don't get me wrong but for lower end devices like intel atom celeron ect and 2gb of ram 8.1 is like a stripped down debloated OS and uses so little ram to run its really amazing for my intel atom tablet
it's been so much more stable than the arcane mess that is win10. Only other problem is: Microsoft prematurely killing it instead of fixing 8.1 causing idiots at Dassalt to force me to be stuck with the 2018 version of Solidworks. I have some hardware that is incompatible with Windows 7 so downgrading was not an option. And other software I use does not and cannot run under the arcane mess that is Win10. Thanks Ms, i hate it.
Same
Windows 8 was actually the only Windows, which needed less resources to run in comparison with previous major version. Actually, I still use Windows 8.1 as it is like Windows 10 without all of the bloat features it cumulated in the last 8-9 years of development. Since that is the case, it is a good alternative to run on old devices. I am going to install Server 2012 R2 updates until september and then I will see what can be done.
Server 2016/2019/2022 is actually a lot less resource-hungry than Windows 10. I actually ran in a VM as a desktop operating system in my mid-2010 MacBook Pro because it would run at a useable speed whereas Windows 10 didn't. 2019 & 2022 are essentially 2016 R2 and R3.
I wish Windows 10 would have been what the first Technical Preview was, basically Win8.1 but with a start menu. The preview ran really well on my LifeBook T4215 (C2D T7200) just like how 8.1 would. Modern Win10 struggles on even much more powerful hardware.
I use Win10 LTSC 2019 on my main PC because it's way less bloated than the regular versions and it has support until 2029
Resource consumption doesn't matter when Windows 8 calls for much more modern hardware than Windows 7. 7 runs OK on a Pentium III and is perfectly nice on any old Pentium 4 or M but Windows 8 needs something from the 64-bit era just to boot.
@@eDoc2020 Why wouldn't recourse consumption matter on 64-bit era CPUs?
@@Pasi123 People usually want lower resource software because it runs better on older systems. When the software flat-out won't run on older systems this benefit is negated. Resource consumption still matters but it's not as important.
Windows 8/8.1 was the first Operating System I started on when I bought my first Laptop and have so many memories playing emulators or being on UA-cam. It may not be popular with a lot of people, but I love it.
The "Hi screen" puts me on edge to this day because I'll always associate it with frantically trying to get my computer back up and running after some kind of major failure.
this window 8.1 is very give me good memory
RT 8.1 Update 3 added a sort of Windows 10/7 Start Menu option. I believe it was used in early dev builds of Windows 10, but might be worth looking at/making a video of!
how do you activate it?
my first laptop (that wasn’t a hand me down) was running windows 8 and about a year later 8.1 had come out. i had a 7 GB data cap that i was sharing with my sister and parents, so i wasn’t able to upgrade immediately. i think i upgraded early to mid 2014 and that was a breath of fresh air for tweaking. i discovered this little program called classic shell and was a gateway for skinning
Classic shell is amazing, its very good especially on windows 11 with the new crappy menu
I went directly from 7 to 10 but a friend of mine stuck with 8.1 for a long time and thought it was better than 10. I still think 7 is the best windows followed by XP but I’m on 11 now but I am not used to it. In fact I barely ever got used to 10 despite using it for years.
Windows 8 was the first OS I used and I miss its style and colors. I really liked the fact that there was a mobile OS aligned visually too (Windows Phone 8)
13:05 Actually Windows 8.1 received an update that adds the power button and search icon to the Start screen next your profile icon there, you haven't installed the updates yet that improves Windows 8 even further.
As one of the 2% who use Windows 8.1 I would say that it's quite sad to see support for it ending! It was the last Windows OS where bloatware such as candy crush didn't exist and Microsoft accounts not being forced! R.I.P Windows 8.1!
Anyways keep up with the wonderful content MJD!
I distinctly remember candy crush being included in windows 8.1. not sure if that was oem bloat or not
@@onometre I think that was the home version, but for the pro version there was literally NO BLOATWARE!
@@PCWindowstechguy that's true of windows 10 pro as well though
@@onometre Late but that was oem bloat iirc
@@So1 it was not. We're talking about a fresh install
Windows 8/8.1 was ahead of its time, although it was not comfortable to use if you did not have a tablet, it is still the best version of Windows for touch devices, even Windows 11 still has a long way to go in that section. PD: I don't know if it's because of the device's screen resolution or because it's the first version of 8.1, but the shutdown button appears next to the user's profile image, and if in Windows 8 I never knew how to turn off the device until Look it up on YT. 😅
The shutdown button near profile image was introduced in Windows 8.1 Update 1 (released on 4/8/2014)
Windows 11 is significantly worse for use with touchscreens, even though they apparently tried to make it more so.
@@tams805 Seems like Microsoft is trying to sweep up the touchscreen-based UIs from both Windows 8 and Windows 10 under the carpet by making Windows 11 more desktop computer like.
I think pretty much every executive at Microsoft at the time expected tablets and smartphones to completely replace desktops an laptops within the decade, they put all their eggs into that basket an paid the price for not hedging their bets enough.
Windows 8.1 was our first PC OS. Quite a nostalgic video.
I'm using Windows 8.1 right now to subscribe to your channel and like it.
Windows 8.1 was my favourite version of Windows from 2016 till 2022. Then when I started using Windows 7 more made me nostalgic for it so Windows 7 is my favourite rn
Personally speaking I enjoyed Windows 8.1 and I enjoyed the Metro/uwp applications especially the graphical colorful photographic UWP you can actually personalize your start menu make it unique to you with the right UWP in the past there were three or four good photograph applications that provided you your photos from your online sources and internal sources just as well as your games steam library and other libraries you could have photos of those games... This is not even counting the fact that personally speaking the Metro UI uwp gives you the ability to pin all your most important applications all I had to do for Windows 11 really was give you the ability to have pages for the start menu page one common Day apps page two all your games page 3 blah blah blah page 4 artistic apps blah blah blah page 10 utilitarian apps with two arrows left and right this would have made 11 so much better and people would be on board with it plus have the ability to have the seven layout if you want just like Windows 10 you can have the Metro 8 look or the 7 look or a mixture 10 but now they went back to plain boring windows with even more advertisement and invasive information gathering I will never upgrade to Windows 11 .... 10 is the highest I'm ever going unless they bring back the Metro UI element I want personality
I miss windows 7 and it's scary how many more people using windows 11 instead who using windows 7. Windows 7 is the best operating systems of all times after windows xp!
well theres the lack of drivers, im using a 2021 laptop and there are absolutely no drivers for windows 8.1 and below
ive tried using windows 7, but with the default drivers its a much worse experience
Me still using my 2014 Laptop with w8.1 as my secondary. I moved onto making my own desktop years ago, but its still nice to keep the Lenovo Y510p around.
I had no idea Microsoft were ending support for 8.1 and I'm a little shocked the current usage percentage is so low!
I have 8.1 on my secondary PC, an Alienware X51 that I bought in the latter half of 2014 and loved for years! I upgraded PC to Alienware's Aurora 12 in mid 2021 which came packaged with Windows 10 thus I've been using 10 ever since.
I never hated 8.1, after using it for a while I grew to actually liking it, and was a little confused as to why so many people disliked it. Of course now going back to it every so often I see little nuance's and quirks of the OS that I'd grown so used to whilst using that machine daily. Still going to keep 8.1 on my X51 as thats what it shipped with and it runs well on there.
Thanks for the video as always Michael.
_To quickly shutdown 8.1 on desktop, right click on the Windows icon in the bottom left and the power options appear! :)_
RIP Windows 8.1’s whole line of OSes. While I do think that it wasn’t Microsoft’s best OS, it definitely introduced a lot of new features and paved the way for Windows 10’s success.❤
"Windows 10’s success"
Fuck 10, man. At least you could easily salvage 8.1.
windows 10 was successful because windows would download a program that forces windows to update to 10
I remember getting a new hard drive and using it as an opportunity to "upgrade" to 8.1 from 7. After a couple of days of dealing with the infuriating UI I went straight back to 7 and did not look back lol.
I've had a similar path (95>XP>Vista>8.x>W11)
Yes, i have skipped W10, too.
Since i wanted to upgrade my desktop anyway, i will have to get rid of 8.1 eventually.
However, i will keep it a bit longer on my Surface Pro 3. Dunno, somehow the touch stuff seems to be more in focus on 8.1 than on 10, and being a tablet, it makes more sense for me.
Also, some quirks like the forced updates on W10 do make 8.1 feel like the better option for a device, that has a faulty battery and is just being used for media consumption and drawing.
Hard to believe, that the Surface Pro 3 is now kind of a retro computer? How times have changed :D
Its sad to see 8.1 go. 😢 I got the first laptop running this os. I got best memories with it! I forgot this year is the last year of windows 8.1.
This video inspired me to reinstall windows on my old hp stream 7 tablet. I remember windows 8 running way better than 10 on it and I was right. It's weird going back to 8, even just to play around with an old device but it's also oddly nostalgic.
win 8.1 was best for older hardware, snappy and fast, also games ran with higher fps than on win 7 and win 10 early builds. Sad that it didn't receive more love
At least 8.1 has reached the end of support today. Windows 10 & 11 is here to stay. ❤
Except they won't, in a year or three, you'll see. Windows 10 will be no more, it'll go in the Windows-graveyard, like every version that came before.
@@CouldBeMathijs It only has 2 more years left in support. Yet I still remember Windows 10 coming out like yesterday. Damn, time sure flies.
That's bad
Windows 10 is terrible
Windows 11 is God awful
@@KoenDoesThings none of them are bad you just need to get modern or stay on 8.1
I'm working on Windows 10 and despite its flaws, I'd rather have that over Windows 11.