Windows 8.1 upgrade Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Why won’t my new laptop let me upgrade to Windows 8.1?

Posted on December 20, 2013

Question from Shannon W.: I bought a brand new Gateway laptop with Windows 8 based on the promise that I could upgrade to Windows 8.1 for free. But when I go to the Windows App Store I don’t see any way to download the upgrade.

I called Microsoft Tech Support and they’re apparently unable to help me. I’d just return the laptop and buy a different one, but the return period has expired.

Can you tell me what I need to do in order to upgrade my laptop from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Q&A: Why are my apps missing from the Start Screen after upgrading to Windows 8.1?

Posted on December 14, 2013

Question from Julie T.: I bought a Lenovo computer with Windows 8 on it in August and finally got around to upgrading it to Windows 8.1 just a few days ago.

After 8.1 was installed I noticed that the apps I had downloaded before I did the upgrade were all missing. I downloaded all of them again but they still aren’t showing up on the Start Screen.

What am I doing wrong? Are the apps not being installed even though it says they are?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

How to reclaim 6GB of wasted disk space after upgrading from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1

Posted on November 17, 2013

windows-8-1 If you have recently upgraded your Windows 8 installation to Windows 8.1, you can reclaim 6GB of hard drive space by removing the old Windows 8 files. Here’s a little background info for you…

When you upgrade to a newer version of Microsoft Windows, the version being replaced is retained in a folder called Windows.old just in case the upgrade fails or you wish to revert back to the previous version for some reason.

The amount of space required to store the previous version of Windows varies depending on the versions involved. Since you have just upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, you now have roughly 6GB of old (and now useless) Windows 8 system files just sitting there taking up valuable disk space. [Read more…]