Summary
Windows 8.1 Update continues Microsoft’s refinement of its current version of Windows, presenting even greater accessibility to functionality such as Power and Search once hidden in hot corners and menus. Other noticeable changes include title bars, minimize and close buttons now available in modern apps. Another great feature includes the ability to pin your favourite modern apps to the Windows Taskbar. Lets take a quick look at getting it up and running on a Windows 8.1 install.
Details
Please note, before you can install this update, you need to first ensure you Windows 8.1 installed. If you have Windows 8 which was launched in October 2012, this update will not apply to you. If you want to take advantage of the improvements offered in the Windows 8.1 Update, see instructions at the following link how to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1:
http://techingiteasy.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/how-to-upgrade-from-windows-8-to-windows-8-1/
Backup:
Just as a precaution, you should backup your computer.
See the following How To Geek article about how to do so:
http://www.howtogeek.com/167984/how-to-create-and-restore-system-image-backups-on-windows-8.1/
Please note, this is standalone Windows Update installers I am using which requires installation in a specific order. On April 8th, Windows Update will take care of this, but for this article sake, I will describe the experience. Depended on your system, Windows 8.1 Update 1 is provided as 6 updates, in my case, I only needed to apply 5, since KB2919442 was already installed.
Recommended Install Order
1. KB2919442
2. KB2919355
3. KB2932046
4. KB2937592
5. KB2938439
6. KB2949621
Download links for Windows 8.1 Update x86:
KB2919355
KB2919442
KB2932046
KB2937592
KB2938439
KB2949621-v2 (Windows Server 2012 R2 only)
Download links for Windows 8.1 Update x64:
KB2919355
KB2919442
KB2932046
KB2937592
KB2938439
KB2949621-v2 (Windows Server 2012 R2 only)
Download links for Windows 8.1 Update ARM:
KB2919355
KB2919442
KB2932046
KB2937592
KB2938439
The biggest one of them all is KB2919355, which took quite a while to install. In fact, I did this on my work computer around 3:30 PM and I leave work at 4:30, KB2919355 took about 30 minutes be completed and required a reboot. I recommend you do this at a convenient time.
The other updates like KB2932046 called Feature Updates, took less time, but each required a reboot. I stopped after the 3rd and finished up the next day, this means, you don't have install all of them right away. After KB2919355, the unique features started to show up, such as Power and Search options appearing on the Start Screen. I understand that boot to desktop is automatically enabled on mouse and keyboard only systems. I already had this enabled.
The other feature updates completed quickly and I was ready to utilize the improvements in Windows 8.1.
How to update using Windows Update:
Press Windows key + X on your keyboard
Click Control Panel
Open Windows Update
Click Check for updates and wait while it scans for updates.
Click the link to review any important updates.
Make sure KB2919355 is checked. Then click install. Its quite a large update, so it will take some time to install.
After installation is complete:
A lot of the options to change how Windows 8.1 operates with modern apps and the Start Screen can be found from the Taskbar properties. There you will see a new option to ‘Show Windows Store apps on the taskbar’. Right now, the implementation still feels complete, because Modern apps still remain full screen, although you can have the Taskbar displayed on screen in Modern apps when you have the mouse pointer at the bottom of the screen. This provides easy switching and multi-tasking with Desktop and Modern applications. See below.
Here you can see I have a modern app and running and still able to access my Taskbar.
The ability to work with mouse and keyboard in Modern apps is a nice welcome, you can easily access window controls such as minimize and close by hovering your mouse pointer at the top of the app screen.
By default, apps are now displayed in alphabetical order for easy finding. There are other options in Windows 8.1 Update I will need to check out. Overall, Windows 8.1 Update 1 makes Windows 8 feel like this is what should have happened from the beginning. Some things still feel like a work in progress, but a future update is expected to resolve this, providing a windowed mode for modern apps for true multi-tasking and best of both worlds experience.
Its been a long time, but I believe Windows 8 is starting to gain acceptance, the fact that colleagues are coming to me asking about how they can upgrade from Windows 7 is sign enough the hard work that has gone into refining an otherwise great product is paying off. One thing I would have liked was to always have the Taskbar on screen even in Modern apps, but I will work with what I have gotten so far and wait anxiously for future.
