Microsoft offers a free 90-day evaluation version of Windows 8.1 Enterprise edition just as it did with Windows 8. Lance Whitney is a freelance technology writer and trainer and a former IT ...

Microsoft no longer supports Windows 8.1. If you're still running it on your PC, you're long overdue for an upgrade. Lance is an experienced writer who tries to unravel the mysteries of personal tech.

Microsoft Windows 10 may be around the corner, but the company is still issuing Windows 8.1 updates on a fairly regular basis. If you're already using Windows 8.1, and aren't sure you're running the ...

Microsoft’s decision to not tamper with the foundation of Windows 8 by leaving it largely unchanged helped the company bring forth dozens of crucial improvements alongside better app ecosystem in the ...

The Metro interface in Windows 8.1 makes sense on a touch-enabled device, but on a traditional computer, it's only an afterthought. In the first iteration of Windows 8, it was hard to get around on ...

Are you still running Windows 8.1? Microsoft ended extended support for that version back on January 10, 2023. That means those of you stuck with the old operating system have been out of the loop for ...

I usually advise readers, but this time a reader gave me advice. Joe Rubenstein told me that “There is a Start Menu in Windows 8.1,” then explained how to make it work. Yes, it’s true. You can add a ...

Using a Microsoft account to log in to Windows 8.1 offers some advantages over using local accounts. If those advantages don't appeal to you, you can switch back to a local account. Ed Rhee Ed Rhee, a ...

According to StatCounter, Windows 8 and 8.1 still account for about 4.3 percent of the Windows install base worldwide, far less than Windows 11, Windows 10, or even Windows 7. But for the people still ...

Three years ago we were benchmarking Microsoft's then latest operating system, Windows 8. At the time we were keen to make sure Windows 8 performed as well as Windows 7, which was a huge upgrade from ...