can't get Window 8 back from windows 8.1

Okay so I forgot to tell my sister to ignore the update message that asks her to upgrade from windows 8 to windows 8.1. That is my bad. She got the upgrade and now her computer is super slow (like 5 seconds per typed letter slow) and she can't open any files with out it just becoming a purple screen with no hope of changing. So I found the methods to refresh without losing files, and how to do the recovery but whenever we try to go to settings the computer takes her back to the start screen. We type in Recovery or refresh and the links given don't work. We can't get to any settings or recovery options. it is like they made 8.1 without any capability to change settings.

She made recovery discs back when she first got the computer but can we just plug those in, or do we have to find a way to the recovery options and have it ask for them in order for them to work.
any help in recovering her computer back to windows 8 would be great, as the computer just doesn't seem capable of working with windows 8.1

 

>> Can't get Window 8 back from windows 8.1 bobothebionicmonkey <<

Hi Bob,

This article that I read (in USA Today) a couple of days ago entitled "How to Uninstall Windows 8.1" might help you out here. It is only about one page in length and is a fairly easy read.

Good Luck! -- COMP​

 

As recovery disks have to be usable even on a computer that can't boot Windows you should try to boot to yours. It may not work though as Win 8 computers mostly are set up not to boot to DVD without first changing settings in BIOS. Let us know how that goes and also give details of make and model.

Not sure why you feel you should have warned about the upgrade as it is widely regarded as a useful improvement over Win 8. Something appears to have badly misfired with this upgrade.

 

I really do not see how upgrading from 8 to 8.1 made your sister's computer so slow. There is something else at hand, causing the issue. To start off, what is the make & model of her computer, how much RAM is installed, has it been scanned for malware, etc.. I have 8.1 installed on a Toshiba Satellite C850d series with 12GB RAM installed Crucial M500 SSD. No slow downs what so ever from upgrading from 8 to 8.1.

 

Well Turns out the slow down thing is starting to lighten up a bit. But we still can't get into any recovery options, or change pc settings. These options result in the purple screen or just a jump back to the start page. Reading the article was a little helpful in understanding that "upgrading" to 8.1 from 8 has issues abound. And yes I still feel I should have warned her since many people who have upgraded from 8 have had serious problems with their computers that worked fine with 8. Hers was working fine and malware/virus free before this download and install so unless Microsoft is packing things with that stuff built in, I don't see a way that could be the problem. It must simply be a hiccup in the upgrade process that caused all this.
My sister has a Toshiba satellite with 4GB ram and 500GB hard drive.

How would I go about starting the recovery discs that she made without going through the recovery option (since I can't get there)? Do I open the safe mode, or do I go for the boot menu and boot directly from the disc? or what, I'm not that computer savy so I'm just trying not to make things worse.

 

>> Well Turns out the slow down thing is starting to lighten up a bit. But we still can't get into any recovery options, or change pc settings. <<

Three questions: Are you using an administrator account? What are the current User Account Control (UAC) settings? Have you gone to Windows Update for the latest updates?

Also, before you initiate a restore/reinstall/recovery; I'd try using the following "clean-up" programs first: CCleaner as well as Eusing Free Registry Cleaner

Good Luck! -- COMP​

 

Helps if you post the exact model# of her machine, also Speccy results. Again, there has been no problems of 8.1 slowing machines down, so I really do not know where you are getting that from.

Same goes for issues abound, unless you are just trying to create imaginary mass hysteria. Now of course 8 has known issues with older harder, or bottom line starter hardware that should never have been used for Windows 8, but all in all, there has been no mass reports of Windows 8, causing millions of computers around the globe to stop working all together, same goes for Windows 8.1.

Your sister has other issues on her machine that is causing her problems. Again, it has nothing to do with the Operating system.

 

Okay the exact number is Satellite C855D-S5320, The account I'm using is the administrator account (and the only account on the laptop). She still can't run anything without getting the purple screen (which I think is purple because that is the background color scheme of her start screen, i'm not sure if that is relevant information but there it is). Whenever we try to get to a settings section the past few times, it says the app is not installed on this computer. Since I can't run a scan of anything or even open a web page or file. even if there is malware or virus issues or many cookies or registry errors, I can't do anything about that with the laptop acting this way. So if you know how to get around the app not found to get to the refresh or how to initiate a restore with the discs I have, please instruct me.

I will try to run an update in hopes that it actually does something instead of just going to the start screen or going purple. If it goes through, it seems like the best option to fix this without restoring. thank you guys for your help and suggestions so far.

 

So she is using Metro all of the time. That would explain half of it. That machine has the AMD Dual-Core E2-1800, so that is not a slow machine, even though she has the standard 4gb RAM that comes standard on them from the factory.

Microsoft is not packing anything extra with 8.1. If anything, they fixed a few things and added a few features, while taking others away. That includes changing how Backup behaves.

I still do not like Windows 8.x, but live with it, since I use Start8 & Metromix all of the time. I do not run any Metro Apps, so really all I use Metromix for, is the store to update 8.x since you are required to use the store now, and for changing user settings, and other machine settings, that you are required to do through the Metro interface.

I would say get her out of Metro, get her into using the Desktop, and if she still wants to do stuff with the Metro Apps, use Stardock Software's Metro Mix, along with their Start8 for giving her back the Windows 7 stuff for the Start Menu.

Everyone runs as administrator in Windows 8, Microsoft just added an extra layer on top of UAC, but creating Windows SmartScreen, which does not allow apps to run, unless you allow them to do so.

No, I would have to say that 1/2 of her problem is using Metro, the other half is that she is most likely running an infected machine, along with using Norton as her security software, since it comes standard with Toshiba's units.

Wipe out Norton, run Windows Defender, get her into using the Desktop, and if she wants the metro apps, have her use Metro mix. And of course go through the steps in the Malware forum, since she is most likely infected.

 

If you still want to try to restore it to its original state then put the first recovery disk in the drive and boot. If it boots just follow the onscreen instructions but in all likelihood it will ignore the disk and go to the Start screen.

If that happens then power up again and watch the screen carefully as it will tell you which F keys to press for other boot options. You only have a few seconds for that or it will boot normally again. You are looking for an option to get into BIOS, and once in BIOS you are looking for the option to disable secure boot. Also check what order the BIOS is checking the disks for booting as you want the DVD drive at the top. Look also for something called UEFI and if it's there change it to Legacy.

If you are able to find and adjust these settings it should then boot to the rescue DVD and start the restoration process.

Many do find this sort of thing a bit too daunting so in that situation I'd recommend taking it to a professional and asking him to restore your recovery disks.

 

I really appreciate the help and patience you guys have. we use AVG for anti virus/malware control. norton is always the first thing we uninstall when we find it. She usually works in desktop, we found out why it was going slow before and solved that. Turns out she was going too fast, and not letting the computer fully start up before fiddling with stuff. I ran ccleaner got cleaned out. then ran the programs for malware removal, registry errors, and antivirus and they found nothing. No problems, no viruses, no infections.

I couldn't update came up with an error, I ran the troubleshooter and it said it fixed it, again it seems all the problems are with normal computer functions. I try to run update, or try to go to computer settings or any system options and that is when I get the app not installed kind of errors. So I'm going to go into bios and try to get the disks to run. There had to be some problem that occurred during the 8.1 download or install. I can't imagine what that could be but maybe later we can try it again.

 

Seems there is also a recovery partition on those machines which might be easier to deploy than recovery disks. Instructions HERE

 

How can she go faster then the computer is doing things. If she is doing a lot of memory intense tasks, it may be best for her to max out the RAM to 16gb, since it seems that she is not getting by with the bare min. of RAM required for Windows 8.x to operate.