Windows 10 to Windows 8.1

[DarthSmartt]

I know, I know. Windows 8 is horrible, but I actually prefer it to windows 10. Is there anyway to downgrade to windows 8.1 from 10? Preferably without loosing programs and files, but keeping files is mandatory. Any help is appreciated. 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Nope. You'll have to reinstall Windows. Did you upgrade from Windows 8.1 to 10? I'm not 100% if your key is still valid for Windows 8.1 after the upgrade.

[Levisallanon]

5 minutes ago, DarthSmartt said:

I know, I know. Windows 8 is horrible, but I actually prefer it to windows 10. Is there anyway to downgrade to windows 8.1 from 10? Preferably without loosing programs and files, but keeping files is mandatory. Any help is appreciated. 

I'm curious what do you find better in windows 8 compared to windows 10?

[alexhelvetica]

3 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Nope. You'll have to reinstall Windows. Did you upgrade from Windows 8.1 to 10? I'm not 100% if your key is still valid for Windows 8.1 after the upgrade.

A Windows 8 key will always be a Windows 8 Key, but is also a Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 key

A Windows 8.1 key will always be a Windows 8.1 key, but is also a Windows 10 key.

 

You can reinstall all you like (until the max amount of activations for your key has been reached), but that is a lot of reactivations.

[alexhelvetica]

5 minutes ago, Levisallanon said:

I'm curious what do you find better in windows 8 compared to windows 10?

I agree with the OP, I like Windows 8.1 more.

 

I hate the universal apps-style settings windows, they are just evil and counter intuitive. I cannot press a key on the keyboard to go to the sign in screen in windows anymore, I also dislike the pop-ups, they are just annoying

[Levisallanon]

1 minute ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

I hate the universal apps-style settings windows, they are just evil and counter intuitive.

what do you mean with this? The settings for Universal apps themselfs? what's wrong with these settings?

1 minute ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

I cannot press a key on the keyboard to go to the sign in screen in windows anymore

you can't? every windows 10 system I've used you can just hit any key to go to the login screen unless it got multiple accounts set up, then you need to select the account. If the computer is locked hitting a key will work.

1 minute ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

I also dislike the pop-ups, they are just annoying

Which pop ups do you mean? Been using windows 10 a lot but never seen any pop ups ..

[alexhelvetica]

Just now, Levisallanon said:

what do you mean with this? The settings for Universal apps themselfs? what's wrong with these settings?

All of the settings in windows now.

Just now, Levisallanon said:

you can't? every windows 10 system I've used you can just hit any key to go to the login screen unless it got multiple accounts set up, then you need to select the account. If the computer is locked hitting a key will work.

I have one account, and that doesn't work anymore.

Just now, Levisallanon said:

Which pop ups do you mean? Been using windows 10 a lot but never seen any pop ups ..

I get dings when notifications don't show up, I get pop ups telling me about windows defender, I get pop-ups about microsoft edge and pop-ups about updates. I know some of which existed in 8.1, but they were less frequent.

[Levisallanon]

2 minutes ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

I get dings when notifications don't show up, I get pop ups telling me about windows defender, I get pop-ups about microsoft edge and pop-ups about updates. I know some of which existed in 8.1, but they were less frequent.

You can use quiet hours if you don't want notifications or you can just disable the ones you don't want in the settings:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-customize-notifications-windows-10
From what I remember windows 8 didn't had quiet hours and the settings you could set where less to nonexistent so I'd say windows 10 actually improved here.

 

3 minutes ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

I have one account, and that doesn't work anymore.

Don't know why this is, this isn't normal windows 10 behavior. You can actually set windows 10 to bypass the keypress also, this topic explains how to do it. Maybe you can find the reason of why you can't press a key in one of those places too.
https://superuser.com/questions/979239/is-there-a-work-around-for-the-extra-key-press-and-delay-at-login-screen

I remember having this problem at the compagny I worked for a while back too. I believer a windows update at one point fixed it for this used. maybe google for it or do a clean install. I believe in his case it had something to do with vendor specific software which was blocking it and the windows update actually broke this vendor software which he didn't use anyways.

 

 

7 minutes ago, Comic_Sans_MS said:

All of the settings in windows now.

So if you don't like the this new lay-out just make a shortcut to the control panel somewhere and use this. It's still avaible in windows 10.
Personally I think for the normal user this new settings setup is better than the old one. I've seen normal users (with little to no experience with other versions of windows or ever with computers) use these settings a lot easier then the old one. Also for people who are used to mobile operating systems this way of doing the settings is way more intuitive for them.
For a superuser it's annoying because things have changed, but after using it for a while you can get used to it. And for an IT-professional it's not problem because you use powershell anyways.

[DarthSmartt]

54 minutes ago, Levisallanon said:

I'm curious what do you find better in windows 8 compared to windows 10?

I actually prefer the way that the start menu is layed out, how control panel is worth more, and idk it just feels better.

[alexhelvetica]

18 minutes ago, Levisallanon said:

Don't know why this is, this isn't normal windows 10 behavior. You can actually set windows 10 to bypass the keypress also, this topic explains how to do it. Maybe you can find the reason of why you can't press a key in one of those places too.
https://superuser.com/questions/979239/is-there-a-work-around-for-the-extra-key-press-and-delay-at-login-screen

I remember having this problem at the compagny I worked for a while back too. I believer a windows update at one point fixed it for this used. maybe google for it or do a clean install. I believe in his case it had something to do with vendor specific software which was blocking it and the windows update actually broke this vendor software which he didn't use anyways.

I installed windows last week, I am not reinstalling again.

 

18 minutes ago, Levisallanon said:

So if you don't like the this new lay-out just make a shortcut to the control panel somewhere and use this. It's still avaible in windows 10.
Personally I think for the normal user this new settings setup is better than the old one. I've seen normal users (with little to no experience with other versions of windows or ever with computers) use these settings a lot easier then the old one. Also for people who are used to mobile operating systems this way of doing the settings is way more intuitive for them.
For a superuser it's annoying because things have changed, but after using it for a while you can get used to it. And for an IT-professional it's not problem because you use powershell anyways.

Yes, control panel still exists, and I use it, but the main concern for me is just the older settings screens which I have used before have been replaced.

Honestly, I would prefer the properties window from XP, followed by Windows Vista Personisation window compared with Windows 7/8 Personalised and Display settings, and I hate the Windows 10 Personalised and Display settings even more again.