Why they waited until now is anybody’s guess. SkyDrive integration should’ve been part of Windows 8 from day one. For users who utilize other cloud-based services and setups, this can be a hassle to deal with if you accidentally turn on SkyDrive during the Windows 8.1 installation process. SkyDrive IntegrationĬomplete SkyDrive integration finally comes to Windows 8 in the 8.1 preview, but the problem is, you can’t turn it off.

IE 11 seems like a complete waste of energy in the Windows 8.1 preview, since nothing of substance is truly available to users to try out. It’ll be up to web sites, blogs and services to change how they do things so that they work within IE 11. Most of the features of IE 11 won’t actually be released until Windows 8.1 comes out in its final release. Very few front end changes came to the new IE 11 which is supposed to highlight how Windows 8 and the Web work together. IE 11, at least in the Windows 8.1 preview, is just a tweaked IE 10. There’s been no hotfixes to these apps to make them work for all users in Windows 8.1. Reading List and Scan are buggy, with the latter only working with wired scanners for the time being. While they’re comprehensive apps that take advantage of what the modern feel of Windows 8 has to offer, many of the other so-called “enhanced apps” released only work half the time or not at all. Sadly, only two enhanced apps rolled out: Health & Fitness and Food & Drink. Microsoft boasted for months that changes were coming to the Windows Store, as well as apps in Windows 8.1.

If you were looking to see what Windows 8.1 was all about, but didn’t understand how to install it on a separate partition or virtual machine, this shuts you out of the preview entirely. Since the “upgrade” process works just like you would normally upgrade or install a major update to a OS, without losing data, there’s no reasoning behind why Microsoft would make users go through this trouble. When you choose to upgrade to the preview as opposed to installing it separately, you will have to re-install all your apps when the final version rolls out. Upgrading to the Windows 8.1 preview – not installing it on a partition of virtual machine – is nothing but a frustration for users.

This is by far the biggest disappointment for users looking forward to the Windows 8.1 update. This isn’t even close, and for many looking for a replacement, they’ll stick with the freeware programs like we’ve covered to get the Start Menu back. This is not the Start Menu Windows 8 users were looking for.

Windows 8 installation failed