Windows 8.1 Available Early

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows 8.1 Update 1, which is not supposed to be available until later this year, can be downloaded now, if PC owners know a very few tricks. The much anticipated upgrade to the Windows 8.1 operating system should alter some of the features of the product that have caused it to be criticized and even rejected by millions of users. Microsoft will not release a more important piece of software this year.

According to tech site Neowin:

If you are willing to make a few tweaks to your registry, you can get Windows 8.1 update 1 right now. By adding a value to your registry, this will give you access to download and will get you the bits right now, without accessing any third-party.

It is hard to gauge how many people have the skills to accomplish this, but it is unusual that such an important product could be accessible before its official release, which is likely to be late in the first week in April.

Microsoft Windows 8 meant to mimic much of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iOS interface. Apple’s software is considered more intuitive and easier to use. This has not turned out to be the case for people and businesses that have used earlier versions of Windows for decades. Whatever the operating system’s flaws, it had be adapted by users of almost every PC made in the world.

Microsoft only has two ways out of the Windows 8 debacle. The first is through 8.1 Update 1. However, it remains a mystery whether the upgrade will satisfy the public. Alternatively, Microsoft could reset Windows so that it is like earlier versions as part of a version 9 release. However, that could be many months away.

Whether Windows 8.1 Update 1 is available now, or in a few weeks, it will only take a few more weeks to find out if the upgrade is a success with customers. If not, Microsoft faces a long and anxious wait. With the rise of other operating systems like Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android, the wait could also be financially painful.

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618