E Windows 8.1 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013, and broadly released for retail sale on October 17, 2013, about a year after the retail release of its predecessor.
Prior to its general availability on October 26, 2012, updates were released for some of Windows 8’s bundled apps, and a “General Availability Cumulative Update” (which included fixes to improve performance, compatibility, and battery life) was released on Tuesday, October 9, 2012.
To be fair to surprised Windows 8 users, Microsoft has warned about this for some time, though confusion is understandable because its official lifecycle page states ‘Windows 8’ will still receive ‘Mainstream Support’ (new features) until 9 January 2018 and ‘Extended Support’ (security patches) until 10 January 2023.
Is Windows 8 1 still available?
Windows 8.1 was made available as a free upgrade for retail copies of Windows 8 and Windows RT users via the Windows Store. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 8.1 on January 9, 2018, but extended support won’t end until January 10, 2023.
Is Windows 8 a Windows NT operating system?
Windows 8 is an operating system that was produced by Microsoft, released as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. The product was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, and generally to retail on October 26 of the same year. It is the successor to Windows 7 .
When will support end for Windows 8?
Update to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8Before you begin. The system requirements for Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 are nearly the same as the requirements for Windows 8—if your PC is already running Windows 8 Prepare your PC. A few more ideas to examine are reinstall your apps, choose your settings, back up your files, get the free update, sign in, final updates, restart, or onedrive cloud storage.
When does Windows 8.1 support end exactly?
Microsoft will begin Windows 8 and 8.1’s end of life and support in January 2023. This means it will stop all support and updates to the operating system. Windows 8 and 8.1 already reached the end of Mainstream Support on January 9, 2018.
Is Windows 8.1 better than Windows 10?
In other tests like booting, Windows 8.1 is faster than Windows 10, about 2 seconds. Performance in specific apps like Photoshop or Chrome is a bit slower in Windows 10. But Windows 10 can wake from Sleep and Hibernate mode more quickly than Windows 8.1.