How do I upgrade to Windows 8.1 ?

Now that Windows 8.1 is available everyone with a Windows 8 PC can get the new system at no cost. Well, it takes a bit of time, but that is all.

Before you start, be sure that you have backed up your computer. Installing a new system, and that is what upgrading to Windows 8.1 really is, is very much like major surgery, things can go wrong. So be safe, be prepared.

Do allow plenty of time. For me it took well over an hour; but then I was eager to update, right along with all the others who wanted to upgrade right after Windows 8.1 became available.

The procedure is quite easy. Go to the Start screen and click on the Store tile. You will see the invitation to update right away.

Click on that invitation, the Download link on the next screen, and you are on your way. The download will proceed. There is nothing you need to to for a while. You will see the “Downloading” message, then “Getting your PC ready”, finally “Preparing to restart”.

Then you see a message asking for permission to restart.

After a number of messages on a black screen with the new Windows logo advising the progress of “Setting up …”, “Getting devices ready …”, “Applying PC settings …”, “Setting up a few more things ..”, you will be presented with the License terms. You can read them, they are very, very long. You really have no choice but to accept if you wish to upgrade.

Now you will need to make some more decisions. Next you will see the Settings screen.

You can make some choices here, but clicking “Use express settings” is probably the easiest. You will be asked to sign in to your Microsoft account. Then a bit of extra security measures. You will be asked to how you want to receive a numeric code.

If you have set up your Microsoft account with a phone number, you can receive either a text or voice message. You can also receive the code by email. Texting to your phone is the easiest. For me the phone rang immediately after clicking Next.

Enter the numeric code on the next screen. You will see an option for using SkyDrive.

Once you proceed from here there will be a number of colorful screens as the final installation tasks. Shortly you will see your Start screen just as it was before on Windows 8. You can now start customizing and using the new features in Windows 8.1