If upgrading from 8 to 8.1, will I have to reinstall programs and drivers, redo program settings, and reinstate my registry changes?
will you probably not exspcialy if you wait for its offical relase in october but it be a wise idea to do a clean install and redo everything
Just download the correct ISO for your currently installed version of Windows 8 and upgrade. I'm on Windows 8 Professional en-GB and downloaded the 8.1 Professional en-GB ISO, wrote it to a USB stick and upgraded my system using my retail Windows 8 key. Didn't have to use the other pro key that so many people say you need.
I actually just mounted the ISO using Windows 8's File Explorer and chose the option that let me keep my stuff. I had to reinstall a couple of drivers, and manually restore a few settings and registry settings again, but in all it was very easy. The one thing it did which I didn't expect was that it changed my boot disk to GPT from MBR (why??). Now I have a Secure Boot watermark as a result, which I can't get rid of because my MSI UEFI doesn't let you turn on Secure Boot without Fast Boot (I have no idea why), which is something my MSI graphics card doesn't support in its BIOS (even though it technically should). It's a pain in the arse but I'm just ignoring the watermark for now.
@kitsigns, exact same experience here...except for the GPT conversion. How bizarre! I don't have UEFI enabled in the BIOS. Maybe that's why I escaped this (though UEFI isn't a prereq for GPT).