My Mom's laptop is an Acer Aspire V5, it came with Windows 8. If I disable the nag to update to 8.1, until when will she continue to receive security updates on Windows 8?
help me with my understanding: Why don't you upgrade to 8.1 which is free of charge? Did I miss something?
great! so that means no need to really update if it's working fine coz the drivers for Windows 8.1 offered on ACER are not really good
No the problem happens AFTER I instal the graphics driver, tried the official for Windows 8.1 from ACER and tried more udpated ones with the same result. The issue is this laptop supports being connected to multiple displays. But even though I didn't connect any external display, the resolution gets smaller such as the above image until I manually select Display Output: Built in Display then it would be fine for a while, then randomly, as if it detected me connecting an external display and again the output display mode automatically changes to: Multiple displays with the same black bars as shown above. I even tried it on Windows 7 just now with the same result so it's not a Windows issue it seems. This laptop is just crappy
need to check out here in terms of multiple screens as I never used such stuff in the past. All my screens are hooked to individual machines and so far such event never occurred here.
My new Acer Laptop works just fine... using all default install Drivers - and intel graphics is (one bitch), finally found one Intel Tech that stated (Acer has permission to modify graphics drivers) so Intel recommends 100% use of Acer Drivers.... (My Laptop also came with 8.1 Pre-installed..) one thing i did was upgrade the Memory... works much faster and I enjoy much more with the added Memory. so i have to ask. I also notice you added ENG - language pack.... and (you state-No the problem happens AFTER I install the graphics driver, tried the official for Windows 8.1 from ACER and tried more udpated ones with the same result.) can you be more specific and what Driver version are you using... ?
No, you still have to update. After January 2016 support for Windows 8 ends. After that you must be running 8.1 Update 1 to get security updates. Microsoft is treating 8.1 as a service pack where you get 24 months to update to it. Of course, since Windows 9 will probably be out before then you may be better off just to wait for that. That's what I'm doing with my Mom's computer. Three tries to update from the Store, twice with a totally clean 8.0 installation, all failed. After that I gave up on the 8.1 upgrade. When Windows 9 comes out I'll build her a new computer just for that.
You have to read the Windows 8.1 Support FAQ linked on the page for the rest of it. Here's part about support ending in 2016: What is the support lifecycle policy for Windows 8.1? Windows 8.1 falls under the same lifecycle policy as Windows 8, and will reach end of Mainstream Support on January 9, 2018, and end of Extended Support on January 10, 2023. With the General Availability of Windows 8.1, customers on Windows 8 have 2 years, until January 12, 2016, to move to Windows 8.1 in order to remain supported. I've confirmed with Microsoft that security updates for Windows 8 will end after January 2016. This has not made one of my clients happy since they were an early adopter of Windows 8 and are now facing another roll-out.