At first I was a bit confused when I got a new laptop and went from Windows 7 to 8.1
And there are a couple of things I wasn't entirely keen on, namely the way in which different bars/menus/shortcuts come up when you move your mouse to different parts of the screen. But you can disable a few of them, and I came to be accustomed to the rest.
But now that I'm used to it, it's very comfortable.
I primarily use my desktop in the exact same way that I used it on Windows 7.
The only difference now is that the Windows Button takes you to a Start Menu, rather than opening a list from the Start Bar.
And that's actually rather useful.
The first page of the Start Menu shows the Metro page, which is designed much like a Windows Phone menu.
Here you can put quicklinks to your favouite apps/programmes, as well as e-mail or News pages, so you can quickly get a look at anything new.
Then there's a button to take you to a full list of organised apps/programmes. And really, this can be easier to navigate than the old Start Bar, since there aren't any folders you have to open to search through.
So, really, other than that, there's not much difference in getting around your computer.
Windows Explorer is still the same for searching through your files, and you can still pin your favourite things to your taskbar.
And ultimately, it runs somewhat smoother.
I would say it's a decent upgrade. If you're content with 7, then stay with it. But you won't be disappointed with 8.1 either.
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