It has been quite a time since Microsoft rolled out Windows 8.1 and since it is a point release we shouldn't expect major changes within the OS.
Visit http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-8/meet to know more about the release and whats new in it. You can see that they have heavily updated the UI with improved searching, accessibility, switching and syncing options and with this release users get to completely customize their start screen. Another thing to note is that they have removed the Windows Experience Index feature which has been around since Windows Vista. You'll see no significant difference in the start up or boot time compared with Windows 8.
Certain menu items including the Settings menu has been completely redesigned and the unified Bing search gets you what you want.
It comes in two variant Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Pro and is available to buy as standalone OS or as an update to Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro users.
Now here is the official system requirements published by Microsoft for upgrading to Windows 8.1
System requirements
Windows 8.1
If you want to run Windows 8.1 on your PC, here's what it takes:
Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2 (more info)
RAM:
1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
Hard disk space:
16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
Graphics card:MicrosoftDirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
Additional requirements to use certain features:
To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multitouch (more info)
To access the Windows
Store and to download, run, and snap apps, you need an active Internet
connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768
Microsoft account required for some features
Internet access (ISP fees might apply)
Secure boot requires firmware that supports UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and has the MicrosoftWindows Certification Authority in the UEFI signature database
Some games and programs might require a graphics card compatible with DirectX 10 or higher for optimal performance
Watching DVDs requires separate playback software (more info)
Windows Media Center license sold separately (more info)
BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive (Windows 8.1 Pro only)
BitLocker requires either Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 or a USB flash drive (Windows 8.1 Pro only)
Client Hyper-V requires a 64-bit system with second level address translation (SLAT) capabilities and additional 2 GB of RAM (Windows 8.1 Pro only)
A TV tuner is required to play and record live TV in Windows Media Center (Windows 8.1 Pro Pack and Windows 8.1 Media Center Pack only)
Miracast requires a display adapter which supports Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.3, and a Wi-Fi adapter that supports Wi-Fi Direct
Wi-Fi Direct Printing requires a Wi-Fi adapter that supports Wi-Fi Direct and a device that supports Wi-Fi Direct Printing
Free internet TV content varies by geography, some content might require additional fees (Windows 8.1 Pro Pack and Windows 8.1 Media Center Pack only)
To install a 64-bit OS on a 64-bit PC, your processor needs to support CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW, and LAHF/SAHF
InstantGo works only with computers designed for Connected Standby
You can check to see if it meets the requirements by running the Upgrade Assistant.
Now it is believed that all the apps you used with Windows 8 should work with Windows 8.1 and it is also true for a handful of device drivers. Now if you are in a real hurry to try out the new Windows 8.1 and don't mind even if some of your system device stops working due to driver incompatibility then go ahead otherwise if you prefer a complete and stable system then I'd suggest that you wait till your system or devise manufacturer releases the appropriate drivers and software for Windows 8.1 for your device, now I'm saying this because I had to fall back to Windows 8 after an update to Windows 8.1 on my HP Pavilion G6 notebook as HP hasn't yet released all the drivers and i found it increasingly difficult to cope with WiFi, Bluetooth and touch-pad errors and have decided to update to 8.1 after all the drivers and software have been released by HP.
Here i will show you how to update your existing windows 8 to windows 8.1
First thing first, you must be running an activated version of Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro for the update process to work
Check for the latest updates available for your system and install them via Windows Update, this is a very crucial step, without installing all the available updates the free update to windows 8.1 will not show up in Microsoft Store
Now that you have installed all the available updates to Windows 8/Windows 8 Pro and restarted your system, open Microsoft store and your free update to Windows 8.1 should be present there
Click on it and start downloading the update, the update is quite huge in size and should take considerable amount of time as it doesn't use the full bandwidth, meanwhile you can continue to use your system without affecting the update process
If you were running an OEM install of Windows 8 then upon performing a system recovery or reset after this update to Windows 8.1 your system will be reverted back to factory installed Windows 8 along with the default software and drivers and you'll once again have to perform the above update to get Windows 8.1.
This tutorial is for Samsung Galaxy Y S5360 in specific, do not flash the firmware provided here in any other device.
It doesn't matter whether you bricked your phone experimenting with it or installing Custom ROMs, because this tutorial will help you get back to your Stock ROM or flash any firmware for your phone via ODIN Flash Tool.
Please note that flashing your phone with a firmware package can completely delete all user data, so make sure to backup your contacts and other data before continuing with the process.
I will try to explain the process as simple as possible in a step by step manner below, you can also check out the video tutorial that i have made on the same. Before continuing make sure you have the the following things with you:
1. Your Samsung Galaxy Y S5360
2. USB data cable to connect your phone with your computer
3. Internet to download the required files
Watch the video tutorial here
Before starting off make sure your phone is fully charged and switched off
Download and install Samsung Kies form the link below, it contains the default driver for your device
Switch off your phone and enter into Download Mode by pressing and holding VOLUME DOWN + HOME + POWER BUTTON
Now connect your phone to your computer using the USB data cable
Go to Control Panel > Device Manager and look under Universal Serial Bus Controllers and you should find your phone appear as Samsung Mobile USB Compopsite Device, and if it doesn't then it means that the drivers haven't been correctly installed, in such a case you should disconnect the phone try removing all Samsung related software including Kies from your computer and reinstall Kies and check again, if that doesn't work then download the Unofficial Samsung USB Driver from the link below, install it and check again.
If none of the above methods work for installing the drivers then you should use Windows Update to find and install the drivers (you must be connected to the internet) , here is how to do it - Uninstall all Samsung related software, connect the phone in the Download Mode, go to Device Manager and in the Other Devices list you must find your phone as two unrecognized devices CDC Abstract Control Model and CDC ACM Data, right click on CDC Abstract Control Model and select Update Driver Software > Search automatically for updated driver software, now windows will search for the appropriate driver and install it, once installed your device will appear as Samsung Mobile USB Compopsite Device under Universal Serial Bus Controllers and you are good to go.
Once the drivers are installed and the phone connected in Download Mode, download ODIN and Firmware Package from the links given below
Extract ODIN's zip file and put it in a folder, similarly extract the Firmare Package and put it in another folder. Upon extracting the Firmware Package you should get 3 main files whose names start with CSC, MODEM and PDA
Now go to ODIN's extracted folder and run ODIN, under ID:COM box in ODIN you should see something like 0:[COM#] where # is any number and if the box is blank it means that ODIN can't find your phone and something is wrong
Leave all the selections to their default unless you know what you're doing
Click on the PDA button and browse to the file starting with PDA in the extracted Firmware Package and click on Open
Similarly click on PHONE button and browse to the file starting with MODEM in the extracted Firmware Package and click on Open
Similarly click on CSC button and browse to the file starting with CSC in the extracted Firmware Package and click on Open
Now that all the files are selected click on the START button to begin flashing and wait for it to finish
The process should take a few minutes or less to complete and if there are any errors they will be shown in the message box.
Once it completes it will show something like this
Now the phone will reboot on its own, you can close ODIN, disconnect your phone by removing the USB cable and wait for the phone to boot up, the phone should take quite a long time to boot up (less than 10 minutes) so don't panic. The first boot takes such a long time as certain system files are being extracted and created by the newly flashed firmware.
Links for downloading required files:
Samsung Kies (For official USB drivers that comes with it)
Unofficial Samsung USB Driver (Unofficial drivers probably extracted form Kies package, use only if Kies installation doesn't fix driver issues)
ODIN Flash Tool (Software for flashing your phone with firmware packages)
Firmware Package (The one i used in this tutorial) Link 1 (mediafire) Link 2 (googledrive)
Other ODIN Flashable Firmware Packages (These packages have been made from official firmware releases and are similar to the one used in this tutorial, download according to your choice of region)
Get Rapture 3D for Dirt 3 by clicking the image below (not essential)
This is the most important step, uninstall all Games for Windows LIVE software present in your system, get a fresh copy of Games for Windows LIVE client by clicking the image below (a web-installer), after downloading it right-click on it and select "Run as administrator", let it download and install the files
After installation completes run Games For Windows and sign in to your account, now you can either exit the app or leave it minimized
Now to open the game, (important step) right-click on dirt3.exe in the game's installation folder or on your desktop shortcut and select "Run as administrator" and wait for it (you will have to run it as administrator every time), these steps worked for me
Now if it fails to open the game try opening dirt3.exe in compatibility mode for Windows 7 or Windows Xp and it should work with any one of them
Cant start CRYSIS 3 because CryEA.dll is missing? Then this post might help you
Hoping your system is functioning normally and is not virus infected, CryEA.dll can go missing due to the following reasons:
Corrupt installation media
Incomplete download
False detection by Antivirus / Internet Security programs
The most probable reason being false detection by antivirus programs such as NORTON which detects it as a potential TROJAN.GEN virus during its auto scans and removes the file or moves it to Quarantine as it was in my case.
To confirm you can check the Activities Log/Security History of your antivirus, if there is a report of its detection then restore CryEA.dll from Quarantine and exclude it from future scans. If you cant find its report or restore it from Quarantine, don't worry, i have it right here CryEA.dllafter downloading put it in the Bin32 folder of your CYRSIS 3 installation and make sure to exclude it from antivirus scans or add it as an exception. Enjoy the game!
Comment for more Help.
Ever had that problem where you open disk cleanup utility hoping to cleanup your system files and it ends up being stuck at "cleaning windows update files" and the only option left is to restart the PC, then worry no more cause this could be your solution.
Watch The Video Tutorial
OR follow the steps below:
You must be logged into an administrator account
2. Open "Troubleshooting" by searching it up in the Control Panel
3. Click on "View all" in the top left panel
4. Scroll down to the bottom to find "Windows Update", click on it
5. Click on "Advanced"
6. Click on "Run as administrator", it will refresh
7. Now select "Next"
8. Windows will now troubleshoot for errors, errors if any, would be found and fixed
9. Run "Disk Cleanup" again to see if the problem persists
10. If the problem persists or if troubleshooter couldn't fix errors then repeat the steps
from 1 to 6 and click on "Advanced" again and uncheck the
"Apply repairs automatically" option and proceed
Hope this solves your problem, for detailed info on Disk Cleanup errors refer to Microsoft Forums
