First of all, if you manage a number of PCs, you should be getting Windows Secrets a great bi-monthly newsletter for getting the most out of your Windows PCs.

Second, if you don’t have much use for Metro, you can boot directly to the ‘Classic’ side of the desktop. Just right-clicking an empty spot on the taskbar, clicking Properties, and then the Navigation tab. In the Start Screen panel click the ‘When I sign on or close all apps on the screen. go to the desktop instead of Start.

Third, do not enable ‘SmartSearch’, it opens your computer/network to Microsoft, allowing them to index all your content for advertising purposes. Can you say ‘privacy’?

Fourth, it can be tricky, but do use Local Accounts to log on and do not use a Microsoft Account. Again, you are opening your system up to the Microsoft Cloud services. Yes, a Microsoft Account is a great way to get free cloud storage and keep data synched if you have a mobile device. But in return you are basically giving Microsoft your entire contact list when you send mails, install applications; basically do anything that requires password access. For small business use, this is a complete non-starter.

Fifth, instead of upgrading from Windows 7, we strongly recommend that you install a fresh copy of Windows 8.1 and migrate data over as needed. This makes it much easier to set up (ie. disable) SmartSearch and Microsoft Accounts and get a clean start.

Sixth, we do not recommend purchasing Windows 8.0 and then applying the upgrade patch from Microsoft. Again, this opens up the same configuration hassles as in upgrading from Windows 7. In short: Get a fresh DVD with Windows 8.1 and bypass ‘upgrades’ entirely!

Finally, once you have Windows 8.1 installed, the first thing you should do is make a Recovery Disk Image just in case! We cannot stress this enough. Although Windows 8.1 has many magnificent tools for repairing your installation should things go wrong, this is your base-line against any serious post-install issues.