So I downloaded the update last night, and since than the compo has become unusable…constantly crashing, assorted error messages and multiple BSOD. I basically want to wipe it now and start from scratch…however I have lost the recovery disc. What options do I have, other than a £1500 coffee mat?

If it helps its a Core i7 with 4gb RAM, originally it ran W7, I upgraded to W8 in February.

An upgrade should create a backup folder of Win 7…saying that…I can’t find mine so can’t give you a folder location…sorry.

Use System Restore in windows and see if it has a restore point before you installed Windows 8.1, not sure if it allows rollback tho.

or

With the laptop being that age i doubt you’ve got backup disks, it should however have a hidden backup partition.

Backup all your files, My Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, Desktop etc…

Reboot and computer and try and get into the recovery partition, quite often its Alt-F10 but a quick google for your laptop brand should tell you.

Run a full recovery and it will wipe your laptop to how it was when you took it out the box.