It has been rough sailing for a while, especially if you started with Windows 8, then upgraded to 8.1 Windows 8.1 was a completely new operating system. There were a lot of positives “under the hood,” but the upgrade and understanding the visual differences was more than it needed to be. It overwhelmed people. I always tried to make Windows 8 as easy as possible for my clients, primarily by bringing the old Start Menu back.

Finally, in the past week, Microsoft did all Windows 8.1 users a favor. The released a download that will allow you to make a backup of your Windows 8.1 installer.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

The tool allows you to do this with a DVD or a USB flash disk. I recommend you do this with a USB flash drive. If you don’t have a spare one (8 or 16 GB), I highly recommend this one from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Digital-DataTraveler-DTSE9H-16GBZET/dp/B00DYQYITG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415237870&sr=8-2&keywords=kensington+16gb

I think some of you can make this backup installer on your own — just be sure to choose your version of Win 8.1 correctly (ie. just Win 8.1 or Win 8.1 Pro). Please ask if you don’t know.