Can I Change Windows 8.1 To Window 7?

[Oiverbotel]

I've just purchased a new Toshiba with pre-installed Windows 8.1.
I need to change this to Windows 7 and am hoping I can do so. Whilst the laptop is mine, there will be times when I want to share it with trusted staff in my work. They will have had no experience with W8 and I don't wish to put myself in the nightmare of having to (trying to) conduct mini-courses on its use over and over, especially when I'll have to do it in different languages.

Is there anything I can do without utterly destroying my new lappy? Should I go fork out £150 for a new edition of W7 and be done with it? I tried playing with the new lappy last night and personally do not at all like its usability anyway, so it will be no loss for me - software wise. I also noticed that I was being forced to surrender my soul publicly to Microsoft in the form of signing up for an account. This also irks me to no end. I suspect they already harvest enough out of me anyway without my overt consent. But I don't wish to be part of their 'american dream.'

I would be very grateful for any advice. I did see a pitch for something called Stardate to mask w8 to look like w7, but it looks quite sketchy to me and possibly an added mess to the already messy minds of the people in Seattle.

Ollie

[VHG]

Very risky (lack of drivers) and expensive to downgrade to W7.

I believe in W8.1 you can set it to boot straight to the Windows desktop which may help (but I have not tried W8.1 myself yet so cant confirm)

Bit late now, but you would have been far better buying a laptop with W7 already on it.

There are still business laptops being sold with Windows 7 on them as many companies are still using W7.

Dell still sell laptops with W7 on them, this one is £399 (plus VAT)

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/latitude-3540-laptop/pd?oc=sm002l35408uk&model_id=latitude-3540-laptop

[VHG]

Also I don't believe you HAVE to set up a Windows account to use W8.1 (this was certainly the case with W8).

I think you can still log on with a "normal" userid and password (as you could in W7 and earlier) that is not linked to any sort of account.

This is called a "local account"

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/quick-tip-change-to-a-local-account-in-windows-81/

[bibblebub]

As VHG has said, in W8.1 the taskbar properties include going straight to the desktop on startup and you can still have shortcuts on the desktop, as in previous Windows version. The start screen is basically an array of icons for the programs of your choice which you arrange to be in whatever order you want, and you simply click on one of those icons to start the program.

[Oiverbotel]

Thanks VHG. I won't bore you with the stupid reasons I bought this other than I burned my old lappy when a full glass of Pepsi was dumped across the keyboard. I wasn't thinking clearly and went with a friend who told me there were new Toshiba's on offer and I bought it not thinking of the new software, but more the memory, space, screen clarity, and USB3 features. I had not been introduced to W8 yet. But I quickly learnt what a mess I've created because all my colleagues in Transylvania and Moldova are (barely) on the XP train. Thanks also for the warning about drivers. I would have just gone out and bought the W7 product at PC World and thought that would sort everything I needed! I'm not too brite....clearly

Ollie

[stoofur]

You could try purchasing Start8. I have it installed and it makes windows 8 pretty much look like windows 7

[bibblebub]

Any program that makes W8+ look like W7 is unnecessary; if it's just about the old start button then all the functionality of that is there waiting to be used.

[Oiverbotel]

Thank you everyone for all your help! I bunkered down this weekend and tried to force myself to like my new Windows 8.1 . Well, I would have been more successful trying to make Gordon Brown a popular PM! Gawd how I hate it!
I should imagine if I had a tablet it might be different. But for a basic lappy, it's just rubbish and time consuming!
I've played with the search bar, played with the variation in features and decided ...simply because I'm old and grumpy...to purchase the Start 8 package...just to protect my sanity. For the small cost, it's well worth it to protect my sanity and blood pressure.

Thank you again everyone! It's always a journey!

Ollie