WINDOWS 8 FIXES AND MISSES

Question

So... Windows 8/8.1 starting to suck yet?
I do believe that LOTS of people would agree to that, I've been running 8 for about 3 months and have just updated for the second time to 8.1 about a week ago. (Yes, I had to do it twice! after the first it lovingly crashed taking all my apps,
files and the 3 months worth of work with it) I did however have the good sense to back it all up, So no real damage done and that's lesson 1. 
Anyways, Firstly I'll just cover a couple things I've noticed about Mr 8 and what I did to out-think or overcome, not too hard but it's a bit of a read so please bear with me:
1. UPDATING TO 8.1: You may get an error message near the very end of the install stating that it "couldn't be finalised" or some such garbage and gives the error code: 0xC1900101-0x40017. Here's what to do to overcome:
a) First make sure that you have downloaded and then saved the update in a safe place. The update is 3.62GB so it'll be a waste of time to have to do it more than once. Then remove any excess external hardware that's plugged
in, For example, any extra: mice, keyboards, storage HDD's etc.   
b) Make sure 8 is fully updated both through "Windows Update" and the "Store". However find the update KB2849636 and uninstall it. (not needed for this)
c) Get the latest drivers for NVIDIA GeForce if needed, ***Link for Drivers coming soon***
d) Uninstall ALL 3rd party software from the computer, meaning anything that didn't actually come with it.
e) Disable "Windows Firewall" and "Defender"
f) Run the "Command Prompt" as an administrator and type:    WSRESET.exe      Then press ENTER.
g) Restart the system then retry the update, If still not working: Run a "Disk Clean-up", then pressing the "Windows key + R" to bring up the run command type: services.msc    Press ok, Then find and
select "Windows Update" and "STOP" it, Leave the service window open and reopen the "Run Command" and type: %windir%   Press ok again, Find and rename the folder "Software Distribution" to: 
SD.old         After, return to the services and restart "Windows Update"
h) Restart the computer and try install 8.1 again. After installation is complete remember to reactivate your Firewall and Antivirus!
2. Next another head scratcher: Many people may have noticed an extra partition appear on their primary hard drive after the update usually called something stupid, I have 2 because I have done the update twice. The names
are: ***I'll Print the names soon*** these are, as far as I can tell, some sort of "Recovery" volumes associated with the Win8.1 update. However they don't seem to get used, they only seem to want to fragment something fierce when analysed
by the "Defragmenter" also for some reason can't be defragmented. (I had one at 87% fragmented and couldn't do anything about it, so I haven't analysed them on this update) They don't seem to be causing any problems so I haven't tried to
remove them as of yet, but later I'll perform more in-depth investigations. 
3. I have also got many complaints about the "Start-up Tray" in the program manager, There seems to be odd entries making their way onto the list that make no sense. I recently got one that a lot of people have been talking about. It's called simply
"Program" and there has been debate as to whether or not it should be disabled. Yes you can! All it seems to be is a remnant of a program that wasn't completely or properly uninstalled. I found this program here to root out such trash. 
Autoruns for identifying startup programs: ***link coming soon***
It scans the boot system and gives a list of all programs that can be viewed and deleted if necessary.
4. Lastly just a piece of advice, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE USE PROGRAMS LIKE: Ccleaner, Regclean, SpeedyPC or any other of the like unless you know with 100% certainty what you are doing! They are VERY dangerous programs in the hands of novices,
also Windows provides the "Disk Clean-up, Defragmenter (or Optimizer), and Disk Check" systems anyway and they are just as good and they don't delete half the registry along the way! 
Another tip, It's better to install programs to a folder that you have easy access to so that when you uninstall them you can go to that folder and delete whatever may be left after uninstalls and thus stopping the previous problem of start-up menu
garbage.
If anyone has a problem they would like me to look in to for them or if you just want to comment on this and join in, feel absolutely free to. I enjoy the challenge of working on problems such as this and would be happy to lend a hand if at all possible.
(Completely free of charge as well!) 
Thanks for reading, I know I'm not meant to but I have also made an Email address for just this purpose so drop me a line at: ***Email given on request***

Answer 1

Thanks for info:
A. Backup before doing anything advanced is recommended but not widely used.
B. Upgrade on vanilla plain (and updated) operatiing system goes flawlessly. Upgrade on "real" computer may depend on "status" of operating system and applications installed. You may not be the last experiencing troubles.
C. Software vendors expect that users has nearly unlimited disk size, large memory and latest processor.
D. It is on you to find anything positive to compensate annoyances. Mental balance is in your hands ;-)