Win10-Hater

I want to clarify, this is the case on my main laptop computer with an SSD. On my Pentium D desktop (which I'm planning to replace with my own Sandy/Ivy Bridge custom desktop in another 2 or 3 months) with a failing 160GB Seagate HDD and 3 GB of DDR2 RAM, clean Vista install boots and logs on it about 1.5 minute, whereas updates make it slower and increase boot time to 2 minutes. Also @Dixel, I notice that you have a WD HDD and Vista is fast and that you said that Vista prefers WD and HGST over Seagate. I can clearly see that......

Whoops, I never knew that. Also BTW, @WinFX's bypass method to install 4.7.2 requires 4.6.1 as a prerequisite. That's why I installed it.

What the h***? It's somewhat like Apple' restrictions that don't allow 2012-era MacBooks to run MacOS Big Sur!! Same here. I always thought of smartphones as computers in essential, replacing desktops and laptops when we were away from them. Now everything has moved to the 'modern mobile first ' trend. Don't you agree? Not meaning to insult my country in any way, but I was thinking, Indian government made an app to track COVID-19 cases nearby that always showed the security status as Safe, even when there were patients in nearby houses. And this was made mandatory once lockdown was lifted!!! What is this??

No, I meant that on my laptop display, only 1366*768 resolution can be displayed (no 800 by 600, 1024 by 768 etc.), but that's the maximum supported resolution on my laptop. This could also happen with you and only 1080p resolution could be accessed by Windows 8.1, being the maximum supported resolution, so that's not a very noticable issue. You can proceed with trying to install Windows 8.1. Green signal given by me 🚦

They all are prerequisites, afaik

KB4530695, it was a Server 2008 update

I have also installed all .net versions from 3.5 to 4.7.2 . Why? I use ShareX, an app that explicitly depends on .net framework 4.7.2.

Not all updates. Only updates till Jan 2020. There was no impact on pc speed after installing the updates but I had also installed the useless meltdown and spectre patches, which caused issues with extended kernel. Now I have uninstalled them and another conflicting update and extended kernel works. Also, PC boot time went up from 15 to 20 seconds after installing those meltdown and spectre patches but again reduced after uninstalling. Now I am thinking of using local redirection to use extended kernel as I might update further (Server 2008 esu updates).

Wanted to addon: The graphics driver successfully installed but there is an issue that prevents the changing of screen resolutions, so on my Macbook Air clone the display can only show content on it in 1366*768 resolution {max. supported resolution}, so this is not a really big issue.

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These are the devices that have no drivers

I never thought I would get Windows 8.1 up and running without noticable bugs on that laptop and was actually astonished when it was successfully installed with all the very essential drivers. I got through the install (using a USB 2.0 flash drive and a USB 2.0 port) somehow without BSOD and later installed GPU, audio, wifi etc. Drivers through driver booster (I know it caused issues for you but not for me in this case). I was surprised at how a Windows 10 Intel HD graphics 505 driver successfully installed on Windows 8.1!! Also, that laptop has only 32GB of internal storage, so no updates.

I'm feeling : (Somewhat) Good. I know MSFN is an awesome forum (no other forum has been like this) with lots of wise people who are ready to help noobs and enthusiasts (I'm a PC enthusiast and not a complete noob) but some people pick fights within topics and that brings the discussion to nowhere, and this is frustrating. Someone (not going to name that person) has already fought with me, misunderstood me and is now very hostile but I don't care as it's not my fault if he misunderstands me. I'm hoping that this behaviour is discouraged. This is all I ask.

Well, maybe, because Windows 8 and 8.1 are mostly the same. BTW, I had created topics like this on the Windows Vista, XP and 7 forums (check them out if you have not already), so this nice guy created such a topic on this Windows 8.x forum for me. Maybe he's talking about all (hardware config you use 8/8.1 on, how you use it, etc.etc., the more details the better) Also BTW, I used Windows 8.1 after moving from Win7 on my secondary laptop for 3 months, after which I handed that laptop to my brother (specs: Dell Inspiron 15 3567, i3-6006u, 4 GB DDR4-2400 MHz RAM, Toshiba 1 TB 5400rpm HDD) when I received my Latitude e5420 which I currently use as my main machine and which I have Windows Vista on. The Inspiron still has Windows 8.1 and it is superfast!! I also have Windows 8.1 installed on a cheap MacBook Air clone that had 4 GB of non-upgradable RAM, a 32 GB eMMC SSD and a Pentium n4200 that officially supports Windows 10 only (not even Linux, so you might be guessing how crappy it was), and oh boy, it was S L U G G I S H with Windows 10 on it!!!! But somehow I got Windows 8.1 working with most drivers installed (I see around 10 question marks in Device Manager) and now it has become usable for basic tasks!! I've also tried Windows 8 on a VM and it is very good, the only thing I hate about it is the crappy start screen. Also, Windows 8 is faster than 8.1 by 5% IMO. I also think that the Metro UI is better organised in Windows 8.x than in Win10, where the desktop and tablet-style UI's are combined into one whole interface that is just FisherPrice-looking nonsense as opposed to Windows 8.x where the desktop and tablet-style UI's were separated.

I've had a few problems with the ancient and now outdated Windows defender on SSD , so I uninstalled it permanently. Don't know why that was conflicting

No, Vista (or below) doesnot even have a trim functionality built in. This is why programs such as SSD tweaker exist for Vista and XP. Only Win7+ has auto trim support

Welcome to this wonderful forum sir and hello from India . Hope you enjoy the forums.

Is readyboost service disabled?

Still no effect on the problem? Well then that's peculiar

Is indexing completely disabled via services.msc? I used to experience this issue when I had it enabled

Any useless startup apps?

Your SSD is corsair, right? I think Corsair offers an SSD toolbox that performs manual trim and supports Windows XP through 10 Otherwise, you can use SSD tweaker pro (that's what I use)

Firefox, Chrome, MS Office apps all open almost in like 1-2 seconds of clicking (on a Kingston SSD). Note that my install of Vista on SSD is updated until Jan 2020 ( before esu updates started arriving )

Are you manually trimming your SSD? I do manual trim almost 4-5 times on a daily basis and this has not happened to me since then.