This would be very useful but I’m sure this will be addressed in a C Pro 8 update? Thanks for chiming in.
Jono
It seems like most of the people in this discussion have little or no experience with 8.1. I am on it since it came out and once you have it configured how you want it, you see the benefit. Mainly 8.1 is much more efficient and less resource intensive.
If you like Win 7 and have no reason to upgrade don’t. However no one should look at an upgrade to 8.1 as a bad thing. It works great.
Thanks man!
I have decided to take the plunge and upgrade to Win 8.1. Currently installing it. Here goes nothing…
I’m staying on Win7x64 until the first service pack for Windows 10 is released. There’s nothing broken enough in W7 to warrant the days of work in rebuilding that will be necessary, and there’s certainly no point in going to 8.1 with 10 already announced.
In any case, when I do jump it’ll be onto a new boot drive (SSD) with the option to switch back to 7.
You are talking absolute sense. What can I say, I’ve had a few beers haha!
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES EVEN IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT EVEN CONSIDER CHANGING TO THAT PILE OF JUNK THAT IS WINDOWS 8!!!
CUBASE 8 coming from 5 is so far outstandingly great!
I have finally finished installing Win 8.1 (with latest updates). I have installed Cubase Pro 8 (full install not update) and now the brand new C Pro update 8.0.5
I watched this excellent video on youtube about setting up and tweaking Win 8.1 for Audio Production (thank you to who ever took the time out to make it) and so far everything is great. About to see if the ‘Always on Top’ Bug has actually been ironed out because (to me) that was very annoying. So far I’m very happy I made the switch to Win 8.1
I guess some people’s definition of “Junk” is very different to mine. I wouldn’t even know where to begin with coding a piece of software, especially an OS.
Sorry, I forgot to add a link for the Youtube Video “Tweaking Windows 8.1 for Audio Production” (Just in case anyone is interested). Very useful.
Jono
I fell for the Mac hype. Moved from win7 on my projector with a 12 foot screen to 2 27 inch Apple things. I bitch and moan constantly. Constantly because I am a power user and I don’t like the restrictions of the Mac. Still trying to love Mac because it sure is pretty on the desk. Not worth it though. Not worth it at all for the price paid. I would not do it again.
Windows 8 can boot and launch applications faster than Windows 7, but that’s it. It offers very nearly zero improvements as far as music production goes, and offers less backward compatibility with older applications and devices than Windows 7 does.
If your computer was built for Windows 8 and your software and hardware work on it, the OS is fine (8.1 is, at least… 8.0 was rough around the edges). But if you’re already running fine under Windows 7, upgrading to Windows 8.1 won’t offer any benefits other than the faster boot/launch times.
I guess some people’s definition of “Junk” is very different to mine. I wouldn’t even know where to begin with coding a piece of software, especially an OS.
Exactly and neither would they. Or me. Even if some do, like guitarists’ styles, they don’t know how Cubase is coded exactly. What particular trade tricks they use to get an end result or how they tweak things for efficiency or even what mistakes might be in the coding. What computers they use or hardware it’s tested on.
Fast food is junk food. Ditto software. You have to wait for it to cool after it’s out of the oven or you might burn your mouth.
Everything is working brilliantly in Win 8.1! I’m not experiencing CPU spikes, performance is much better (on my PC) and ASIO Guard is actually doing something because I have to say, I didn’t notice it doing anything whilst in Win 7. Now this may be nothing to do with changing OS but all I know is since updating my OS and making sure I installed the latest drivers and updates installed (completely from scratch - a clean installation of everything), things at this minute are running better than ever. All my gear is working (including a Midex 8 with Steinberg’s Unsupported driver) so I have no care in the World about anymore backwards compatibility. I like the new feel and look of Win 8.1!
To each their own.
Windows 8.1 keeps my “Desktop” clean and safe for audio production.
I limit my desktop S/W to audio only programs and use the Metro / Modern apps for everything non audio related.
This way I can avoid the mysterious growth of background services that eventually harm my pristine audio only environment.
These Modern apps run in a sandbox and as long as you respond with NO whenever asked if they can run in the background, they will never impact your audio production. This is major — and along with the fast boot times and the fact that all my H/W drivers are happy, I would never consider using Win 7 again.
Yay! 
Just to confirm, is this on Win 8.1 x64, even though your sig still says Win 7 x64?
Yes! Sorry, I haven’t updated my sig. I shall do that now!
Midex 8 works on Win 8.1 (64bit) and with Cubase Pro 8 (64 bit) using Steinberg’s unsupported driver! I’m more than happy about this!
Jono
Thank you so much for this wonderful news – makes my day!
Windows 7 has the beautiful GUI “AERO glass”. Works great with multimedia and has very good and overall stable performance.
Windows 8.1 works even better then Windows 7 did.
Windows 8.1 are more secure and faster. The OS itself has less impact on disk and are more optimized for multimedia like Audio, Video DAWs etc. Win 8.1 has a special “smart disk” enhancement and ability too. The only bad thing is that it hasn’t the beautiful GUI “AERO glass” look anymore.
Windows 10 (Release second or third quarter 2015)- Are the best of both worlds.
Comes with more and all functions you find in Windows 8.1. Windows 10 will be even more better optimized for multimedia, audio video, game then any previously released Windows version ever have before.
You have the ability to run smart apps directly on the desktop instead of Metro. You have also virtual desktops views that you can design as of own liking. The beautiful GUI “AERO glass” comes back as a new re-worked Windows 10 AERO version.
In new Windows 10 you will get the virtual assistance Cortana, that talk to interact by speech directly with the user. This is the beginning and the first step of intelligent computers that talk to interact with the user. She knows everything about you and she learns everyday about you and your family members, pets, were you eat, what you eat and so on. Like a human assistance.
Soon mouse and keyboard will be in the past.
Best Regards
Freddie
Now you are bloody scaring me. 
As soon as Cubase starts criticising my playing I’m off.
Cubase H.A.L. Pro