[mike_gain]

Windows 8 is certainly a very different OS from any I have previously used. I have never been in a position where I have had to re-install an OS twice in less than 2 weeks because of the OS crashing beyond repair.

It would appear that Windows 8 does not like restarting on my laptop. It was happy to shutdown/boot up and go to sleep/wake up but I tried a restart last night to try and solve playback issues with TV Anywhere and BOOM! Same problem as I had last week i.e. Windows encounters problem, automatic repair kicks in and then crashes, Windows tries to start, Windows encounters problem, automatic repair starts then crashes......ad infinitum.

I am now in a quandary as to whether I should seek a refund or re-install for the 2nd time (and get support to activate my copy for a 2nd time) and hope that a service pack fixes this problem...and of course be careful not to restart.

However I wouldn't be keen to find out after my refund period that this problem gets worse and that there is no point re-installing Windows 8 again and again. In which case I'd in effect have paid £24.99 to upgrade from Vista to Ubuntu which would make me unique at best. But I'm keen to have a Windows OS on my laptop......perhaps Microsoft will give me a refund but let me keep my activated copy on the basis that it is a bit flaky and that I could give their developers some help in diagnosing the compatibility issue with my machine. As it's a Dell Inspiron it's not exactly a bespoke, niche market product so they may be keen to figure out what's going on.