Well, the upgrade is done. Here are a few things that I noticed.
1) During the setup part, Microsoft again tries very hard to push a Microsoft account. If all you have is a local account (which I do), you have to read all the options. You can complete the process with just a local account. So, don't think you have to create a new local account, or a Microsoft account. You can use your existing local account. Just make sure you read everything.
2) All of the apps that I removed when I installed Windows 8, along with a bunch of new ones come back. As noted in another thread, there are now a few "core" apps that Microsoft feels everyone should have and cannot be removed (Photos is one of them).
3) In an effort to try to keep everyone "safe" I noticed that my Windows Firewall was modified. While the actual settings of the Firewall in the control panel did not change (I had it off, and its still off), the service was modified. Prior to the upgrade, I had that service set to "Disabled". After the upgrade, it was set to "Automatic" and running. So, I had to go disable that again.
4) I don't use a homegroup, so I had modified the two services (HomeGroup Listener and HomeGroup Provider) to be disabled. After the upgrade, Microsoft turned these two back on (startup type of manual). As with the Windows Firewall service, I had to go back and disable these.
5) I had to re-do all of my changes to the Start Menu folders located at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs. During the upgrade, anything that I had renamed that came with Windows 8 was added back. So, I now have multiple folders that contain the same sets of icons.
6) The upgrade leaves things behind.
• folder: C:\$Windows.~BT
• folder: C:\Windows.old
• folder: C:\users\Default.migrated
Now that is just what I noticed in the last 30 mins or so. There could be other things that changed back that I have not noticed yet.
In any case, I do have a backup, so I'm going to reformat and re-install Windows 8 Pro x64. Once I get a Windows 8.1 install ISO, I'll use that so I only have to make changes to things once!
--Brian