Hi
I'm going to add this link because it's related to the previous one.
It has information about creating drive images in Windows 8.1.
How to Create and Restore System Image Backups on Windows 8.1
I'm glad to find there are ways to make system image backups that will retain your installed software.
My personal opinion is that a back up that doesn't include your software is pretty much useless, you might as well put in the DVD and do a clean install.
I suppose there really will be a lot of people who don't have any installed software beyond the Windows Apps.
If you only do email and the internet I guess that's all you need.
My wife doesn't really do any much more than that, and she has essentially 3 computers, her iPad, her laptop, and her iPhone all of which do these functions.
On the other hand people with PCs are likely to run a lot of software that you can't get as an App from Microsoft.
For them creating a backup that will restore their software is important.
Why Microsoft has decided that they don't need to consider them is a mystery to me.
Maybe they just figured that the people who do use more sophisticated software will figure out how to do it, or use third party software.
Mike