Just put 8.1 on the laptop...still looks like crap.
Must've put it on wrong, then! 
Has to be cos it looks alright here. 
When clicking to install 8.1, was the mouse in your left or right hand? Makes all the difference, you know.
See, if you used the left and and yours is a right handed mouse, what you'll get is a mirrored image... what's on the left of the screen should be on the right and vise versa. Hence you have a feched up screen that looks like sh!te
Same thing if yours is a left handed mouse but was held in the right hand during execution.... just the opposite way around. And still looking like sh!te.
I had a similar thing happen this one time I was downloading centrefolds from the playboy site... or was it the Penthouse site... and was it the one time or more often than that... anyway, doesn't matter, cos I was holding the mouse in the wrong hand I got mirrored images. It took a while to figure out why the boobies were all pointing the other way, but I got there, and conversely, how I figured out how to install Win 8 correctly.
That is probably why everybody who hates Win 8 hates 8... held the mouse in the wrong feching hand at installation.
And over at Intel, the bloke responsible for naming CPUs has elected to call the next high-end batch i9s.
Why, because he's on a strict diet at home and he don't want his wife to get the wrong end of the stick.
The other offerings will be a range of i4 and i6's. And that's another thing! If ikt was up to me I'd have all hardware and software with proper names, not just numbers. I mean, there's not a lot of difference between i6 and i7, or between Windows 95 and 98... and Windows ME for fech's sake, that's just initials and just as confusing... XP for crying out loud. There'd be much less confusion if it were all named... with proper names. Nicknackpaddywack give a dog a bone can't be confused with Longjohntiddlywacker, doctor John the kidney cracker, now can it. Right, so proper names it is, then.
I just click the Show/Hide Desktop button in the right corner of the taskbar, a built-in feature in Windows 7 and 8. All my desktop icons, ObjectDock and everything disappear giving me a clean desktop. That is the easiest way, no need for extra software for something that simple.
Now then, if we all thought like that: "Fech the 3rd party software if the OS does the job.", even if it is only half-assed, then Stardock would be out of a job, wouldn't they!!!! Orright, so get with the programme and install Fences to show your support. It's not like it'll cost you any extra, and just think of all the kustomization kiddies at Stardock who'll be so much better off when we all stick with the programme. And all their kiddies at home, at school, running the streets... they'll appreciate it too.
Oh, and if anybody thinks I've got too much time on my hands, get off my feching back. I'm feching suffering here... suffering, I tells ya!! Apart from the usual insomnia and restless leg syndrome, I feching hurt all over, and at 3.15am, when I should be in bed snoring off the covers, I'm wide awake and bouncing off the walls. Well I'm not hurting quite as much as I was earlier, cos I took some quick-release Trameedo, which have made it more bearable, but me thinks that's why I'm bouncing off the walls... boing, boing, ding...
I'm not high exactly, but every time I hit something hard, I hear all these bings, bangs, ding dings and boing boings, like I'm trapped in a pinball machine.... oi, wait a minute...
Orright, back again... 'twas the pinball ringtone on my mobile, hehe. 
So, that stopped the noises in my head... now what to do about bouncing off the walls?.... thud, bang, wallop.
