Microsoft first introduced the Windows Experience Index in Windows Vista. It was used to summarize the PC’s performance in an easy-to-understand point system. The Windows Experience Index measured components of the PC such as the hard drive, RAM, CPU, graphics, gaming performance, etc. It tested each of the component and gave it a score. The lowest of the score was used as the base score of the entire PC. In theory, it was supposed to make it easy for the consumer to know if a software or game would run on their PC. For example, if a software required the PC to have a base score of 4.6 but the PC had a base score of 3.1, the user would know that the software might not be a good purchase for their PC.

However, the Experience Index did not resonate with consumers. It was also rarely used in software’s system requirements. The only people that even looked at the experience index were technical savvy people and reviewers.

Microsoft removed the Experience Index from Windows RT but kept it on the original release of Windows 8 in October of 2012. However with Windows 8.1, Microsoft has decided to kill off the Experience Index completely. I have tested this on several PCs (touch and non-touch). Before upgrading my PCs, I was able to view the Experience Index on Windows 8.0. After upgrading to Windows 8.1, they were no longer present.

As you can see on the screenshot that compares Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, the experience index is shown on Windows 8.0 and not on Windows 8.1. There is also no way the “enable” this feature. It is gone for good.