MS forced install to Windows 8.1 after I click on Remind me later.

I am also having this problem. I find myself having to periodically reboot to prevent the install from occurring. 

I definitely, DEFINITELY have not clicked "Install" because the last 2 times I have upgraded to 8.1 I eventually wound up with a corrupted install and had to reimage my machine. The 1st time I wasn't sure what caused the problem, but after the 2nd time I noticed that it only happened after I updated to 8.1. 

I've kept 8 installed for the last 7 or 8 months and I haven't had a single problem. Given the amount of work it takes me to update my machine (my base hardware configuration is Vista, then I have to use my Win 8 update, then I have to reinstall all of my applications)... I absolutely guarantee I did not "accidentally" click on anything. 

I find forcing an install to be intolerable given that it essentially forces me to reimage and lose data. Similarly I find that representatives placing the blame on the community to be a terrible decision that is not customer-focused. If you don't know if your software is doing that I'd much rather you own that ignorance rather than deflect the blame.

Ok Jim, thank you. I'll cross the mystery drive off my worry list.

4% fragmentation is effectively the same as 0%.  It probably won't change.

Thank you Jim for providing the MSR partition link. It is very informative and likewise provides additional links for further understanding. If the mystery volume is the Microsoft Reserved Petition (which does not receive a partition ID) do you know why it would be fragmented by 4%. Also, if the fragmented percentage does increase, at what percent may it be considered a problem?

I wish I understood how Microsoft intended the notification ribbon to work, i.e. if it was meant to force the upgrade. According to the HP website, I needed to update some drivers for 8.1 before the shift from 8 to 8.1. Sadly, I didn't get the chance. I  feel troubled by Microsoft's silence in the face of  all these comments on this thread, (and other threads, no doubt). Why should we be thrown into the surprise of a forced update, and later, be left alone to pick up the pieces?

At this time, the option to do a system recovery and revert back to W8 seems futile if the same forced update may once again occur. There's always a risk to doing a recovery, and who knows...a second forced update to a new operating system may be worse than what I've had to cope with  since early September. 

Thanks again for helping me.

This is truly horrendous - my computer automatically updated overnight to windows 8.1 - when I woke to find it not working this morning I then set off on a 3 hour odyssey to try to get it to function - the farthest I got was that it now lets me sign in, then my desktop appears with icons, remains on for a couple of minutes and then starts alternately flashing up the blue screen of death and the desktop picture of my dear daughter before finally freezing on the pic of my daughter with no icons and no way to address the problem but to restart and set the same loop in motion again.  From reading these posts it is clear to me that MS is engaged in what, at a minimum, seems to be an unfair trade practice and has clearly damaged me and a number of other people.  Does anyone know how to reset the computer clock to an earlier time so that I can hopefully return it to functionality - I am with the person who said they were going to go with Apple on their next purchase - this "new and improved" unwanted updates forced upon people by MS is intolerable - I have YET to receive a single MS update of this magnitude that has not caused me hours of problems and lost productivity trying to work through them and this has occurred on EVERY computer I have ever owned so I know it is a MS problem and not the computer manufacturers doing it.  Any help on the reset process would be appreciated. Thanks,  John