Windows 8.1 hasn't been released but 10 hours to those upgrading from Windows 8, and two reliability, performance, and finishing rollups are already available. The rollups are now available from Windows Update, and I've seen one of my 4 Windows 8.1 upgrades already install them. For those tasked with deploying the rollups through a normal company patching process, they are also available for download from the Microsoft Download site.

There's also a method for installing the two updates. 2883200 needs to be installed first, and then 288486 needs to follow after.

KB2883200 can be downloaded HERE.

KB2884846 can be downloaded HERE.

The KB articles associated with these two updates are here:

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 General Availability Update Rollup (2883200)

Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 update rollup: October 2013(2884846)

What's been improved

·         Push-button reset and boot experience: Stabilizes the boot experience. Fits and finishes changes in push-button reset (PBR) and refresh. (Client and Server)

·         In-box apps: Provides reliability and stabilization fixes for inbox apps, including Camera, Photo, and Video Viewer. Stabilizes SkyDrive integration with inbox apps. (Client)

·         Graphics and multimedia platform:  Improves graphics and multimedia reliability and performance, including stabilized visuals across power states. Improves 3D performance. Improves the handling of PlayTo. (Client)

·         File server and clustering: Improves Enterprise Client Sync experience. Resolves reliability issues in continuous availability (CA) and backup scenarios involving failover clustering, Hyper-V, iSCSI and DedDup. (Server)

·         Hyper-V:  Provides general virtualization reliability fixes in Hyper-V, Network Virtualization, and Remote Desktop Virtualization for large deployments. (Server)