Windows 8.1 update question

[prof]

A buddy was given a hand-me-down HP Pavilion G6 laptop. It has the original version of Windows 8 which he hates. Is it possible to update it to Win 8.1 for free?? I thought I read something about Microsoft only allowing Win 8 owners to update to 8.1 by a certain date last year and if you didn't update to Win 8.1 by that date then you were going to have to pay to move to Win 8.1. Am I wrong about that??

TIA,
prof

P.S.- If he can't upgrade to Win 8.1 without paying then I'll have to install Win 7 on it for him, but I think getting the drivers to make it work is no easy task.

[M A V I C]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windo...8-tutorial

[Carm]

Upgrade to Windows 7.
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Op...-p/2301515

[prof]

Many thanks for the extremely helpful replies guys!

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Mine won't stop nagging me to update to 8.1 every time I wake it from sleep.

Connect it to the innertubes, run update (maybe several times), then restart and leave it on the desktop for a few minutes and it should ask you to start the 8.1 process.