Hi all, its been ages since I last posted here.

My beloved Toshiba laptop went and died on me

Anywayz I finally got enough $$$ together and got myself an ASUS N550JK laptop

The downside to this flash new piece of kit is it came pre-installed with Windows 8.1 ...

Obviously one of the first things I wanted to do (after making a USB system image and such) was customize the heck out of it. As far as Windows 8 goes, to be perfectly honest I'm not entirely sold, I like my Windows 7 very much and am familiar with all its workings.
So the temptation to scrap this pre-installed Windows 8.1 has been on my mind since first booting up this new laptop. But I'm willing to give Windows 8.1 a chance and see how it goes customizing it, and maybe it might grow on me ...

I have a few questions for the guru's here if they would be so kind:

1. My version of Windows is 8.1 but looking around the forums I see a lot of customizations available for Windows 8.1.1
Will those work with 8.1 or are they specific only to 8.1.1? Also can I update/upgrade to 8.1.1 to make things easier?

2. I downloaded MrGrims HUD Evolution 8.1 and its just a bunch of folders with no exe ...
Sorry but all the themes I've ever used from here have been paid for themes from the VCShop and have all been exe's and easy for a noob like me to install.
If someone would be so kind as to explain or maybe there is a tutorial on how to get a theme that is not exe to work?

Really want to customize this laptop, but also this thing cost me heaps, so I dont want to stuff it up, especially since Windows 8.1 is a bit WTH!?

There is a Zero-G (my all time favorite theme) that is for 8.1.1 that I would REALLY love to have on this laptop. Anyone a Windows 8 guru here that can help, It'd be muchly appreciated