metro UI apps unstable

Early in December 2012 I upgraded to Windows 8 pro from Windows 7 Home on my ACER s3-951 ultrabook (i7 processor). The system ran well for about 2 weeks. On December 15th, my system automatically rebooted to get a windows update. I could hear the computer from the other room.

When I returned to the PC, the metro UI was frozen and was not responsive to input. Rebooting did not fix this. Switching to the administrator account, the Metro UI appeared to work fine. After asking on various message boards, I gave up and did a system reset. I followed directions from the ACER site and installed all the Windows 8 drivers for my system.

I also created a brand new account for my use.

The Metro UI is working, but many of the applications are unstable or don't work. Skype started up, query me for permissions, asked for my skype ID, and then proceeded to hang. Eventually skype gets an error code. I have since reloaded the desktop version.

I associated my login account with one of my Microsoft accounts. Mail would not let me add google accounts. I discovered by accident that the mail program was hanging on my windows account because it did not have an associated email account. I switched my windows account to use my live.com account and mail started working properly.

Netflix is very unstable. It sometimes starts a movie, but if I click on the movie screen to adjust the volume or fast forward my location in the movie, the controls never appear and within seconds Netflix crashes. Occasionally, Netflix starts, but hides the cursor. In these occasions clicking on the screen WILL bring up the controls, but the cursor never appears. Sometimes when starting a moving, the buffer makes it to 37% and then stops. I can hear the sound, but get no video.

Other Metro UI apps have equally bizarre behavior.

I am about to wipe my computer using the remove and reinstall option. This will require a lot of my time.

So far, I have been very unhappy with Windows 8. I expected this all to work, but instead, I am wasting a lot of time.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this shy of doing a remove and reinstall?

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