The Windows Experience Index which was later renamed as Performance Information and Tools has been taken out from the Windows 8.1 control panel. However there is still a way to run the program so that the scores still display.
The Windows Experience Index is a program which shows the performance scores for your computer’s processor, memory, graphics, gaming graphics and primary hard drive. From these scores a base score is also calculated.
It is still possible to calculate and see the Windows Experience Index on Windows 8.1. The following explains how this can be done.
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Run Windows Explorer and navigate to the following path:
C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore
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Open the Formal.Assessment (Initial).WinSAT file in Excel by right clicking the file and choosing open with -> Excel
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Choose the default values in all the prompts in Excel.
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Once open in Excel, you will be able to view the scores. The excel file will have several lines but looking at one is sufficient.
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If you want to recalculate the scores then close the excel file and delete all the files in the folder path
C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore
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Run the following command in the command prompt or by pasting it into windows explorer. If you are using a laptop, then please make sure it is plugged in, as the tool cannot run on battery power.
Winsat formal -restart
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Once the process is complete you will see that the files in the location C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore have been rebuilt. Reopen the file Formal.Assessment (Initial).WinSAT in Excel. You will find that the scores have been refreshed.
