Win 8.1 to Win 7

Not really the solution that you asked about, but you could load one of the virtual machine systems such as Oracle's Virtualbox and run a Windows 7 virtual machine for the apps that absolutely need it and run Windows 8 for everything else.

There is no Win 7 emulation built-in to Win 8, it's possible the Technote was talking about Win 7 compatibility?

The page you linked to has nothing directly to do with Win 7 emulation. It's referring to Hyper-V which is a feature of Windows 8 that allows you to create and run virtual machines. A virtual machine is a fully functional machine but it is implemented entirely in software and runs as a program on your physical machine. With Hyper-V, you could create a virtual Windows 7 machine but you need to install Windows 7 from an install disk in order to do that.

Hyper-V isn't installed by default, it needs to be added via the "Turn Windows features on and off" function of "Programs and features".

Hyper-V requires you to be running 64-bit Win 8 Pro.

According to this Microsoft Tech Note, there is a Windows 7 emulation mode built into Windows 8 but I I can't find it in my Windows 8 Home edition. You can read about it here:

Windows 7 emulation

I have numerous programs that will not run under Windows 8. Most are specialized applications for industrial engineering use. Quite expensive to upgrade ($1000's) especially when little benefit is gained except for it running on new PC's. Also have several custom written applications. They won't run under Windows 8 because Microsoft changed several technologies they relied on. Microsoft has never thought backwards compatibility is something of importance. Their view is out with old technology, in with new, better gizmos. For me, I want reliability, stability, continuity etc but that doesn't get MS a constant money stream. My company has about 150 PC's, a few Windows 8, quite a few Windows 7, numerous XP, 2 Windows 98 and about a dozen running DOS...yes, DOS, all networked together.

Are you certain there isn't an update available for the programs you are concerned about? I've had no problems with Windows 8.1 with programs as old as Photoshop CS2.

Here's a link to a PC Magazine article: Downgrade to Win 7

Here is a decent video on how to do that.

What programs are you having problems with?