Yesterday we deployed some of the latest Windows 8 and 8.1 updates to our users. One of them did loose network connectivity after the update. It turned out that their wireless adapter's driver was giving an error. The adapter is a Cisco Linksys AE1200 wireless-n adapter. I would try to update it online but this is a desktop PC and the room it's being used is a ethernet cable free room :)
My second problem is that this adapter is a discontinued model and Linksys' support page for this model only includes a Windows 7 driver.
How should I proceed now? Carry the PC to a room with cables, find some alternative Windows 8 drivers for the adapter, or try to use the Windows 7 driver?
(and of course there is the fourth option of using some other adapter to gain connectivity and try to update the problematic one)
You should proceed by replacing the Wireless adapter, using a piece of hardware which isn't compatible with Windows 8 could lead to all sorts of different issues and it's not worth the risk. There's quite a big difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8 in regards to the underlying OS, not just the GUI.
In the past I've seen a wireless adapter used on Windows 8 which had no Windows 7 drivers constantly drop packets after several minutes.
Maybe trying the hotspot or the second adapter options would deliver a much faster solution (or maybe they wouldn't because Windows Update wouldn't find any suitable drivers) but I tried to use the Windows 7 driver and Windows 8 accepted it without any problems.