However, if the card is soldered to the motherboard (common in netbooks), the manual driver installation above is your only practical fix.
Here is why:
The situation is a classic example of "abandonware" in the PC hardware world. The manufacturer is gone, and Microsoft has moved on. However, by using the Windows 8.1 driver repository and forcing it via Device Manager (with driver signature enforcement disabled), you can revive this adapter for basic web browsing and email. Ralink Rt3090bc4 V20a Driver
This happens because: