People make a big deal about the tile approach. In all honesty, you would only use those, I think, if you had a touchscreen. In Windows 8.1 you can open to the Desktop just like you always would. I have all the apps that I use regularly along the bottom of the Desktop screen. One of those is Control Panel so you can access all the Windows stuff. On the far bottom left is a link to the tile view where you can see all the apps you have in a much better way than Windows ever showed it before (IMHO).

Don't waste your time with 7, go straight for the latest OS, it's the approach of the future, with a lot of advantages.

Graham,........I am gonna have to really go try win 8 somewhere and see what it can do for my needs. I agree the future will be a better fit with Win 8 down the road

The Top Ten ways a musician knows he’s getting older…

#10) It becomes more important to find a place on stage for your fan than for your amp

#9) You have to stop the song because your ibuprofen fell behind the speaker

#8) All your fans leave by 9:30

#7) You check the TV schedule before booking a gig

#6) You need a nap before, during and after the gig

#5) The only Rolling Stones you care about are in your gallbladder

#4) You start listing your truss as a business expense

#3) The only white powder you have is on your feet

#2) You actually ask the guitar player to "turn up"

And The Number One way.......… You don’t recover from a Saturday night gig until sometime on Tuesday.

Donny ... I am using Win7 on my desk top PC ... Lydia is using Win8 with no problems ... As Graham said, you an use the Desktop screen just like you are now ... But I think you are correct in trying out Win8 first ...

Well support for XP from Microsoft ended this week so it will be a haven for hackers unfortunately as there will be no more security patches for it. It has been said that any exploit to hack into XP have probably been held off waiting for MS to stop providing patches. XP is now dangerous. I am using Windows 8 and it is fine but Windows 8.1 is the way to go because support for 8.0 ends in 2016. Even though I have always used a Windows PC I have to say an Apple Mac is a very viable option. Not that it can't be hacked but because it is a minority it isn't being targeted ... yet.

I tried Win 8 when they provided a few months free trial, but reverted back to my Win 7 On Desktop PC. My updates are switched off but never had any hacking problems. I do an Image restore every few months to get back to a clean start.
I also use an ANDROID Tablet and the OS which is very slick. Pity Windows OS's have to be so very large.

My 2 cents. I have a dual boot Mac Book Pro, I run Windows 8 on one of the partitions, I prefer Windows 7 to Windows 8. Most of the time I'm logged into the Mac Books operating system, but certain programs I use work better for me on the Windows partition.

Donny or anyone else on XP until you upgrade

1. Stop using XP as an administrator. Use it as a limited user instead. Add an account as an administrator and then demote your existing account to limited user. This will stop over 90% of all the exploits out there.
2. Stop using Internet Explorer. Go with Google Chrome. It's far more secure.
3. Don't click on links in email.
4. Only get your software from original vendors.
5. Keep your anti virus software up to date.
6. Stop using Java.

You do these things, you'll be fine moving forward until you upgrade.

-

On Win 8.1 how is navigating with the TILES versus older Win OS versions..

Slight learning curve to it. The shortcuts below are helpful to speed and ease navigation. Any Win 8.1 user's best friend is the Windows key, it's a one touch key that switches between the Windows desktop and the tiles.

Windows-D: Go to the bare desktop. If you're in the Start screen, you just switch to the desktop. If you're in the desktop, it behaves like the Windows 7 hotkey, toggling between running applications and the bare desktop.
Windows Key: Switches between the Start screen and the last application used.
Windows-C: Shows the Charms bar.
Windows-R: Goes to the desktop and shows the Run dialog box.
Windows-E: Opens the computer, which enables you to use the file manager.
Windows-I: Pops up settings, where you can easily get to the Windows settings screen or shut down the PC.
Windows-X: Brings up the Simple Start menu, allowing easy access to key system-management apps, like the control panel.

I've been watching Win7 & win 8.1 demo videos and I have to say for my needs Win 7 is much more familiar and comfortable to use IMO.