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My elderly PC, Win XP, has been giving me problems for about a year now and I've decided to take drastic action.
1. Should i just buy a new cheap laptop/notebook with Win8 already installed?
2. Should I download Win8 and hope it will solve old problems?
3. Should I buy a CD with win8, install it and hope that will solve my problems?
Any advice gratefully received.
Thanks
Hi SWB, and welcome to the DCT forum.
(please excuse the abbreviation, I couldn't bring myself to call anyone a "seawitch"... blue or any other color) 
It's more than likely that the aging hardware and an aging operating system would both be contributing to your problems.
Optimum choice, in my opinion, would be your option #1 - buy a new cheap laptop/notebook with Win8 already installed (if finances allow).
The new machine's specs, even if somewhat low-end by today's standards, would still almost certainly be a big improvement over what you've got now.
It also makes economic sense to go that way; if your existing PC is "elderly" it is most likely nearing the end of its lifespan anyway, and anything could break at any time. Imagine if you paid for the new operating system, installed it on your old XP machine and it then broke down. You'd still be up for a new machine and chances are it would come with Window 8 pre-installed anyway.
Most things get to an age where spending money on repairs is not an economical option, including computers. You replace something one day and something else breaks a week later, and so on. In most cases, by the time you've finished, it would have much less expensive (and inconvenient) to just replace the item with a brand new one in the first place.
Anyway, that's my advice for what it's worth; in the long run I believe you'll be better off financially and much happier with a brand new machine for your brand new operating system.
Cheers... Jim
Thanks Jim!
That was what I had decided.
I've already saved as much as I want from the Hard Drives so I think I will look for a hammer and take it to a dump!
Cheers
Carol
Carol, don't forget to 'save' your Favorites/Bookmarks too. And if you use a locally installed email client (rather than webmail), you should also save your contacts and account details. These can all be saved to a flash drive or external hard drive via "export" options in the existing programs but only with the old operating system up and running. Then, when you get the new machine, you can simply "import" them back.
If you need any assistance with that just holler.
Cheers... Jim
Hi Jim,
My problems with the PC have been going on for so long that everything I needed has long since been saved. Indeed, 3 years ago I bought a MacBook! But there were occasions when I need a PC app which was not available on then Mac.
So last Thursday I took myself off to PC World and got a lovely ACER
With Min 8.1, I was assured, installed.
Getting to grips with Win8 has been challenging to say the least - I still can't access an "About" page to see if it IS 8.1 or only 8!
I was about to take myself off to the Win* forum only to find I was already here.
So how to find "About"?
Thanks again, expect to see me around a lot:-)
Carol
Carol
Before you take a hammer to the hard drive, how about deleting the data permanently by writing zeros to the drive?
You could then keep it as a back up drive.
All the best
Marc
Carol, that information is in the same place it's always been. You need to go to Control Panel -----> System.
If you right click down in the bottom left hand corner of the screen (adjacent to the Start button) a menu will appear which includes direct links to both Control Panel and System.
Another way you can tell if it's Win 8 or Win 8.1 is via the Start button. If you can't see a Start button on the desktop then it is Windows 8, if the Start button is visible then it is Windows 8.1.
Windows 8/8.1 is a bit of a learning curve, but we are here for you mate... no worries!!
Cheers... Jim
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