I bought Win 8 Pro at the introductory price of $40 or $50 but never tried it until now. I just tried the 32 bit version now on my oldest machine, which normally runs Win XP. It just had a single hard disk connected. The CPU is a Pentium D (dual core) 2.8 GHz and there is 2 GB RAM.

After starting installation (each stage took several minutes with no change to the display) until I got an error message saying that either a hard disk or a USB or a DVD needed a driver, and to please insert a disc containing it. I presume that it was the hard drive that it was complaining about, since the Win 8 DVD was in the DVD drive and apparently working. I tried both parallel and serial hard drives with the same result.

I guess Win 10 would not work either. It would be nice to have a more specific error message, though.

Yes, but it will keep bugging you about switching to a windows account especially if you try to use any apps.

The biggest problem I have is permissions which started with Windows 7.
JJK

I totally agree with JJKizak - permissions in Windows 7 and 8 is a disaster - it must have been devised by someone with a Masters Degree in Convolution and Confusion. Same with Homegroup as well.

'Hands-on with Microsoft's new Windows 10: UI changes that look great at first blush'

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2689230/hands-on-with-microsofts-new-windows-10-ui-changes-that-look-great-at-first-blush.html

VMP

Altarvic said press Alt+F4 to close a window - works in all Windows versions

The few times I've used Win8 (one of our clients sells computers so I see a bit of product) I've found that pretty much all the keyboard shortcuts I used in Windows 98 worked just fine in Win8. In fact, I find it easier to use Win8 with keyboard shortcuts than with a mouse or touchscreen.

The problem with that, of course, is the most people want to use the mouse.

Rob

I installed 10, after cloning a W8.1 drive on my workbench computer. So far, impressed, but then again, I'm a huge fan of W8 in general. The Start button is back (yawn), but that should (if that's even possible) appease the large segment who so missed the loveable little bugga.

The new Start button IS pretty cool, very flexible, the Virtual Desktops seems like a great feature as well, lots of attention paid to the power user, which is great. I like the new File Explorer default settings, all in all, pretty awesome, I want it on my main desktop, but I'll probably wait on that for a while.

I had many apps installed on my workbench computer, all of which seem to work fine, including Vegas 13, Adobe's CC (Photoshop, Premiere and AE). Guitar Rig 5 works with my Line 6 UX1 interface which is what I mainly use that computer for, since it's pretty much a test computer (old, too) latency is set to it's lowest position with no glitching, which is great. I will begin to kick the tires a bit more as time permits.

A few comments on some of the above posts...

re: a Microsoft account. If you use Windows 8 without one, then of course, you should really hate the tiles, they're a useless appendage, but... if you do create an account (really, it's like using an ipad or iPhone without an Apple ID, you can't do most of the things it was designed to do) then the tiles screen actually begin to look pretty effing good.

I think someone commented on the lack of a decent "search" in W8? Whaaaat? I find the search function to be the deal breaker, it makes the Start Button obsolete, and put's any other OS that I'm familiar with to shame in that department, and it really unlocks the keys to the... OK, I digress, I guess I like the Search function. Anyone who uses W8 should at least try it if they haven't yet. Tap the Windows key to get to the tiles screen and start typing.

The search in Win 8 is the best I've ever known - ever. It's really made me lazy. Wanna document/picture/video/anything? Just put it in the search box. There in secs. Doesn't even have to be the whole name. Brilliant. I was a win 8 hater for sure when I first started using it, but it's won me over totally......well almost...LOL.

How easy is it to RESTRICT a search to, say, just emails. In XP Desktop search a single click. In w7 I've got to type longhand the likes of "!outlook" in addition to the search argument else potentially get a wad of clutter.

geoff

There presumably is a minimum hardware requirement ....

geoff

"The problem with that, of course, is the most people want to use the mouse."

Many of us started using computers that used the command line interface (or paper tape or punched cards). Even the Unix clone Linux is mostly used with a mouse. With my poor memory and typing skills, a well designed graphical interface suits me better.

Out of interest, did you check through the privacy policy before you installed version 10? From Yahoo! news:

Windows 10 preview lets Microsoft collect private data in frightening ways

Edit: more info from the Inquirer

"There presumably is a minimum hardware requirement ...."

There is but it was expressed in terms that doesn't mean much to me. (CPU instruction set). In my case I think the motherboard is the problem. It presumably needs a driver that is not available for Win 8.

@ Kit that is indeed almost like hacking in.

VMP

re privacy....

it's a BETA, you don't have to use it, and if you do the idea is that m$ can get some idea of how people use it, what apps are used, etc., etc.,

if, upon release, the privacy remains unchanged (not that i think there's any such thing as privacy on the net), i would be both hesitant to install and even more suspicious of m$ than ever.

I can' see myself upgrading. I'm guessing the final privacy policy will be worse than Windows 8 and even if it wasn't I don't like the in-your face pushing of Microsoft Accounts. Only if they curtailed that do I think I would be interested.

I am almost exclusively a listener on this forum, and have learned almost everything I know about editing with Vegas Pro from the knowledgeable, patient, generous and good-humored folks who engage here. And I'm not referring to anyone in particular in this thread when I say that with regard to privacy concerns in connection with Windows 10--

You guys are HILARIOUS.

There exist reams of data on each of you derived solely from your searches on Google, Bing, Yahoo, et al.
Psychographic and socioeconomic profiles of you were born with your first [offline] purchase using a credit card, and have been refined every day since.
When you started buying online, that data was added to your profile.
Your consumer credit report is available for the asking to almost anybody about to hire you, sell something substantial to you, rent a home to you--in fact, the only person who generally has to jump through hoops to get a copy of your credit report is you.
Details of your present and past home addresses, your relatives, your marriages and divorces, child custody and support cases, work history, civil and criminal court cases in which you were named are only a couple of mouse-clicks and a $4.95 credit card payment away from anyone with an internet connection.
Your mobile phone tracks your movements about the landscape as though it were a court-ordered electronic ankle-bracelet, keeps track of the people and organizations you text and call, monitors your mobile purchases and logs what websites you visit and videos you watch.
An entire industry has grown up around the task of aggregating your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, WordPress and the rest of social media--including forums like this one right here.
And starting with the college or university you attended, countless organizations and businesses have used your Social Security number to identify you (you're required to provide your SSN when a government agency asks for it; in the case of any other entity, you are not legally bound to provide it, but if you don't, the entity is free to refuse to do business with you) and the number is one of the primary ways you are identified in databases.

But a Microsoft login on Windows 10?

THAT is where you draw a line in the sand.

Which you then photograph with your camera phone and post to Facebook.

Stop it--you're killing me! HILARIOUS.

LOVE you guys.

As ominous as all that sounds (and is), the mortal risk for someone getting access to all my personal information is that they could be bored to death.

As long as they stay out of my bank account, I don't care what these companies know about me, I have absolutely nothing to hide.

there's nothing in my bank account anyway ;-)

as jd says - whoever might be interested in my data would be bored to death in seconds - i'm probably not even worth target marketing to ;-)

[I]Details of your present and past home addresses, your relatives, your marriages and divorces, child custody and support cases, work history, civil and criminal court cases in which you were named are only a couple of mouse-clicks and a $4.95 credit card payment away from anyone with an internet connection.[/I]

I hear this from people all the time, yet have never been able to find out much at all about me, so, I tell you what, I will buy you something worth $5 if you can look up my details and post them here.

is that $4.5 credit card look-up in the US?

here in blandford, australia EVERYONE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYONE. ah, village life ;-)