WINDOWS 8

This thing FAST.

It is free.

It auto detects even the proprietary gizmos on my IBM laptop and as soon as the operating system is installed everything is working; you don't have to go to the manufacture's site to get this or that add-on or driver.

I am seriously blown away.

I can not wait to play GW2 on Windows 8. This thing SCREAMS. It's my old laptop with this new operating system on it and I am already installing all my other software.

Did I mention how quick this thing is?

Seriously; go here, get this:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download

There is much not to like about Windows 8.

Good: they got rid of the Aero interface which was a resource hog and slowed things down. Bad (in my opinion): they introduced the new Metro interface which make you PC look like a giant cell phone; the individual tiles take up acres of real-estate on screen. Using these tiles and the associated apps results in leaving open, operating apps running on your screen, using up resources with no easy way to stop them.

Its a matter of learning, using the task manager, you can stop all running tasks and you can get to a near Windows 7 desktop fairly simply. At this point, you are left with a screaming fast operaing system. I am hunting around of the configuration setting to stop the Metro interface and let you log in straight to the desktop, and I will see if there an easy way to get a more standard menu to launch installed applications like Office. If I can find those, this operating system choice will be no contest.

8 is fast.

There is one other particularly bad thing about Windows 8. It expires on January 15. It can not be upgraded. It can not be uninstalled. It must be reformatted and reinstalled with a permanent OS.

Good thing I installed mine on a separate partition!