Thanks for your post. May I suggest Linux Mint or Ubuntu, as most programs that are on windows have linux alternatives, it is an alternative to the spyware infested windows distros.

http://www.zdnet.com/windows-8-belongs-on-older-pcs-like-a-fish-needs-a-bicycle-7000002747/

Cheers,
CB
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________-
Oh Yippee, great minds think alike. I should warn anybody in China especially to steer clear of WINDOZE. If you really must, use a good WIn7-loader, that will receive updates, but do not attempt to use "Security Essentials" because Microsoft like to, every so often, hide an update in that programme, especially designed to suss- out loaders and deactivate your operating system. Better to use something like free-edition AVG.

What you can do is have Linux as your sole inhabitant of your hard drive and then invite Win 7 as a virtual guest on a virtual engine. That is something you may want to do if you really must use Chinese QQ, which has never been welcome on Linux because of all the viruses that come pack and parcel.

Linux is brilliant on all machines, new or old; however, if you have an old laptop or desktop, Linux might be your only option since it is likely that you will lose the use of some hardware, like sound, webcam, printers and stuff, when you update from XP to 7. Linux is brilliant at finding software to give your hardware a new lease of life.