I need to buy a new or refurbished desktop computer. I
have found a number of candidates for decent (read "low") prices,
but a number of the best of them are offered only with (you
should pardon the expression) Windows 8.

I will not have a Windows 8 computer! I don't want to
buy a new steep learning curve, and in addition to that
I've heard too many horror stories about W8.

I can buy Windows 7 at a fairly low cost, and there are good
deals on acceptable-to-me computers with (you should pardon
the expression) Windows 8, but is it possible to "downgrade"
a W-8 machine to Windows 7? And if it is possible, would I
be taking on a big mess of troubles?

Can someone here advise me? Would that John-in-Kansas were
still around.

Dave Oesterreich