When I needed a new desktop five years ago, I had heard of the need to avoid Vista. I paid the store 120 bucks extra for a Vista-ectomy, and have been fine with the XP ever since.

But in the harder-faster-deeper atmosphere, with program and system support diminishing--and because of the Need for Speed--I must now upgrade. I find that more than half of the suitable offerings carry Windows 8. I'm going to have to pull the trigger while I can still get Windows 7.