You can upgrade to 8.1 but be sure the computer is ready for it. What kind of machine, tell us what the features are?

My suggestion - spend $25 for a one-month subscription to http://www.lynda.com/. That site has tons of training videos. I used two or three of them to learn how to use Win8 and during the time you have the membership you can watch and rewatch the videos. (My university has a contract with them so we can watch whatever, whenever, logging on with our university ID. If we didn't have this through work, I'd probably maintain a regular membership there. It really is helpful in many ways.)

Is it a touch screen machine? That is what Win8 is really meant for.

I could describe some of it here, but it does get involved. Get the training because it is a new system and you'll appreciate learning a lot at once versus the trial and error method.

SRS