My old laptop at home is still running XP without any problems, getting a bit slow and some graphics are not too good but otherwise no problems.
I understand that XP can run programmes that subsequent operating systems can not Purwell. I had a brilliant programme called microsoft money, and vista would not run it. 
Yes, I seem to remember XP being the best at the time and subsequently up to 7, which was also very good.
Another thing is, I think, that as Windows have been ‘improved’, it has also got much bigger and requires a more powerful computer.
I suppose some would call that ‘progress’!
Most things that you can buy - TV, Washing Machine, Motor Car, Lawn Mower…
- you would expect to get at least a good few years of service out of, but computer technology moves so fast that a machine bought today will probably be out of date in six months…Bugger that!..
I’m still running Microsoft Money … on Windows 10 :!:
IIRC, this is where I got it from when I was running Windows 8 - it transferred to Windows 10 OK but needed a registry fix which was later made permanent by MS.
Several versions are available - I use Microsoft Money2005-UK-QFE2.
That is because you must have a very old version of M$ Money. I am still running it on Windows 10. It is version 11 (2002 I think) I picked the CD up for a song on eBay.
That’s not true, Windows 10 was actually smaller and quicker than Windows 7 because they rewrote the code. Windows 7 was bloatware with recycled code from previous versions.
Whether that is still true I don’t know.
Of course you won’t notice any difference it hasn’t been changed since April 2017.
On the other hand it was such an unpopular operating system that I doubt that there are enough systems out there worth the time of a hacker to attack.
Mine is 2005 - Free … 
Windows 10 isn’t particularly heavy with hardware requirements. My Desktop computer is about 5 years old. It’s got an i5 processor, 8 gigabytes of RAM, a budget Asrock motherboard and SSD. Not particularly high specifications but still pretty nippy with Windows 10 installed (now version 1809). No need to think about a new computer yet. It was bought with Windows 8.1 installed, upgraded to Windows 10 without parting with any money during the free upgrade period.
I think I had my previous computer (running Windows 7) for more than 5 years.
I’d say the length of time these two computers were used and the cost of running them compares favourably with that of TVs, Washing Machines, Motor Cars, Lawn Mowers…
The last time I actually bought an operating system as a standalone item was when Windows 7 was offered at a pre-release price. That would have been a month or two before its release date of October 2009. It cost about £35 as I remember.
I’ve had a computer for about 24 years now and it’s true that over the time I must have spent a good bit on them. However, I’m sure if the cost of the computers and software was broken down into weekly amounts, they would be amongst the least expensive forms of interest, entertainment and working tools/items a person can get.
I had W7. I now have W10. Apart from cosmetic changes, I have noticed no real difference. W10 doesn’t seem any quicker than W7.
It’s true: Visa was unpopular. I didn’t like it either.
Windows XP was much better.
I have a similar Desktop, my Laptop is 7 years old and I’ve had Windows PCs from V3.11 onwards. They were all expensive at the time, but all are/were used for hours every day for years … 
There are plenty of bench tests which show this if you google them. I can’t remember the results but they were significant to a computer as was the difference in disk space.
Something I don’t like about later versions of WIN10 is that it does a lot of setting up after you log in and fools you into thinking it shuts down quicker by turning off the the screen long before it finishes with the disk drive.
Those are two reasons that influenced me into performing a “Reset” on my Laptop - power up/shutdown are much quicker now … 
How do you perform a ‘reset’? I might try it.
These instructions are very similar to my procedure:
These are useful, too:
Warning
Apps you installed from websites and DVDs will be removed. Apps that came with your PC and apps you installed from the Microsoft Store will be reinstalled. Windows puts a list of removed apps on your desktop after refreshing your PC.
[CENTER]* DO NOT DELETE YOUR PERSONAL FILES *[/CENTER]
After the reset and reinstallation of essential apps, I performed a couple of thorough cleans and a full defrag.
The “Reset” itself took less than 30 minutes but the “rebuild” activities had to be spread over several days, mainly because I prefer to to do one step at a time so that if anything goes wrong I know what caused it.
However, I didn’t have too many problems afterwards, just the networking issue, IIRC.
You can save time before the reset by running Belarc Advisor and noting the apps you want to keep (reinstall, if applicable) and those you don’t:
For me, it was a lot more work than I had anticipated, but I lost nothing and a 7-year-old laptop is performing like it used to …
Ah, thanks Omah.
Yes, I think I’ve read about ‘Restore’ before. Unfortunately, as far as I can see it involves not only deleting your installed programmes, but also takes quite some time to complete including, of course, reinstalling everything that has been deleted.
I’d probably do it if I found my computer slowing down to a crawl, but for the time being I’m happy with how it works.
Thanks for taking the time to explain things, though. 
Please do.
No problem … I’d only recommend it for a little-used spare PC, where mainly MS apps are used. My Laptop had several idiosyncrasies which annoyed the hell out of me (mostly because they wasted my time) but which have now been eradicated so, for me, it was worth the effort … 