upgrading a vista

[moneypit1999]

Hi, I have a vista o/s and is there any way to upgrade to something newer as nothing supports it anymore?  I have no idea what I'm doing, all I know is this PC works perfectly fine, just no windows updates antivirus etc.  I've also heard bad things about 10, from all that have had it.  So I'm leary.

[erico]

Considering the generation that your processor and motherboard come from, the best you will be able to do is Windows 7.

Otherwise, it is time to source a more current PC. It is amazing that yours is still working after so many years of service.

There are good things about Windows 10 along with the bad.

One good thing is that it is a better OS than Windows Vista ever was. 

[mdklassen]

Your computer's specifications: http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docId=c01638224

indicates that your computer probably was manufactured in 2009.

The RAM and the motherboard and the disk-drive -- the most-likely components to "fail" due to old age -- are eight years old.

I would make a backup of all your personal files, before doing anything else.

If you don't want to pay over $100 US to purchase a license for Windows 10, consider spending nothing (actually, a small donation would be welcome) to install the UBUNTU variant of Linux. 

It is a "supported" operating system, including:

* Firefox for web-browsing;

* Thunderbird for E-mail (comparable to Outlook Express or Windows Live Mail);

* LibreOffice (reads/writes Microsoft Word & Excel & PowerPoint files).

What more do you need, unless "gaming" is something that you do ?

I have installed UBUNTU onto previously-Vista computers with 2 GB of RAM (compared to your 4GB on your system) and dual-core CPUs (compared to your quad-core), and it has brought "new life" to older hardware.

[moneypit1999]

Sounds Like your idea will work, but I have no idea what your talking about. I need simple terms. Not great with PC lingo.

[mdklassen]

>  I need simple terms ...

If you are in the USA, access:  www.bestbuy.com

Into the "search" input-area, type:     refurbished desktop computers   and press ENTER.

Scroll through the list of computers.

You should be able to find one, under $150 US, that is running Windows 7 (not Windows 10).

Buy it.

It should be easy for a technophile to remove the disk-drive from your current computer, and temporarily connect it as a "slave" disk-drive in the replacement computer, and then to copy all your personal files from "old" to "new".