I've taken the plunge XP to Windows 8.1

Good evening yes it will be released in the Autumn,its the Beta version that is about at the moment just the early stages,I shan't mess about with that

 

Good evening I have had less viruses with Windows 8 than I did with Windows 7

 

I'll give you my Windows 7 when you pry it from from my cold, dead hands!!!!, to quote a certain American Arms Organisation. I'd have to be taken kicking and screaming before I bought a OS named Window's 8!!!! I'd not seen the advance reviews of
Window 10 until this:

.

• Microsoft released it"WINDOWS 10: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR
  Update: Microsoft's big reveal on January 21 is through. Check out a digested version of all the announcements below, and some updates on post-event confirmations from Microsoft execs, like more details on Skype and how Spartan is not a replacement for Internet Explorer. Moreover, the Consumer Preview of Window 10 is now available for you to download and check out. Below, you can out some of our first impressions of the big show:
  
  Windows 10 already won over this Windows 7 holdout
  • Plus. this Mac OS X user is equally on board
  • Windows Phone just died, but is that so bad?
  • Meanwhile, Windows 10 may have solved a major 2-in-1 device issue
  • We've rounded up the lot of HoloLens impressions
  • While one editor simply asks, "What's the deal with HoloLens?"
  With Windows 8 and now Windows 8.1, Microsoft tried – not entirely successfully – to make tablets part of a continuum that goes from number-crunching workstations and high-end gaming rigs through all-in-one touchscreen media systems and thin-and light notebooks down to slender touch tablets.
  
  The general consensus is that it still has a long way to go to produce a unified OS. Recently, Microsoft publicly made the first steps to doing just that, with Windows 10. Skipping the Windows 9 name entirely, the Redmond, Wash. firm aims to step into the next generation of computing with the right foot forward.
  
  Microsoft's Windows 10 Technical Preview is available through itsWindows Insider Program website. You'll need a Microsoft account to get it, and it's worth bearing in mind that it's not the finished product, so it will be a bit rough around the edges.
  While information regarding the Windows 10 Road Map slowly trickling through with each reveal event, this is what we know so far regarding the stymied release of Ws Windows Insider Program on October 1, 2014, designed to keep early adopters up to date with the latest preview builds of Windows 10.
• As of October 7, 2014, the preview build is available to Windows 7 users as well.
• Starting with Technical Preview for laptops and desktops, the preview build will extend to smartphones some time in February, Microsoft's Terry Myerson announced on January 21.
• The consumer preview build launched on January 23, 2015 and was made available to download through Microsoft's Windows Insider Program.
• Microsoft's Build 2015 conference next April, at which the company will have even more announcements and likely issue a Windows 10 release date.
• Finally, the company promises that Windows 10 will ship to consumers and enterprise "later in the year" in 2015, Myerson said.

Cut to the chase
What is it? A complete update of Windows
When is it out? It will launch "later in the year" in 2015
What will it cost? For Windows 8.1 users, it will be free for one year"

 

Hi Pete I have had two in a year on Windows 8 and 7 with windows 7 in a year,

Windows 8 comes with its own virus programme(Windows Defender built in) that is all I use

Windows Defender is the default real-time (always on) protection program in Windows 8 and 8.1.

Unlike the one in Windows XP, Vista and 7,
The Windows 8/8.1 version does protect from viruses and other types of malware, not only spyware.

 

Not much hope for the future then!!! Microsoft seems to live in it's own world disregarding what the consumer thinks or wants, and Windows 8 is a prime example of that. I can't think of one OS that has been so badly received, badly thought out and presented. It would appear that Microsoft has lost any connection with what the real user wants and through Windows 8 has tried to dictate what they should have............so is Windows 10 going to be better or worse??