Windows 7 or Windows 8

[jetsmell]

I currently have Windows 8. The computer is used mainly for The Microsoft Flight Simulator. From the opinion of many simmers Windows 7 is better. They claim there are certain issues with Windows 8 that could cause problems. I have a Windows 7 Home Premium disc. right here on my shelve. How difficult would it be to change my operating system ? I have a WD External Hard Drive, would I have to do something with that? Thanks in advance

 

[BikerEcho]

It's easy to Install another OS.
Just boot up the disk, Chose advance setup, Delete your drive and press install.
It's should be straight forward.

 

[jetsmell]

My flight simulator is on C drive along with many add ons. Some add ons are on the eteternal hard drive. What do I do with all that?

 

[BikerEcho]

well you will have to take backup off all the data you don't want to lose.
When formatting you are gonna lose all data on the C drive. (BTW: plug out all external drives so you don't accidentally format the wrong one)

 

[strollin]

Are you having any problems using your flight simulator software on Windows 8? You said some people said it could cause problems, but do you have any? If you aren't having issues then I would not bother with changing the OS.

It may not be quite as easy to do as BikerEcho has indicated. If your laptop is UEFI based instead of BIOS based (many newer computers that come pre-installed with Windows 8 are UEFI based) then there are extra steps you will need to take to be able to install a new OS. Here's a YouTube video that shows what you need to do in case of a UEFI based computer: How to remove Window 8 and Install Window 7 / How to downgrade window 8 back to window 7 - YouTube

As Biker said, you will lose everything on your boot drive so you will need to reinstall all of your addons. Your data can be backed up and restored but all of your programs will need to be reinstalled.