upgrading from xp to windows 8

[helms1963]

I was on here asking for help a. Week or so ago. I didn't really understand what to do. I've got a dell reburbished gx620 32 bit. I run the computer on some kind of deviceon microsoft web site and it came back that it could handle either upgrade 7 or 8 but I have to do a clean install.so what do I need to do with stuff I want to keep and stuff I'm going to do away with I don't have a lot of stuff on the computer. And which soft ware should I use. Any way I think that's enogh to get me going I think. I don't know much about computers. My son usually. Helps me but he lives out of state and working a lot at hospital so I'm not going to get a lot of. Help from him. Also I'm on a very stricked budget or I'd just go buy one but don't have that luxury. Any help I can get wil be extremely appreciated thanks alot

 

[Joe C]

It might be easier for you to upgrade with 7 rather than 8 because there's more of a learning curve with 8. Aside from my opinion of which version, you'll need to back up all the data you want to keep, meaning documents, music, video and pics. You normally can not back up software (ie: Windows Office) because you'll need to have the installer files which are on the disk.
You can choose which medium to back up onto, flash drive, external hard drive, or a re-writable dvd disk. If you do not have a lot of data then a flash/thumb drive should be o.k.
Next, you'll need to go to the Dell web site, go into the home owner support page and enter your service tag number to see if they can provide the necessary drivers for the hardware on your pc. It's better to have all the drivers ready when you wipe out XP and install 7/8. As soon as windows is finished with the installation, you can install the drivers right after that, Then get all your Microsoft updates and install all the software and data you want back onto this pc

 

[helms1963]

The only thing I've got on my computer is my HP printer I went to there website they don't offer nothing but for windows 8 but I have the original CD that came with it. Other than that I really haven't put a lot of stuff. As for as like windows office I haven't put anything like that on here unless it came with it. The only other thing I have to save is my blackBerry desktop software its got all my pictures backed up on it. Mostly all I do is check email. That's another thing I've got through aol but like most every thing else I just save it to favorites.