Thanks for the help, critics are so rare, glad to know that MS rates so high with you - really? No issues? If you are a professional/licensed, then you WILL have issues with their designs serving you, as they don't seem to ASK (do THEIR research) before forcing that profession into their way of doing things (ease of software design is the higher priority).
Yes, I have looked at all those cactus bushes and thought it easier to buy Quickbooks, not that I have time to load current data, much less data going back to 1994 to have at fingertips.
Yes, I did my research - thanks for AssUMeing NOT - my pro software forced me into an OS upgrade (little time for that) so selected the more current 8.1 dog with fleas that the more stable win7, as pros advised, just to buy a little time NOT to have to go through this so soon once more.
If you feel I've unjustly omitted MS praise - that would be for another forum - not problems, need help MS can't seem to give - right? Well, OK: Time$heet Pro v7 works like a champ w/o even installing it - Quickbooks version looks like the ugly little brother w/no clues; Lotus Suite works like a champ, 1-2-3 makes Excel look impossible to navigate - however OpenOffice may soon become a better lover; Packrat PIM works with only one tiny hiccup of no consequence; Calendar Creator & all its history made it undamaged; many other helpers suffered some minor upgrades, time investments; more?
Now realize that professionals are NOT sitting all day figuring out new OSs - they are trying to get their businesses back on line, not supposed to be Virtual this/that. The best idea (above) is scary as there is no one to assure me another crash (regardless of Acronis backup/restore) won't steal yet another workday/week in pursuit of a valuable business tool lost.
So back to answers, do you think someone as stupid as I can figure out CountMikes solution
Virtualization for Pro then avoid crashing?
CountMike: You have XP on a removable HDD ... do you just plug & play it after booting to win 7/8, have to reboot to it, how does this work? I'm thinking my XP on the separate laptop seems so primitive, remote, tiny screen vs. accounting and hate the touch pad but not enough to dig out its mouse. A stupid idea was to connect it via USB wire to the win8.1 desktop but guess it all would blow up
Rant: so what if we have high investments in 16-bit software? Microsoft has the go screw yourself attitude when designing a 64-bit OS? They can't design a pocket within we can still use these gold mines of information?
Why is MS the bad guy here? Did you ever consider the fact that maybe you didn't do YOUR homework BEFORE moving to a 64-bit OS? If running antiquated software was a requirement for you then you should have stuck with 32-bit and not jumped to 64-bit.
There are many virtualization software packages out there that will allow you to install and run an older OS on your 64-bit machine but they may require effort on your part to get setup and running. Depending on which version of Win 8.1 you have (Pro?) you may be able to use the included Hyper-V to install Windows XP and run it in a Virtual machine. If you don't have Win 8.1 Pro then you could install VirtualBox or VMWare Player (both free) and setup a VM running XP. The stickler in setting up a VM with XP is that you need to have a copy of Windows XP with a valid product key.