I abandoned Outlook many years ago, when it crashed (as things do) and lost ALL my mail, ALL my diary appointments etc. It turns out it keeps everything in one giant file (unless you know to tell it to do otherwise). One hiccup, and it's all gone.
The backup was dud, too.
Enter Thunderbird and Pocket Informant, and I've been happy ever since.
I tried the "Customer Preview" of Win 8, fortunately with a dual boot. I removed it after a short time. I'm sticking with Win 7.