Thanks for the reassurances, guys n gals. I need to hit the ground running when the new machine arrives and it seemed wisest to install Win XP if it was going to be an easy and safe option. Some replies suggest it might not be and all indicate it won't be necessary. I definitely don't want to mess up or wipe the Win 7 installation, though. I'll have a look at Win 7 and see if it I can get up to speed quickly enough. If it can sing and dance familiar Win XP tunes, then that sounds very promising.
I've got pretty ancient printers, scanner and external hard drives. The new machine is 64 bit (not a preference, but the deal was too good to refuse). I'll search for issues/drivers.
Thanks again.
