edit:
Here's some proof. I'm running Windows 8, which is getting new-OS constant updates. Haven't had to reboot it in 9 days 4 hours. And I'm running it on my older machine which I've had for about 5-6 years now.
Do the later versions not mess with user settings? (I'm still on XP) I'm about to the point where I will simply not allow any more Office updates since it always resets some of the settings to default. Maybe the Windows version doesn't affect this, anyway, since it is Office. WinXP takes so bloody long to get back to normal I never reboot, either. Except for updates. Basically everything I do (fiddling) with this computer at work is grounds for firing, but I'm faster at my actual job because of it.
I never run any sort of AV/malware software. Waste of time, the only malware I've gotten since 2000 was so brand new it wasn't in any of the lists for major software products, anyway. Had to find a week-old unnamed cleaner to kill it.
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When I think about what brought me to Windows in the first place, it was the ability to print. Lotus 123 with wysiwyg worked poorly and wordperfect was a crap shoot. Word and Excel for Windows and later MS Office 97 offered the ability to get pretty much exactly what I expected pretty much every time.
LOL, when I had to use Win versions of Office back then I just about screamed. WYSIWYG was true on the Mac versions, not Win. They still can't be bothered to actually make it work in Excel 2007. I agree about the HP print drivers, worst software ever, except for their networking software.