I use windows xp for my music production, since 2002 the only time I ever updated it was the first day it came out of the box I did a windows update on the internet; I then unhooked it from internet and it has never been hooked up to the internet since, nor have I done any other updates and it still works as good as the day it left the box. I do not have any type of active antivirus on it and I did the audio geeks checklist for making it more audio friendly. The only thing I have done to it was to add more Ram, when I hooked up my zoom R16 board as it began to drain the system and so it would freeze at times the Ram fixed that. I wish they would have stayed with xp, I have not used 8 but I loath vista and 7 to me although they said it went back to the xp model is not the same.. they are to cpu hungry. To me xp was the best version for making music, as it was not cpu hungry at all, and you did not have to be computer savvy to use it.

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Psalm 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.