I have lost confidence in my current Compaq Presario CQ71-320SA. I'm having BIOS problems [https://community.norton.com/en/forums/serious-norton-problems-resolved-what-was-cause#comment-6387841] and HP "Support" (sic) tell me they no longer support it - presumably because it's very old (6 years).
I'm happy to listen to suggestions from the excellent UK company Which regarding the make & model (and cost!) but I'm unsure about the operating system to go for (if I have any choice, of course). I had XP and now have Win7, which is at the early stage of its support being dumped by Microsoft. Win 8 was born, then Win 8.1 with which there appeared to be many problems. I can't find a Win9 but there's a WIn10 ('The one that I've been waiting for', apparently). I'm not interested in playing mega 3D games nor downloading films - Home use by the way, no business. If you were getting an new operating system, which one would you choose?
Then the software - I'm happy to stick with Windows Office and get the latest Word, Excel etc but should I buy them the old-fashioned way (in a box) and have constant updates or should I go for the Cloud-based product for an annual fee and no updates at my end, if I've understood it correctly.
With the latest operating system, I can have the latest Internet Explorer. Christmas all over again!
I'd be very grateful for your personal opinions, bearing in mind a likely budget of £500 sterling.