Quote - Why not just use Windows 7 and forget about Vista and XP? I can take Poser 5 (have a installation on an external disc) and run it just fine under Windows 7, cant see why it would be any different with Poser 7.

I am so old school we used a clay tablet and a stick.  I still have the stick.

I was taught, way back when, that if the box said X, it would only work with X and Y would either say "that's for X" or not even find the item in question because it could only look for things formatted as Y.  As such, I am slow to absorb "run as" and "compatable with" as not only something that can be done, but something that can be trusted as well.

Quote - Regarding your second question, poser will run from a partition with XP as it would run from a partition without XP (of course it has to be an older version of Poser who keeps the importent files in the poser folder, newer versions puts stuff in the user folder of the system its installed in).

My copy of P5 is about as old as Vicky 3, however old that is.  Not sure if I got it when she was new or not quite released yet - I have an old, empty runtime for V3 and have V2 on a disc I had mailed to me from DAZ3D.  My copy of P7 is probably less than 5 years old, but the XP comp became unstable and I never installed it there.

Quote - What I always do is that i keep my system on the C: partition and install Poser on another partition (away from the program files folder), I never have any problem with administrator rights that way.

So, your system is set up to house Poser in its "guest room" while allowing the guest to wander the house (C drive) and then take stuff back to the guest room for storage?  Or, does your new work get stored on C and just run Poser from the partition?

Not sure where you are saving your work, but the rest sounds helpful.  I am looking into things before I get half of it wrong and cannot finish without a techie and their fee.