Can I install and keep everything where it is?

 

Yes you can. I upgraded both my 6 month old laptop and  1 year old desktop from Win 7 Home Premium to Win 8 Pro over the weekend and everything is where it was before.

 

Normally I wait at least a year to upgrade to a new OS, but with all the bizzare issues I've had with my CG programs under Win 7 I decided to go for it.  I spent about 10 minutes watching videos on Win 8 beforehand so I knew the basics about how to navigate etc. before the ugrade. That made the change completely painless.

 

I agree with Mike..You absolutely can run Windows 8 like Windows 7 or Xp.  The only time I ever see the Metro interface is at initial boot up or shut down. Otherwise I'm working exactly as I did before except for a big boost in performance.  My CG programs are all running much faster and I'm not getting the odd crashing and lagging behavior that has so far confounded Adobe ,Microsoft, Smith Micro, Maxon and DAZ.

 

I know time will tell but so far so good.  :-)

 

Just FYI:

Desktop is a Dell XPS Intel core i5  processor running at 2.8 GhZ with 12 GB RAM and an AMD Radeon HD 6450 graphics card.  Time to full boot is about 15 seconds vs 90 seconds  before upgrade. Runs Poser 9, DAZ Studio 4.5, Cinema 4D 10.5, Painter 12, AI CS6, PS CS6.

Laptop is a HP core i7 processor running at 2.20 Ghz with 8 GB RAM and Intel HD Graphics 300 (integrated). Time to full boot is about 10 seconds, vs a minute before upgrade. Battery life is also dramatically improved (showing at 8 hours instead of 2 1/2 before). Runs AI CS6, PS CS6, Painter 12