I know that when I tried to install the software for the magic box it would install on Win 7 but wouldn't run. I was lucky because I had loaned my son my old (about 10yrs) laptop and he had just gotten a new one. I had to buy a new battery and a new powercord but it worked fine. I no longer need it for that but don't want to get rid of it just in case I have the same problem in the future. I now have the Viking Ruby and it has no problem with Win 7. Even though Win 7 says you can run some of the older programs on it using the special settings for older versions of operating systems; I've never been able to get them to work. I never had a problem with XP getting it to use those features. I'm surprised that it crashed your pc like that; mine just wouldn't run it; no error messages or nothing. Why do you need the dealer to install your software; I've installed mine a on two different laptops without any problems. Plus I installed the orginal 5D organizer that came with my Ruby before I got the 5D pro. Good luck on your venture. You should be able to still find some pcs out there running XP.