I'm no computer wiz but I am practical and you have a practical problem. And a darn tough one, too. Microsoft plans the obsolescence into their products which I think should be illegal in some way. IMHO Windows95 was a great OS (operating system). Probably could have used some tweaks, but when XP came out I was thoroughly happy. That OS was the cream of the crop; some 35-40 million personal computers were happily running that program for over 10 years. But when your business model is built on the idea of forcing the public to your product you have to change the product. Anyway, enough of my griping. I think all the advice you're getting about having a separate laptop with XP to run your machines is the best out there. In fact I have a 10 year old laptop available so PM me if you're interested. You have to find a way to use your embroidery machine without replacing it. By the way, that could be what was on the mind of Bernina as well because those machines run for years unless something like this comes along.