H is for "HELP, Windows 8 Ate My Apps!"

Wiindows 8 ate my Microsoft  Office Apps!  I have had a PC for approximately two days and Windows already ate my apps.  How on earth did PC users survive all these years?  I only have owned a PC for hours and have already been very, very glad I bought a service agreement with the PC.
How do you people do it?  You Windows and PC people, how do you do it?  I finally decided I needed to see what the rest of the world lives like.  I was going to have to get a new tablet or a laptop as the iPad I’d been using with a Logitech key board, which I absolutely love as a combo, as my laptop for the last year to year and a half is on its last leg.  So I opted to get the first small, light laptop with a touch screen that I could find.  Because I’m a Mac person I opted to purchase at Best Buy and get the warranties they offer and the Geek Squad support services.  I’m glad I did.
Even though the Microsoft Office was supposed to be installed for me, the location at which I picked up my laptop was having problems with connection to the MS Office site from which they download.  I picked up the pc and took it home and loaded Office.  No problem.  Used all the apps within it, or at least opened them.  Then 24 hours later the apps began disappearing.  First the Entourage disappeared, although the icon remained on the pretty, pretty App Landing page that is a “feature” of Windows 8.  I slept on the problem, and after a morning of appointments, I looked at everything again around noon, and determined that Entourage really had been totally digested, and apparently it was just an appetizer as more apps within Office had disappeared or had huge bytes out of them. I  called the Geek Squad.  They did a distance connection to my pc at home after I spoke with an initial tech person  who was pleasant and knowledgeable , after being directed to the proper department by the first service operator, and the specialist with whom I never actually chatted began diagnosing, uninstalling, and reinstalling MS Office.  This is good.  I got a software glitch repaired without having to leave my house, in about an hour and after the repairs started, and I didn’t even have to stick around on the phone or pc (although it had to be up and running) for the fix.

GUIDELINES FOR TECH CONNECTIVITY AND SOFTWARE CHOICE

• Bigger is better for presbyopic eyes.  Bigger screens and touchscreens which can enlarge print with a swish of two fingers is good.  Most mobile devices can do this if the correct apps are used.  The touchscreen laptop I have, an ASUS Vivo, seems to do this enlargement in all the MS office and browsers I’ve used.
• Touchscreens.  Cursor, cursor, where is the cursor? A touch screen is nice because it allows you to tap the screen to select buttons, highlight phrases, select boxes, and such.  This is a feature that becomes indispensable once it is regularly used.
• A real keyboard is essential.  Phones and itty bitty screens are nice, but they do become tiresome if you are on them all the time for data use and document creation.  The iPad with a keyboard such as the Ultrathin Logitech Keyboard works very well. The ASUS laptop also allows for mobility  For real writing, such as blog posting, and for managing multiple window research, or stream monitoring, my recommendation is for a keyboard.
• Weight.  At one time I like to do wilderness backpacking.  Now I try to carry as little weight as possible at all times.  My tablet or laptop goes everywhere with me.  Nearly every laptop is just too heavy.
• Mac or PC?  The choice at this point is really between iOS and Windows.  New equipment will come with Windows 8 or iOS 6.  If you can afford an iPad or a MacBook Air, go for it.  If you cannot, the ASUS Vivo is under $500, and does the job.  But given the MS in Microsoft stands for massively squirrelly I highly recommend getting a service contract with a reliable vendor at the time of purchase.
• From whom to purchase?   There is really no choice when you buy a Mac.  You purchase it from Apple if you want to get a warranty, or purchase Apple Care for additional coverage, and be sure of what you are getting.  But with a PC or tablet you have lots of choice as to where to buy.  By the way, I am receiving no compensation for this post, this is totally from me to you, to pass on knowledge.  I purchased at q Best Buy store because of the nationwide coverage for repair and the online service diagnostics that is available for software troubles.  I am three days into this purchase and I have used the service contract all ready.

Hope these tips and considerations help out.  Have you had Windows 8 eat anything, or have a MacBook Air horror story?