please help me with windows 8 upgrade question!

[TMF Minx]

ok so i have an old dell presicion 490 workstation pc and im trying to get all the latest dobe affects programs but i can only use them on a newer windows since im using xp i cant. so i downlaoded windows 8 upgrade assist and it said secure boot isnt compatible does that mean i cant install windows 8 or if that feture just isnt usuable for me?

[Owade73]

I don't know much about Secure Boot but this should help. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn441535.aspx Also make sure your specs are able to handle Windows 8. I think you need at least 1 gig of ram now and at least 1.4ghz processor to hit minimum performance levels. 

[Torg73]

ok so i have an old dell presicion 490 workstation pc and im trying to get all the latest dobe affects programs but i can only use them on a newer windows since im using xp i cant. so i downlaoded windows 8 upgrade assist and it said secure boot isnt compatible does that mean i cant install windows 8 or if that feture just isnt usuable for me?

The why I understand it secure boot for windows 8 uses the UEFI to protect the computer from preventing malicious software applications and "unauthorized" operating systems from loading during the system start-up process.

 

So when you run the windows 8 upgrade assist you might see some red X as your computers motherboard is probably to old to have UEFI,.in most cases if your CPU/GPU and the memory is better then the min specs of Windows 8 it will work, but with the secure boot thing many people will switch it off but they have other means in securing the computer from malaware.

[Speedbird]

It will install, but you have to do a clean install (you will lose everything). Secure boot basically uses UEFI (which is like a newer version of BIOS) to verify that no programs have overwritten Windows 8's boot sector. You'll be fine without it, as long as you have a good antivirus.