What I have noticed the most about the ‘trend’ in newer computers and their software is that they are LIMITING what you CAN DO, but giving you a multitude of WAYS to do the same thing (ergo having you believe you can DO a LOT).
I say that because I had to buy a newer computer with WIN 7 on it. They have made it harder to do certain things (user selected) but at least the device driver installs are smooth and pretty much automatic. Other than that, it’s still WIN XP but just with a bunch on flashy gadgets for inexperienced users to ‘awe’.
As far as malware, I don’t know who to believe or trust anymore when it comes to recommendations for the proper protection software.
My XP PRO system was recently destroyed by Microsoft who sent out some UPDATES that were intended to target unlicensed WINDOWS operating systems on Chinese computers, but somehow decided my was ‘unlicensed’. (I think that ‘info’ is a guess by the ‘expert’ that told me. I think Microsoft is just trying to destroy any and all existing XP systems to force you to buy a new computer with WIN 7 or 8).
Win7 has many many advantages over WinXP that you may not know about. It’s more robust and makes linking computers in the home network much easier.
I do agree with you that software companies are taking away the real root access to files, especially in windows 8, but there’s nothing wrong with 7.
Next time turn off uodates. Get rid of flash and all other adobe products, replace IE with a more reputable browser like firefox. Don't install any 3rd party sofware. Do not install any browesr extensions or add-ons. Do not install any updates. Finally, practice safe email. Do not click on any email attachments. I install a few things like bash, Stallman's emacs and python, but those are super-safe.