How do i downgrade from windows 8.1

Hiya, I've been out of flight simming for a few years but as I'm rapidly approaching retirement I've decided to resurrect my hobby, unfortunately I didn't do any research and went and bought a decent spec ASUS pc from pc world thinking I'd soon be running flight sim x with all the sliders well over to the right, how wrong could I be, yes my new pc has windows 8.1 installed and as we all know flight sim x doesn't like it. I've done all the things people advise, installing to a separate location etc all without much success. I'm now left running flight sim 2004 which also has its problems as lots of the add on aircraft don't like windows 8.1 either and my long suffering wife is fed up of me buying the ultimate add on aircraft for good money only to find they don't work. I went back to pc world to ask their tech boys if it was possible for them to downgrade my PC to windows 7 ,which I'm assured will be fine, but they say they can't or won't do it,something about warrantys or something, so that is why I'm posting this request for information.

Is it possible to downgrade to windows 7?

Is it advisable?

Can I do it or do I need to get a pc expert to do it for me?

What do I need to buy?

Would I be better upgrading my old pc( 2.4 processor speed, 2 meg ram only one monitor output, half a Meg video Ram, windows vista )

Any help would be much appreciated as I'm coming to the point of taking up fishing instead. Thanks FRED

1. Back up any needed files.

2. Format your hard drive.

3. Install Windows 7, either you have a copy or you need to purchase a copy.

4. Reinstall everything.

Yes you can downgrade to windows 7, Microsoft allows this now because so many people can't stand windows 8. I would definitely recommend downgrading to Windows 7 if you don't own a copy yet, you will save yourself a lot of headache for FSX.

To change your Windows 8 back to Windows 7 go to the start menu (in lower left corner), and type in windows upgrade, and it will walk you through upgrading or downgrading to which ever Windows you prefer, but there will be a fee to do this.

If you do do this, I would highly recommend reinstalling everything you have with your new Windows 7 installation.

Also, I would NOT recommend trying to upgrade your old 2.4Ghz computer with 2Gigs of RAM, that would be a very bad move. Windows 7 and 8 both will not work on that old of a system, just stick to your new HP system and downgrade to Windows 7.

Hope this helps