It appears that drivers, not that big really, are the main issue.
For several months I've had a minor issue with W7 Pro. More often than I care for, if I shut down the computer normally, then when it's turned on again, it boots up ok but desktop shortcuts won't start any programs or games. However, text documents open just fine. After rebooting 2 or 3 times, even doing a hot shutdown, everything is back to normal.
I discovered that once I have a normally functioning system and want it that way the next session, instead of shutting it down, I put it in sleep mode, then turn off the power. The next time the power is turned on, I take the pc out of sleep mode and it's in the normal state as before.
Since windows 7 support (security updates mostly) ends next year, what if someone made a fresh install of W7. could it still be updated to what it is now? Anyhow, I purchased a 1 TB external drive for $53 at WalMart and store a system image on it. About 2 years ago a hard drive failed and I had to reinstall everything. This time I'm prepared. If my present HD ever fails, I'll just get a new HD, plop in a repair disk and then give it the system image. Everything will be as before the HD failure.