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For those of you that do not understand there are basically three operating systems on the market. Microsoft Windows, MAC OS and UNIX/Linux. Although some have tools and applications that make them compatible with each other for the most part these three computer operating systems are for the most part NOT cross compatible with each other. Most users are familiar with MS Windows or MAC OS, meaning that you have a computer or laptop that runs one or the other. If you have an Apple product them you are running MAC OS otherwise you most likely have a PC running windows. This device runs Linux. Linux is an operating system that has been around for ever but most people do not use however it has many tools and a desktop that is similar to Windows or MAC but it will NOT run their applications. Then why would I want to use it, if it is not compatible? For the reason it states. It is a quick way to boot a computer and get access to the existing hardware and perform similar tasks like win windows or MAC but it is NOT Windows or MAC. Meaning if you want to surf the web, You can not use Internet Explorer, if you want to open a word document you can NOT use Microsoft Word, you can not use any application that was written for Windows or MAC while using this product but... use can use similar ones that come with this product that do the same thing. You MUST be able to boot from USB! When you turn on your computer most computers are programmed to look for a hard drive and boot the operating system loaded there. So in order to use this device, you must be able to change that. Most computers have a BIOS screen that can be accessed when the computer is turned on to select the boot device and make other pre-boot changes to the computer. Where is that menu? EVERY computer manufacture for 20 years has sold computers with different ways to access the BIOS menu. You will have to google the web and find a way to change yours in order to use this device. For the most part, all lot of the manufactures use F1, F2 or F8 or ESC to access this BIOS menu so when you turn on your computer before ANYTHING is on the screen hitting one of these keys on the keyboard will bring up this menu. It has to be done 1 second or so after the power is turned on and sometimes it takes more than one try to catch it before Windows or MAC OS loads. You may get lucky, A lot of computer manufactures automatically look for a USB boot device before looking for a hard drive. If you have one of these systems then your in luck and can use this device as soon as you get it. If not then you will have to find a way to access this menu on your computer before using this device. Once you finally get this device to load the miniature operating system included with it. You will get a desktop with icons similar to Windows or MAC. But Similar is the KEY word here. They all are different and they all work a little different that what you are use to. But they are no more different that if you were a windows user and you switched over to a Apple Macbook. That said, if you take the time to understand them, you will be able to surf the web, open word or excel documents and even watch videos or edit photos but ALL of these actions will be done with applications included on this USB stick and not the ones you are used to using. In addition to everything they include with Xtra-PC. The loaded version of Linix also has the ability to access your old hard drive (ASSUMING IT WAS WORKING) Once you click down through some of the directories you will see your old hard drive mounted as new directory structure. When you click on that, you will see the old Windows or MAX OS files and be able to access your old documents but you WILL NOT be able to run ANY of the old applications that were on your old hard drive. Meaning that if you have bought and paid for photo-shop, You ill see it there and you will be able to see your saved photos, but you CAN NOT run photoshop from the old drive. You can however run similar applications that are included with Xtra-pc to view most of those files have they WILL have limitations. Don;t expect applications included with Xtra-PC to act like 500.00 applications like Photoshop or Microsoft Office because they wont. Companies like Google now make and sell a laptop called Chrome OS, you can now buy these at places like BestBuy or Target. Products like this are EXACTLY what Xtra-PC is for your own computer. They also do not run Windows or MAC, they run their own version of a new operating system they created that is in a lot of ways similar to Windows or Mac but isn't. This is what you should expect from this device, And for those stating "this broke my pc" That simply is not true. This device makes no alterations to your current system. If you have found the BIOS menu and you are successful in using this product. All of the changes it makes and actions you do are all stored on the USB device. Once you tuen off the computer and remove the USB device. Your old computer is the same as it was. So why again do I want to use this? I am going to leave MAC/Apple out of this. Most people that have old Windows systems are out dated, full of viruses, or simply don't have the power to run all the latest software from Microsoft Windows. This device gives people the option to continue to use that old hardware with a new, cut down, optimized version of an Operating System that has a lot of features similar to Windows so that you can continue to use that older hardware. Along with that it also has the ability to access your old data so that you may copy it to yet another USB drive to move to another system. Will it work right out of the box? For the most part. When Xtra-PC boots up, it will do it;s best to find out all the settings needed to run your computer however sometimes this does not happen and will require YOU to add further information to make it work. In almost ALL cases it will start up and display the OS desktop however other things may still not work. Possible things like the IP address to your internet router. passwords to your wifi, installing print drivers from their menus for your type of printer. I wrote this review because I have used this type of product for years and it does work. But it is not magic, As a matter of fact you dont even have to buy this product, you can easily make your own for free. Linux is a freeware product and you can download it and linux.org you will however probably need a computer programming degree in order to make it work. What these people have done is take all the necessary applications and files and combine them all together in a small package for less than 50 bucks. For the 100 or so hours you would spend making your own, I say that is a pretty good deal.