I am still in the learning phase on my new computer using Win 7 after having been on XP Pro for more than a decade. But, I can answer a few of your questions.
How bad really is the thing that asks all the time if so and so can make a change? Can you have nominated programs that can do what they like (or how they do in XP?)
I have not found that to be obtrusive. Sometimes you have to right-click on the program icon and say "run as administrator" to get it to realize that it can make changes. This is true even if your main user has administrator privileges. In most cases for me, that has cured the popup for that particular program.
I installed office 97 from the original disks. I need Acess database program, and never saw the need to upgrade that. I also installed Office 2003 student & teacher edition to get Word 2003. Those are the only two office programs I use -- and both work fine on Win7.
Will PowerToys run? I think this is a Windows 95 vintage but has a very useful Send any file to the clipboard as Name.
Does Win7 have another way to do that (if Powertoys won't work)?
I had used that in the past, and have not tried to install it here on Win7. There is a tool that I can recommend that has a lot of neat tweaks -- ultimate windows tweaker. Don't have a link for it but you can do a search on this forum to find it.
In addition to that tweak set, there are two other things I have discovered here that make life better (i.e. more like the XP I was used to). One is Shell Folder Fix. It lets you make settings for the size and shape of individual folders. Not as good as you could have done in XP, but better than the default Win7. Again -- just search for it here -- there is an very long thread discussing it.
I am one who does not like to have anything on my C: drive other than native windows system programs. I like to have other virtual drives for various purposes. In XP, the program Partition Magic was very good at helping me do what I wanted to do. The version I had will not work in Win7, BUT I found a freeware version that does everything I might want. It is MiniTool Partition Wizard. You should be able to find it using a search here -- or at least via Google.
And finally, how good is it's XP Mode? Will it save the day for things that don't work in Win 7 ?
I am using XP mode in a virtual environment as downloaded from Microsoft. Many of my programs would install and run in Win7, but there were a few 16-bit programs (or DOS programs) that would not run in Win7. They run just fine in the XP Mode. You may have difficulty because of having only 4 gig memory to share between Win7 and XP Mode. The XP Mode install only gives it 512Meg of memory which makes it fairly sluggish. I upped that to 2Gig and it runs fine -- but I have 8Gig total on this computer.
If you have DOS programs you want to run, you could also consider a program called DOSBOX. It would not be as fully featured as XP Mode, but could work. It is a program/project developed with the retro-gamer in mind.
Thanks for any answers. I have Googled around for answers but no real hits. Almost as many for Windows 7 as there are who say keep XP. Hmmm....
Regards, kirkm
In my case, it was a matter of needing a newer computer -- which I barely managed to buy while I could still get Win7 and not be forced into Win8. But, I am fairly comfortable with the move even though there are a few XP features I miss.
You don't like someone? 
