Russ Smith (Sorry Russ Evans didn't mean to direct to you)
You certainly got a lot of suggestions, and frankly I stopped reading after a few pages
I agree with Eric, if it works for you, leave it alone and don't worry about it for now. Keep your virus program updated. If Windows XP does finally expire and you can' have someone do a re-install if you have the original disks, look at an inexpensive tablet as suggested. I do a lot of my email and web search on an iPad. (not suggesting iPad - cheaper and good tablets of other brands out there.)
Forget Win 8.1, your older laptop won't be able to handle it. One of my laptops is an old one running Win XP, and it will stay that way until it stops running. It would probably have issues with Win 7
Re the comment on some sites charging a fortune for Win 7 full install. I anticipated this and since I have a second desktop running 32 bit, which I wanted to up to 64 bit, I was able to pick up a Win 7 Pro full install at a reasonable price last year. Due to the 32 bit has memory issues. Already upgraded to 12 gig (its an i7) which it will see once we go to 64 bit.
Russ - Use it as you have been and don't worry.