Joan,  I have been reading the Mac Operating System forum postings on my
ISP (CompuServe), and, basically some of the problems with OS 8 had to do
with a large number of Master CDs that were accidently configured with
Apple Talk set to "On".  Suppossedly, there are easy workarounds when the
Mac won't boot off the OS 8 CD.  I've also heard that a lot of the other
bugs in OS 8 were cleaned up in OS 8.1, which will be out in February on
CD.  (I also noticed in the MacWeek Online postings that owners of OS 8 can
get the OS 8.1 version for $19.95 with the usual "proof of purchase"
business).    I have always found the folks at Apple Technical Support to
be helpful, but they all seem to have very individiual solutions to
problems that vary from tech to tech.  Eventually, thinks do get solved.  I
currently use MacOS 7.6.1 and it works fine.  I rarely get hangs or
freezes.  When I do, its inevitably when running Netscape 3.0.1.  By the
way, the Mac forums on CompuServe are terrific and a full of
problem-solving discussions.    Best wishes, Mike Rothman