Imac Os 10.5.8

Hi folks

can anyone help a hopeless technophobe. i have an imac running OS10.5.8 and things have started not working and running very slow. so i want to upgrade but Yosemitie which is free says no because my current OS is too old. I've done a search and it looks like i need to buy an older version but i'm not sure if i can:

1. get it for free?
2. which one to get?
3. if i do get one will i then and can i then upgrade to Yosemitie?
4. is Yosemitie ok now? i've heard bad things and i'm worried about losing my stuff in the Dropbox and my emails (i'm using Thunderbird)

I do have Time Machine switched on but sometimes it's saying 'time machine is read only' and my back up Seagate Disk sometimes says 'error' so i'm worried about updating but i must do something.

Any clever folk out there who can help/advise me? i live in the UK by the way if that makes any diference

thanks

jldougal

I need some more information:
Which Mac do you have?
If you are not sure what you have - click on the Apple, upper left corner of your screen, and choose "About This Mac" which will show an information window.
10.5.8 may mean that you have an older "PowerPC" Mac, and you can't update the system at all.
Also, please tell us what processor is listed there, and how much Memory is installed (from the same information window)

hi, thanks so much for getting in touch. i'm away so can't see my computer but it is an IMac and it has an Intel processor i can't remember what amount of memory though i'm back in January and can check then, i'll ask you again when i have the info you need. thanks for your help/patience

dougal