[Sumad]

Hello all, I am new to music making and I am having trouble with my MBox/ProTools 8 LE:

I have PT 8 but I replaced my original computer and now have Windows 8.1 so the program will no longer run, but can I use the MBox Mini that came with it through another program? Can anyone help me? When I plug in my Mbox it lights up and it shows in my computer devices but keeps giving me the message that the "hardware is not connected" and "device not streaming". I do not have $700 for the latest version of ProTools, which I do not know how to work anyway, and I find various music editing programs which I could download for free use.
The problem is my mic is made to connect through the Mbox and therefore I cannot record vocals into anything. Does anyone know of another program I could use or how I can fix the driver so that the mbox will read and be usable. I have downloaded every update link I have found on Avid for both the mbox and ProTools (it keeps telling me I need an ILok driver???? I don't know what that is but I didn't have it before and ProTools worked). I am totally lost and feeling like I wasted hundreds of dollars. I chose PT because they are regarded as the 'industry standard'.

PLEASE HELP!!!!! MY GRAMMY IS WAITING FOR ME!!