Oh Man! - I Need to Upgrade My OS - Which One?

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Dan Sullivan

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I am probably one of the few who has not had trouble with their Windows ME after all this time. Well, I have to upgrade if I want to use my new iPod.



So here are my questions: Which system should I buy and install? 2000, XP or XP(SP2)? Please chime in if you have upgraded from ME. Any troubles, is one easier, is one better, did you lose any files.......? :wacko::huh:



Plain and simple....... I'm a tad ignorant about these things and I just need a little direction. :D
 
Sully, more info is needed. How fast is the CPU? how much RAM memory? How big is the hard drive ect. Just the basic system specs. Also what do you run for software? Anti Virus etc? Is it a name brand machine or a clone?



At this point you really have three choices on the store shelves. Windows 2000 pro, XP sp2 home edition and XP sp2 pro. My suggestion would be XP home edition if you are just using the pc as a home pc. The extra features of pro you will most likley never use. Windows 2000 is really geared to business use, as is xp pro.



The biggest issues you will run ito are to slow of a system or not enough memory or hard drive space. You may also run into software compatibility issues regardless of what os you choose. You will almost guaranteed have to upgrade the anti virus. Microsoft also has an application compatilibity checker that you can use to check yor software for compatibility.



When it comes to hardware unless the pc is at least a Pentimu III or amd Athlon 1.0ghz or better with at least 256( 512 or more is better) or ram you wont even want to think about upgrading to xp or 2000. They will both run way too slow. At that point it might be time to bite the bullet and get a new pc or upgrade the one you have to better specs if possible.



If you could post the specs of your pc, i can let you know what the best thing to do is.



 
Wow Jim! Is there a way to find that crap out on the comp itself? I know it's an Athlon and I'm running the latest virus protection from McAfee thru Comcast. Besides that, I'm not sure about the gigs or ram. :blink:
 
Something to thing about.... Unless I'm wrong the price of the XP upgrade is around $200, you can get a cheapie from Dell for less than $400 or have killer clone made for $500 or 600. If you're on an old ME machine it's going to be no where close in speed and memory to what bottom of the line desktops are today.



Harpo
 
Thanks Sooner!!!! Here ya go Jim........



Compaq Compaq PC



900 megahertz AMD Athlon

128 kilobyte primary memory cache

256 kilobyte secondary memory cache



30.00 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity

19.53 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space



McAfee VirusScan Version 10.0.25

Scan Engine Version 4400

Virus Definitions Version 4589

Last Disk Scan on Saturday, September 17, 2005 7:55:53 PM



 
Take Harpo's advice and get a new PC for what it will cost you for an OS upgrade AND the Memory you'll need to upgrade to, assuming a 900mghz chip will work.



We bought Eli a PC a few months back for get this $274!!! IT is an e-machines (we have 3 in the house now all run great!) and for that price he got:



2.5 gig hrtz AMD semprom

256 kilobyte primary memory cache

40.00 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity

CDRW

17 inch flat screen (not LCD) monitor.
 
XP, but don't install SP2,, there are several bugs / issues with it. Just keep everything else udpated, as MS releases Security updates and run a good AV program, I would recomend Symantec AV ver. 10
 
Sully, you should be ok as far as processor goes, you just wont have the fastest pc but it will work ok. you can find out how much ram you have you can run system information off your start menu, i think its under accessories. 512mb will really help, i would upgrade it if you can. I would look into the total cost of upgraded vs new, Treps point is a very good one. If you can get new one with a new warranty for not much more hten upgrading the current one its the way to go.



As far as XP goes you can get a home edition upgrade for about $99 off most store shelves. SP2 vs not sp2 isnt even an option anymore. The only way you can but it is with SP2 preinstalled. I also wouldnt not hesitate to install it anyway. As Brian suggested there were some problems initally but most of the problem i have seen involved two catagories. 1) the person that instaleld it has an unstable/ isssues with thier system to begin with. These machines could have crashed at any time regardless. 2) Running old appilcations or home grown apps. Most of the app issues i have seen are mainly tcp/ip dependent apps that were old and didnt meet current tcp/ip security standards most had issues with the firewall blocking, and would have had issues with any commercial firewall like zone alarm or black ice etc. SP2 is much more stable then SP1, the firewall, popup blocker and extra security features are worth what little risk there is. Also most of the patches dcoming soon will require sp2 to remain current. Im an IT person by trade and i have over 4000 XP sp2 systems rolled out in my company, my issues with it are very minimal mostly surrounding old engineering apps that neded to be updated anyway. Bot on the flip side these machines dont crash and we have far fewer support calls to our help desk. I hope to have the rest of the company ( 6000+ machines) done by the end of first quarter next year.
 


$91.95 for XP HOME

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102151

there is a good option for you. I bought XP Professional though from the same site. based on this advice: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp



Taken From Paul Thrott's site:

"Pro features that aren't in Home Edition

The following features are not present in Windows XP Home Edition.



* Power user Remote Desktop - All versions of Windows XP--including Home Edition--support Remote Assistance, which is an assisted support technology that allows a help desk or system administrator to remotely connect to a client desktop for troubleshooting purposes. But Only Pro supports the new Remote Desktop feature, which is a single-session version of Terminal Services with two obvious uses: Mobile professionals who need to remotely access their corporate desktop, and remote administration of clients on a network. You can access a Windows XP Remote Desktop from any OS that supports a Terminal Services client (such as Windows 98 and, interestingly XP Home). XP Home can act as the client in a Remote Desktop session; only Pro can be the server.

* Multi-processor support - Windows XP Pro supports up to two microprocessors, while Home Edition supports only one.

* Automated System Recovery (ASR) - In a somewhat controversial move, Microsoft has removed the Backup utility from the default Windows XP Home Edition, though it is available as an optional installation if you can find it on the CD-ROM (hint: it's in the /valueadd folder). The reason for this the integration of Microsoft's new Automated System Recovery (ASR) tool into Backup. In Pro, ASR will help recover a system from a catastrophic error, such as one that renders the system unbootable. ASR-enabled backups are triggerable from XP Setup, allowing you to return your system to its previous state, even if the hard drive dies and has to be replaced. Unlike consumer-oriented features such as System Restore, ASR is not automatic: It must manually be enabled from within the Backup utility in Windows XP Pro. In any event, while there is a Backup utility available for Home Edition, you cannot use ASR, even though mentions of this feature still exist in the UI. Confusing? Yes. But it's better than no Backup at all, which was the original plan.

* Dynamic Disk Support - Windows XP Professional (like its Windows 2000 equivalent) supports dynamic disks, but Home Edition does not (instead, HE supports only the standard Simple Disk type). Dynamic disks are not usable with any OS other than Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro, and they cannot be used on portable computers. Likewise, Home Edition does not include the Logical Disk Manager.

* Fax - Home Edition has no integrated fax functionality out of the box, though it is an option you can install from the XP Home CD.

* Internet Information Services/Personal Web Server - Home Edition does not include the IIS Web server 5.1 software found in Pro.



* Security Encrypting File System - Windows XP Professional supports the Encrypting File System (EFS), which allows you encrypt individual files or folders for local security (EFS is not enabled over a network). EFS-protected files and folders allows users to protect sensitive documents from other users.

* File-level access control - Any user with Administrator privileges can limit access to certain network resources, such as servers, directories, and files, using access control lists. Only Windows XP Professional supports file-level access control, mostly because this feature is typically implemented through Group Policy Objects, which are also not available in Home Edition.

* "C2" certification - Microsoft will attempt to have Windows XP Professional certified with the "C2" security designation, a largely irrelevant status, but one which will not be afforded to Home Edition.



* Management Domain<
 
Thank you all for the advice. I found out that there is software called XPlay 2. It's for users with 98 or ME. For $25.00 I was able to sync up with my iPod. :D
 
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