Upgrade to Windows xp? [Archive] - Lawn Care and Landscaping Forum

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AltaLawnCare

12-15-2003, 12:07 AM

gusbuster

12-15-2003, 12:40 AM

I'm running xp pro on my home\office computer and have xp home on the laptop.

I had ME and all the others...XP is a lot better and more stable than previous versions. HowEVER, I can't say this if your going to be using an upgrade version vs a full install.

I know from previous attempts in up grade software, will never go to a new version of operating system unless I have the full version.

Why, The advantage of this is your less likely to get conflicts with hardware\software issues since everything is fresh and not overwritten code.

GreenQuest Lawn

12-15-2003, 12:44 AM

I'm running "ME" now. I just had the computer worked on, the shop installed a new motherboard and video card.

Thi sthing will still ocasionally crash. Is xp that much better than ME? I've heard it soaks up memory. :confused:

I have run xp for 1.5 years now and no crashes. It does however use ALOT of ram. I originally bought this computer with 128mb of ram and could only open one program before getting errors pertaining to memory (or lack of).

I went and bought another 256mb of ram but with the games we play now a days you need even more than that. So now I have 768mb of ram and 2.46gb of virtual memory. I have no problems anymore. ;)

yardman1

12-15-2003, 12:58 AM

I had ME on one of computers and it crashed all the time, then one day it crashed and lost alot of stuff, so i upgraded to XP Pro and no crashes or freeze up at all in the 6 months that I have had it.

GroundKprs

12-15-2003, 01:00 AM

Concur with both replies above. Especially try to avoid operating system upgrades; start with a full version. But you need not spend the shelf price for it. If you get a new computer, or a new basic computer part like motherboard, processor or hard drive, as long as you order it at the same time, you can get an OEM full version of the operating system. I haven't priced XP as OEM, but in the past OEM full version was often less than an upgrade version.

Be sure to check the requirements for XP with an older machine. You may have to make significant upgrades to an older computer before XP will run properly. If you have an old Win98SE available, use that instead on an older machine. 98SE was the most stable of the Win9x series, and ME was the klunkiest.

SG Lawncare

12-15-2003, 01:06 AM

I have one computer with the xp upgrade for a year with no problems at all.Love xp wouldn't have anything else.

yardman1

12-15-2003, 09:05 AM

Mine was a full version, I paid $169 for it at a local computer shop.

AltaLawnCare

12-15-2003, 11:05 AM

Thanks everyone,
I'm considering getting a laptop next season, it should come with the full version of xp.

yardman1, $169.00 is a great price for the full version.

LawnGoddess

12-15-2003, 11:35 AM

We upgraded from Me to XP, there is an option to wipe out Me when you are finished and have made sure everything is working properly. The only difference between full version and upgrade in XP is the Microsoft copyright/register thing. If you already have a registered version of Me or other system, the upgrade will check for it and install the full version of XP. If you do not have a registered full version of a Microsoft Operating System, it will not upgrade. This is different from earlier upgrade versions for Microsoft (in that it installs the full version).

The problem we had was getting all our other programs to run with XP, but they were minor except for one. If you have Roxio CD, before version 6 (I can't remember the exact name) and have used it to make cds, you have to reformat them before they will work. There is at this time, NO work around for this other than buying the new version 6 or reformatting the cds before the upgrade. XP will run a program before install to let you know what will or will not work after upgrade.

We only had 64 MB Ram when we upgraded, it still worked, but ran slow (although it still ran faster and with no crashes than with ME). Thanks to Scot, a member of the forum, he added 128 MB and now the computer runs great.

I would definitely recommend XP over ME.

Cos

12-15-2003, 12:05 PM

I have XP on my lap top and 2000 on my PC. I love how you can see image files in your folders. There are just little things that I don't like about XP as comared to 2000.

yardman1

12-15-2003, 02:58 PM

We only had 64 MB Ram when we upgraded, it still worked, but ran slow (although it still ran faster and with no crashes than with ME). Thanks to Scot, a member of the forum, he added 128 MB and now the computer runs great.

I would definitely recommend XP over ME.

Before I upgraded to xp all that I had was 128mb of ram and now I have 512rdram, smooth now.

greenman

12-15-2003, 10:52 PM

Guess I really need to catch up.........Im still running 98, but this thing is a dinosaur. :o

Pro Cut

12-16-2003, 12:25 AM

I have XP in both computers. I just put it in the laptop I got, 160MB and it runs perfectly fine, only time I have had to restart is when I forgot to hook it up to A/C and the battery went dead :( Very stable OS, lots of cool features compared to the older versions. Cooler wallpapers, too!

mowerman90

01-06-2004, 05:21 PM

I've been running XP Pro since the day it came out. I have NEVER had a crash with it. My system is an Athlon 2200 with 512mgs ram. My laptop is an older Toshiba running W98. Just for fun I loaded XP on it to see if the AMD 333k6 processor with 96mgs ram would run it. To my suprise it runs faster than with 98.

AltaLawnCare

01-06-2004, 06:15 PM

I'm definately going to switch, I'm having lots of problems with ME. I just need to save some $ first.
I knew I could get some good info from you all. :)

AltaLawnCare

01-06-2004, 06:16 PM

Guess I really need to catch up.........Im still running 98, but this thing is a dinosaur. :o
Grennman, I've been told that 98 is better than ME. And next to XP Pro , its the next best thing.

mowerman90

01-07-2004, 08:12 AM

To those of you who want to purchase a full version of XP Pro you can't beat the deal at: http://www.newegg.com/software/ They're selling an OEM version of XP Pro for $139 with free shipping. I've bought a lot of stuff from these people and can verify that their service and pricing is great. The only requirement to buying an OEM version is that you buy a hardware item with it. They even make that easy too. You can get a qualifying hardware item for free when you buy the software from them. For those wondering, an OEM version is exactly the same as retail except it does not include support from Microsoft.

yardman1

01-07-2004, 09:06 AM

I'm definately going to switch, I'm having lots of problems with ME. I just need to save some $ first.
I knew I could get some good info from you all. :)

Plain and simple windows ME SUCKS, I had it and it crashed everyday. I have xp pro now and it has never crashed or frozen up.

JohnHenry

01-07-2004, 12:22 PM

I use xp on my labtop and love it

AltaLawnCare

01-08-2004, 08:13 PM

Look at what I got !!! :D

AltaLawnCare

01-08-2004, 08:18 PM

To those of you who want to purchase a full version of XP Pro you can't beat the deal at: http://www.newegg.com/software/ They're selling an OEM version of XP Pro for $139 with free shipping.

A big thanks for that link, I went there, printed it out and asked the guy I bought my computer from about it.
He said he'd sell me the upgrade at $129.00 !! Its the acedemic price. I was ready to flash my CVCC ID if needed . :)
I couldn't get it to load, but they did and only charged $25.00.
I've been updating software all evening.

I've wanted XP for a long time. :D

The only thing not working is the center wheel on the mouse...
I'll check mouse settings for that.