In
AWA said:
If I were to upgrade to WindowsXP Professional Edition from
98SE,
will that fix any errors I may have on my current OS? Also, is
it
any better or worse to upgrading over another OS (ie: WIN98SE)
as
opposed to installing a fresh full version OS when there isn't
one
present?
Although many people will tell you that formatting and installing
cleanly is the best way to go, I disagree. Unlike with previous
versions of Windows, an upgrade to XP replaces almost everything,
and usually works very well.
My recommendation is to at least try the upgrade, since it's much
easier than a clean installation. You can always change your mind
and reinstall cleanly if problems develop.
However, don't assume that doing an upgrade relieves you of the
need to backup your data, etc. before beginning. Before starting
to upgrade, it's always prudent to recognize that things like a
sudden power loss can occur in the middle of it and cause the
loss of everything. For that reason you should make sure you have
backups and anything else you need to reinstall if the worst
happens.
But in your case, if you're currently having problems, depending
on what kind of problems, an upgrade may make things worse, not
better. Before starting, post back with information about the
problems you have.
One more point: why do you want XP Professional rather than Home?
XP Professional and XP Home are exactly the same in all respects,
except that Professional has a few features (mostly related to
networking and security) missing from Home. For most (but not
all) home users, even those with a home network, these features
aren't needed, would never be used, and buying Professional
instead of Home is a waste of money.
For details go to
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.asp
Also note that Professional allows ten concurrent network
connections, and Home only five.
