Advice on purchasing XP Home

[harvey]

Get a new copy of XP and a new hard drive.

add some memory to your box,

you'll be set for years.

Do this quickly. XP will disappear on June 30th.

 

[Twayne]

Thanks for the compatibililty list link.

When I purchased my Gateway, I had a second drive installed which I
always used to store data (Word Files, Quicken files, photos, etc).
Then just recently (about 4 months ago) I purchased a Maxtor
"OneTouch" external drive and make regular backups of the "D" drive
on the computer.
So, fortunately, I have not lost any data. And that is VERY
fortunate. My Word files go back over ten years.

Thanks for all the advice. I have just about decided to invest in a
new Dell (the Gateway is five years old) desktop with Vista installed
with the option of downgrading to XP Pro.

I have a Dell laptop (Inspiron 6000) which has traveled all over the
country and has been beautiful. I guess that speaks highly of Dell.

Again, thanks for your time.

CT

Good, then neither does the thief.

I'd register a complaint with the BBB; several are going to pipe in that
it's not going to accomplish anything, but it may well prevent someone
else from being scammed. And you're probably not the first.

You'll likely be OK with it coming pre-installed from Dell. Whether
you'll like it or hate it depends on what sort of work you do with the
computer. It's fine for some people, but ... and then there's the
learning curve; you're right there.

At that age, I'd go for a new machine with XP Pro which you can still
get at a lot of places if you ask for it.

"Never" say "impossible" because our local Walmart has some. Dell &
Gateway are still shippping XP if you ask for it. Don't wait too much
longer, though; order this weekend if possible.

Since you've settled on Dell, call and ASK them for a machine with XP
installed. Chances are good you can get it if you really want it. I
just ordered one for a friend with XP Pro yesterday. No problems,
including support obligations from the mfg.

HTH

 

[Michael Jennings]

If the manufacturer intended the computer to work only with Vista, the
experience of folks attempting to downgrade to XP was fairly negative.
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/electronics/2008/02/vista-to-xp-the.html

Most users find that Vista is endurable. If you select Dell's XPS 630, it will
boot XP as shipped. It has a Vista ultimate DVD and an XP pro CD. It is
not a modest desktop. The Dell desktop links at CU redirect to this gamer:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/winxp_inspndt?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&redirect=1
It comes with the legal right to run Vista or XP, but not both I guess.

 

[Bill in Co.]

I don't see that option in the boot screen normally either. In my case, I
have to first press Ctrl-F11 before it will even show up (and I had to know
that beforehand). So, it still might be there, although if it's 5 years
old and a Gateway they may not have done it.

 

[Mark]

Thanks for the compatibililty list link.

When I purchased my Gateway, I had a second drive installed which I always
used to store data (Word Files, Quicken files, photos, etc). Then just
recently (about 4 months ago) I purchased a Maxtor "OneTouch" external drive
and make regular backups of the "D" drive on the computer.

So, fortunately, I have not lost any data. And that is VERY fortunate. My
Word files go back over ten years.

Thanks for all the advice. I have just about decided to invest in a new
Dell (the Gateway is five years old) desktop with Vista installed with the
option of downgrading to XP Pro.

I have a Dell laptop (Inspiron 6000) which has traveled all over the country
and has been beautiful. I guess that speaks highly of Dell.

Again, thanks for your time.

Good descision to go with a Dell. I bought an HP and have had problems
with it since the day I bought it. I am still having troubles getting
HP to stand behind their warranty. (I had a corrupt hard drive which HP
still hasn't replaced after almost a year - despite their promises to do
so)

Mark