I need to upgrade from Windows 98to XP2

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Guest

I hope that there is someone out there who can give me step by step on how to
to
to do this conversion. Thanks in advance
JoJo
 
Easy. Backup all data on external medium. Get your hands on a copy of
Windows XP, install it, install programs and re-integrate your data.

Doing an in-place upgrade from 98 is really NOT recommended. You really
should consider doing a clean install.

You may also consider buying a whole new machine because XP needs a lot
more resources than 98, especially RAM. You should at least have 256MB
RAM, better 512.
 
Fitzhue said:
I hope that there is someone out there who can give me step by step
on how to to to do this conversion. Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

1) Ensure your computer can run Windows XP. Since you are running Windows
98 now - it may not be worth the cost/effort to upgrade simply because your
computer may not be able to handle the operating system in a way that keeps
it 'usable' to you.

System requirements for Windows XP operating systems
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314865/

More realistic requirements would be:
- 1GHz or greater processor
- 512MB or more system memory
- 20GB or more hard disk drive space

Utilize the Windows XP Upgrade Advisor
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307726

2) If, after step 1, you are sure you still can/want to upgrade - choose the
flavor of Windows XP (Home or Professional in most cases) you wish to
upgrade to. Most people would do fine with Windows XP Home Edition - as
they do not need the extra abilities (networking(domain membership, etc),
encrypted file system, etc) that Windows XP Professional would give them.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.mspx

Tablet/x64/Media Center Editions are not valid upgrade options -
particularly here. If you had a tablet pc - you would more than likely have
the Tablet PC Edition of Windows XP - and it comes in OEM only - you cannot
do an actual *upgrade* with it. With Windows 98 on the system and you just
getting around to wanting to upgrade to a now 5+ year old OS from your
almost decade old OS - you are unlikely to be able to run Windows XP x64
anyway. Media Center Edition is also OEM only - meaning it cannot perform
an in-place upgrade - which i think you are shooting for.

3) Still there? You'll need to purchase your "upgrade" and/or "retail" copy
of the Windows XP flavor you choose. OEM versions will *not* do upgrades -
only clean installations.

4) Once you have your copy of Windows XP - now what? You should backup your
important files/folders/documents/emails/contacts/product
information/installable media/serial numbers/etc... Copy it OFF the current
system - put it on CD/DVD/external drive or copy it over a network tro
another machine.

5) Everything backed up? Good. Now you should probably do o full scandisk
and defragment using Windows 98 - just to tidy up a bit.

6) Got that? Okay - now you should probably do a quick scan with for
spyware/adware... I suggest using SUPERAntiSpyware...
http://www.superantispyware.com/ <-- Free Version should work fine in this
case. Follow that by a full system scan for viruses with whatever Antivirus
software you have installed.

7) You should get a list of hardware while your system is up and working
properly. I suggest downloading and running Belarc Advisor and even
printing the results if you can. http://www.belarc.com/ That will give you
a list of hardware you have so you can go now (or later if you wish) and
download the hardware drivers for the hardware in your system for Windows
XP. Just visit the hardware manufacturer's web page, go to their support
section and locate the driver for your device and download it. That way you
know your hardware will function as well as it can in Windows XP.

8) Made it through all that and *still* want to upgrade to Windows XP on
that machine? Okay... Now -reboot one more time, loading up into Windows
98. Put in your Windows XP CD and it *should* autorun. If it does not -
open "My Computer" and double-click the CD drive there to get it to startup.
Choose to upgrade and follow the easy prompts. It will walk you through the
upgrade one step at a time.

9) Once you are upgraded...

- Install the Windows XP Hardware Drivers you got in step 7...
- Visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and scan for/install all
critical updates.

You'll probably have some trouble adjusting - it's not the same OS you're
used to. ;-)

Good Luck - Let us know how it goes!
 
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