Thanks for your observations and advice, Bruce. I'm struggling along through
archived newsgroup articles, aumha.org, MS and other websites. It will be a
fingers-crossed type of installation.
Mine is a home-built (purists would insist it's "assembled" & they'd be
right, but I try to get away with a feeble brag). Hardware OK for XP home,,
except for a 5 year old mobo. I have an email out to tech support on that,
but I think it should work. Board supports 512MB mem and more than the 1GHz
cpu that I have, so am proceeding.
--
RobF
| Rob wrote:
| > Am recent subscriber to this ng, so have missed the probably many posts
on
| > this Q.
| > Does XP delete or overwrite files unneeded for the new OS?
|
|
| Actually, as part of the upgrade from Win98 (as your subject implies),
| and after reading the information needed to transfer as many of the user
| settings as possible, WinXP archives the earlier operating system's
| files, so you can "uninstall" or back out of the upgrade if it should
| later prove necessary or desirable.
|
|
| > If so, that might
| > save much time re-installing programs.
|
|
| Yes, an in-place upgrade can certainly be a time safer. WinXP is
| designed to install and upgrade the existing operating system while
| simultaneously preserving your applications and data, and translating as
| many personalized settings as possible. The process is designed to be,
| and normally is, quite painless. That said, things can go wrong, in a
| small number of cases. If your data is at all important to you, back it
| up before proceeding.
|
| Have you verified that all of your PC's hardware components are
| capable of supporting WinXP? This information will be found at the PC's
| manufacturer's web site, and on Microsoft's Windows Catalog:
| (
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx)
|
| You should also take a few minutes to ensure that there are
| WinXP-specific device drivers available for all of the machine's
| components. There may not be, if the PC was specifically designed for
| Win98/Me. Also bear in mind that PCs designed for, sold and run fine
| with Win9x/Me very often do not meet WinXP's much more stringent
| hardware quality requirements. This is particularly true of many early
| models in Compaq's consumer-class Presario product line or HP's
| consumer-class Pavilion product line. WinXP, like WinNT and Win2K
| before it, is quite sensitive to borderline defective or substandard
| hardware (particularly motherboards, RAM and hard drives) that will
| still support Win9x.
|
| HOW TO Prepare to Upgrade Win98 or WinMe
|
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316639
|
| Upgrading to Windows XP
|
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm
|
| > Or over-installing may just be an
| > unthinkable option for the highly knowledgeable upgraders.
| >
|
| Actually, it's just the opposite.
|
| Some people will recommend that you perform a clean installation,
| rather than upgrade over an earlier OS. For the most part, I feel that
| these people, while well-meaning, are living in the past, are basing
| their recommendation on their experiences with older operating systems,
| or are simply inexperienced and uninformed. You'd probably save a lot
| of time by upgrading your PC to WinXP, rather than performing a clean
| installation, if you've no hardware or software incompatibilities.
| Microsoft has greatly improved (over earlier versions of Windows)
| WinXP's ability to smoothly upgrade an earlier OS.
|
| Certainly, there are times when an in-place upgrade is
| contra-indicated:
|
| 1) When the underlying hardware isn't certified as being fully
| compatible with the newer OS, and/or updated device drivers are not
| available from the device's manufacturer. Of course, this condition also
| causes problems with clean installations.
|
| 2) When the original OS is corrupt, damaged, and/or virus/malware
| infested. I've also seen simple, straight-forward upgrades from WinXP
| Home to WinXP Pro fail because the computer owner had let the system
| become malware-infested. Upgrading over a problematic OS isn't normally
| a wise course to establishing a stable installation.
|
| 3) When the new OS isn't designed to properly, correctly, and safely
| perform an upgrade.
|
| A properly prepared and maintained PC can almost always be
| successfully upgraded by a knowledgeable and competent individual. I've
| lost count of the systems I've seen that have been upgraded from Win95
| to Win98 to Win2K to WinXP (usually with incremental hardware upgrades
| over the same time period), without the need for a clean installation,
| and that are still operating without any problems attributable to
upgrades.
|
|
|
| --
|
| Bruce Chambers
|
| Help us help you:
|
|
|
| They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
| safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
|
| Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand
Russell
