Installation

[Dax]

Does XP install over ME the same way ME installed over 98?
Or perhaps is XP going to require my return to a 16bit
enviornment & the deletion of my current information?

I guess in a perfect world, you'd tell me that I can slap
XP in, let it go to town, and bang, I'm back up & running
w/o hardly any reload time on 3rd party software... but
how close to that scenario is it? or how far?...

I hear nothing but raves about XP from techs I know at
work... and nothing but heartache about it when they get
home & use it.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out how much down time I
should expect on my home network when I switch to XP.

 

[Malke]

Does XP install over ME the same way ME installed over 98?
Or perhaps is XP going to require my return to a 16bit
enviornment & the deletion of my current information?

I guess in a perfect world, you'd tell me that I can slap
XP in, let it go to town, and bang, I'm back up & running
w/o hardly any reload time on 3rd party software... but
how close to that scenario is it? or how far?...

I hear nothing but raves about XP from techs I know at
work... and nothing but heartache about it when they get
home & use it.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out how much down time I
should expect on my home network when I switch to XP.

Look, there is no perfect hardware or software. There is no perfect
world. If ME is working well for you, then leave it alone. Otherwise,
the amount of time a change in operating system will take is directly
related to how much prep time *you* do. This isn't a Microsoft issue;
this rule applies to any operating system. 1) Be sure the hardware you
have will support the new os. This means knowing what hardware you
have. 2) Have *on hand* drivers from all your hardware mftrs.
(including your motherboard, peripherals such as printers, scanners,
etc.) for the new os. 3) Have *on hand* cd's for all your programs and
be sure you have checked *beforehand* that these programs will run on
the new os. Download any patches and/or readme's for the software. 4)
Have all your data backed up on cd-r's in a non-proprietary format so
you know it will be readable on another system. 5) Know how you connect
to the Internet and how to set up your connection. Know all necessary
usernames and passwords. If you aren't sure about this, do the research
ahead of time. You can do an upgrade installation (not formatting the
drive and just installing "in place"), but I think it's a bad idea, and
not just for Microsoft os's. Clean (formatting first) is always better.

After you've done all of the above, depending on the amount of
configuration and futzing around you like to do, how much software you
like to install, allow yourself a day to get everything set up. It
takes me about 1-1/2 hours to do a clean install of XP (format the hard
drive first) for a client, including applying all the update patches,
drivers, installing software they want, optimizing the configuration,
etc. That's a very rough estimate and doesn't include setting up a home
or business network for them.

Malke

 

[Dax]

I suppose my first post did come off as sounding a little
on the amature side. I always keep backups of my software
& make sure I have current drivers before a new install.

My biggest question is about the file system. Will I have
to return to 16 bit from 32? Unfortunately, I strayed away
from that question in my origional post. For some reason,
when I hear XP, I think NT & 16bit...

 

[Malke]

I suppose my first post did come off as sounding a little
on the amature side. I always keep backups of my software
& make sure I have current drivers before a new install.

My biggest question is about the file system. Will I have
to return to 16 bit from 32? Unfortunately, I strayed away
from that question in my origional post. For some reason,
when I hear XP, I think NT & 16bit...

Win98 and ME are 32-bit operating systems, as is Windows XP. I can't
imagine why you'd think you'd be going to a 16-bit system. If you need
further help in installing Windows XP, please post back with your
system specs.

Malke