upgrade

[tomas]

I'm using windows ME but it has become unstable and
patches don't help. So I'm upgrading to XP. Should I buy
the upgrade or empty my hard drive completely and start
from scratch?

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I'm using windows ME but it has become unstable and
patches don't help. So I'm upgrading to XP. Should I buy
the upgrade or empty my hard drive completely and start
from scratch?

If you qualify for the upgrade (own a previous qualifying
version) you should certainly buy the upgrade, since it's
cheaper.

The question that you should ask is should you do an upgrade or a
clean installataion. Despite what many people think, you *can* do
a clean installation with an Upgrade version. The requirement to
use an upgrade version is to *own* a previous qualifying
version's installation CD (not an OEM restore CD), not to have it
installed. When setup doesn't find a previous qualifying version
installed, it will prompt you to insert its CD as proof of
ownership. Just insert the previous version's CD, and follow the
prompts. Everything proceeds quite normally and quite
legitimately.

So should you do an upgrade or a clean installation? In earlier
versions of Windows, a clean installation often gave better
results, but in XP, upgrades are usually just as successful. So
my recommendation is to at least try the upgrade, since it's
easier. Worst case, if you have trouble with the result, you can
always change your mind and reinstall cleanly.

 

[cliff]

if you have sam's club in your area check their price for
windows xp.....$83.00 in dallas/fortworth area.
=========================

 

[Alex Nichol]

I'm using windows ME but it has become unstable and
patches don't help. So I'm upgrading to XP. Should I buy
the upgrade or empty my hard drive completely and start
from scratch?

If you get the upgrade you can still install clean if you want. I would
upgrade in the first instance - the system gets fully replaced, but you
will retain (most) installed software, data files and so on, and can
always revert to do a clean install if it does not work out. Read Gary
Woodruff's article on upgrading to XP at
http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpupgrad.htm

To do a clean install, Run the CD from the existing system. Enter
Install, change Upgrade to New Install, then when it asks you to confirm
where, you can hit ESC and get the chance to select the current
partition, delete it, and create a new RAW one, going on to format it
as part of the setup

This will by then have detected that you are entitled to use the upgrade
CD