XP to Vista license

[edavid3001]

One of my family members purchased a used PC. It was a high end PC at
the time, AMD 3000+ range. He has come to find out through WGA that
the XP License is not valid.

I'm tired of trying to support this family member's PC, doing anti
virus cleanup and whatnot. He hits *bad* sites and wonders why he
gets so many viruses. I've urged the person to purchase a license,
but I can't get him to. I guess he thinks since he has Windows XP
(pro) in his car computer he shouldn't have to purchase another
license for his home.

Can I purchase this Vista Home basic I see at best buy for $99 ontop
of this XP Home install? My time wasted is worth more than the $99,
so if this is an option it would be money well spent for me.

 

[Dave B.]

The Vista upgrade requires an activated version of XP to be installed before
it will install. You can however format the drive and install the upgrade
fresh.
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932

--

 

[RBot]

As long as the current OS (Windows XP) is still bootable (and it
thinks it is legitimate), or you have a Windows XP CD, then yes. Go
to this site first to download the Advisor to make sure your hardware
will work with Vista: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx
Go here for some common drivers that will work with vista: http://
www.microsoft.com/hardware/windowsvista/support.mspx) What I would
recommend doing is, while the system is booted into XP, insert the
Windows Vista CD and select the Custom (advanced) option for install.
(This will erase all current info, but will not bring viruses along
with it).

Looks like this:
http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-39508-10.html
(If you want all of the screens you will see during this install, go
to http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-39508.html and
if you want to see some possible "gotchas", go here http://
downloads.techrepublic.com.com/download.aspx?docid=244880)

The machine will check that you have all of the necessary OS files for
upgrade and continue as if it were a full version of Vista.

Good luck!

 

[Dave B.]

How is having an XP CD going to help?

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[Guest]

Your main woes here are if the user is surfing dodgy sites with Internet
Explorer, as that's how it'll get infected. Get Firefox or Seamonkey, tell
him to use only this foir browsing, and remove the IE shortcuts to stop him
falling-back into bad habits.

Vista or no, this is your main line of defence.

 

[edavid3001]

Your main woes here are if the user is surfing dodgy sites with Internet
Explorer, as that's how it'll get infected. Get Firefox or Seamonkey, tell
him to use only this foir browsing, and remove the IE shortcuts to stop him
falling-back into bad habits.

Vista or no, this is your main line of defence.

Did that, but the other people he gets support from turned it back on
because some of his sites require active-x to work.

Also moved him from Outlook Express to MyYaHoo. But he keeps getting
viruses because of the IE/Outlook express combo. I even gave him a
Knoppix boot CD and said just use that, but he keeps calling for XP
support. Kinda hard to turn down family.

So the $99 upgrade at Best Buy wont work. I guess I need to get the
$94 oem at NewEgg.

Tx

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

Did that, but the other people he gets support from turned it back on
because some of his sites require active-x to work.

Also moved him from Outlook Express to MyYaHoo. But he keeps getting
viruses because of the IE/Outlook express combo. I even gave him a
Knoppix boot CD and said just use that, but he keeps calling for XP
support. Kinda hard to turn down family.

So the $99 upgrade at Best Buy wont work. I guess I need to get the
$94 oem at NewEgg.

Tx

What ever OS this nong is going to use he shoud still have up-to-date
anti-virus and anti-spy/malware packages installedinstalled, with out this
you will still be trying to put out a bushfire with a water pistol. The
following ones are free.

Spybot Search & Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

Avast! 4 Home edition
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html

 

[Rock]

One of my family members purchased a used PC. It was a high end PC at
the time, AMD 3000+ range. He has come to find out through WGA that
the XP License is not valid.

I'm tired of trying to support this family member's PC, doing anti
virus cleanup and whatnot. He hits *bad* sites and wonders why he
gets so many viruses. I've urged the person to purchase a license,
but I can't get him to. I guess he thinks since he has Windows XP
(pro) in his car computer he shouldn't have to purchase another
license for his home.

Can I purchase this Vista Home basic I see at best buy for $99 ontop
of this XP Home install? My time wasted is worth more than the $99,
so if this is an option it would be money well spent for me.

There are Vista newsgroups where Vista questions should be asked. The
general newsgroup is:
microsoft.public.windows.vista.general.

Just about every upgrade scenario you can think of has been discussed there
many times. Search the posts there for upgrade and you will see. All the
info you need is there.

That said, to use an upgrade edition of Vista, there must be installed a
qualifying OS - XP or Windows 2000. The installation of XP has to be
activated and genuine. It also has to be at the SP2 level for an in place
upgrade.

Vista Home basic can do an in place upgrade from XP Home. Any other XP
version, and it can only be a custom install (no migration of files and
settings) - basically a clean install.

Since the XP version is not genuine what is needed is a full version of
Vista.