XP to Vista

[Guest]

Will upgrading my OS benefit me in ways of:

1) Accessing programs
2) Accessing websites
3) Surfing the Internet

Since recently purchasing and installing MS Office Pro 2003 on my computer
(1 G processor; 512K memory), my system "crawls." I have plenty of free hard
drive space, so this isn't the problem. Further, since installing this
program, it takes much longer to bring up websites, etc., which shouldn't (in
my opinion) have anything to do with the MS Office installation. I blamed it
on my DSL, but they said that there is a problem with my computer, because
the connection speed is fast (3,000-6,000 mps) and what takes so long is
accessing the Internet initially, not after connection has been made. I know
that some websites are very sluggish (I notice this on Microsoft, MSN, eBay,
etc.), but this slowdown is driving me up the wall! Will a faster processor,
more memory (I'm maxed out on this 5-year-old system), or advanced Vista OS
resolve my problem(s)? I want to buy a new computer, but if Vista is going to
be faster than XP, I want to wait until the final release.

Thanks!

 

[Beck]

Will upgrading my OS benefit me in ways of:

1) Accessing programs
2) Accessing websites
3) Surfing the Internet

Since recently purchasing and installing MS Office Pro 2003 on my computer
(1 G processor; 512K memory), my system "crawls." I have plenty of free
hard
drive space, so this isn't the problem. Further, since installing this
program, it takes much longer to bring up websites, etc., which shouldn't
(in
my opinion) have anything to do with the MS Office installation. I blamed
it
on my DSL, but they said that there is a problem with my computer, because
the connection speed is fast (3,000-6,000 mps) and what takes so long is
accessing the Internet initially, not after connection has been made. I
know
that some websites are very sluggish (I notice this on Microsoft, MSN,
eBay,
etc.), but this slowdown is driving me up the wall! Will a faster
processor,
more memory (I'm maxed out on this 5-year-old system), or advanced Vista
OS
resolve my problem(s)? I want to buy a new computer, but if Vista is going
to
be faster than XP, I want to wait until the final release.

What are the full specs of the machine?
You might find Vista will run slower than XP because Vista requires a
beefier PC.
If Office has caused your PC to run sluggish then maybe you should uninstall
it and see if your PC returns to normal.
Look to why your PC is slow and then take it from there.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The specs for your machine put in at the very low end for Vista performance.
An increase from 512MB to 1GB of ram is the likliest to improve your perf.
Also, Vista does a lot of indexing for the first few hours and then perf
picks up some.

 

[Guest]

Thank you! Yes, I know that I need to purchase an upgraded system to run
Vista, but I am wondering if it's going to be worth the extra cost to use
Vista as my OS, opposed to XP Home? I tried uninstalling and reinstalling;
still sluggish.

 

[Guest]

I will be upgrading my system soon, certainly before changing operating
systems. However, I am still trying to discover if it's my system specs or
something else that is causing this sluggishness. Not only does it take
longer to open applications since installing Office 2003, but, for instance,
when I am on this website and click on a topic, it takes almost a minute to
download the posts. This is ridiculous, especially with a DSL (3K-6K)
connectivity speed!

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The specs and indexing are what come to my mind.

I will be upgrading my system soon, certainly before changing operating
systems. However, I am still trying to discover if it's my system specs or
something else that is causing this sluggishness. Not only does it take
longer to open applications since installing Office 2003, but, for
instance,
when I am on this website and click on a topic, it takes almost a minute
to
download the posts. This is ridiculous, especially with a DSL (3K-6K)
connectivity speed!

 

[Guest]

But should the specs and indexing be a problem using my current operating
system, XP Home?

 

[Beck]

Thank you! Yes, I know that I need to purchase an upgraded system to run
Vista, but I am wondering if it's going to be worth the extra cost to use
Vista as my OS, opposed to XP Home? I tried uninstalling and reinstalling;
still sluggish.

Is it sluggish without office installed?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Vista runs very nicely on newer hardware. It is worth it if your budget
allows.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

XP Home and Vista Ultimate are worlds apart. It is like comparing Win95 and
XP Home. You would have seen the same slowness on XP Home on a system you
had originally bought when Win95 new.

 

[Lang Murphy]

Might want to wait until the holidays; I hear MS is going to be giving out
Free Upgrade certificates for Vista with new computers during the holiday
season so folks will buy new computers without having to wait for Vista's
scheduled release in January. Since Vista itself will not be cheap, I'd
think you'd best get a new computer with the Free certificate or wait until
you can get a computer with Vista on it.

Lang

 

[Guest]

Thanks, everyone. Yes, this is my intention, Lang, to wait until around
Christmas. I heard the same thing. I'm just trying to find out why my system
is so slow right now (without Vista) after installing MS Office Pro 2003.
Guess I'm in the wrong discussion group. Sorry, guys!

 

[Beck]

Thanks, everyone. Yes, this is my intention, Lang, to wait until around
Christmas. I heard the same thing. I'm just trying to find out why my
system
is so slow right now (without Vista) after installing MS Office Pro 2003.
Guess I'm in the wrong discussion group. Sorry, guys!

Routine maintenance. Disc cleanup, disc defragmenter and so on. Worth a try

 

[Guest]

Oh, I religiously do these things! In fact, doing such (disk
cleanup--removing junk files) recently removed some needed printer files that
necessitated reinstalling my printer!

 

[Beck]

Oh, I religiously do these things! In fact, doing such (disk
cleanup--removing junk files) recently removed some needed printer files
that
necessitated reinstalling my printer!

That is very odd. Make sure you do not have ticked "compress old files" for
removal.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The system builders provide the upgrade coupons, not MS. It is an
arrangement between them and MS but it is not the same as what you would get
from MS because it is an OEM upgrade dvd, not a standard MS dvd. That's how
it worked when XP came out. I had a coupon with my Compaq laptop I bought
with ME preinstalled a few months before XP released. What I got was a
Compaq restore cd that upgraded me to XP Home. It was unusable as a
straight XP cd.