I would like to upgrade to XP - DPChallenge Forums

02/27/2007 07:48:42 PM · #1

Hi all, it's been awhile since I was on this site and submitting to my PAD, like a month. My laptop has not been working up to snuff recently. It's about 5 years old, runs on ME(I know) and is a pent 3 w/ 512 mb ram. It also has 15gb of free space. Do you guys think an upgrade to XP would help? I don't have the $ for a new computer, so I hope you think it will work. Thanks in advance for your advice!

ClubJuggle

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

02/27/2007 07:52:05 PM · #2

If your goal is to get some speed back, consider a clean install rather than an upgrade.

Question for you, though. What software do you run on the laptop?

~Terry

valkner

Canon EOS-7D

02/27/2007 08:01:07 PM · #3

You're probably not going to see much of a performance increase going to XP. It tends to suck RAM - 512mb is pretty much the minimum you want to put in an XP system. Go to your laptop manufacturer's website and find out how much ram it can support, then buy more ram. It's really cheap these days and should give you a pretty good performance increase, especially when working with large photoshop files.

If you do decide to go with XP, take ClubJuggle's advice and do a clean install. Upgrades are messy and always tend to slow things down. Another thing to consider is a clean install of ME. Reformatting your hard drive and reinstalling ME should make it as good as new. And, assuming you have your ME disk, it's free!

hankk

Canon EOS-5D

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

02/27/2007 08:01:41 PM · #4

My rule of thumb is that newer MS OSes take more resources (RAM, CPU horsepower) than older ones. Plus, upgrading is an opportunity to cause system problems.

A clean OS install of your existing ME may help. But before you do that, try running an antivirus and anti-spyware program. Both Adaware and Spybot S&D have free versions, and AVG antivirus (Grisoft) has a free version.

Also, check and see if your hard drive needs to be defragmented, and that you have at least 10% (ideally at least 25%) free space on your hard drive.

Message edited by author 2007-02-27 20:03:02.

alliebeal

Canon EOS-50D

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

02/28/2007 12:08:50 PM · #5

Thanks for the advice so far. It's not really slow, but it will lock up on occasion. Sometimes it doesn't boot up the whole way or always shutdown. One day I had the blue screen o'death when I turned it on. YIKES! That spooked me enough to back up my pictures.

I don't have much software on it. The basics like Excel, word, outlook, etc, and my internet stuff (netzero), anti-viral, AutoCAD (ancient verision), photo software (not PS), Music Match, and palm software.

I just upgraded my RAM to 512 mb and it is the max amount. I might try to reinstall ME. I don't have much to loose. I'll put some important stuff, like my tax return I just did, on a CD and my palm can take care of my contacts. All of my music can be re-copied again.

Hhank, I do defrag and disk cleanup at least everymonth or when I delete a lot of pictures in one sitting. My total hard drive space is 30G and I have it about 1/2 full. I'll try the freebie progams you mentioned too. Along the same lines, does anyone know of a program that will totaly delete files from your computer? I had it at my last job, but I can't remember what it was called. When you delete a file, it asks if you want to 'fully' delete it, so it is unrecoverable. Totally skips the recycle bin. It was a free download too.

Thanks again!

yann

02/28/2007 12:17:57 PM · #6

I've used XP on a P2 400MHz 256RAM and it ran fine for what I needed so you can definately use XP on your laptop. It might be a little slower than what you have right now though. Anyways, it should be fine, just make sure you don't install Internet Explorer 7 (stay with 6) because the latest version is really heavy.

RainMotorsports

Nikon D60

02/28/2007 12:25:08 PM · #7

Originally posted by hankk:

Hankk actually to take a real life comparison A 400mhz Celeron with 512mb of ram and a 20gb hard drive runs faster running Windows XP Pro then Windows 98SE. WIndows 98SE actually had issue with memory management that slowed it down and caused many errors. I didnt think XP would run well on it but we installed and it never ran better. That machines now delegated to a linux server farm but it once ran XP.

However depedning on what ypur doing Windows 2000 is a little less resource intensive but some minor drivers and some older games wont work on 2000 giving u a NT error while they work on XP.

Message edited by author 2007-02-28 12:27:00.

joshua

Canon EOS-500D Rebel T1i

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

02/28/2007 12:27:27 PM · #8

ME was one of the worst OSes microsoft ever created. I would say either 98se or XP would be a better choice

//www.pcworld.com/article/id,125772-page,2/article.html

Message edited by author 2007-02-28 12:36:36.

Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH

02/28/2007 12:42:19 PM · #9

Originally posted by achiral:

ME was one of the worst OSes microsoft ever created. I would say either 98se or XP would be a better choice

//www.pcworld.com/article/id,125772-page,2/article.html

archiral is right, ME is by far the worst OS ever produced my MS, your best bet if you want a new OS is go with XP pro then in the future if you get a new puter you can allways transfer the licence to the new one without having to purchace a new OS with it...

Also you can trim down XP pro so it will run a little better than the inital install, there is a good article by a good friend of mine here on doing just that and should be fairly easy to follow.

-dave

fotomann_forever

02/28/2007 12:45:17 PM · #10

I'll agree ME was horrible... in most cases XP will outperform it. XP should be fairly cheap nowdays :-) I say go for it. My Laptop with 256MB of RAM does quite well with it.

Olyuzi

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7

02/28/2007 01:29:39 PM · #11

Originally posted by dknourek:

... your best bet if you want a new OS is go with XP pro then in the future if you get a new puter you can allways transfer the licence to the new one without having to purchace a new OS with it...
-dave

You can transfer it provided that you've purchased a retail version of XP, not an OEM copy, which is only good for one machine.

If the OP is going to purchase a new machine in the future then it will most likely come with Vista already loaded so I don't see this strategy of any benefit.

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF

02/28/2007 01:43:20 PM · #12

As I build all my own machines, I own several legitimate OEM seats of XP pro and have never had an issue with transfering the licence from one PC to another with MS...

Vista on the other hand with all its versions this "flaw" in the EULA has been changed where as the licence can be transfered ONCE and only ONCE, according to the new EULA that comes with Vista which has a lot of people upset including myself that build their own machines and tend to upgrade a lot.

-dave

shalrath

Nikon D200

02/28/2007 02:02:37 PM · #13

I make a habit of formatting and doing a clean install once a month or so anyway, just to keep things running OK. This is not for everyone, but you'll certainly notice the performance changes after a few months. A few programs installed and your registry size goes through the roof slowing things down a fair way.

First up try a clean install of ME. If this doesn't satisfy... which is on the cards with ME, pick yourself up a nice cheap copy of XP from the local shop and you won't be disappointed, it's a much better OS.

512mb SHOULD be OK to run it for a while, just restart every now and again and give the beast a rest every few hours, you should be fine.

error99

Canon EOS-6D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

02/28/2007 02:05:23 PM · #14

Originally posted by dknourek:

Precisely why I'll be using XP Pro for a long time or until MS changes the Vista EULA (not holding my breath).

Panasonic Lumix G 14mm F2.5 ASPH

02/28/2007 03:15:59 PM · #15

Originally posted by error99:

Its highly doubtfull that the new EULA will be changed, think of the extra revenue that will potentially be generated from this. As if they dont make enough already...

-dave

Olyuzi

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7

02/28/2007 11:20:52 PM · #16

Originally posted by dknourek:

As far as I know, you are not allowed to transfer Win XP Pro OEM software to another completely different computer, even if you erase the software off of the hardrive of the original computer. XP OEM is tied to the hardware that you originally assemble and package with the OS. You can upgrade system components, but not the motherboard. Once the machine has a new motherboard it's considered a new computer and will require a new OS license as well. If the OP purchased a new computer I"m sure it would have a new motherboard.

Has MS made changes to the eula to allow transfers to a new machine? If so, then why would anybody purchase the retail version as it's twice the price of the OEM? Is there a loophole I'm not aware of?

Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS for Nikon

02/28/2007 11:58:01 PM · #17

Originally posted by Olyuzi:

Originally posted by dknourek:
As I build all my own machines, I own several legitimate OEM seats of XP pro and have never had an issue with transfering the licence from one PC to another with MS...

Vista on the other hand with all its versions this "flaw" in the EULA has been changed where as the licence can be transfered ONCE and only ONCE, according to the new EULA that comes with Vista which has a lot of people upset including myself that build their own machines and tend to upgrade a lot.

-dave

As far as I know, you are not allowed to transfer Win XP Pro OEM software to another completely different computer, even if you erase the software off of the hardrive of the original computer. XP OEM is tied to the hardware that you originally assemble and package with the OS. You can upgrade system components, but not the motherboard. Once the machine has a new motherboard it's considered a new computer and will require a new OS license as well. If the OP purchased a new computer I"m sure it would have a new motherboard.

Has MS made changes to the eula to allow transfers to a new machine? If so, then why would anybody purchase the retail version as it's twice the price of the OEM? Is there a loophole I'm not aware of?

Apparently in the old EULA for XP there is a loophole of sorts that enables the license to be transfered pretty much an unlimited amount of times. This has been rectified in Vista's EULA where as no matter what version OEM or retail it can only be transfered once. Which is bad for someone like me that has to stay on top of technology and other "hardware enthusiasts" like me again that like to upgrade a lot or test new hardware. In Canada to purchase an OEM version all I need to do is buy pretty much anything that resides in side the case to legitimately buy it, this can be anything from a motherboard to a hard drive to a simple floppy cable...

-dave

Greetmir

Nikon D60

03/01/2007 01:31:31 AM · #18

The buying more RAM will NOT help Windows Me ... that is the biggest problem with it (RAM management) ... It is not even making use of the full 512 that you got, trust me. XP is definitely the way to go AND upgrade to 1 Gig if you can and you will be a happy puppy ...

alliebeal

Canon EOS-50D