# Windows XP



## cornflakegirl (Sep 12, 2008)

My husband has finally convinced me that we need to upgrade from ME to XP. Does anyone know the best (cheapest) place to buy it?


----------



## DonkeyOte (Sep 12, 2008)

ME ???!!!!

If you have the performance available I'd advise you just go straight to Vista...given you're running ME perhaps you don't (512 RAM ?)

Obviously getting XP from the high street shops is virtually impossible so you're best bet is probably Amazon ... I was looking to upgrade my XP Home to XP Pro a month or so ago (I wanted IIS) but found it was still pretty expensive ... so would still advise Vista if you can (the extra memory (if required) would be worth it too... RAM is the key!!)


----------



## cornflakegirl (Sep 12, 2008)

Don't pretend to be shocked, Luke - I've told you before that we're only running ME. It's perfectly adequate 

Really Vista? I've heard lots of stuff about it being a bit rubbish - have they fixed all that now?

I'm not sure if we have the requisite RAM - my beloved deals with all that - he does keep buying new bits for the computer though, so there's a fair chance that we do. Or that he could convince me that it was a good investment


----------



## schielrn (Sep 12, 2008)

I have liked Vista Business, which I have been using probably going on a year and a half now.  I loved XP and it took some time to get use to Vista, but now all seems well.  As far as RAM, anymore it is very cheap for memory.  You should be able to pick up 1 GB of RAM for less than $40 in the states.  Not sure what that equates to in the UK.  But like Luke said, it would be hard to find XP in the store unless you went to a PC Store that dealt with used or refurbished PC's.  Otherwise I would agree with him, by looking on Amazon, eBay or I've always liked newegg.com:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=windows+xp


----------



## Stormseed (Sep 12, 2008)

Emma, I would suggest to settle down for Windows Vista after 1 full year. I am afraid, you would lose more than half of compatibility after installing Windows Vista. I have experienced this myself and a hell lot of friends regret installing Vista - the buggy OS. 

I would only advice you to go in for Windows XP (though the OS is very sensitive - atleast you can enjoy its compatibility features with other softwares - very less bugs if upgraded to SP2). YOu can enjoy all the Hardcore action & strategy games, music and what not ! Moreover, XP is much more widely used whereas Windows Vista is still on testing stages, etc. 

Final decision depends on you whether to buy XP or Vista. I just gave my opinion because you posted a thread in the Lounge as a question 
[removed by Admin]


----------



## Andrew Fergus (Sep 12, 2008)

cornflakegirl said:


> My husband has finally convinced me that we need to upgrade from ME to XP. Does anyone know the best (cheapest) place to buy it?


I was recently in the UK and we upgraded (actually replaced) my mother-in-laws computer from Windows 98.  On my recommendation we went with XP instead of Vista with no regrets.  You may find it hard to get your hands on XP given (I believe) it is not in popular circulation.   I'm not sure whereabouts you are but we got XP from PC Paramedics somewhere in Surrey.....sorry, I have forgotten where but I do remember it was on the South-Western train line because I recognised the place from the train (maybe it was Bagshot or Virginia Waters?)

Andrew


----------



## cornflakegirl (Sep 12, 2008)

Andrew - why did you recommend XP rather than Vista?

I'm in Peterborough, so probably not worth the trek to Surrey - thanks anyway!


----------



## Stormseed (Sep 12, 2008)

> [removed by Admin]


 
Ha Ha !! I understand - it was something like an anti-Microsoft act  

No problem !


----------



## SydneyGeek (Sep 12, 2008)

I use both. Vista Business on my main PC, XP Pro on another desktop and a laptop. 

Vista works fine but I have had some compatibility problems; some of my printer utilities won't install on Vista, even they claim that they are compatible. But one definite piece of advice that comes out of lots of users' experience, is DO NOT upgrade an existing system. Your best bet is a clean install. Anecdotally, and reading a lots of comments in PC mags, the Vista experience is a fairly clean separation between good to excellent (clean install on a new install) to hell on wheels (upgrading an XP installation). 

Denis


----------



## riaz (Sep 12, 2008)

Emma, two more caveats:

1) Make a list of all the software on your current machine and check with Microsoft AND the software house that that particular version is Vista compatible.  I have had a case where we bought a laptop for the office, Vista preinstalled, only to find that our core accounting software went into a sulk and would not talk to Vista _at all_

2) Ensure all the drivers you will need are available before making the leap.  Said machine was a Toshiba with all Vista drivers.  When I dowgraded to XP (had to buy one locally - it is available in the shops), the drivers that came with XP were not compatible with the machine.

As I said, XP was bought locally, so if you are interested in getting it from here (I am in Luxembourg) and if the shop does mail order, I could get the details for you.

Finally, after all is said and done, my daughter loves Vista.  Try before you buy if you can.


----------



## RoryA (Sep 12, 2008)

It's also a very good idea to run the Vista Hardware compatibility checker on the MS website before getting Vista on an old machine.


----------



## cornflakegirl (Sep 12, 2008)

Okay, now you're all scaring me!

We don't do much on the computer - we have Office, do a bit of photo editing, use the internet. Not sure what version of Office we have though.

Think I'll need to make my husband come and post on this thread - he's not such a wuss about these things!


----------



## DonkeyOte (Sep 12, 2008)

I run XP Home and Vista -- the latter as a new install on new machine so I can't / shouldn't comment regards issues with upgrades etc... that said I've not had any real issues with Vista and none with XP ... one good thing regards Vista over XP if you're a web nerd is that IIS comes as standard (though has to be activated) whereas with XP it's only available with XP Pro Edition... if you buy XP Home and do web development - beware... you can run IIS on XP Home but you have to do a little "tweaking"...

General opinion would appear to be XP rather than Vista so I stand corrected... rumour has it that Vista will become something of the 21st Century ME as far as OS' are concerned... ie the OS of which no one speaks at MS... I thought MS were rumoured to have brought forward the roll out of the next OS given issues with Vista...??  Afterall ME wasn't around for long and wasn't a huge success...


----------



## cornflakegirl (Sep 12, 2008)

Thanks Luke - I didn't realise about IIS - that's me swayed...  

< goes to find out what IIS is >

< EDIT: have now read Wikipedia article, and still have no idea! >


----------



## riaz (Sep 12, 2008)

Do a google on Vista replaced and you seem to get a lot of authoritative organisations telling you that Vista is on the way out to be replaced by Windows 7 in 2009.

If so, hang on to your XP's guys (and gals).


----------



## Stormseed (Sep 12, 2008)

cornflakegirl said:


> Thanks Luke - I didn't realise about IIS - that's me swayed...
> 
> < goes to find out what IIS is >



Assume that you have installed IIS (Internet Information Server) on your home computer. 

Now, you are roaming at office or somewhere away from your computer(your computer is ON - and the IIS is also active on the computer). You need to connect to your PC for some stuff like files or information or whatever. What you do is connect to your computer where the IIS is installed through an Internet Web Server (different companies have different connectivity servers depending upon their products) and access your stuff. This works even if you are currently located in a different country - provided your home computer is ON with IIS active. 

This was just a basic example whereas you can do lots of tweaking with this technology. It is huge success from Microsoft over the globe. 

Beware, this technology has some bad effects too. Say, I know the External IP of your computer, then I can hack it to my advantage  using IIS !!


----------



## cornflakegirl (Sep 12, 2008)

Aah - thanks Stormseed.


----------



## RoryA (Sep 12, 2008)

cornflakegirl said:


> Okay, now you're all scaring me!
> 
> We don't do much on the computer - we have Office, do a bit of photo editing, use the internet. Not sure what version of Office we have though.
> 
> Think I'll need to make my husband come and post on this thread - he's not such a wuss about these things!


 
Get a Mac??


----------



## cornflakegirl (Sep 12, 2008)

My sister has one, and has just gone travelling for a year, leaving it behind (reluctantly). So I could nick it!

It is lovely, but I just couldn't spend that sort of money. (And I'm not as weak-willed as Mr Schollar  )


----------



## RoryA (Sep 12, 2008)

I know what you mean - I only have one thanks to an unexpected bit of consulting work I was offered. Spent the money before my wife knew anything about it...


----------



## cornflakegirl (Sep 12, 2008)

Bad boy!
My husband does his computer shopping in secret too. Not whole computers, but bits for them. He doesn't tell me about them, because he knows I'd give him the third degree about why he needs it! Hence why we're only just upgrading to XP. He has a hard life!


----------



## Smitty (Sep 12, 2008)

Emma, for what it's worth, I have Vista/Office 2007 Ultimate on my home laptop and have no problems whatsoever.

However, as mentioned with upgrading from XP, we did that to my wife's computer and all hell broke loose.  She does mostly web work and her core programs like Dreamweaver, Adobe After Effects, etc., weren't working right, so we reinstalled XP.

She does have Vista on her laptop and loves it though and it's good for her with regards to testing on other platforms.

I think her next step will be to run both on a virtual machine.


----------



## RoryA (Sep 12, 2008)

cornflakegirl said:


> He has a hard life!


 
Yeah, all husbands do...


----------



## cornflakegirl (Sep 12, 2008)

You just wait four months, boyo - you ain't seen nothing yet!


----------



## Richard Schollar (Sep 12, 2008)

cornflakegirl said:


> It is lovely, but I just couldn't spend that sort of money. (And I'm not as weak-willed as Mr Schollar  )



Weak-willed? I'll have you know I already have a devious and cunning plan to acquire Apple goodies gratis through luring an Apple fanboy out for a drink next week and nicking his iPhone when he's not looking....


----------



## cornflakegirl (Sep 12, 2008)

Nonono - you can't have Rory's phone till January!


----------



## RoryA (Sep 12, 2008)

Hah - rumbled!


----------



## Richard Schollar (Sep 12, 2008)

Just to engage in a bit of Truby-esque thread misdirection:  I really like the look of the 2nd gen iPod Touches.  So the question is: can I live without web access?


----------



## RoryA (Sep 12, 2008)

They do look good, and you can get 32GB.


----------



## Richard Schollar (Sep 12, 2008)

or possibly wait a month or two and maybe get a 64Gb one (assuming one gets released).  Then again I could be saying 'ooh I'll just wait a little longer to see what gets released...' every few months.

If only my trains offered WiFi - I wouldn't need to consider an iPhone then...

Sigh.


----------



## dave3009 (Sep 12, 2008)

I was forced to go with Vista given my insurance company selected the nearest available laptop to the one that had an incidient with 'the glass of wine'

Anyways they paid enough for me to get most my 'paid for' software back.

I am impressed, I have no issue, and I will upgrade (or scrap) all the machines in my business and go full Vista with Office 2007


----------



## Andrew Fergus (Sep 13, 2008)

cornflakegirl said:


> Andrew - why did you recommend XP rather than Vista?


Having used XP Pro for eons, I find Vista *really really* frustrating.  For instance, I zipped a small piece of freeware & e-mailed it to my father.  First indication I get that something isn't right starts with a phone call.  So I give it a go - first up Vista wouldn't allow the download via the mail client, so I go direct to the ISP mail server and grab a copy from there, Vista won't let me unzip the programme without jumping through multiple hoops and resetting a security setting somewhere, I then have to jump through even more hoops to install the programme, only to find it doesn't actually work on Vista.  What a waste of time that was!  And all for a freeware game of chess.  I know what I'm doing with computers and I don't need Vista to try to help me from harming the PC.  XP over Vista any day.


----------



## Stormseed (Sep 13, 2008)

> I know what I'm doing with computers and I don't need Vista to try to help me from harming the PC



Perfectly put up, Andrew !!! I was longing to convey this very same thing but could not get the right words


----------



## Richard Schollar (Sep 13, 2008)

Andrew Fergus said:
			
		

> I know what I'm doing with computers and I don't need Vista to try to help me from harming the PC. XP over Vista any day



I agree - these are my sentiments exactly.

I also fricking hate the defrag program in Vista - it never seems to complete on my Vista laptop (I've left it running for 24 hours on a new install) and since you get absolutely no indication of the progress any more, I have no idea if it completes most of the defrag or gets stuck early on.

Vista is pants and offers me absolutely no benefits over XP.


----------



## kgkev (Sep 18, 2008)

Vista does look nice though.


----------



## riaz (Sep 18, 2008)

kgkev said:


> Vista does look nice though.



Yes, but beauty is only skin deep.


----------



## Smitty (Sep 18, 2008)

> I know what I'm doing with computers and I don't need Vista to try to help me from harming the PC.



First thing I did was turn off User Account Control.  Stops all of those irritating warnings.


----------



## Jonmo1 (Sep 19, 2008)

> First thing I did was turn off User Account Control. Stops all of those irritating warnings.


I'll second that Smitty.

Once you turn off all the Security Crap, Vista is really quite nice.

For me, I only use it for some games, a little browsing and email.
I don't keep any personal information like SSN or CC #s on my PC.  So I never really worry too much about security.  I keep all my documents on an external drive.  

But that's just me, so I turn all the security crap off.

In previous computers, I've always just let them run with little security.  I get security from My Router where I Enable MAC ID Filtters, so only Select Mac IDs have access.  So that prevents intentional hacking.  If I'm dumb enough to go to a website that infects me with a virus or spyware, or my pc performance starts getting iffy, or whatever, I'll just reformat and start over.  I actually enjoy the reformatting.  So I normally end up reformatting like every six months or so.  That's the extent of my troublehsooting and worry about security.

Now, I bought a New Dell Laptop with Vista Home Premium about a year ago.  And this works for me to get it running very well.

Turn off User Account Control

In Services :
Disable Windows Firewall
Disable Defender
Disable the Security Center 

PrePackaged Norton Internet Security and AV software, I leave installed, but disable all the automatic features, so it only runs when I tell it to.

That laptop has run EXCELLENT for me for over a year now.  Normally by now on any other PC with previous OS, I would start having slower performance, just general bogging down and I would be reformatting it.  But not with Vista, it is running GREAT.


----------

