I phoned a computer store about a Windows XP upgrade (from WIN 98 SE) and they said for the computer that we have Windows XP would not work well at all, They suggested Win 98 SE would be the best for this computer. I want to know what some of your oppions are on what the best Microsoft OS would be best for this computer, here are the specs: 450mhz, Pentium III processor 256mb of RAM (Upgradeable to 512) 16mb Creative video card Vibra 16 Creative sound Card 20GB maxtor Hard Drive And this computer was new in late 1999 (If that helps any.) Thank-You

You could do with maxing out the memory and installing a 32 or 64MB Graphics card. But as is will run XP OK, though you may notice it takes a little longer, this is down to XP being based on NT and has a lot built in, be prepared for using 2GB hard drive space for a full XP Pro install, and never perform an upgrade, a clean install is the way to go........

x86 talks wise words I've been happily using an almost identical set-up for a year now and with no problems. To back up what x86 says, a clean installation is potentially less of a problem, though I understand if you only have the XP upgrade pack. I've recently increased memory from 128MB(!) to 256 because the PC has joined a home network, but I think I'll max it to 512MB. I'm only using a 16MB Graphics Card but as I don't play online games etc, I don't see the point in upping it yet... Good luck

You can do a clean install with either an Upgrade or full version of Windows XP. The only difference is the Upgrade version will ask you to insert a previous version of Windows to check you are entitled to the upgrade. XP Home and XP Proffessional have different requirements. See: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/matrix.asp Stuart

as an experiment here, I installed and ran XP on a 166 with 128 MB ram so a 450 should work quite nicely. Al

Let me just tell you that it will be much slower than win98se. my dad's comp is a p3 800mhz with xp on it. And it is just so unbearably slow to me when I'm fixing it up for him. It would run so much faster on 98 but he's stuck on xp. And switching would have me fielding calls from him for months.

Thank-You for all of your replies, that is amazing Windows XP on a 166!