Hey all,
I just had some questions regarding XP because I have that horrible excuse for a OS known as ME. Is it going to erase anything from my hard drives??? Do I need to backup my hard drives??? Do I have to do anything important so I don't jack my comp up???? Sorry so ignorant about Os installing but I've never had to swap one before. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Back up, Back Up, Back up and one more time. BACK UP. Will an upgrade erase anything no. Can an upgrade go wrong, hell yes. Now, I have done the upgrade of Xp over Me without problems but this does not mean you won't. Make sure all your hardware/software is Xp omplaint and will work. I say take the dive but remember, if ya something important. BACK IT UP.

Laters,

KTTD

Damn, Typing and talking on the phone don't work. Lets place a "C" in compliant.

Sheesh...

KTTD

Hey,
How can I tell if all my hardware/software is XP compliant???

Hey,
Ok. I know this is a stupid question. But...What do I backup before I install Xp???

a{text-decoration:none}

You can go toA computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history... with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.

You can go toPC Pitstop and look to the left and do the Windows XP readiness test. Good luck!!
---------------
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history... with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.

Sorry!! Too much coffee I think!??

The XP installation disk has the Upgrade Advisor program right on it. Run it, print out the report, then read it thoroughly to find out what hardware problems you will have with XP and which of your programs will have to be reinstalled, and which ones won't work with XP at all. It's possible that you could lose the contents of My Documents, so copy anything you want to save from there to removable disk.

You might try asking windows xp questions in the windows xp forum.

Things to back up:
Text documents
Images
Music&Videos
Favorites folder
Address book&Emails
Projects or data youve created with software you run.
Saved Games.
setup.exe's youve downloaded from the net for freeware or shareware.

Anything you have added and wish to keep. Most of this can be done by saving the data to a cd-r or zipdisk. If your working with floppies you can try spanned archives with winzip but dont count on them to work. If you have highspeed net access get yourself some free webspace and upload it all then download it when you have XP installed.

If windows ME sux right now.. upgrading it to XP may not solve your problems. A clean install is recommended. Get ready to upgrade some software,hardware and drivers for XP compatibility. My PC that was built for 98se works perfectly with XP just a little slow. You might get lucky.

Hey Stinkybus,
We like ME!!! But perhaps that is because we have learned how to configure it. LOL

A good way to protect yourself would be to buy a second hard drive and install XP there.

you go on to xp, you sound like you deserve it. i'll stick to this horrible old OS called
ME thats never let me down in two years of use, and i'll still be working properly while you're still trying to get something to work with wonderful xp.

yeah, and backup your registry, too. click your 'start' button, go to 'run', type in 'regedit' (without the tick marks), press enter. click 'file' at the top, then 'export'. you will need to choose a place to save the file. i believe the default is 'my documents'. you will be prompted to name your backup file. enter an identifying name like "backup", "backup1", or "backup031602" (with date appended to the name - "031602"). you can then backup your backup if you have a cd burner. these files can be rather large, so a standard floppy may not have enough space.

may the luck o' the irish be with ya'!

I like Windows Me too, but it's hard to believe that guru's has NEVER let him down. At one time I could honestly say that I had totally eliminated blue screens of death, but that was just because I found a program that could change the blue to a different color. No operating system is going to run every application that's out there with no problems. Don't expect XP to run flawlessly either. Most problems with Me and XP seem to be caused by poor maintenance, disk cleanup, defrag, etc. Windows 2000 might even be a better choice if all you're worried about is stability, and you don't have the patience to wait for all the bugs in XP to be worked out.

ger, the problems i have had were caused by me stuffing around. i've never had a blue screen of death or an illegal operation error
or a fatal exception error since i've been running ME. i had them continuously in 98. i've had xp in and out about a dozen times and each time only confirms to me that it's a peice of crap. it's as slow as mollasses on the net, thats when it decides to do anything. the mouse is slow. some functions take minutes to open. and thats not mentioning the crap microsoft want you to go through just to keep it running. no thanks.

this is another example of the brainwashing we've been put through by microsoft. of course they can't determine everything a user will do with their products, but the product should be made to order for the majority of people who will be using it. all we hear with 9x/ME/XP is it's "user error" or "operator error", or something like that when something goes wrong. it's never the manufacturer's fault. what are we supposed to do with the OS, let it sit there and look pretty? no, people are going to download music, third party programs, run games, and all kinds of other stuff. a lot of the regular contributors on this forum i would guess are tech professionals, or just have a lot of time to poke around their machines. that isn't the profile of the regular computer user. the exact reason none of this "user error" has been resolved is precisely because microsoft IS a monopoly, and they just don't have to fix anything they don't want to. if you don't like it - too bad. a novice isn't going to go out there and buy a linux machine. it's windows or nothin'. or, maybe, just maybe, a mac.
sorry about the little rant.
by the way, i have XP and wouldn't think of going back to ME as my regular OS. i don't like all the activation crap that comes with XP, but there's just no question once you get it to work - it's way better than ME.
finally, let's not fool ourselves. it's not about you or me. it's about MS making $.

If you back up everything after youve put on xp wont you be putting back on the stuff that was causing you the problems in the first place.....................

change your bios to make cd rom boot first as the boot files are already in xp from then on in just follow the prompts .the cd will format and install xp youl only have to answer a few easy questions

I was just teasing you a little guru. I know what you mean about XP. System Restore seems to slow it down a lot more in XP than it ever did in Me, so I disabled that. The visual effects that make XP look pretty slow down things too, especially the menus, so I've cut back on some of those features too. I haven't had any problems with the internet slowing down though. You had an advantage over some people from your experience with 98 because you already knew how to properly maintain the system.

Hey,
Well, gee now I don't know what I'm gonna do. I've been debating about whether to go to XP or not mainly because I'm just so tired of losing my resources to ME all the time. Maybe I'll just get some more ram and hope the problem stops so I don't have to upgrade. Thanx for your advice guys. Still confused as to what to do though.

How to make ME Run Well !

Pacs - Portal Start up

A common misconception is that microsoft is responsible for 3rd party software or hardware working properly with it.

Microsoft creates an OS. Now it is up to the software or hardware vendors to write software that will work properly with the OS.

If the pickle is rotten dont blame the hamburger.

i'm not saying that every third party program has to work well with windows and if it doesn't then ms is totally blame. i'm saying if it doesn't work well why should it crash the system? are you saying there's nothing microsoft can do about this? they have no idea about their own vulnerabilities and weaknesses?
the truth is they don't want you to use third party stuff, that's why they don't release their source code. they want you and i to use only microsoft products for the microsoft os. everyone else can guess at how to make their program work optimally with it.
no one is talking about pickles and hamburgers, only the truth of the matter.
i don't see why you or anyone else would defend a company that on historic fact lied, cheated, bullied, and stole to get to where they are today.
would you say the same about the manufacturer of the seatbelts in your car, or the manufacturer of a car seat for a baby? do they have any responsibility to anticipate a situation? "well, if that car hadn't hit you so hard they would've worked!"

just wanted to say that i think you are a helpful and considerate contributor to this forum. i don't mean to sound mean or overly angry. and, i don't go around all day hating microsoft or anything. that would be a ridiculous waste of time. but, i think the bigger and more powerful something gets(ms), the more it should be looked at with a cautious eye.

I could be wrong, but when Microsoft uses Roxio's technology for cd burning in XP, and then Roxio's own products don't work right on XP, you have to suspect that Microsoft screwed up somewhere. You can't blame the third party vendors for everything that doesn't work right.

First of all i want to say that none of this is personal, these are just my opinions.

I am not a software writer. I do not fully understand the business dealings that take place between MS and 3rd party vendors.

I do know that whenever ive cleanly installed windows i never receive an error. Most software installs and functions properly. Its not until i install a particular program that things start buggin up. At this point i dont think its microsofts repsonsibility. Why should they rewrite the OS that works for other software vendors to suit the needs of a single vendor?

MS being a Monopoly...........
The phone company is a monopoly. SBC-Ameritech is a terrible company. Service is rediculous but im a customer. I choose to have phone service and i understand my only choice is Ameritech so i deal with it. Would i like to use LINUX? Sure. Why not? I just dont have the time or interest to learn how to use it. Until someone can truly compete with windows for the desktop environment i will continue to run windows. Am i defending them? No. Do i think its fair that they own the OS market? Yes. Its capitolism. Its the nature of business in America. Do i worry about keeping an eye on MS? Of course. I know that our lives will be directly affected by the PC in the future. I dont want to be force to use Windows like im forced to use Ameritech but what can i do? Refuse to use windows and lose my job?

At this point I dont mind an OS with bundled software. Less to worry about. Will i mind it when its my only choice? Probably.

I've always thought that it would be fun if Apple found a way to make their operating system work on PCs. That would be a competition worth seeing.

I agree. If i could build an IMAC with parts from tiger direct i would definately give MAC OS a try. Another of my favorites is BeOS. I have limited experience with it but when i saw a demo a few years ago they were really pushing it hard and it handled whatever they threw at it.

That's my problem too. Can't really afford a Mac right now and I don't know anyone who has one that I can check out. I might try throwing Linux on a different partition one of these days, but like you say, it takes a lot of time to learn it. I don't get enough sleep as it is right now.