newbie: ME to Win2000 or XP?

[Grand Master B]

I have ME as my OS and hate it. I have Win2000 ungrade and an XP unformatted version (not upgrade), and have no idea how to format anyway. If I update with Win2000, will this cause me to lose any files, or apps on my comp that is currently there, like my email contact list and etc. (Outlook Express 6)

Sorry for the newbie questions......

[greffov]

you should go for XP, that suits best for you. Try to find a WinXP upgrade, it has some settings wizard probably to keep your contacts and mail too.

[Grand Master B]

THNX for your help!

gmb

[tamarisk]

Windows XP and 2000 are practically the same since they are both based on Windows NT.

However XP with it's user interface is more friendly for users.

[Cirga]

I would go Win2k myself.. but thats because I dont want to deal with any type of bug coming up.. and 2k has been around and tried..and it runs everything for me like a perfect champ. And if its the upgrade you wont lose any files from your current PC.

You just pop in the 2k CD and let it install.. then just boot up in 2k and you are ready to go.

[Fister]

well, here i am about to throw a monkey wrench in the works. I have used ME and it sucks, I went back to '98. good old 98 and the blue screen of death... some of the members here swear by XP~ so that maybe the route you want to take...

[enduser]

I never liked Win98. I used Win Me for about 2 years and had no problems. I switched to XP after getting larger harddrives and have found it to be an excellent os.

[cowmomo]

I went from Me to XP Pro with the upgrade install option and it amazingly preserved my e-mail, browser and even desktop settings.
I had it all backed up anyway, which is a good idea, but XP is the way to go - then spend a month turning the garbage off.

[Moony]

I'm with Cirga all the way on this one. I went from Windows ME to 2k and personally, I love 2k. Runs everything smoothly and hardly EVER (read: months) crashes. XP is better for people who are new to computers though, since alot of your hardware will work when you first install the OS (where as you have to find every freakin' driver for your shit on 2k).

2k = God.

[Roadblock]

I used ME for over a year, and I liked it, until I used XP. Now there is no turning back. I have never used 2000, but I have never heard anything bad about it. But, as some of the others have said, 2000 was never really designed for typical home users. XP is supposed to offer the satbility of 2000, with the user friendliness of ME. Opinions vary.

[Kungfucious]

i went from typing up my schoolwork on a good old amiga (12minutes to boot into Amipro word processor and load fonts..lol) then throught to win 3.1 and 95 and repeated through 3.1 and 95 a zillion times and then onto 98 and 2k.

I tried ME on a friends computer, boy was it slow. The best OS i have used is 2k. I have XP installed but im getting rather lazy to be a 2k user now so i let the lovely XP OS do it all for me.

XP all the way. But i would change to OSX (mac) if i could, even better than xp.

[Grand Master B]

Thnx for the feedback, I spent part of yesterday installing the WinXP Pro upgrade. Everything seemed to work ok, but my os is running slower than before and I was told it was b/c I did not format the XP. My thinking was, I did NOT want to start from scratch, but rather keep all my files and apps the way they are now, so I went for the upgrade.

For all those who flamed ME, I'm with you, hated it.

Does this sound right? Do I need to just dive in and spend the time to backup everything and the re-install a formatted version of XP PRO?


Help.....

gmb

[greffov]

It's always better to start from scratch... but you can't expect a newer version of some software to be faster, can you? Sometimes there is an exception to this rule, but in the Microsoft family it alsways becomes slower.... that's why the minimum hardware requirements rise and rise each new version, to make you feel like it is faster...
However XP is more streamlined, and will work smoother.

[Grand Master B]

How difficult is it to formatt? Is there a "HOW TO GUIDE" posted here anywhere? I'd like to do this today if it's not too difficult.

gmb

[Kungfucious]

I wrote a 10 step guide to making yourself a quick and easy system backup disk set .. these are so handy to have!

if you havent already done so, get your self a cd writer, or find a generous person who will let you borrow theirs for a couple of hours... OR ... make a separate partition on your drive to shift your work over to (alot quicker!..u can use partition magic)

personally this is what i would do for a fool proof way of upgrading:

1. backup all your stuff on cd's OR move to other partition

2. format the drive

3. set up xp

4. install EVERY program u know u will definitely use AND install NORTON GHOST (vital part of this 10step guide)

5. install all drivers etc that may be needed.

6. set the machine up to run exactly as u would alwasy like it to look and run.

9. Run every program atleast once to make sure they work fine.

10. Run a system check and defrag and clean all temp files etc.

8. create a TEXT file called welcome.txt and put it in the startup folder and list exactly what has been installed on your computer and how things are setup.. be brief or go into as much detail as you want.

9. Reboot the machine ( A MUST!! )

10. open NORTON ghost and make some disk images of how your drive is.


What this simple 10 step process allows you to do is have an exact copy of your drive which can be setup at a moments notice so that you dont have to spend hours re-installing everything.. i have made a set of these disks (3 disks in total) and whenever i mess anything up i just reinstall the images! all my work is saved on a separate partition.. (will get a separate Hdisk later for this)


hope that helps! Xp is a great OS.. enjoy

**if i missed something im sure somebody else will be happy t fill u in**