Re: How to make Windows XP last for the next seven years

On Jan 24, 6:58 pm, El Castor <No_...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:23:25 -0800 (PST), mg <mgkel...@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Jan 24, 12:07 pm, El Castor <No_...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:37:20 -0800 (PST), mg <mgkel...@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Typically, they will give you a CD, or a way of easily burning one,
that will restore the original out of box state of your computer. You
may or may not be able to get an actual OS CD. I realize this is not
great, but in my experience Vista is pretty robust and unlikely to
ever need to be re-installed.

Windows 7 will be released later this year. I recall reading that
sometime around March, Microsoft would begin offering free upgrades to
anyone buying Vista, so that's the only disk you are going to want,
anyway. Windows 7, by the way, is built on the Vista kernel, and will
have the same software and driver compatibility issues as Vista.

There's a good chance that I'll have trouble with the drivers for my
printers and my wireless DJ system. I would be very surprised if Vista
will work with my external Yamaha sound card which sold for about $250
new as I recall.

Ok, you're probably right. I once paid the big bucks for a midi card
that I had to retire long before Vista, and I paid even bigger bucks
for what was an enormous 110 meg drive. I guess you have to decide if
that synthesizer, or whatever it is, still makes sense. Time marches
on. (-8

In addition, how many of the two-dozen software
packages that I have will run on a new OS? I'm sure I'll have problems
with some of them, if not most of them.

SP1 dealt with a few problems, but out of two dozen you are going to
have some that will most likely give you trouble. The problem with a
lot of old software and drivers is that Bulgarian crooks are able to
exploit flaws and poor design in older operating systems, like XP, but
those differences in design might also be used in the normal operation
of older software and drivers -- so unless upgrades are available,
they aren't going to work.

I doubt if my Symantec Ghost

I think you can be certain it won't work. I use Acronis which does the
same thing, and these days, maybe a little better. In my case I backup
to a USB drive.

software will work with Vista, for instance. Then I'm going to have to
setup my network again. The bottom line is that switching over would
be a lot of work, filled with a lot of pitfalls and would undoubtedly
cost me a lot of money beyond just the cost of the computer and when I
got done, I doubt if my new computer would be as good as the one I
have now.

When I upgraded I was running an AMD 2000 -- considerably older and
slower than your Pentium, and I had a drive C that was just on the
verge of failing. I'm happy as a clam, but I can understand your
reluctance. You have a lot of money invested in that equipment, and
it's what -- 4 years old? You can't expect that after 4 years a $399
computer will replace it. You probably don't need to upgrade, but
another 7 years of XP? I remember a Star Trek movie where the
Enterprise is transported back in time. Scotty is out looking for
parts and he encounters a computer. He picks up the mouse, puts it to
his lips, and starts giving the computer instructions. When you
observe a visiting nephew talking to your mouse, you will know it's
time to upgrade. (-8- Hide quoted text -

That's a funny story about the mouse. I've probably seen that episode
since I've seen most all of them, but it probably went over my head or
I was distracted at the time.

Four years sounds about right. I had a friend who worked at Intel and
got me the CPU cheap and so I upgraded an old, 1 Ghz computer.

One of the worst companies I've noticed for failing to update their
drivers for new OS's is Creative Labs, incidentally. I got burned once
on an expensive Win 98 sound card that wouldn't work with XP. So, I
try to avoid buying from them.

Sound cards used to be a big deal, but they seem to be declining in
importance. Most mother boards come with sound included, so for most
people a separate sound card isn't important. For anyone interested in
gaming, video is a different story. That's where the big bucks are
going these days.

Years ago, I bought a 900 Mhz computer off eBay and then bought a good
sound card for it. The problem was that the sound cut out
periodically. After doing a lot of research on the internet, I found
out it was a problem with a VIA chipset on the motherboard that
couldn't be fixed. That's when I bought the Yamaha DP-U50 "External
Audio Soundboard Processor" and that solved the problem and that's how
I wound up with it. I am sure that it has a lot better quality than an
ordinary sound card, though.
http://www.yamahamultimedia.com/yec/products/cavit/dpu50.asp

My son-in-law actually got 4 of them somewhere at less than 1/2 price
and I took two. I think people figured they wouldn't work with XP and
discounted them, but they actually do. Since the bad experience with
the chip set, incidentally, I've never bought a motherboard with a VIA
chip set since. If I build a computer, I always use Intel
motherboards, usually with integrated video and sound.

I like to make a separate boot disc for new computers when I have the
time and the ambition and then do a fresh install. The downside is
that you have to get on the internet and get all the device drivers,
but that's a good idea anyway. There are instructions for making a
bootable Windows XP Setup disk at the following website. I don't know
if they would work for Vista, though.
http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml

Probably not. (-8

I've noticed over the years that there is sort of a "V" shaped curve
for memory pricing for new computers. So, when you build or buy a new
computer, you can live with the amount of memory that comes with it
for a few years and then wait for the bottom to fall out of the prices
and add more. If you wait to long, though, the prices actually go way
up above what they were to begin with.

The 32 bit version of Vista, as well as XP, tops out at 4 Gigs.
Problem is, video card memory also counts against the 4 Gigs, so most
people are stopping at 2 Gigs. You need 2 Gigs for Vista, but in most
cases that seems to be all you will ever need.

I started out with 500 Mb of memory on my current XP computer and then
went to 1 GB and that made a huge difference. Then I went to 2 GB and
that made a significant difference also, but I can't imagine ever
needing more unless you're a gamer or something.



.

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