[Flexifoil]

Gentlemen,

I have bought a second hand computer for my brother to use. He is a total computer novice and will need my help initially by phone or MSN to explain simple procedures.

I have bought him a 256 meg, 800 duron processor, 10 gb harddrive, with a 17" monitor, with Windows XP pro already installed, for £170, which he will use for small business purposes, printing etc.

I use Windows ME on my computer which is an Evesham with 640 meg of ram, Athalon 1000 processor, 40 gb harddrive, PC100 motherboard, full of various programs, and I have grown to quite like it.

Having played around with Windows XP on this new computer I feel it is extremely complicated with all it's shared file and multi level accessibility features, although I liked the way you could customise folders with icons or picture labels ( Is there a way of doing this on ME?).

My problem is this. Do I upgrade my own PC to Windows XP Pro or should I install Windows ME on my brothers computer which currently only has office 2000 and a DVD player installed.

I would like both computers to be using the same operating system so I can give him clear instructions by simulating his procedures on my own computer.

Whichever option I decide upon I'm going to need a little help and a lot of guidance from you guys as I've never reformatted a harddrive or installed an OS before.

So ME or XP?..... All comments welcome.

 

[Krelian]

First of all, I believe you mean GB not MB.

Second of all, I'd go for it. Windows XP is much more stable of an operating system than Windows ME. If you want, it is also possible to partition your hard drive and have both XP and ME at the same time. Seeing as how you've never installed an operating system before, that might prove a bit hard for people new with it.

I wish I had the money to upgrade this computer to XP! Hehe.

 

[Wet Chicken]

Originally posted by Krelian:
If you want, it is also possible to partition your hard drive and have both XP and ME at the same time. Seeing as how you've never installed an operating system before, that might prove a bit hard for people new with it.

That's what we do. Just install something like System Commander and when you boot up it will ask you which operating system you want to use, ME or XP. You simply click on the one you want and it will boot into that operating system for you. Works great!

 

[john1]

Let him figure it out for himself.
(unless you mean help getting on-line)

Stick to your M.E.
repair your system restore (if you havent already)

In my opinion and experience XP is not a friendly system.
I'm afraid i do not trust XP, nor do many others.
I would not recommend it for a business.
Yet some people like it, usually they have spent money on it.

M.E. is a very reliable system when running properly,
it uses a better file system than 98/98se, the same file
system as 2000, and XP. ( i think its called NT file system)
If you get your M.E. system running properly, and get decent
firewall and anti-virus, you should have no problems with it.

Best of luck, John

 

[Wet Chicken]

Originally posted by john1:
If you get your M.E. system running properly, and get decent
firewall and anti-virus, you should have no problems with it

We're using ME with Zone Alarm and Norton Anti virus and it works great. We just have a problem with the partition limitation that ME has, but that wouldn't be an issue for you. Just because an operating system is 'newer" doesn't make it better. XP is riddled with security issues (home and pro, not the corporate version)! If you want to upgrade to another operating system then go with Win 2000. It's the same exact operating system as XP except it doesn't have the security issues and the fancy looking windows

Reformating is easy. Can't wait to start

 

[Flexifoil]

I've never had a problem with my ME it runs fine with AVG ZA SBS&D AA SG and SB...I don't want to upgrade becouse I don't feel I need to and I can't think of any reason why I'd whant two OS's on my machine.

I'm glad that like me some people think XP isn't all it's cracked up to be, so I think I shall put ME on my bro's computer as it is far simpler for a technophobic's like him and me.

How do I replace XP with ME?

PS John what did you mean about repair you system restore could you post the instructions for that...and how do I know it's broken anyway?

 

[Wet Chicken]

Originally posted by Flexifoil:
How do I install ME over XP or how do I replace ME with XP?

Are there any files on the hard drive that you want to save?

If so, then you need to first save them, then we can format the drive.

 

[john1]

Hi Flexifoil,

Win M.E. was released with a problem in its 'System Restore'
( which i think is called something else ... )

You can download a repair patch for it from the Microsoft site.
I suggest you copy it to disk, and make a copy to keep,
it is a necessary part of the operating system.

Best of luck with it, John

 

[Flexifoil]

Mr Chicken do you meen program files, can I save them to a CD?

 

[john1]

a quick mention ....

That XP System cost someone money.
Don't just discard it.
Effectively it can only be realistically installed on one PC.
Part of its make-up is that it requires internet access,
in order to contact Microsoft's list of registered users.
If it cannot, its functionality will reduce.

This is part of Microsofts attempts to bypass people sharing
the expense, and installing this operating system on another PC.

At first sight this would seem fairly reasonable, until you
start looking into it, and reading about it, and reading some
of the 'ins and outs' associated with that approach.

If the business is not particularly security sensitive,
and the PC is not used for personal stuff like copying music
or watching DVDs or VCDs, then maybe XP might suit it fine.

***************

Wet Chicken means user files,
like pictures or texts, some smaller progs.

but most programs you may have installed would have to be
installed through an installation procedure, so if you want to
keep them, you have to keep the installation file which was
used to install it.

Saving to CD is fine.

****************

Cheers, John

 

[Wet Chicken]

Sure, if you have a CD recorder. Just make sure that they recorded properly before you format.

Once you format you will delete everything on the hard drive (well not really, but it would take a while to explain to you how to get them back ). The point is to make everything as easy as possible for yourself just make sure that when you copy the files that you need, that they actually did copy correctly. You can also copy them to a server on the net if you have one or to another computer, but whatever method you choose just verify that they did indeed copy correctly

 

[john1]

If you, or your brother, is a user of larger programs, or a
heavy user, then i suggest getting into the habit of using
the 'Resource meter' as this will give warning when resources
are low, and can help avoid a crash by keeping an eye on it.
I have mine minimised down by the clock.

'Resource Meter' is one of the choices in 'Windows Setup'.

John

 

[Flexifoil]

After great thought and deliberation and a waste of everyones time I have decided to leave both puters as thay are for now...My ME does me fine and has a lot of man hours invested in the way it is set up...and after playing a little more with XP it seems to have much better help files and tutorials and has just been described by a mate as idiot proof, which should suit my brother just fine.

Sorry for wasting your time and thanks for all your useful imput and comments.

Flexifoil

 

[Wet Chicken]

No problem. You still learned something very valuable

 

[Flexifoil]

Yes definitely...it's better the devil you know!

cheers

 

[welshY]

If you want to change the look of folders on your desktop try this
http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3000-2195-10225425.html?tag=lst-0-1
It says 14 day trial but I've had mine for 3 years and I have changed the appearance of all my folders
As you can see ih the attatched picture (if I got it right!)

 

[welshY]

Looks like I didn't that time will try again.

 

[welshY]

Trying again if it doesnt work ,
someone tell me how please !
I have tried attatching a file

 

[Krelian]

Ahhh, wow, well... I've never had XP, I'm just relaying what I've heard. From my personal experience people I have talked to have said that XP runs a bit more smoothly than ME. I really guess it was unfair to judge!

I don't really like the eye-candy skin anyway to be honest, looks to childish =P!

 

[Flexifoil]

Thanks for that link welshY, Thats as good as the icon facility on XP cheers