upgrade or wipe

Desperate for your help,

We purchased a Compaq Presario in March of 2001. It had Windows ME
preloaded onto it, and we purchased a separate MS Office Suite 2000 to
complement the new system.

We began to rely on the system with legal documents, business account
information, electronic banking, imaging & photos, engineering& financial
spreadsheets, and CAD applications. We had good luck with it all for the
first couple years or so and then the system’s performance began to go
straight down the toilet! The system began to slow down and progressively
got worse. Then various error messages cropped up and working with the
Internet applications became interminable. Finally, in November of 2004 it
became so bad that we paid a third party to help us out of the difficulties
that we were having. After that, the system worked better but was still not
as reliable as it was originally. The third party advised us that our RAM
BIOS was only 128 MB, and the image and CAD applications we were using could
be the culprit of the slowdown. So we extended our RAM BIOS from the
factory’s 128 MB to 512 MB which again seemed to help, but only for a few
weeks. The slowdown began anew and other problems cropped up. We have heard
it blamed on the HP “all-in-one� unit, the newer BIOS we installed, and
mostly the Windows ME operating system.

Since the folks that we knew were reliable individuals and all of them
agreed about the ME OS, we have purchased a Windows XP OS to replace the ME
OS, with the plan that we would back up all of our files to a removable
drive, reformat the hard drive to eliminate any remnants of the ME OS, and
install the XP (ME has caused us enough heartache that we would rather it be
gone altogether). McAfee Security Suite 7.0 finda no viruses that could be
causing these problems, and Ad-Aware usage does not improve anything.

Now we notice that the XP package is labeled as an upgrade rather than a
replacement OS, and that our Office 2000 does not even mention compatibility
with the XP system. While we both are not exactly the dullest knives in the
drawer, we do not understand these complexities and inter-relationships well
enough to come up with our own plan.

What in tarnation do we do now?
Should we use the XP as an upgrade to the ME OS, or wipe out the ME OS as
originally planned?
Will the Office 2000 be compatible with XP?

Info that may help anyone properly advise us what to do:
We subscribe to McAfee Security Suite and have recently upgraded to v 7.0
· Machine: Compaq Presario 5003US w/ MV940 Monitor. We have a CD-ROM, CD-RW
and 3-1/2� floppy.
· CPU: Intel Pentium III, 930 MHz
· Video Memory: 11 MB
· Advertised 60 GB Hard Drive with the following current memory stats from
‘System Summary’:
o Total physical memory – 510.51 MB
o Available physical memory – 3.14 MB
o Total virtual memory – 2.00 GB
o Available virtual memory – 1.32 GB
o Page file space – 1.50 GB
· HSP56 MicroModem 56K Modem
· We use a dial up ISP
· We have 2 CAD applications: AutoCAD v14 & Cadkey 97
· We have approximately 6 imaging applications
o 1 for Polaroid digital camera
o 1 for HP PSC 2410 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier

Any other information that may be needed can be supplied to help diagnose
etc if e-mailed to us at .

Thanks(?)

Cc:
Compaq
MicroSoft

I can answer one of your queries, Office 2000 will run on XP, I use it on
my system.
I will let the experts answer with regards running XP on your machine.
Joan


lindab wrote:
Desperate for your help,

We purchased a Compaq Presario in March of 2001. It had Windows ME
preloaded onto it, and we purchased a separate MS Office Suite 2000 to
complement the new system.

We began to rely on the system with legal documents, business account
information, electronic banking, imaging & photos, engineering&
financial spreadsheets, and CAD applications. We had good luck with
it all for the first couple years or so and then the system's
performance began to go straight down the toilet! The system began
to slow down and progressively got worse. Then various error messages
cropped up and working with the Internet applications became
interminable. Finally, in November of 2004 it became so bad that we
paid a third party to help us out of the difficulties that we were
having. After that, the system worked better but was still not as
reliable as it was originally. The third party advised us that our
RAM BIOS was only 128 MB, and the image and CAD applications we were
using could be the culprit of the slowdown. So we extended our RAM
BIOS from the factory's 128 MB to 512 MB which again seemed to help,
but only for a few weeks. The slowdown began anew and other problems
cropped up. We have heard it blamed on the HP "all-in-one" unit, the
newer BIOS we installed, and mostly the Windows ME operating system.

Since the folks that we knew were reliable individuals and all of them
agreed about the ME OS, we have purchased a Windows XP OS to replace
the ME OS, with the plan that we would back up all of our files to a
removable drive, reformat the hard drive to eliminate any remnants of
the ME OS, and install the XP (ME has caused us enough heartache that
we would rather it be gone altogether). McAfee Security Suite 7.0
finda no viruses that could be causing these problems, and Ad-Aware
usage does not improve anything.

Now we notice that the XP package is labeled as an upgrade rather
than a replacement OS, and that our Office 2000 does not even mention
compatibility with the XP system. While we both are not exactly the
dullest knives in the drawer, we do not understand these complexities
and inter-relationships well enough to come up with our own plan.

What in tarnation do we do now?
Should we use the XP as an upgrade to the ME OS, or wipe out the ME
OS as originally planned?
Will the Office 2000 be compatible with XP?

Info that may help anyone properly advise us what to do:
We subscribe to McAfee Security Suite and have recently upgraded to v
7.0
· Machine: Compaq Presario 5003US w/ MV940 Monitor. We have a
CD-ROM, CD-RW and 3-1/2" floppy.
· CPU: Intel Pentium III, 930 MHz
· Video Memory: 11 MB
· Advertised 60 GB Hard Drive with the following current memory stats
from 'System Summary':
o Total physical memory - 510.51 MB
o Available physical memory - 3.14 MB
o Total virtual memory - 2.00 GB
o Available virtual memory - 1.32 GB
o Page file space - 1.50 GB
· HSP56 MicroModem 56K Modem
· We use a dial up ISP
· We have 2 CAD applications: AutoCAD v14 & Cadkey 97
· We have approximately 6 imaging applications
o 1 for Polaroid digital camera
o 1 for HP PSC 2410 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier

Any other information that may be needed can be supplied to help
diagnose etc if e-mailed to us at .

Thanks(?)

Cc:
Compaq
MicroSoft

XP should run fine on that machine, although I would get a better video
card.

Alias

"lindab" wrote

Desperate for your help,

We purchased a Compaq Presario in March of 2001. It had Windows ME
preloaded onto it, and we purchased a separate MS Office Suite 2000 to
complement the new system.

We began to rely on the system with legal documents, business account
information, electronic banking, imaging & photos, engineering& financial
spreadsheets, and CAD applications. We had good luck with it all for the
first couple years or so and then the system’s performance began to go
straight down the toilet! The system began to slow down and progressively
got worse. Then various error messages cropped up and working with the
Internet applications became interminable. Finally, in November of 2004
it
became so bad that we paid a third party to help us out of the
difficulties
that we were having. After that, the system worked better but was still
not
as reliable as it was originally. The third party advised us that our RAM
BIOS was only 128 MB, and the image and CAD applications we were using
could
be the culprit of the slowdown. So we extended our RAM BIOS from the
factory’s 128 MB to 512 MB which again seemed to help, but only for a
few
weeks. The slowdown began anew and other problems cropped up. We have
heard
it blamed on the HP “all-in-one� unit, the newer BIOS we installed,
and
mostly the Windows ME operating system.

Since the folks that we knew were reliable individuals and all of them
agreed about the ME OS, we have purchased a Windows XP OS to replace the
ME
OS, with the plan that we would back up all of our files to a removable
drive, reformat the hard drive to eliminate any remnants of the ME OS, and
install the XP (ME has caused us enough heartache that we would rather it
be
gone altogether). McAfee Security Suite 7.0 finda no viruses that could
be
causing these problems, and Ad-Aware usage does not improve anything.

Now we notice that the XP package is labeled as an upgrade rather than a
replacement OS, and that our Office 2000 does not even mention
compatibility
with the XP system. While we both are not exactly the dullest knives in
the
drawer, we do not understand these complexities and inter-relationships
well
enough to come up with our own plan.

What in tarnation do we do now?
Should we use the XP as an upgrade to the ME OS, or wipe out the ME OS as
originally planned?
Will the Office 2000 be compatible with XP?

Info that may help anyone properly advise us what to do:
We subscribe to McAfee Security Suite and have recently upgraded to v 7.0
· Machine: Compaq Presario 5003US w/ MV940 Monitor. We have a CD-ROM,
CD-RW
and 3-1/2� floppy.
· CPU: Intel Pentium III, 930 MHz
· Video Memory: 11 MB
· Advertised 60 GB Hard Drive with the following current memory stats
from
‘System Summary’:
o Total physical memory – 510.51 MB
o Available physical memory – 3.14 MB
o Total virtual memory – 2.00 GB
o Available virtual memory – 1.32 GB
o Page file space – 1.50 GB
· HSP56 MicroModem 56K Modem
· We use a dial up ISP
· We have 2 CAD applications: AutoCAD v14 & Cadkey 97
· We have approximately 6 imaging applications
o 1 for Polaroid digital camera
o 1 for HP PSC 2410 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier

Any other information that may be needed can be supplied to help diagnose
etc if e-mailed to us at .

Thanks(?)

Cc:
Compaq
MicroSoft

I think you can hardly blame the operating system for your problems given
your statement "We had good luck with it all for the first couple years or
so"

I suspect your problems are in part due to the entry of unwanted malware
onto the system, especially so due to your comment about working with
Internet applications becoming interminable. Prevention of such intrusion
is very much down to the operator practising "safe hex" at all times and
whilst increasing memory and moving to XP might help in the short term it
is essential that the system be fully maintained and kept patched to date
otherwise regardless of the operating system you are using you will
experience problems. XP, due to its very nature, is potentially far more
susceptible to unwanted third party intrusions so it is even more
essential than with Win Me to keep the system fully patched and protected.
Good Firewall, AV and commercial malware/adware protection are all
essential and must be continuously updated.

See http://www.microsoft.com/Office/prev...sysreq2000.asp for
system requirements for Office 2000 and you will notice that it does
mention XP. Your Office 2000 package however is unlikely to mention XP as
Office 2000 was released two years before XP.
--
Mike Maltby



lindab wrote:

Desperate for your help,

We purchased a Compaq Presario in March of 2001. It had Windows ME
preloaded onto it, and we purchased a separate MS Office Suite 2000 to
complement the new system.

We began to rely on the system with legal documents, business account
information, electronic banking, imaging & photos, engineering&
financial spreadsheets, and CAD applications. We had good luck with
it all for the first couple years or so and then the system’s
performance began to go straight down the toilet! The system began
to slow down and progressively got worse. Then various error messages
cropped up and working with the Internet applications became
interminable. Finally, in November of 2004 it became so bad that we
paid a third party to help us out of the difficulties that we were
having. After that, the system worked better but was still not as
reliable as it was originally. The third party advised us that our
RAM BIOS was only 128 MB, and the image and CAD applications we were
using could be the culprit of the slowdown. So we extended our RAM
BIOS from the factory’s 128 MB to 512 MB which again seemed to help,
but only for a few weeks. The slowdown began anew and other problems
cropped up. We have heard it blamed on the HP “all-in-one� unit, the
newer BIOS we installed, and mostly the Windows ME operating system.

Since the folks that we knew were reliable individuals and all of them
agreed about the ME OS, we have purchased a Windows XP OS to replace
the ME OS, with the plan that we would back up all of our files to a
removable drive, reformat the hard drive to eliminate any remnants of
the ME OS, and install the XP (ME has caused us enough heartache that
we would rather it be gone altogether). McAfee Security Suite 7.0
finda no viruses that could be causing these problems, and Ad-Aware
usage does not improve anything.

Now we notice that the XP package is labeled as an upgrade rather
than a replacement OS, and that our Office 2000 does not even mention
compatibility with the XP system. While we both are not exactly the
dullest knives in the drawer, we do not understand these complexities
and inter-relationships well enough to come up with our own plan.

What in tarnation do we do now?
Should we use the XP as an upgrade to the ME OS, or wipe out the ME
OS as originally planned?
Will the Office 2000 be compatible with XP?

Info that may help anyone properly advise us what to do:
We subscribe to McAfee Security Suite and have recently upgraded to v
7.0
· Machine: Compaq Presario 5003US w/ MV940 Monitor. We have a
CD-ROM, CD-RW and 3-1/2� floppy.
· CPU: Intel Pentium III, 930 MHz
· Video Memory: 11 MB
· Advertised 60 GB Hard Drive with the following current memory stats
from ‘System Summary’:
o Total physical memory – 510.51 MB
o Available physical memory – 3.14 MB
o Total virtual memory – 2.00 GB
o Available virtual memory – 1.32 GB
o Page file space – 1.50 GB
· HSP56 MicroModem 56K Modem
· We use a dial up ISP
· We have 2 CAD applications: AutoCAD v14 & Cadkey 97
· We have approximately 6 imaging applications
o 1 for Polaroid digital camera
o 1 for HP PSC 2410 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier

Any other information that may be needed can be supplied to help
diagnose etc if e-mailed to us at .

My first guess is that your computer is so glutted with temporary files that
ordinary operation is impossible. That leads to the type of hopeless
deterioration over time that you describe. Eventually such clogged systems
cease to function. Good temporary files wipers, such as Empty Temporary
Folders and Crap Cleaner would fix that in a hurry. Google for them and for
all other programs mentioned below.

Long before you were born, I found about 20,000 temporary files on a
computer. It took more than an hour to delete them using the DOS Del
command. Guess what? The computer speeded up.

Since the Win XP you purchased is an upgrade, you must at least show it a
valid Win ME CD. You need not necessarily have to have Win ME installed. If
you do not have a valid Win ME CD (OEM systems often don't come with them),
my suggestion would be to borrow one (illegal), copy it (illegal) , and keep
it against the day you need to reinstall XP. If you want moral
justification, you are not going to actually use the Win ME OS, but only
wave it at XP if necessary.

Image and CAD apps might be eating up your computer's resources (mainly CPU
cycles, which are mildly restricted at 930 MHz), especially if you use those
apps all day long, for example if you process large images.

512 MB of RAM is good enough, unless your image and CAD apps are memory
hogs. The freeware program RAMPage can help you diagnose that.

I don't know if 60 Gigs of HDD space is enough for your files. Based on your
description, it might not be. If things still don't improve, I'd add another
60 GB (or so) drive (cheap) and move all the data (essentially the contents
of the My Documents folder) to it. This would have the added advantage that
a crash of one drive could only kill the OS or the data but not both.

I assume you do regular backups of your data, and store the backed up data
OFFSITE. If you don't do them, START IMMEDIATELY. You have far too much
business data on your computer to risk its loss.

I also strongly recommend that you subscribe to the free LangaList, the
preeminent Windows newsletter, www.langa.com. Written for people just about
at your level and above, it can be a tremendous help. It has taught me scads
over the years. Fred Langa is one of the most knowledgeable and honorable
people in the business.

Assuming you use email and the Internet, my final suggestion is that you
learn and use serious computer security. I'd start by replacing your paid
antivirus program with AVG Free Edition. It is updated daily, is very easy
to use, and spots those virus boogers. After that, you might consider the
following, all of which are free.

* Ad-Aware
* SpyBot Search and Destroy
* Microsoft AntiSpyware (still in beta, but quite usable)
* Spyware Blaster
* Spyware Guard (you could use this instead of or in addition to Microsoft
AntiSpyware)
* And of course a good firewall. I recommend Sygate Personal Firewall, which
causes me no problems, is zealous, and is easy to use. (Years of frustration
with ZoneAlarm turned me against it.)

If you use and update the above security package regularly, you might be
surprised at what it finds. And your computer might run faster too.

If I can be of further help, please let me know.

--
Walterius

Under no circumstances should you install XP simply on top of your
existing WinME system. Among other technical considerations, you will
most probably be moving your problems onto the new OS.

Since you've already purchased an XP-Upgrade, I'd suggest contacting HP
to find out how to install it using your Compaq Windows Millenium CD as
"proof of previous OS" that the Upgrade Installer will require. You may
find that you cannot do so legally (I don't know what Microsoft's
contracts with HP/Compaq are/were), or you may find that they have an XP
Upgrade or Full Install media already available for your machine.

Regardless of whether you choose to go to XP or continue with WinME,
back up your proprietary data, wipe the OS partition and install fresh;
install Norton/McAffee last.

On the hardware side you should at the very least allocate more on-board
video-memory from the system BIOS (I'd recommend 64MB); this is a
freebie, and consider getting a discrete graphics card if your mainboard
has an AGP slot: Matrox are the best for 2D work; if you require heavy
GL support, then ATI's FireGL series.


Rick

Of course since you're running CAD apps you could always purchase one of
their Alpha-based workstations running Unix.



lindab wrote:
Desperate for your help,

We purchased a Compaq Presario in March of 2001. It had Windows ME
preloaded onto it, and we purchased a separate MS Office Suite 2000 to
complement the new system.

We began to rely on the system with legal documents, business account
information, electronic banking, imaging & photos, engineering& financial
spreadsheets, and CAD applications. We had good luck with it all for the
first couple years or so and then the system’s performance began to go
straight down the toilet! The system began to slow down and progressively
got worse. Then various error messages cropped up and working with the
Internet applications became interminable. Finally, in November of 2004 it
became so bad that we paid a third party to help us out of the difficulties
that we were having. After that, the system worked better but was still not
as reliable as it was originally. The third party advised us that our RAM
BIOS was only 128 MB, and the image and CAD applications we were using could
be the culprit of the slowdown. So we extended our RAM BIOS from the
factory’s 128 MB to 512 MB which again seemed to help, but only for a few
weeks. The slowdown began anew and other problems cropped up. We have heard
it blamed on the HP “all-in-one” unit, the newer BIOS we installed, and
mostly the Windows ME operating system.

Since the folks that we knew were reliable individuals and all of them
agreed about the ME OS, we have purchased a Windows XP OS to replace the ME
OS, with the plan that we would back up all of our files to a removable
drive, reformat the hard drive to eliminate any remnants of the ME OS, and
install the XP (ME has caused us enough heartache that we would rather it be
gone altogether). McAfee Security Suite 7.0 finda no viruses that could be
causing these problems, and Ad-Aware usage does not improve anything.

Now we notice that the XP package is labeled as an upgrade rather than a
replacement OS, and that our Office 2000 does not even mention compatibility
with the XP system. While we both are not exactly the dullest knives in the
drawer, we do not understand these complexities and inter-relationships well
enough to come up with our own plan.

What in tarnation do we do now?
Should we use the XP as an upgrade to the ME OS, or wipe out the ME OS as
originally planned?
Will the Office 2000 be compatible with XP?

Info that may help anyone properly advise us what to do:
We subscribe to McAfee Security Suite and have recently upgraded to v 7.0
· Machine: Compaq Presario 5003US w/ MV940 Monitor. We have a CD-ROM, CD-RW
and 3-1/2” floppy.
· CPU: Intel Pentium III, 930 MHz
· Video Memory: 11 MB
· Advertised 60 GB Hard Drive with the following current memory stats from
‘System Summary’:
o Total physical memory – 510.51 MB
o Available physical memory – 3.14 MB
o Total virtual memory – 2.00 GB
o Available virtual memory – 1.32 GB
o Page file space – 1.50 GB
· HSP56 MicroModem 56K Modem
· We use a dial up ISP
· We have 2 CAD applications: AutoCAD v14 & Cadkey 97
· We have approximately 6 imaging applications
o 1 for Polaroid digital camera
o 1 for HP PSC 2410 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier

Any other information that may be needed can be supplied to help diagnose
etc if e-mailed to us at .

Thanks(?)

Cc:
Compaq
MicroSoft

It's always legal to upgrade - so long as you also keep hold of the original
disks in the case of OEM software.

If the XP won't clean-install (asking for the ME system disk along the way),
then the solution is to install ME clean using the OEM CD, and do an
immediate upgrade install of XP using the purchased CD.

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Rick T" wrote in message
...
Under no circumstances should you install XP simply on top of your
existing WinME system. Among other technical considerations, you will
most probably be moving your problems onto the new OS.

Since you've already purchased an XP-Upgrade, I'd suggest contacting HP to
find out how to install it using your Compaq Windows Millenium CD as
"proof of previous OS" that the Upgrade Installer will require. You may
find that you cannot do so legally (I don't know what Microsoft's
contracts with HP/Compaq are/were), or you may find that they have an XP
Upgrade or Full Install media already available for your machine.

Regardless of whether you choose to go to XP or continue with WinME, back
up your proprietary data, wipe the OS partition and install fresh; install
Norton/McAffee last.

On the hardware side you should at the very least allocate more on-board
video-memory from the system BIOS (I'd recommend 64MB); this is a freebie,
and consider getting a discrete graphics card if your mainboard has an AGP
slot: Matrox are the best for 2D work; if you require heavy GL support,
then ATI's FireGL series.


Rick

Of course since you're running CAD apps you could always purchase one of
their Alpha-based workstations running Unix.



lindab wrote:
Desperate for your help,

We purchased a Compaq Presario in March of 2001. It had Windows ME
preloaded onto it, and we purchased a separate MS Office Suite 2000 to
complement the new system.

We began to rely on the system with legal documents, business account
information, electronic banking, imaging & photos, engineering& financial
spreadsheets, and CAD applications. We had good luck with it all for the
first couple years or so and then the system’s performance began to go
straight down the toilet! The system began to slow down and
progressively got worse. Then various error messages cropped up and
working with the Internet applications became interminable. Finally, in
November of 2004 it became so bad that we paid a third party to help us
out of the difficulties that we were having. After that, the system
worked better but was still not as reliable as it was originally. The
third party advised us that our RAM BIOS was only 128 MB, and the image
and CAD applications we were using could be the culprit of the slowdown.
So we extended our RAM BIOS from the factory’s 128 MB to 512 MB which
again seemed to help, but only for a few weeks. The slowdown began anew
and other problems cropped up. We have heard it blamed on the HP
“all-in-one” unit, the newer BIOS we installed, and mostly the Windows ME
operating system.

Since the folks that we knew were reliable individuals and all of them
agreed about the ME OS, we have purchased a Windows XP OS to replace the
ME OS, with the plan that we would back up all of our files to a
removable drive, reformat the hard drive to eliminate any remnants of the
ME OS, and install the XP (ME has caused us enough heartache that we
would rather it be gone altogether). McAfee Security Suite 7.0 finda no
viruses that could be causing these problems, and Ad-Aware usage does
not improve anything.

Now we notice that the XP package is labeled as an upgrade rather than a
replacement OS, and that our Office 2000 does not even mention
compatibility with the XP system. While we both are not exactly the
dullest knives in the drawer, we do not understand these complexities and
inter-relationships well enough to come up with our own plan.

What in tarnation do we do now?
Should we use the XP as an upgrade to the ME OS, or wipe out the ME OS as
originally planned?
Will the Office 2000 be compatible with XP?

Info that may help anyone properly advise us what to do:
We subscribe to McAfee Security Suite and have recently upgraded to v 7.0
· Machine: Compaq Presario 5003US w/ MV940 Monitor. We have a CD-ROM,
CD-RW and 3-1/2” floppy.
· CPU: Intel Pentium III, 930 MHz
· Video Memory: 11 MB
· Advertised 60 GB Hard Drive with the following current memory stats
from ‘System Summary’:
o Total physical memory – 510.51 MB
o Available physical memory – 3.14 MB
o Total virtual memory – 2.00 GB
o Available virtual memory – 1.32 GB
o Page file space – 1.50 GB
· HSP56 MicroModem 56K Modem
· We use a dial up ISP
· We have 2 CAD applications: AutoCAD v14 & Cadkey 97
· We have approximately 6 imaging applications
o 1 for Polaroid digital camera
o 1 for HP PSC 2410 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier

Any other information that may be needed can be supplied to help diagnose
etc if e-mailed to us at .

Thanks(?)

Cc:
Compaq
MicroSoft

Noel Paton wrote:
It's always legal to upgrade - so long as you also keep hold of the original
disks in the case of OEM software.

If the XP won't clean-install (asking for the ME system disk along the way),
then the solution is to install ME clean using the OEM CD, and do an
immediate upgrade install of XP using the purchased CD.


I remember Compaq had OS CD's that didn't get along with M$ ones back
around Win98 or so... so won't they have the 512-byte thing if they just
install NTFS on top of WinME's FAT32 ? (as well as superfluous
files/subdirectories)


Rick

The XP installer gives the option to wipe the drive at the time of the
install - converting to NTFS along the way

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Rick T" wrote in message
...
Noel Paton wrote:
It's always legal to upgrade - so long as you also keep hold of the
original disks in the case of OEM software.

If the XP won't clean-install (asking for the ME system disk along the
way), then the solution is to install ME clean using the OEM CD, and do
an immediate upgrade install of XP using the purchased CD.


I remember Compaq had OS CD's that didn't get along with M$ ones back
around Win98 or so... so won't they have the 512-byte thing if they just
install NTFS on top of WinME's FAT32 ? (as well as superfluous
files/subdirectories)


Rick

So does Win 2K.

--
Walterius

"Noel Paton" wrote in message
...
The XP installer gives the option to wipe the drive at the time of the
install - converting to NTFS along the way

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

"Rick T" wrote in message
...
Noel Paton wrote:
It's always legal to upgrade - so long as you also keep hold of the
original disks in the case of OEM software.

If the XP won't clean-install (asking for the ME system disk along the
way), then the solution is to install ME clean using the OEM CD, and do
an immediate upgrade install of XP using the purchased CD.


I remember Compaq had OS CD's that didn't get along with M$ ones back
around Win98 or so... so won't they have the 512-byte thing if they just
install NTFS on top of WinME's FAT32 ? (as well as superfluous
files/subdirectories)


Rick