Best way to begin ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter Richards
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P

Peter Richards

Hi,

I have been running Win95b up until now, and about to install Windows
XP Pro. The CD has service pack 2 on it. I can easily transfer the old
HDD to the new computer to transfer any of the data files to the new
80 Gb drive, and I just have some questions.

1. I do have Nortons Partition Magic, and noticed that it can
re-format partitions to NTFS, so would it be best to do that first,
with the (new) 80 Gb HDD, or will the initial install of XP Pro format
the drive to NTFS ?

2. All the files on the (old) HDD are FAT32, can these simply be
copied to the new drive 'as is', that is, the data files only.

3. Where I have software that needs to be re-installed, some of it is
quite old, like MS Works 4.0 and MS Money. If I'm not able to read the
old CD's, then is there an easy way to just copy the software and data
files associated with each product, and then find out which DLL's,etc
are needed, and copy those manually to ....... \whatever path ?

I do have problems reading those old CD's, and I don't even know if
those old MS programs will run okay under XP pro.

4. What additional files will I have to d/load from the MS site and
use to completely update the XP Pro OS ? There was only a SP2
mentioned on the CD.

5. I have Office 2000 Developer, a full suite of programs; any
problems with that running on XP Pro ?

6. Any other issues I need to be aware of, before I start please ?

Thanks,

Peter
 
In order:

1. Correct: During installation, XP will partition and format your hard
disk, and you can choose NTFS. You can also choose the number and size of
the partitions, so no need for Partition Magic.

2. Correct again: A data file stored on FAT32 is identical to a data file
stored on NTFS. The only difference is the manner inwhich the file is laid
out on the disk. The 0's and 1's are the same.

3. Sorry. The best thing to do is to spend the money to upgrade your
software to XP-compatible versions. XP may be able to install the old
software, or maybe not, and there is a way to use XP - called compatibility
mode - in a manner that 'fools' the old software into thinking it's running
on an earlier version of Windows. But that's really not the way you want to
use XP. In the first place, you will eventually run into compatibility
issues and in the second place, you will not be able to take advantage of
all of XP's features. XP versions of your software should be able to read
older versions of their own data files. Besides, Money and Works are
typically available for cheap or nothing, if you can handle rebates.

4. No problem: Just visit Windows Update and Microsoft will take of
everything.

5. Hey, I don't have all the answers.

6. Is it correct to presume that you will be doing a clean install on
hardware that considerably exceeds the minimum requirements for XP? If so,
the article below will be helpful. If not, don't bother installing XP.

"Windows XP Clean Install (Interactive Setup)"
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp
 
Just to add something to what Ted has already mentioned..

Older versions of Quicken would load onto an XP computer, but there were
some functions that would no longer compute correctly (not the best scenario
in a 'finance' program).. this may be true of older versions of MS Money
too.. upgrade to newer versions where you can..

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User

"If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept
it all to themselves." - Lane Kirkland
 
If you have Win95 on your computer now, and the computer is the same vintage
as the operating system, expect all sorts of hardware problems and
incompatibilities.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
6. Any other issues I need to be aware of, before I start please ?
Click to expand...

Make sure you have a firewall in place before going online. Since you have
XP SP2, the XP firewall will be in place and ready to go. Check that it is
active before connecting.
 
Hi Ted,

1. Correct: During installation, XP will partition and format your hard
disk, and you can choose NTFS. You can also choose the number and size of
the partitions, so no need for Partition Magic.
Click to expand...

Okay, I will need PM later, as my needs change, its nice to be able to
change the size/number of partitions 'on the fly'.
2. Correct again: A data file stored on FAT32 is identical to a data file
stored on NTFS. The only difference is the manner inwhich the file is laid
out on the disk. The 0's and 1's are the same.
Click to expand...

Great thanks, so only the 'filing system' changes, the file/s
themselves can be read on a NTFS with no change.
3. Sorry. The best thing to do is to spend the money to upgrade your
software to XP-compatible versions. XP may be able to install the old
software, or maybe not, and there is a way to use XP - called compatibility
mode - in a manner that 'fools' the old software into thinking it's running
on an earlier version of Windows. But that's really not the way you want to
use XP. In the first place, you will eventually run into compatibility
issues and in the second place, you will not be able to take advantage of
all of XP's features. XP versions of your software should be able to read
older versions of their own data files. Besides, Money and Works are
typically available for cheap or nothing, if you can handle rebates.
Click to expand...

Sounds messy to try and run in compatability mode, and I'd be asking
for problems. I'll keep Works and Money on the Win95b box. I have
"BS/1 Accounting" - http://www.dbsonline.com/accounting/index.html ,
which is way better than Money, so will convert the data when
convenient. All the Works files can be converted to Excel, Word or
Access, over a period of time.
4. No problem: Just visit Windows Update and Microsoft will take of
everything.
Click to expand...

Okay, is there an option with updates, to download the update and do
it locally. I don't trust 'online updates' much, considering the ports
I have seen them probing ??
6. Is it correct to presume that you will be doing a clean install on
hardware that considerably exceeds the minimum requirements for XP? If so,
the article below will be helpful. If not, don't bother installing XP.

"Windows XP Clean Install (Interactive Setup)"
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sg_clean.asp
Click to expand...

Very nice article, thanks , it looks good. Yes, the new box is a P4
with a 3.0 Ghz CPU, 500Mb RAM, etc,etc, so it will be somewhat faster
than the P2-350 Mhz the Win95b runs on now.

Thanks,

Peter
 
Hi Mike,

Just to add something to what Ted has already mentioned..

Older versions of Quicken would load onto an XP computer, but there were
some functions that would no longer compute correctly (not the best scenario
in a 'finance' program).. this may be true of older versions of MS Money
too.. upgrade to newer versions where you can..
Click to expand...

Okay, that confirms it for me, I'd be asking for trouble trying to run
Money or Works on XP, so will do as my reply to Ted stated.

Thanks,

Peter
 
Hi Sharon,

Make sure you have a firewall in place before going online. Since you have
XP SP2, the XP firewall will be in place and ready to go. Check that it is
active before connecting.
Click to expand...

I have a NAT (hardware) firewall now with the ADSL modem/router, and
in addition, a software firewall. Some people have advised that I
disable the XP firewall, and use something similar to what I use now,
like Sygate or Zonealarm.

Which ever way, the 'fist line of defence' is the NAT based firewall,
which is in another league to _any_ software firewall. :D

(Of interest is the huge increase of port probing currently, since I
posted to Usenet forums.)

I may still use the XP firewall, depends how much more secure it has
been made, since the last time I looked at it.

Thanks,

Peter
 
You really are best served by going to Windows Update. The software will
present only the updates needed for your system, which removes the
guesswork, and it takes care of download and installation in one swoop. You
can obtain the updates individually by downloading them yourself from
somewhere on Microsoft's web site...sorry I can't supply the URL since I've
never bothered with it myself...but that's typically done by IT admins who
need to push out updates or home users on dialup.

If I may offer some advice: XP is very, very different from 95 (and all the
other 9x Windows) which means that much of the conventional wisdom applied
when working with Windows 95 no longer applies.
 
Hi Sharon,

I have a NAT (hardware) firewall now with the ADSL modem/router, and
in addition, a software firewall. Some people have advised that I
disable the XP firewall, and use something similar to what I use now,
like Sygate or Zonealarm.

Which ever way, the 'fist line of defence' is the NAT based firewall,
which is in another league to _any_ software firewall. :D

(Of interest is the huge increase of port probing currently, since I
posted to Usenet forums.)

I may still use the XP firewall, depends how much more secure it has
been made, since the last time I looked at it.

Thanks,

Peter
Click to expand...

You'll be fine then. Just didn't want to see your hard work go up in smoke
quickly because your XP was infected within seconds of connecting without a
firewall. :)

I mainly use the router as well. The XP firewall is much improved in SP2
but still does not check outgoing traffic. It's up to you if you want to
use a third party firewall or not. It's benefit would be early warning of a
new worm, trojan or other malware activity that are not yet detected by
current virus definitions and current anti-spyware pattern files.
 
Hi Ted,

You really are best served by going to Windows Update. The software will
present only the updates needed for your system, which removes the
guesswork, and it takes care of download and installation in one swoop. You
can obtain the updates individually by downloading them yourself from
somewhere on Microsoft's web site...sorry I can't supply the URL since I've
never bothered with it myself...but that's typically done by IT admins who
need to push out updates or home users on dialup.
Click to expand...

Okay, the update will take all the guesswork out of it. I sometimes
get a bit concerned about 'online updates', from any web site, because
we don't know what else they may be doing.
If I may offer some advice: XP is very, very different from 95 (and all the
other 9x Windows) which means that much of the conventional wisdom applied
when working with Windows 95 no longer applies.
Click to expand...

Apparently, the NT filing system was based on the DEC (Digital)
system, which I worked on for a number of years, so no doubt, some of
the "quatum leap" from Win95b ==> XP will be familiar (file
priviledges,etc), I hope.

Thanks,

Peter
 
Hi Sharon,

You'll be fine then. Just didn't want to see your hard work go up in smoke
quickly because your XP was infected within seconds of connecting without a
firewall. :)
Click to expand...

Yes, gone are the days when we could connect to the internet without a
firewall.
I mainly use the router as well. The XP firewall is much improved in SP2
but still does not check outgoing traffic. It's up to you if you want to
use a third party firewall or not. It's benefit would be early warning of a
new worm, trojan or other malware activity that are not yet detected by
current virus definitions and current anti-spyware pattern files.
Click to expand...

Okay, thanks for your help.

Peter
 
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