New XP installation

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Griffin
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim Griffin

I'm currently using Windows 2000 pro on my desktop but wonder if I should
upgrade to Windows XP pro. I've heard nice things about its functionality
and my new motherboard would have more capability (file system) with XP.
But I've heard bad things about XP's installation process and I'm not at all
sure I care for what sounds like a real problem.

I like to keep my desktop up-to-date so I change the motherboard at least
once per year and maybe the CPU chip/memory,video card/etc. also.

1. If I changed my motherboard do I have to buy a new copy of XP or can
the old copy be made to work?
2. If I upgraded memory or changed to a faster CPU chip (maybe another P4)
do I have to buy a new copy of XP?
3. If I can change hardware on my machine and still use the same copy of
XP, how difficult is it to do? How convenient is it to do?
4. When it comes time to upgrade my OS should I switch to some flavor of
Linux? I used to use Sun Sparc workstations and it wouldn't be a big
problem.
 
Jim said:
I'm currently using Windows 2000 pro on my desktop but wonder if I
should upgrade to Windows XP pro. I've heard nice things about its
functionality and my new motherboard would have more capability (file
system) with XP. But I've heard bad things about XP's installation
process and I'm not at all sure I care for what sounds like a real
problem.

I like to keep my desktop up-to-date so I change the motherboard at
least once per year and maybe the CPU chip/memory,video card/etc.
also.

1. If I changed my motherboard do I have to buy a new copy of XP or
can the old copy be made to work?
2. If I upgraded memory or changed to a faster CPU chip (maybe
another P4) do I have to buy a new copy of XP?
3. If I can change hardware on my machine and still use the same
copy of XP, how difficult is it to do? How convenient is it to do?
4. When it comes time to upgrade my OS should I switch to some
flavor of Linux? I used to use Sun Sparc workstations and it
wouldn't be a big problem.
Click to expand...


1: No, your retail copy of XP Pro upgrade will do just fine. When you change
motherboards, you can simply boot from the XP cd and do a repair install -
basically an in place upgrade.
2: No, you can upgrade hardware on your system. After a certain amount of
hardware changes, you may be prompted to re-activate. Usually this can be
done over while online in seconds, at worse it is about a 5 minute phone
call.
3: No more difficult than changing hardware on previous windows os'. Again,
the only other thing might be having to re-activate.
4: You choice, you could always use another partition for Linux and dual
boot with both.

I have been using XP Pro for some time, with no glitches and have been very
happy with it. I have gone through let's see, 3 motherboards, 2 cpu's, 2
sound cards, 2 hard drives, and added a burner and different ram - no
problem with activation , and have only had to do it over the phone once.
 
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