Upgrading from Windows ME

[Guest]

I would welcome advice on the best options for my upgrading from Windows ME
on my Evesham Micro machine

Given Microsoft’s withdrawal of security support for Windows ME, clearly I
need to upgrade to either Windows XP or Vista, but I’m not sure what would be
the best option :

1. The simplest option (?) just buy Windows XP upgrade software and install
it.

2. But since my hard drive (60Gb IDE 7200rpm – UDMA100) is nearing 6 years
old, should I take the opportunity to replace it before it collapses through
old age, with the added benefit (but lots of hard work) in reinstalling all
software from scratch thereby having a “cleansweep†of all the accumulated
rubbish

3. Or should I wait a year or so (until all the major bugs are resolved) and
go the whole hog and upgrade to Vista

4. Or should I just buy a new Vista installed system in the New Year - my
least favoured option, given I paid over £2000 for my existing system with
the expectation I’d be able to upgrade it rather than replace it !

In case it’s relevant my system includes : hard drive as above; AMD Athlon
1.2GHz Processor; 256 DDR; nVidia GeForce 2 64Mb Ultra AGP Video Card.

The main software I use includes : Microsoft Office 2000 (!); Norton
Systemworks 2003; Norton Personal Firewall 2003; GoBack 3.1; Firefox; Adobe
Acrobat 5.0;

Many thanks for any comments or suggestions !

Chris

 

[Og]

I would welcome advice on the best options for my upgrading from Windows ME
on my Evesham Micro machine

Given Microsoft's withdrawal of security support for Windows ME, clearly I
need to upgrade to either Windows XP or Vista, but I'm not sure what would
be
the best option :

1. The simplest option (?) just buy Windows XP upgrade software and
install
it.

2. But since my hard drive (60Gb IDE 7200rpm - UDMA100) is nearing 6 years
old, should I take the opportunity to replace it before it collapses
through
old age, with the added benefit (but lots of hard work) in reinstalling
all
software from scratch thereby having a "cleansweep" of all the accumulated
rubbish

3. Or should I wait a year or so (until all the major bugs are resolved)
and
go the whole hog and upgrade to Vista

4. Or should I just buy a new Vista installed system in the New Year - my
least favoured option, given I paid over £2000 for my existing system with
the expectation I'd be able to upgrade it rather than replace it !

In case it's relevant my system includes : hard drive as above; AMD Athlon
1.2GHz Processor; 256 DDR; nVidia GeForce 2 64Mb Ultra AGP Video Card.

The main software I use includes : Microsoft Office 2000 (!); Norton
Systemworks 2003; Norton Personal Firewall 2003; GoBack 3.1; Firefox;
Adobe
Acrobat 5.0;

Many thanks for any comments or suggestions !

Chris

I would go for #1.
I would not buy a replacement hard drive merely because it "might" fail some
day. Invest, rather, in an external hard drive and make regular images
(clones) of your internal drive at regular intervals. If you current drive
should die, you then have a complete backup of your Windows installation,
your Programs, and your Data which you can restore in one fell swoop.
Steve

 

[Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User]

Get a full version of XP if you do not have an original Microsoft Win ME
CD.. in the event of a system crash, you would need the ME CD as qualifying
material.. also consider 512mb RAM..

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I would welcome advice on the best options for my upgrading from
Windows ME on my Evesham Micro machine

Given Microsoft's withdrawal of security support for Windows ME,
clearly I need to upgrade to either Windows XP or Vista, but I'm not
sure what would be the best option :

1. The simplest option (?) just buy Windows XP upgrade software and
install it.

Yes. I always recommend the Upgrade version since it's almost the same price
as the OEM version and comes without its restrictions. And the Full retail
version is unncessarily expensive. You *can* do a clean reinstallation with
the Upgrade version as long as you own a CD of a previous qualifying version
to inser when prompted to do so. Even if you don't have a Windows Me CD, you
can but a used copy of Windows 98 on eBay very cheaply--for far less than
the difference between the Full and Upgrade versions.

And doing the upgrade from Me to XP usually works very well. In the unlikely
event that you have a problem, you can always redo it as a clean
installation.

2. But since my hard drive (60Gb IDE 7200rpm - UDMA100) is nearing 6
years old, should I take the opportunity to replace it before it
collapses through old age,

No. I don't believe in prophylactically replacing hard drives (or other
hardware). Some hard drives don't last for six years, but others last much
longer. Replace it when you need to--when it fails or when you need/want a
bigger or faster one, not before.

However certainly make sure you have a good backup of anything you need on
that drive. But that need is there, regardless of the drive's age. Everyone
always should have a current backup of what's important.

with the added benefit (but lots of hard
work) in reinstalling all software from scratch thereby having a
"cleansweep" of all the accumulated rubbish

What accumulated rubbish? If you have rubbish on the drive, delete or
uninstall it. No need to replace a drive to accomplish this.

3. Or should I wait a year or so (until all the major bugs are
resolved) and go the whole hog and upgrade to Vista

This is the harder question, and one subject to differing opinions by
different people. First, despite the view of many people, there's no
guarantee that Vista will have major bugs on the day it's released. Vista
has undergone a very extensive testing cycle, and it's reasonable to expect
very few problems when it comes out. XP, for example, right out of the box
on day one, had no significant problems.

Second, even if it does have major problems, there is no particular date in
the future when you can say "OK, the bugs are gone; it's safe to install it
now." You never know in advance when there's another major problem that will
come up tomorrow. So waiting six month, a year, or two years, guarantees you
nothing.

4. Or should I just buy a new Vista installed system in the New Year
- my least favoured option, given I paid over £2000 for my existing
system with the expectation I'd be able to upgrade it rather than
replace it !

Assuming that the entire system is the same age as the hard drive (almost
six years), your system is old enough that it has only a tiny residual
value, regardless of what you paid for it. Its components are all small,
old, and slow by today's standards. Upgrading usually makes sense only if
you can keep most of what you have, and upgrade only a few components.

In case it's relevant my system includes : hard drive as above; AMD
Athlon
1.2GHz Processor; 256 DDR; nVidia GeForce 2 64Mb Ultra AGP Video Card.

Almost everything there is inadequate for good performance with Vista. As a
matter of fact, you're in the lower range of decent performance even for
Windows XP.

If I were in your shoes, I'd opt for your least-favored option, number 4.

 

[Ron Martell]

I would welcome advice on the best options for my upgrading from Windows ME
on my Evesham Micro machine

Given Microsoft’s withdrawal of security support for Windows ME, clearly I
need to upgrade to either Windows XP or Vista, but I’m not sure what would be
the best option :

I endorse the comments made by Ken Blake.

Why not stick with Windows Me? The security risks are actually very
low, as most of the malware etc. is aimed at the largest target
(Windows XP). Even if new vulnerabilities are discovered in Windows
Me it is unlikely that malware creators would even bother to exploit
them, as for the same amount of effort they can create a new malware
item for Windows XP thereby affecting hundreds or even thousands of
times as many computers as any Windows Me exploit could ever hope to
infect.

Windows Me (and also Windows 95/98) is very much "not worth shooting
at".

In 6 months or so you will be able to purchase a new system with
Windows Vista installed for a fraction of what you paid for your
Windows Me system 5 or 6 years ago.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Rev Jim]

I would suggest buying another hard drive and installing it in your current
computer. You can drag and drop anything and it will be a minimum cost
backup system.