win xp

[tenders]

hi

i am using w2k pro now and though its great it seems to make my system really sluggish. i have alot of programs installed, but not alot running in the background.

i guess i'm just wondering if i can install win xp on here(and i don't know if i can or not on this pc) will it run better i.e. consume less resources.

my pc specs should be listed above.

thanks

p.s. i know nothing about win xp....is there any one(service pack) that is better than the others?

[Faithful Follower]

omputer Details/Setup:
Operating System: w2k pro
CPU Speed: 534
Harddrive space: 8gig
RAM Memory: 128
Video Card:
Capture Card:
Motherboard:
CD-ROM: 24x

According to your computer spec, no doctor in this world can fix your problem

[tenders]

omputer Details/Setup:
Operating System: w2k pro
CPU Speed: 534
Harddrive space: 8gig
RAM Memory: 128
Video Card:
Capture Card:
Motherboard:
CD-ROM: 24x

According to your computer spec, no doctor in this world can fix your problem

wasn't looking for a doctor..just advice...clearly you can offer neither.

[Faithful Follower]

Sorry no offense, but in order for WinXP to run little more smoothly, I think you'll need 256RAM min. 512 would be ideal.

[tenders]

Sorry no offense, but in order for WinXP to run little more smoothly, I think you'll need 256RAM min. 512 would be ideal.

apology accepted.

i am taking an HTML class and one of the pc's has XP on it and only has 64megs RAM, so how do you explain that?

by the way it runs great,and has alot more programs installed than i do!

[krazydl]

that's kinda wierd...???
i installed winxp on my girl's computer which was 600mhz/128mb ram/20g hd, and tried to run 2 program at the same time and it kept chrashing on me.

[tenders]

that's kinda wierd...???
i installed winxp on my girl's computer which was 600mhz/128mb ram/20g hd, and tried to run 2 program at the same time and it kept chrashing on me.

yeah..i thought it would take a more powerfull pc to run it, till i saw it with my own eyes.

this is why i am asking the question.

[krazydl]

if that's true, then i really have no answer for that.

you sure xp was running on 64mb?

what was hd size and processor speed?

[tenders]

didn't look at the hd size, but the cpu was a 500.

[krazydl]

if xp is running on the machine w/ 500 mhz/ 64mb ram, you gotta ask somebody at that scool how they make it work.

that's just unbelievable!!!

[tenders]

by any chance do you know what is the minimum requirements for XP?

[krazydl]

Here's What You Need to Use Windows XP Professional
PC with 300 megahertz or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233 MHz minimum required (single or dual processor system);* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, or AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space*
Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher-resolution video adapter and monitor
CD-ROM or DVD drive
Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

got it from microsoft site.

[krazydl]

according to above description, i guess it will run on mininum requirement system.

but w/ my experience(installed xp on few machines), didn't have that much luck w/ old machines, i guess.

[tenders]

wow..thanks

i have all that, but i wonder about the 1.5 gigs of space? surely it can't be that big?

[tenders]

according to above description, i guess it will run on mininum requirement system.

but w/ my experience(installed xp on few machines), didn't have that much luck w/ old machines, i guess.

well thats where i'm wondering if it makes a difference or not as to which service pack you install.

[krazydl]

when i install xp, usually it eats up about 2-4gb of hd space, defending on what option i set while installing.

and if i stall office and few more software, it takes about 5-8 gb.

hope this will give you some idea. ^^

[tenders]

there must be some way to do it. hell..my HD is only 8 gigs, and i am pretty sure the pc's in the class i'm taking have even smaller ones than mine.

well i'll give it a couple of days and see if anyone can shed any more light on this subject.

thanks for your help

[krazydl]

good luck!

there must be more knowledgable people who can give you much better info in this matter.

i'm not that experienced anyway.

sorry for confusing you.

[zedolfblack]

I had a 300MHz pc with 96MB RAM that ran Windows 98 perfectly.

I upgraded it to Windows 2000 Pro and it was a mistake - not enough RAM so it was using the virtual memory (pagefile) 99% of the time.
I reverted back to Windows 98 until i got a better pc.

Optimise your pagefile - if it's badly fragmented, performance on a pc with little memory may suffer.

Memory is a cheap(ish) upgrade.
If you got yourself an extra 256MB (maybe 128MB would suffice) i'm sure your pc would run W2K much more smoothly - then maybe you'd have a realistic idea of how well XP would run if you upgraded.

Also check out the various guides to Windows services - memory can be saved by stopping unneeded services from running automatically.

Martin.

[Conquest10]

I ran xp on my 667 with 64MB RAM. It ran as smooth as a baby's butt. It's a Compaq Presario at that!

[Craig Tucker]

I run XP pro on a Dell laptop PII 266MHz with 80 MB ram, no problems.

[808smokey]

i am using w2k pro now and though its great it seems to make my system really sluggish. i have alot of programs installed, but not alot running in the background.

i guess i'm just wondering if i can install win xp on here(and i don't know if i can or not on this pc) will it run better i.e. consume less resources.

p.s. i know nothing about win xp....is there any one(service pack) that is better than the others?

Yup, you can install XP on there. I'd dual boot XP and 2K. XP will run on your setup, it might be smoking fast but it will run. If you can put another stick of ram in there. After you get it installed turn off the extra crap that runs in the background. GO to start, RUN, type MSCONFIG, click startup tab, uncheck all the startup programs, then click SERVICES tab, uncheck all the software you don't need. For more info on XP optimization go to www.theeldergeek.com

[tenders]

thx everyone, when i get some time,i think i'm going to give it a whirl

[sterno]

If you're thinking about installing a new OS anyway you might try doing a clean install of Windows 2000 first. I ran Windows 2000 on less hardware than you have and didn't have any real problems. On the other hand, my machine at work with XP is dog-slow even though it's a 1.2GHz Celeron with 512MB. I could probably improve it, but we're not allowed to make major changes because another group does the PC support - it's already better than it was when I first got it because I fixed the pagefile settings.

[vhelp]

@ tenders,

For XP or W2K etc. . .

They probably had a "smart" guru there at the time they set it up.
No, you're not dumb, but this guy/gal was probably a guru, and really
new what he/she was doing for that school.

Also, when you install something like a new OS (in your case, for
instance) I would have:

* reformated hd
* installed only DOS, and minor needed system and driver files

* THEN, do a de-frag -- a must have do process after a reformat and
...install of minor but needed startup files. You don't want old files
...laying around on your pc's hd because your new OS will sense this (during
...it's its intall (like w98 does) when it looks for OTHER software and
...driver and other files that XP is looking for to add to it's repetware
...of things. And, this is a no-no (well, at least in your case) You want
...to start fresh and clean, lean and MEAN (fast)

* then, install your OS (ie, your XP system)
* Then, get it working just right (ie, setup your desktop just the way you
...want it, icons, folders, and any small or tiny tools/utils you might
...need for your OS (if you used any in your pior OS setup like i have, for
...instance)

* THEN, do another defrag

* THEN, install a GHOST (image software) - - a must have do process!!
...and burn a CDR w/ a pefectly tuned XP setup - case anything goes wrong or
...you notice some slugishness or whatever odd thing going on.. you can just
...pop in your GHOST image CDR at the DOS promot and rebirth your original
...and perfectly tuned XP system again :P

* Now you are ready to install any other software you like (ie, your HTML
...classware stuff from school.

* If you like, do another defrag (I would) and then GHOST that to a CDR.

Now you have a perfect set of GHOSTED CDRs.. one for a clean start of XP,
and another for your given school project. Always ready when you need it
for optimum setup, and no re-tweaking. You spent the exhaustive time and
effort the first time, doing all this fun stuff.. now just pop in a CDR
and wait 5 min. or more (get a cup of coffee) when you need to re-image
for whatever reason.

I would say that the above is definately a good starting boots in your
performance. If your school's pcs are fast (IYO) than I would say that
the above had some play in it, and also that the guru probably "tweaked"
a few settings, settings that you are not aware of yet (you did say you
are an XP newbie)

Would help for you to find out what PC hardware (ie, mobo, make, brand
etc etc) pc(s) your school has so we all can better arrive a an reasonable
answer as to why they are faster (or better) than yours, and maybe can
help you acheave it too. Make note of everything, and don't leave anything
out!!

Good luck,
-vhelp

[Cricket90]

Hmmm sorry to bump this but I regularly use

Xp readiness test at
PCpitstop.com

iv put Xp pro on a pII 366 64 megs of RAM 8 gig hardrive etc.

and She still runs great.

cricket

[b1tchm4gn3t]

My second puter is a HP Kayak with 333 mhz and initially had 128 mb of sdram, I installed xp home from 98SE and had no problems. I added more ram...320 mb to be exact...and I can run several things at once and I never have a problem. As of now it has a 4 gig HD in it and then I added a 8 gig also. I really do not know why but this Kayak I have seems to run as fast as some newer machines I have seen lately, not including video encoding but just simple things. I also added a burner and then a dvd rom drive to it.

[tenders]

well..i have it, and all programs innstalled now. so far i love it

its definetly faster than win2k,and i was impressed that i didn't have to install any sound or video drivers or even a driver for ISP connection.

the thing that i don't like is that login screen. anyone know how to get rid of it so the pc just boots up to the desktop without having to login?

i was able to get rid of it(sort of) with win 2k,but i can't figure it out on xp.

[808smokey]

well..i have it, and all programs innstalled now. so far i love it

its definetly faster than win2k,and i was impressed that i didn't have to install any sound or video drivers or even a driver for ISP connection.

the thing that i don't like is that login screen. anyone know how to get rid of it so the pc just boots up to the desktop without having to login?

i was able to get rid of it(sort of) with win 2k,but i can't figure it out on xp.

click start-
settings
control panel
click user accounts
change the way users log on or off
uncheck the two boxes

[BobV]

I had XP pro running on a 600mhz with 266k but removed it to go back to win2k. It may run on sub 1gighz pc, but I would not. Last week I saw a plaec where I could up grade that pc to a 1.8 gighz with 512k (new mobo and heat sync included) for $99 after rebates. That would be the way to go if you ask me.