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How effective are windows upgrades?

kamper

kamper

Diamond Member
My dad's computer is running a 5 year old installation of windows 98 and for his birthday I'd like to get him xp. The installation is a little messy, not spyware infested or anything, but it has networking problems that I'm not motivated enough to fix.

Anyways, I have the option of getting the upgrade pack or the full version of xp home. If it were my computer I'd be going for the full version every time because I like to be able to wipe and reinstall when I need to. But he manages quite well without this and would prefer not to wipe clean this time if he can.

So my question is: do you think an upgrade over such an old installation would be effective or would the clean install be so much better that it'd be worth the extra money?

Thanks for any help...
 
Although I have never done it, I believe that you can use an upgrade XP CD to install a fresh version if you want to. You will just have to insert the 98 CD at some stage to show that you are entitled to upgrade. But, that is it.

If you do not want to do a fresh install, you should still backup all the data before you start as a safety measure. Then, if things don't work as hoped, you will still have all the data.

So, you are better off gettting the upgarde version as long as your father has the windows 98 CD. If what he has is an OEM version of 98 or a recovery CD, it may not be that simple.
 
Thanks Navid,

I didn't know you could do a fresh install like that. But it's a Dell so I think it only comes with a recovery cd. I'll ask him though (he's old enough that he doesn't care too much if I give away his present might be 😛)
 
I'd also check the specs of the computer. If the OS installation is 5 years old, then the computer is at least that old too. Win XP is a memory hungry beast, and you need a decent processor to make it worth it. Just my .02. Good luck.

-sp
 
Yes, another factor in the cost decision is the fact that it will need more ram. It is currently a p3@500 with 128M. I'm hoping the processor will hold up; I've seen xp on worse and he's not doing anything particularly stressful (browsing, tax applications...).
 
XP will work with 128MB of RAM. But, you should have 256MB. You will notice the difference in start-up time.
If the computer is that old, it may need a bios upgrade too. You may want to check on the Dell site to see if they have any info on the requirements for the upgrade to XP for the model.
 
Back up all his data (of course).

Buy (at least) a 256MB memory upgrade and just do the Windows in-place upgrade. If it doesn't run well afterward, you can still do a format/clean install.

Even though the upgrade CD has a version check, I'm sure you're bright enough to figure out a loophole if necessary. 🙂
 
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