Should I upgrade from Win98 to XP?

[dajo]

I've been running Win98 for 3 years now and I'm thinking I need to get up to speed with what appears to be becoming the new standard for PC operating systems (XP).

Do you think I should upgrade? Is WinXP stable? What advantages does XP have over Win98? Do you like it?

Will the Home XP Upgrade allow me to upgrade from Win98, or would it require Win98SE?

Thanks!

 

[Insidious]

I don't think I want to tackle the "should I" part of this, but here has been my experience so far:

I did an upgrade install of XP (I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep it)
First, I ran the compatability program on the CD and uninstalled the things it said wouldn't work
or might cause problems.

Then I let it do it's stuff. I moved all my icons to one side of the screen and one by one tried each.
Some of them ran right off the bat, and some needed to be re-installed. but eventually, every item
I have worked (with minimal effort from me)

I have had it on for about a month now. I saw small (insignificant) decreases in some benchmarks
(primarily 3DMark2001 which was about 200 points out of over 7000). No problem with this

We game here alot (oh yeah, I am really describing two computers which are identical in terms of
hardware). I am nothing but pleased with the XP. It is soooo stable compared to my old 98 (SE)!

When a game does crash I am only sent back to the desktop (every once in a while, I have to hit
cntrl-alt-delet and end the task) and to resume play I just double click the icon again. We virtually
have eliminated re-booting all together. I love this! Not only are game crashes MUCH less severe,
but they are also MUCH less frequent then they used to be.

To sum it up, I had no confidence originally, and ghosted a copy of my HD to a second HD so I could
easily go back to my original set-up if it was necessary. Well, I'm ready to take that second hard drive
and start experimenting with Raid (I want to do a clean install, take advantage of NTFS format and
get this puppy set for the long haul..... I'm sold!

 

[Budman]

dajo, what kind of hardware do you have? cpu? ram ?

 

[Psychoholic]

<< Do you think I should upgrade? >>


Depends on your hardware. I would consider 500mhz processor and 128MB of RAM a bare minimum for good performance. Your other hardware needs drivers available.



<< Is WinXP stable? >>


Yes, it's built on the NT/W2K platform so it will be much more stable than Win9x.



<< What advantages does XP have over Win98? >>


See the answer above. Check the XP Home Page for a comprenhensive list.
And before you ask:
What is the difference between WinXP Home and WinXP Pro?



<< Will the Home XP Upgrade allow me to upgrade from Win98, or would it require Win98SE? >>


Yes. However as with any OS upgrade a clean installation is best. Why build a house on anything less than a solid foundation???

 

[jcmkk]

If your PC came with windows 98 and you haven't upgraded it since you bought it, then don't even think about upgrading. Actually if you bought your PC a year ago and haven't upgraded it, then you better atleast think twice. Windows XP is a nice OS, but it doesn't pay performance wise if you don't have a really fast PC with lots of RAM. If you want the stability without the huge system requirements and don't want to lose much performance then I would say you should try Windows 2000. It may even make your system faster.

 

[spamsk8r]

XP sucks, upgrade to 2k and get the service packs, works better

 

[HereThereandEverywhere]

500mhz 128 MB RAM doesn't cut it anymore, I tried. I just put in another stick of 128 and now it runs dandily.

However, 98 to XP is a good choice, very good choice, I had massive stability issues with 98. However, you do need around 256 RAM and 500+ mhz to run it well.

 

[Mem]

<< XP sucks, upgrade to 2k and get the service packs, works better >>



Running XP here with no problems so are my friends , are you another Win2k guy that can`t handle that XP is the new king in town .
I`ve Win98 on one PC and XP on another I use both for gaming,if your hardware is fast enough then XP should be fine ,most games run ok with XP but don`t expect them all too,I`m still waiting for my 1st BSOD in XP(yes I`ve auto reboot disabled) and stability is excellent mind you I always do a clean install of OS.

Win 98 is better for older games especially Dos based ones as I said most games run fine especially newer ones but it`s trial and error on some older ones, XP is a great allround OS.



<< Will the Home XP Upgrade allow me to upgrade from Win98, >>

yes it will .

 

[Trashman]

<< XP sucks >>

....thats a good one.

 

[Psychoholic]

<< XP sucks, upgrade to 2k and get the service packs, works better >>


Thank you for informing me. I guess I'd better remove it off any computers I have it on now.

Just because you couldn't get it working doesn't mean anything is wrong with XP, more than likely it was a KTCI error.

 

[kgdb]

<< XP sucks >>


naw, dont think so, XP Rocks!!!!!!! Ran 98 SE for a looooong time, then switched to 2k for a few months. I have now been using XP for a month or so and no issues what so ever! Very very stable. All my hardware and software function perfectly. I am very very pleased with XP.

 

[BUTTUGLY]

"XP sucks, upgrade to 2k and get the service packs, works better" ......... XP IS A WIN2000 SERVICE PACK!!!!!!!

I still have 98se on another hd and I prefer that OS for internet use.

 

[kgdb]

haha Each to their own but XP for me is as stable as 98SE was, maybe even more so.. Perhaps diff hardware and software configurations could lead to alot of the XP problems people are having but for myself the install was as easy and painless as any other OS to set up. Would never go back to any 9x, no reason to as XP Rocks!

 

[Fastball]

I just upgraded from Win2K and I like it so far.

 

[ConFuseMe]

I have XP and Win 98SE. I've been running 98SE for about 3 years myself.
I tried XP and I must say, it runs very nice.
Sadly I ended up going back to 98SE for the time being though, because I just have an Athlon 500mhz.
That combined with WinXP didn't make for a very fast gaming machine, and thats what I use it mostly for.
I suspect if you had a higher end system though that it would be well worth the switch to Win XP.

I did have a few problems, but I think it's just because I used the upgrade option instead of doing a full install from a clean harddrive.
Also I too noticed a small dip in fps and my 3d mark score. No biggy though.

Overall I would recommend XP. Especially if you use it mostly as a work enviroment. It's a very stable platform.

 

[Halogen]

i say stick with 98

this XP sucks hard, it's auto IP detect doesnt even work which means i will have to change my ip settings every 2 months or so when my IP changes,
it crashes in games LOTS, i will be playing D2 then i push escape and my screen goes black, only way to get out of that is push ctrl+alt+del then close it and go back in
WORST OF ALL, every 10 minutes or so Windows XP just decides to disconnect itself from the internet, wow what a smart OS. it's so damn retarded!!!!

i got the latest updates from MS and it's still screwed
my computer with Win98 on it is still connected when this computer decides to disconnect itself (only way to fix is restart the computer every 10 minutes) and my Win98 computer doesn't just decide to freeze a game and make me close it through the 3 finger salute

XP sucks compared to 98

 

[HexVector]

^ Haha, too bad, sorry to hear that it didn't work for you. Meanwhile I'll be workin on my stable XP system that has never crashed and where every game I tried works.

 

[Hulk]

It's not a question of should, but more when. Eventually almost everyone will move to XP. These same discussions were taking place with the DOS to Windows 3.0 upgrade to 3.1 to 95 to 98 to NT to 2000 to XP to ... you get the idea. Stick with a platform as long as it works for you, then move when the market shift makes things too difficult.

I just moved to XP and really like it. There are so many features that appeared added on in 98SE that really seem integrated and work in XP.

 

[Mitzi]

XP sucks, upgrade to 2k and get the service packs, works better

Thank you for informing me. I guess I'd better remove it off any computers I have it on now.

Just because you couldn't get it working doesn't mean anything is wrong with XP, more than likely it was a KTCI error.

KTCI?

 

[zigCorsair]

<< It's not a question of should, but more when. Eventually almost everyone will move to XP. These same discussions were taking place with the DOS to Windows 3.0 upgrade to 3.1 to 95 to 98 to NT to 2000 to XP to ... you get the idea. Stick with a platform as long as it works for you, then move when the market shift makes things too difficult. >>



an interesting thought: transitions from dos 2.x-6.x to win 3.x to 95/98/2k were all pretty well-spaced apart. Microsoft is planning on increasing the turnover rate on its oses, creating a "new" one each 1.5 years.



<< I just moved to XP and really like it. There are so many features that appeared added on in 98SE that really seem integrated and work in XP. >>



Except for random spikes in my cs gameplay, and that I had to run the internet connection wizard to access the Internet under one config, I like XP a lot. Note - disable simple file sharing (at least that's the first thing I do .

 

[skyking]

I have 2k pro on one machine, and XP pro on another. No probs with 2k, so far no probs with XP. Both computers are brand name, and my only advice is to spend time doing hardware compatibility research. Each install had me scrambling for drivers, etc. not provided by microsoft. If your computer is full of incompatible hardware, I suggest staying with an older OS, or building a new computer.
If you only have one inexpensive hardware change to make, such as a modem, etc., and your computer has the 500+ processor and 256mb RAM specified above, go for it. The new features and stability of either OS are worth it.

 

[Psychoholic]

Mitzi, it stands for Keyboard To Chair Interface.

 

[raxafarian]

Upgraded to xp 1 month ago from 98... I won't be going back. Only issues were drivers. Make sure your modem is supported (if you use one). Also, Linksys wireless was not supported, but drivers are supposed to be out by end of year. Very stable. Only 'lockups' I have are with MS Money downloading bank statements... but that's not an xp issue, cause it did the same in 98. cntrl-alt-del lets you halt processes, not just apps. very easy home networking. Put a blank cd in and xp will treat it as a drive... without running another program. Have not had to 'hard' reboot. Seems to have less memory leaks.

Software activation can be a pain if you change hardware often... but 3 minutes on the phone w/ ms and I had my new key to activate again.
PIII 700 256mb (now 512mb) asus geforce, usr modem, plextor 16/10/40, kenwood 72x.

Happy with xp

 

[raxafarian]

One other thing... when I installed, I fdisk the hd, then format, then booted off win98 startup disk, and XP setup said "can't run in dos" or something like that... So I did a custom win 98 install... unchecked everything... then installed xp.. and selected "replace current os" or however it was worded. I think you can get boot disks from MS to be able to install onto a formatted drive... or there is an easier way and I was just being stupid

 

[Halogen]

like dude said 'we will all eventualy switch to XP' as that is true it is not something you should actually WANT

remember when people were moving from Win3.1 to Win95?? jeez that OS was SLOWER and it was NOT AS STABLE, this is almost exactly the same. i mean seriously why the hell would Diablo freeze up every time i push escape in the server list menu??? it doesn't do that in Win98 now does it???, the auto IP function worked in 98 but doesn't work in XP (you need to manualy set all IP and DNS stuff)