Upgrading to Win2K: Any tips? What should I watch out for?

[Dan]

I've been using WinME for a little over a month and I'm underwhelmed to say the least. The way it uses up resources hardly justifies it's "improvements" over 98SE. IMHO.

My primary uses are business apps, image editting, web surfing and cd-burning (date and mp3's). I rarely play games. So, I figure I'll "move up" to Win2K.

Here's my current hardware profile:

AMD K6-III/450MHz
Peltier ?Ice Cooler? Heatsink/Fan
FIC 503+ motherboard w/1.15JK34 bios
NEC 128MB CAS 2 PC-133 DIMM
Western Digital 20.5GB, ATA/66, 7200rpm
(HDD has 4 partitions: C = 1.85GB, D = 3.4GB, E = 4.86GB, F = 6.98GB)
CL Graphics Blaster TNT2 Ultra, 32MB, 2x AGP, 218.4MHz/200.5MHz
Shuttle 50X CD-ROM, IDE
Pine 4X-4X-24X CDRW, IDE
CL SoundBlaster Live, Value! Sound Card
Intel Ethernet 10MB/s NIC
US Robotics 56k v.90 ISA Modem w/voice
Fujitsu ?SpeedPort? External DSL Modem
NEC 1.44MB Floppy

I'm reasonably computer literate and I've worked my way through generation of OS's on the consumer side since MS-DOS 5. On the other hand, I've only dabbled with NT and never put it on any of my personal systems.

Like the thread's title says, does anyone have any tips? Things to avoid, watch out for, definitely do, etc?

 

[dave8311]

You should move up to 256 MB's of RAM.

Also, check with Microsoft for their "compatabilty list", to make sure all your stuff is going to work.

There is still a bunch of mainstream hardware without, W2K support.

Check out this site ........... The Essential Upgrade Checklist

Once you go W2K, you will never go back.

Good Luck

 

[BCYL]

The main thing you should watch out for would be hardware compatibility. Check MS website to see if all your hardware are supported under win2k... You should also go to the manufacturer's website to download the most updated win2k drivers beforehand... Once that is taken care of, everything else should be quite straightforward...

Oh, you have to get new softwares for win2k also... softwares for win9x does not work in win2k...

 

[EKwan]

Hello,

In addition to the others' recommendations, do a clean reformat of your hard disk with a clean install of Windows2000. You stated that you do CD burning. Beware that for Easy CD Creator, only version 4.x is supported (and only version 3.x of Direct CD is supported). Upgrading to Windows Media Player 7 will also affect Easy CD Creator. If you are not using the Easy CD Creator/Direct CD, this may not apply to you. However, if you are planning to use Easy CD Creator, please reply to this message and I will attempt to detail the correct steps regarding its installation after installing Windows2000.

Regards,
Edward

 

[Dan]

Thanks for your input guys! I checked Microsoft's hardware compatibility guidelines and ran an upgrade report. It looks like I'm in good shape. My USB webcam apparently won't work; fortunately that's one aspect of the Internet I haven't been very involved in. As for Media Player 7... That's another WinMe "upgrade" I'm not too impressed with.

EKwan: I do use Easy CD Creator. Any advice you can pass along will be appreciated.

 

[yazz]

WIN2K does not have an ASPI layer. you will not be able to do DAE and burn CDS till you get an ASPI layer. Use NERO burning ROM to make CDs. i think NERO comes with a ASPI layer that is downloadable from their site.

 

[EKwan]

Hello Dan,

If you had Easy CD Creator installed and then upgrade to Windows Media Player 7, WMP 7 will render Easy CD Creator funtion-less. The remedy is to uninstall Easy CD creator, and re-install it. The other alternative is to upgrade to WMP 7 before installing Easy CD Creator.
Should you wish to un-install Easy CD Creator (including Direct CD) later on, do not let the un-install process remove any files from the %SystemRoot%\System or System32 folder. Should that happen, upon re-boot Winodws2000 Professional will not recognize any of your CD-ROM drives (including your CD burner). For me, only a clean re-format and clean re-install of Windows2000 resolved this problem of disappearing CD-ROM drives.

In summary:
If a user wants to install Windows Media Player 7, install it first before Easy CD Creator 4.x.
However, should the user already have Easy CD Creator 4.x and want to upgrade to Windows Media Player 7. Uninstall Easy CD Creator 4.x but do NOT remove any files from the %SystemRoot%\System or System32 folder. Then upgrade to Windows Media Player 7. After this, re-install Easy CD Creator 4.x.

Regards,
Edward