Discussion
XP all the way. Used both from the time they came out and 2K is terrible!! Slow and uncustomisable. There isn't even an MS config file. Get XP on there and if you don't like the Blue "new" style change it to Cassic windows style. You won't even realise that you're using it.
Also can get many handy apps for XP such as a full memory and registry tweak guide, and BootVis to boot from cold start in 30 sec.
Also can get many handy apps for XP such as a full memory and registry tweak guide, and BootVis to boot from cold start in 30 sec.
I'm with CarZee - rather have 2k. I've never had any stability problems with it, whereas both machines I've had supplied with XP have been unreliable.
However it does depend what you're using it for - I use 2k because they're used for server tasks. If it's your main workstation PC, you may want to use XP for the latest UI stuff - personally I use OS X for these things
However it does depend what you're using it for - I use 2k because they're used for server tasks. If it's your main workstation PC, you may want to use XP for the latest UI stuff - personally I use OS X for these things
XP Pro.
XP fisher price version is not really that much better over 98, but XP Pro is essentially the same architecture.
I run both OS's on my 5 PC's (yes... 5!) and XP is now the most stable of the lot. A quick uptime shows my main work XP has been running for 3 months and 2 days without a reboot, and a run a lot of large number crunching programs....
But then memory is the key, the minimum any of my boxes have is 1Gb of RAM, and the biggest has 4Gbytes....
J
XP fisher price version is not really that much better over 98, but XP Pro is essentially the same architecture.
I run both OS's on my 5 PC's (yes... 5!) and XP is now the most stable of the lot. A quick uptime shows my main work XP has been running for 3 months and 2 days without a reboot, and a run a lot of large number crunching programs....
But then memory is the key, the minimum any of my boxes have is 1Gb of RAM, and the biggest has 4Gbytes....
J
joust said:
XP Pro.
XP fisher price version is not really that much better over 98, but XP Pro is essentially the same architecture.
I run both OS's on my 5 PC's (yes... 5!) and XP is now the most stable of the lot. A quick uptime shows my main work XP has been running for 3 months and 2 days without a reboot, and a run a lot of large number crunching programs....
But then memory is the key, the minimum any of my boxes have is 1Gb of RAM, and the biggest has 4Gbytes....
J
So... maybe 4-5 months before the memory leaks finally clog up your systems??
You are right though - XP Pro has a larger memory footprint than 2k. If memory is tight then stick with 2k.
Incidentally how are you using 4 GB in a windows box?? Surely only 2 GB is directly addressable??
lx993 said:Non ECC and XP Pro.
Incidentally how are you using 4 GB in a windows box?? Surely only 2 GB is directly addressable??
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/features.asp
J
100% agree that the Fisher Price / teletubby interface isn't the best, and as per most "professional" users revert to the W2k style GUI.
I'm still kinda surprised you've had stability issues with XP though CarZee... not had any problems at all; although for the record I'm refering to XP clients and W2000 server.
Not buying cheap crappy hardware are you?!?
I'm still kinda surprised you've had stability issues with XP though CarZee... not had any problems at all; although for the record I'm refering to XP clients and W2000 server.
Not buying cheap crappy hardware are you?!?
At work we have one PC running XP, and four that were running 98SE.
Two now have 2000Pro, and that's fixed problems that both machines had, that no amount of patches/ fannying around could fix. One crashed about three times a day and would forget it had a USB card (hence the printer and most other externals), the other was slow, and took no notice of things like power-management settings.
Of the others still on 98SE, one crashes about once an hour, whether it's being used or not. It runs the company accounts software
and the boss won't let me upgrade to 2K or XP - just in case 
The other is a dog-slow old thing, mostly used for faxes and stuff, so not worth worrying about.
Oh... the XP machine? PlaySchool graphics aside, it works fine, crashes about once or twice a week.
All I can say for definite is that the improvement effected by the W2K installs was worth the trouble. I also run W2K at home and had had no problems AT ALL until that worm came along. Even then it just lost daft things like cut & paste (some folk had it a lot worse). With SP4 and the worm patch installed, it's back to its former self. On 98SE it was a bloody nightmare. Twin HDDs, 48x writer, DVD, 4 USB ports permanently in use, RF keyboard and mouse, scanner, parallel laplink - utter chaos. In 2K it works like a dream. Best PC I've ever owned.
Ian
Two now have 2000Pro, and that's fixed problems that both machines had, that no amount of patches/ fannying around could fix. One crashed about three times a day and would forget it had a USB card (hence the printer and most other externals), the other was slow, and took no notice of things like power-management settings.
Of the others still on 98SE, one crashes about once an hour, whether it's being used or not. It runs the company accounts software
and the boss won't let me upgrade to 2K or XP - just in case The other is a dog-slow old thing, mostly used for faxes and stuff, so not worth worrying about.
Oh... the XP machine? PlaySchool graphics aside, it works fine, crashes about once or twice a week.
All I can say for definite is that the improvement effected by the W2K installs was worth the trouble. I also run W2K at home and had had no problems AT ALL until that worm came along. Even then it just lost daft things like cut & paste (some folk had it a lot worse). With SP4 and the worm patch installed, it's back to its former self. On 98SE it was a bloody nightmare. Twin HDDs, 48x writer, DVD, 4 USB ports permanently in use, RF keyboard and mouse, scanner, parallel laplink - utter chaos. In 2K it works like a dream. Best PC I've ever owned.
Ian
As others have mentioned, there are some major annoyances with the XP interface over the old windows style.
That said, some of the discrete improvements (hiding system tray icons for starters!) are well worth the upgrade and you can revert to the old style interface anyway.
W2K certainly more stable in my experiance but I suspect the instabilities I've had in XP are more to do with third party drivers than the OS itself.
That said, some of the discrete improvements (hiding system tray icons for starters!) are well worth the upgrade and you can revert to the old style interface anyway.
W2K certainly more stable in my experiance but I suspect the instabilities I've had in XP are more to do with third party drivers than the OS itself.
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