Karen Wrote:
> Hi.  I had my old Dell computer reformated. It was purchased in 1997.

Has it been run since then?

>The person who did this said when it was used again, it would have to be
loaded with something (?) and then drives made, or something like that.

Maybe this person formatted the hard drive and said that the "Operating
System" Would have to be installed along with any drivers.

>I only have the two upgrade disks.

Are these Windows 9X upgrade disks?

>Now I want to give this computer to a friend.  What do I need to do?

Have you started the machine? If not, this may give you an idea where to
begin. As I stated before, if the person that formatted the hard drive did
nothing more than format it, you will have to install an operating system
such as Windows.

> Would Windows XP work on it? Is that all?

According to the Microsoft site, here are the minimum requirements for
Windows XP which if memory serves me correctly are the same as Home.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/evaluation/sysreqs.asp

> Or what do I need to do?

I would start by connecting the machine to all of the necessary components
and fire it up. You will have a better idea what to do after this point. The
machine is elderly by today's standards and if the user is going to do
nothing more than a little word processing, play a few non CPU intensive
games and such, I would install Windows 98SE and let it go at that.

The suggestions made are purely conjecture. Share with us if you will your
findings.

If the computer has been sitting dormant for a while, it may not boot up nor
will the clock be on time due to a dead battery. Anyway, please let us know.



Sincerely,

Frank Suszka
netTek Computers
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