Harvey writes:

<<Can
anyone tell me if would be better to upgrade it to Windows 98 Second
Edition which cost $51 US with taxes or upgrade to Windows XP >>

If you upgrade to XP, be prepared to replace some or most of your
hardware.  By all accounts, you may have difficulty running printer, modem,
scanner, CDRW, etc unless specifically designed for XP (ie less than 6
months old). Some products have updated drivers, others apparently not.

And some older programs may not run on XP. You'll also need double the
memory to run XP decently. You can check the Ms site for compatibility, but
I believe this is not infallible.  A lot of people seem to have been caught
out by Ms saying their system is OK for XP when, after burning their
bridges, they find they need expensive upgrades.

Unless you are a technician capable of doing your own upgrading (or wealthy
beyond measure),  my guess is that upgrading any system more than a year
old is likely to cause problems.

Depends on what you want to do on your computer whether any upgrade would
be worthwhile.

I'm sure XP will be capable of doing a lot more things than previous
systems---the question is--- do you now need those facilities?  Or can you
hang on until it's time to update the whole computer and all your hardware?

You also have to consider the question of whether you want to reformat.
Updating to SE should not need a reformat as long as your present system is
stable and functioning OK (though it's always preferable). Moving to XP,
I'd think a reformat would be pretty mandatory if you want to avoid future
trouble.

Much also depends on how you upgrade. Ms "upgrade" disks are notoriously
unsatisfactory---the usual consensus seems to be that it is much more
reliable to wipe the existing OS entirely and install a full new system.
But you might get away with the 98-to-SE upgrade disk.

Don Penlington
Free computer tutorials at: http://www.geocities.com/donaldpen/
Also Fractal Galleries,  free icons,  poetry,  and beautiful Queensland beaches.

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