Dawn, this response mightn't be much help as it's more in the nature of a description of recent problems I've had with HP printers.
It seems to me that HP printer software has recently undergone some kind of change for the worse.
Now, I have nothing concrete to base this statement on, other than the problems I've personally encountered with various computers, when trying to install recent model HP printer software.
In one case, which involved installing an HP1210 3-in-1into a pc with a newly installed W98SE system, after the software was installed and the pc rebooted, the machine couldn't find the C drive, it crashed completely.
It took me nearly an hour to restore it to it's previous state, only for it to happen again when I tried to reinstall the printer software.
Finally, I had to rebuild the system from scratch. I used XP and the printer did finally agree to run on the new system.
Similar, lesser problems have occurred on other computers.
Now, maybe this is just a W98 driver problem, and we all know that new drivers aren't being produced for W98. However, I don't think that this is good enough and I've ceased to recommend that customers buy HP printers.
Another factor in my decision is that even when I've managed to get one of these HP 3-in-1's running, I've found the handbook and tutorials very hard to follow, particularly with respect to the scanning facility.
I used to be an HP supporter and I've had a few HP printers myself. But no longer - now I recommend Canon to my customers. I recently bought a Canon MP730 4-in-1 for my own use and I can't fault it. The manual is also excellent. It also shares cartridges (which have very good longevity) with my old Canon S750, which has run without a hitch for two years.
Coming back to your question about upgrading from W98.......that's a tough one. And you'll get as many answers as there are computer users. Everyone has their own system preferences, and these are frequently more emotional than logic- based.
My two cents are: XP is definitely more stable but it still leaves a lot to be desired. WinME isn't worth considering at all. NT - I don't think so - not for a home user. It's more suited to networked office systems. Win2000 - maybe....but it's more complicated to configure and run than W98. And again, not ideal for home users. Both of the last mentioned contain security and networking functions that the average home user would find confusing.
Unfortunately, even though W98 has a heck of a lot going for it, it has two major drawbacks; it can be unstable (I say CAN, it isn't always - it seems to depend on the user) but the biggie is it's lack of support by M$ and other driver writers - which is what this post was about to begin with.
Just the same, if you have a W98 system that's otherwise running well, I'd suggest you keep it and give some consideration to buying another brand of printer.
Ian Porter
Computer Guys Inc.
Arrowtown
New Zealand
[log in to unmask]
The NOSPIN Group
http://freepctech.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Dawn Acred
Subject: [PCBUILD] Windows...Re-Install or Upgrade ??
The Computer Lady told me that this is one of THE places to go to get help from hundreds of professionals so I am here to see what y'all suggest I do:
I use Windows 98SE.
My PC is only 1 year old (it came with no operating system so I used 98SE since it was what I had on my old system).
I have a brand new HP PSC Photosmart All-In-One Printer, Fax, Scanner, Copier.
I hooked it up and everything except the Scanner works fine.
After talking to HP for 5.25 hours trying to resolve the problem - they finally determined that I need to re-install Windows 98SE or upgrade to a newer version of Windows (something about my drivers being corrupt ? funny, they weren't corrupt with my old PSC ?? - anyway).
HP had me run many different free on-line virus checkers on my system (I already had Norton Firewall & Anti-Virus) and they all found nothing.
Then they had me install the PSC on my mom's new Dell with Windows XP and every aspect of the PSC worked perfect on her new PC.
These two things made them determine it is my Windows drivers.
So I need advice as to which would be better:
Re-install Windows 98SE (and can a novice do this without destroying my PC or loosing any data ?)
~OR~
Purchase a "newer" version of Windows ? But which one is better - Windows ME, Windows 2000??, Windows NT??, Windows XP ? And can I install one of these without crashing my PC ? Also, I heard that some of my existing software would not run under a newer version of Windows - is that correct ? If so, how do I know which ones would no longer work ?
Sorry this is so much - but I wanted to make sure you knew all the details. And as you can tell I don't know too much about PCs.
I will await y'all's direction...
Thanks so much for ANY advice -
Dawn Acred
PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download
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PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download
visit our download web page at:
http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml
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