640 MB RAM - but what's the best OS

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Now I have 640 MB RAM for my comp (2x 256 + 128), yet I'm still using Win 98 SE - but what's the right OS to bring them to full use? Win2K? WinXP? Advice and input would be most welcome as I start to think about an OS change to a more modern version of Windows.

Any recommendations? Warnings?

 

Might as well get XP. But stay away from SP1 if you can. Shut off every single service that you don't use (like help and support and SSDP), and don't let Internet Explorer use Java, Script, or Activex. Disable and delete Messenger if you don't use it, or make sure that it's not configured to run in the background.

You're actually pretty safe after all that.

 

It depends on what you do for a living. If your in business, get XP. If your a student, I'd dual-boot your comp with Red Hat or SuSE 7/8 (linux) and winXP. DO NOT GET 2K. I've (and anyone I've ever talked to) has had nothing but trouble with 2K.

 

Avoid ME like the devil. Only 2K is worse. Actually 98SE is not bad and if you don't really need or like XP too much I'd rather remain with 98SE. Turn of all that glittery crap and it will work like charm. With XP you'll need to (nearly)manually disable about half its services. auto-connections etc for it to load in some reasonable time.

 

Call me stupid... but what exactly is wrong with ME?

I use it on my laptop and it works well enough.

 

For some people it works normally, right. As long as you only open files, launch applications and use the net you have some chances to avoid troubles. Generally any other activity leads to a tiny disaster. I came back to 98SE after two weeks

2000 isn't that really bad itself - it's only that it shouldn't ever have been classified as home or universal use. If you take it as just NT5.0 and don't have hardware or driver problems (nothing unusual in 2K) it probably could still work nicely. However, I haven't seen an agreable level of cooperation on it's part so far on any system.

 

well I've only ever had one problem with ME - that's because I deleted a file that MSDOS (SP) needed to run

I get errors sometimes when I run it

 

Been using for W2k for two years now, and there has been only small problems. Of course, I study to be an computer engineer, so it would be a wonder if I could not keep even my own PC working...

As to the topic: if you´re a gamer like me, choose W2k, visit windowsupdate, and start playing. It can still run most of the older games and all of the newer ones. If you play games only occasionally, and don´t care will your older games work at all; install WinXP. The third choise, if you use your comp only for office works, is Linux. It and OpenOffice are free, so what else would you need? Try Knoppix for first-time experience -it can be booted directly from a CD and therefore it doesn´t need to be installed at all.

[ April 07, 2003, 17:55: Message edited by: Virne ]

 

I tell everyone I know to get Win2k Pro, when they upgrade their OS...and they allways thank mein the end. Some people ask me about XP. This is usually what I tell them, "XP is great if you don't care about security, and don't mind the fact that it's graphics were designed by 5 year olds, for 5 year olds..."

 

@Kitrax
The solution there is the marvelous wonder that is the display properties page.

Seroiusly though, 2k really is NT 5, and is setup as such. Use XP for simplicity's sake unless you need all the web/ftp/stmp/multiple users logged in under the same name/ect features.

XP is generally friendlier.

 

I was a 2k fan for a long time, but a friend convinced me to try out XP. It took me a while but I really love XP now. Beats 2k hands down. You just need to know how to tweak it a little bit.

 

When you talk about disabling a load of services:

What exactly do you refer to?

I know when i look in task manager there are about 20 to 30 processes running in the processes window. Do you mean these ones? How would i go about disabling them so they don't start with each boot, coz there is no obvious AutoExec in XP?

 

I believe that the only problem with Windows ME is that is Windows 98...

 

Ragusa -- If you have the horsepower, XP is really your best choice. But besides the 640MB of RAM that you are running, you will also need at least a PIII, running at 500-600MHz. Also, XP is a large install and it will require over 1GB of HD space.

Tal is right, almost all designers will be using XP as their main testing OS, so you should have excellent compatibility with emerging technology and software.

It is really the first OS that MS has done that is close to true PnP, except with the very newest stuff. If you work with digital imaging, you will appreciate what it can do with cameras, printers and readers. It is also a very smart OS and will have good support for CD burning already embedded, including both data and music support.

System restore can really help if you are always experimenting with different driver sets for your hardware. It has saved me more than once from a few bad driver installs.

Here's the downside: You will have to download a slew of security patches, since it has had problems in this area. I've been running SP1 with no problems, but it still does not have all the lastest patches that it requires. If you have broadband, it should be a snap.

Networking is great as long as it is not wireless, otherwise you may have firewall problems with XP and all of your computers being able to see each other. A hardwired network is fine, as I run several computers here in my home that use 98se, Me and both XP home and Pro versions and everyone in my household co-exists just fine, including four printers, which are all shared. At work, we run multiple PCs on XP on a large network with no problems.

If you are into digital music, best stay away from media player. MS is tracking and encoding MP3s for the music industry and they will be interested in where MP3s on your computer ends up. At our last training with MS, their people denied this, but I don't believe them. If you are running a good firewall (like Zone Alarm) then you can just deny media player access to the web and not worry about it. The player is ok, but my preference is still Music Match.

Remember that 2000 is already 3 years old. It has its advocates, but it is ancient (by industry standards). Also, Me is really not very stable, although at least one person in my household really likes it.

Linux also has its advocates, but they, like AMD people, are kind of like a cult, and tend to despise anything that is not "the chosen." If you have the time to spend configuring it to work with what you are running, then fine. But be prepared to invest a lot of time. Don't forget, if all else fails, there's always Apple.

[ April 15, 2003, 04:43: Message edited by: Chandos the Red ]