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I have had my computer since November 2001.  It is fairly decent PIV 1.7Ghz, 512MbRam, GeForce 2 Mx400, 60GB Hard drive.

It came pre-installed with Windows ME and I was advised to get rid of this and get XP when it came out, which I did.  Then the problems started.  I had to re-format and re-install about five times.  January this year I had enough and scrapped XP, going "backwards" to ME.  I will be honest, it hasn't been perfect.  Even with the most upto date drivers and DX9.0 I have lost about 5FPS and the graphics aren't quite as good.  CFS3 stutters a little more as well.  Otherwise it has been fine.

Two days ago I thought "What the Hell, I'll put XP back on."  Bad move.  1st I lost my internet connection.  No dial tone it said.  Then today nothing would run.  I must have restarted 20 times.  I uninstalled and re-installed stuff to no good effect.  The net result is that I now have NOTHING installed once more and I am not a happy bunny.

Bl**dy W*ndows.

This time, if it aint broke I won't fix it.

Will

Why?  It's a software issue.  I might invest in a new hard drive but a whole new computer I cannot afford.

Will

Bad luck Will. I've been running XP Pro since it came out, and I've only had two crashes. One caused by conflicting software, the other by my being a bit of a brain donor!
On the whole I like XP, but I haven't taken on-board any of the upgrades and patches from M$, I've just resolved the issues myself. If you need a hand drop me a line and I'll try and help.

Mark

hagar i can personally say XP is my fav, i have used 95 98 and XP and it goes down as the best in my opinion, it took a few days to get used to when switching form the old OS as i was so used to it but after tweaking it it became perfect, i have never had to reinstall it although i have a few times but that was personal preferance to keep it clear of hidden viruses and kee it running fast as i have nothing major to loose

that's windoze for you

My brother uses WinME and it runs fine most of the time.

I've been using WinXP pro for past year or two. It's pretty stable most of the time, but it DOES have it's drawbacks. Imo, the most annoying thing about XP is that it likes to eat and leak memory

Hi all.

I've just got back today with a client's PC that I've been trying to reconfigure for 2 days after upgrading it (when I only allowed and can charge for half a day!)

The thing is we talk about Windows but we forget that actually Windows consists of a cobbling together of hundreds of programs all trying to work in unison - all designed and made by humans - all perfect or imperfect to a greater or lesser extent. Is it any wonder that there are problems with em from time to time - especially if the setup was not 'perfect to spec' in the beginning.

That's the starting point- you need to set things up right , clean and with the right drivers in the first place. If you don't, you'll have trouble later. If you do take the trouble you'll likely have much less of a 'bumpy ride'!

The next thing is the dicussions about 95 v 98 v ME v XP. Look at it this way - have BMW learnt nothing by making different versions of the 5 series between 1986 and now? Of course they have. Which do you think is the 'better' version - a 1988 model or a 2003? Silly question isn't it. Surely you assume that the latest knowledge base is built into the current model and the old one is 'out of date' although it still runs and gets you from A to B. Why should software be any different - I mean, chip design hasn't changed a BIT over the last 10 years has it?

Don't listen to any 'expert' who tells you 98 is 'better' than XP, but remember that XP Home is what it says it is. It's NOT Pro.

It's easy to bash Windows - and I'm no M$ fan as anyone who knows me will tell. But I remember what it was like when you had to choose your software to match your particular flavour of OS, to install printers and HOPE that they would work - at least in the app that you're presently working in, to set up pathetically slow serial connections to remote computers down a rubber device clamped over your phone receiver - and wonder why half of what you got out was rubbish and to have to spend ages learning the intricate commands of DOS to do the simplest things with your PC that would screw up totally just because you happen to have got 1 key stroke wrong when you typed the commands in.

Now we take ALL of those things for granted and it's all down to the foresight and skill of the likes of IBM, Jobs and, yes, even our friend Mr Gates.

Like today when I've been having BIG problems I run Windows and I realise just how little I am ACTUALLY in control of things. But I know that if I do it right, it will end up doing what I want it to do - and to a very high degree of reliablity as well.

Ahh, the sight of BeOS itself is relaxing 8)