WinXP stability

[roomwithamoose]

I've just finished my first build, with no problems yet. I have a question about WinXP. I've heard that it is more stable than previous Windows. How stable is that? Should I turn off the computer every night, like with my Win98 machine? Or is it just "let it run till it doesn't" type of thing?

[Markoman01027]

Windows XP is pretty stable, so is Windows 2000. They are both based on the NT kernal. To tell you how stable the NT kernal is..I have ran my system for 24/7 for a month and then I had to reboot because I had to install some hardware.

If you put quality hardware into your build, protect yourself from viruses, spyware, etc and watch what you install/download then I don't see a reason why your system wouldn't be stable.

With Windows 98SE, you would have to reboot frequently because it not only has poor RAM management, but also poor system resources management. You don't have to worry about that with XP/2K.

Another thing is. A lot of times you don't have to worry about finding a drivers disk for your hardware, as most of the time 2K/XP already has a driver for your hardware. The only time you really need a drivers disk is if your installing motherboard drivers(if it's a VIA, then XP already has drivers for that aswell. BUt it's worth to download the latest ones from viaarena.com)

With 2K/XP, when a program freezes up, you can end process it in the task manager and continue working with Windows. When your running 98SE, it would freeze the whole computer possibly or even give a blue screen.

[ZeratulsAvenger]

I leave mine on for days at a time, although the occasional reboot is always good in my opinion... seems to clear up any "issues" that may have developed over alot of stress placed on it.

[bermuda]

XP is idd very stable compared to the previous home versions of windows. I never had any compatebility or crash problems at all.. except for last week when my harddrive went nuts.. but this was not xp's fault. Gaming is also a lot faster.