Upgrading Win98SE to WinXP or Win2000?

[ChromWolf]

I've currently got an old K6-3 450 MHz system with 256 MB RAM running Win98SE. I'm interested in either upgrading to Win XP or Win 2000.... but before I do that, I have a few questions:

1. Is upgrading worth it? I've seen, on several other threads, that people generally recommend sticking with Win98 to people with similar builds looking to upgrade. I do still play games on the thing, though obviously not anywhere close to the level of today's systems. Still, would it help out to upgrade?

2. Which OS should I go with---WinXP or Win2000? It seemed, in those threads in which upgrading to WinXP on an older system was discouraged, that upgrading to Win2000 was suggested instead. What would be the advantages/disadantages of Win2000 over WinXP on an older system such as this? What about for WinXP?

3. A bit simpler question, but I figure I'd better ask, just to make sure---will I keep all my programs, or will I have to reinstall anything? I realize I'll hafta reinstall at least some of my drivers, if not all (heh especially for my now venerable Voodoo3 3000 video card), but what about just simple programs? Will everything still be there, or what?

Thanks in advance for everyone's answers...

[kram 2.0]

Depends - what is the size of your HD? I believe the only advantage the Win2000 holds over the XP (which is an excellent OS), is the size it takes up. WinXP tends to take up a lot of space, thereby requiring optimally 10 GB in HD space (though obviously not even half of it is even going to be used by the OS.

1. If your HD is good, go for XP. Over 98SE, its probably enough to spend money on it.

2. XP

3. Don't know exactly. I'm actually inquiring the same question.


kram

[ChromWolf]

I've got a Maxtor 40 GB 7200 RPM HD, but right now, with all the games, programs, music, etc. I've got on it, it's only got about 2 GB free.... does that change the recommendation?

[Urban Earth]

My first question would be:Why are you thinking of upgrading? Do you have software that doesn't run? You still will not be able to play any of the newer games anyway . . .
If you did upgrade, from personal experience (I have a P3 450, and 320 Megs) I would go with 2K. XP is a bit of a resource hog and you would need to upgrade your RAM to at least 512.
In my experience I never had problems running anything on my 2K system. Voodoo 3 drivers are available for 2K as well (I have one of them too!) and I would expect XP, though not sure.
I believe that you would keep all of your programs as long as you do an upgrade install. If it were me, I would do a clean install, cause if you do an upgrade install all of the junk that is currently in your registry will be copied over, and it sounds like you have a lot of software to clog up the works.
Thats my two bits. Hope it helps.

AJ

[Cricket]

For your particular system, I think you're better off sticking with Win98SE. Even if you increased the amount of RAM in that system, it's gonna run slow with WinXP. Oh, it'll run, but it'll be slower than when you had Win98SE on it.

Cricket

[ChromWolf]

There is some non-game software that I'm looking to run, and can't with Win98SE, so upgrading would, at least the slightest bit, increase my overall level of functionality, if only a little bit... It seems pretty clear that I should avoid XP with such an old system, and that's okay; however, I won't be doing a clean install, unfortunately.... that would involve QUITE a lot of backup and re-install work I'm not really willing to put into a system this old. While it is true my registry could be a lot cleaner, I figure I can get it at least a little better with some of the registry cleaning programs I've got buried somewhere.

The question is, will I *loose* any functionality, specifically with games that were released before Win2k, or other such software? That is, will anything stop working because it's got 98SE drivers/API's/etc. instead of 2k drivers/API's/etc.? I've got a fairly comprehensive software collection installed, from Office XP to Paint Shop Pro to Age of Empires II, and many others, of course. Will I have to worry about that?

....::sigh:: GOD I need a new system... ::dejected look::

[Markoman01027]

I have Win2K and it is very stable. I like it more than XP to be honest. Whatever works for you.

[doctorgonzo]

Originally posted by ChromWolf The question is, will I *loose* any functionality, specifically with games that were released before Win2k, or other such software? That is, will anything stop working because it's got 98SE drivers/API's/etc. instead of 2k drivers/API's/etc.?

It's a definite possibility, especially with games. Apps like Office or PSP should still work, but some of my games that used to work with Windows 98 no longer work with XP. It is unpredictable, and in most cases the only way to know for sure is to test. XP offers compatibility mode to try and resolve these issues, but it doesn't always work.

Perhaps a dual-boot setup would be best, if you need XP/2K for a critical app. That way, you would only need to boot to XP/2K when using that app.

[Urban Earth]

I am somewhat curious as to what application you are planning on running?

AJ

[glc]

First off, I'd recommend 2K on a machine with those specs. XP will work, but be kinda doggy in comparison. However, you HAVE to clear out a lot of space on that hard drive, over 90% full is a crash waiting to happen no matter what OS you are running. Clean it up the best you can by uninstalling stuff you don't need, archiving seldom or unused files to removable media, etc. and do a good cleanout of temp files and stuff like that. Do a thorough scandisk and a defrag in safe mode and you are ready. If you can, flash the motherboard bios to the latest version available, this may be necessary just to make it properly Win2K compatible if it's an old bios, true and proper ACPI support is a big plus with 2K and almost mandatory with XP.

Uninstall your antivirus or totally disable it, and trim your startups down as much as you can.

In Windows, just drop the 2K cd in and tell it to upgrade. It will scan your system and prepare an upgrade report before it changes anything. Read the report, it will tell you what hardware is not compatible or where you have to chase drivers, what software is not compatible or which must be uninstalled first and then reinstalled, and any other "gotcha" considerations. You can then break out and take care of those issues.

Do the upgrade and all critical Windows updates, and take care of reinstalling and reenabling stuff. 2k doesn't have msconfig, but you can use msconfig from XP rather than go registry diving to work with your startup stuff.

2K *does* have a compatibility mode available for older programs if necessary, it has to be enabled.

http://www.activewin.com/tips/win200..._tips_43.shtml

I've successfully upgraded a lot of older machines from 98 to 2K, and *most* of the time it works well. I'd suggest that you do not upgrade the drive when asked (this will convert it to NTFS) because once you do this, you cannot go back. If everything is cool, you can convert it from a command prompt at any time, and you should do it.