Preparing For Long-Haul XP Use In The Obsolete Era – Part 2

In the last article I discussed hardware. Now it’s time to move on to software.

Do you have a Windows XP CD?

How to recognize XP operating system discs

The three widest-circulation XP CDs are from Dell and from Microsoft itself. If you have a Dell XP CD, it is fully licensed and will install on any Dell computer (but not any other). This is the easiest of the XP’s to install because it requires no product key/activation code. Install and go. From-Microsoft XP’s on the other hand do require activation.

Official Microsoft Windows XP disc.
Easily spotted by holographic graphics.

Dell XP Home Edition disc. Works on any Dell PC.
Home Editions are always green in color.

Dell XP Professional Edition disc. Works on any Dell PC.
Professional Editions are always purple in color.

Some of you are going to read this and say, "I have a blue one from Dell! Does that work?" No. That one will be labeled as "programs already installed on your computer" or like description. It contains programs, but not the XP operating system. If you see green or purple, you’re good to go, but for blue, no.

How do Dell XP CDs work?

On installation of the OS, the product key is in embedded which is why you do not need to activate the operating system to use it. A detection script runs and ‘sees’ that the computer it’s being installed on is in fact a Dell machine, and will proceed to install normally. Once done, it will be fully activated and you can run right over to Windows Update and everything will work.

Does it really matter if you use Home or Professional?

No. The major differences between Home and Professional have almost everything to do with networking, most of which won’t matter to you at all.

So… I can use any Dell-branded XP disc on my Dell PC and it will work?

YES. If you have a Dell with XP but don’t have the Dell-branded XP disc, get one. You probably have a friend or neighbor who has a Dell box who has the disc. And strictly speaking from a legal technical perspective, IT IS OK TO COPY THE DISC because you do have a license for XP being it is on your Dell PC. The XP license sticker is right on the box and not the disc, so it’s legal.

Remember, it’s all about the license and not the disc. If you have a Dell box, and your neighbor has a Dell box, each box has a different sticker with a different license on it and that’s what separates the two. The way Dell distributed XP was to use ‘one-for-all’ CDs being that the licenses were per-box and not per-disc, and that’s why you can use the same disc on multiple Dell PCs and be 100% legal about it.

The only time is it not legal is if the editions of Windows differ. If you have XP Home and your neighbor has XP Pro, you are not supposed to use the same disc.

And again I will state: Dell-branded XP discs cannot be used on non-Dell PCs; the OS won’t install and will halt even before you get to the desktop.

Preparing a driver CD

Windows XP ordinarily does not detect everything on first install, so you will need to make a driver disc.

If you have a Dell PC, this is stupidly easy to do.

For Dell PCs:

Look on the computer (usually in the back or on the bottom for a laptop) for a Dell Service Tag. Go to www.dell.com/support and enter the support area for Home Users. Click ‘Drivers & Downloads’, and then ‘Choose by Service Tag’. From there, download all the drivers that apply to your system and burn them to CD.

For other OEM PCs (HP, Lenovo, etc.):

The web site for the company that made your computer will have a support section and drivers available for your system. Go there, look up your specific system, download the drivers and burn them to CD.

For custom-build PCs:

Unfortunately the only way to prepare a driver disc is to look up all drivers manually. You will have to go to the Device Manager, make a list of all your devices and hunt around the internet to find the drivers you need.

Typically, what you’ll need more than anything else are motherboard and video card drivers. This is what will enable your display to show picture properly, enable your networking and sound card.

Preparing your software CDs

There will be two types of CDs you’ll need, drivers and apps.

For drivers, have your printer CD, wireless networking (if used) CD, motherboard CD (if using a custom build), Microsoft Office if used and anything else you need.

If you have software installed but don’t have the disc, such as a "borrowed" copy of Microsoft Office from work, you’ll either have to go without it, use an alternative such as OpenOffice or do my recommended method which is to find an online alternative.

Using online alternatives as your primary means of getting things done is very important, and I will have a whole section dedicated to that later in this article.

Reinstall your XP from scratch

This part may scare the daylights out of you. "Reinstall my XP? Why? It works!" You reinstall it because you need to learn how it’s done and moreover be self-sufficient with your computer. If you don’t learn how to reinstall XP, as time goes on documentation for how to do it will disappear from the internet and if your XP breaks, you’re left with an unusable computer. You must learn how to install XP from scratch if you expect to use the computer for the long-haul because there may come a point where you have to do it (again).

As with any computer ‘rebuild’, backup all your stuff, then pop in the disc, format the drive clean and go for it.

How long will reinstalling XP take?

About six hours. Here’s how the process goes:

1. Windows XP is initially installed.

This will take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours.

2. Activate Windows.

If on a Dell, XP will already be activated. Otherwise you will have to activate the operating system. If on attempt to activate Windows states it failed, call Microsoft. Yes, on the phone. 1-800-MICROSOFT (642-7676). I’m not kidding. If you’re reinstalling the same Windows on the same machine it was installed to originally, you’re legal and have nothing to worry about. I have personally had to do this before when a copy of XP failed activation. It took a half-hour to get through, but when I did, I got my XP Professional reactivated.

Remember: HAVE YOUR PRODUCT KEY READY when calling (should you have to), because that’s the only proof you have you bought XP originally.

3. Update Windows.

After you get your network card working (either via motherboard or OEM drivers), Windows should automatically connect to the internet, check for updates and start downloading them. If not you will need to go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com, and you must do it with Internet Explorer, even if using IE6 that comes with XP.

If you have a Service Pack 3 XP disc, updating will take about an hour or slightly more. If not, it will take two to three hours depending on how fast or slow your PC is.

4. Install your software.

This is the final step and will take about an hour depending on what you have to install. If you’re installing Microsoft Office, add in another 30 minutes.

Maintenance

The maintenance of your Windows XP operating system can be broken down into three major areas:

• Keeping the system virus-free, malware-free and keeping a clean registry
• Using software that is better for XP than for Vista or 7
• Not using Internet Explorer

There are only two tools you need to have installed to accomplish this. The first is Microsoft Security Essentials, the second CCleaner. Both are free.

Why Microsoft Security Essentials?

MSE is the only anti-virus/malware/spyware suite for XP that runs exactly as it should and more importantly stays out of your way. If you have Norton Antivirus, McAfee, AVG, get rid of it and use MSE instead. And no, I’m not kidding. I don’t care if you paid for your anti-virus suite – dump it and use MSE. Then watch how much faster your XP boots while retaining the same (if not better) level of protection.

Why CCleaner?

It’s the best registry cleaner there is and nothing else comes close to how well CC works.

A quick primer on how to use CCleaner in the most optimum way

1. Close all apps.
2. Shut down your anti-virus suite (unless running MSE), should you have one running.
3. Run CCleaner.
4. From the four large tabs on the left, you start with Cleaner. Click (at bottom) Analyze, wait until it’s finished, then click Run Cleaner.
5. Do it again, and keep doing it until there are absolutely zero files CCleaner needs to clean.
6. Click the large Registry tab on left. Click Scan for Issues at bottom, then Fix selected issues. If it asks you to backup, don’t bother unless you really want to save it for some reason.
7. Do it again, and keep doing it until there are zero registry issues CCleaner needs to fix. It is totally normal that if you’ve never done this before, you may have to run the registry cleaner as many as 5 times in a row. This is how unbelievably cluttered XP can get over time. 
8. Reboot to reload the cleaned registry.

Some other tips on CCleaner

Every time you uninstall a program, run CCleaner’s ‘Cleaner’ and ‘Registry’, then reboot.

This may sound like overkill but it works wonders. Programs always put something in the registry and rarely do they remove it on uninstall, leading to registry junk that slows down Windows. After removing a program from Add/Remove, performing Cleaner/Registry from CCleaner keeps XP running smooth as silk.

Clearing cookies/cache is best performed with CCleaner

You’ve heard "CLEAR YOUR COOKIES AND CACHE!" a million times when it comes to web browser. CCleaner does it better than any other, and it’s preconfigured to do it for any web browser you already have installed. Yes, really.

DO NOT USE INTERNET EXPLORER

Sorry to put that in all caps, but I really, really have to stress this. Do not use IE. If it could be uninstalled, I would tell you to do so, but it’s baked into the XP OS unfortunately.

IE8 is the last IE for XP. Yes this means IE9 won’t run on it.

IE is the #1 target for spyware and malware, and given the fact that XP’s security – even with MSE and all the updates – is much weaker than Vista or 7, using IE is just plain dumb.

The IE browser is the weakest point of the Windows OS, security-wise, so yes it is a maintenance issue. Use IE, and you’re asking for malware, and that’s bad. Don’t use IE and it will be much easier to maintain your XP OS.

Your alternatives to IE are Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera. All of them are good, but it’s probably true you’ll like Chrome best because compared to IE it’s blisteringly fast and keeps itself updated automatically.

Stuff you should avoid

1. Any software that’s bulky for the sake of being bulky

Two examples I can immediately think of are Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger. Both of these are poorly-programmed pieces of junk that are very bloated. You would be much better off with an IM alternative like Trillian, or just use the browser with Meebo.

Basically put, if there’s something lighter that does the same job over the bulky version, use it. Why? Because it doesn’t tax your hard drive as much and allows it to last longer.

2. Browser add-ons/plugins

These are nice to have but are a surefire way of making your browser slow and lethargic over time. Put your best effort to running your browser as ‘bare’ as possible.

3. "Boosters"

Labeled as "boosters" or "optimizers", an example of one of these is Game Booster. DO NOT use these. Windows XP on its own is optimized already and does not need this stuff. Boosters do cause problems and can make your XP crash-happy.

4. Non-USB peripherals

Printers, mice, keyboards, etc. All this stuff should be connected via USB and nothing else. The reason is because it’s the most rock-solid type of peripheral connection you can use, while anything else can and will crash frequently. If you have anything with some sort of oddball type of connector, convert it to USB or replace with a USB-connected peripheral.

When will XP be completely unusable?

XP will never be completely unusable, but the easiest way to describe what it’s like to use an OS that is completely out of the market both from software-maker and OEM perspective is to look at Windows 98 today.

Let’s say for the moment you wanted to run Windows 98 now in 2011. What you would have to do in order to accomplish this would not be easy or fun, and the end result not something you would want to work with, best explained in points:

• No modern web browser works in Windows 98.
• No modern wi-fi card or USB stick works in Windows 98.
• No modern word processor works in Windows 98.
• No modern printer works in Windows 98.

Everything you use will have to be old just to work. On the hardware side this isn’t too bad (there’s always eBay), but on the software side it’s a nightmare. One of the very few examples of current software that actually works in Windows 98 is the Miranda instant messenger which incredibly has versions that work in Win 95/98/ME – however I will point out this is rare.

Windows XP, eventually, will end up just like Windows 98 where no new hardware and very little new software will run on it.

If you have any software you like now, back it up. Burn it to disc or write to USB stick and store it. You’ll need it later if you intend on sticking with XP for a while.