[jhb] Re: Windows XP

  • From: Mike Lucas <mhlucas@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:58:00 +0000

Bones
I understand the reasoning behind upgrading being deprecated in favour of a clean install. But I prefer to try an upgrade and see whether my strict regime of Registry cleaning after uninstalling software and drivers which are no longer required provides a better platform than the pessimists suggest. I don't see that I have anything to lose: if an upgrade doesn't work, I can either go with a clean install or revert to Win 2K Pro from a backup image; if it does work then I have saved a fair bit of work.
You could solve your SP2 installation problem by slipstreaming it with your original XP CD. And a decent SPI router would protect you from the nasties which you might encounter by going online without AV. 

Mike L

bones wrote:

I think there was a long discussion about the option to install from scratch
versus the upgrade existing OS options. The thinking was that the new
install was better - despite the painfully slow job of rebuilding the whole
software/hardware on the new OS. Upgrading works fine but it carries over a
lot of garbage from the previous OS that may be long redundant - old drivers
for hardware long dumped, DLL's for software long ago removed but had bad
uninstall routines that didn't clear everything out and the inevitable
Registry entries left by both the above.

My problem is that I still have an original XP disk here too and I know that
once I install it I am going to face a huge online process of upgrading with
all the SP2 changes and security patches. I'm tempted to ask MS if I can
upgrade the CD to an SP2 version and save all the hassle. The last time I
did the above routine I didn't have any AV software running and in the hours
I was online I picked up a good few attacks and then had to clear the
viruses out. That's the snag - the installation requires an online
connection to complete and it is only when completed that you can add
further software to stop the hacks..

bones

-----Original Message-----
From: jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jhb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Mike Lucas
Sent: 07 January 2008 15:44
To: jhb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jhb] Re: Windows XP


Frank

As well as some features (encrypting file system, access control,
offline files) which I want but which are not available in XP Home, the
obvious thing is that there is no upgrade path from Win 2K Pro to Win XP
Home.

You mention availability of OEM versions.  As I said in my initial post,
I already have the OEM version - but it does not allow upgrading an
existing Windows o/s.  I would prefer to upgrade rather than install XP
from scratch, in order to avoid the considerable added burden of
re-installing a LOT of software.  From my experience last week
installing XP Pro from scratch on a spare Win 2K box, together with all
patches, security updates, then all applications and settings, it took
the best part of a day.  With Linux this would take 15 minutes - you can
see why I prefer it.

Mike L

franklyn fisher wrote:

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