     C. E. Winterland | Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 10:00 pm 
Well, this isn't a forum feature... but this seems a good spot to put it...
Keep your fingers crossed for me... I'm installing Windows XP tonight on the main 'puter... scary stuff.
Anyone else running XP?
I think I may be lucky in the compatibility department... the only programs that are totally uncompatible that I don't have replacement drivers for I can easily do without...
But it ain't done yet...
75 minutes it says... for any of you who have ever installed Windows before, that's Gatesese for 3-4 hours for the major stuff, and a couple weeks to get it all up to snuff.
I told the clerk at the 'puter store that if Bill-man ever drops in for a visit, he should call me so I could go down there and give him a sock in the eye... he told me that he had a list so long that ol' Mr. Gates would be long in his grave before I ever got the chance... heh.
I had no plans to upgrade to XP for at least another year, but I learned tonight that once you upgrade 98SE past a certain point, it poops on ya, and MAN is that frustrating.
Ok... have blithered on enough.
CEW |
| Claudia Turner VanLydegraf | Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 10:19 pm
CE,
GOOD LUCK, hope it all works well for you. I am still on same ol' 95 and love it more all the time..... I hate the 98 writing programs.... oh well, that is just me.
Claudia |
| John Laurence Robinson | Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 10:27 pm
Yeah, CE, I have a new Dell I got for Christmas that came with XP installed. But since my computer skills are only two notches above a sea cucumber I still don't know what all it does. John |
| C. E. Winterland | Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - 11:40 pm
Heh... got it running 
Only program I lost so far is Easy CD Creator... but got a different one for free from HP
This thing is all funky and bubbly... The whole OS looks like a plastic toy... wierd.
CEW |
| laurelj | Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 03:50 am
Good luck. Hope it works. The puter store wanted to put XP on my new puter but one of the tech guys gave me a high sign from across the room - no no no.
Later he said all kinds of irate folks had been bringing their XP loaded puters back demanding it be removed and 98 installed. So I stuck with 98.
Yes, I'm a chicken, but not a VAMPIRE chicken.
laurelj |
| Nancy Marie | Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 06:46 am
C.E. - a friend bought a puter with XP on it and I have been trying to help her with it as she knew nothing bout puters to start with. Let me just say, I don't like it at all.
Also, hubby got a free copy of XP from a vendor, installed it, and then immediately uninstalled it. Couldn't get the modem or the browser to work with it. He had some other glitches come up also, and it wasn't worth his time trying to debug XP to make everything work the way it's supposed to.
smiles and blessings, Kitty |
| LaurieAnne Cruea | Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 07:10 am
Uh-oh...
me thinks CE might be a runnin' sceered to the 'puter store soon from the sounds o'things. I've given up on anything above '98.
LA |
| Barbie Perkins Cooper | Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 08:40 am
I suppose I am the exception to the rule. I got XP and LOVE IT! |
| Jennifer Lynn | Wednesday, March 27, 2002 - 10:41 am
Hubby just put XP Pro on his puter...I'm waiting to see how it works for him before putting it on mine. But so far he is like a kid in a candy store!
Jenn |
| C. E. Winterland | Thursday, March 28, 2002 - 12:10 am
I hate to say it, but I'm enjoying it so far... it's faster, smoother, cleaner, and since it's based on NT technology, less crash prone...
It took me a while to get all the bubble-gummy plastic look off, but now it looks just like it always has, but with some neat new features...
Man... CTRL+ALT+Delete is going to be my new favorite toy!!!! THat is one powerful system administrator...
Oh, and I only lost the one program... I vowed not to even think about getting XP until it had been out 2 years, but alas, Ol' Bill stuck it to me before then, and designed his Windows 98 system to have a memory cap... Funny thing is... there is a fix for the memory cap built right into 98... now I ask you... did they know it had the problem when they designed it? I think they did.
What surprises will XP have in store? Well, I look at it this way... if it lasts 4 years, like 98 did, that is about $2.04 per month - and being from Seattle... that's about 1/2 the price of a cup of coffee (espresso) hehehe.
Ok... I really am going to sleep now.
CEW |
| LaurieAnne Cruea | Friday, March 29, 2002 - 07:25 pm
CE,
Could you email me with some info about this memory cap stuff? I've never heard of that, but then, I don't get out much, and I haven't been online much. I use 98, and I know my husband has had problems trying to enter/download online games that came up memory problems. I'd like to know more if you're up to it.
Thanks,
LA |
| C. E. Winterland | Friday, March 29, 2002 - 10:34 pm
LA,
Windows 98 has a memory cache in the system vCache. It is 800 megabytes (RAM). Windows apparently can't count in RAM higher than 800MB, anything over and it automatically attempts to use every last bit of it to run windows, taking it over for use in the operating system. The end result is, when you try to use other programs, especially ones related to graphics (mostly AGP cards) it crashes to a low memory warning. The warning I received was:
WARNING! The system is dangerously low on system memory. Norton AntiVirus may not run properly.
I traced the error through Norton's website, and was directed to a Microsoft FAQ page that detailed the memory problem with the vCache. It gave 3 "workarounds", which were 1) set vCache memory max setting to 512MB; 2) In configuration settings, set windows max usage of ram to 512MB; 3) remove any RAM chips to reduce RAM to less than 800 MB.
I tried option #2, and it crashed the system so bad it wouldn't boot. I had to run windows in safe mode to remove the setting to get it running again. It made me so mad I wanted to fly to Lake Washington and punch ol' Bill in his eye. Option #2 prooves (since it is built-in to windows) that Microsoft knew it would be a problem, and didn't bother fixing it with 98. They waited until XP came out, so they could control even more of the computer market by demanding that software manufacturers comply with them so you could use the software.
The whole experience leaves me convinced that Microsoft needs to publish all of its O/S specific programming data so that other companies can improve upon the Windows design. Hell, I'd be using Linux right now if it would run any of the software that I need to use.
The moral of the story is, if you are running Windows 98, don't upgrade to more than 800MB RAM. I lost a $100.00 piece of software in upgrading to XP, but I suppose it could have been worse.
CEW |
| C. E. Winterland | Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - 07:47 am
Kitty,
I have shrunken your banner ad... (sorry). It was a huge file, about 4 times the size of all the others, and instead of degrading it, or changing the animation, I made it smaller (so now it's only about twice the size of the others hehehe).
The forum needs a bit of cleaning up, it's starting to bog a little. If I ever get the chance, I will work on that. I just thought I'd let you know, in case you noticed it
CEW |
| Nancy Marie | Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - 11:09 am
Is cool with me, I just am very grateful that you made such a beautiful one for me.
smiles and blessings, Kitty |
