very simple computer (desktop, hd, game, 1GB)

[Radek]

Originally Posted by Noahma

I would say 2 gigs minimum with vista, 3 if you can afford it.

Linux is definatly not an OS for new users, I have been fighting with ubuntu all night to mount my darn second hard drive that it does NOT want to do.

2gigs if you want to run Aero. You can run Vista on 1GB. It won't be the quickest OS, and its not going to win any awards, but it'll be a decent budget PC.


Linux is an operating system for either a) the uber nerd who wants to squeeze that extra ounce of performance out of his PC.

or b) the user who really dislikes windows, and doesn't understand it. If nothing else, trying linux is free.



Tek_Freek: my only concern with Windows 98 is the complete lack of security.

And the only reason I don't mention Vista is because Microsoft is stopping selling XP, and its increasingly hard to find a copy from the PC manufacturers.

[nocoldiron]

Can I wipe my computer clean before I reinstall windows 98? My ex put all kinds of graphics programs and other things in this computer that I have never used.I know they sell wiper programs.The only thing I want to save on this computer is a couple of pictures that I can email myself.

[LBSer]

yes. you can wipe it out. it is your PC. you can do what you want with it. and for your needs, total format of your PC and reinstall is the absolute economic solution. your PC seem to be stable and with your limited needs for PC use. your idea of wipe out is best. i myself won't buy a new PC as long as my PC works fine no matter how "jurassic" the model and OS as long as it can do what i want with it.

[EscapeCalifornia]

[quote=Noahma;4235081]I would say 2 gigs minimum with vista, 3 if you can afford it.QUOTE]

And with DDR2 currently selling for under $25/GB, there's no reason not to have enough RAM.

[Tek_Freek]

Originally Posted by nocoldiron

Can I wipe my computer clean before I reinstall windows 98? My ex put all kinds of graphics programs and other things in this computer that I have never used.I know they sell wiper programs.The only thing I want to save on this computer is a couple of pictures that I can email myself.

Yes. When you insert the CD you should get an option screen with choices, one of them being Install Windows and another Repair Windows.

I probably have the wording wrong since it's been a while, but you should have the option to reinstall the OS.

The link to instructions Harry gave in his post might have a better description.

[Nomander]

Originally Posted by Radek

2gigs if you want to run Aero. You can run Vista on 1GB. It won't be the quickest OS, and its not going to win any awards, but it'll be a decent budget PC.


Linux is an operating system for either a) the uber nerd who wants to squeeze that extra ounce of performance out of his PC.

or b) the user who really dislikes windows, and doesn't understand it. If nothing else, trying linux is free.



Tek_Freek: my only concern with Windows 98 is the complete lack of security.

And the only reason I don't mention Vista is because Microsoft is stopping selling XP, and its increasingly hard to find a copy from the PC manufacturers.

You can still find XP online OEM for all flavors. Plenty of copies out there. I still see it in stores here and there, but to be honest I won't use vista, its too problematic for anything but simple uses. Sure, you can tinker with it to get it to work (some things take a lot more tinkering than others), but I don't like the idea of fixing the OS to make it do what it should do by default.

[Radek]

Yeah, you can.

But service is going to stop shortly, and what will the average user do then? Buy Vista then? Just get it out of the way, suck it up and use the OS.

[Nomander]

Originally Posted by Radek

Yeah, you can.

But service is going to stop shortly, and what will the average user do then? Buy Vista then? Just get it out of the way, suck it up and use the OS.

There has a been a bit of talk going around about that. Microsoft may end up extending its support for XP due the the less than favorable acceptance of Vista. Vista wasn't ready for release, it still had 2 more years of tweaking before it was going to be ready, but they did an early release. There are various other issues with it both business political and technical that really caused it to have some hardships and they are still be ironed out. MS really angered the 3rd party market in many things which has also brought less than favorable support for it.


XP isn't going away anytime soon and my guess is that unless they get it running better by service pack 2, it may be dropped for their next release. Time will tell, but most users won't have to worry about XP being dropped too much, it would be suicide for MS to do so under current circumstances.

[Radek]

Originally Posted by Nomander

There has a been a bit of talk going around about that. Microsoft may end up extending its support for XP due the the less than favorable acceptance of Vista. Vista wasn't ready for release, it still had 2 more years of tweaking before it was going to be ready, but they did an early release. There are various other issues with it both business political and technical that really caused it to have some hardships and they are still be ironed out. MS really angered the 3rd party market in many things which has also brought less than favorable support for it.


XP isn't going away anytime soon and my guess is that unless they get it running better by service pack 2, it may be dropped for their next release. Time will tell, but most users won't have to worry about XP being dropped too much, it would be suicide for MS to do so under current circumstances.

Really? Because MS still has around 90% of the OS market. Not to mention, they make money off xbox games, accessories, Office, Exchange, etc... they have a whole slew of products that they can fall back on.

Microsoft will drop it because they'd like to just have people trained for one set of operating systems, and it costs them money to provide support for an OS that is 6 years old.

In addition, Vista came out 5 years after XP did... which is by far the longest time period Microsoft has ever had between OS releases. Vista may have been far from ready, but Microsoft needed to release... seeing as how they had already pushed it back two years.


Microsoft will continue to be the top dog because most of the people who are upset about XP support ending will either a) use Vista. or b) Use XP until it breaks and no one will fix it, and then use Vista.

or c) they've already switched to Linux/Apple and won't switch back anyway.

[Brian.Pearson]

[quote=EscapeCalifornia;4239140]

Originally Posted by Noahma

I would say 2 gigs minimum with vista, 3 if you can afford it.QUOTE]

And with DDR2 currently selling for under $25/GB, there's no reason not to have enough RAM.

I guess you have to know exactly what RAM to get and where to get it at that price. I used Crucial to get mine, and it wasn't DDR2, it was 200-pin SODIMM -- whatever that is. My online dictionary says that stands for "Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Module(s)."