RE: choosing an OS and getting comfy with a new pc -- PCTECH

1. If the app doesn't run on XP, you should be asking the app vendor why
it doesn't work.  XP has been out for nearly two years.  XP also has a
large number of compatability tweaks to support DOS apps, W95, etc.
(But I do admit it's not perfect and some things will break.)

The product disable function works in conjunction with product
activation and is designed to reduce illegal usage (pirating) of the
product.  Worst case, you call an MS 800 number and they give you an
updated activation code (I believe activation is normally done online).
But you have 50 uses (for the OS probably 50 boots) to get the code.
And it takes a lot of major changes to trip it.  Small changes like
adding peripherals won't do it.  Replacing peripherals and major
upgrades will tick the counter towards requiring re-activation.

2. The Ghost idea will work, but you often do get the best results
(least disk usage, best performance and stability) with a clean install.


One other thing to mention is the license model.  Buy an XP license,
install it, play with it.  If you don't like it, wipe the drive and
install 2K.  The product license allows you to run older OS versions.

-----Original Message-----
From: Buck Calabro [mailto:Buck.Calabro@xxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2003 3:12 PM
To: PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users
Subject: RE: [PcTech] choosing an OS and getting comfy with a new pc


>1.  we're in a mixed desktop OS environment -
>some W98, W2K and XP - I can probably have 
>my choice of OS - based on the above, do you 
>prefer W2K or XP?

Some stuff doesn't load/run properly on XP yet.  Unless you are putting
all new apps on the box, I'd stay away from XP.  I have heard that XP
can actually disable itself if you make significant changes to the PC,
like adding a big hard drive and changing the CPU.

>2.  does everyone go through the same thing
>I described above, or is there a shortcut or 
>series of shortcuts that could speed the above 
>process along?

You could use Ghost to put an entire image of your existing PC on the
new hard drive...
  --buck
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