Re: Upgrade to XP

"Chacun sont gout" as the French say, so permit me to disagree. The number one advantage of an upgrade is convenience. Once you've sufficiently prepared you just pop in the CD, answer a few questions and in about 30 minutes' time you're back in the saddle. Can't beat that. And if you're missing install CDs for your software or didn't keep the installer for downloaded programs, an upgrade is the only way to go.

On the other hand, if you're a savvy user then with the same amount of preparation you can start from scratch and end up with a brand new config unaffected by whatever mistakes or questionable practices you've committed in the past, when you didn't know what you know now. You also get a chance to revisit changes or choices you made in the past that you wish you hadn't and would change today if only you could remember what they were.

When you're finally done, you can make an image of your disk (or system partition) to which you may return at any time in a matter of minutes.

There's a cost for all this: It's a good way to kill a weekend. But if you're particular about your system, or just an aficionado, a clean install is the way to go.
---
Ted Zieglar
"Backup is a computer user's best friend."

Michael Stevens wrote:
Rick Rogers wrote:
I'll disagree with the clean install advocates. First, the XP install
will be replacing the entire operating system file set as well as the
registry. The only "leftovers" will be entries that exist for your
personal settings and installed software (these are imported into the
new registry files during setup). Problems with the operating system
will not be carried over (though any malevolent spyware and adware
will be, you do want to make sure the system is clear and free of
these first).
Also, XP does not suffer from registry bloat as did Win98, if there
are dead entries that get through the upgrade they will simply be
meaningless in the new system and have zero effect on performance.
Try it, as you can always go back and do a clean install if the
results are not to your liking (but you can't do a clean install,
then decide to go back and do an upgrade instead). This will preserve
your user settings, programs, and data (though there is still no
excuse for not backing up to guard against disaster).

"Sailor" <Sailor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:DC3F028B-8AF5-4D46-87A1-D1DDF468F5A1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
If I upgrade to Windows XP from 98se, will the 98se registry (which
is bloated) be carried over into XP intact, or will a new registry be
installed
with XP? Is there any way to clean the registry of the many
uninstalled or unused programs in it? I've had to reinstall 98se
recently and it is now shown on Explorer as 'Windows.000'. I'm
concerened that some of my past problems with 98se will be carried
over to XP.

Absolutely agree with you, the upgrade should be the first choice when it is an option. Prep the system as if you were doing a clean install before running the upgrade.

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