Mr. Ripley
(Space Odyssey 2001 mode)
im afraid i can't do that, mr. rip.
(Space Odyssey mode off)
Kieren, thanks, I won't worry about the 3dmarks too much then.
Re Win2k, I like it a lot. Its somewhat different from Win98.
First, the bad: If you have some older programs or peripherals, you may be upgrading them into obselescence. For instance, my scanner has only limited functionality in Win2k. My Sisoft Sandra program is the one for Win98, so I had to upgrade that. I found Win2k to be a tad slower in AH, compared to Win98. Win2k also seems to be pickier about video drivers. Win2k takes a looooong time to boot up. It doesn't use DOS, which I miss.
The good:
Wow, is it ever stable. It is very smooth. It doesn't make you restart anywhere near as much when doing installations. A lot of things seem like they just install on their own, behind the scenes, with no imput from you, like my MS joystick. If you download and try a lot of programs like I do, Win2k will not let a wild program change critical settings that would have crashed the whole system in the past. The Internet seems to be smoother, faster. Win2k gives you a choice between FAT, FAT32 and NTFS file systems. (*I'm on NTFS) As the Administrator of the Win2k op sys, you can set limitations on other users. The Win2k environment seems "professional" and solid.
Of course, Win2k will allow you to have both op systems on your hard drive, as long as you started with Win98. Istallation is standard, but takes a little longer because Win2k is big. It will wizard you through the hd partioning and file system choices. The duel booting works absolutely great. Just after the post, you can choose which operating system you want, and your choice will boot up normally. I still have Win98 on my machine, but the only thing on it is my scanner and whatever is necessary for me to use it. We use Win2k for all else.
I would definately pick Win2k over WinMe if you are upgrading. If I knew more about WinXE, I could give you a better answer, but I don't know anything about XE. I would say, if you arn't having a lot of problems with Win98, keep it for a while. If you are having probs, or its time to reformat anyway, you would enjoy Win2k.
*If you go to Win2k and you duel boot, keep both systems FAT32 so you can move files back and forth between operating systems. I messed up when I made Win2k NTFS because I can't move the scanner files from Win98 to Win2k. And once you change to NTFS, you can't go back to FAT32 - I'll have to wait for a reformat.
Gunthr
"Lets Roll"
[ 11-09-2001: Message edited by: Gunthr ]
