Installing XP

In my experience, you do not need to purchase the full version to install it on a clean hard drive. I have upgraded several Windows OS's in the past and several times on a reformatted hard drive. The installation CD will ask you to verify your eligilibity for the upgrade and usually this is accomplished by inserting the previous version's CD into the drive for verification, then the installation proceeds. For example, I upgraded 95 to 98 to 98SE to ME, all with upgrade versions because they were eligible. But check the box on XP, they specify which are eligible for upgrade.

On a different note, I have had nothing but trouble with all of the versions mentioned above and am looking forward to installing XP. I've heard nothing but good things regarding reliability since the base code (kernel?) is based on 2K which is based on NT.

And, a clean install on a reformatted hard drive has to be the best way to go followed by installation of all applications.

 

not that i'm the kind of person that engages in that sort of behavior, but i'm going to wait until there is a hack for XP security features. it's probably been done already, but it seems to me that the most obvious target would be to take out the limitation on unregistered boots.

 

"said it might not be compatible with java version blah blah blah, ".... hah, Microsoft bastards........ I had heard that XP does not come with any Java support already. Don't worry, they're just being a bunch of spoilt little children. You can install Java for free from the Sun site. The reason is that so far Msoft haven't managed to kill off Sun and their Java - and so have not bothered preinstalling it on new O/s's. Of course they'll happily include MP3 players etc (though don't expect to rip CD's into MP3 - oh, no ... please use WMA or whatever crap they've tried to force onto everyone). Tchah.