I find it interesting that you went with XP Home instead of upgrading to XP Pro. Aren't you worried about security - i.e. that you are always logged on as an "owner" with administrative privileges?
Computer maintenence
- Thread starter Luto
- Start date
With Windows-XP Pro, a P4-2.6, and 1 full Gig of PC3200 RAM, on a 20 Gig HD using McAfee Anti-Virus ( no firewall ) and a Belkin 4-Port Router via a Cable Modem.
Initially, my boot-up time was so freaking fast that I was unable to "tap" F-12 during start-up in order to get into my BIOS. After about 20 attempts, I finally got into the BIOS and set the SUPERFAST BOOT-UP to a default that was much slower, which was fine by me . . . 48 seconds on a hard drive that has XP-Pro and 12.85 Gigs used.
The Router is a great "hardware" form of firewall since it usesNAT and SPI and basically hides your IP address from intruders.
With rebates, it's a very cheap form of insurance and doesn't slow down your computer system like most software firewalls.
There are a ton of threads on "Routers". Just do a search.
Question:
I have a Western Digital SATA "Raptor" 37 Gig Hard Drive that spins at 10,000 RPM and has a 8mb buffer and has some very fast seek times sitting here on my desk. I have yet to install it because I am wondering if I need to go out and buy a FULL version of Windows XP-Pro for my clean install.
My Dell 8300 only came with XP-Home, and I spent the $179.00 for the XP-Pro upgrade, which is what I have now. I have heard both Pro and Con about doing a fresh install with a full-version rather than using the Dell Resource CD for XP-Home and then downloading the XP-Pro Upgrade on top of it.
What say you, Gurus?
Initially, my boot-up time was so freaking fast that I was unable to "tap" F-12 during start-up in order to get into my BIOS. After about 20 attempts, I finally got into the BIOS and set the SUPERFAST BOOT-UP to a default that was much slower, which was fine by me . . . 48 seconds on a hard drive that has XP-Pro and 12.85 Gigs used.
The Router is a great "hardware" form of firewall since it usesNAT and SPI and basically hides your IP address from intruders.
With rebates, it's a very cheap form of insurance and doesn't slow down your computer system like most software firewalls.
There are a ton of threads on "Routers". Just do a search.
Question:
I have a Western Digital SATA "Raptor" 37 Gig Hard Drive that spins at 10,000 RPM and has a 8mb buffer and has some very fast seek times sitting here on my desk. I have yet to install it because I am wondering if I need to go out and buy a FULL version of Windows XP-Pro for my clean install.
My Dell 8300 only came with XP-Home, and I spent the $179.00 for the XP-Pro upgrade, which is what I have now. I have heard both Pro and Con about doing a fresh install with a full-version rather than using the Dell Resource CD for XP-Home and then downloading the XP-Pro Upgrade on top of it.
What say you, Gurus?
Quote from waggie945:
The Router is a great "hardware" form of firewall since it usesNAT and SPI and basically hides your IP address from intruders.
With rebates, it's a very cheap form of insurance and doesn't slow down your computer system like most software firewalls.
There are a ton of threads on "Routers". Just do a search.
waggie945,
that answer my question.
Thanks.
Users who do not have multiple HDs have not yet had a system wipe-out, then had to do HOURS AND HOURS of rebuilding and reinstalling. It only takes once, and it IS just a matter of time....
(The last time I rebuilt "from scratch", I had trouble finding drivers, had to re-download Windows Updates a FEW times, a couple of corrupted installs, conflict with email and anti-virus... etc. Ended up with most of a weekend and a several hours a day over about 5 days in all. With XP, the recovery would be faster now, but rebuilding a system is still big inconvenience.... any precaution to avoid such a hassle is certainly worth the cost of an extra HD.)
You don't need a full version of WinXP Pro for a clean install. Once you format the disk to clean everything off (or if you have a brand new HDD like you said), just boot from the XP Pro Upgrade disk to start the installation. After a few seconds, it will say that it can't detect an approved o/s to upgrade and to please insert a CD from full version of a previous version of Windows to verify your upgrade eligibility (see here for the list of upgradeable operating systems for Pro and Home). Then you have a clean install of XP Pro from an upgrade disk.
Before you attempt this, do more research on the web and newsgroups. You may run into a problem with the Dell disk not being recognized as a full version of XP Home if it's a proprietary Dell installation. Always back up your data before starting anything like this. With 2 HDDs, you can have a dual boot system. Do a search on ET and Google for more information on this option. Lastly, I haven't done an XP Pro upgrade from a XP Home disk, so use the above information as a starting point to do more research rather than just taking my advice.
"But here's what I do....
1. I have a "base" HD (with current updates), drivers, and software I'll always have onboard... MetaStock, Office, etc. It sits in the closet for emergency recovery or just a refreshened load to get rid of the "bit rot", as you say.
2. I have 2 other HD's which are swapped about every 3-4 weeks and are of course current with anything I've added. This is my backup in case of a virus, HD crash, or whatever.
HD copies are made with Maxtor's MaxBlast 3 software. Works great.
3. I also make an additional data backup current to the day on a CD-RW or flash drive.
Who knows... I may never again have to do a fresh install from scratch!"
Does someone have a link which explains this process?
Thanks,
NT
1. I have a "base" HD (with current updates), drivers, and software I'll always have onboard... MetaStock, Office, etc. It sits in the closet for emergency recovery or just a refreshened load to get rid of the "bit rot", as you say.
2. I have 2 other HD's which are swapped about every 3-4 weeks and are of course current with anything I've added. This is my backup in case of a virus, HD crash, or whatever.
HD copies are made with Maxtor's MaxBlast 3 software. Works great.
3. I also make an additional data backup current to the day on a CD-RW or flash drive.
Who knows... I may never again have to do a fresh install from scratch!"
Does someone have a link which explains this process?
Thanks,
NT