Granted, I'm only using half that amount of RAM, but I'm not sure that's the issue. I've had this thing crap out on me, then fail to reboot due to corrupt system files. Even if I can repair it to the point of booting up again, all my restore points have been lost. (So the point of having them is?...) I've done some web-snooping (when I can, obviously), and talked to some local computer shops, and my experience is not terribly uncommon. New machines, older machines, any brand you can think of, seem to be vulnerable. Microsoft's "solutions" got me nowhere. So, when it happens, I'm left with, at the very least, re-installing Windows; sometimes reinstalling everything.

It's all in what you do with the computer. I know I'm running with 2GB of ram, and yet I still get crashes, lockups, etc. I also wind up having to reformat my system about twice a year due to the 'creeping glitches' and various minor problems that seem to creep up in Windows.

At the same time though, I do a heck of a lot of multimedia work, playing with strange codecs, that kind of thing. Regular reformats just seem to come with the territory.

XP may be better than many/most of the previous releases, but that still doesn't mean I'd call it a 'perfect' or even 'stable' release.

I dread moving up to Vista, even though I have an upgrade coupon right here in my hand, just waiting to be used. The next year or so is going to be very rough, until they can get the thing out of beta and get SP1 released.

I am rather worried about Windows Vista and feel like Microsoft has done it the the users again, this time with the biggest shaft ever.

Personally, thier best product has been Windows 2000. Easy to install and use, but allows the user to do what they wish.

Have heard good things about Ubunto but prefer Gentoo. Tis because me not scared to compile my own kernel.

For servers, all the way, Linux!

tal