I have up to now been satisfied running Windows 2000 on my PC. However a warning from YouTube that it would not support it for long, problems with the latest downloads from iTunes, etc., etc. suggest that I need to upgrade to XP. (I don't want to wait for Windows because I understand that XP can be configured to look much like 2000, so this old dog won't have to learn new tricks.

My concern is how to make the upgrade without losing and having to re-input everything else I have on my hard drive, including anti-virus and anti-malware programs, all of which I have paid for. Any help in avoiding this would be greatly appreciated.

QUESTION (1) I am going to buy XP on a disk. If I simply insert it in the computer, what will happen? Will it simply replace Windows 2000 leaving everything in place, or will all the other stuff on the hard drive be wiped out.

QUESTION (2) What would happen if I first deleted Windows 2000, leaving everything else in place, then inserted the XP disk?

QUESTION (3) I have the full contents of my hard drive backed up by Acronis True image on a large-capacity flash drive. The problem is that that includes the Windows 2000 operating system. Is it possible to delete the Windows 2000 file from the hard drive, then re-input the rest? (Would the programs run? My brother is skeptical, saying that the programs would lack the necessary hard drive entries.)

I'm a babe in the woods on all this, depending on my brother for computer support, but his instinct is usually to start from scratch after "going down to bare metal" and like someone facing surgery I'd be VERY grateful for a second opion focussed on how I can upgrade from 2000 to XP with minumum disruption in terms of losing stuff. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

If you buy a real XP installation CD, just make sure you've made backups of all the important stuff to other media, then put it in.

Follow the prompts. It will detect 2000 and ask you to upgrade (yes). If asks to do a reformat, tell it NO. Go with the upgrade option. It did it all on its own for me, and worked fine.

strassenbahn (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:11 pm QUESTION (1) I am going to buy XP on a disk. If I simply insert it in the computer, what will happen? Will it simply replace Windows 2000 leaving everything in place, or will all the other stuff on the hard drive be wiped out.

It will probably boot from the CD and offer you the choice of install or upgrade.

If it doesn't (that is you start the computer and just get your normal operating system) some fiddling may be required, but cross that bridge if you come to it and not before.

strassenbahn (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:11 pm QUESTION (2) What would happen if I first deleted Windows 2000, leaving everything else in place, then inserted the XP disk?

It's surprising difficult to delete a working operating system, if you got near success it'd be chaos because the OS contains a lot of information about your "everything else" that would be lost so upgrade wouldn't be possible. Don't attempt it.

strassenbahn (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:11 pm QUESTION (3) I have the full contents of my hard drive backed up by Acronis True image on a large-capacity flash drive. The problem is that that includes the Windows 2000 operating system. Is it possible to delete the Windows 2000 file from the hard drive, then re-input the rest? (Would the programs run? My brother is skeptical, saying that the programs would lack the necessary hard drive entries.)

Don't worry about this. If that backup is good the only thing you might need it for is if the install/upgrade was a disaster. Once you have a good new operating system take a new backup and that will then be your safety net.

Upgrade versus clean install.

Paolo's advice is good, upgrade works fine in 99.9% of instances and it is by far the easiest thing to do.

However, Windows does accumulate a lot of cruft and crud over the years and if there is more reason to move on than just the YouTube warning - say you're noticing it get real slow or something don't work as they used to - there may be good reason to do a new installation and start again with a clean slate.

Make a backup of all your personal files.

Make a paper note of all the applications that you use including licence numbers and activation keys where necessary. Plus, if downloaded rather than on disc, where to go to get them again.

When you're very sure you've got everything - and I mean everything - that you want safely stored away, insert the CD, reboot the machine and install...

strassenbahn (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:11 pm I don't want to wait for Windows because I understand that XP can be configured to look much like 2000, so this old dog won't have to learn new tricks.

You are probably making the right choice for not quite the right reasons - both Vista and W7 can have the "classic" look. I'd guess (and correct me if I'm wrong) that running Windows 2000 indicates a reasonably old machine. If that's true Vista would be a dog and even Windows7 which is better could struggle.

If however your machine is actually better than my guess - say a 2 GHz or faster processor and 2 Gb or more RAM - then consider waiting a month or two for the commercial release of Windows7. I'm not usually a fan of newest and shiniest but W7 seems good even in pre-release testing and you might avoid having to do the same again in a couple of years.

A final thought. Unless you find a deal of some sort Windows XP retail is quite expensive (a lot more than the announced W7 upgrade price). Check your bill-fold and down the back of the couch for lost dimes and perhaps a new machine might be affordable? Yes, it's a bit extravagant but on the other hand you'd have all the advantages of new hardware and sotware while still keeping the old one for backup a while.

Oh, and if you do buy XP I'd look at buying XP Pofessional rather than XP Home - true, there isn't much discernible difference for the home user with a single machine, but in 7 years and 5 machines (I'm greedy!) at home I've never, ever had a catastrophic problem caused by XPP while that has not been the case with XPH.

Many thanks, including the tip about the "NO" to reformatting. I have ordered the XP upgrade.

Paol, many thanks again for your answer.

Follow on question I'd greatly appreciate you answering: I have ordered the 2000 to XP upgrade disk. While waiting for it to arrive I have the following question:

I am currently running along with Windows 2000 Office 2000, Outlook 2000 and Internet Explorer 6.

What will happen to these programs when I use the program to upgrade Windows 2000 to Windows XP? Will they continue to run as if nothing as happened, or do I need to install updates for them? Please bear in mind that I want as little disturbance and change as possile compatible with using XP (and thus not being increasingly shut out of applications like iTune, YouTube, etc., etc. by virtue of sticking with Windows 2000).

Office 2000 (or Office XP) will run on XP. I have it on 2 machines at work. As for Outlook and IE, they will start in XP and run, however, Windows Update will offer to upgrade them. Personally, I prefer Thunderbird and Firefox over IE and Outlook.

Paolo wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2009 1:05 pm Office 2000 (or Office XP) will run on XP. I have it on 2 machines at work. As for Outlook and IE, they will start in XP and run, however, Windows Update will offer to upgrade them. Personally, I prefer Thunderbird and Firefox over IE and Outlook.

Thanks for all replies

calmeilles (imported) wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:54 am It will probably boot from the CD and offer you the choice of install or upgrade.

If it doesn't (that is you start the computer and just get your normal operating system) some fiddling may be required, but cross that bridge if you come to it and not before.

It's surprising difficult to delete a working operating system, if you got near success it'd be chaos because the OS contains a lot of information about your "everything else" that would be lost so upgrade wouldn't be possible. Don't attempt it.

Don't worry about this. If that backup is good the only thing you might need it for is if the install/upgrade was a disaster. Once you have a good new operating system take a new backup and that will then be your safety net.

Upgrade versus clean install.

Paolo's advice is good, upgrade works fine in 99.9% of instances and it is by far the easiest thing to do.

However, Windows does accumulate a lot of cruft and crud over the years and if there is more reason to move on than just the YouTube warning - say you're noticing it get real slow or something don't work as they used to - there may be good reason to do a new installation and start again with a clean slate.

Make a backup of all your personal files.

Make a paper note of all the applications that you use including licence numbers and activation keys where necessary. Plus, if downloaded rather than on disc, where to go to get them again.

When you're very sure you've got everything - and I mean everything - that you want safely stored away, insert the CD, reboot the machine and install...

You are probably making the right choice for not quite the right reasons - both Vista and W7 can have the "classic" look. I'd guess (and correct me if I'm wrong) that running Windows 2000 indicates a reasonably old machine. If that's true Vista would be a dog and even Windows7 which is better could struggle.

If however your machine is actually better than my guess - say a 2 GHz or faster processor and 2 Gb or more RAM - then consider waiting a month or two for the commercial release of Windows7. I'm not usually a fan of newest and shiniest but W7 seems good even in pre-release testing and you might avoid having to do the same again in a couple of years.

A final thought. Unless you find a deal of some sort Windows XP retail is quite expensive (a lot more than the announced W7 upgrade price). Check your bill-fold and down the back of the couch for lost dimes and perhaps a new machine might be affordable? Yes, it's a bit extravagant but on the other hand you'd have all the advantages of new hardware and sotware while still keeping the old one for backup a while.

Oh, and if you do buy XP I'd look at buying XP Pofessional rather than XP Home - true, there isn't much discernible difference for the home user with a single machine, but in 7 years and 5 machines (I'm greedy!) at home I've never, ever had a catastrophic problem caused by XPP while that has not been the case with XPH.

Thanks for the very useful advice. Actually, my computer is quite new and could handle Windows 7, but I want as little disruption as possible to my computer "way of life". For instance, I'm retired but have a little on-line translation business, and having painfully learned how to operate 2000 (painfully because of its illogical set of commands), I don't want to start from scratch with something different, particularly because I'm uninterested in new features. (When the aliens take over they'll find me the last person without a cell phone). The only reason I'm switching to XP is because it is like a wonderful bellows style camera my grandparents had that made fine B&W pictures but had a weird (pre 1920's) aspect ratio format for the film, and it was finally almost impossible for them to find the film. The YouTube thing, the fact that I can no longer access the latest iTunes songs, etc., are what decided me to reluctantly) abandon 2000. But again, thanks for your advice, which, like that of Paolo, is just another sign of how the Eunuch Archive is family in a way that goes beyond our own versions of the Archive's central subject. Incidentally my brother has found a source for 200 to XP upgrades that only costs about a hundred bucks. For the record, I'll use this thread to tell everyone how things turn out. Regards, Strassenbahn

Paolo wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2009 1:05 pm Office 2000 (or Office XP) will run on XP. I have it on 2 machines at work. As for Outlook and IE, they will start in XP and run, however, Windows Update will offer to upgrade them. Personally, I prefer Thunderbird and Firefox over IE and Outlook.

While I'm happy with Outlook and IE, I can see some logic to upgrading them if offered to ahve everything on the same page. But WILL GOING FOR AN UPGRADE OF OUTLOOK AND IE CAUSE LOSS OF EXISTING DATA? If so, I of course won't make use of the upgrade. Sorry to keep having to ask these questions but I'm not very up on thiese things.

Outlook and Outlook Express are two totally different programs.

OE is included with XP and should have several security updates from Windows update.

Export your files from Outlook Express and save them to flash drive, external HDD or burn them to CD...just in case.

usually upgrading from W2K to XP works fine, but occasionally there are glitches...

IE6 comes with XP but should be upgraded to IE7.

I do not like IE8 (like Vista, it works like an early Beta NOT a released product) and have uninstalled it from all machines except my Windows 7 testbed.

Once IE7 is installed, you can turn off the damn tabs and reset the menu bar to the top with tweaks from http://www.enhanceie.com.

Like Vista, both IE7 and 8 have 'improved security...

MS pushed the couch up against the door and nailed it down...but they forgot that the door swings OUT not IN! LOL