XP Where to buy ?

trisha

Anyone know where the best (cheapest) place is to buy XP home upgrade ?

The cheapest I can find is £84
Is that a good price ?

TIA
Trisha

ABH_3

trisha wrote:

Anyone know where the best (cheapest) place is to buy XP home upgrade ?

The cheapest I can find is £84
Is that a good price ?

TIA
Trisha

MS Windows XP Home OEM CD Rom & Manual Single - Full Version £61
here

Or amazon.co.uk £59 from one of the affiliates.
here

WinXP Home & SP2 for £61
here

ollyshaw

You can legally get Ubuntu Linux for free.

As long as you are not a gamer, it will do all you want.

Ubuntu

Olly

ABH_3

ollyshaw wrote:

You can legally get Ubuntu Linux for free.

As long as you are not a gamer, it will do all you want.

Ubuntu

Olly

Linux is all well and good and agreed Umbuntu is a good OS. BUT, how does this help the OP who is looking for an *Upgrade* to an existing os ?

trisha

Thank you for your replies, but I am really looking for the XP upgrade edition, I don't want to have to back up everything I want to keep, I prefer just to install XP over W98SE. I don't feel confident enough to install the OEM full edition.

I don't think it's a good idea for me to buy a used one on Amazon, I might end up with all sorts of problems, I would prefer to buy a genuine boxed edition.

Trisha

s0nicp

an oem copy is a new full edition. If you back up al your files and use file settings and transfer wizard on the xp disc u should have little problems installing xp just make sure u get hold of all the drivers first. Remember that any problems that you have with the old OS will be there on the new OS

Stephen_Webber

I wouldn't recommend doing an upgrade over the top of 98 anyway. You'll end up with an OS that is clogged up with old drivers and files that don't work properly. Better to do a clean installation, in which case I would recommend the Media Centre Edition, which costs almost the same as Home, but has more features.

Regards,
Stephen

ABH_3

trisha wrote:

Thank you for your replies, but I am really looking for the XP upgrade edition, I don't want to have to back up everything I want to keep, I prefer just to install XP over W98SE. I don't feel confident enough to install the OEM full edition.

I don't think it's a good idea for me to buy a used one on Amazon, I might end up with all sorts of problems, I would prefer to buy a genuine boxed edition.

You might have a problem finding a "boxed" version at the price you want to pay. Most notably because with the exception of the ones in PCWorld. There aren't any! You are more likely to get the WinXP license stuck to a card with a license number on the reverse. A little dissapointing, considering all the hype and it being not just any piece of software but an Operating System.

Anyway, the cheapest method is to buy the OEM version, its the same operating system but instead of buying it from PCWorld, various vendors purchase it from MS in bulk ie: 20\40\1000 copies per sale. The license states it can only be sold with hardware, which is the reason why some vendors elect to include a mouse or harddrive in with the sale to circumvent this restriction. Technically it doesn't apply in this country anyway, but as yet hasn't been tested in a court so MS make the most of it by promoting this fallacy.

As regards the installation of windows is concerned, the upgrade path is one where you can either insert the disk and maintain all your settings etc. Or alternatively, you can use a blank disk and when prompted insert the Win98 disk so it can collect the license number.

If you want advice on installing windows. Then this here is a good guide. There are a load of them on this page here the pages automatically redirect you to some antispyware application to install. But if you look at the top of the page there is a black bar with a url in it. Just click this and it will forward you to the appropriate page.

A friend was in a similar position to you not so long ago. The solution for us was to backup all his files and mp3's to dvdr along with all his personal information. We then purchased an IcyBox drive enclosure (IDE to USB) into which we placed the old harddrive. We then bought a new hardddrive and inserted that into the old system. XP was then installed on the new harddrive and his files were accessible off of the drive in the icybox. The advantage of this is that when the WinXP file manager fails to collect your emails, files etc from your old drive. It wasn't noticeable as we had them on both an external harddrive and dvdr. The old drive in the IcyBox is now used as external storage for his dvd collection.

HTH

VincentVega

Stephen_Webber wrote:

I wouldn't recommend doing an upgrade over the top of 98 anyway. You'll end up with an OS that is clogged up with old drivers and files that don't work properly. Better to do a clean installation, in which case I would recommend the Media Centre Edition, which costs almost the same as Home, but has more features.

Regards,
Stephen

Seconded. Doing an upgrade, whilst it may mean less work, can cause problems down the line. It's best to start with a clean slate and re-install everything. XP is a quantum leap from 98 and is well worth the upgrade.

An OEM copy of XP Home, or MCE will serve you well.

trisha

Thank's for the advice, I will have to seriously consider the way I was going to do it. I have bookmarked the sites to read up on it. I can see your point, I had been given some advice by a techie who told me it was the way for me to go as it would be easier to do it that way.

Thank's again for explaining it to me :-)

Trisha

ollyshaw

ABH wrote:

Linux is all well and good and agreed Umbuntu is a good OS. BUT, how does this help the OP who is looking for an *Upgrade* to an existing os ?

I understand your sentiment and apologise if people take offence to its possible irrelevance, however, here is why I offered this post

1) A quick look around some suppliers will find you an OEM version of XP for around £60, which you have expertly pointed out already

2) There are loads of XP users on here with complaints of spyware viruses, something not generally found under Linux

3) Linux is an alternative that most people are not aware of, the prevalent attitude is XP or bust, which is wrong. Linux will do a fantastic job for you, as long as you are not a gamer, and its FREE, and moneysavers should save the pennies where possible.

4) XP will be out of date very soon, so is buying a copy now a good choice anyway?

Olly