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Forward - The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with some insight into the Windows XP operating system, and ultimately, to answer the question, "Should you upgarde to Windows XP?".

The Same Operating System with Two Different Versions Windows XP comes in two packages; Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition It is import to know that both versions are basically the same core operating system. The difference between the two versions is that Windows XP Professional has many additions and tools that make it more robust than the Home Edition. More on this later. Microsoft's Description of the Two Versions Windows XP Professional. The fastest Windows ever, Windows XP Professional includes networking and other features that make it ideal for business and advanced home computing. Windows XP Home Edition. The right operating system for entertainment and home use, Windows XP Home Edition helps you do more with your computer and the Internet.

Dual Booting Windows XP

I was an early purchaser of Windows XP Professional as I knew I would have to eventually migrate to Microsoft's newest operating system. I dutifully purchased my upgrade in late October 2001, and stared at it everyday until the holiday's were over. It haunted me through the holidays, but I didn't give in to loading it.

After the New Year's holiday came and went, I knew I could no longer delay loading Windows XP. I put off installing the new operating system (OS), as I knew from past experience that some of my software and hardware would not run. Somehow I had to minimize problems with the new OS install, as the computer I was upgrading was used to run the InfoHQ.com site.

After nosing around Microsoft's Windows XP home page, the solution appeared to be to install Windows XP with a "dual boot" option. "Dual booting" means having the option of running more than one OS on your computer, it doesn't mean running two different OSs at the same time.

Requirements to Dual Boot Windows XP. The different OSs need to be loaded on their own hard drive partition. So you must decided ahead of time where to load Windows XP, and make a hard drive partition if none exist. Then, when the XP install program asks for the load directory, you must specify a directory on the partition/logical drive where you want to load XP. Note: Your current version of Windows is probably loaded in the directory C:\Windows. So Windows XP cannot be loaded anywhere on the C:\ drive or it will replace your current version of Windows. You need to specify a different drive or partition, e.g. D:\, in order to load Windows XP in a dual boot configuration.

The dual boot install would allow having Windows XP and Windows Me on the same computer, allowing the choice to run either Windows Me or Windows XP when the computer boots up. This completely eliminated any problems with drivers as Windows Me and all my software was still available any time I wanted to boot into it.

Another advantage of installing Windows XP in a dual boot mode is it is a "clean install" of Windows XP rather than another write-over of your current version of Windows. This is especially nice if you know you have an unstable version of Windows, as Windows XP will probably not be able to overwrite an unstable installation of Windows.

Note: If Windows XP can not overwrite your current version of Windows, it might crash your whole system, requiring you to reload your old version of Windows.

Is your version of Windows unstable? If you are having trouble updating or reloading your version of Windows, experience problems during startup, shutdown, or changing settings, have frequent crashes or lockups, or get Windows error messages frequently, chances are good that your version of Windows is unstable. Insatiability is usually caused by errors in Windows' system files or by bad entries in the Windows Registry.

 

 

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