Upgrade from 98 to XP

My wife has an HP computer with win98 and 64meg that she uses in a very limited way: Quicken, Excel, Browser and Email is just about it.

Numerous crashes and some problems make me want to upgrade her with win xp but I am concerned about the 64 meg. I have opened up the box but could not find the menory to give her more.

Any ideas or critiques of my plan.

 

Tenbob, if we can get a model number of the HP machine your wife has, so research at the HP website would enable us to "look inside ", we could do a little more in answering your question(s).

The 64 Megs of memory just won't cut it with Win XP.
Usually, 128 Megs will suffice but I try to recommend 256 Megs as a practical minimum for modern day usage.
More if the user is into graphics or CAD work of any magnitude.

Daddad

 

In my experience, 128 mg of Ram is the minimum you can run XP on, and it's ssslllooowww.

You mentioned numerous crashes...doesn't sound like she is a power user. Maybe she can get by with a clean reinstall of 98? You could do all her backups and start fresh, or buy her a newer model...not quite as nice as a diamond, but it's the thought that counts!

Johanna

 

I would get more than 64MB.

128 is okay, but 256 is better.

And I would perform a clean install.

Installing and Maintaining Windows Systems

 

The computer is an HP Pavilion 4550z

I know a new computer would be great but really, what she has is adequate.

I have a block of 512 meg. from my former machine that I want to plug in. Anyone here remember when memory came on a card that was 6" x 8 " and held a magnificent 64 K !! of memory

 

XP is okay in 64MB memory

Hi,

Based on Microsoft's website, which clearly states that Windows XP works fine with a 64 MB RAM computer, I strongly advise you to install XP. Athough it might be slow, you can always tweak it for best performance. For example, you can disable Windows XP animations and such, and change it to use Windows Classic Style.
This is accesible by right clicking your desktop and go to properties. Then, go to the "apperance" tab. Also, Microsoft have discontinued Windows 98 updates, which means it is very vulnerable to virusus. On puny virus will make it go "kaboom"

Hope your comoputer will work fine