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General discussion

Upgrade from ME to XP

by twinran1 May 17, 2005 10:40PM PDT

We have a Dell Dimension 8100 Series, Pentium 4 Processor 1.7GHz and have recently upgraded from Windows ME to Windows XP. When I run a virus scan, it takes much longer and it seems to be due to checking files labeled undo/backup. Actually, the whole system runs slower since the upgrade to XP.

My question is this: Once you know that the upgrade worked and things are running smoothly, are there files that should be deleted?

Discussion is locked

2 Posts

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Yes. XP is slower than ME.

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator May 17, 2005 10:52PM PDT

That is to be expected.

However, many didn't know to update drivers from Dell.com (no button in the OS does this) or that the hard disk DMA setting may be in PIO mode. Here's the link about this issue -> http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx

Notice you must set it to PIO then back to DMA? Read the directions. This is not optional for those experiencing slow hard disks.

-> One of the downsides of the XP Upgrade is all the clutter that is left behind. There is no list of what to remove. Hence you will read other posts that propose that a clean install is better. It is, but can strain the owner more.

Bob

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An upgrade from a previous....

by Michael Geist May 17, 2005 10:55PM PDT

version of Windows to XP, is the least effective way to improve your computing experience. In order for XP to operate at peak efficiency, the overlayed OS would have to be clean of spyware/virus's and working without any glitches. In addition new drivers for the various devices would have to be downloaded and installed.

The best way to upgrade is a clean install after a backup of any needed files off the machine. Programs and those new drivers would need to be reloaded and the machines hardware specs would have to be XP compatible. Here's the clean install method>>>

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html

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