XP over 98?

[nickthorp2]

I'm thinking of replacing 98 with XP home edition upgrade when available. Main aim is to get rid of instability. I've had to reformat the hard disk and reinstall 98 a couple of times - usually apparently due to corruption produced by NaturallySpeaking. Should I simply install XP over the existing 98, or would it better to clean install in case 98 is slightly corrupted? In the latter case how do I get XP upgrade version to take after 98 has been completely removed and I'm starting with a blank hard drive? Be grateful for any pointers.

[cbaldrey]

I can't say for sure, as I haven't tested XP in any form, but I would imagine that doing a clean install from an Upgrade CD would be same as previous versions of Microsoft Software... simply put in the original media for the previous version when asked during the setup of the upgrade.

I would say go for the clean install. Operating Systems like to start fresh.

[Howard Kaikow]

Clean install is almost always safer.

I installed Win 2000 in a separate bootable partition.
I only boot to Win 98 if I need to use Office 97. Last time was 20 September 2001.

I have Office 2000 in Win 2000.

[nickthorp2]

Thanks very much for your help Howard. Being a skinflint I was hoping to just keep on using Word 97 under Win XP. Does what you say about retaining Win 98 mean this wouldn't be particularly effective?

[DaveA]

After you do a clean install of XP, you can install Office 97. It should work, but if have you to many problems, you would have the Win 98 to boot to and run any applaction and/or hardware that gives XP problems.
I do NOT install any app in a shared drive/folder, each OS and has a seperate copy, so when I do a update or removal it will NOT affect the other OS.

I had to do this for about a year running Win 98 and Win 2K, my scanner was NOT supported on 2K and would not run. So until I got a new sanner I needed to keep 98 around. I still have 98 on this machine and go back to it just to remember things are a little different between the two.

[Howard Kaikow]

I keep Win 98 ONLY so I can run Office 97 cleanly, since two versions of Office cannot FULLY co-exist in the same bootable partition.

Actually, I got Win 2000 just so I could install Office 2000 in a separate bootable system.

Win 2000 is so much better than Win 98, I have no regrets.