should i use my xp retail or xp oem to upgrade to w7

ezeht said:

if i read right. when i upgrade to w7 my key for my retail xp pro sp2 will be no more good. i will not be able to install or use my retail xp again. is this right?

It's probable. I don't think anyone but Microsoft really knows. Afaik they haven't explained how it works yet (and maybe never will, in which case people will need to find out for themselves).

I am going to guess that you will be able to reuse the XP disc again in the future if you need to do a clean install of Windows 7. But you may need to call up Microsoft to get a valid license in order to do it.

SP3 for XP has been safe for a long long time now. Anyway, if it was me, and I was assuming all the rhetoric is true about upgrading, I'd use the OEM license to do the upgrade, given that it would be invalid afterwards. That still leaves a retail license available for use.

DeaconFrost said:

SP3 for XP has been safe for a long long time now.

I agree, but it depends on who you talk to. Some people say it doesn't work, but I think they are trying to update their computer with the service pack rather than slipstreaming and a clean install which is what I would recommend.

If it is like SP2, it will cause some issues with a system riddled with malware, so maybe that's where some are getting that it isn't stable/safe.

thanks sup3

sup3 i was just looking at your system specs. you say you still prefer xp. ha ha. i skipped vista. i read it was hell for the most part. and read ms business its self dropped it or would not even use it. thats as bad as it gets maybe. but ive read w7 is pretty sweet.

i have not seen in person or used vista or w7. i wish i could just stay with xp. i get confused when i read actual support or updates for xp will end. i read its either the end of this year or 2014. or im confused on different parts will be supported or what ever. its just freaken confusing. so i figured support will end this year. so. i bought this w7 upgrade.

i figure i will install and try and set up and test delete and re install a few times before im happy with it. installing xp quickly and pretty lean is pretty easy for me. and i use tune up utilities 2004 to tweak xp and ie6 and turn off junk like alexa for wmp and turn off all the prompts and some extra stuff i dont need.

this is my gaming machine. i just put games and security and a few programs to record or edit in game movies etc thats about it. i hope i can find tune up programs for w7. im sure its all sorts of other junk eating up memory id like to turn off. this system will have a 4 gig mem kit. i should get it this week. i wanted 2x 4 gigs but dont have the cash. i think ive seen some tweak like guides for w7. i might have seen stuff like that on this site. i need my system as lean clean and fast running as possible to play my games and make movies etc.

guess im lucky to have my crt monitor and not a high res stuck at native res lcd. well as long as my crt lasts that is. i more less hope to get some dx10 fx. i dont think its many games that really use it tho. the standard is changing again. id be happy to pay for a dx10 upgrade for xp and skip all of the rest of this stuff..

from reading you and others. well xp is faster better than vista or w7. why have vista or w7. ha ha. some might laugh but i love and only use ie6. after sp2 and with good security and the fact all the other browsers need ie6 extensions to work. i can care less about tabs. not only do i have to learn w7 but ie8 too. i hope 4 gigs will be good enough. i might try and add my 2 gig kit and see if i can run 6 gigs total. i read i will need it for vista- w7. ha ha.

ya i wish i could just stay with xp. see ya..

Yes I still prefer XP on my gaming computer. Obviously you will not find a great deal of people with this opinion on sevenforums, but that's fine. It's really up to you to determine what you like best. Have fun with it :)

um xp sp2 sp3 stuff

well i know it was problems going sp1 to sp2 and then sp2 to sp3. and what bothered me most about going sp2 to sp3 is.

i read over and over lots of folks after installing or up grading to sp3. folks would lose use of their optical drives. they would not show up in the os. or would drop out later. working drives with sp2 and even brand new drives. and said it just kills them and the drives would not work in a different system either after sp3 ruined them.

ms has pages of try this try that its your computer junk. go in and change the tree all sorts of junk and nothing fixed it nor did ms take any blame.. as said the systems ran fine before the sp3 upgrades.. ha ha id have a fit.

but maybe too thats the problem. upgrades. maybe a xp disc that comes with sp3 already on it has less problems im not sure. but. im disabled and poor. i dont have money to waste on opti drives and i could skip any other compatibility problems i might have by not using sp3. i skip sp3 update every month and new indexing system and all that junk too. xp and ie6 after sp2 and with good security is a great os and browser.

i laugh when i see new security updates for ff every other day. and other browsers dont work with out ie6 extensions. they are really no faster. i dont need or like tabs. opera was pretty fast. but had its own problems too. all of them do. ie6 is simple and easy for me. i skip the others. but will use ie8 for w7

sp2 is great for me. i keep my system lean tuned up and have great security. im good to go. i will glady piss away my xp oem key to install and use my w7. i will keep my retail xp key..

thanks..

ezeht said:

i bought this w7 upgrade.

If you plan to install and reinstall many times, you may want to consider a full version, rather than an upgrade. Or, wait until final upgrade details are announced.

ezeht said:

guess im lucky to have my crt monitor and not a high res stuck at native res lcd.

Some of us can't look at a CRT for more than 30-45 minutes without getting a headache. LCDs use far less power, are better for your eyes, and have a much smaller desktop footprint. Besides, whenever you are doing anything from reading a web page to any sort of content creation, you LOVE that screen real estate. The nature of the UI is moving to a widescreen format anyway, which is one more plus in favor of LCDs.

ezeht said:

from reading you and others. well xp is faster better than vista or w7. why have vista or w7. ha ha.

See, that's the thing. You haven't tried anything new, so how to you know XP is better? Vista has it's plusses and minuses, but W7 has pretty much all plusses at this point. It's been shown by many reputable websites that it is on par, or faster in gaming than XP, and it hasn't even been publicly released yet. If you ask most people who have given Windows 7 a fair try, they'll tell you it is painful going back to XP. I'd be one of them. Windows 7 is much snappier, even on the same system. I have 12 identical towers and 17 identical laptops in my company, and all but two are running XP. Those two are sitting on my desk, running Windows 7 Pro, and they are easily more responsive than any of those other systems.

On the subject of tweaking, that's one more reason to like Windows 7. You don't need to tweak it. Install the latest drivers, don't have a bunch of crap running at start up, like IM programs, and then spend your time enjoying the system, rather than chasing unicorns for some non-existent performance gain.

DeaconFrost said:

spend your time enjoying the system, rather than chasing unicorns for some non-existent performance gain.

If Windows 7 was really faster in gaming then I would be using it to play all of my games. But for the most part it is slower, so I don't.

Maybe (hopefully) in the future when the DirectX improvements start to become a reality (and more widespread) this will be a different story.

It's still a pity that Microsoft got rid of the hardware acceleration feature that Windows XP has that makes many games perform and sound better. For example, I can't even get Crysis to run in Vista or Windows 7 without severly stuttering and crackling audio. In XP it plays fine, (btw the DirectX 10 features are a joke, as Windows XP can do most of the same effects in DirectX 9 and faster at that)