ronknights - don't rush out an buy another CD burning program. I believe XP has one built in. Check that out first. And the EasyCD Creator folks are working on an XP patch, so the built in XP burner might see you though until it's ready. jon

"I always insist on wiping my hard drive and starting over with a fresh install."

A good idea. I do it the same way.

"I heared that Easy CD Creator Deluxe has problems with Windows XP, so I will likely keep that off my Windows XP Computer."

I think the latest versions run fine... Nero runs fine as well. I am not a NTI fan, we ARE big Nero fans. However, simple CD burning is built into XP now (based on licensed Roxio/Easy CD technology) so you will still be able to burn while you straighten it all out.

"What are the benefits of XP? What does it do differently from 98? Someone give me a good reason to buy it. It would have to do something really spectacular before I'll put out money for it."

XP's main benefits over 98...

• Built in CD-ROM burning support
• More active development and release of security fixes/bug fixes
• Built in firewall protection
• Much better filesystem (NTFS has Fat32 beat hands down for speed and recoverability)
• Memory protection - this means that it is FAR less likely for a program crash to take down your system
• Stability - it is common for Win2000/WinXP boxes to stay up for weeks or months without a reboot
• Speed - we find it much faster for multimedia tasks
• Support for more memory - want 512 meg of ram for poser? :)
• Much better multi-tasking
• "remote desktop" support makes tech support a fairly trivial issue these days
• The system "heals itself" after older software has installed incorrect or obsolete DLL's. Programs that would mess up Win98 don;t bother XP int he slightest
• "user switching" - if you are rendering a poser/bryce scene and your husband/so/child wants to log on and surf the net you can let them do it - your render stays safely in the background and keeps on going till they log out

"If my computer is running perfectly right now on 98, why should I upgrade?"

If it is truly "perfect" then don't switch for a while - eventually you will have to to continue to get drivers and support for new software and hardware... but you can wait a while.

 

The main reason I upgraded was Win98's memory allocation problem. Now my machine runs much faster. I also got a lot of blue screens and did the reboot ballet every day, 2 or three times a day. I didn't really care about XP's bells and whistles, I just wanted my machine to run well. It even set up my network settings for my DSL and I didn't have to do a darn thing. XP finished installing and BOOM!...I had an internet connection. Damndest thing really... :). Laurie

I have to say that I know of another here who had problems with Xp and certain 3D graphics programs, I guess there is no real solution. I have ME on my new computer. But this thing crashes just going into Windows explorer.... Hate that.

That might be me...Vue 3.1 won't run under XP, no matter what compatibility mode I try. Unfortunate, but not the end of the world. Yeah, I was really miffed at first, but since it was the ONLY program of mine that wouldn't work, I just chalk it up to Vue's inherent bugginess :). Laurie

I now have the commercial version of Windows XP Home Edition sitting on my desk. I need to get ready before I install it. I need to make CD's of all my data on the 20GB D drive...that will swapped over to my C drive. My 30GB Maxtor drive is dying, and a replacement is on the way (under warranty)... I figure why not have the larger hard drive for my data...since I do many Poser renders. I likely won't be installing Windows XP till tomorrow since I want to be sure all my data is backed up first.

nope Laurie wasn't you and it wasn't even VUE it was 3D studio Max and possibly the rsr convertor... but who knows if XP caused the rsr convertor problem or not, still unsure on that one.

nope Laurie wasn't you and it wasn't even VUE it was 3D studio Max and possibly the rsr convertor... but who knows if XP caused the rsr convertor problem or not, still unsure on that one.

Well with the 4.2 update I can tell you that Max runs liek a champ on XP and is VERY happy about the stability :)

Hi, I've never had any problems with Win XP and Poser...either before the Poser upgrade patch or after. In fact, in the two months that I have been running XP (and it has been used extensively), it has crashed just once. We all know that software is not perfect (and cannot be - no software is 100% reliable), especially those operating systems that have to deal with an almost infinite variety of hardware platform configurations but I'm very pleased with XP. Regards, Dan

I got Windows XP Home Edition back in November of last year. I've been extremely happy with Windows XP. Poser can be a challenge to any operating system when things don't work right. I've endured countless crashes with Windows ME and Poser, but not with other programs. My computer is on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I spend most of my waking hours on this computer, and most of that time online and using Poser and other programs all at once. Everything works flawlessly. Ron

hmm.i know this is an old thread.. but i know through trial and error on 11 various machines.. win xp sucks if you get the home version.. very crashy crashy. BUT, for those who can afford WinXp Professional... well lets just say, it rocks.. no problems for anything. Total creative freedom. Runs games, apps, multi user interface.. works wonders.

WinXP Home and pro share the same kernal, setup and drivers. I haven't seen one case where Home was unstable... so I think there might have been other factors...

I got the upgrade to xp awhile ago when I installed it, it deleted every program and file on my computer. Then i had to reinstall it 3 more times beacuse it wasn't working properly and each time it deleted all of the files I painstakingly reinstalled. I was tempted to go back to ME but some of my programs were incompatable with that. Just be aware that if you get the upgrade it may delete every program and file on your hard drive and if you don't have them backed up on dics or CD (like some of mine weren't) they are gone forever1

Well a back up is always a good idea, but I have to chime in that this is something I haven't seen happen on any of the systems we have installed XP on for ourselves or our clients.

The only way it could happen is if you choose the option to change from the FAT32 file system to NTFS. It will have to format the drive to accept that new file system. Tilandra (who has been running XP for a month with no problemo)

Actually, I am pretty sure that is a non destructive upgrade uption (fat32->NTFS) but I could be wrong. I am sure it tells you.

Attached Link: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/checkcompat.asp

I seem to recall being able to move to NTFS without losing any data. Usually if an upgrade goes wrong, there is some sort of problem on the upgraders end. Sometimes it's Operator Error. Other times the upgrader failed to do proper research and make proper preparations for the upgrade. Everyone who considers the upgrade to Windows XP should visit this Microsoft Site to check for any potential Compatibility Problems, Ron