Clean Installation

A clean installation usually begins with a completely empty hard disk. The advantage

to doing a clean installation is that you don’t carry problems from the

old OS over to the new one, but the disadvantage is that all applications have to

be reinstalled and the desktop and each application reconfigured to the user’s

preferences. You perform a clean install by resetting your CMOS to tell the system

to boot from the optical drive before your hard drive. You then boot off a

Windows 2000 or XP installation CD-ROM, and Windows will give you the

opportunity to partition and format the hard drive and then install Windows.

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Perform a Clean Installation or an Upgrade

A clean installation of an OS involves installing it onto an empty hard drive with

no previous OS installed. An upgrade installation is an installation of an OS on

top of an earlier installed version, thus inheriting all previous hardware and

software settings.

Youmay think the choice between doing a clean installation and an upgrade

installation is simple: you do a clean installation on a brand new computer with

an empty hard drive, and you do an upgrade of a pre-existing installation. It isn’t

necessarily so! I’ll tell you why as we look at this issue more closely.

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Verify Hardware and Software Compatibility

Assuming your system meets the requirements, you next need to find out how

well Windows supports the brand and model of hardware and the application

software you intend to use underWindows. You have two basic sources for this

information:Microsoft and the manufacturer of the device or software.How do

you access this information? Use the Web!

If you’re installingWindows XP, the SetupWizard automatically checks your

hardware and software and reports any potential conflicts. But please don’t wait

until you are all ready to install to check this out.With any flavor of Windows,

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Identify Hardware Requirements

Hardware requirements help you decidewhether a computer systemis a reasonable

host for a particular operating system(OS).Requirements include the CPU

model, the amount of RAM, the amount of free hard disk space, and the video

adapter, display, and storage devices that may be required to install and run

the OS. They are stated as minimums or, more recently, as recommended

minimums. Although you could install an OS on a computer with the old

minimums that Microsoft published, they were not realistic if you actually

wanted to accomplish work.With the last few versions ofWindows,Microsoft

has published recommended minimums that are much more realistic. You

will find the published minimums on the packaging and at Microsoft’s Web

site (microsoft.com).

Read More

Identify Hardware Requirements

Hardware requirements help you decidewhether a computer systemis a reasonable

host for a particular operating system(OS).Requirements include the CPU

model, the amount of RAM, the amount of free hard disk space, and the video

adapter, display, and storage devices that may be required to install and run

the OS. They are stated as minimums or, more recently, as recommended

minimums. Although you could install an OS on a computer with the old

minimums that Microsoft published, they were not realistic if you actually

wanted to accomplish work.With the last few versions ofWindows,Microsoft

has published recommended minimums that are much more realistic. You

will find the published minimums on the packaging and at Microsoft’s Web

site (microsoft.com).

Read More