A little tip from a Tech person.

I've noticed that some folks here have had hassles with their operating system either locking up, being screwed up or just not working at all (they're using somebody else's computer to surf, now)

One thing that a lot of non-tech people don't realize is you can dual-boot the same operating system on any computer...for example:

I have Windows XP Pro on Drive C:\ and D:\
On C:\ I have my usual programs that I work with....Photoshop, Office, Frontpage and many other "utility" stuff...and, of course the internet.

On D:\ I also have the internet and a few utilities but I also have stuff like Kazaa (we won't talk about that) and a lot of games.
I also use D:\ to "try out" new software that I aquire from the net.
This keeps Drive C:\ from being loaded with the occasional crap that any computer user comes across.

Also, IF either C: or D: gets screwed up, I can use the other drive to fix the offending files in the messed up drive. Believe me, doing this has saved me many hours of fustration and hassle.

I won't go in to all the aspects or get to technical about it but give it a try the next time you have some spare afternoon.
It saves a lot of cussing!

*

"Dual-boot" but both partitions are XP Pro?


Interesting concept :)

I wonder if Unca Billy frowns on that sort of thing?
(i.e. M$ probably wants you to buy TWO copies of XP to do this)

Have you considered loading some flavour of Linux, thus avoiding "DLL Hell" and other attendant vagaries of running Windows?

(Donning Nomex skivvies now.... ;) )


--MAB

I actually do have multiple OS's on my drive:
C:\ WinXPpro
D:\ same as C:\
E:\ Windows 2003 server
F:\ Win98SE
G:\ Linux

And yeah, Billy probable does want me to buy another copy of XP (which I sure will,...Right!)

I use the wpa files on C:\ to "activate" the D:\ drive (we won't talk about that :) )

To Township75> Yes I use Partition Magic to get multiple drives. You can also use a boot disk to do the same thing. (FDisk)
There are many sites that will give you a step by step tutorial on how to do it. I think Computing.net is one of them.