Windows 8 forum: Can I install Windows 8 and revitalize my old machine?

To look into Linux Mint is as good as any OS available today and the price is certainly right. You can install it and the applications that come with it after you test drive it from an ISO disk. Just google Mint and download the 32 bit version. The rest will be just burning the ISO disk and trying it out.
I would be more concerned with your PC's CPU than anything else....any Windows product other than XP will need more RAM and you would be investing good money into a very limited CPU.
So I would either keep what you have as is or go Linux...Mint just happens to be my choice although there are a ton of distros available.
Best of luck with your project!
Frank

After 22 years with Microsoft and 33 in in the computer field including IBM and Sperry-Rand I can tell you whole heartedly that I would personally wait and get it on a new computer. Saying that, if you have a computer that is running Windows Vista or 7 you might be okay with an upgrade, but nothing before that because of the age of the computer and the power you would need.

If you have time to futz and learn and research (or make someone else do it), LINUX could be an excellent limited duty OS for an old PC; the price is certainly right. XP is still highly capable and familiar and made to run on such a system and unlike LINUX, and most importantly if its a consideration, runs all the familiar Windows programs that might not be supported by LINUX. Windows 7 32-bit would be almost as good and will be supported by MS (if that's important) much further into the future.

Windows 8...ahhh, probably the last choice I would recommend; too many unknown factors yet, its not built for such a system so mobo drivers might even be a show stopper right out of the gate and the interface is not going to be like anything anyone has seen in the history of Microsoft OSes.

The assumption that XP really needs to be replaced is valid only if you believe what the creators are telling you. When you start to see new products and programs and upgrades that don't list XP as a supported OS, that will signal the real beginning of the end of the useful life of XP. I think that's still years away.

Not so sure about Mint, though, going by comparison: Mint works, but has proved to be much slower than Ubuntu on my 8-year old HP laptop (40 GB HDD). Over the years, Ubuntu has been a good experience in all its incarnations, and definitely to be recommended as a shot in the arm for obsolescent hardware.

I have installed Win7 on many XP machines of similar specs. To me it seemed to run better than XP. More RAM is always better but I would try with the 1.5gb you have first. I think I ran it w7 with 1gb even. I do not know about Win8, bit you can try the test version. One suggestion if you can figure out how to do is to shrink your XP partition and then make a 20gb one for for win8, and maybe an extra 30gb one for win7. Do not go for the 64bit version. If you keep XP (or reinstall it first), then install win7 you can dual boot, and if you then install win8 preview, you can triple boot (I think) . As for drivers, sometimes a Vista driver will work, so I would try the upgrades first, then heavily use google to find drivers. A good idea would be to make an image backup on an external hard drive,so if any problems you get back to your starting point. Also I would be expecting that current 80gb hard drive to fail at some point so keep your important data backed up.

Before even considering an upgrade to your OS, check Microsoft's Win. 8 minimun requirements. It would have
helped to find out your son's age, bhefore doing anything. Backup any important files you want to keep.If he is young, wipe your HD clean. Reinstall your XP and drivers, etc. You didn't say if you have a desktop or laptop. Either way, what I would do now is use it for your "juke box" and/or picture storage. Keep a very good free or pay antivirus on it. Also, you can in addition to your antivirus, down load Microsoft's FREE Security essentials. Be vary careful where you get your music from, ie. pay sites, free sites, or the other because there are always ways to torch your system with a virus, etc. If you son is older, Middle school or higher, your can get an unbelieveable machine for HS, college, or work for $500 or less. Depending where you get it, you can get a quad core, or I-5 system for him or you both. This would make your Pentium 4 seem like the parking brake was on comparing to the new machines. Als, with the above $500 machine 4-6GB Ram a decent sound card, an average or more Video card (which will amaze you, comparing your present.) A processor of 2.4 - to 3.0GB and a 500 GB to 1 Terra bite of hard drive. When you purchased your present machine, a machine set to the new spec would cost at least $1000 or more, then,. If your son is young, clean and reinstall XP,etc. Microsoft did not say XP will disentergrate, but just dropped support. Again don't know if it is a desktop or laptop you have, but the desktop gives you more for your money, and if you have a decent moniter your in. Or get a flat screen (HD?) for approx $100 plus or minus if new or used. The OS Windows 8 seemed it was for the newer all in one computers. , where the monitor has you HD, processer, etc. built into one. You can you your finger to navigate rather than a mouse. Go to a web site like pcworld.com or cnet, etc. and read up on what I discussed briefly for you. If you son is real young where a newer PC would not matter to his education yet, wait a few years and all the newer techy stuff will be obselete and who knows what we will use in a few years, and costs should be better then. By the way if getting a newer computer, Windows 7 OS like an XP with a college degree. If what was true in the demo stages with Windows 8 and the touch screen, Windows 7 is great. I have Vista, modified fom reading some articles, and I love it. Good luck .

If you were running Windows 8 Consumer Preview and installed Windows 8 Release Preview and didn't reformat your hard drive during installation, you should be able to retrieve your files from the Windows.old folder.
To automatically retrieve your files

You can run a troubleshooter that will automatically retrieve your personal files from the Windows.old folder and copy them back to their original location. The troubleshooter will work on all languages but the text in the troubleshooter is only in English.

Run the Recover personal files troubleshooter.

To manually retrieve your files

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Search (or if you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search), enter Computer in the search box, tap or click Apps, and then tap or click Computer.

Double-tap or double-click the drive that Windows is installed on (typically, the C: drive).

Double-tap or double-click the Windows.old folder.

Double-tap or double-click the Users folder.

Double-tap or double-click your user name.

Open the folders that contain the files you want to retrieve. For example, to retrieve files in the Documents library, double-click Documents.

Copy and paste the files that you want from each folder to a folder in Windows 8 Release Preview.

Repeat steps 5-7 for each user account on your computer.

You don't have to install the Windows 8 RTM onto your hard disk, you can use VirtualBox. That way you don't have to wipe XP. But don't ask me how to use VirtualBox as I have never used it before :/

Buy Win7 Now, You will have most of the Components allready, Monitor, Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers or they will come with some of those items. You can use SD or Thumb Drives to save music to them and move them around and also install them on the HD itself. What a lot of people don't know is that they may require a touchscreen monitor rather than a mouse with W8. Also If you are familiar with XP it will not be that hard to use W7.
Consider that you can buy a decent Desktop for about $400.00 and up the sky is the limit. If you want more RAM, and WiFi it can be added or installed late, though WiFi is usually installed. With SkyDrive I can send all my files to any of my Computers and also print to any of my printers that are connected to another computer.

Interestingly, I do have a netbook that I use for travelling. Recently, it slowed up and I have not been able to find out why just yet. I have considered Windows 8 for this device, also, so your experience may give me a second project

Yes, getting more RAM is a common siggestion and I think I will do that. An external HD may help with the low 80gb capacity.

Thanks!

The design of that machine must be at least 10 years old so I don't know how far I would go down the Windows upgrade path. I certainly would not go near Windows 8 till the the first full update is out and has received good reviews; 8.0 will probably be a bit hairy, let others debug it for you.

Windows 7, I assume 8 is about the same, runs with 2Gb of ram but you really need 4GB to be comfortable. Memory for your machine is not cheap because it's old enough so it's not common. If you reinstall XP and update it you might find it works a lot better than it does now. I've found I have to reinstall Windows every couple of years to keep it snappy. Being lazy I Ghost the machine after I've reinstalled the OS, updated it, and made sure I have all the correct drivers; then when it's time to reinstall I just ghost it back in about 20 minutes - it takes a lot longer to reinstall, find drivers, and update.

Putting Linux on a machine like that makes a lot of sense because it's free and usually more responsive on old hardware. I use Linux Mint (a variant of Ubuntu) and it always picks up the old hardware and installs the correct drivers. It costs nothing so it's worth a try if you don't want to go back to XP.

Bob

It is most likely that the machine you describe will work much better with Windows 8 than it ever did with Windows XP. I am writing this on a seven year old Dell Laptop with a T1300 single core microprocessor, 2 GB or RAM and a 38 G hard disk drive. I am getting cold boot to open browser search in 90 seconds. Everything works much, much better under Windows 8. Comes with quality free anti-virus built in. You don't even know it's there.

I have not encountered any software that will not run. I have not had any problems with drivers. No problems at all. It takes less system resources than its predecessor versions of Windows. If you don't like the new interface, the old style one is easily available. It is far, far superior to Windows XP or Vista. A little better than Windows 7. I have them all. The $40 upgrade version will be "Pro" and will include Media Center which will be awesome if you want to make the machine a video / photo / music juke box.

You will want to run the Windows Upgrade Advisor before proceeding just to be sure you don't have any hardware that is not compatible.

> Right, let's take this message apart, and respond to each element in turn.

Q: With so many expectations associated with Windows 8 and the unexpected affordability of its price tag, options abound for its implementation.

> True, but do you actually need any of the new features it packs?

> And keep in mind that newer editions of processors have additional instructions baked in; when ambling along on old hardware the new OS will resort to breaking up the newer one-step instruction onto several steps which the older CPU can handle. That takes extra CPU cycles, hence time, and can considerably slow down the new OS on old hardware.

Q: Microsoft has made no secret of its wish to have one system to rule them all, but if that is the case, we really need Windows 8 to displace the XP systems out there.

> May be the case that Microsoft has a wish, but do you need to comply?

> In other words, you resisted the urge to get Vista and Seven ...

> ... but now you've changed your mind, and want to assist Microsoft in displacing the OS which you have used happily for perhaps ten or so years.

Q: So, here is my question ... I have a 2.8Ghz, Pentium 4 with 1.5GB of RAM and a 80GB hard drive.

> That to me sounds like an eight or ten year old computer?

> First thought which comes to mind is that my time-honoured Pentium 4 2.8GHz consumes 12 Watts when off (that's not sleep), and around 80Watts when running. Is it connected to a classic CRT display (my 19" screen used in the order of 250Watts!!), or do you use an LCD TFT flatscreen (mine uses 70Watts)? In comparison, the new Notebook uses 35Watts when streaming video full screen - that's about one quarter of the energy.

> Before you do anything else, get your hand on a power monitor - that's a smallish appliance where you plug the equipment in, then plug the monitor into the power socket and read things like current usage in Watts and accumulated usage over a period of typical use in kWh. Multiply with cost per kWh and you'll know how much running the computer will set you back year after year.

> Note though that not all power monitors are equally suitable, and comparison testing by a guy at the computer club showed that higher price did not equal better performance - one of the cheaper units (costing in the order of 25GBP/ 30EUR/ 40USD) from a specialist electronics chain gave the most accurate readings when compared to calibrated equipment in the laboratory. Keep in mind that their readings in the lowest range are not always linear; you can get around this by measuring the equipment in tandem with a known load in the order of half an ampere - that's a 60W light bulb where they use 110V, or a 100W bulb where they use 240V such as in the UK).

Q: It has a very good sound card and basic video card.

> Sound cards these days are all rather good, even the on-board sound is good stereo; the actual sound you hear depends on the acoustic properties of your listening environment, the placement of the speakers, and the quality of those speakers. A comparison comes to mind with a place I worked, they'd bought really good VDUs for their CAD software, to find that ten years later an off the shelf screen had better performance, higher resolution, and then there were the savings on energy ... .

Q: I really want to do something with it, such as turning it into a jukebox or a basic PC for my son, but I really have to replace the OS.

> Like me, you may be reluctant to throw something out which still works - so do my 1979 bicycle, our 1977 stereo, 1983 washing machine, the 1985 CRT TV and my father's 1987 car. Especially that TV was renowned for its great speakers back then; but my new LED TV uses one-tenth the energy, has a much clearer picture, and if excellent sound is required it can be heard via the stereo - which has noticeably better speakers than the built-in TV ones.

> As a jukebox it would be running many hours on end, and comparing my Pentium 4's Watts used with the recent notebook there would be a saving in the order of 75%.

> The old XP box with 19"CRT screen used approx. 8kWh per day = about 3000 kWh per year when running full time as a jukebox (even though you might not listen full time, many are reluctant to sit through the boot sequence when they want to hear something on their jukebox, hence leave the thing running if only to respond to the remote control). Based on my measurements, the notebook would save in the order of 2250kWh of electricity which, including all levies and taxes costs 500GBP/ 625EUR/ 800USD - hey, looks like you've just saved yourself a brand new notebook each year by properly recycling your old XP box with CRT. Yes, the combo old XP box with LCD TFT would only save one third that amount per year, and you may remember to switch things off at night, but the savings in energy are still quite noteworthy compared to the price of a new notebook with i5-class CPU.

> As a basic PC for your son: would that be in addition to his school computer? Most schools in this area require a specific level of hardware and portability, so it can be taken to school and also used for homework. Then there are schools which have taken weight into account and require a tablet computer, usually an iPad. Needless to state that experience using Windows 8 on a 'non-touch' computer is of little use when using an iPad in class.

> Incidentally, have you considered adding a limited user account to one of your other computers, for your son to gain experience with Windows 8? And would a 'non-touch' computer actually allow him to gain the optimal experience which you so crave him to get? (This is a sentiment which I fully support, which is why I have taken the time to reply)

Q: Can I install Windows 8 and revitalize my machine and, if so, what else do I need and what should I expect?

> Revitalizing an older computer can be as simple as copying all files you want to keep, noting all software you actually use and making sure you have the installation files and any license codes for it, plus drivers for any hardware connected, then re-installing the operating system and doing a full format when prompted during the process - it is amazing how many unused bits there are on a computer once it has been used for just one year, and how much faster your old computer will run afterwards. Do find out whether your old computer can easily be restored from the restore partition, some could not yet that long ago!!

> Windows XP SP3 will receive security updates for another 18 months - according to their website till 8 April 2014, and experience in the past has shown that security vendors will keep supporting their solutions for several years thereafter - there may be a so far un-noticed issue, but it can be blocked by the Anti-Virus etc software.

> Should you decide that the extra electricity used by your old XP computer upgraded to Win8 is of no concern, but that not having security updates for Windows XP is a really serious issue, then you could nearer the time consider installing Linux - there are resources out there on the interweb which will help you determine whether there are drivers for all your hardware components, and assist in selecting the version which is right for your needs. Ubuntu on an USB-drive sounds like a decent starting place to get the feel, there are other so called "Live Distros" out there, bing, google and ixquick are your knowledgeable friends there.

Q: I am sure there are many other people out there wondering the same thing.

> I, for one, also wondered, and decided - having found that my Netbook (Win7 starter-edition Atom 1.6GHz 2GB 500GB) performed faster than my WinXP sp3 Pentium 2.8GHZ machine - to replace the Pentium with a Notebook running Windows 7 on an i5-2500 series CPU and 4GB ram. That computer runs circles around my old Pentium, even when doing simple things like viewing webpages or starting a word processor.

> Come to think of the 80GB HD capacity: windows keeps lots of files and several restore points on the hard disk; the recently re-installed netbook does not contain user documents (they're kept on a thumb-drive to use on several computers), yet some 45 GB is already in use just by the OS and some software; considering that windows performance slows down when there is less than one third free disk capacity, an 80GB hard disk is likely too small when you also want to keep music on it to use as a jukebox; have you considered a separate NAS device? Network Attached Storage devices act as a central repository for any files which you want to access from one of several computers on the home network, and would take up far less space than your old XP box with screen.

Q: Can you help?

> Hope this is of help?

Q: Thanks.

> Not at all, it was my pleasure entirely .

Steve,
Your computer is not the kind to run anything well other than Windows XP. It was designed with XP in mind. If you really want to have the experience of working with Windows 8, than my advise is to buy a new PC with it installed already. AS far as what to do with the old XP machine, you can upgrade it with more RAM, faster and bigger hard drive etc. And then turn it into a juke box or basic PC for your son. Windows XP machines, when upgraded/ maxed out with RAM, faster HDD etc, can be pretty snappy running, provided you do not bog it down with too much junk, and programs it was not designed to run.
I have tried/tested Windows 8 on one of my testing PC's, and decided I didn't like it. Windows XP Professional and Windows 7 64 Bit have proven to be thee nicest user friendly operating systems tha Microsoft came out with for a regular tower/desktop PC. It's the whole tablet, and small hand held device craze, that have prompted MS to come up with Windows 8. I think it is destined to fail as an operating system. That's my opinion anyway.