Upgrading Windows XP Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Upgrading Windows XP - Term Paper Example Preparing Your PC for an Upgrade Before you start upgrading your PC, you need to know and record the existing hardware and software configuration of your PC and then perform the following tasks: 1. Know your upgrade path: Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000 Professional and Windows NT 4 Workstation are the operating systems that can be upgraded to Windows XP Professional directly. 2. Know the hardware requirements: A Pentium processor with 233 MHz is required or 300 MHz or higher processor speed is recommended. Minimum 64 MB RAM or higher is recommended. Minimum hard disk required is 1.5 GB or higher. An SVGA monitor is good enough or you can get a higher resolution monitor as well. (Donald & Chellis, 2005, p. 96). Windows XP is very demanding. Hence, before an upgrade, the aforementioned hardware requirements should be met to facilitate the installation process plus to prevent any post installation hardware failures due to incompatibility. More details regarding the hardware requirements are discussed as follows: a. Processor: In today’s computers, a 2 to 3 GHz processor speed would be efficient to run Windows XP. On checking your current processor configuration and if it is not at least 233 MHz, you would need to buy a new processor and install it as an upgrade. b. Random access memory: Once you have upgraded your PC’s processor, you are required to upgrade the RAM as well. RAM is the volatile memory that allows your computer to execute current programs and processes. Increasing the RAM size of your computer, makes the computer run faster and better. For Windows XP, you need to have at least 64 MB of RAM. This is a minimum amount. Ideal would be to have a 128 MB of RAM. Today computers come with a 256 MB RAM; so this is perfect amount to run the Windows XP on your system. c. Hard disk space: During and after installation, the Windows XP requires some hard disk space for storage. Hard disk is the non-volatile memory in your computer. It is capable of storing data and information permanently. It saves the operating system in it also. In order to upgrade your PC, you need to be sure that you have 650 MB free hard disk space to allow Windows XP to store its files. If you do not have enough free hard disk space, you need to make free spac e by deleting files, application programs and the like which you no longer need in your PC. d. Other requirements: You need an SVGA or higher resolution monitor, CD-ROM or DVD –ROM drive, a keyboard, and a mouse. You can also upgrade your internet connectivity speed and upgrade to a faster internet connection. You need to have good sound card, video card and speakers. If you have chosen to connect to a LAN, you would need a network adapter card upgrade. Furthermore, you can also get a tuner card to be able to watch television on your computer. These are options that can be considered after the installation but pondering over these before installation is a better option. (Simmons, 2005, p. 379-381). Whenever you are upgrading your operating system, you need to be sure of your data which you do not intend to loose. If the upgrade takes place in a smooth manner, then your entire data is still safely residing on your hard disk memory. However; problems may arise during upgrade wh ich can cause your data to get lost. Therefore, in order to be safe and careful, make a back up copy of all the important data residing in the hard disk of your computer. Using the back-up