I'm still searching for more speed from this desktop , and have plans to upgrade to a Phenom X4 CPU and go to 64 bit XP Pro . I know that the processor upgrade and BIOS update won't affect my programs and all that , but what about the 64 bit upgrade ? Am I going to have to rebuild this whole set of programs , address books , bookmarks , etc ? Not that I don't have all the software , but it's a pain in the ass and time consuming to do all that .
Upgrading from 32 to 64 bit will require a complete rebuild of the system - save all your data and make sure you have all your install disks. Running 1 program at a time you will see NO performance improvement. If you don't increase the ram you will see no improvement. If running multiple programs, and you put in more than
4GB of ram, you will see a performance improvement. You'll see a lot more improvement going to Windows 10 32 on 4GB of ram. I've got it running on an ATOM powered ZG5 Acer Aspire One netbook and it is significantly faster than the XP it came with., with only 1GB of ram.
The 64 bit will be a clean install so prepare for a pain in the ass.
They're talking about XP to 7 but it should work for XP to XP. Your 64 bit install will have two directories;
C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86)
with the 32 bit installs going into (x86). To further confuse the issue
C:\Windows\system32 C:\Windows\SysWOW64
With fantastic M$ logic, the 64bit dlls etc go into system32 and the 32 bit ones go into SysWOW64. WOW64 -- Windows (32) On Windows 64. Think of it as an emulator for the 64 bit machine to run 32 bit binaries.
All your 32 bit stuff will run but I don't think it will be too pretty getting there. We've got a few boxes left that have XP32 running on 64 bit hardware and XP64 on 64 bit hardware but we've never tried to migrate a 32 to 64. Actually if you don't have more than 3GB of RAM and less than 1TB disks you're not buying much as far as I've ever been able to tell.
Hi Terry,
I have never noticed a speed difference between 32 bit and
64 bit Windows. On Linux yes, it blow your head off, but not crappy old windows. Windows is poorly written.Also 64 bit XP was really, really badly done. Most of everything will stop working correctly for you. 64 bit did not start okay till Vista and came into its own on Windows 7.
If you a speed increase, trying cloning you hard drive over to an SSD drive. You will be impressed.
:-)
-T
If you want to see an even faster box, give Linux a try. I've got one box left that actually runs Windows (XP) as it's native OS. I fully intend to convert the last remaining non Linux machine on this network to linux. And keep various flavors of Windows as VMs only; for technical support and repairs. I'm a certified computer tech (with two honorary masters) by trade, so I'm forced to keep Windows around to provide technical support for clients. The remaining ones that aren't ready/possibly never will be ready to goto greenier pastures. Linux is so much easier to maintain and support from malware/browser hijack POV. While it's certainly not impossible to hijack a Linux box, it's much more difficult than it is a Windows (pick a flavor) box.
Currently, I settled on Linux Mint v17.3. I have some running MATE's desktop, and others running KDE. KDE spoils me. I'm waiting until the v18 series matures a bit more before I take the plunge, because with the KDE boxes, there's no simple upgrade path. It's copy your stuff to external media and reload. An upgrade path supposedly exists for Mate, Cinnamon, Xfce, etc, but another poster who runs one of those reported that for whatever reason, his machine cannot go the simple upgrade route either. He's 'stuck' like my KDE boxes.
Well , if it's gotta be a clean install I might as well start off with a clean hdd ... and I have a new 320 WD on hand for it . The Plan is to bump this mobo ( Asus M2A-VM) to the max 8 Gb RAM with 4 x 2 Gb sticks , switch to a Phenom X4 2.3 Ghz processor and update the BIOS . I just built one on an Asrock N68C-GS4 FX with a 1.8 Phenom/4Gb/32 bit and an hdd that already had XP Pro loaded and it seems significantly faster than this 2.6 dual core Athlon . That one is going to my shop to replace the one that died recently . All but that last one are boxes that are older than 10 years , with no significant upgrades since they were built . It's not that this one won't do the job , it just isn't fast enough any more with the more graphic/data intense web sites . It's just the same as your "stuff" expanding to fill all available space , as capability increases they will expand to use it . Oh , and I've got a couple of 1T drives for storage , seemed like I needed the space for my "stuff" ...
If you are going to go to all that, you may be better off going to ebay and buying a whole computer. Get one with a faster processor and more memory and win 10 already on it. I have not checked lately, but about a year ago I wanted to get the win
10 for free, so bought a computer with win 7 pro on it and upgraded to win 10. Now the free upgrade is out of date, you should be able to fine a computer with win 10 already on it. If you want to stay with XP you can probably find a fast xp computer. Eithe way will probably be less than $ 150.
That was my first thought .. .. buy a $ 99. desktop < Canadian dollars ! > with Win 10 Pro 64 bit - here's just one example ..
John T.
What y'all are not understanding is that I don't want W10 , I wish to stay with XP Pro . I MIGHT consider going to 64 bit W7 Pro , but nothing newer . I have on hand a 64 bit Vista copy , but Vista was such a dog ... and a copy of XP Pro 64 bit is on it's way , should arrive today .
Ok on not wanting to go with win 10. From some of your posting you say that the main problem is with the graphics of the internet. The web sites and brousing programs are not supporting win xp to ammount to anything any more. That may be part of the problem.
You may have to go to win 10 to get programs that will work at speed. One reason I put a computer on win 10 is because Turbo Tax said they would not support win xp after last year.
You did not mention what speed your internet connection was at. Go to a speed test web site and see what kind of download speed you are getting. It many be that you are not getting the data fast enough.
I hear ya - but XP is a DOG compared to 10, and 64 bit, in your case, isn't going to buy you ANYTHING.. All 64 bit will do is make half your hardware not work if it is older stuff - scanners, printers, TV Tuners - all kinds of stuff doesn't work on 64 bit. At trhe VERY least, update to Win7-32 Pro.. Internet Explorer 11 is a HUGE improvement over 8 - and comes with Win7. It comes with Win10 too.
I wouldn't go back to 7 again for my own computer, although 2 of my big customers are almost exclusively Win 7. One still has some XP machines on the shop floor, but as they die we are replacing with Win7. HUGE improvement - and 10 is noticeably better yet, once you get used to the different interface.
Do yourself a BIG favor - and DUMP the XP64 in favor of 7-32.
7 makes a lot better use of resources than XP - and 10 does even better - boot times are quicker, for starters.
Even FireFox doesn't support XP any more - and the Fox that runs on XP can't handle a lot of the new web content. GO 7!!!! Internet explorer
11, or the latest Firefox. Forget about Chrome.Try it - you'll LOVE it. XP is TOTALLY yesterday's news on SO many counts.
OK , after a bit of a fuckup updating the bios (wrong version for this processor , LAN quit working), I'm running again with the 1.8 quad core phenom . I already have as much RAM as 32 bit XP will see , but setting the swap file to a different drive than the OS is intriguing ... This box has a total of 1.5 Tb of storage in a pair of 250's and a single 1 Tb drive (which was the other thing that was affected by me loading the wrong BIOS) that has all my video and music content on it . So tell me more about how to set the swap file to a different drive ...
That microsoft Kool Ade is some yummy stuff huh?
The thought has crossed my mind to go to Ubuntu ... I've messed around with it a little and liked it , but getting the wife on board for a major OS change has been problematic .
That is the way I feel. I don't want to learn the OS either. I just want it to run the programs I want. Seems like that in order to get lots of programs I want to run, I have to do some edditing of the OS.
I am not new to computers, having had a TRS 80. and one of each of the IBM type processors except the 286. Skipped over that one.
When I got started seems like there was a push to get people to learn BASIC. I thought at that time, it was useless for most to know anything about that. Just learn the programs.
I had to learn lots of the systems in the first years just to get a sound card, modem, or a cd to even work. It was plug, look for jumpers, load in several driver type programs, and then hope something would work without screwing up another device.
Last time I checked I was getting a solid 6Mb/s down and 768k+ upload . I just scored a Win7 Pro/64 COA on ebay ... and am downloading a clean ISO to burn to disk .
That's not entirely true, yet with regard to firefox. 45.8.0 ESR edition runs fine on XP. It'll continue to do so for awhile longer.
I haven't heard any serious security aware person recommend IE. Running IE is practically asking for it. That hasn't changed in.. f*ck, over a decade or more. Not that I mind if people take your advice; I make money doing repairs and a lot of malware removal, so the more infected, the better for me. That and name brand boxes. Dell has kept the lights on for a long time for me. lol.
Windows 7 isn't fully supported on modern hardware, anymore. In case you missed the memo. XP isn't totally yesterdays news, just yet, either. Many POS systems still use it, in one form or another. Many ATM machines are still running it, too.
Give Linux Mint a try. I'm running 17.3 KDE on most of my boxes, and MATE on a few others. 18.2 is around the corner, but, I'm waiting for the 18 series to mature a little more before I run it as a daily OS.
I had no trouble switching some family members from Windows XP over to Linux Mint. Infact, my support calls/time has been reduced as a result. They aren't getting browser hijacked and/or malware anymore. [g]
And, they aren't asking me a pile of questions about it either. It just works for them. No steep learning curve either, if you want to remain in the GUI and just use the machine for surfing the web, email, etc. Oh, and no crashes, etc. it's an awesome OS.
Only have one left that actually runs windows native. The Linux boxes run various Windows flavors in VM, to continue providing tech support for my clients.
8bit? [g] Umm, no. 16bit, yes. [g] In the sense it can provide you emulation from console. There's no actual 16bit 'code' in the NT code base itself. 16bit is emulated for you, via console and some aspects of the GUI, depending on what the 16bit code is trying to do, of course. 8bit, doesn't even exist in the world of NT. You're thinking of the ataris/cocos, etc. machines of that genre. And the 80s early 90s gaming consoles; aside from a select few that were 16bit cpu's, like the supernintendo and I think the sega genesis. Wasn't much of a sega person, so I could be wrong there.
Well, not exactly. More ram, less swapping. Lots of real ram, nearly no swapping to disk. Remember, it only swaps to disk when it doesn't have real ram available to work with. 32bit OSes can't take full advantage of 4gigs or more, though; without some tweaking, and even then, it's more of a hack than actually supporting it.
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