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Kathleen MacDowell provided additional information: <<I am using
Vista.>>
That might be the problem, then. I've got a similar setup (AMD chip)
for a desktop, and my son complains that Vista runs glacially slow on
the computer compared to XP.
<<Another reason I'd thought of upgrading was to see if I could do a
split installation, Vista and XP.>>
You shouldn't need to upgrade just for that. I was able to do the
split install with minimal difficulty. Took a couple hours, but that
was because (i) Windows isn't a fast install, (ii) there were an
amazing number of system updates to download (leading to much
rebooting), and (iii) I had a problem resetting the boot loader that
took a while to figure out.
<<If necessary, I might even go back to XP.>>
Not a bad choice. It works just fine. I have to say, Apple's "I'm a
PC/I'm a Mac" commercials are pretty funny, but they're even funnier
if you've had to use Vista. I use it as little as possible these days
-- mostly to download updates for my security software.
<< I ran a system check a month ago when I was looking into setting
up XP, and everything seemed fine.>>
A month is an awfully long time for Windows. I really was serious
about downloading all the latest updates and running a deep scan.
You'd be amazed at the crap that accumulates in Windows if you're not
careful. You should be updating the software daily, and running scans
at least weekly if you use the computer as your main computer.
<<My computer came with McAfee (I do not recommend).>>
All security suites are performance hogs to a greater or lesser
degree. Try checking the system resources utility (on the Mac, it's
called "Activity monitor"... don't recall what it's called in
Windows) to see if any software is hogging processor or hard disk
time. If so, you may need to patch that software, replace it with
other software, or change the settings; for example, most software
should let you decrease how aggressively the software scans your
system. Less aggressive scans mean less of a slowdown.
<<I have been putting off some of the updates, figuring they'd do
more harm (performance wise) than good. But it looks like I do need
to do them.>>
Microsoft generally has a good track records for Windows updates --
certainly better than their record for Office. So as a general rule,
you shouldn't delay updates for too long. Before installing updates,
I usually wait a week or so after an update is announced to give
everyone else time to discover the bugs, and Microsoft time to fix
them. Ditto for the Mac; Apple also has a pretty good record, but
neither company is flawless when it comes to updates.
----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
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