Hard drive space

[Don Schmidt]

I noticed Windows XP folder takes 5.3 gigs on my C drive.

What in round numbers would Windows Vista use?

Many thanks,


--
Don
Vancouver, USA

[DL]

The *basic* installation requirement is a 40gb HD with 15gb free
Currently my Vista Business windows folder is 15gb

"Don Schmidt" <Don > wrote in message
acquisition...
>I noticed Windows XP folder takes 5.3 gigs on my C drive.
>
> What in round numbers would Windows Vista use?
>
> Many thanks,
>
>
> --
> Don
> Vancouver, USA
>

[Don Schmidt]

Many thanks; our daughter is reviewing the needs of a new laptop and the
sizing of hard drives in preparation of going off to college.
She is considering Vista; Ol dad is hoping she'll stay with XP. <G>

--
Don
Vancouver, USA

"DL" <address@invalid> wrote in message
...
> The *basic* installation requirement is a 40gb HD with 15gb free
> Currently my Vista Business windows folder is 15gb
>
> "Don Schmidt" <Don > wrote in message
> acquisition...
>>I noticed Windows XP folder takes 5.3 gigs on my C drive.
>>
>> What in round numbers would Windows Vista use?
>>
>> Many thanks,
>>
>>
>> --
>> Don
>> Vancouver, USA
>>
>
>

[Shenan Stanley]

Don Schmidt wrote:
> Many thanks; our daughter is reviewing the needs of a new laptop
> and the sizing of hard drives in preparation of going off to
> college. She is considering Vista; Ol dad is hoping she'll stay with XP.
> <G>

Laptop... More than likely she will *have* to go with Vista in any case and
then if she wants XP - she (or "Ol' Dad") will have to hope the manufacturer
will still support it and they have hardware drivers even for Windows XP.

Windows Vista does seem to work fine at this point. There arre many things
students in particular can do and they might as well get Windows Vista now
so they are ensured enough power in case they need to upgrade to Windows 7
in the future - after all - collge is not a 'short haul' endeavor for most.

When recommending college student laptops now - I recommend those with 4GB
memory, Core2Duo 2.4GHz or above processors, 120+GB hard disk drives, and as
much warranty as I think they can afford - especially accident and such.
Getting a "lo-jack" solution also may not be a bad idea. (And no - it
doesn't matter to me what Operating system they get - Windows XP, Windows
Vista, Mac OS X, etc - I still say for a College Student - those
recommendations hold up - so that no matter what happens - they are covered
in that area. ;-) )

A little teaching before they leave is also wise.

- Get an external hard disk drive, teach them to use that drive on a
schedule to backup their important files. That includes (not limited to)
stuff on their desktop, stuff in "My Documents", their Internet Favorites,
their emails, thier email contacts/addresses, etc and so on.

- Use a *good* password. Have it lock the computer after a given period of
time. Make sure all accounts on the computer have a password.

- *Consider* using something like "TrueCrypt" to encrypt a folder on the
computer - for storage of items the student doesn't wish to lose (although
backups will help with this) and doesn't wish others getting into if the
laptop is lost/stolen. This could be their student records, identifying
material, financial statements, etc. This part is optional - but if
everyone did this - there would be less ways for crooks to take identities
and such.

- Use proper maintenance - meaning that the student should get into a regime
of backing up, disk cleanup, check for malware, check for viruses, chkdsk,
defrag. It does not have to be 'often' - but regular. The AntiVirus
software they choose should automatically update and may be able to
automatically scan once a _____. If they have active antispyware - same
deal. backing up could somewhat be automated - but for a laptop and a
student - that may be better handled by them personally and as often as they
can. As for Disk Cleanup, CHKDSK and defrag - once every few months before
they leave to go to a party or something maybe.

For computing - that is probably some of the best "Ol' Dad" can hope to do
for the student. ;-)

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

[Don Schmidt]

Shenan,

Many thanks for your complete response.

Your laptop recommended specs are a near copy of Briana's design wishes.
She is thinking of a HP - Pavilion Special Edition Laptop with Intel
Centrino Processor Model dv6985se

Your maintenance, protection and backup thoughts are excellent suggestions
I'll pass-along your entire post.

Briana is the pride of the Schmidt family for she has one more year of high
school to attain an International Baccalaureate Diploma; then on to college
to something in the Medical field.

My preference for XP is knowing all of the existing programs and drivers are
working well, no new learning curve and I'm guessing less power drain on the
laptop battery. (?)
Plus, she has a copy of XP.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge; we appreciate it very much.

--
Don
Vancouver, USA


"Shenan Stanley" > wrote in message
...
> Don Schmidt wrote:
>> Many thanks; our daughter is reviewing the needs of a new laptop
>> and the sizing of hard drives in preparation of going off to
>> college. She is considering Vista; Ol dad is hoping she'll stay with XP.
>> <G>
>
> Laptop... More than likely she will *have* to go with Vista in any case
> and then if she wants XP - she (or "Ol' Dad") will have to hope the
> manufacturer will still support it and they have hardware drivers even for
> Windows XP.
>
> Windows Vista does seem to work fine at this point. There arre many
> things students in particular can do and they might as well get Windows
> Vista now so they are ensured enough power in case they need to upgrade to
> Windows 7 in the future - after all - collge is not a 'short haul'
> endeavor for most.
>
> When recommending college student laptops now - I recommend those with 4GB
> memory, Core2Duo 2.4GHz or above processors, 120+GB hard disk drives, and
> as much warranty as I think they can afford - especially accident and
> such. Getting a "lo-jack" solution also may not be a bad idea. (And no -
> it doesn't matter to me what Operating system they get - Windows XP,
> Windows Vista, Mac OS X, etc - I still say for a College Student - those
> recommendations hold up - so that no matter what happens - they are
> covered in that area. ;-) )
>
> A little teaching before they leave is also wise.
>
> - Get an external hard disk drive, teach them to use that drive on a
> schedule to backup their important files. That includes (not limited to)
> stuff on their desktop, stuff in "My Documents", their Internet Favorites,
> their emails, thier email contacts/addresses, etc and so on.
>
> - Use a *good* password. Have it lock the computer after a given period
> of time. Make sure all accounts on the computer have a password.
>
> - *Consider* using something like "TrueCrypt" to encrypt a folder on the
> computer - for storage of items the student doesn't wish to lose (although
> backups will help with this) and doesn't wish others getting into if the
> laptop is lost/stolen. This could be their student records, identifying
> material, financial statements, etc. This part is optional - but if
> everyone did this - there would be less ways for crooks to take identities
> and such.
>
> - Use proper maintenance - meaning that the student should get into a
> regime of backing up, disk cleanup, check for malware, check for viruses,
> chkdsk, defrag. It does not have to be 'often' - but regular. The
> AntiVirus software they choose should automatically update and may be able
> to automatically scan once a _____. If they have active antispyware -
> same deal. backing up could somewhat be automated - but for a laptop and
> a student - that may be better handled by them personally and as often as
> they can. As for Disk Cleanup, CHKDSK and defrag - once every few months
> before they leave to go to a party or something maybe.
>
> For computing - that is probably some of the best "Ol' Dad" can hope to do
> for the student. ;-)
>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP
> --
> How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>