Upgrade from ME

[Scott]

I have some expensive, and currently irreplacable software
on my hard drive. When I upgrade to XP, will I lose all
that software? And what about links from the programs to
stored data?

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

Run the Upgrade Advisor - if you are upgrading from a Win9x OS, you'll
most likely need to reinstall/repair much of Office Products.
For your expensive, irreplaceable software, you have the installation
media right? Just reinstall afterwards.

"Scott" > wrote in message
...
> I have some expensive, and currently irreplacable software
> on my hard drive. When I upgrade to XP, will I lose all
> that software? And what about links from the programs to
> stored data?

[Norm]

If it was me I would buy another disk and install XP on it, they are dirt
cheap. There are as many horror stories as success stories about upgrades.
Or use something like Drive Image to copy your ME disk to a new one and
experiment with it.
"Scott" > wrote in message
...
> I have some expensive, and currently irreplacable software
> on my hard drive. When I upgrade to XP, will I lose all
> that software? And what about links from the programs to
> stored data?
>

[Harry Ohrn]

It depends on the program. Some programs will manage the upgrade just fine
but others will need to be reinstalled and some just plain won't work unless
you remove then before the upgrade and reinstall them again after.

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


"Scott" > wrote in message
...
> I have some expensive, and currently irreplacable software
> on my hard drive. When I upgrade to XP, will I lose all
> that software? And what about links from the programs to
> stored data?

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

First, installing an operating system is a major issue on any computer. If
you are starting out by worring about what you might lose, it means you're
not prepared and probably shouldn't make the move. Being prepared means
being completely backed up and able to reinstall your previous setup, all
applications and restore your data from scratch.

There simply are no guarantees. A good place to begin as was suggested is
the Upgrade Advisor:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp

Still, you should be sure you have all your application setup disks, you
should check the application web sites for compatibility with XP, if patches
are necessary or if they have updated versions and be prepared to purchase
them in the event your current versions have problems with XP. The same is
true for your hardware. Even though XP has quite a bit of backward
compatibility built into it, you must understand, most of your hardware and
software was not designed with XP in mind.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"Scott" > wrote in message
...
> I have some expensive, and currently irreplacable software
> on my hard drive. When I upgrade to XP, will I lose all
> that software? And what about links from the programs to
> stored data?

[Ken Blake]

In ,
Scott > typed:

> I have some expensive, and currently irreplacable software
> on my hard drive. When I upgrade to XP, will I lose all
> that software? And what about links from the programs to
> stored data?



Upgrading (as opposed to clean installing) leaves all your
programs intact. However there's no guarantee that something
won't go wrong during an upgrade. You should always back up your
irreplacable data, and make sure you are able to reinstall all
programs.

Also note that whether those programs will work under XP depends
on what they are. Run the free upgrade advisor at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp


--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup