New to XP - - seeking partition recommendations

On 6/6/2007 8:44 AM On a whim, XP Newbie pounded out on the keyboard

Thank you for your comprehensive reply, Bruce.

I sincerely appreciate your the clear and consise manner in which you write.
Very nice!

Having replied to a few others before reading your post, it would appear my
revised thoughts were on a similar track to one of your suggestions. My
current PC is partitioned with C:\ and D:\ drives. I use D:\ for 98SE's
swap file (fixed), program files (including AutoCADD, and Internet
downloads.

Revised a second time (now), my current partition scheme looks like this
follows . . .

C:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE / 98-based Applications

D:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE Swap File / program files / AutoCAD /
Internet downloads

E:\ @ 120GB NTFS - Windows XP Home Edition / XP-based Applications

F:\ @ 120GB NTFS - XP files / Internet downloads / slack space

I have not taken a look at Doug Know website and instructions, but I will
shortly. Thank you for this reference.

This will likely sound foolish and expose me for the amateur I am, but I was
hoping to use a program like Laplink PC Mover to migrate my Windows 98SE C:\
and D:\ drives to the new PC without actually installing Windows 98SE from
scratch. I am guessing this cannot be accomplished as I once thought.
True?

Thanks again, Bruce, for taking the time to educate an XP Newbie!

Best regards,

JJBlaine


"Bruce Chambers" wrote in message
...

It's doable, only if your C: drive (the one housing WinXP) is
formatted using the FAT32 file system.

MS-MVP Doug Knox has kindly provided clear instructions:

Install Windows 98 after XP is Installed.
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_repair_9x.htm

Otherwise:

The simplest way I've found to dual boot between Win9x/Me and WinXP
would be to partition your drive(s) roughly as follows:

C: Primary FAT32 Win9x/Me/Legacy Apps
D: Extended NTFS WinXP/Modern Apps

Adjust the partition sizes according to your actual hard drive(s)
size and the amount of space you'd like to allocate to each OS and its
applications.

Create the partitions using Win9x's FDISK so you can enable large
disk support (FAT32). (No need for 3rd party partitioning
utilities/boot managers and their frequent complications.)

Install Win9x/Me first, being sure to select "C:\Windows" (or
D:\Windows, if you prefer) when asked for the default Windows
directory. When you subsequently install WinXP, be sure to specify
"D:\Winxp" (or "D:\Windows," "C:\Winxp" as referred/applicable) when
asked for the default Windows directory, to place it in the other
partition. The WinXP installation routine will automatically set up a
Multi-boot menu for you. The default settings for this menu can be
readily edited from within WinXP. NOTE: If you elect to place
Win9x/Me on the "D:" drive, you'll _have_ to leave the "C:" drive as
FAT32.

This method can be adapted to using 2 physical hard drives by
placing the boot partition (C:, which still must be FAT32) and either
of the operating systems on the Primary Master hard drive, and the
second operating system on the second hard drive.

It is also possible to have a 3rd partition for shared
applications, but it would be necessary for such a partition to be
formatted in the common file format (FAT32). The applications would
also have to be installed into each OS (to ensure proper system file
placement and registry updates), one at a time, but the bulk of the
program files could be located on this common partition. I do not,
however, actually recommend doing this as, if you were to uninstall
such an application from one OS, you may not be able to gracefully
uninstall it from the second OS, having already deleted crucial
installation data during the first uninstall action.

Just about everything you need to know (URLs may wrap):

http://support.microsoft.com/support.../Q217/2/10.ASP


http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p.../multiboot.asp
Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand
Russell


Hi JJ,

Not to throw a wrench into your plan, but I have my system with Win98,
Me, W2K, XP, Linux. I use Partition Magic's boot manager, Boot Magic
(any boot manager will do), so all of my OS partitions when booted are
C: .

I have 3 hard drives and keep redundant copies of all partitions within
the 3 drives, so if one drive fails, I can easily replace it and copy
the partitions back into place within a short time.

My data is all on drive D: (fat32) which is accessible by all OS's. A
backup copy of data is a drive G: which is NTFS. All programs (that
will allow it) I installed to a drive E:. I point the program installs
from each OS to drive E: so the OS partitions can remain small (6 to 8
gig), and that way I only have to have one copy of each program
installed, rather than a copy on each OS partition (saves a lot of
space). I also have a video drive M: & N: is a copy of it (on another
drive).

The only caveat to installing a program once into multiple OS's, is that
if you decide to uninstall the program in any OS, you must *first* make
a copy of the program folders (say Quicken, you would make a copy called
Quicken1), uninstall the program in whatever OS, then rename the copy
folder to the original name again, so the other OS's still have access
to it.

My suggestion to you is to make sure you have a good backup plan.
Regardless of how many drives you've created, you still only have one
hard drive, and if it fails, everything goes. That's why I have
redundant copies shared between drives (not counting 2 external drive
backups that are updated monthly).

Hope everything goes smoothly,


--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

Hi,

XP Newbie wrote:
Thank you for your reply, Bert.

Have you considered using MS Virtual PC 2007?
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...c/default.mspx

This way you can create virtual hard drives within XP and run 98 inside
XP.

First, it appears that your suggestion for MS Virtual PC 2007 will not work
for me. As noted in my initial post, the new PC O/S is Windows XP Home
Edition, not XP Pro.

According to MS . . .

Physical Computer and Host Operating System Requirements
Following are the minimum system requirements for the physical computer and
the host operating system:
- Host operating system: Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise,
Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Windows Server
2003 Standard x64 Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP Tablet PC
Edition

MS VPC will install and run on XP Home, it's just not a supported install by MS.

If XP shipped with Norton AV or McAfee, remove them ASAP!

It is not, but I did purchase NSW Standard Edition and had planned on
installing NAV. I do not allow it to run in the background or check my
email (since my ISP does this).

May I ask why you are so BIASED against NAV with XP Home Edition?

Sure can. Based on years of newsgroup support, they both have the worst
track record of any antivirus application out there. I would strongly
suggest *NOT* installing NSW on XP unless you want to bring the system to
it's knees!

Start a new thread on this subject and be prepared to be inundated with
negative against Norton products. Please don't don't cross post this time!

Norton will also cause System Restore to fail.
"Restoration Incomplete. Your computer cannot be restored . . . "
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/symantecdoc1.html

Here are two good AV applications. One pay for and the other free.

NOD32 Antivirus Software for Windows from ESET
http://www.eset.com/products/windows.php

Free antivirus - avast! 4 Home Edition Download
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Have never tried a free AV program.

Yes, I have installed Avast on several systems and it works great.

Why are these products superior to NAV?

Because they do what there designed to do, prevent virus infection. NAV /
NSW on the other hand digs it's way into the system and does things it has
no business doing. Then try to remove it...

You will want to make sure Dell shipped an XP install disk before
starting!

It is supposed to, but I will verify before starting.

Good

Do you have a plan on how you're going to boot between XP and 98? If not,
I
have a couple of suggestions.

Well, again, I have no experience with XP and (initially) I thought about
using the FDD to boot to 98SE, or to boot to the FAT32 DOS partition to run
AutoCAD. Maybe not, eh?

One way would be to remove XP.
Wipe the NTFS partition.
Create a 40GB fat32 partition and install 98
Then upgrade to XP (providing the XP CD will allow it) and in the process
create a 80GB NTSF partition to install XP to. The leftover space can be
partitioned and formated from within XP.

Another option would be to use a 3ed party boot manager such as Bootit NG
(BING).
BootIt Next Generation
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

Again, I am not familiar with XP, nor the BIOS in DELL's E520 PC, but I
thought I may be able to set the boot drive within BIOS. Maybe not, eh?

I am not sure about that. You may want to check with Dell on that.
http://www.dellcommunity.com/support...rd.id=sw_winxp

After submitting this post, my existing Windows 98SE HDD is partitioned to
C:\ and D:\ drives. I thought that I might avoid problems with programs
referencing drive C:\ if I loaded Windows 98SE on C:\ and revised my
partitions as follows . . .

C:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE / 98-based Applications

D:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE Swap File / downloads from Internet

E:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential anything

F:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential future
conversion to NTFS

G:\ @ 80GB NTFS - Windows XP Home Edition / XP-based Applications

H:\ @ 80GB NTFS - XP files / potential future Vista Home Premium,
multi-boot

I:\ @ 40GB NTFS - XP downloads from Internet

Thanks again for your reply and suggestions. I am looking forward to your
next thoughts and recommendations.

Best regards,
JJBlaine


Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


"Bert Kinney" wrote


My partition plan for the 320GB HDD includes starting from scratch and
re-partitioning the HDD and then reloading the O/S, Utilities, and other
disks provided by DELL.


Tentatively, my partition plans include . . .

C:\ @ 80GB NTFS - Windows XP Home Edition / XP-based Applications
80GB's may be a bit large. The base install of XP is less then 5GB's with
all 70+ post SP2 updates. This would not include any Dell utilities
installed.
D:\ @ 80GB NTFS - XP files

E:\ @ 40GB NTFS - XP downloads from Internet

F:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential future
conversion to NTFS

G:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE / 98-based Applications

H:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE Swap File / downloads from Internet

I:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential
anything
Any suggestions, recommendations or critiques are welcome and sincerely
appreciated.

Many thanks!
XP Newbie

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

Hi,

XP Newbie wrote:
Thank you for your comprehensive reply, Bruce.

I sincerely appreciate your the clear and consise manner in which you write.
Very nice!

Having replied to a few others before reading your post, it would appear my
revised thoughts were on a similar track to one of your suggestions. My
current PC is partitioned with C:\ and D:\ drives. I use D:\ for 98SE's
swap file (fixed), program files (including AutoCADD, and Internet
downloads.

Revised a second time (now), my current partition scheme looks like this
follows . . .

C:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE / 98-based Applications

D:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE Swap File / program files / AutoCAD /
Internet downloads

E:\ @ 120GB NTFS - Windows XP Home Edition / XP-based Applications

F:\ @ 120GB NTFS - XP files / Internet downloads / slack space

I have not taken a look at Doug Know website and instructions, but I will
shortly. Thank you for this reference.

This will likely sound foolish and expose me for the amateur I am, but I was
hoping to use a program like Laplink PC Mover to migrate my Windows 98SE C:\
and D:\ drives to the new PC without actually installing Windows 98SE from
scratch. I am guessing this cannot be accomplished as I once thought.
True?

There a very good chance that will not work. You will have to install 98
clean. And there's no guarantee it will install on the new hardware.

Thanks again, Bruce, for taking the time to educate an XP Newbie!

Best regards,

JJBlaine

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


"Bruce Chambers" wrote

It's doable, only if your C: drive (the one housing WinXP) is
formatted using the FAT32 file system.

MS-MVP Doug Knox has kindly provided clear instructions:

Install Windows 98 after XP is Installed.
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_repair_9x.htm

Otherwise:

The simplest way I've found to dual boot between Win9x/Me and WinXP
would be to partition your drive(s) roughly as follows:

C: Primary FAT32 Win9x/Me/Legacy Apps
D: Extended NTFS WinXP/Modern Apps

Adjust the partition sizes according to your actual hard drive(s)
size and the amount of space you'd like to allocate to each OS and its
applications.

Create the partitions using Win9x's FDISK so you can enable large
disk support (FAT32). (No need for 3rd party partitioning
utilities/boot managers and their frequent complications.)

Install Win9x/Me first, being sure to select "C:\Windows" (or
D:\Windows, if you prefer) when asked for the default Windows
directory. When you subsequently install WinXP, be sure to specify
"D:\Winxp" (or "D:\Windows," "C:\Winxp" as referred/applicable) when
asked for the default Windows directory, to place it in the other
partition. The WinXP installation routine will automatically set up a
Multi-boot menu for you. The default settings for this menu can be
readily edited from within WinXP. NOTE: If you elect to place
Win9x/Me on the "D:" drive, you'll _have_ to leave the "C:" drive as
FAT32.

This method can be adapted to using 2 physical hard drives by
placing the boot partition (C:, which still must be FAT32) and either
of the operating systems on the Primary Master hard drive, and the
second operating system on the second hard drive.

It is also possible to have a 3rd partition for shared
applications, but it would be necessary for such a partition to be
formatted in the common file format (FAT32). The applications would
also have to be installed into each OS (to ensure proper system file
placement and registry updates), one at a time, but the bulk of the
program files could be located on this common partition. I do not,
however, actually recommend doing this as, if you were to uninstall
such an application from one OS, you may not be able to gracefully
uninstall it from the second OS, having already deleted crucial
installation data during the first uninstall action.

Just about everything you need to know (URLs may wrap):

http://support.microsoft.com/support.../Q217/2/10.ASP


http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/p.../multiboot.asp
Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

See inline replies.

XP Newbie wrote:

Thank you for your reply, John.


If you want my honest opinion I think that you will have an
overcomplicated mess of partitions!



Damn. I do not want to have to spend another $3500 for an XP version of
AutoCAD after spending $2500 back in 1991 for the version I have today - it
works flawlessly.


*** I know what you mean! The software vendors are just laughing all
the way to the bank everytime a new Windows version comes out! We have
Visi Cad/Cam software on Windows 2000 here and it will be on Windows
2000 for a very long time!



Secondly, there is no guarantee that you will even be able to install
Windows 98 on the new computer. It is getting increasingly more
difficult to get Windows 98 to work on new hardware and I expect that
you will run into difficulties trying to install it on the new hardware.



After submitting this post, my existing Windows 98SE HDD is partitioned to
C:\ and D:\ drives. I thought that I might avoid problems with programs
referencing drive C:\ if I loaded Windows 98SE on C:\ and revised my
partitions as follows . . .

C:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE / 98-based Applications

D:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE Swap File / downloads from Internet

E:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential anything

F:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential future
conversion to NTFS

G:\ @ 80GB NTFS - Windows XP Home Edition / XP-based Applications

H:\ @ 80GB NTFS - XP files / potential future Vista Home Premium,
multi-boot

I:\ @ 40GB NTFS - XP downloads from Internet


*** You can still install Windows 98 *after* Windows XP and you can
install Windows 98 *even* if the XP partition is NTFS. You can install
it on the same disk or you can install it on a second disk, either way
it isn't that hard. http://thpc.info/dual/dual9xonntfs.html The
question that remains is "Will Windows 98 support the new hardware?",
and as someone else mentioned, you need a real Windows XP CD to properly
set this up. Unless you specifically asked for a real Windows CD from
Dell you will only get one of those next to useless Restoration CD's.
Those CD's are very good if you want to wipe and reinstall but that is
all that they can do! Also be warned that some of those Restoration
CD's may not only wipe and reinstall XP they might completely undo your
partitions and completely wipe everything on the hard disk! Some of
those disks litterally return the pc to factory condiditons, that may
include the partitioning scheme!



Thirdly, if you can even get Windows 98 to install on the new hardware,
it may not like it too much being installed at the proposed location.
You will have to use a third party boot manager to get it to install
back there, you will have to change the Active Partition for it to
install and you may have to hide the other partitions to do the
installation. *IF* it installs you will then have to do a bit of work
and trickery to get the XP and W98 installations to coexist together or
you will have to rely on the third party boot manager.



I have no experience with any third party boot manager, but I have read
about the utility included with BootIT NG, Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0
and one or two others.


*** Those are pay for boot manager. BootItNG works well and is not too
expensive. The free XOSL is a bit harder to get used to but it works
perfectly fine: http://www.ranish.com/part/xosl.htm



At this time, I'm not familiar with XP, nor the BIOS in DELL's E520 PC, but
thought that I would be able to avoid a third party boot manager by setting
the boot drive within BIOS.
Or, using the FDD to boot to 98SE, or to boot to the FAT32 DOS partition to
run AutoCAD. Maybe not, eh?


*** Yes, that would be a very easy way to do it with two hard disks. No
need to fuss with the Windows XP installation. A very safe way to it,
you can boot via the BIOS or install the boot manager on the Windows 98
drive, it will boot either operating sytem.



Due to the constraints mentioned above, increasingly, and especially on
newer hardware, the recommended way around problems like yours is to at
least attempt to install and run the applications on Windows XP and if
they absolutely cannot run then the increasingly preferred method is to
run Windows 98 in a Virtual Machine (Virtual PC) inside of Windows XP.



It appears that MS Virtual PC 2007 will not work for me. As noted in my
initial post, the new PC O/S is Windows XP Home Edition, not XP Pro.

According to MS . . .

Physical Computer and Host Operating System Requirements
Following are the minimum system requirements for the physical computer and
the host operating system:
- Host operating system: Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise,
Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Windows Server
2003 Standard x64 Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP Tablet PC
Edition


*** As others have already said, there are alternatives. Microsoft did
not invent the Virtual PC and others are just as good if not better than
the Microsoft offering! In my opinion the Virtual Machine way is
probably the best way to go about it, if you can get it to work. None
of the dual booting headaches. You can work with your CAD software, and
if you need to do something else with another program you can do so
without having to reboot the computer, much more productive and an all
around better solution, IMHO.



Thanks again for your thoughts, John. I am looking forward to any other
recommendations you may have.

You're welcome. Good luck!

John

"XP Newbie" wrote in
:

Hi!

Later this afternoon, I expect UPS to deliver my first PC with Windows
XP Home Edition installed. Presently, I am a stubborn Windows 98SE
user and was exceedingly reluctant to move to XP, and refuse to go
Vista. Someday, I expect to upgrade to Media Center 2005 or XP Pro,
but neither were available for my budget at Dell's Outlet.

I have several DOS-based programs, including AutoCAD 11, that will
require FAT32. Accordingly, I plan on transferring my Windows 98SE
system and DOS programs to a couple of FAT32 partitions.

My partition plan for the 320GB HDD includes starting from scratch and
re-partitioning the HDD and then reloading the O/S, Utilities, and
other disks provided by DELL.

Tentatively, my partition plans include . . .

C:\ @ 80GB NTFS - Windows XP Home Edition / XP-based Applications

D:\ @ 80GB NTFS - XP files

E:\ @ 40GB NTFS - XP downloads from Internet

F:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential
future conversion to NTFS

G:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE / 98-based Applications

H:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE Swap File / downloads from
Internet

I:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential
anything

Any suggestions, recommendations or critiques are welcome and
sincerely appreciated.

Many thanks!

XP Newbie


I would suggest keeping your old machine for your current programs. I
have friends who have tried to do what you want to, only to find it
didn't work well. The most reliable thing for you to do is to keep your
old machine and continue to run your older software on the old machine.
Yes people do this to keep their old software going. It's simple and
reliable and reqiures a less complicated setup for your new machine. If
you need more performance for your old software you may still be able to
get some upgrades for your older machine.

HTH

On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 08:04:12 -0500, "XP Newbie"
wrote:

Hi!

Later this afternoon, I expect UPS to deliver my first PC with Windows XP
Home Edition installed. Presently, I am a stubborn Windows 98SE user and
was exceedingly reluctant to move to XP, and refuse to go Vista. Someday, I
expect to upgrade to Media Center 2005 or XP Pro, but neither were available
for my budget at Dell's Outlet.


If you want MCE's extra Media-related features, fine, but what makes
you think you want XP Professional?

XP Professional and XP Home are exactly the same in all respects,
except that Professional has a few features (mostly related to
networking and security) missing from Home. For most (but not all)
home users, even those with a home network, these features aren't
needed, would never be used, and buying Professional instead of Home
is a waste of money.

For details go to
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...p_home_pro.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/h.../choosing2.asp

Also note one other point not mentioned on any of those sites:
Professional allows ten concurrent network connections, and Home only
five.


I have several DOS-based programs, including AutoCAD 11, that will require
FAT32.


How do you know they require FAT32, and are you sure of that? In
general programs aren't even aware of what file system they run under,
and it hardly ever makes a difference.

The only common exception to that is disk utilities.


Accordingly, I plan on transferring my Windows 98SE system and DOS
programs to a couple of FAT32 partitions.

My partition plan for the 320GB HDD includes starting from scratch and
re-partitioning the HDD and then reloading the O/S, Utilities, and other
disks provided by DELL.

Tentatively, my partition plans include . . .

C:\ @ 80GB NTFS - Windows XP Home Edition / XP-based Applications


OK, although 80GB is probably way more than needed.


D:\ @ 80GB NTFS - XP files


OK, except that you should think of them as *data* files in general,
not XP files in particular. If they need to be accessed by a program
running under Windows 98 (and they may not need to be) then you should
make this partition FAT32.


E:\ @ 40GB NTFS - XP downloads from Internet


Why? There is no reason to separate downloads on a separate partition,
and these files would probably be best on D:.

Every time you create a partition where it's not required, you
complicate things and you increase the risk of running out of space on
one while having lots of space left on others.

Moreover 40GB seems enormous for downloads.


F:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential future
conversion to NTFS


Ditto. Spare space isn't required in a separate partition, and you
should add this space to D:


G:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE / 98-based Applications


See my point above. No need for a separate partition for Windows 98
applications. In general apps are apps, and don't care where they are.

*If* you don't need Windows 98 (and you may not) this partition can be
eliminated entirely.



H:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE Swap File / downloads from Internet


Also not needed. Separating the swap file on a separate partition is
counterproductive, since it puts it far from other frequently-used
files, thereby increasing the time taken for head movement to and from
it and slowing down the machine.

Same point for downloads as above.


I:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential anything


Again, no need to have spare space in a separate partition.


Any suggestions, recommendations or critiques are welcome and sincerely
appreciated.


I think this is a *way* overcomplicated partitioning scheme for your
needs.

You should have one NTFS partition for XP and all applications, and
one partition for data (if your backup plans are to backup only data
rather than imaging the entire drive). *If* you also need to dual-boot
to Windows 98, then you need a FAT32 partition for Windows 98, and
your data partition should be FAT32.

No more than three partitions are needed or desirable.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"XP Newbie" wrote

snip

If XP shipped with Norton AV or McAfee, remove them ASAP!

It is not, but I did purchase NSW Standard Edition and had planned on
installing NAV. I do not allow it to run in the background or check my
email (since my ISP does this).

May I ask why you are so BIASED against NAV with XP Home Edition?

Here are two good AV applications. One pay for and the other free.

NOD32 Antivirus Software for Windows from ESET
http://www.eset.com/products/windows.php

Free antivirus - avast! 4 Home Edition Download
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Have never tried a free AV program. Why are these products superior to
NAV?

snip

NAV and NIS are, even under the best of circumstances, bloated, resource
hogs and sooner or later can be problematic. In Win95 days the Norton
Utilities had value. Not so any more. Norton Goback, though some like it,
can be quite problematic as well.

There are good alternatives to these programs that are leaner and less
troublesome. For Anti-virus I use Avast free version on several systems.
It works well. Another highly regarded free program is Anti-Vir. For paid
AV there is Kaspersky and NOD32, both excellent.

You need to run several non viral malware checkers. No one program can
catch it all. All of these are free: Ad-Aware SE Personal (with a new
version imminent), SpyBot S&D, Windows Defender, BHO Demon, Spyware Blaster,
HijackThis, and SuperAnti-Spyware.

For firewall use the XP firewall or one of these 3rd party products:
Sunbelt Software's Kerio Personal firewall (free and paid) or Comodo
Personal Firewall (free).

In lieu of NortonGoback, get a drive imaging program to image the system to
an external hard drive. I currently use Acronis True Image Home, version 10
for this. Images can be full, incremental or differential and on a drive or
partition basis. Restores can be on a file, partition or drive basis. It
also does file backup and disk imaging.

I do a full image weekly and a nightly incremental image, alternating on a
weekly basis between two external drives so one can be stored off site.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]

See my inserts below.........

On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 08:04:12 -0500, "XP Newbie"
wrote:

Hi!

Later this afternoon, I expect UPS to deliver my first PC with Windows XP
Home Edition installed. Presently, I am a stubborn Windows 98SE user and
was exceedingly reluctant to move to XP, and refuse to go Vista. Someday, I
expect to upgrade to Media Center 2005 or XP Pro, but neither were available
for my budget at Dell's Outlet.

I have several DOS-based programs, including AutoCAD 11, that will require
FAT32. Accordingly, I plan on transferring my Windows 98SE system and DOS
programs to a couple of FAT32 partitions.

My partition plan for the 320GB HDD includes starting from scratch and
re-partitioning the HDD and then reloading the O/S, Utilities, and other
disks provided by DELL.

Tentatively, my partition plans include . . .


==================
C:\ @ 80GB NTFS - Windows XP Home Edition / XP-based Applications

I always advise to use C: as a system drive only, in fact my C: Volume
Name = System. That is WinXP no applications, including My Documents.

The only programs I put in my C: are _key_ system utilities such as
Total Commander (file manager) which I use instead of Explorer.

=================

D:\ @ 80GB NTFS - XP files

This is where I advise to put _all_ applications (not in C:\Program
Files) in their own folder (example: D:\NERO _not_ D:\Program
Files\NERO). I use D: Volume Name = APPS

Also, if_your_PC_is_single-user, move your My Documents there.

Highly suggest you download and use MS Power Toy "TweakUI" which makes
it easy to move key folders among other nice system tweaks.

Power Toy Download page....
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d...powertoys.mspx
.....TweakUI download on right side-bar.

But note, with WinXP you can drag & drop your My Documents to where
you want it, but I still recommend using TweakUI.


==================

E:\ @ 40GB NTFS - XP downloads from Internet

Good idea.

==================

F:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential future
conversion to NTFS

G:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE / 98-based Applications

H:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE Swap File / downloads from Internet

I:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential anything

Any suggestions, recommendations or critiques are welcome and sincerely
appreciated.

Many thanks!

XP Newbie

==================
General suggestions:

1) Use Volume Names for each drive to identify what you use it for.

2) You don't need FAT32 drives at all _unless_ you are going
dual-boot OS and using WinXP + Win98SE. If you're only OS = WinXP,
using FAT32 is a waist and riskier, make all drives NTFS, the Win98
apps don't care.

3) Play computer games? They need SPACE, big time.

4) For the future, if you find yourself needing more disk space or
want a very good backup destination, consider using an external hard
drive. I suggest a Firewire external hard drive which can be found at
a "low" cost. At Costco I found a Western Digital 500gb USB/Firewire
hard drive for $170, costly but considering the size... Smaller
external drive are cheaper, example at work we use 160gb Firewire
external hard drives, $60/drive, for disaster recovery backups of our
server.

I suggest Firewire interface because, for drives (hard or CD/DVD),
this interface is more stable than USB. A Firewire PCI adapter (aka
IEEE 1391) 3-port can be found for under $30, suggest Adaptec brand as
the safest bet. Note, with Firewire you not only get stability but
you can daisy-chain 64 devices (with throughput slow down) per port.


--
======== Tecknomage ========
Computer Systems Specialist
San Diego, CA

"Tecknomage" wrote in message
...

I always advise to use C: as a system drive only, in fact my C: Volume
Name = System. That is WinXP no applications, including My Documents.

The only programs I put in my C: are _key_ system utilities such as
Total Commander (file manager) which I use instead of Explorer.

Why?



D:\ @ 80GB NTFS - XP files

This is where I advise to put _all_ applications (not in C:\Program
Files) in their own folder (example: D:\NERO _not_ D:\Program
Files\NERO). I use D: Volume Name = APPS

Why? if you have to re-install your OS then you WILL have to re-install all
your apps - so your splitting of apps and OS is a complete waste of time....

On Jun 6, 9:04 am, "XP Newbie"
wrote:
Hi!
My partition plan for the 320GB HDD includes starting from scratch and
re-partitioning the HDD and then reloading the O/S, Utilities, and other
disks provided by DELL.

Tentatively, my partition plans include . . .
C:\ @ 80GB NTFS - Windows XP Home Edition / XP-based Applications
D:\ @ 80GB NTFS - XP files
E:\ @ 40GB NTFS - XP downloads from Internet
F:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential future conversion to NTFS
G:\ @ 40GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE / 98-based Applications
H:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - Windows 98SE Swap File / downloads from Internet
I:\ @ 20GB FAT32 - spare space / possible files / potential anything

Any suggestions, recommendations or critiques are welcome and sincerely
appreciated.

Many thanks!

XP Newbie

My opinion is this, you're challenged by technology and you're trying
to outsmart it... which is impossible... Learn about something called
Virtual Machines.

I would have the basic following if I were you.

2 partions
C:\ NTFS - Sys 100GB
D:\ NTFS - Data 220GB and park your swap/page file on this drive

Learn about virtual machine, why? Because it can do things your brain
can't wrap around.... and you'll think you're smarter for figuring
it out....

Why is it newbies always want to complicate things? I"m the same
way....

KISS- keep it simple stupid....

RedForeman

But note, with WinXP you can drag & drop your My Documents to where
you want it, but I still recommend using TweakUI.

That's not true: It won't change where XP thinks the My Documents folder
is. You have to use -Propterties; Move- to relocated My Documents.
Otherwise you'll have a confusing mess on your hands.

Pop`

On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 04:53:17 -0700, Tecknomage
wrote:


I always advise to use C: as a system drive only, in fact my C: Volume
Name = System. That is WinXP no applications, including My Documents.



Why? There is no value in separating applications on a separate
partition from the operating system. For almost everyone, this is a
mistake.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Thu, 7 Jun 2007 13:44:03 +0100, "Gordon"
wrote:

"Tecknomage" wrote in message
...

I always advise to use C: as a system drive only, in fact my C: Volume
Name = System. That is WinXP no applications, including My Documents.

The only programs I put in my C: are _key_ system utilities such as
Total Commander (file manager) which I use instead of Explorer.

Why?



D:\ @ 80GB NTFS - XP files

This is where I advise to put _all_ applications (not in C:\Program
Files) in their own folder (example: D:\NERO _not_ D:\Program
Files\NERO). I use D: Volume Name = APPS

Why? if you have to re-install your OS then you WILL have to re-install all
your apps - so your splitting of apps and OS is a complete waste of time....


Which drive usually crashes most of the time, C:

If your apps, especially those that keep data on the app's home
folder, and they are all on C: you loose the data. This is also why
moving your My Documents to another drive is a good idea. This
suggestion saved a friend's "life" who had 3yrs of college papers on
his Desktop and C: crashed. Didn't loose any of his work because he
took my advice and moved My Documents out of C:

To save time when you do have to do reinstallations, if you backup
your Registry files (User.dat & System.dat) elsewhere or do good
system backups, reinstallation is not that hard if apps are not on C:

Just reinstall WinXP on C:, install your backup app (if you don't use
XP's backup) then recover the C: file backup or just your Registry
files (most, but _not_all_, should work). I've done this for people 3
times.

Of course, a drive _image_ backup is the absolute best way to backup
your critical drives for recovery. Note an image backup is _not_ the
same as a file backup. When you recover an image backup, it rewrites
the drive; Boot Record, Partition Table, and all files.

In the case of C:, you just have to use a backup app that can run from
a boot CD and access where the backup image is (DVD, external HD,
etc.). I use Acronis True Image at home and at work the engineers use
NERO's BackItUp module to backup a drive (image). There is one
advantage of NERO, the first DVD/CD of a backup set it makes is
bootable to the BackItUp module for recovery.

Note the "external HD." At work (IT Tech) we use external Firewire
160gb HD for disaster recovery for our servers, and this is
increasingly used by businesses for the same thing. We have 2 which
we swap, previous backup HD kept off-site, HD connected to server for
next full backup. Better than tapes or DVDs.

You are correct as far as apps are concerned, there will be _some_
reinstallation required if you don't do image backups.


--
======== Tecknomage ========
Computer Systems Specialist
San Diego, CA

On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 07:42:33 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:

On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 04:53:17 -0700, Tecknomage
wrote:


I always advise to use C: as a system drive only, in fact my C: Volume
Name = System. That is WinXP no applications, including My Documents.



Why? There is no value in separating applications on a separate
partition from the operating system. For almost everyone, this is a
mistake.


I've been in the computer business for over 30yrs now. "Grew up" with
Windows. Putting apps in C: is _not_ the safest way because the most
likely drive to crash is C:.

I work as an IT Tech at this time in my career, and the business
practice I see most often is C: = OS & OS utilities, apps on 2nd HD,
and apps configured to place their documents/data on a 3rd HD.

You backup the 3rd HD daily (in one company they did this every 12hrs)
to save critical data. C: & 2nd HD weekly file backups, and image
backups of all drives at scheduled intervals.

Of course we are not talking Desktops, but this method is done because
it is the safest Desktop or Server.

Bottom line though, it's up to users to how they want to configure
their systems. Each to his/her own.

--
======== Tecknomage ========
Computer Systems Specialist
San Diego, CA

Tecknomage wrote:

On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 07:42:33 -0700, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote:


On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 04:53:17 -0700, Tecknomage
wrote:



I always advise to use C: as a system drive only, in fact my C: Volume
Name = System. That is WinXP no applications, including My Documents.



Why? There is no value in separating applications on a separate
partition from the operating system. For almost everyone, this is a
mistake.



I've been in the computer business for over 30yrs now. "Grew up" with
Windows. Putting apps in C: is _not_ the safest way because the most
likely drive to crash is C:.

Yes, you wouldn't want to lose your program.ini files... Only archaic
applications or new applications written by numb sculls store user data
in the program folder! Installing the applications on a separate drive
is mostly a useless exercise in futility...

John