Vista Home Premium or XP Pro?... Opinion Please?

I have an older Dell computer running XP Home that I'm using to archive data,
photo and video files (C:\) and backup (D:\) for the other computers in my
home plus I have a shared printer attached.

I've had to buy two new Dell Vista Home Premium notebooks. One for my wife
for her business and one for my daughter for her birthday. My other daughter
wants a notebook for Christmas (Vista, of course) and I have to upgrade my
Mac Book Pro** from XP Home to Vista so I can help my wife with her business,
working on shared files and Office 07 stuff.

Problem... Vista won't read or write to shared drives or folders on XP Home.
Some security requirement for user id and password... meaning I at least need
XP Pro for the older Dell I'm using basically as a file server.

Through my employer's discount purchase plan with MS, I can get XP Pro for
$129 or Vista Home Premium for $99 (both upgrades). Vista Home Basic is not
available via this program, so also $99 at retail.

The Dell computer in question is a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4, 512 RAM (can easily
upgrade if necessary), 250 GB HD (x2). The video card won't support Aero, but
I probably prefer not to have that on this machine anyway.

With Vista, I'll have the latest OS and be good for the foreseeable future.
But, I may sacrifice performance. But I'm just using it for backup, file
storage and printing from various laptops. With XP, it will cost more, miss
out on some Vista features, but maybe better performance???

So, which one do you think I am better off with and why?

Appreciate you guys' and gals' input.

** I don't understand the Mac vs. PC fights. Like have an 06 GTO and 05
Durango HEMI in my garage... I have the best of both worlds. <g>

Well, its not a machine you would be using everyday, like you say, just for
backups. I would go with Windows Vista, with XP support ending in a couple
years might as well get it with Vista and save yourself the trouble when it
comes to support if the need arises. Although its a low priority machine I
would still up the RAM just to improve performance.

Hey, why not just get a Windows Homer Server license instead which is
excellent for backing up multiple machines? You can even set it up to be
remotely logged into over the Internet and maintain?
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog...3DB!9709.entry
"Tom Oviedo" <> wrote in message
news:B1233701-77FA-48BA-BFEF-...
>I have an older Dell computer running XP Home that I'm using to archive
>data,
> photo and video files (C:\) and backup (D:\) for the other computers in my
> home plus I have a shared printer attached.
>
> I've had to buy two new Dell Vista Home Premium notebooks. One for my wife
> for her business and one for my daughter for her birthday. My other
> daughter
> wants a notebook for Christmas (Vista, of course) and I have to upgrade my
> Mac Book Pro** from XP Home to Vista so I can help my wife with her
> business,
> working on shared files and Office 07 stuff.
>
> Problem... Vista won't read or write to shared drives or folders on XP
> Home.
> Some security requirement for user id and password... meaning I at least
> need
> XP Pro for the older Dell I'm using basically as a file server.
>
> Through my employer's discount purchase plan with MS, I can get XP Pro for
> $129 or Vista Home Premium for $99 (both upgrades). Vista Home Basic is
> not
> available via this program, so also $99 at retail.
>
> The Dell computer in question is a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4, 512 RAM (can easily
> upgrade if necessary), 250 GB HD (x2). The video card won't support Aero,
> but
> I probably prefer not to have that on this machine anyway.
>
> With Vista, I'll have the latest OS and be good for the foreseeable
> future.
> But, I may sacrifice performance. But I'm just using it for backup, file
> storage and printing from various laptops. With XP, it will cost more,
> miss
> out on some Vista features, but maybe better performance???
>
> So, which one do you think I am better off with and why?
>
> Appreciate you guys' and gals' input.
>
> ** I don't understand the Mac vs. PC fights. Like have an 06 GTO and 05
> Durango HEMI in my garage... I have the best of both worlds. <g>

Vista is crap.. keep away....on your computer with those specs it will run
as fast a frozen mammoth found in siberia.

I suggest you use XP.

If you want files only why dont you install linux that is free and set up a
network with the other pcs?

You can try www.pclinuxos.com that is easy to use



"Tom Oviedo" <> wrote in message
news:B1233701-77FA-48BA-BFEF-...
>I have an older Dell computer running XP Home that I'm using to archive
>data,
> photo and video files (C:\) and backup (D:\) for the other computers in my
> home plus I have a shared printer attached.
>
> I've had to buy two new Dell Vista Home Premium notebooks. One for my wife
> for her business and one for my daughter for her birthday. My other
> daughter
> wants a notebook for Christmas (Vista, of course) and I have to upgrade my
> Mac Book Pro** from XP Home to Vista so I can help my wife with her
> business,
> working on shared files and Office 07 stuff.
>
> Problem... Vista won't read or write to shared drives or folders on XP
> Home.
> Some security requirement for user id and password... meaning I at least
> need
> XP Pro for the older Dell I'm using basically as a file server.
>
> Through my employer's discount purchase plan with MS, I can get XP Pro for
> $129 or Vista Home Premium for $99 (both upgrades). Vista Home Basic is
> not
> available via this program, so also $99 at retail.
>
> The Dell computer in question is a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4, 512 RAM (can easily
> upgrade if necessary), 250 GB HD (x2). The video card won't support Aero,
> but
> I probably prefer not to have that on this machine anyway.
>
> With Vista, I'll have the latest OS and be good for the foreseeable
> future.
> But, I may sacrifice performance. But I'm just using it for backup, file
> storage and printing from various laptops. With XP, it will cost more,
> miss
> out on some Vista features, but maybe better performance???
>
> So, which one do you think I am better off with and why?
>
> Appreciate you guys' and gals' input.
>
> ** I don't understand the Mac vs. PC fights. Like have an 06 GTO and 05
> Durango HEMI in my garage... I have the best of both worlds. <g>

all i know is between win xp pro and vista..i wish i had never seen
vista..you should run not walk if you decide on one of the two and get xp
pro..vista might be ok on a new computer,,that comes with vista..but i bought
this whole version of vista premium and it sucks..its not worth what ever you
can get it for

"Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]" wrote:

> Well, its not a machine you would be using everyday, like you say, just for
> backups. I would go with Windows Vista, with XP support ending in a couple
> years might as well get it with Vista and save yourself the trouble when it
> comes to support if the need arises. Although its a low priority machine I
> would still up the RAM just to improve performance.
>
> Hey, why not just get a Windows Homer Server license instead which is
> excellent for backing up multiple machines? You can even set it up to be
> remotely logged into over the Internet and maintain?
> --
> Andre
> Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
> My Vista Quickstart Guide:
> http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog...3DB!9709.entry
> "Tom Oviedo" <> wrote in message
> news:B1233701-77FA-48BA-BFEF-...
> >I have an older Dell computer running XP Home that I'm using to archive
> >data,
> > photo and video files (C:\) and backup (D:\) for the other computers in my
> > home plus I have a shared printer attached.
> >
> > I've had to buy two new Dell Vista Home Premium notebooks. One for my wife
> > for her business and one for my daughter for her birthday. My other
> > daughter
> > wants a notebook for Christmas (Vista, of course) and I have to upgrade my
> > Mac Book Pro** from XP Home to Vista so I can help my wife with her
> > business,
> > working on shared files and Office 07 stuff.
> >
> > Problem... Vista won't read or write to shared drives or folders on XP
> > Home.
> > Some security requirement for user id and password... meaning I at least
> > need
> > XP Pro for the older Dell I'm using basically as a file server.
> >
> > Through my employer's discount purchase plan with MS, I can get XP Pro for
> > $129 or Vista Home Premium for $99 (both upgrades). Vista Home Basic is
> > not
> > available via this program, so also $99 at retail.
> >
> > The Dell computer in question is a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4, 512 RAM (can easily
> > upgrade if necessary), 250 GB HD (x2). The video card won't support Aero,
> > but
> > I probably prefer not to have that on this machine anyway.
> >
> > With Vista, I'll have the latest OS and be good for the foreseeable
> > future.
> > But, I may sacrifice performance. But I'm just using it for backup, file
> > storage and printing from various laptops. With XP, it will cost more,
> > miss
> > out on some Vista features, but maybe better performance???
> >
> > So, which one do you think I am better off with and why?
> >
> > Appreciate you guys' and gals' input.
> >
> > ** I don't understand the Mac vs. PC fights. Like have an 06 GTO and 05
> > Durango HEMI in my garage... I have the best of both worlds. <g>
>
>
>

Taibear, in case you haven't noticed, this ng is for Vista users, or
those considering using Vista. To date, all your posts have been nothing
more than inflamtory drivel that serves no purpose other than to boost
what can only be the fragile ego of someone with nothing better to do
than blame his shortcomings on others.

I've already learned enough about you to know that when I see your name
on a post, it is sure to be entertaining. But surely you should realize
by now that if you where to use even a fraction of your time complaining
to instead productively use the new OS, then you would no longer have
any reasons to complain.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, thats a given. But yours
are crass and meaningless, and have no basis in fact, and serve no
purpose other than to confuse people who come here looking for an honest
answer.

How many times have we asked you to backyp your claims with hard facts,
and how many times have you ignored this request? You can't provide
facts because you have none.


--
dzomlija

____________________________________
Peter Alexander Dzomlija
Do you hear, huh? The Alpha and The Omega? Death and Rebirth? And as
you die, so shall I be Reborn...

- ASUS A8N32-SLi-Deluxe
- AMD Atlon 64 Dual-Core 4800+
- 4GB DDR400
- ASUS nVidia 6600
- Thermaltake Tai-Chi Watercooled Chassis
- 1207GB Total Formatted Storage
- Vista Ultimate x64
- CodeGear Delphi 2007

On Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:43:01 -0700, Tom Oviedo wrote:

> Problem... Vista won't read or write to shared drives or folders
> on XP Home.

Try logging onto the Guest account on the XP-home machine. Don't ask
me why, but it worked for me.

--
Chris Game

The generation of random numbers is too important to be left
to chance. -Robert R. Coveyou Oak Ridge National Laboratory

In news:B1233701-77FA-48BA-BFEF-,
Tom Oviedo <> wrote:
> I have an older Dell computer running XP Home that I'm using
> to archive data,
> photo and video files (C:\) and backup (D:\) for the other
> computers in my
> home plus I have a shared printer attached.
>
> I've had to buy two new Dell Vista Home Premium notebooks.
> One for my wife
> for her business and one for my daughter for her birthday. My
> other daughter
> wants a notebook for Christmas (Vista, of course) and I have
> to upgrade my
> Mac Book Pro** from XP Home to Vista so I can help my wife
> with her business,
> working on shared files and Office 07 stuff.
>
> Problem... Vista won't read or write to shared drives or
> folders on XP Home.
> Some security requirement for user id and password... meaning
> I at least need
> XP Pro for the older Dell I'm using basically as a file
> server.
>
> Through my employer's discount purchase plan with MS, I can
> get XP Pro for
> $129 or Vista Home Premium for $99 (both upgrades). Vista
> Home Basic is not
> available via this program, so also $99 at retail.
>
> The Dell computer in question is a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4, 512 RAM
> (can easily
> upgrade if necessary), 250 GB HD (x2). The video card won't
> support Aero, but
> I probably prefer not to have that on this machine anyway.
>
> With Vista, I'll have the latest OS and be good for the
> foreseeable future.
> But, I may sacrifice performance. But I'm just using it for
> backup, file
> storage and printing from various laptops. With XP, it will
> cost more, miss
> out on some Vista features, but maybe better performance???
>
> So, which one do you think I am better off with and why?
>
> Appreciate you guys' and gals' input.
>
> ** I don't understand the Mac vs. PC fights. Like have an 06
> GTO and 05
> Durango HEMI in my garage... I have the best of both worlds.
> <g>

It's your money, but maybe you ought to try fixing your
networking issue before running out and buying an OS upgrade.
I've no problem accessing shared folders on an XP Home Edition
system from a computer running Vista Home Premium.

You might want to post a question to the XP networking
newsgroup if you're looking for help with this problem. Provide
as many details as possible including the exact text of any
error messages that are displayed.

Meanwhile, you can check on the following;

On the XP Home system go to Start -> Run and enter cmd.exe in
the Open box.
Click OK.
At the command prompt, enter the following command.

net user guest

Look next to Account active. It should say yes.
If it says no, enter the following command.

net user guest /active:yes

Good luck

Nepatsfan

I'd look at Windows Home Server.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...r/default.mspx

http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-CCQ-...2717983&sr=8-2

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca


"Tom Oviedo" <> wrote in message
news:B1233701-77FA-48BA-BFEF-...
>I have an older Dell computer running XP Home that I'm using to archive
>data,
> photo and video files (C:\) and backup (D:\) for the other computers in my
> home plus I have a shared printer attached.
>
> I've had to buy two new Dell Vista Home Premium notebooks. One for my wife
> for her business and one for my daughter for her birthday. My other
> daughter
> wants a notebook for Christmas (Vista, of course) and I have to upgrade my
> Mac Book Pro** from XP Home to Vista so I can help my wife with her
> business,
> working on shared files and Office 07 stuff.
>
> Problem... Vista won't read or write to shared drives or folders on XP
> Home.
> Some security requirement for user id and password... meaning I at least
> need
> XP Pro for the older Dell I'm using basically as a file server.
>
> Through my employer's discount purchase plan with MS, I can get XP Pro for
> $129 or Vista Home Premium for $99 (both upgrades). Vista Home Basic is
> not
> available via this program, so also $99 at retail.
>
> The Dell computer in question is a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4, 512 RAM (can easily
> upgrade if necessary), 250 GB HD (x2). The video card won't support Aero,
> but
> I probably prefer not to have that on this machine anyway.
>
> With Vista, I'll have the latest OS and be good for the foreseeable
> future.
> But, I may sacrifice performance. But I'm just using it for backup, file
> storage and printing from various laptops. With XP, it will cost more,
> miss
> out on some Vista features, but maybe better performance???
>
> So, which one do you think I am better off with and why?
>
> Appreciate you guys' and gals' input.
>
> ** I don't understand the Mac vs. PC fights. Like have an 06 GTO and 05
> Durango HEMI in my garage... I have the best of both worlds. <g>

Boost ego? Lol you got to be kidding.. My posts are all about vista. Most of
the time I bash it because its crap...
Who made you net-nanny to say what other peoples opinions should be?
I also help people with problems in here....

> by now that if you where to use even a fraction of your time complaining
> to instead productively use the new OS

I am a master of Vista. If vista was good I would not have a reason to say a
single bad word.
I don't go to XP or other OS's newsgroups to complain. Why do you think I am
bashing vista?
IT DESERVES EVERY INSULT I CAN INVENT!
Its not me who cannot harness da monster. It is the simple folk that I care
about.

> How many times have we asked you to backyp your claims with hard facts,
> and how many times have you ignored this request? You can't provide
> facts because you have none.

Oh ... dont be so sure about that... I have explained for more than 14
months now why vista is horrible.
You are new here.. but even some of the regulars like frank still have no
clue because they ignore what I say. Blind on purpose? Heck yeah!
If I do it the way it must be done in order to prove what I claim, then it
would create much chaos, havoc,
and it would do real harm to Microsoft. It would create flamewars and
endless discussions that would not do anything really
to help anyone.

If I was to do the above I would do it so well everyone would see how crap
vista is. But I dont want to do real harm...
I am actually trying to NOT stir up too much controversy!

So stop asking for proof! Just take my word for it.

>no purpose other than to confuse people who come here looking for an honest
> answer.

You got to be kidding right? I give the best possible advice! AVOID VISTA!!!
Its simple advice and it works. If you have vista, format and go back to an
OS that works.
If you cant do that and you are stuck with vista.. then I will assist you
with vista. If you LOVE vista, you are stupid.

I think it simple.. you will learn with time.



"dzomlija" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Taibear, in case you haven't noticed, this ng is for Vista users, or
> those considering using Vista. To date, all your posts have been nothing
> more than inflamtory drivel that serves no purpose other than to boost
> what can only be the fragile ego of someone with nothing better to do
> than blame his shortcomings on others.
>
> I've already learned enough about you to know that when I see your name
> on a post, it is sure to be entertaining. But surely you should realize
> by now that if you where to use even a fraction of your time complaining
> to instead productively use the new OS, then you would no longer have
> any reasons to complain.
>
> Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, thats a given. But yours
> are crass and meaningless, and have no basis in fact, and serve no
> purpose other than to confuse people who come here looking for an honest
> answer.
>
> How many times have we asked you to backyp your claims with hard facts,
> and how many times have you ignored this request? You can't provide
> facts because you have none.
>
>
> --
> dzomlija
>
> ____________________________________
> Peter Alexander Dzomlija
> Do you hear, huh? The Alpha and The Omega? Death and Rebirth? And as
> you die, so shall I be Reborn...
>
> - ASUS A8N32-SLi-Deluxe
> - AMD Atlon 64 Dual-Core 4800+
> - 4GB DDR400
> - ASUS nVidia 6600
> - Thermaltake Tai-Chi Watercooled Chassis
> - 1207GB Total Formatted Storage
> - Vista Ultimate x64
> - CodeGear Delphi 2007

Thanks for the input. I'm leaning that direction (Vista). I just don't want
to have it run so slowly on this machine that it's frustrating or barely
usable. On the other hand, XP Pro may run better and I can buy Home Server in
a year or two.

By the way, Home Server per MS website is not just software. It's hardware,
too, both integrated and not available until end 2007.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...erver/buy.mspx

Appreciate the help.

"Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]" wrote:

> Well, its not a machine you would be using everyday, like you say, just for
> backups. I would go with Windows Vista, with XP support ending in a couple
> years might as well get it with Vista and save yourself the trouble when it
> comes to support if the need arises. Although its a low priority machine I
> would still up the RAM just to improve performance.
>
> Hey, why not just get a Windows Homer Server license instead which is
> excellent for backing up multiple machines? You can even set it up to be
> remotely logged into over the Internet and maintain?
> --
> Andre
> Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
> My Vista Quickstart Guide:
> http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog...3DB!9709.entry
> "Tom Oviedo" <> wrote in message
> news:B1233701-77FA-48BA-BFEF-...
> >I have an older Dell computer running XP Home that I'm using to archive
> >data,
> > photo and video files (C:\) and backup (D:\) for the other computers in my
> > home plus I have a shared printer attached.
> >
> > I've had to buy two new Dell Vista Home Premium notebooks. One for my wife
> > for her business and one for my daughter for her birthday. My other
> > daughter
> > wants a notebook for Christmas (Vista, of course) and I have to upgrade my
> > Mac Book Pro** from XP Home to Vista so I can help my wife with her
> > business,
> > working on shared files and Office 07 stuff.
> >
> > Problem... Vista won't read or write to shared drives or folders on XP
> > Home.
> > Some security requirement for user id and password... meaning I at least
> > need
> > XP Pro for the older Dell I'm using basically as a file server.
> >
> > Through my employer's discount purchase plan with MS, I can get XP Pro for
> > $129 or Vista Home Premium for $99 (both upgrades). Vista Home Basic is
> > not
> > available via this program, so also $99 at retail.
> >
> > The Dell computer in question is a 1.8 GHz Pentium 4, 512 RAM (can easily
> > upgrade if necessary), 250 GB HD (x2). The video card won't support Aero,
> > but
> > I probably prefer not to have that on this machine anyway.
> >
> > With Vista, I'll have the latest OS and be good for the foreseeable
> > future.
> > But, I may sacrifice performance. But I'm just using it for backup, file
> > storage and printing from various laptops. With XP, it will cost more,
> > miss
> > out on some Vista features, but maybe better performance???
> >
> > So, which one do you think I am better off with and why?
> >
> > Appreciate you guys' and gals' input.
> >
> > ** I don't understand the Mac vs. PC fights. Like have an 06 GTO and 05
> > Durango HEMI in my garage... I have the best of both worlds. <g>
>
>
>