Which OS to upgrade to?

[kpm547]

My church is looking to upgrade its OS from windows ME because they have had notheing but problems with it. Someone is advising them to upgrade to windowsXP Professional. Is this the smartest move or is it wiser to go to Windows 2000. What is the standard for businesses these days.

They only have a small network with approximately computers on it and no server. They are looking for added security and reliability.Their computers are a couple of years old (they came with WindowsME), but I don't know the system specs. Will WindowsXP bog down their computers more than windows2000?

Also, as they are a church and do not have a lot of cash, are you able to upgrade to windows2000 from windowsME or do you have to start fresh with a full version?

Thanks for you comments.

[crossedup]

If your worried about it bogging down and its running ME now you might as well go with W2K, its a bit more forgiving. Little cheaper than XP pro as well but the differance there is not great. The minumum specs for W2K are a bit lower.

saveateagle (http://saveateaglestore.site.yahoo.net/micwin20proa.html)

Theres a link for a good price on W2K, just notice that the cheapest prices are for a license only, that means no CD, just the sticker. To save a little money if you have multiple pc's you could just buy one full version with the cd and a bunch of cheaper licenses.

As for upgrading, the battle over that has been waged in threads here before. I believe it was finally just about agreed that from ME to W2K not the best idea.

If I can find that thread I will post a link.

[crossedup]

Found it.

ME to 2000 (http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=152270&highlight=windows+ME+upgrade)

Got a good link in it to M$ as well, maybe that will help you decide. Just remember they always ere on the side of caution. Just because they say it doesnt work doesnt mean that it doesnt. Just means its not supported or covered if it doesnt.

:t

[kpm547]

thanks crossedup.

[BipolarBill]

Well, you can't upgrade from ME to 2000 because ME was released after 2000 was. Hence, Win2000 doesn't recogniize ME as an upgradable version.

You can upgrade to XP easily, but motherboard BIOSes must be updated and more RAM may be needed - XP needs a bit more horsepower.

I would recommend clean-installing Windows 2000.