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I'll tell you what you can do if you want to stick with Windows.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

Solving the Windows dilemma, Part 1: Common-sense choices


May 21, 2000

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, The Syracuse Newspapers

   You don't have to give up on Windows.
   If you're fed up with the way Windows misbehaves or if you're exasperated at the way Windows invites viruses into your computer, you don't have to jump ship. You can fix some of the problems of Windows yourself.
   In a series of articles, I'll tell you what you can do if you want to stick with Windows, and I'll explain the advantages and drawbacks of getting rid of Windows entirely.
   You have other options, too, including switching to another operating system, the software that runs your computer. The ultimate choice, perhaps, is to switch to another kind of computer so that you no longer have a PC or Windows.
   Here are your basic choices:
   1. Stick with Windows 95 or Windows 98. Make Windows behave as much as possible and do what you can to cut down on lockups, crashes and virus attacks.
   Pros: Doesn't cost much. You'd still have a Windows PC. Your current programs would run the same way, and you wouldn't have to learn anything new. Your games (or the kids' games) will run fine.
   Cons: Windows 95 and 98 can't really be fixed. They're designed badly, and Microsoft itself has given up on fixing them. You'd still have problems, sometimes major ones. And you'd still be stuck dealing with Microsoft's holier-than-everybody-else attitude when you need help.
   Summary: An easy way to deal with some of the problems of Windows. Look for that article next week.
   2. Switch to Windows 2000.
   Pros: Won't crash in normal use. Most of your current Windows programs (but not games) will run OK. You won't have to learn a lot of new things.
   Cons: Expensive -- $200 or more for the full version (which lists for $320). Windows 2000 also needs a lot of PC memory (RAM), probably 128 megabytes. Don't believe Microsoft's claim that 64 megabytes is enough. Microsoft is the same company that said Windows 95 would run on 4 megabytes of RAM. The computer processor (CPU) needs to be reasonably fast, too (233 Mhz or higher).
   More bad news: Windows 2000 won't run most Windows games and entertainment programs. You might not even be able to use your printer with Windows 2000. (I can't use mine, and it's not an unusual model.) You might have a problem getting your video card to work.
   Still more bad news: Windows 2000 is just as vulnerable to virus attacks as Windows 95 and Windows 98 are.
   Summary: If you need to stick with Windows and your PC has a lot of memory -- and if you know that your programs and peripherals will work under Windows 2000 -- this is the best way of running Windows. I'll describe Windows 2000's plusses and minuses in detail the week after next.
   3. Turn off your PC or give it to your nephew and buy a Mac. Apple's Macintosh was once a wimpy excuse for a real computer, but it's a fast and friendly way to get things done now.
   Pros: Macs are reliable and amazingly easy to use. They're not expensive either, starting at about $1,000 for a full system if you get an iMac. (And iMac computers have their monitors built in, so the price includes the monitor and everything else you need. PC prices usually do not include the monitor.)
   Cons: You'd have to learn new things, and your Windows software won't run. (You can run Windows programs if you get Virtual PC, a program that makes the Mac run Windows. It's a bad way of running Windows unless you REALLY have to do it.)
   Summary: The simplest way of getting out from under Windows. I'll explain this in detail in the third article.
   4. Add a different operating system to your PC alongside Windows. You'd have a choice of the alternative operating system or Windows each time you booted up. You could still use Windows for such programs as Quicken and for Windows games. The alternative operating system would be Linux or the Be operating system.
   Pros: No crashing, no viruses. If you avoid Windows when you are browsing the Web and doing e-mail, you have guaranteed safety from viruses that take advantage of Microsoft's security holes, too. But you could still run Windows at any time. You don't need to buy a completely new computer; you just change the software.
   Cons: Putting both an alternative operating system and Windows on the same PC eats up a lot of disk space. Don't do it unless you have many gigabytes of free space available.
   Summary: Best of both worlds, but only if you really need that Windows security blanket.
   5. Install an alternative operating system in place of Windows.
   Pros: Bye-bye to Microsoft, viruses and crashes. You free up disk space that would have been needed for a dual installation of Windows plus an alternative operating system. You feel better about yourself.
   Cons: You can't run Windows software except through emulation. (Linux will run Windows programs, but if you really need to run more than two or three Windows programs you should stick to Option No. 4. The BeOS will run some Windows programs, maybe; the emulator does not work well yet.)
   Summary: Life at the edge, minus Microsoft madness.
   Next: Making Windows behave better.