The OS of your choice.

[Broni]

1. Vista
2. 2K Pro
3. Win 98 (I still like it a lot).

[dairyman]

3. Win 98 (I still like it a lot).

I think it is good. I think Microsoft should give support for users with Windows 98.

[Broni]

Win 98 stability was questionable for regular users, but I used Win 98 for many years, and with proper housekeeping, I've never had a crash. I reinstalled Win 2K twice (over the top). Vista, not yet (only 1 month old system), but I used System Restore couple of times (I admit, pretty heavy "traffic" on this one).

[dairyman]

Vista, not yet (only 1 month old system), but I used System Restore couple of times (I admit, pretty heavy "traffic" on this one).

Vista is full of bugs. I'm sticking with XP for good.

[Zylstra]

Vista, not yet (only 1 month old system), but I used System Restore couple of times (I admit, pretty heavy "traffic" on this one).

Vista is full of bugs. I'm sticking with XP for good.

Thats a questionable statement.

[Broni]

Vista is full of bugs

Probably, but let's wait for SP1.

[Zylstra]

Vista is full of bugs

Probably, but let's wait for SP1.

... questionable

If you are going to say its bad, you have to back it up.

How is it full of bugs? It seems that most of the people who trash Vista have no reason other than "resource hog" that turns out to be valid.

Please consider why Vista is not a resource hog:
When XP came out, 1GB was considered higher-end hardware. Many laptops could only support 512MB. The same follows for processors. What did the average home computer have?

When Windows 3.1 came out, it recommended 4MB of RAM, with the system minimum of 2MB of RAM. Recall: Windows can only handle so much RAM. 64Bit versions of Windows XP/Vista (Professional/Ultimate) can handle a max of 128GB of RAM, non-home 64-bit editions could handle up to 8GB of RAM.
8GB of RAM, 4GB for home users. Vista Home Premium recommends 1GB of RAM. In truth, it requires half of that. XP Requires 128MB of RAM (but can be run on even lower requirements)
Our computers can handle more now, therefor, we can get resource hog operating systems.

Sure, you can run the older OS on a brand new computer. Windows 3.1 will startup in about 3 seconds on a 266MHz computer with 98MB of RAM, even if it cant allocate half the RAM it has avaliable.
I truly believe that the same argument will restart when the next version of Windows come out. People will say to stay with Vista... after all, Microsoft is a company, trying to make money.

[dairyman]

I didn't mean that all of it was bad, the "eye candy" looks great, and third-party software companies are already designing programs for Vista. Grisoft has created AVG Free Edition for Vista. The new start menu is MUCH useful. Why go looking through the whole start menu muttering "where has that ****ing file gone" when you can just type in a few keywords? I don't know anything else about Vista since I use XP, but look forward to trying it.

[patio]

Dusty
How does DOS 7.1 handle USB  devices ? ?
Curious.

[michaewlewis]

And then there's linux. You can run it on a system with a 166MHz CPU, 8MB RAM, and 100MB HDD space (or less) and still be useful. On the flip side, linux can work insanely perfect with at least 4 quad core CPUs, +128GB RAM (not sure where it's at now), and ∞TB hdd space. It comes with few features (pocket linux) or tons of features (opensuse).

[Zylstra]

Linux runs horribly on a computer like what you described with a good desktop environment installed though, MichaelLewis, unless you are just running the terminal...

I guess it depends on what you need

[Comp Guy]

I use Vista, and I like it. The thing that really annoys me though is the administrator privliges thing that ALWAYS pops up!

[Zylstra]

I use Vista, and I like it. The thing that really annoys me though is the administrator privliges thing that ALWAYS pops up!

Disable it...

Get to the Run dialog box, and type:
msconfig

Then, make your way over to the Tools tab. Run "Disable UAC"
And your done

[michaewlewis]

Linux runs horribly on a computer like what you described with a good desktop environment installed though, MichaelLewis, unless you are just running the terminal...

I guess it depends on what you need

If all you need is a firewall, then it's perfect. Actually right now, I'm refitting an old laptop to be a digital picture frame. Specs are 266 MHz cpu & 256mb ram. I've got Zenwalk installed so far, and the built in slideshow is running through the pics flawlessly and the cpu isn't getting hot hardly at all. It's using gnome for the window manager.

[Broni]

Disable it...

Here we go