You should have gone for Win2K.
Did you buy XP or, did you pirate it?
Win2K is far more secure than ME, and is more stable than XP.
ME uses a DOS kernel which is horribly insecure and unstable.
Win2K is NT5, and has a beter file system. NTFS is journalled, meaning that it keeps a log of your disk operations, if there is a power failure or Windows fucks up (more often the case) you are less likely to loose data.
Linux also uses a journalled file system.
You may not think it, but XP also has one advantage over Win2k, the configuration is also journalled, if you or Windows fucks up the registry, you can restore your system to how it was a yesterday, an hour ago, or even a month ago.
XP also takes up more resources, and has a Play School style user interface.
Boot time is also quicker than the previous versions of Windows.
The major resource hog seems to be the shit theme (don't worry you can turn this off) and the active desktop. This allows HTML files and web pages to be shown on the destop. (you can set your wallpaper to an animated GIF, JPG or an HTML webpage) This "feature" was introduced in Win98 and can be disabled in all other versions except for XP. Very few people actually use this "feature" but MS in their infinite wisdom has forced it up on everyone.
I use Windows XP, and like you, want to adopt Linux or get a Mac. My advice to you is read up on Linux, and check out the
Linux hardware compatibility list, before spending any money.
Setting up Linux can vary from retardly simple to fucktardedly complex, all will depend on your hardware and the distrobution you choose.
What specification is your PC?
Ps:
If you need to put up with Windows (at least for now), install a firewall and anti-virus, and last but not least don't use Internet Explorer.
Use a separate partition or hardrive for all your work, then if you need to reinstall your guaranteed not to loose it.
[ July 20, 2004: Message edited by: Aloone ]
