Dell Laptop & O.S. Upgrade

chaz

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HI my wife owns a Dell inspron 1300 it is quite a few years old but still works expect the hard drive went T*TS up I will have no trouble getting new hard drive for it. But the downside is we have lost the OS which was XP What I want to do is get a replacement hard drive and getting it to work again and give it to my handicapped/ Autistic Spectrum Son to use but the big downside is i have lost the original XP discs and the old hard drive we broke it up. I have looked on e bay to see if I can get a full XP disc but they are quite expensive. But what i do have is Windows 7 64bit &32 bit now i use the 64 bit but have the 32 one spare could i use this on the dell or is that windows 7 to powerful for the old Dell
 
That particular model of Dell says it would have come with 512MB RAM which is a little too low for putting 7 on it. Plus if you have already installed the 64 bit version on another machine, then the the code is already in use. Do you have the COA (Windows XP key code sticker) still in tact on the bottom of the Dell? I'm guessing it's probably XP Home that was on the machine. If you still have the key and let us know the version of XP I'll point you in the right direction.
 
Thanks for replying so quick I upgraded the ram on this model to its max Which I think is 2MB Ram. The Edition is Windows XP home edition & I do have the Product Key
 
Hi chaz, you may find it difficult to obtain a download of XP now, there are 'Torrent' web sites there still do it, but really they should be avoided (they can be dodgy!). You have 2 reasonable options as I see it, the first is to contact Dell support and see if they can help you with a disk or the better idea is to place a wanted ad in the classifieds here and ask if someone can loan you a disk with you paying the postage cost.
 
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Win 7 might be okay with 512MB if you turn off some of the visual eye candy.
* Go to control panel\system
* Go to advanced system properties
* Click advanced tab and under peformance click settings then tick the box for adjust for best performance.

This removes some of the graphical effects of windows.

It's not a good idea to have WinXP on any computer that connects to the Internet, it will be asking for trouble as it's no longer secure.

Windows 8 is actually a better option for older computers than Windows 7 as it has lower system requirements so it should run better on the older laptop.
 
What about vista But I need to get it cheap what is the best way of trying to get this without being a Pirate
 
With 2GB RAM Win 7 should work fine however I would still tweak and turn off visuals etc if putting it on that laptop. I wouldn't rule out XP and I think it not being secure is all a bit of hype. Most remote attacks would target the other software on a standard user end computer and not the OS. Usually vulnerabilities in the browser, adobe reader, flash...etc... You can use Chrome/FireFox, tweak and turn off any server side services in XP too be extra secure if you really wanted to. The real problem would be in local attacks where a piece of software has been downloaded/executed. It would then make it easier on an unpatched system to gain admin privileges and do nasty stuff! But I would hope the user would be using a capable enough AV to stop this.

Anyways, if you want to go the XP route I can upload and send you a link of an ISO image Dell Windows XP Home disc... You can then use to install and enter your own product key.
 
THat is Great YES PLEASE!!
 
Vista is the worst option, very slow.

Generally the problem with security and maintenance is the human part sitting between the chair and the PC, you can use XP if you know what your doing but looking at it from others perspectives it would be a bad choice.

Would you say your disabled son is someone who can can take care of the PC, anti-virus doesnt stop all malware and users who blindly install apps are the sure fire way to get infected with nasty stuff.

If the answer is no at least with win 7 you can put him on a limited account which can limit the damage from blindly installing anything, win 7 can use microsoft secuirty essentials anti-virus for free & combined with malware-bytes is a much more secure platform then XP and the laptop is less likely to be compromised by malware slowing the system down and doing other things.
 
Hi next I am sold is there a cheap version i can get though
 
You said earlier you have Win 7 32-bit spare ?

Win 7/8.1 typically retail for around £70 (OEM version) you can get on Dabs or Scan, no clue were to get cheaper. You can get student versions of Windows 8.1 for £49 but must provide a valid student I.D. to claim the discounted version.

What you could also do is buy the upgrade for Windows 8.1 for yourself if it would help out those USB3 problems you were having (as Win 8 natively supports USB3) and then re-use the Windows 7 from your PC on the laptop.
 
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Thanks Next I have the limit if memory in the computer which i think is 2 meg for that model of dell what sort of size of hard drive should i get so windows 7 will run ok. I think my son will want only a bit of music on there but what i will know is he will want to put a load football stuff on there. As being partially autistic he fill his brain with facts about all sports he could tell you any score in any match in any year and thats just the football so he writes pages and pages of things he hears in football writing all the scores down the thing its costing a fortune in paper & pencils is there some sort of software i can buy him that helps with the sort of thing he is interested in anything to do with football which his is main love facts figures league I was also thinking also a pc game that makes you a football manger control of the leagues players etc but nothing like where you got to use a control stick as his motion skills are not very good. something you type in or use a mouse would be fine. just to add Next I am still having a teething problems with my new set up but more of that latter
 
Hard drive size doesn't matter just get the most cost effective probably 500gb, you could just use text document that's built in with windows, or download the free open office.
 
Thanks
 
Thanks Next I have the limit if memory in the computer which i think is 2 meg for that model of dell what sort of size of hard drive should i get so windows 7 will run ok. I think my son will want only a bit of music on there but what i will know is he will want to put a load football stuff on there. As being partially autistic he fill his brain with facts about all sports he could tell you any score in any match in any year and thats just the football so he writes pages and pages of things he hears in football writing all the scores down the thing its costing a fortune in paper & pencils is there some sort of software i can buy him that helps with the sort of thing he is interested in anything to do with football which his is main love facts figures league I was also thinking also a pc game that makes you a football manger control of the leagues players etc but nothing like where you got to use a control stick as his motion skills are not very good. something you type in or use a mouse would be fine. just to add Next I am still having a teething problems with my new set up but more of that latter
Championship Manager 0102 may be ideal for your boy (also believe it can still be downloaded for free). Quite 'statty' but nowhere near as involved as the latest versions. Bonus is they are still providing season updates. I think it has to be copied onto a blank disc to work though
 
Thank you very much for that but where do I find this to dowload thanks
 

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