Jerry, One of the most common causes of problems with XP is leaving Win 98 in place and installing XP over Win 98 as an upgdrade. For a variety of reasons, there can be confusion over driver versions and sometimes critical files are missed. All the technical advice sites advise against it and, as I recall, Microsoft also advises against installing XP over Win 98.

With Windows XP, all application programs should be installed from scratch using the original CD. If you use tools that are downloaded from the Net, get new download files from the distribution site. You'll want to be certain you have the latest version of these tools and sometimes the download or install procedure checks your OS and gives you an install tailored to the one you're using.

Take all the files you've created or stored on your computer and copy them to a CD maintaining their original directory structure. Verify that you can read all the files you've saved. Now check your ROM BIOS to be sure your CD drive is in the boot list. (This ensures that you can boot directly from a CD.) Then reformat your hard drive (this erases everything) and, using your XP CDs, install your new OS. Use the NT file system (NTFS), not the file allocation table (FAT). Once you have XP up and running, you can start installing applications. The final step is to copy your files from the CD you made to the proper subdirectory on your new installed OS.

If you aren't comfortable with any of the steps above, take your computer to a shop specializing in support for home users. They can do the whole job for under $100 and perhaps save you a lot of time and heartburn.

You may want to spend some time browsing available tips on the Net. Dell may have a message board where you can read what others have done and learn about any problems they may have had. Good sites for information include:

• 
  
• Bill's Site
  
• Tech Support Guy
  
• JLR Forum.Net
  
• PC Pitstop
  
• Windows Support Center (not a Microsoft site.)
  
• Gibson Research
  

Good luck with your new OS. Once up, I think you'll be glad you made the switch.

      - Mark