What is wrong with my computer? Windows XP works like CRAP? Should I upgrade to Vista?

Question

I can no longer get a new XP CD from Microsoft and my xp cd was lost when moving. XP is terribly sluggish and has been popping up tons of spam windows and often shows the BLUE SCREEN error and reboots.

It has a 2.4ghz AMD Athlon 64 processor and originally had 2gb of ram which I added another 2gb of ram to hopefully make it run better (total of 4 ram slots for a max of  8gb) but that just seemed to help the malware. It also has an Nvidia GPU with 512mb of video ram and directx10 support. It has a dvd burner and a SATA HDD with 500 gb plus a 1 terabyte added SSD. It also has an added blue ray burner as well as a Zip drive and an sd card reader as well as both a 5 and a 3 inch floppy drive.

It has a 56k v90 voice fax modem from 3com and a netgear gigabit PCI adapter as well as an added usb 3.0 card with a connected wireless N external antenna.
I will be able to get a burned disc copy of Vista at a pawn shop (they don’t have XP) and wonder if reformatting and installing vista would fix the computer.

I also have a laptop running XP and should I upgrade that to vista as well?

Noah · Answer

Jesus, first of all, vista is a downgrade. Second, clear your drives, reinstall XP and get a good antivirus (I would recommend Kaspersky for a paid one or Avast for a free one).

wings · Answer

XP is outdated. You're best to upgrade to Windows 10.

Nine Lives · Answer

Windows 7 is closest to XP. Win10 is only to play videos and music. Vista is the worst operating system at all.

? · Answer

You should move on, it's already too late for these. Install windows 10. Forgot about these. you are way behind the time.

Spock (rhp) · Answer

there are plenty of .iso disks for Win XP available via internet search

keerok · Answer

Forget Vista. Jump to 7 instead.

Bill-M · Answer

What is wrong with your computer?  Answer = the operator.
You should have upgraded to Windows 10 two years ago.

? · Answer

No. Try to find a copy of W7. If not get rid of it.

thejuice420 · Answer

Windows no longer supports XP, Vista, or 7...and while you can still use them, you are going to run into issues.
Your computer is woefully inadequate (even after your upgrade) for almost everything, even internet browsing on most websites and is slow when compared to even the cheapest smart phones, sad to say.
If you insist on keeping it, I would recommend trying various Linux based operating systems that are open source and free to find one to your liking, but even with user friendly interfaces, it will take some adjusting for inexperienced users.  If not, then buying a new computer would be your best bet as even the cheapest newer models are by far better than your current one.

What is wrong with my computer? Windows XP works like CRAP? Should I upgrade to Vista?

9 Answers