[TChris]

As a Windows computer professional, I would recommend you upgrade to XP. If your new motherboard is coming from a regular dealer, tou should be able to get XP with it for OEM price, rather than paying full retail. 98SE drivers are still widely available, so running it with your new hardware won't be too much of a problem. However, some newer hardware, such as USB flash memory, don't work as easily with 98SE as they do with XP.

Windows 98SE is still supported by the majority of software, but the number of applications that won't run on it will only grow as time goes on.

Besides that, XP is simply a much better O/S. It's much more stable, meaning it's not going to crash nearly as often. You'll probably start to really like your computer again with XP on it.

[50sDad]

Considering that this would be another system for me, that is, not replacing the old one right away, I think I may try XP. (I can still use the main one for day-to-day, and set this up as a stand alone until I get the hang of the new OS.)

Do I understand that my OS will be calling Bill Gates and reporting what software I own? Can this be turned off?

I'm really only considering the jump to XP because I inherited a complete system for free that is supposedly crashed on a bad MB. (Hot vidcard, soundcard, memory, 450W power supply, DVDr and CDROMr are all supposed to be good. We'll see...)

[webstersII]

Could you please explain the difference between Windows XP Home and XP Professional?

What about the registration aspect? Any drawbacks with that?

Is Home good enough for most general stuff (email, PowerPoint, Word, web browsing, picture/camera download, etc.) or would you recommend Pro?

Thanks.