Hi~ I'm running LS on a Win98 machine after a clean format and reinstall, and while I love LS's functionality and look, it actually seems to run slower than Explorer. Windows take time to open/close, programs load slowly, switching between tasks is slow, etc. I'm thinking of upgrading to XP, thus I have two questions:

1) Should I uninstall LS before upgrading and then reinstall it, or will it be okay to simply install XP on top of 98 and go?

2) Would I see any increase in stability/performance/memory management running LS under XP, or would there be no difference?

Thanks!

you never want to upgrade an operating system.

1) The config between XP and 98 are different so it really won't matter in the end.

2) LS can be all of those things depending on how you configure it.

I have to agree with DeViLbOi...don't ever upgrade you OS. Just reformat and install WinXP. :)

[offtopic]
rrrrrrrrrhhhhhhmmmmm... what's a [censored] passion to format your hard drive? is it too hard to just remove Windows' folder? it became a tradition - to format the disk before reinstall, and it is too hard to explain to noobs that they can reinstall the system without all data erasing - because "much more advanced neighbour Vasily say that they must format a sole disk". please, stop to promote this [censored] way.
[/offtopic]

and about theme...
Explorer loads some system dynamic libraries, which can be used by some applications, so the loading of these apps is faster... but I don't think that there is ACTUAL difference...
Shell doesn't operate the memory or the CPU usage of other apps - it is only an application to display the control elements...
Some of your modules just eat your CPU - there is no other way...
Try to unload some of them and check the performance...

if you merely upgrade an OS you have a lot of settings in the registry and dll's in the system folder that will mess up the new OS. you can upgrade an OS however, you will in the end pay the ultimate price for that. as almost a defacto standard I format my system drive about once every 6 months. you may say i am crazy, but I can assure you that my OS is stable and fast without any version conflicts.

No, I want to say another fact - it isn't necessary to FORMAT the system disk - for these purposes it is enough to erase Windows folder. Am i right? Why people like to use FORMAT?

inform-sega:
- How do you erase C:\Windows folder on an NTFS system ?
...and don't say: "there's no need to use to NTFS..."
- As DeViLbOi said, it's a good thing to FORMAT Windows system drive. In fact, the system partition. With actual high capacity HD, I don't understand why people still use only ONE partition and put everything on it.
- I restore my system about one time per month (with solution like ghost or drive image) and I think (like DeViLbOi) that it's the only way to have a clean, stable and performant system...

If you just delete your windows folder, which some of it you can not due to file restrictions, many applictions in your Program Files folder will not run because they are dependent on registry keys. By formatting the drive and reinstalling all applications, or restoring from drive image, you get a clean, well performing, drive.

And in case you were wondering from Smurth's comments, my main system drive is about 1G depending on the OS I install.

hehe , I guess u all format/reinstall way too much . My windows XP is already 1 whole year installed on my pc :p . And I think it's even faster then 10 months ago coz I do every tweak I c on the net :) and registry , dll , temp file deleters/cleaners really work !! ;)

I don't have any hassle due to formatting , ....

I just create a system partition for the OS and Programs, and a personal partition for all my files ducuments/media/pictures/downloads etc.. And then all I need to do is reformat the system partition and install the OS and Programs, it only takes me a few hours to complete. I like to do this about every six months, and I do a reformat of the whole drive about onece a year, no mater how well you maintain your system through maintanance routines you data will slowly degrade or decay over time, and you will need to reformat and reinstall. But this all really boils down to personal taaste, I'm a bit fanatical about my system, and I think this seems to work for me, though these are old habits they're hard to break. Let the formating begin...Let's get ready to format. hehe :) oh well now I'm just rambling on. :)

1) FAT is for mammoth. But ntfs4dos works fine...
2) "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" folders can be removed too... It doesn't matter, how to perform this action - with formatting or with personal deleting...