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Find Out What XP Needs

Microsoft's department of Eternal Optimism reports that the minimum system requirements for running Windows XP are 1.5GB of free disk space, 64MB of RAM, and an Intel or AMD CPU running at 233 MHz or faster. Yeah, right.

Though XP will run on a PC using a Pentium II-233 CPU, you'll have plenty of time to practice your deep breathing exercises between each mouse click. If your inner peace depends more on jolts of caffeine than on the soothing waves of a mantra, you'll need at least a 600-MHz Pentium III CPU or its equivalent. Anything less will feel sluggish running XP.

PC Pitstop's Windows XP Readiness Test evaluates your PC's CPU, memory, BIOS, hard drive, and graphics card (see FIGURE 1).

If your CPU fails the readiness test, adding more RAM will probably earn your PC a passing grade faster and less expensively than a CPU upgrade would. But if your CPU falls far short, you'll have to upgrade your CPU and/or motherboard, which is time-consuming and expensive. Before you embark on this course, however, you should carefully weigh the effort and expense against the cost of a new PC that ships with XP.

If your CPU is strong enough, but your other hardware components flunk, upgrading them can be worthwhile.

BIOS: Check your system's BIOS to make sure it's suitable for XP. The BIOS in PCs that are more than three years old may not support XP's power-management functions. The Windows XP Readiness Test will tell you whether your BIOS is recent enough, but it's a good idea to check with your system or motherboard manufacturer to confirm compatibility.

If your BIOS isn't up to the task of running XP, look for a BIOS upgrade on the manufacturer's Web site. Also check Wim's BIOS for more information on all things BIOS.

Hard drive: You can free up disk space on your hard drive by moving your data and applications to a second hard drive. A drive that stores 40GB or more costs less than $80. On the other hand, for just a bit more money, offload extra data to a rewritable DVD drive. Remember to back up all your data files before you upgrade.

Memory: Adding more RAM is usually the most cost-effective upgrade you can make to improve Windows XP's performance. Forget running Windows XP on 64MB of RAM, though; 128MB is the bare minimum. And if you run your e-mail, browser, PIM, and other programs at the same time, you'll need at least 256MB of RAM. Power users will find getting 512MB (or more) of RAM worth the investment.