Newbie - hence Silly question

[Sc0tt8]

Hi guys,

sorry to bother you all, but i have a problem.

I've recently bought a PC to take apart & then re-build but i've got a problem with regards to the operating system..

Once i have re-formatted the hard drive i will need to install an OS (preferably Windows 2000) but i don't know what the best thing to do is..

I don't want to purchase a full copy because it will cost me a small fortune & as it's only going to be a computer to mess about with?

So that's my problem.. What shall i do for an OS?

Thanks for your help guys.

Scott

[W1zzard]

microsoft has time limited trial versions of their operating systems for demonstration purposes .. if you will reinstall the os after some time anyways i think you should be fine by using those

[stordoff]

Linux

it's free
for a beginner, i recommend mandriva. Google it

[Sc0tt8]

Ok cheers,

If i was to use either Microsoft Trial or Linux, i take it i'd have to dowload it to a CD first and then use it as my boot disk?

[stordoff]

yeh,
you can run linux from the CD without having to install if you need to

[wazzledoozle]

yeh,
you can run linux from the CD without having to install if you need to
Knoppix is great for that

[Jimmy 2004]

There are also loads of sites where you can buy the CDs for under £10 or $10, whichever you like as they are just copies that have been donwloaded and burnt to a CD. One great thing about linux is open office which does everything you NEED for an office product, and is free for both windows and linux. Linux can do everything you need document wise, but is not great for games (except for the plenty of small free ones that come with it).

[AMDCam]

Well if you do your trial thing, here's a great alternative (although not legal), use a P2P program and download any version of windows you want. I'll only tell you guys one thing since I don't use that hard drive anymore and I don't want to have you guys somehow get me in trouble- I downloaded Windows XP Pro (upgrade) and a keygen and once it's on a CD it self-extracts and everything. I upgraded from XP Home but you can from any OS. You can get full versions too. If you need more information just ask, but I'm pretty sure most of the people on this site know about that too. Hopefully this isn't against site rules, I mean I was just trying to help a guy out. Good luck anyway though Scott

[W1zzard]

no warez talk here.

downloading copyrighted material is illegal no matter where you get it from, whether you pay some illegal copying company for it, just download it for trial purposes or didn't know.