This thread is from 2004, vista didnt even exist then

u install windows 98 it is the perfect OS for ur desktop....
bye tc..

I think there is no one clear best OS, each does have its advantages and disadvantages, and different people will be best using different ones. Microsoft Windows is the most common OS and is a reasonable choice for most people.

If you are able to pour a little money into the situation, you can probably find a used computer for $40 that is more capable than the one that you've listed. IF there are enough slots and if the motherboard on that system is capable enough, replacing the RAM would be a great step. Replacing or adding a disk would be another great step.

A place like Tiger Direct or NewEgg is a good place to find both inexpensive systems and replacement parts. I got an HP desktop a few years ago with a 2.7 GHz processor and a GB of RAM. I replaced the disk and the CD/DVD unit with inexpensive replacement parts from either Tiger Direct, NewEgg, or some other online retailer, had the parts at my house in a few days for under $100, and I still have that system.

I've bought two or three other systems, none of them new, and I've gotten good mileage out of them, and not one of them was over $500, in fact, most were around half that. With anywhere from a $40 to a $100 investment, I've fixed up a couple of them.

Getting a bare bones kit is not a bad idea either. Tiger Direct sells those all the time. I'm not saying you have to go with them; they are just a common example that I see, where you can get really powerful desktop systems for $2-300 and you can get parts for $40-100 that can really juice up older systems.

Try one or both of those approaches and there will be a lot more stuff that will work on your more powerful system.

Personally, I happen to be a Linux desktop fan. Don't automatically go to a Linux system, but if you are open to taking a completely different approach to what you are doing, take it into consideration as you revamp what you have. One very good scenario is to install a Linux system and then install virtualization software, such as Virtualbox OSE, then you can run Windows from Linux. You can go the other way, too, run Linux systems in a Virtualbox OSE installed on a Windows system. Don't rule either of these out, but don't automatically do that either. Do a bit of homework first and decide what works best for your own needs and interests.

Good luck with your research and your decision!

i think dual booting can consume memory,.
correct me if i'm wrong.

Using either a virtualization or emulation solution, yes, these are definitely memory consumers. In fact, if you have less than 1 GB of available memory, it is not even worth looking into virtualization, because you need 512 MB or more just to run a decent OS, either natively or virtually, so that is only a viable approach if you significantly upgrade both memory and disk resources. I recommend that only if an investment can be made in upgrading hardware or purchasing alternative inexpensive hardware (new, used, or refurbished).

Merely dual booting or multi-booting does not incur any memory penalty whatsoever, however. Having more than one operating system on the same hardware consumes disk space, but it only consumes additional memory resources if you are attempting to concurrently run more than one operating system at the same time using Virtualbox OSE, VMware, KVM as hypervisors, or something like QEMU or WINE to emulate or run another OS from within the OS you are currently using.