At some point, you start running into more things that just won't run on an OS, particularly high-end computer busters like Solidworks, which was the main problem with my situation.
Upgrading the OS is the cheapest solution for me right now. Most older software that isn't so deep into the engine has been pretty good about following me up the ladder from Win95 so far.
I think the main problem with installation was trying to haul too much crap and driver-related USB stuff along with me on a simple upgrade. That, and a bad CD drive.
Unplugging EVERY peripheral is a good idea on a clean install, so as not to confuse things. Once it's all stable, you can plug things in one at a time and see if there are driver issues. Windows comes with vanilla drivers for an amazing amount of stuff, so see what happens before installing any fancier drivers, unless you need more features.
Geek Speak » in reply to Taking the shiv...
re: Taking the shiv...