New system requirements for Aurora

Aurora's minimum system requirements
In order for your system to support Aurora, you'll need to make sure it meets at least the following requirements:

• Windows 2000, XP Home, or XP Professional
• 1 GHz Pentium III processor or better
• 512 MB of RAM or more
• video card with at least 32 MB RAM
• monitor with at least 800 x 600 screen resolution

Getting the most from Aurora
Just as you don't think in terms of the minimum service you can give your clients, you should instead think about how to cost effectively make sure Aurora performs well.  It doesn't take much of an investment, these days.  In fact, all the specifications below are less than what comes with the low-end systems on the market today.  To get the most from Aurora, we recommend your system meet or exceed the following criteria:

• Windows 2000, XP Home, or XP Professional
• 1.5 GHz Pentium III processor or better
• 1 GB of RAM or more (accommodates background programs like anti-virus and e-mail)
• video card with at least 64 MB RAM
• monitor with at least 1024 x 768 XGA screen resolution

Why Aurora will not support Windows 98, ME, or older systems
To run Aurora, you must have Windows 2000 or XP.  Technology has come a long way since the June of 1998 release of Windows 98.  And according to Microsoft's Product Support Lifecycle policy, which gives each product a "shelf-life" of four years, support for Windows 98 ended June 30, 2002.  This means that not only can you not call Microsoft and get free support for your Windows 98 operating system, but the product is also "as-is".  There are no more updates or patches to keep Windows 98 compatible with newer hardware and software or even secure from vulnerabilities to newer and savvier viruses, worms and spyware.  Windows ME is in much the same situation.  Microsoft retired support for it on December 31, 2003.

The technology behind Windows 98, ME and older systems is outdated.  This is why Microsoft implemented its Product Support Lifecycle policy to begin with.  When technology changes in the way that it does over a 4-year time span, it's best to completely rewrite the code from scratch rather than continuing to add and change code in an existing, less advanced program.  And software development companies like ourselves must create workarounds to force our code to remain compatible with legacy operating systems.  This prevents us from taking advantage of the more stable, secure and advanced technology behind newer operating systems.

According to our records, even when running the current version of WinTOTAL on a Windows 98 or ME system, your tech support calls are four times more likely to be escalated to second tier tech support.  And while 12.3% of all tech calls stem from Windows 98 issues, only 5.4% of our users are running it.  We usually resolve these issues, but they require a lot of research and the solutions are usually workarounds that don't fix the underlying problem — the outdated technology behind Windows 98.  This results in lost time and productivity for you.  And as we all know, time is money.

Even if it weren't for the release of Aurora, upgrading your operating system would be highly recommended if only to give you the additional power, stability, hardware support and security benefits that the newer operating systems provide.  Even without WinTOTAL, the difference in your computer's performance is worth every penny.

Here's what one appraiser had to say about the value of keeping his business computers up to date:

"Seconds count!  If you add up all of the seconds in a year that you waste waiting for a slow computer to respond, you can tally up the pay-back for an updated system quite quickly.  Over a year ago I opted for a faster OS.  After I realized how much time I was saving, I ordered the same new computer for my support staff because even the time/cost of their waiting for a slow system will be paid back in less than a year!  Get XP my fellow professionals!!  Hardware is a real bargain these days."

— Bobb Lawrence, Lawrence Appraisal Group Hawaii, Inc.

Some facts about how far we've come
The idea of upgrading your system and your appraisal software may be daunting, and you may feel it's unnecessary.  But we've come so far since the release of Windows 98 and WinTOTAL Athena — technologically and as a culture.  Here are some facts just to keep it in perspective:

• If you had a child born in 1998, he or she would be in first grade now.
• If you bought a new car in 1998, chances are you'd have already traded it in for something newer.
• The first Lord of the Rings movie hadn't been released.
• Most people had no idea who Harry Potter is.
• Many people believed Y2K would cause apocalyptic-style power outages, financial infrastructure failure, mass hysteria and worse.

In the end, you'll wonder how you ever managed without Aurora.  Not only does it beat the competition, it blows away all previous versions of WinTOTAL.