Windows XP

“I have just finished switching over to Windows XP and thought a few of you may be considering doing the same.

I'm sure that most of youhave read some of the info regarding new features of XP.... The most obvious improvement are those to the media capabilities of Windows. Some of the enhancements will certainly make basic use of multimedia features accessible to anyone.

The upgrade installation is rediculously simple, once you are ready. It will remove your Win98, but leave your files. I strongly recomend removing your programs, first, and reinstall them.

My plan was to get rid of all the OEM crap attached to my Win98 version and do a clean install. The impression that I got, for this option, was that XP would erase all existing files. The default set up was to install XP to a different drive than 98, so if you have two bootable drives, this set up is simple. Upon directing XP to my C drive, it warned of erasing my files and existing OS. Perfect!

Well not quite... What it did do, was replace 98, okay, but dropped its default program files in on top of the old 98 files and now dead application files. Some of the old stuff, was not easily idenifiable for removal.

So, ultimately, I reinstalled a basic version of 98, on a new primary partition, formatted my C drive, moved 98 over, and got the desired 'clean' result.

Recomendation: If you want to simply upgrade, its easy.
1. Use the compatability test utility on the disc or from the Windows website!
2. I suggest that you remove printers, scanners, etc. The enhancements to XP's 'plug and play' and native drivers is excellent. I have use of all my additional hardware without even installing software. But, you will want to check the manufacturers websites in advance for compatibility and update, for full functionality.

If you want a clean install, either clean up 98 first, or install XP on a different drive. Also, choose FAT 32 for your file system. You can always change to NTFS later and can not revert to Win98 if you have already switched over.

Also, choose to 'activate' XP later. This way, you can be satisfied with your installation first. You have 30 days to 'active'.

I'll post some more regarding the new features, shortly. If you're curious about anything in particular, ask away.”

“windows 3.1 is the wayto go”

“I just washed the windows.”

“Were you using the "Upgrade" (around $100.00) version or the complete XP Home Edition?”

“burn me a copy.. I will try it out.. let ya know what i think..

:)”

“I used the Upgrade

A further thought... by removing potentially incompatible software first, you eliminate the possibilty of being unable to 'uninstall' them.

As soon as your upgrade is complete, make use of the new 'System Rollback' to create rollback points as you reinstall hard and software. If something causes trouble, you can back up in time without losing data. I ran into some trouble with my soundcard software, and the feature worked perfectly.”

“I was farting around with it at the store the other day. They should call it Cartoon Windows with the graphics they chose. I still don't have Win 98 down yet and now I'm thinking of getting a new computer.”

“we bought a new computer last night and it has window xp home on it. i'm still setting it up and trying to transfer some files (address book, etc.) but it is kind of neat. it has settings to have the appearance of windows classic (what the former windows looks like). more later.”

“Hmmm.

Isn't British Columbia very close to Redmond, WA?”

“Baume- I have yet to revert to the 'classic' look, but I did switch the colour of the 'new look' to silver. It's a little less 'in your face' than the blue.

LOL Violin -Ya Bill and I are practically neibours”

“DON'T BURN XP UNLESS YOU LIKE STEAL BARS!!!! XP has this revers cookies feature so when you first sign on to the net it sends a cook to microsoft and your product ID## if more then one computer has XP microsoft will know, and they are cracking down with mega fines and some jail time.



Win 98 rules!!!!!!!!!!! Its the best windows ever, why the hell did youw want to change it over??? If you can't figure out how to reach all your media crap you are to dumb to use a computer.”

“Tea- Can't really blame Microsoft for wanting to cut down on piracy.

XP must be activated within 30 days. You are allowed two activations and a certain number of harware changes, before XP thinks that you are on a different computer. They have backed off on this a bit, in that the clock resets each 120 days.

As for why to upgrade? I was considering Win 2000 Pro for stability reasons. 98 was a rushed attempt to incorporate multimedia into Windows. XP has separated the operating system kernel, from the aplications, so programs will no longer 'take down' your whole system. System restore is a nice addition, also.

Some of the enhanced features are definite improvements. For example: pressing Ctrl, alt & del now gives you a full view of everything running, cpu usage for each, memory usage, network and system info

The enhancement for multiple users is outstanding, allowing for quick switching between users, and really a focus of XP

Some of the new multimedia features are definitely over simplified, for easy use by anyone. I find that the onboard twain, in particular, is nothing comared to the one I had with Umax software.

The native CD burning software is a scaled down version of Roxio's Easy CD 'CD Image' burning, and anyone looking more maore than basic functions, will want to look at Easy CD 5, Nero etc.

They have added lots more items to the details view for 'exploring' media files allowing for ID tag editing. Also thumbnail views and slideshow views, for images. Again, power users would want to look at something more full featured, like Thumbs+.

Further note- XP does not incorporate MSBackup, so don't plan on transferring data by using 98 Backup”

“Awsome breakdown, thank you. That activation issue has been my primary concern with this one.”

“Sklulaz- In addition, Mirosoft claims to provide easy ablility to contact them if need be, to re-activate beyond the limit, either online or by phone.

As for making system changes, I think you are allowed, something like 4 or six alterations, depending on whether or not you have a network card, before Microsoft considers it a new system.

By the way, there is ecxellent NIC recognition and auto network configuration. You can then create a floppy, to transfer your new network to other machines that don't necessarily have XP. It also instantly recognised my high speed internet conection. If you are conected, when you do the upgrade, Windows will do an update on the installation setup files.”

“Cool.”

“there is a crack available if you are plannin on burning a copy of xp.. it is suposed to be stable.. but so is windows 2000 pro.. i dig it. it isnt the perfect operating system.. if i had the patients, i would be a linux kid.
but all of my software is for windows.. some windows based software will not run on win 2000 or xp, but you just have to update the software and youre all good. i had that problem with direct cd.”

“heh.. i wondered when we would bust that sacred cow..

cracks.. :).. *zips up mouth and shuts up*”

“Tea, 98 is the most unstable piece of crap OS I have ever used in my life. I couldn't believe the difference that upgrading to 2000 made. I soon will be upgrading to XP pro as well.

I learned that a fresh install is the way to go when installing an OS. I tried the upgrade optoin when going form 98 to 2000 and it worked fine, but a lot of the old oem and system files which were completely useless were left on. So after about a year I got sick of it all and reformated. The difference was amazing. When you upgrade, windows uses your default user accounts and settings from 98, but when you fresh install it creates new. The difference is with a fresh install, you can run 2000 like it was meant to be, like a workstation. It is much easier to manage your files and adjust user permissions now that I fresh installed. Oh yea, the only difference between the full version and the upgrade is a little piece of code that makes you insert the cd of an older version of windows to make sure you have a copy.”

“According to InfoWorld's benchmark testing, Windows XP has poor performance compared to Windows 2000 under a heavy load.

”

“That's what I had heard.. the XP made WIN95 beta look good.

:)”

“DM, I don't know what you are doing to 98, but it works well for me”

“oops, meant to post InfoWorld link to article”

“In reading my past posts, it sounds like a bit of a sales pitch, for XP... not my intention. In fact, if you're happy with 98, why change?

I have yet to find XP to be anything less, than advertised. I think it's a good move, for anyone looking for easy to use multimedia, multiuser, or network features. Also, for anyone frustrated by the stability problems, of Win 98”

“Tea, when was your last crash? Back when I ran 98SE it would crash almost daily. How long is your uptime? I've been running 2000 for two weeks straight now with no performance issues. My record is two months, and the only reason I restarted was because I installed a new driver.”

“Wow, xp looks promising, especially the Aussie version!”

“d'oh! Sheeeyat, can't even link to my own page. Try this page instead.”

“ROTFLMAO!”

“I highly reccomend Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Windows Me and Windows 95/98 were crap, are crap, and will always be crap. I could run Windows 2000 Pro for MONTHS without a restart or crash and have recently upgraded to XP because it was free for me. I still haven't found Windows XP to be better than 2000 pro, but it is different - and stable. I think the best thing about xp is error reporting, this will help Microsloth increase stability and compatability with other programs.”

“I heard a computer guru say that Windows XP is pretty much the most stable windows version (2000) fancied up with neato graphics. The only thing that tempts me to shell out the $99 is the photo stuff.”

“I'm with Sgt ROck. The only reason I'm going to upgrade is because I can get a copy for $5. If I had to spend a few hundred on it, I would stay satisfied with 2000 (or pirate it off someone sshhhhh). One of the best things I have done (did it yesterday) was to reinstall 98 alongside 2000. I also downloaded something called 98Lite which strips 98 to bare bones to optimize game performance. So now I have a nice stable os and a blazing fast game os.”

“Did you notice in XP that you can make programs run backwards compatable. So if something runs well in 98, then you can have the OS act like 98 for that program. I haven't tried it myself yet because I honestly haven't needed it, but I don't think you need two OSs in XP”

“DM you cant pirate XP. Each program is serial numbered and MUST be activated/registered to MS by email or phone. It can ONLY be registered to one computer. So each home PC theoretically needs to have its own copy at $99 a pop....”

“Actually there is a way to "crack" Windows XP so you don't have to register it like a regular copy. And it works just fine.”

“Just buy the d@mned thing. Stealing still aint right...even from MS.”

“almost all software is cracked and available, even before it is released... tru story.

i wonder what the updates are gonna be like... win2000 had a criticle update the day it was released.. whats the point of beta testing if you dont fix it BEFORE the release...

there is no point to this post”

“I have a friend who works for the university. They have a few copies that were released without the verification crap. He would just have to burn me one, but I can buy it in a week for $5 so I don't care.

Anyways, the thing about compatability shells. 2000 does that too, the problem is it's not the program that runs better in 98, it's the vid drivers. I have a Voodoo 3 and 3dfx went under, so they stopped making drivers for the boards. This means that I would have to use the Windows default drivers which have horrible open-gl sets. Also the backward compatability thing doesn't run it as fast as running it in the normal OS would.”

“time for an upgrade ;)”

“Evidently Windows XP has a severe defect in that XP easily allows anyone to remotely enter your computer and do whatever they want to it. I know this is rather general, but I can't remember the specifics. Anywho, you can get an XP ?addendum? that protects you from hackers/whomever.

Anyone else hear this yet?”

“Haven't heard of it yet, but it's not surprising. All new OS's wull usually have a few holes that the makers never imagined. They just wait for some smart College kid to find it, then make a patch. It's probably more cost effective like that.”

“That's not really exclusive to XP. You really need to take precautions (ie firewall) particularly if you have 'always on' internet.

XP comes with a basic firewall, but it is "in" only and won't prevent anything from "calling home". There is, however, a feature in XP, that intentionally allows 'remote access' to your computer if you wish. In fact, you can invite someone (support) to remotely troubleshoot.

XP's 'system event viewer' lets you see exactly who, or what, is trying to log on to your computer”

“I heard on the radio that XP stands for eXtra Patches...It was an independent software company in California that discovered the fault(s).”

“Good morning! Today is the shortest day of the year, and this
is the InformationWeek Daily. Business innovation powered by
technology, brought to you by InformationWeek magazine.
Check out
http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eFRZ0Byxxq0V20WH0AO

(That Link)

*****************************************

(snip)

** SECURITY: Microsoft XP Flaw Discovered

Security vendors are warning of new Microsoft vulnerabilities
that affect PCs running the company's Universal Plug and Play
architecture. That architecture ships in Windows XP, but also
can be installed in Windows 98, 98 SE, and ME. According to a
security bulletin published Thursday by Microsoft, remote
attackers have the ability, through a buffer overflow, to gain
control of a victim's system. The attacker could run apps or
use the PC as part of a denial-of-service attack. Microsoft has
published its security bulletin MS01-059 as well as patches at
http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eFRZ0Byxxq0V20NU30AJ .

(That Link)

Jim Magdych, director of Covert Labs for Network Associates
Inc., says users running the plug-and-play architecture and who
aren't blocking ports 1900 and 5000 are vulnerable. Magdych
says it's just a matter of time before someone publishes
automated tools to exploit this vulnerability or unleashes an
automated exploit such as Code Red. EEye Digital Security, the
same company that discovered the flaw in Microsoft's Internet
Information Services that was capitalized on by the author of
Code Red, also found this security hole. - George V. Hulme

(snip to end)”

“Who has installed Service Pack 2 yet?

Any issues?


For some reason my home computer doesn't work with the news Windows update. I think I may have to disconnect my router/firewall or something since it works fine here at work and the software environment is similar on the two machines.”

“new Windows update”

“and I'm the facility system administrator.

Loaded with problems.”

“Didn't have any problems with the XP update, but we did have a problem with the Service Pack 4 update for Win2000.”

“oh that's right, sp 2 came out a couple of days ago. I haven't installed it yet, I don't think...

Not sure if I do, at least not right now. I'll still have to install this frickn hard drive.”

“no problems”