Microsoft Quietly Fixes Windows XP Resource Hog Problem

Redmond magazine ^ | 01/16/2014 | Kurt Mackie

[Utilizer]

Restoring back to a known-good setup has solved many a problem over the years here as well, s’truth.

[anonsquared]

I vote for taking all of Bill Gates’ billions of $s and using it to fix all of the crappy products he has foisted on consumers over the years.

[Robert357]

I've experienced this.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

So.....Microsoft is going to ‘fix’ a problem 12 years after the operating system was released and only three months before Microsoft stops supporting WindowsXP?

How magnanimous of Microsoft for being so forthcoming! I applaud them! /s

[Calvin Locke]

[4 months left]...why bother' [after all those years]?

I'm guessing that they were about to be outed in some fashion, and the last thing MS needs is more bad PR baggage as they re-brand the next batch of "fixes to it's FAD useability disasters" of W8 as a brand new W9.

[meatloaf]

32 bit or 64 bit?

[GeronL]

They have XP for 64-bit??

[Squawk 8888]

What I found most annoying was running across a bit of new software more and more frequently that REQUIRED IE to run!

That's because a lot of software displays HTML content either online, internally generated or from a file, and the easiest way to handle it is to use the HTML viewer ActiveX control that is included with IE. There is a similar control that uses Firefox instead, but the last time I tried it there was still some missing functionality.

[Squawk 8888]

There is a 64-bit version but it wasn’t widely used.

[GeronL]

very interesting, 64-bit was kind of new to the consumer market back then wasn’t it?

not that I would know

[ken in texas]

Thanks for the ping. This fixed an issue with an old XP laptop that would hang for hours trying to determine what updates were required. Just tried it and it processed in a few minutes.

[cableguymn]

I recently replaced a failed stick of ram in a NT 4.0 machine in a server farm.

it’s been plugging away with out issues all these years. Not exactly sure what they use it for, I’m there to fix hardware and they don’t like to get in to details about what the machine does.

[Utilizer]

That makes about as much sense as requiring you to have Adobe Reader installed because the documentation is in a pdf file before you can install the software. Why not make note of the fact that a certain type of functionality requires a particular type of display mechanism but lets the install proceed anyway? A separate source for the necessary file would then be up to the user. I do not need the Adobe Reader to properly display pdf files, nor do I need Netscape or Earthlink to access html files either.

[cableguymn]

The 64 bit version is not limited to 3.8 gigs. It can see and use up to 128 gigs if memory serves me right.

[Utilizer]

You illustrate the point exactly. I still work with some machines that run Solaris 1.1.1 even. My job is not to tell the customer that their versions are not the newest. It is to fix the problem and get them running again.

Don't see the need a wireless fridge or microwave either.

[cableguymn]

a microwave?? or a web enabled microwave?

I find lots of uses from my microwave. a web connected fridge? umm no.

[Utilizer]

Web-enabled. There are refrigerators out there that keep track of things, apparently, and are web-enabled to notify you when you are getting low on items or if the power goes out. Also, a web-enabled microwave oven that emails or sends a text message when your meal is ready, I forget which. Read about them a couple of years ago and just thought that some people had too much of a driving need to spend lots of money on things.

Almost as bad as a gold-plated hammer or monkey-wrench, as far as I am concerned.

[Utilizer]

“Gold-plated” monkey-wrench, I should clarify.

[cableguymn]

I know when I am running low on things in the fridge. the empty shelves give that away. and my microwave does not stop reminding me it’s done until I open the door.

web enabled appliances are just a sales gimmick. Until they can fix me a sammich via a txt. I am not interested in them.

[meatloaf]

The DEC alpha based desk tops were 64 bit machines at that time. They’ll run NT which, IIRC, is the core of windows now.