THIS OPERATING SYSTEM WORKS

Fiedor Report On the News #251 ^ | 11-18-01 | Doug Fiedor

[Dan Nunn]

I've been using Windows XP on my Dell laptop since October 24 and I've had nothing but problems. I got the BSOD three times the first day.

Hmm, I don't believe you. Why? Because XP doesn't get the standard Blue Screen errors that Windows 9x gets. You see, by default (you can change it), when XP encounters a fatal error (which is next to never, I've only had it happen thanks to my nVidia drivers), it automatically reboots. No blue screen at all. The only "blue screen" that XP would ever get is called an "NT STOP" error that you get when you boot up. That's a rarity and a very serious problem such as unable to find critical system files. I'm sure that's not what you're talking about. So, do I believe you? No.

"Stick with the tried and true, stable Windows 2000. Don't muck with Windows XP. It's as big a turkey as Windows ME."

Well, Windows 2000 is stable. XP is based on 2000, however, so if you have any problems with XP, it's based on drivers. XP does take a lot more memory than 2000 though, so if you're using older systems, I'd advise for 2000. But comparing it to ME is absurd.

On another note, Redaht 7.2 is outstanding. I recommend a KDE 2.2.1 desktop over Gnome, however. Out of the box, it works better on a Cyrix PR233 MHz CPU with 96 MB RAM (yeah...I know, ancient technology) than Windows XP on a 850 MHz Pentium III with 384 MB RAM.

ugh, not Linux again. Yeah, I'm sure it works better. Of course, you can't run anything you used to run on it. Have fun playing "XBill" and writing documents in some crappy office suite by the makers of Java, while I'm playing great 3D games and using the superb Office XP.

[LuvItOrLeaveIt]

I've been running XP Pro (original installation) since October 29, and it has crashed once.

I've been running it since October 24. It crashed three times the first day. As I've been tweaking it, it's gotten better. It crashed once daily the first week, and only twice during the entire second week.

It's been seven days since I last crashed.

On another note, I've got an exposed Redhat Linux 6.2 box acting as a DNS server running BIND. It has never crashed nad I haven't even rebooted in 2 1/2 years!

[Justa]

I think he means his connection type was "over 1000 MBps.

[Paleo Conservative]

Windows XP DOES NOT require a Passport account. You were sold a bill of goods. It will ask you a few times if you would like one, but it is NOT required in any way.

Try getting online support without a Passport account. There are security bugs in Passport. I would recommend against storing any credit card numbers in its online database.

[damnlimey]

"speed was well over 1,000 Mbps."
Read the article,I think 1000Mbps is an incredible achievement!

[MadIvan]

Question - I am considering getting a laptop with XP Home on it (really good deal) - will Office 2000 run on it? I don't need anything more than Office 2000.

Regards, Ivan

FreeBritannia.co.uk

[capt. norm]

You're right. Windows 2000 (alias Windows NT v5.0) was put together by the NT group and it is rock solid.

[Dan Nunn]

The things I really can't get past are the "phone home" feature

It does this once. Just once. All it sends is a unique hardware key configured to your system. They can't reverse this key and get out what hardware you have. It's a one-way hash.

and the idea that I can't mess around with my hardware setup without going through them.

Honestly, how often do you switch your hardware? I switch my hardware more than most people I know and I've never had to re-activate. Just in the past two months I've added an nVidia GeForce 2, SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum, and a Hauppague WinTV tuner card. No reactivation is necessary. In fact, you need to change 6 components within 120 days to trigger activation. And even then, if you're connected to the internet, all this means is you click "Next" about three times.

I also hate when software does things for me such as "fix" my OS.

I'm still not sure what you mean by this - how does it "fix" itself? I do notice a lot of behind the scenes operations by XP, but I am happier because of it. For example, there is a customized Start menu that rearranges the order based upon how often you use the applications. There is a desktop icon wizard that offers you the option to delete specific icons on your desktop which it knows you have not used often. All of these have the option of being disabled, obviously.

[Doug Fiedor]

I simply turned it off and turned it back on. It came back up in a flash, with none of that horrible "Windows was not properly shut down" stuff.

Same here. The "super-duper" video card on the new computer crashed the old monitor I had hooked to it. While checking things before getting a new monitor, I turned the computer on and off twice (shut down impropperly three times in a row).

When I installed a new monitor, up came XP as if nothing happened! No "scandisk," no nothing. It worked immediately.

However, I noticed that if I turn the computer on before the monitor, XP reverts to the DOS setup. That's a bit strange, but interesting to know.

[SolitaryMan]

Considering that MAYA Single Node-locked License Price is $7500.00, I figure you can run just about any computer you want. So why not go with SGI or SUN? You have any examples posted online?

[BellStar]

Ok what is the big difference in office XP and home XP?

[EdZep]

What’s not to like here?

I just got my first time in on Windows XP yesterday, on a 1.6 GHz P4 Sony Vaio desktop system. The speed (lack of) was appalling. Just poking around, opening control panels, various software, etc. Very bad. Uh... that's after I removed some background applications from startup, and rebooted. And, I did note that performance improved somewhat when I turned off all the glitz visual features that make XP look different from Win2000 and Win98.

The useful speed of this 1.6 GHz machine was far lower than my 850 MHz PIII with Win2000. And, it's far lower than any Win98 system I've seen, running on PII or PIII 350-450 MHz.

Socialists in Congress? Click on the zeppelin, Grasshopper.

[Justa]

The only Blue Screens I've heard about with XP have been when the machine's bios shadowing was enabled. Unfortunately XP's protected memory requires access to those address ranges and will likely crash if bios is shadowed in them. The video bios can usually be shadowed safely, beyond that one's risking a Blue Screen.

[MadIvan]

It's a laptop from an English manufacturer - looks good, they are putting 512MB of RAM and a Pentium III 1100 Mhz processor along with XP. I just don't want to pay for the Office suite all over again, especially since I have Office 2000 already and no complaints.

Regards, Ivan

[Utopia]

Check out the mac option. With Firewire and iMovie you can produce/edit videos real fast. As for word processing packages, Microsoft Office for the Mac is quite solid. Any good Mac Word Processor can save to windows format. Still, if you want more, you can get Virtual PC and have Windows running in a separate window on your Mac and just drag-drop to it.

Mac hardware is just superior. There are plenty of software options to assist in compatibility. Macs are worth a second look. They sure turned my head ...

.. bravely ran away ...

[Dan Nunn]

Microsoft requires a Passport account for online support so they can get in contact with you easily. It's much easier on them if they just have your Passport ID, which has your email, rather than recording each one on an individual basis. Honestly, if signing up for a single ID which takes all of two minutes is that big of a deal, I can't imagine what a real problem would result in. Also, Passport doesn't store your credit card number in their database. There are a few fields of personal information that Passport handles, such as your name, street address, etc., and you can choose what Passport sites can see. Credit card information is not even on that list.