Microsoft eases switch to XP

zdnet.com. ^ | February 25, 2003

[MeekOneGOP]

Microsoft eases switch to XP
CNET News.com
February 25, 2003, 4:57 AM PT
URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-985825.html

Microsoft, hoping to drive greater adoption of its Windows XP operating system, will on Tuesday unveil a new central Web site with revamped tools to help IT administrators make the switch.

The new Desktop Center site includes an updated version of the Windows XP Application Compatibility Toolkit, a set of tools Microsoft devised to assess whether current applications of businesses will work under Windows XP Professional, Microsoft's latest operating system for corporate customers.

Rogers Weed, corporate vice president of Windows product management at Microsoft, said the tool usually helps IT administrators determine that they need to make minimal changes to their existing software roster to run XP.

"A lot of people don't realize that XP is significantly more compatible (with existing applications)," Weed said. "In general, organizations will find 95 percent or more of their apps are fine."

The Desktop Center site also has multiple tools for dealing with the 5 percent of applications that don't make the cut. "We find there are some generic fixes that can address a broad class of the problems we see, and there are tools in the kit to help apply those," Weed said.

Paul DeGroot, an analyst for research firm Directions on Microsoft, said software compatibility has been a minor issue in the tepid pace of corporate adoption of Windows XP.

"XP runs a lot of stuff that Windows 2000 didn't," he said. "There are particular applications you come across where compatibility is an issue, but I don't think it's a show-stopper for Windows XP."

Hardware compatibility has been much more of a factor, DeGroot said. Windows XP requires significantly more memory and other resources than Windows 2000, and many businesses are trying to stretch PC upgrades they made three years ago in anticipation of Y2K. "Large customers hate to go and shake things up on the desktop," he said. "If people are working fine with Windows 2000, they're going to leave them be," said DeGroot.

The Desktop Center site also includes a new version of Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyzer, a tool that checks corporate desktops for the presence of current software updates and patches and for configuration errors that could pose risks.

"We keep investing in tools and information to help customers with deployment," Weed said. "We feel really good about the business case for upgrading to Windows XP, and we want to give customers tools that help them see those advantages."

[Ouachita]

Just yesterday we received a 'virtual memory minimun to low' error for the first time. I increased the memory paging file to no avail. Rebooting regularly has not helped though. The computer is eight months old with 1.3GHz / 60GB / 128MB. Thanks!

Since no one else has mentioned it, 128MB is not much memory. If it were my machine, I would at the very least, double that amount. I'm running 384mb of PC133 on my P3@933mhz with Win98se. It seldom, if ever, has to access the swap file. I use Photoshop regularly and am going on 2 years with my current OS installation.

[eno_]

I am well aware of the miscelleaneous bits of spyware in Windows XP. Some people find it intolerable already. But for me the breaking point comes when I say "Show me the bits" and my PC says "Sorry, you are not authorized to see bits on a hard drive you own." THAT is what Palldium enables.

When that happens, you will no longer be able to tell what spyware lurks in your PC. You will no longer be allowed to decide how intrusive content providers, government, etc. can be in your PC. Unless, of course, you use an open source OS.

[CheneyChick]

What does that say?

That you should get her a Mac.

Good call. My new little buddy is the 12" G4 PowerBook. It rocks.

Cheers, CC :)

[buffer]

I use spybot myself.

http://spybot.eon.net.au/

[steve50]

Haven't got it put together yet. This has a Western Digital hd in it so it's a little difficult to set up for dual boot. Chasing parts, you know how that goes.(usually badly)

They say the new versions of Linux install/run without too many problems, let ya know in a couple weeks.

[AdA$tra]

If you have the service pack installed it is a bit different now. Try the add remove programs icon in your control panel. Under service pack 1 you use the add/remove windows component button there to remove the messenger. MS added this feature by order of the Justice Department. Sorry I was unclear about the issue with SP1 or no SP1.

[js1138]

I wasn't clear enough in my reply, the physical hard drive is fine, it should work for years if it is a decent brand. The problem has to do with the way the OS deals with managing data on the drive. For some reason it tends to start "gumming up"...

I can assure it is not the OS doing that. I have supported dozens of win2000 and XP machines running Autocad, Photoshop and SQL Server. They do not slow down or gum up. In fact they run pretty well without defragmenting the drive. One thing to think about is whether the "go back" function is active. This could be eating resourses and shouldn't be necessary on a machine that is backed up regularly. Are the drives or folders compressed? What about indexing? Are there any unnecessary services running?

As I said, I have seen a machine do this and have seen it fixed by reformatting and reinstalling. I wish I knew the cause, but I do know it isn't necessary or typical.

[Cultural Jihad]

FYI, the ZDNet headline says: "Microsoft urges switch to XP." I thought they were going to lower their prices if they wanted to "ease" the switch to XP. ;)

[dennisw]

We currently buy the Optiplex SX-260 fanless PC's that have a CPU that measures 10"x10"x3" and bolts under a shelf or desktop.

What do you mean by fanless? The Intel processor must have a fan. Also the Dell website says the power supply is 150 watts and external. Is this true? Is this p/s fanless? This computer must be very quiet.

Thanks!

[rockrr]

"Since no one else has mentioned it, 128MB is not much memory. "

Good advice. If I read the post correctly, you (Quilla) were using this machine to run CAD? If so, double the RAM, set the page file to 110% of installed memory, set page file to separate disc volume from OS (not just different disc partition!). Also, MS is famous for cryptic error messages. It's possible that your low virtual memory message is related to the log file size for the Event Viewer Application or System logs. Default log size is 512kb - some applications demand that you increase to 1024kb. The Event Viewer is a good place to look for other problems as well.
Good luck Quilla,

Rockrr

[Lael]

However, XP may be the last Microsoft product without Palladium (Big Brother Inside). As soon as I don't have control over every bit in MY computer, Microsoft gets the heave-ho

Ditto!!

[dennisw]

"Since no one else has mentioned it, 128MB is not much memory. "

I love cruising along with 512mb pc133. I used 128mb with win2k as an experiment and it was painful. 256MB memory is the minimum for win2k and XP.

[Quix]

I do know parts chasing was a LOT easier in Taipei!

It was usually a mobscene but fun in at least a few ways.

Gads I miss the place.

[MeekOneGOP]

That is really great. I'm glad you got the help you needed. I just happened to 'discover' Google News on their search engine a few days ago and that's how I found this article. Since I just got XP on my machine recently, I thought I'd post this. Timing's not everything. Sometimes it's the ONLY thing ...

Enjoy the rest of your day ...

[MeekOneGOP]

It sure is. They CHANGED the title. I copy/paste that title in the title frame in FR posting template. I used the 'printer friendly' version of the article to copy the text via "View/Source" for the HTML code. I wonder why they do that? Strange ...

[AdA$tra]

What do you mean by fanless?

The power supply is a brick on a leash much like a laptop. The floppy/CD bay is laptop style and is actually interchangable with my laptop's removable CD/DVD drive. They are completely SILENT. The cooling appears to be totally done via the chasis. The drawback for a home user would be the lack of PCI slots or AGP video slots for those who might want to upgrade for gaming or video stuff. I also could not get an external ATI USB TV card to work with the onboard Intel Extreme Graphics chip. They do have all the legacy ports on the back as well as six USB ports. For business use, however, they can't be beat. They are considerably cheaper than a mini-tower style Optiplex as well. They are a full on P4 PC with a large hard drive (again laptop style) but look more like a thin client.

[AdA$tra]

"Since no one else has mentioned it, 128MB is not much memory. "

I wouldn't even dream of running XP (especially using a CAD program) without 512Mb of RAM. I use Newtek's Lightwave 3D on my laptop and 512Mb is sufficient but I wish I would have sprung for a gig.

[John Lenin]

My little buddy is in the mail, an IBM Thinkpad T20. :-)

Think different !

[dennisw]

Thanks much for all the info. My next computer will be very silent. I might use a low wattage (10 watts) VIA c3 processor.

May I ask how many mb is the Intel onboard video? I have nForce (old version) on board video on my homebuilt. 32mb on an Asus  A7N266-VM motherboard

[dennisw]

I love the (external) power brick on a leash idea. It's an obvious winner for some computers for some markets. Some guys mod their cases by mounting the p/s externally. Much easier to establish good airflow.