WINDOWS XP

Yeah Kazaa Lite is great, for sure.

here's a link for anyone interested...

www.k-lite.tk
or
www.kazaalite.com (this site is often down)

I don't really know too much about WinMX ... I played with it for a while, and had some problems with it ... that's how I found that newsgroup. It has a pretty loyal following, nut I don't do muchp2p, so it was just a curiosity thing. I note on their website that there have been several updates since I tried it, and some of the issues I ran across are said to have been dealt with. I don't know whether it carries spyware or not. The website claim, and my recollection, is that it does not, but I could be wrong.



timber

I'm still liking WinMx over kazaa but didn't try lite yet.
And I'm sticking with win2000 for a while longer, XP - to many computers to deal with and I don't like working on the ones I have so far with XP home - Pro will be my only choice.

I personally agree about Pro vs Home, Husker. Home pretty much is Pro with some Admin functions turned off .... damned inconvenient. On the other hand, Home keeps casual users away from some things they have no business fiddling with. Somebody who's interested only in e-mail, browsing, some media manipulation and game playing is likely not to have sufficient 'puter smarts or needs to even want to use the tools Pro hides anyway. And in a crunch, a Home machine can be networked to and manipulated by a Pro machine.

But I like XP Pro for myself. It enables me to inflict on myself some amazing and truly monumental challenges. I've discovered a few things you definitely DON'T want to do. CD Bootable OSs are a good thing, and the power plug can be a useful configuration tool, if you know what I mean.



timber

lol

I have a disk of XP Pro, the big difference for me is that it's easier to use servers on XP pro. MS's default server is hard to use on Home (I heard it requires a workaround).

>I have a disk of XP Pro, the big difference for me is that it's easier to use servers on XP pro.

I can't comment how XP is suitable for server-holding but my own not proffesional's impression is HIGHLY NEGATIVE (as well as about every new Heitz's sh*t produced since WIN98 ). BTW most my familiar programmers agree with me. Actually it hasn't only been added any new function besides that were in WIN98 (now I don't speak about changed screen format or any other such "improvements") but even LOST a few VERY USEFUL (and irretrievable) posibilities.

I can mention some disadvanteges (beginning from the less significant ones).

1 as usually every new Heitz's product requires more hardware resources and works slower than any earlier Win.

2 it doesn't support 640x480 screen dimension (the most enjoyable for a 14'' monitor), seemly BH is sure that everybody use only 15'' and higher ones, so all unlucky persons - start breaking your eyes (if Heitz meets me I would be glad to break my own 14'' monitor of his head). Anyway I can't understand who needs such "future".

3 a problem with stringlenths like you are seeing in my post now. IMHO it follows from the problem of screen's size. I haven't still dealt with them but seemly it is smth unique even among Bill Heitz products.

4 more stupid "security" rules. They may be useful for CIA agents but not for me. What hell do I have to print the password to my own computer everyday? Like WIN2K this mistake of nature will not allow to set the computer on if you forgot the password.

5 my favourite debugger SoftIce (the right hand of every programmer) doesn't work here (as well as elder SoftIce versions didn't work at new every Win). But the problem is that Numege (SoftIce producer) isn't going to update it anymore. Specially for the WinXP they have developed SoftIce Driver Studio 2.6 that costs (don't fall from your chair) - 1200 $ ! IMHO it's not a good price even for an American (thanks some good hackers it is accessible free in the Internet now). But anyway even SDS 2.6 works badly at WinXP (with often mistakes).

6 last and the main! ATTENTION!!! This dirty s**t doesn't allow any 16bit programs to work! Win95, Win98, WinNT and even Win2000 supported both 16- and 32bit program codes but not XP. What was possible with elder Windows now is impossible - what a good progress Bill Heitz have done! I wonder when Microsoft produces a newer product will it be able to support any program produced before 2003? Furthermore XP doesn't allow to use any DOS or Win3.2 emulators (or at least these ones haven't been produced yet). In practice it means that almost every late DOS or Win3.2 program doesn't work while early DOS ones still can work with a lot of mistakes and different problems. In other words if you have had some 16bit programs you may forget them.

...Of course this is not the completed list.

So my conlusion - Win98 is rather more universal and preferable from all points of view. Think 1000 times before replacing it.
--------

BTW guys, has anyone tried to buy a licensed WinXP? How much does it cost?

I would imagine most folks here have licensed OSs ... XP and otherwise. The price varies ... it can run from under $100 for an upgrade to a few hundred dollars for a full install depending on version, and it is also essentially the default OS on new PCs purchased at retail. Most folks, myself included, feel XP is the fastest, most stable, robust version of Windows yet released. Relatively few folks I'm aware of are inconvenienced to any significant extent by the OS's incompatibility with older DOS-based software.

As far as Monitor Size ... well, XP looks fine to me on a 12" Laptop and a 14" Laptop, and it looks fine on my much larger CRT monitors. All in all I much prefer XP to any previous Microsoft Operating System. Oh, and on my own machines, I use "Auto Logon", bypassing password entry at startup.



timber

Timber, I also use Auto-Log-on, never prompts for a password.

I haven't been using XP for that long, about 4 weeks, and I love it. Haven't found anything I don't like about it yet.

XP is the best OS I've ever used. c.i.

I have only used XP pro when it first came out and could not stand it I currently have win 98,win 2000,win 2000 server and linux witch I dont know much about it is only used as a firewall about XP though I will be installing it on my work station soon in about three weeks they now seem to have the driver issue updated enough to run my components though I stil am not happy about it win 2000 is pretty solid in my opinion.

Ch4mele0n, if you're amused by Win XP, just be patient. Blackthorn will entertain hell out of you.

And welcome to A2K. If ya need anything, just holler.

Down at the bottom of my posts are links to the Local FAQ and the Help and Support Forum. Help yourself



timber

Thanks I'll keep in touch

I upgraded from Windows Me to Windows XP, and I really love XP. Hardly any problems, and the ones I do have are so minor, I'll stick with XP for the foreseeable future. c.i.

i love reading this thread... cos i'm using windows xp.. good discussions and help