Yes, that's right folks. I'm posting to you live from Windows XP Home Edition! It's scary and Mac-like.
It's 5:45 AM here, so I'm not going to be saying much... Cheers!
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Yes, I heard how they've tried to imitate the Mac's new Aqua interface... Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" is right.
Posted by MIB (Member # 426) on :
Does this mean you now have the capability to take over the world?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
XP seems ok. I managed to crash it by listening to a song and playing Spider Solitaire. On the other hand, it does seem to be less error prone overall. I'm still happy with 98, though. Well...if not happy, then not yet inspired to upgrade, downgrade, or transgrade.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
No-one really needs to upgrade their OS unless they are hyper-super computer nerds. Or unless their OS is about 6 years old. By the time that most people find their OS is useless for running new stuff, they'll also find their computer is pretty much useless for running new stuff. People with the first edition of Win 95 can't be having much fun nowadays.
Posted by Michael_T (Member # 144) on :
Oh am I glad I'm the type that buys a new computer every 2 years and updates everything in the hard drive every month... shit I need to get a new Sony Vaio with XP Home soon...
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I know people who have found XP to be a complete piece of shit.
I know people who have found XP to be quite good.
Personally, I'm sticking w/ 2000, regardless.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
I'm on XP as well, basically because ME sucks and let my computer crash every twenty minutes. It seems to be working really well (haven't had a BSOD in a month!), despite some initial driver problems with my Pinnacle capture card and the HP PrecisionScan software. Both have already been updated, so everthing is working correct.
I was especially pleased with how XP maintained all my ME settings, so I didn't have to struggle with networks and Internet.
The blue takes some getting used to. At first it looks an awful lot like some cheap Sim game, but I must admit that I quite like it now.
One tip: DO NOT USE MSN EXPLORER! OH MY GOD! That program is HORRIBLE. It's like Internet-For-Complete-Dimwits. Gigantic toolbars, terrifying pastel-colors and a sickening amount of MSN Hotmail tie-ins.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
I have XP Professional. I like it. The default XP settings suck, but you can switch to classic windows if you want. I like the XP Silver theme myself.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
XP doesn't seem all that bad. The major plus for me was when I loaded it up and found that I could tri-boot between 98, 2000 and XP.
I haven't really done much with it. Not much I can do, really. I haven't tried to get any of my hardware running yet. I plan to buy a new scanner, I'm getting new software for my burner, and I think I have everything I need for my video card to work.
Okay, now here's a question for you. Somehow MSN Explorer got set as the Internet and Email program at the top left of the Start menu thinger. How do I set those back to IE and OE respectively?
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Carefully.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
"Personally, I'm sticking w/ 2000, regardless."
Until the end of time? Or, like everyone else, until they get a new computer?
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
ME for me!
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
ME? Gods... ME isn't an operating system; it's an expensive way to break your computer.
And, no, I don't think I'll keep 2000 'til the end of time. Just 'til the universe starts contracting. If it does. Or until I have a reason to switch.
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
Ya, it is rather a pain in the ass. I just liked the symmetry of the statement.
If only 'for' were a palyndrom, it would've been the most beautiful sentence ever created.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Ha! I'm sticking with Windows 3.11! Pooh on Windows ME and the like! Windows 3.11 is all I'll ever need!
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Erm... Even if "for" were a palindrome, you'd have to end the sentence w/ "em", not "me".
It's a palindrom on the word-level, though, if not the letter-level. "Son, I am able," she said, "though you scare me." "Watch," said I, "beloved," I said, "watch me scare you, though." Said she, "Able am I, son."
I palindrome I.
Posted by LOA (Member # 49) on :
I'm on Windows XP Home Edition here on the new compy, and I've actually been pleasantly surprised by it. I expected to have nothing but troubles, but so far it's okay. I still prefer 98, but once I changed XP to at least look familiar, we started to get along QUITE nicely
~LOA
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
Topher (=Fabrux, right?) -> Go to the Start Menu properties, click on one of those buttons.. (don't know what they're called in English, but in the Dutch version they are called "Aanpassen...", but I doubt that's very useful for you ). Somewhere in the next dialog there should be two fold-out menus, one for Internet and one for E-mail.
[ December 17, 2001: Message edited by: Harry ]
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
That button'd be labelled "modify / change / adapt / alter" in the English version Posted by Tahna Los (Member # 33) on :
XP is nothing more than an epidemic scourge. It must be wiped out.
Thus, I propose that anyone using XP to access these forums have their Flare Membership revoked permanently and their ISP contacted about their malicious activities. Let us stand up against this horror of an operating system.
Linux Forever
[ December 17, 2001: Message edited by: Tahna Los ]
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
WinXP == Win2k + 1 == NT 6.
Ain't nothin' wrong with NT. Posted by Michael_T (Member # 144) on :
Tahna, haven't you heard that Bill Gates and Microsoft teamed up with the Borg Collective to assimilate humanity through their OS?
Resistance is futile... Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I can't tell if Seiggy is joking, but I shall quote both him and Charles for the purposes of a smart-aleccy response.
"Ha! I'm sticking with Windows 3.11! Pooh on Windows ME and the like! Windows 3.11 is all I'll ever need!"
Unless you want to run any piece of software written in the past 5 years. (The current version of ICQ doesn't even support Win 95 anymore.)
"Ain't nothin' wrong with NT."
Actually, I might be misreading this. You're either saying that because XP is essentially NT plus 9x, it's goot, because NT is good. Or you're saying that NT 4 is good. Which it is, unless you want to run any new game ever.
Good to see that Microsoft's tactic of calling NT 5 "2000" in order to get more people to buy it worked though. I can't see Tim having bought NT 5 myself.
Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :
Windows 2000 is what Windows *should* be. I've never had a problem, a crash, or anything go wrong with it. I've left my computer on for weeks without rebooting.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I believe CC was saying that, since XP is just an extension of NT, it's good, because NT is good.
"I can't see Tim having bought NT 5 myself."
Erm... Ah... Well, you see, the thing about that is... *runs away*
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
"I've left my computer on for weeks without rebooting."
And Americans continue to raise the bar when it comes to extreme lazyness.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
Believe me, when it comes to Americans and laziness the bar can't be high enough.
Posted by Jack_Crusher (Member # 696) on :
I have heard about XP that it A) only takes about 90 seconds to boot up B) Does not use any DOS what so ever C) Is un crashable
Personally, I will not get XP, unless I buy a new computer, because a "friend" of mine had a less than legal copy of XP pro on a CDR before it came out, and he installed it on his laptop, and it screwed up some NT network connections on his laptop (we all have laptops with a wireless network at my company), and besides, I pretty much only liked it for its asthetics. On the desktop that I am writing this post on, I upgraded from 98 to ME about a year ago, and I haven't restarted since Monday, and it is still so stable that I can still run multiple windows!
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"...and it is still so stable that I can still run multiple windows!"
Erm... That's not supposed to be an amazing wonder, or anything. It's supposed to do that. That's the entire point of the Windows operating system.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
"I have heard about XP that it A) only takes about 90 seconds to boot up"
A slight exageration that occurs with all new OS releases. What happens is that most people use them on a clean system, so they are obviously going to be faster. If you had no life, you could spend a weekend backing up everything on your hard-drive, format it completely, and then install a clean version of Windows 98, and you'd also notice a speed increase. You'd also have wasted your precious youth.
"B) Does not use any DOS what so ever"
Which despite what some people say, is a Good Thing. Come on, when did you last use DOS, eh? And more to the point, WHY did you use DOS? And I'm not talking about the DOS emulation windows you can get up in Windows, I mean proper, basic DOS? Apart from general computer failures, I doubt many people have touched it for years.
"C) Is un crashable"
Nothing is uncrashable. NT systems are more reliable though. XP has some disadvantages, in that it's also shouldered some Win 9x stuff, whereas Win 2000 didn't. It's makes it more flexible and able to run more stuff, but a bit less stable. Possibly.
Posted by Jernau Morat Gurgeh (Member # 318) on :
Anyone else here think Microsoft would do well to make another command-line operating system? Like a really upgraded version of DOS with all the utilities and multi-tasking and stuff you get with Unix.
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
It's just been on the news that some kind of MAJOR security leak has been found in XP.. Service Pack 1, here we come...
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
I'm surprised that it took this long for the anouncement.
Posted by Jernau Morat Gurgeh (Member # 318) on :
There's an article about it on New Scientist.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I'm also surprised that it took so long for the announcement, but that's mainly because of the fact that the problem was discovered five weeks ago...
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
I read up on that thing yesterday on Bugtraq... Nasty, nasty...
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Simply a matter of disabling the UPSP service... if it ain't runnin', no harm can be done.
Buffer overflows... nasty insects.
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
Anyone notice that Media Player comes preloaded with songs from They Might Be Giants?
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Does it? Or do you have TMBG songs on your hardrive and it just lists them in the library?
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
No, they come with XP. This is on a brand new machine I just got and only just started up. Nothing of mine is on there.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
TMBG's entire catalog is available in that format through EMusic, which is presumably how such a deal was made.
However, on the copies of XP I have seen, the single song included is "Like Humans Do," a track from David Byrne's newest album.
Posted by Michael_T (Member # 144) on :
Well, this Christmas I just got my new Sony Vaio with XP Home in it...and it takes a bit getting use to since I had Win 98 SE. But it's not that bad... I just had to make it feel like home so I put in my USS Prometheus background and other Trek items. Anyway, how do you fix the security breach again? I downloaded the patch from Microsoft already but I still don't want to risk it.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Erhm... by applying the patch (as in: running the executable)? Posted by Michael_T (Member # 144) on :
I loaded Windows Update and installed the patches from Microsoft's website.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Then the breach has been sealed automagically Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
The wonders of Windows Update.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
quote:What, exactly, does UnPnP do?
Under Windows XP, the Universal Plug & Play system is supported by two service processes, the "SSDP Discovery Service" (SSDPDS) and the "Universal Plug and Play Device Host" (UPNPDH). Although both services are started upon demand, the SSDP service is started when Windows XP is booted. The SSDPDS service is the Internet server component which opens and exposes Windows XP to the global Internet. The UPNPDH service is only started when needed and its operation is dependent upon SSDPDS.
To disable the Universal Plug & Play system: UnPnP first stops the UPNPDH service if it is running, then disables its future operation. After this is done the SSDPDS service is stopped and also disabled. This shuts down Windows XP's external Internet server to prevent exposure to any presently known or later discovered UPnP vulnerabilities.
To re-enable the Universal Plug & Play system: UnPnP simply reverses the process. The SSDPDS service is set to start on demand, and it is then started. Then, the UPNPDH service is also set to start on demand, but it is not started. With the SSDPDS service running the Windows XP system will have TCP port 5000 open and accepting remote connections and UDP port 1900 listening for inbound datagrams.
UnPnP's actions are completely benign and reversible. There are no known negative side effects caused by disabling the Universal Plug & Play components when they are not needed. They may easily be re-enabled if they are ever needed at any time in the future.
You could always just go into the services control panel and disable the services; "Universal Plug and Play Device Host" and "SSDP Discovery" or follow Microsoft's advice and download the UPnP patch...( http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-059.asp ) or just do as Steve says...
Posted by Michael_T (Member # 144) on :
Thanks for the help guys...but who is Steve that you refer to Cartman?
![[Wink]](wink.gif)