Monroe

I came across an interesting article about Windows XP ... dated Oct 25, 2011 ... "Ten Years of Windows XP: How Longevity Became a Curse". I'm sure some here have read it but it was new to me and maybe some others in this forum also missed it. It starts off good with many interesting things to say about XP but in the end the author sums it all up and says it's time to move on to Windows 7 ... it is good reading on Windows XP and I would hope that XP will still have a long life after 2014. I intend to stay with it ... have too much invested and no longer interested in spending "scarce dollars" on newer computers ... I have three Thinkpads ... T41 (1) and T42 (2) ... bought them since they were the last versions to work with Windows 98SE but last year I decided to give XP Pro another try and it was a great move on my part ... maybe I was "finally" ready for Windows XP and also XP really runs super on these older Thinkpads. I have Ghost backups which is my "Factory CD" ... the thing you once got with a new computer so many years ago ... for a quick repair or fix. Everything is working great, so I can only hope we "XP" people have a great and long future after 2014. Ten Years of Windows XP: How Longevity Became a Curse by Peter Bright - Oct 25, 2011 4:17 pm UTC http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2011/10/ten-years-of-windows-xp-how-longevity-became-a-curse/ Windows XP's retail release was October 25, 2001, ten years ago today. Though no longer readily available to buy, it continues to cast a long shadow over the PC industry: even now, a slim majority of desktop users are still using the operating system. Windows XP didn't boast exciting new features or radical changes, but it was nonetheless a pivotal moment in Microsoft's history. It was Microsoft's first mass-market operating system in the Windows NT family. It was also Microsoft's first consumer operating system that offered true protected memory, preemptive multitasking, multiprocessor support, and multiuser security. The transition to pure 32-bit, modern operating systems was a slow and painful one. Though Windows NT 3.1 hit the market in 1993, its hardware demands and software incompatibility made it a niche operating system. Windows 3.1 and 3.11 both introduced small amounts of 32-bit code, and the Windows 95 family was a complex hybrid of 16-bit and 32-bit code. It wasn't until Windows XP that Windows NT was both compatible enough—most applications having been updated to use Microsoft's Win32 API—and sufficiently light on resources. In the history of PC operating systems, Windows XP stands alone. Even Windows 95, though a landmark at its release, was a distant memory by 2005. No previous PC operating system has demonstrated such longevity, and it's unlikely that any future operating system will. Nor is its market share dominance ever likely to be replicated; at its peak, Windows XP was used by more than 80 percent of desktop users. The success was remarkable for an operating system whose reception was initially quite muted. In the wake of the September 11th attacks, the media blitz that Microsoft planned for the operating system was toned down; instead of arriving with great fanfare, it slouched onto the market. Retail sales, though never a major way of delivering operating systems to end users, were sluggish, with the operating system selling at a far slower rate than Windows 98 had done three years previously. It faced tough competition from Microsoft's other operating systems. Windows 2000, released less than two years prior, had won plaudits with its marriage of Windows NT's traditional stability and security to creature comforts like USB support, reliable plug-and-play, and widespread driver support, and was widely adopted in businesses. For Windows 2000 users, Windows XP was only a minor update: it had a spruced up user interface with the brightly colored Luna theme, an updated Start menu, and lots of little bits and pieces like a firewall, UPnP, System Restore, and ClearType. Indeed, many professionals and, for want of a better term, nerds, were turned off by the Luna theme, with its detractors dismissing Windows XP as a Fisher-Price operating system. The familiar Windows XP desktop with Luna theme For home users using Windows 95-family operating systems, Windows XP had much more to offer, thanks to its substantially greater stability and security, especially once Service Pack 2 was released. But even there, users didn't leap immediately. Windows XP's hardware demands, though modest by today's standards, were steeper than those of the Windows 95 family, and in its early days at least, neither Windows XP's driver support nor performance could match those of its technologically inferior sibling. Gamers, in particular, were vocal in their criticism of Windows XP, and many vowed to stick with Windows 98SE indefinitely. In the first year of Windows XP's availability, Microsoft had to work to persuade even enterprises to ditch Windows 95, in spite of its near complete unsuitability to enterprise computing. In the end, none of the objections mattered. Time made Windows XP a success. Computers got faster, rendering its hardware demands first ubiquitous, and then later in its life, almost laughable. Driver support grew, and driver performance improved. Instead of being a heavyweight alternative to use if you had the resources and you could be sure that all your hardware and software would work with it, it became the obvious choice of system software. The explosion in Internet usage, and the focus on system security, made continued use of the Windows 95 family untenable. Windows XP was therefore the only choice for most desktop users, and within a few years of its release, most Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4, and Windows 2000 users had made the switch. The long life of Windows XP ... Over the course of its life, Microsoft made Windows XP a much better operating system. Service Pack 2, released in 2004, was a major overhaul of the operating system. It made the software better able to handle modern systems, with improved WiFi support and a native Bluetooth stack, and made it far more secure. The firewall was enabled by default, the bundled Internet Explorer 6 gained the "gold bar" popup blocker and ActiveX security feature, and for hardware that supported it, Data Execution Protection made it more difficult to exploit software flaws. Microsoft also produced a number of variants of the base operating system. The two major ones were Windows XP Media Center Edition and Windows XP Tablet Edition. These were efforts to push Windows into new kinds of market - the TV-connected home theater PC and the pen-powered tablet - though neither met with any great commercial success and for Windows Vista, their features were rolled into the core product rather than shipping as standalone versions. But in many ways, the thing that cemented Windows XP's status wasn't Windows XP itself: it was the lack of any successor. Microsoft's Longhorn project, an ambitious plan to radically rework Windows, with an all-new set of APIs and a database-like filesystem, was delayed and ultimately abandoned entirely. Windows Vista, a massively scaled back, more conservative release, eventually arrived in 2006, but by this time Windows XP had become so dominant that users, particularly business users, didn't want a new operating system. That Windows Vista had trouble in its early days, thanks to its steeper hardware demands, its polarizing appearance, and display driver issues - mirroring, in many ways, Windows XP's own introduction - just served to entrench Windows XP further. Business users stuck with Windows XP and Windows Vista struggled to ever make a serious dent in its predecessor's market share, peaking at just 19 percent in the final days before Windows 7's release. Had Windows Longhorn been more successful and had Windows Vista arrived sooner, Windows XP's market share dominance would never have been achieved. Windows 7, though well-received and widely liked, will be lucky to hit 50 percent market share before its replacement, Windows 8, hits the market (assuming Microsoft manages to avoid any development disasters). With a new operating system coming out every two to three years, which is Microsoft's plan, there simply isn't enough time to amass that much market share. Long in the tooth it may be, but Windows XP still basically works. Regardless of the circumstances that led to its dominance and longevity, the fact that it remains usable so long after release is remarkable. Windows XP was robust enough, modern enough, well-rounded enough and usable enough to support this extended life. Not only was Windows XP the first (and only) PC operating system that lasted ten years: it was the first PC operating system that was good enough to last ten years. Windows 98 didn't have the security or stability; Windows 2000 didn't have the security or comfort; Mac OS X 10.1 didn't have the performance, the richness of APIs, or the hardware support. The downside of longevity ... As much as businesses have enjoyed the ability to standardize on one operating system for a decade, the effect of Windows XP's long life and massive market share has its downsides. Windows XP is today a very tired platform, one that hasn't kept up with modern developments. Installing it onto systems with new RAID or SATA controllers is a miserable experience. Installing it on systems without optical drives is also troublesome. Though Service Pack 2 took steps to improve security, it still falls a long way short of Windows Vista and Windows 7 in that regard, thanks to newer features such as address space layout randomization and User Account Control. The technology it uses is dated; Windows 7 and Mac OS X both use GPUs' powerful 3D capabilities to accelerate their user interfaces (to a greater or lesser extent). Windows XP does not. Windows XP also lacks a true 64-bit version; though a Windows XP for x86-64 processors was released, it was actually a rebranded version of Windows Server 2003, a decision which caused various compatibility issues. Windows Vista and Windows 7, in contrast, both have mainstream, well-supported 64-bit versions. New versions of Windows offer value to developers, too. Direct3D 10, for example, only supports Windows Vista and Windows 7; it's not available on Windows XP. The continued widespread usage of the old operating system makes it much harder for developers to depend on these new features: every time they do, they rule out the ability to sell to half of all current Windows users and that's a bitter pill to swallow. More aggressive migration away from Windows XP would enable the development of better third-party applications. Given current trends, Windows 7 will overtake XP within the next year, with many businesses now moving away from the decade-old OS in earnest. Not all - there are still companies and governments rolling out Windows XP on new hardware - but the tide has turned. Windows XP, with its weaker security and inferior support for modern hardware, is now becoming a liability; Windows 7 is good enough for business and an eminently worthy successor, in a way that Windows Vista was never felt to be. Nonetheless, it will be several years before developers and administrators can put Windows XP behind them. Its support is due to end on April 8th, 2014 and while that date is still some years off, it's all but inevitable that there will be organizations still using the operating system right up to the cut-off. Beyond the support cut-off, companies will still be allowed to downgrade their volume licenses, but they won't receive any further security patches if they do. When Microsoft wanted to stop OEM preinstallations of Windows XP in 2007, there was a widespread backlash against the decision. It wouldn't be surprising to see a campaign of some kind to extend support for the operating system and no doubt there will be some companies claiming that they somehow didn't have enough time to phase out Windows XP. Redmond did extend the length of time that OEMs could ship systems with Windows XP preinstalled in response to customer demands, but it's hard to see the company lengthening the operating system's support period beyond the cut-off. Ten years is a good run for any operating system, but it really is time to move on. Windows 7 is more than just a solid replacement: it is a better piece of software and it's a much better match for the software and hardware of today. Being usable for ten years is quite an achievement, but the stagnation it caused hurts, and is causing increased costs for administrators and developers alike. As incredible as Windows XP's longevity has been, it's a one-off. Several factors - the 32-bit transition, the Longhorn fiasco, even the lack of competition resulting from Apple's own Mac OS X transition - conspired to make Windows XP's position in the market unique. We should not want this situation to recur: Windows XP needs to be not only the first ten-year operating system; it also needs to be the last. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ... decided to post the full article in case the link disappears or goes bad since it's almost 1 1/2 yrs old.

I might be the only one that didn't know about this little program ... just discovered it today. I mention it for anyone else that might find it useful. http://www.explorerxp.com/ ExplorerXP v1.07 ExplorerXP is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non - commercial use) file manager for Windows 2000/XP. Unlike the regular Windows Explorer, it displays the total size of each folder and allows you to browse multiple folders from a tabbed interface. Small download size - only 410 KB ...

Thanks jaclaz for the links ... the Acer link was interesting read with the BIOS thing. I remember the battery that I stored was wrapped in plastic and inside a ziplock bag but I'm sure there was some deterioration of the bag overtime. I didn't make it clear enough when I posted before "The booklet that came with the new battery says on storage" ... I was talking about the "new" battery I just got today ... if the "new" battery from 5 yrs ago had a booklet enclosed, I don't really remember. It may have had a paper or booklet enclosed. I'm still thinking there could be a very good chance that the cells could have just dried out. I also remember reading years back that Dell batteries are good for so many charges and then will not charge or be as good, even if the battery is still new or something ... some program inside that says you need a new battery, whether you need one or not. Not sure about that, but there was something somewhere about a Dell notebook battery at the time. ...

I couldn't figure exactly where to put this question so it's under this topic for discussion. Please move it if necessary. I bought a new battery around 5/6 years ago for a Dell Latitude Pentium 3 notebook. The battery that was in the notebook still had some life in it ... maybe 15 - 20 minutes, so I decided to not use the new battery and just continue to use the older battery for a few more months. I fully charged the new battery and wrapped it up and placed it in the refrigerator for storage. Well, over the last few years I used the Dell notebook very infrequently and left the older battery in the notebook, it still had that 15 - 20 minute charge. I pretty much just forgot about the battery wrapped up in the refrigerator. About a week ago I decided to get rid of the old battery and finally put this "new" 5yr old battery into the notebook. It had no charge left and after having it in the notebook for several hours ... of which the notebook said it was charging but the percentage just stayed at 0%. I search around to see if there was anyway to "revive" it but I really didn't find any hints or information on the subject ... it seem to be considered a dead battery. So my question to the gurus here ... the battery was perhaps dead for good? ... the cells maybe dried out even with it wrapped and sealed in plastic? I have since got rid of the battery ( a few days ago) and ordered a new one but for my own curiosity (after the fact) ... was there anything that might have been done to revive the battery or is there some kind of internal clock that after so many years, new battery or not, it will be a "dead" or "weak" battery? I also wondered at the time if I should store it in the refrigerator or freezer but could not find anything definite on that so I chose the refrigerator ... it was a Lithium-ion battery and the new battery just arrived today with a little instruction booklet. I did use that new battery for a few weeks before I decided to just store it and use the old battery for a few more months, which turned out to be around 5 or 6 years. The booklet that came with the new battery says on storage: Storage of Battery "If the battery is stored for a long time in the closed-circuit mode the battery is damaged. If the battery needs to remain idle in a month or a longer time, remove the battery out of the computer, charge it to 60% to 80% and store it in a dry, cool and clean place. If the battery remains idle for a long time the electricity of the battery is ultimately lost and the battery may be damaged. Therefore, after the battery is stored for a time period, it is necessary to perform an effective charging and discharging cycle for the battery. By performing a complete effective charging and discharging cycle for the battery every month, you can ensure a proper storage status for the battery." ... so I guess I should have probably put the battery back into the computer every so often to give it some use but I still wonder if there are any suggestions from anyone about bringing the battery back to life. I did try at least three times to charge it ... left it in for over 6 hours one day but it always said 0%. thanks ...

CharlotteTheHarlot posted : "Another great new one is a WiFi sniffer called WiFiInfoView (Vista and above unfortunately) which displays a lot of details of what your router ( and your neighbors' routers ) are putting into the air. Obviously it needs to be run from a computer with WiFi capability. Running this will cause people to examine their own situation and take note of what they are broadcasting and what others can see, and hopefully spend some time configuring their router settings." For anyone running XP that might be interested ... he (Nirsoft) does mention that WirelessNetView v1.43 can be used with XP and up (Windows XP/Vista/7/2008) : Windows XP is not supported because this tool is based on new Wi-Fi API that doesn't exist on Windows XP. If you want to get wireless networks information on Windows XP, you can use the WirelessNetView utility. WirelessNetView v1.43 - Wireless Network Monitoring Tool http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_network_view.html ...

CharlotteTheHarlot ... thanks for the heads up on LastActivityView by Nirsoft. I use several programs from Nirsoft already but missed that one. Many nice programs at that site. ...

I was looking up information on my IBM Thinkpads and came across something I had never heard of before. I did a forum search and found nothing relating to it. I also didn't know where to post this ... it would be for any OS I guess, so I thought "General Discussion" would be the right place. Please move it if it should be somewhere else. I'm sure most people computer people here already knew about the "Microsoft Tax" or Windows Tax but in case there are a few people around, like me, who had no knowledge of it ... they may find this interesting and some members who have more knowledge about it may have some things to add or say. OK, I have 3 IBM Thinkpad computers (T Series) and was looking something up about monitors (from another thread) and I came across this statement in the article dealing with Thinkpads. "Lenovo does charge a "Microsoft tax" to all buyers even if they have no intention of running Microsoft software on their ThinkPad." ThinkPad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad then: The "Windows tax" and "Windows Refund" ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_refund ... I guess it's just a "license fee" ... It does say that a person can avoid the so called tax by simply assembling a computer from individually purchased parts or purchasing a computer from an OEM that does not bundle Windows. It is interesting that some people have been able to obtain a "refund" of the tax but not all. "One of the ways Microsoft combats piracy is by advising OEMs that they will be charged a higher price for Windows unless they drastically limit the number of PCs that they sell without an operating system pre-installed. In 2009, Microsoft stated that it has always charged OEMs about $50 for a Windows license on a $1,000 computer." It seems reasonable I guess, years back ... I paid around a $100 for a copy of Windows 98SE through eBay. Some License refund cases Dell: * In 2006, a British man, Dave Mitchell, purchased a Dell Inspiron 640m laptop bundled with Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2 pre-installed, but did not accept Microsoft's End User License Agreement (EULA). Within one week of requesting a refund from Dell, the customer received a "goodwill" refund of GBP £47 (£55.23 including VAT) from Dell for a "no Windows" option, as the copy of the system was an "unused product" according to the software license agreement. Dell had not asked for the installation medium to be returned and commented that although it doesn't have a Windows refund program, giving a refund in an individual case isn't forbidden either.[20][21] * In the same period, a Swiss man received a refund of about CHF 150 from Dell. The laptop model and refund procedure was the same. * In 2007, Serge Wroclawski, an American Dell customer purchased a laptop and received $52.50 refund from Dell for unused Windows bundled to the computer. * According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German Dell customer replaced the preinstalled Windows with Linux and was credited the amount of €78 for the operating system and a further unspecified Microsoft program. Acer: # A French court ordered Acer to refund the purchase price of pre-installed laptop software amounting to €135.20 for Windows XP Home. # Acer US has a Windows refund program where a user can ship a computer with an unused copy of Windows to the Acer service center and have the computer returned without Windows for a refund. Lenovo: Lenovo states that it "does not provide refunds or credits for portions of a packaged offering provided at a single price or for preloaded programs installed by Lenovo". ... however, they have made refund payments in some court cases mentioned in the article. The difficulties associated with getting a Windows refund from OEMs have evoked a strong response from the public. Websites have been created for the specific purpose of spreading information about the issue and educating others on their options for getting a refund. In the past, public events, such as the Windows refund day in 1999 which gained significant media attention, have been organized. I got my first computer in 1998 ... a clearance Windows 95 setup since Windows 98 was now all the rage. However, I don't remember anything about "the Windows Refund Day in 1999" or anything similar. I just found all this interesting from the past just to make mention of it here. This would be the "only" income MS would get for a manufacturer to be able to use their OS in a computer so $50 seems reasonable for them to collect ... or am I missing something, do they also collect more money from a manufacturer? So it's the price of "doing business" and is a licensing fee for using a Windows OS but becomes a "tax" if you do not want a Windows OS installed. ...

tomasz86 ... good to have your input also. I have never heard any mention of "Luna" in relation to XP till today, checking it out on Google, it seems to be a themes pack that you download, I have never downloaded it so I guessing I don't have it anywhere on my computer. I will also have to check that out for sure. ...

MaximRecoil ... hey thanks for the information. I was not aware that WMP 6.4 was actually still available in XP or that it would still work ... currently have WMP 9 ... I will check all that out ... I liked WMP 6.4 in Windows 98SE ... also have Media Player Classic and KM Player currently installed. I also like the XP start menu over the Classic start menu. I'm sure I have "Fast User Switching" disabled but will have to check all that out as well as your other suggestions. Thanks again ... I'd just like to ask what browser(s) you prefer or like with Windows XP? I'm back on a "best browser for XP" hunt again ... from another forum thread. ... just read your post over at another thread about using IE 8 but liking IE 6. I agree ... spent some of the morning searching around for ways to "update" IE 6 for 2012 but it is hopeless I guess. I have IE 8 as a backup but mainly use several K-Meleon versions. Also have one further question ... what is "Luna" or what does it stand for ... "completely prevents Luna from ever rearing its ugly head" ? ...

MaximRecoil ... I'd be interested in knowing what "fluff" or adjustments you might be talking about when you said earlier ... "The first thing I do after installing XP is to disable the fluff, making it much more like 2K" . I may have already done some of these things but maybe not. My intention, when switching to XP earlier this year, was to have a more "modern" working browser with fewer problems. I also happen to like W2k and would be interested in knowing what adjustments you make in this regard. thanks ...

tomasz86 ... I understand what you are saying and am in agreement with you when you say ... "K-Meleon was nice because it was very light and fast compared to other Gecko based browsers". I have been following this as it develops and am holding off for now with any criticism. I want it to stay as much as possible as the "old" KM but still "maybe" having some newer ideas. Since people from other parts of the world also have their "wish list" of things ... I have just decided to wait and see how this all ends. Plus many of these people are on a newer OS like Windows 7 or 8 and I am working with (and liking) XP. I have to think there are other people out there such as you and me wanting that feel and workings of the old KM ... maybe they are just quiet for now to see how things develop. I'm sure rodocop will keep this in mind but we will see. I posted about this possible newer KM version earlier since it seemed to be a new development happening in late 2012. I guess I am glad someone has decided to pick up the KM torch and carry it for another mile or two just like you and blackwingcat are doing for Windows 2000 and PROBLEMCHYLD is doing for Windows 98SE. I may not like the final newer KM version when it is finished and I may try to "fix" it or change it more to my liking with my limited knowledge of things. Time will tell ... I like the KM version that I recently got from JamesD ... KM v1.6.0.2.4 ... it is my understanding he did a few tweaks here there and he has offered to help rodocop with his project. ...

A post from yesterday by rodocop at the KM forum dealing with his K-Meleon -Twin version. http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?1,123877,page=2 December 19, 2012 09:41PM ***this is just info about current works on the next Twin. No download available. Sorry.*** 1. K-Meleon Twin 2.0 active tasks + 2 new skins (compact) added + FlashBlock button added+ Scribefire Next integration performed + Bookmarklets sorting for more convenient use of JS-tools + 2 new Bookmarking online services posting added (bookmarklets) + Chromium Embed extension updated (new chromium engine) and added -> skins integrity being tested -> more KM skin adaptations in work 2. K-Meleon Twin 2.0 planned tasks => add extensions by JamesD for sending page between 1.6 & 1.7 => develop 2 different packages: Twin Slim - minimal and compact-skinned and Twin Bold - full mobile internet USB-package with extra tools => adapt more skins => create SkinChanger extension (help needed!!!) 3. K-Meleon Twin further tasks (browser development, promotion, community tasks) => finalize russian locale => create 'tips' html-page (to be the start page) with some extra knowledge about KM and extensions => finalize KMext mirror at The K-Meleon Place => create toggle-ready sets of prefs for KM use in different conditions (Ex.: 'oldtimers', 'mobile web-access', 'no traces', etc.) => create new macros to implement some usability features => bundle all Extra Tools as one pack which can be downloaded separately from bare KM Twin if needed 4. KM Twin Bold pack planned kit: • Mail - Sylpheed or Toolilla (mobile swiss-knife with load of tools including mail) • FTP - FTPRush portable • WebFilter - Privoxy • Torrent - µTorrent • Twitter - Azurea (??? - maybe replaced by online multimessenger Plus.im) • Websniffer - Nirsoft WebSite Sniffer • Uncensored Surfing - Ultrasurf • LAN setup - NetSetMan (invaluable for mobility users) • Browse - ChromiumEmbedded (through extension) instead of GoogleChromeFrame for more portability and privacy Something else??? .... he posted this several days back about needing coders to help out ... through the years I guess they have all moved on to other things. Question: Hi Rodo,That is a good idea to have KM Twin Max. But try to upgrade to a latest Gecko Engine and also see that it use less resources as earlier. Kindly see that browser is not crashed ,now it is crashing often when you view epapers in pdf formats.i am using windows 7 32 bit. Answer: To use new Gecko is the main dream of all K-meleonaires. But it's impossible till some skilled coder would get to work on the new KM version. ... still a work in progress.

Hi ... in reference to the Opera browser, I personally have nothing against Opera. Since switching to XP earlier, I have been trying various browsers ... some stay on the computer for maybe a few hours and then I get rid of them but Opera was on for several months, along with K-Meleon ... two versions at that time till the newer KM Twin came along, so now I have three versions of KM to use. Getting back to Opera, I just didn't like it so I removed it and also at the same time, someone at the K-Meleon forum mentioned that they were using a portable version of Firefox which I downloaded to have handy for times when K-Meleon just doesn't work right with some web sites. Then a short time later I found a portable version of SeaMonkey which I also downloaded as a browser backup ... I rarely use FF and SM, as I said earlier, only when a web page is just about unreadable using the older K-Meleon ... fortunately, it not happening too often yet. My choice of browser for # 1 is K-Meleon but it's old ... they have lost all the people that could maybe make K-Meleon better for today's internet. Rodocop is trying to do what he can with his newer KM - Twin version ... He posted this just a few days ago in answer to a question about his KM - Twin version: "To use new Gecko is the main dream of all K-meleonaires. But it's impossible till some skilled coder would get to work on the new KM version." I started posting about his new version here at MSFN (Software forum) to inform more people about his work in progress and also in the hope that someone with coder knowledge might read about his project and go over and offer to help out. I'm hoping one of the older coders will come back or someone new will show up. Anyway, I have nothing against Opera, just didn't seem to like it ... don't really like FF or SM either. I have been with KM for many years now and it's just the browser that I like and understand better. ... but back to Windows XP monthly updates ... I appreciate CharlotteTheHarlot taking the time to post all that information ... and others also, it has given me some interesting things to think about, a new way to look at these monthly updates ... for one, I also have not had an anti virus program "running" for over 6 + years ... as I posted about Stinger (Software forum), I keep the latest version handy in a folder to check out a download or something suspicious. I think it's good to hear about all these various setups that people are using on their machines. Personally, after all these years with computers, I am still in "learning mode" from everyone. ...

CharlotteTheHarlot ... very interesting post, after reading the link you posted ( We are screwed!' Fonts eat a bullet in Microsoft security patch ) I guess I'm glad that I decided to wait a few weeks before installing the December XP updates. I don't know if the Fonts thing would affect me directly, maybe - maybe not. I have not installed any Dec updates as yet ... I may just pass on that one update (KB2753842). You mention the Opera browser ... I had it on my computer back in August but removed it and decided to go with Firefox Portable and SeaMonkey Portable along with K-Meleon (various versions) ... what is it about Opera as you mention "I am using Opera 99% of the time" that makes it safer to use over other browsers? Thanks again for the interesting post about your setup and how it runs. ...

Thanks everyone for the input ... I guess I should have added a couple of things in my earlier post. First, I don't let the XP updates download automatically, I have that turned off till I go online for the latest updates, since then it has to be turned back on in order to get the updates. I have been doing a Ghost backup after the updates are installed, so if one month turns out to be a problem, I could easily go back a month to fix the situation ... but over the last five months or so, I always think maybe I should wait a week or two to see if any "news" comes out about a problem. To the best of my knowledge, since starting with XP in May, I have not had any problems with any updates, everything seems to be working OK. I also mostly keep System Restore off but turn it on sometimes when trying some new software ... also use ERUNT to back up the registry. As I said earlier, just curious what others, who have been with XP longer, do in reference to the monthly updates.

Since making the switch to XP earlier in the year, I have been in the habit of installing the new XP monthly updates in a day or two after they are released by MS. This month ... for no real reason ... I have decided to wait a few weeks and then download and install them. So I am wondering what others here do ... jump right in and download them or wait awhile, maybe a week or two, just to be sure the updates are OK and not causing problems. My thought is that MS has probably tested the updates enough that they should be OK for the monthly release. I am aware that sometimes an update will be a problem but will be fixed or corrected in a future release. Still, would just like to hear from other XP users as to just how fast they apply the updates on their computer. thanks ...

Thanks jaclaz for bringing the Ghost Radified site back into my memory ... I was there back in 2006 and have everything I found burned to a CD someplace. I forgot about the site ... not having been there in 6 years. Also was going to mention, I got my Ghost program from eBay. As you said, there were not many freeware programs available for backups and I never had luck in trying to get a good Windows restore after a problem ... I bought a few ... Power Quest and such but Ghost was the best for me. ...

I also back up the earlier comments about using Ghost as a backup. I have used Ghost 2003 (released September 2002) but these days I use Ghost 8.3 (December 2005) as it had a few improvements, mainly the ability to create an image file that is larger than 2 GB ... but Ghost 2003 would work just fine. I still use Ghost 8.3 for my XP backups. It took me awhile to understand how to use Ghost ... after searching around for months on Google for many tutorials, I finally found one that made it easy to understand ... step by step and I finally had my first successful Windows 98SE backup. I finally could sleep at night knowing ... as much as I like to try out new software programs ... if something goes crazy, I can be back up running again in minutes. It may take awhile to figure Ghost out, maybe not ... I didn't understand a few things or steps until I found the right tutorial that went into more detail for "dummies"such as myself. I use Ghost strictly in DOS before anything starts up in Windows ... everything (Ghost) on a CD. from Wikipedia: Norton Ghost 2003 Norton Ghost 2003, a consumer edition of Ghost, was released on September 6, 2002. Available as an independent product, Norton Ghost 2003 was also included as a component of Norton SystemWorks 2003 Professional. A simpler, non-corporate version of Ghost, Norton Ghost 2003 does not include the Console but has a Windows front-end to script Ghost operations and create a bootable Ghost diskette (third-party CD burning software can be used to create a bootable Ghost CD based on a bootable Ghost diskette). The machine still needs to reboot to the Virtual Partition, but the user doesn′t need to interact with DOS. Symantec deprecated LiveUpdate support for Norton Ghost 2003 in early 2006. Symantec Ghost Solution Suite 1.1 (Ghost 8.3) Ghost Solution Suite 1.1 was released December 2005. Some of the new features include the ability to create an image file that is larger than 2 GB (in Ghost 8.2 or earlier versions, such image files are automatically split into two or more segments, so that each segment has a maximum size of 2 GB), more comprehensive manufacturing tools, and the ability to create a universal boot disk. Ghost Solution Suite is a bundle of an updated version of Ghost, Symantec Client Migration (a user data and settings migration tool) and the former PowerQuest equivalent, DeployCenter (using PQI images). ...

For anyone interested or using K-Meleon ... just a little update about K-Meleon Twin posted today by rodocop at the K-Meleon Forum. Posted by: rodocop Date: December 10, 2012 08:48AM Little roadmap for 2.0: I'm planning to create 2 different assemblies: - Twin 2 light with minimalistic skin and almost no integrated tools - Twin 2 Max - power internet bundle, including not only browser, but all the web-related stuff: e-mail client, icq-client, twitter one (Azurea), FTP-FXP client (FTPRush), may be even HTML-editor (Kompozer?). Twin Max is planned as fully portable replacement for Seamonkey and likes (if they do exist) - just put this bundle on USB stick and take it with you all around the world. What do you think about this idea? What kind of stuff do you want to see inside? http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/forum/read.php?1,123877,page=2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ... some progress in early stages.

Thanks blackwingcat for the additional information with the flash versions ... I will download the 10.3 version at your blog. I will have it handy, I don't use this computer (Dell Pentium 3) everyday so I will let things as they are with v10d. I'm on XP Pro these days but still like firing up Windows 2000 every so often ... but your information is good for someone still using Windows 2000 as their main computer OS, a heads up for them to check things out more. I have an additional question sort of related ... what version of Shockwave would you ... ppgrainbow ... or anyone recommend for Windows 2000? I have the last version that was posted to work with Windows 2000 but I don't have the version number handy at present. Do you even have Shockwave on your machine? I do not have it installed at present. thanks

ppgrainbow ... thanks for the information about the UURollup having the latest working Flash version. I completely forgot about that being included in the UURollup versions. I had UURollup v10c installed with Flash v10.2.152.32 and then late yesterday I discovered that a newer UURollup v10d had been released in November. After installing v10d ... the Flash version is now v11.5.502.0. There are several Flash test pages around but a nice one that test several things at once is here: http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?method=cCorp.dspTest thanks again ...

I have been digging around looking for the last version that should work with IE 6 and Windows 2000. At the Adobe site I found Flash Player v10.1.102.64 (IE) ... * Windows 2000 as the last version listed and was able to find a download at another site. I also mostly use K-Meleon browsers (v1.5.4 and v1.6.0) and have some higher plugin versions in those browsers. Would like to know if newer Flash Player versions are able to work properly with IE 6 ... I don't use IE 6 but keep it on the machine. Thanks ...

If you don't like having an anti-virus program running all the time then Stinger (McAfee) might be a nice program to have handy to check downloads or anything suspicious on your computer. When I was still with Windows 98SE earlier this year ... Stinger would still run on 98SE but I don't know now if that's still the case ... should work on everything later though and maybe still on Windows 98SE. It's also updated regularly . http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/stinger.aspx Stinger Release Notes Build Number: 10.2.0.889 Build Date: 22-Nov-2012 Stinger McAfee Stinger detects and removes prevalent Fake Alert malware and threats identified in the "List Viruses" section of the Stinger application. While not a replacement for full fledged antivirus software, Stinger is updated multiple times a week to include detection for newer Fake Alert variants and prevalent viruses. Details on new or enhanced signatures added with each Stinger build are listed in the Readme details. ...

I posted about this little program under the Windows XP thread last August ... saw that a slightly newer version is now available. Windows XP post: New version is MemInfo v3.2 SR1 at this link: Windows 8 / 7 / Vista / XP / 2000 / NT http://www.carthagosoft.net/MemInfo.php ... just to add, if you did once use RAMpage with Windows 98SE then you can have the "lime on black" color with MemInfo also, that's how I have it set up on XP. ...

Yes, I would be using the 32-bit version ... I wasn't completely sure about the x64 version you mentioned when you said it was an "experimental" version ... I understand now. Also, keep an eye on rodocop working with his newer version of K-Meleon Twin+ ... it may really develop into something nice as improvements and newer versions are released. At least it's something to hope for. Others may offer to help him out when he gets stuck on something to keep things progressing. We will see, I guess. ...