Tommy

I've been using Windows 11 for the past 9 months and honestly, I don't mind it for what it is. Moving past the lack of customization options and how bland the UI looks overall...it's not horrible. Using ExplorerPatcher to return the toolbar to Windows 10 style and bringing back the original control panel version of System Properties helps make it more tolerable. I've pretty much gotten used to the new right click menu. Do I like it? It's alright...but not my favorite. I haven't really played with the tabs in explorer feature yet but I feel it's a bit of a mixed bag as well. It could help save taskbar space but then you have to remember if you have several explorer windows open, which one you may have utilized the tab in. And I'm not sure how that would affect dragging and dropping files either. Either way, Windows 11 feels a bit more stable in my opinion and feels like it has a bit more polish to it as if Microsoft is focusing more of their attention on Windows 11 than on Windows 10. Still, I'm not sure how I feel about these rolling releases. I'm still used to and prefer Service Packs. It felt like with Service Packs, it actually fixed problems rather than introducing a host of new ones. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels as if these new rolling releases are only half tested, and we're supposed to test them out ourselves and provide feedback based on them. But I'm on the new 22H2 release and even though my processor isn't supported (early 7th gen on laptop and 2nd gen on desktop), I haven't run into any major issues and honestly, not many minor issues either. I think my biggest complaint though is how working with default applications works. It hasn't been that awesome since Windows 7, Windows 10 is okay but Windows 11....took it about 50 steps backwards. But to wrap this up, I read an article in which one of the developers said that they were really excited about the release of Windows 11 and that it was on the same level of excitement as the release of Windows 95...I'm yet to see this excitement and just feel as though this is another update as in updating Windows Vista to Windows 7, it feels more like a Service Pack rather than a whole new version.

As long as we're not talking about circumventing Windows activation in general, I'll let the conversation continue. I just want to make sure that if anyone else posts in this thread, do not discuss circumventing Windows activation but if you have issues like this that may rely on your copy of Windows being genuine and it is...then feel free to discuss. Thanks!

Welcome to MSFN! There's a wealth of information here so more than likely, you'll find answers to the questions you have and if not, you can always ask them yourself!

You just joined and made only one post. We know absolutely nothing about you and we're going to trust you with moderator status?

On Vista or XP? Because I believe that a few YouTubers have tried online activation of Windows XP and it failed and the only way to activate it was to call the number. I believe Enderman was one of the ones who tried it but my memory could be failing me too. That's what I thought was the last iteration of Windows XP and that they pulled the plug on it in 2019. Even though it's still pretty outdated, it's probably still one of the more functional out of date versions of Windows. I think China was one of the biggest users of Windows XP, I'm wondering if that's still true.

We don't like giving points to people, quite the opposite actually. But we just have to be extremely careful because we don't want Microsoft serving us with any legal action. In fact there's another somewhat well known abandonware site for Windows OSes that I won't say for obvious reasons, but they too have a strict policy on Windows XP and will not allow it on their site which is weird since I don't think Microsoft really considers any of their operating systems abandonware despite being out of support so I have no idea how they dodge the legal department there. I myself am personally a bit surprised Microsoft doesn't just release an activation patch and wash their hands of it since as you said, the only way to activate it anymore is by telephone but apparently they still consider it enough of an asset to protect. I might be wrong but I don't think there's a single iteration of Windows XP that is supported any longer.

To all new members, welcome to MSFN! I'm posting this as a kind reminder for all new and veteran members to please read and familiarize yourselves with the rules. The link is a bit buried so they may or may not be getting read. We do not like giving members infractions or bans so to prevent that from happening, read the rules by clicking this link. Thank you for your understanding and enjoy your time here!

Welcome to MSFN, Wu-Tang. You may be able to find threads of interest by using the search function found at the top of the page. It might help you narrow down some of the threads. I haven't used IE in so many years so I never followed such things so unfortunately I can't give you much help there. But if you can't find anything in particular, you can always create a new thread. Enjoy your stay!

What exactly are you using Windows Server 2022 for? Are you using it as an actual server or a workstation? In my opinion, there's very little reason to use a server OS as a workstation OS in today's world. It may have served some purpose back during the Windows XP era but these days, there's very little reason to do this. Back then you could use Server 2003 to take advantage of x64 bit instructions and using more than 4GBs of RAM, these days 32-bit is almost a thing of the past so there's almost no reason to use a server OS as your daily driver. I have a centralized Windows Server 2019 running active directory. I have opted for the GUI install just because I'm lazy and don't want to really bother with command line or learning it at this point in time. It reminds me of Windows 10 LTSC which is very slimed down and does not contain a lot of things by default and in fact includes most Windows 7 applications like calculator rather than the new "App" versions. But on a server OS, there's very little reason to actually have the Microsoft Store installed because all server tasks that you need are already built into the OS itself. I've been curious to see what Windows Server 2022 looks and feels like but I don't really see a reason to change because you really want to avoid doing an in place upgrade to your server OS. I upgraded from Windows Server 2008r2 to 2019 but I was also upgrading servers so I replicated my domain and then simply decommissioned my old 2008 server so it was essentially like a clean installation of Windows. Feels like way too much work to me to change something that is working and performing 100% the way I need it to right now.

Welcome to MSFN! Hope you enjoy your stay here!

I freakin' love this, Jason! Thank you so much for sharing it with us. RLoew was definitely a shining gem around here and is certainly missed greatly.

I didn't even catch that. The slowest processor speed I've ever installed Windows XP on myself was a 100mhz original Pentium on a Compaq Presario. Took about 4 hours to install and boot up time from boot screen to usable desktop took about 10-15 minutes, depending on its mood for the day.

I'll give them credit. It's just about as pointless as putting up a blockade in front of a door that opens outwards...but at least we know that someone wanted to be extremely mean to Windows XP and the computer they put it on in the name of science.

Welcome! Hope you find our community informative and helpful!