Jody Thornton

The only real issue I see is something that @NoelCbrought up in his analysis of installing Windows 8.1 updates. He is not so sure that skipping updates and installing later ones will produce a stable system environment. The Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 update for Spectre and Meltdown came in March of last year. My intention would have been to keep my system patched, and just skip the March update. I did pretty much the same thing with Vista. I installed the Server 2008 updates all the way through to August of this year, but I skipped the two updates I quoted above. Slight throughput degradation was becoming evident, and higher CPU usage and CPU fans were running while I was browsing. Also whenever I ran uTorrent v2.2.1, I could never close it. Even using Task Manager, you could never kill the task. I'd have to restart Vista completely. So, I uninstalled all of the updates back to March 2018, and I removed MSE (since I heard that it's larger definitions might be responsible for the high CPU usage). Well performance has improved SIGNIFICANTLY. Now for me, it might matter little because I'm almost ready to dump Vista and my old workstation, for a replacement machine with Windows 8. But even then, I only plan to update to a December 2017 date line (just to see if performance stays high). One one hand, I want to be able to patch my system (I don't want to stay at December 2017 forever), but I'm becoming unsure if skipping a month, then installing later patches will not lead to the instability I had recently with Vista. A lot to consider.

@cc333, look in @greenhillmaniac's repository. They are listed. KB4089229 (Meltdown) KB4090450 (Spectre)

Plus I thought .NET v4.7 could be installed on Windows 7. Or is there a newer version?

As for the email issue, if you liked Outlook Express, you can use Windows Mail on 7. The forums at eightforums.com have a detailed thread about it. I cannot agree with the Windows 10 recommendation, however Windows 8.1 is in support until 2023. You can COMPLETELY hide Metro apps and that Start Screen so don't let that dissuade you.

That's the same error I received. I wonder if I should use it on Windows 8 instead of DOSBox.

Will this run on Windows 8 or Vista? I know it needs .NET v4.5. (just checking before I junk my own system)

No @Vistapocalypse, by all means - these are interesting observations.

Yeah but I wanted to see if there was anything to it - and there was ....lol. Besides, if I had tried it, and my results didn't agree with yours, I would have just reinstalled MSE. No harm done. :)

I was going to look at Comodo AV Free (I tried it once with XP x64 and it ran well - but that was November 2011). I'll look up BitDefender. I wonder if manual scans with Malwarebytes v1.75 are still good enough. The application still accepts current definitions. :)

I was using Malwarebytes 1.75 and SuperAntiSpyware (just to remove cookies). But I was just running manual scans. MSE never really caught anything, so I wonder how bad off I'd be just running Vista with no on-demand scanner. It runs better without MSE. :)

Now let's try a smilie on New Moon. :) - Nope didn't work. so New Moon v28 has a compatibility issue! Pooh!

I know in the "Last Versions of Software for Vista" thread, there's a whole list of still-working applications, but I wonder what most of you are all using for AV protection. I just jettisoned MSE 4.304.4 because of performance issues, so I'm looking for a good replacement. :)

Wow! I turned on my PC, and I'm telling you seriously, Vista booted about 30% faster. I have never had Vista boot, or had applications load this quickly (and this is an old Netburst dual-Xeon with DDR2 memory) Obviously, MSE and 2018 updates were slowing things down.

That worked. It's funny how you tell me type the address about:config, and search for "media"....lol. You should just say, "go to about:config and change media.autoplay.enabled to true" ....lol. Very helpful though.

Aww thanks man. Actually to be honest (I know this sounds really sissy ...lol), but I was starting to worry that you disappeared or something bad happened to you. I hadn't seen you on the forums for quite awhile. Glad you're OK!

Okie Doke - hey it worked that time. Right now I'm on Quantum at work. I'll have to try New Moon at home. Cheers All!

I was using the Qdownloader site. It seems to work most of the time, without a plugin.

@TechnoRelicI will try that when I get home. :)

Has anyone figured out the YouTube glitch, where the circling arrow spins, until you press pause. Then when you press play - it works!

I completely hear you @JohnRichardTLH. I did remove MSE. The CPU usage is definitely lower. The system is a tad more "responsive". I guess this is how it shall stay. I really appreciate hearing what you have to say.

Hi Folks! When I type :) well I should see a smilie, right? It no longer happenes. I checked my profile settings, but nothing intuitively pops out at me to adjust. Any takers? :)

@Roytam1 and @GTAGAME I really didn't realize that production versions were not ported. But now I know. :)

See Guys? I told you there were holes in this OS! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa! (kidding! kidding!)

@roytam1. I hear you. I'm looking forward to v28 Final from you. :) A nice going away Vista present ....lol

Well the thing is @JohnRichardTLH, I want to be able to install updates down the road. I mean, why wouldn't I want to patch vulnerabilities that are known, right? I will be switching to Windows 8 in September, and while I am planning to adhere to @NoelC's December 2017 recommendations, I don't want to install NO UPDATES from now until October 2023. There's a lot that could happen then.