Zxian

Your boot.ini file seems normal to me (correct me if I'm wrong here). As for StyleXP, I would also recommend dumping it and either going with a hacked UXtheme.dll file or with WindowBlinds. I personally use WindowBlinds since there are some other nice features to the program other than just skinning. Have a look at the section under "Windows Desktop Screenshots" to see some of the work that can be done with WB. Lastly, never go to ThemeXP again. They used to be a good site for finding visual styles, but then they started bundling their skins/wallpapers/everything with adware and crap to pay for the site. WindowBlinds has many free, and spyware free, skins available. Hope this helps.

Good ol, Vancouver, Canada. Home to the 2010 Winter Olympics... and the best ski resorts in the world! Whistler/Blackcomb, Big White, Sun Peaks, Silver Star... *drools* My Head Cyber X60's are sitting in my closet... itching to get onto the snow... only one more week until Whistler opens!!!

The problem with this view on things is that with certain AV programs, they do check redundant things... are you ever going to find a virus in a 40 meg wav file? Also... you hard drive can scan at over 150 MB/s... it just can't read/write at 150 MB/s. To give you an example, when I analyze my HD with PerfectDisk 7.0, it takes about 10 secs to analyze a drive with 8GB on it... that's 800MB/s. Also... VB doesn't use an already made virus to do their testing... they create a completely new one. This basically tests the heuristics of the AV program, which is why you see many lower end programs fail. Well... I guess that we could throw this ball back and forth 20 times more... I use NOD32 because I like it, and everything that I've come up against it's caught. B) If others find that Kaspersky works better, then great, keep using it. Whatever works... that's my motto... I know some of my classmates have written 2000 word essays in Wordpad...

Ok... honestly... I think that EVERYONE needs to take a Valium here... this post is so incredibly hot, I burn my fingers whenever I hover over the link... @Red house When you say stuff like this, it makes you no better than Saraband. Maxthon is not crap, and it does provide a lot more functionality than IE (anything does really) without leaving the familiar setting of IE entirely. @Saraband You've got to STOP doing this! Think of the next time that you might run into something quirky with Windows, and you need some help... with all this flaming that you've been doing and calling people "ignorant, bigoted, unthinking moron(s)", no one is going to help you in the future. IMO, for power users (like there are many of here) Firefox is a good browser because you can customize it and tweak it to exactly your liking. However, for someone who has just become more comfortable with using the internet at all, I believe that Maxthon provides much more than IE, without switching completely. To give another example, it's like for those of us who used WinME (from another post here)... for power users who couldn't stand the WinME interface and problems(and who want a much better OS in general) they could go and get a Mac. For those people who wanted to stick with what they partially knew, they moved on to XP. To try to end this (extremely) heated debate... Firefox has many good features. I supports many plugins that you or I can write ourselves and is very good when it comes to blocking spyware. It comes with a built in download manager and offers tabbed browsing. I will say it, it is a good browser (just not my personal favorite). Maxthon is also a good browser with many features for itself. Many of these features come preinstalled and therefore don't require the need to find any extra plugins to work. As for blocking spyware, simply disable the automatic download of ActiveX (which is used more than people realize) and Java Applets, and you'll be good to go. Maxthon also provides tabbed browsing, and supports the use of a third party download manager. It is also a good browser. Mods, please close this thread.

Have a look here... Virus Bulletin - Eset NOD32 With a standing like that (and having never failed an "in-the-wild" test. It's got the best track record at the VB site, and probably uses the least resources out there of any AV program. When my friend doubted me on NOD32's abilities, I told him to send me every single file that he had ever found that was infected with a virus (we found about 200 various "cracks" from Kazaa) that related to about 30-35 different viruses (or variants). We put these "cracks" on a CD and put the CD into our computers. NOD32 picked up the files the moment that Windows detected there was a CD and quarantined the files on the spot. BitDefender, on the other hand, needed to have the files copied (or at least tried to copy) onto his hard drive before it would pick them up. P.S. What were the viruses found on this system? Was it running the latest version of NOD32? V2.12? Was the computer online when you uninstalled NOD32 and put Kaspersky on? It only takes a split second for your computer to become infected, and it could have been the time while you didn't have kaspersky on your system. (I've had that happen once, and never again... always unplug from now on) P.P.S @Schadenfroh There is no way on this green earth that BitDefender only uses 3.06 MB of RAM while running... I've tried it out, and the numbers are well above 20.

I'll be the odd one out... Maxthon. I find it simply easier to setup and use. And a counter-arguement to some other people... it's not simply a skin for IE. Yes, it uses the IE Core, but there are many other features that come built in with Maxthon that make it much more functional than simply a good looking IE. For example, here is a small list of features that come built in with Maxthon (no plugins or extra installs to bother with): Mouse Gestures ActiveX Blocking Java Applet Blocking URL Alias URL Keys Tabbed Browsing Skinnable Pop-up blocker Ad-blocker Ability to integrate a download manager (not included) Tray Icon Minimize/Close to Tray Cleaning of Internet Files on close Favorites Groups All of this stuff comes included with the installer. If you don't like a function (like Mouse Gestures for me), simply disable it. Just for all you people who might claim that it's still vulnerable to spyware, I've been running Maxthon ever since it switched from MyIE2, and along with an updated Spybot S&D and SpywareBlaster, I haven't got a single piece of spyware on my system in three months (ever since I formatted). This is just my opinion. I think that since 90% of the websites out there are probably made to work in IE, why not use a program that's compatible. It's like trying to use a flat-head screwdriver to turn a philips screw. It might work some of the time, but then others, you'll still need to revert back to the philips. (It's kinda funny that I relate philips screwdrivers with IE... philips have got to be the worst screws out there... [Like IE (alone) is probably the worst browser out there] I wish I could make a Robertson browser... now that would be awesome )

How many of those computers that you've installed it on used wireless connections? That was another pain in the butt for me. I would sit on the bus back from my classes and with my wireless card turned off, SP2 would tell me every 5 minutes that there was no wireless access. I know this!!! I even tried to adjust every setting about not telling me the status of the connection, but no avail. As for the discontinued audio app, it's a really powerful program from the creator of FruityLoops, only it's a lot better than FL. Oh, and one more thing... WindowBlinds has a few annoying bugs in SP2 with some skins. For example, the skin that I'm using right now (Cyrix, from WinCustomize) wouldn't show the Common Tasks bar properly, and it wouldn't roll up the windows. One of the reasons why I bought WB was for the rollup and MinToTray options. On the topic of unnattended installs, making a disc like that takes first off, having a DVD-burner (which I don't), and quite a bit of time to make sure that all the drivers and programs get integrated right. For my laptop, I played around with an unnattended XP cd for about 2 days, but I still wasn't able to get my video drivers (ATI Radeon drivers from Compaq, Catalyst drivers don't work on my laptop) or my chipset drivers to install properly. And to add to that, I needed to use my desktop to do the compilation for burning, since the first 3 or so tries didn't even install at all! What are all the great changes made by SP2? I've only found the wireless changes (which can be applied separately), the new "security" features, a new boot screen (which makes no distinction between Pro and Home, kinda wierd IMO), and a bunch of services that I'm still never going to use, but that are set to automatic by default. Oh... and a pop-up blocker for IE, but since I never use IE except for Windows Update... I'll stick with my slipstreamed SP1a and let MS sort out all the bugs with SP2 before I make the switch.

Black Viper's site is probably the best place to go for Windows XP service information. Control Userpasswords2 is not a service in particular, but a utility that gives you a little more control over user accounts than the option in Control Panel.

One program in particular that I could get to work was an FTP program that I was using at the time. Another one was a music editing/creating program called Buzz Tracker (discontinued now). I've simply found that after an install of SP2, your computer reverts to the dumbed-down, new user state that it was when you first got it. When I've spent 4 hours getting all my programs installed and the way I want them, I don't want to have to spend another 1-1.5 hours to get all the new "security features" to the way I want them. Btw, how new are the computers that you installed SP2 on?

@ SimonSays & magicfly Thanks for the replies. As for running Doom3 on an ME machine, I don't think that Doom3 will even install on an ME machine. The minimum specs say XP...

Altec Lansing AP3. 2.1 stereo speakers with 8" sub. Total power is "only" 30W, but I've cranked these puppies to the point where the neighbours 2 houses down got p***ed...

I'll put in a semi-netural post here. I've tried FF (back in the 0.9 days, I haven't tried 1.0) and I've got to say that it does have some nice features (tabbed browsing, download manager, etc). However, since I'm using keyboard shortcuts more and more everyday (it's a hassle to have to move the cursor to the back button all the time with a touchpad), I found that FF was simply lacking in that department. In order to open up a new tab, you need to hit Ctrl+T, which is quite a stretch for the left hand, even though I have pretty big hands. Ctrl+N is so nice and simple for the right hand. Also, the limitations of the Gecko engine are another downside with FF. There are several websites that I've been to where the page simply doesn't load with FF (since IE is on 90% of computers out there and some webpages are therefore made for IE). There are several other browser replacements out there that also do a fine job of handling tabbed browsing, download managers, etc etc. I'm currently using Maxthon right now, with Java Applets and ActiveX disabled by default. Along with Spyware Blaster and Spybot S&D's Immunize, I haven't had anything spyware-wise on my computer since I formatted and re-installed (over three months ago now). Another nice thing about Maxthon is that it doesn't change anything in terms of finding your options and settings from IE, aside from adding more inbetween. Agreed that FF is less suceptible for Adware/Spyware than IE, but like SolidasRock said, ultimately there will be those jerks out there who will write spyware that will get through FF. Anyways, if the Mozilla group can improve the keyboard shortcuts (or make them an option somewhere), then I might consider switching to FF. Until then I'll stick with Maxthon(g).

I did install SP2 when it first came out, and it just gave one problem after another. Specifically with wireless connection, it would constantly tell me every 5 minutes that I didn't have a wireless network in range. If I turn of my wireless card (with the physical button on my laptop), then I know that I'm not going to have any connection, and I don't want it! Then, on my desktop, my at home wireless connection would simply cut out everynow and then, for no apparent reason, and completely randomly. I have the SP2 cd that I ordered, and I downloaded the network install to create a slipstreamed SP2 cd. When I tried installing the slipstreamed XP, all went well, but then about half of my programs wouldn't install. I was really cheesed. I went and looked at the NX settings but that didn't help. Oh... and my boot time on my desktop (P4 1.8GHz, 1 gig DDR RAM) wouldn't come down below 1:25 after I installed SP2. Now, after a format and reinstall of everything I need, it's down to ~30 secs from BIOS to desktop. So I'm staying at SP1a until Microsoft releases a reworked SP2 (like SP2a maybe ). I've got my computer locked down with NOD32 and Spyware Blaster and an updated HOSTS file. SP2 wouldn't do anything more for me than have some new boot screen and fancy Wireless icon in my system tray (all for another few hundred megs of disk space). Long story short, I'll wait for SP2a until I upgrade.

I think that this poll has to be taken with a little grain of salt. When people vote for this, I think that they should take into consideration the time period in which the OS was released. For example, when Win95 came out, it was a huge improvement upon the previous version (3.11). While it did have it's fair share of (ok, maybe many) problems, there was no widespread internet access for everyone to download a quick fix for a problem that popped up. Only around the time of Win98SE did Microsoft start using Windows Update to help patch small problems. I agree completely with the fact that Windows ME was terrible, in any day and age. I remember being able to use a built-in utility to cause a memory leak within ME. After doing this about 10 times, Windows would complain about low memory and recommended that I shut down some programs... even though I had none going. As for those of you who voted XP (except those that misunderstood the poll) I think that you should take a closer look into what is generally needed by people in an OS. If you need high-end graphics development, leave this forum and go buy yourself a Mac. If you need something that can do just about everything decently well, XP is a great OS. While the original release had it's problems, Microsoft has been quite good about rectifying the problem with Windows Update. As for those people who b***h and moan about the fact that there are many security holes and that XP needs so many anti-stuff programs, a computer is just like any machine. It needs to be maintained. Defragging your hard drive and scanning your computer is just like changing your oil in your car. All in all, XP is the working computer equivalent of what car manufacturers are trying to do with the (crappy)crossover cars, everything in one convenient package. As for that "compression bloatware", some of us actually use that. If I've got a lot of files that I need to backup every now and then, and I've got a relatively small 40GB external drive, the compression comes in quite handy. I've been able to make that 40 gig drive look like a 55 gig drive from time to time. For those of you who still use the command line in DOS, what is wrong with you? Unix dominates the entire command line world, hands down. I know that the server that runs the local coal port here in Vancouver, Canada has been running Unix 24/7/365 for the past 24 years! No crashes, no downtime, just keeps everything moving along at a good pace. Sure, it's only got to deal with schedules and when ships are coming and going, but it works. Anyways, ME sucks monkey nuts, XP works great.

Does any USB device work? If not then check to see if the Plug and Play service is running. Go to Start->Run and type in "services.msc" Scroll down until you find the Plug and Play entry. Double Click it and set the startup type to "Automatic". Restart your computer and see if this solves the problem. Hope this helps.

I really like the idea. I think it's really neat and will make Windows much more user friendly (at least from what I've seen so far). One suggestion... rename it to Windows Code Name "Superman" or something that, maybe a tribute to the late Christopher Reeve...

I think that the built in Junk-E-mail filter with Outlook does the job just fine, especially after the update that MS released. It learns what kinds of e-mails you recieve, and I've never had a false positive ever, with a really awesome filter rate.

Hey everyone, Here's my very first post on these forums! I've gotta say that everyone who hasn't tried using NOD32 should. I've been a Norton fan for ages (and I mean about 5-6 years), and you couldn't get me back if you paid me. As for a former post regarding fast scanning times, NOD32 will scan my 40 GB (4200 RPM) HD in about 3 mins. And this is with a full XP Pro install, Acrobat, Office 2003, Photoshop, etc etc etc... lotsa files. I also found that with Norton on my wireless connection at the university I go to (University of British Columbia), I was usually limited at about 100k/s. Now, I'm not saying that this is slow by any means, but with NOD32, I was getting the full bandwidth of my wireless card being used. NOD32 takes the bottleneck away from your software and puts it where it should be, in hardware. The only thing that I'll say about NOD32 is that it doesn't handle scripts. To take care of this, I use a little proggie called Script Sentry to monitor any scripts that may end up running on my computer. As for the rest, I sit behind a hardware firewall all the time, and I use the Windows Built-In firewall to take care of the rest (if there is anything). GO GET NOD32 NOW!!!!