NTLDR

All my PCs run Windows XP, including relatively new systems. XP is indeed my primary OS that I use 99% of the time. I've played around and experimented with Windows Vista, 7, Linux, and Unix for quite a long time, and I still wasn't able to migrate away. XP is simply faster, less bloated, and the UI makes much more sense (after some tweaking). I'm the type of person who doesn't care about themes and shiny UI animations, etc. The performance and low overhead matters much more to me than new features and higher overhead (read: bloat). Two years ago I purchased a TOSHIBA Portege R705 w/ Intel Core i3, which of course came with Windows 7. What did I do to it? I wiped the HDD and installed an n-Lite customized version of XP Pro. Luckily, the OEM provided all the necessary drivers for download, so I had no issues with device drivers. I removed various components like IE, mshtml (IE rendering engine), "fisher price" theme, VB Scripting, OOBE, and other unnecessary resource-eating components. The final product looked a lot more like Windows 2000 than XP. Some people who saw my shiny new PC curiously asked "why are you using Windows 98?" And when that happened, I would have to run the winver command to prove them it's newer than they think. I regret saying this, but it's only a matter of time before I will be forced to migrate to an OS like WIndows 7 or 8. I'm reluctant to migrate to Win7, but it's inevitable if I want to invest in new hardware instead of continuing to use old hardware. Even traditional spinning HDDs being manufactured right now need Windows Vista or higher because they use the new Advanced Format (AF) specification in which 4K sectors are used to store data. Windows XP doesn't support AF, it can only read and write data in units of 512B and M$ has no plans on providing an update to enable native 4K advanced format support. Of course the new AF HDD controllers have 512e emulation, but there is a performance penalty in write operations. 16GB of ram is becoming the new limit on many new PCs and, from what I have heard, Windows XP 64-bit has some issues. So if I want to go beyond 4GB, I'm stuck with 64-bit Windows 7 and future versions. And worst of all, how many OEMs still provide Windows XP drivers, especially to laptop systems? Although I really love Windows XP, migration to Windows 7 is only a matter of time. If these issues were non-existent, I would stick with XP indefinitely, even if M$ cut support. I am my own support!!