bluebolt

It is highly probable that the needed USB drivers are there on your machine. The process of getting to them is roundabout and can be very frustrating. It is not merely a matter of trying one driver after another; there is a number of subset drivers needed, and a sequence involved in getting there. That sequence will vary with the hardware, right down to the particular mouse you're using. The first step definitely involves force; on newer hardware I have been starting with "Standard Universal PCI to USB Host Controller." If you're fortunate, from there Windows Update will install the others (Generic USB Hub, USB 2.0 Root Hub, etc.). Sometimes, instead, W2K Pro will try to take you back to its originally chosen (non-working) drivers, and run you around in circles. I have been through this on Z77, Z87, Z97 and X99 motherboards, and always succeeded in the end, but you may want to buy a cheap wig so you don't end up pulling your own hair out.

Regardless of that this is dmso's thread and the subject matter is "Activating & updating WinXP SP3 in 2019 - What is needed to successfully do it?"

Thank you, when I turned on my computer this morning the yellow shield appeared, offering that update again. I ran your uninstaller and rebooted, and now the offer is gone.

I guess so, as I was taken full circle back to where I started, with the .net framework assistant still listed/disabled in my add-ons. I had assumed the add-on would be removed by this procedure. One more step was needed: “Go to C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation Foundation\DotNetAssistantExtension and delete everything in that folder but keep the folder name…Start Firefox. The add-on should not be in the list anymore.” https://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/09/remove-microsoft-net-framework-assistant-from-firefox/ So now I am rid of it.

Yes, using method 2 here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/963707/how-to-remove-the-net-framework-assistant-for-firefox I don't use any add-ons, but that net framework assistant has always been there (in red/disabled), so with the recent hullabaloo I decided to finally get rid of it.

Yeah, my mistake, I rubbed out 0.0.0 yesterday and presumably that's why this update showed up today.

One more for the road:

And now this morning MU has taken a crack at it with KB963707.

I consider it axiomatic that if Windows 10 can't mess something up, nothing can.

Download link for BitDefender Free version 1.0.21.1109 for XP x86, great basic anti-virus engine: https://www.filehorse.com/download-bitdefender/26767/ I checked out the versions for XP x64, but they did not work: https://www.filehorse.com/download-bitdefender/old-versions/

Could you share that driver as well? That would be great.

The system now consistently boots timely: the solution was to enable Intel SpeedStep in the BIOS. I disable SpeedStep for Windows 2000 and am nonplussed that the combination of SpeedStep/Disabled and XP x64/NVMe would affect boot reliability, but it does in this setup. Disabling Hardware Prefetcher and Adjacent Line Prefetcher didn't sit well with me because of the performance hit it caused, so it's nice to be able to run with those features enabled now. Current tests are with the Intel 760p Series 1TB NVMe (SSDPEKKW010T8X1). Default voltage for the i7-6950x CPU is 0.976 V. This motherboard has integrated overclock settings up to 4.0 GHz, at which ASRock sets voltage at 1.241 V (according to CPU-Z). I was able to manually raise the clock to 4.3 with no other changes, and low temps. So it seemed a couple of more clicks would be easily attainable with increased voltage, but alas (in my admittedly limited testing), 4.3 was a hard wall. Top-line CrystalMark scores include one lucky shot that cracked the million barrier, establishing, at least, that the gauge doesn't break there:

Sticking it in and twisting it, as the saying goes. Makes you wonder what's next, showing up at your house?

I don't know about AVG 2015 or AVG with XP x86. As for now, google "AVG Free XP" and the first result is this: https://www.avg.com/en-us/windows-xp-antivirus#pc which looks like this: which downloaded, installed and ran fine on my XP Pro X64 test bed, and currently looks like this: and is accessing the internet normally:

True -- I remember that one. It may depend on what particular application or benchmark is run, since W2k Pro is not hyperthreading aware (whereas XP, which is hyperthreading aware, seems better "across the board" with HT enabled).

Update: Moved to the Intel i7-6950x processor, which apparently uses the same container driver. Works great. The operating system is the same as post 1, except I'm using the newer .net framework package from tomasz86 12252016, and for the graphics card I'm now using BWC's nVidia 359.06 for the video and 355.6 for the audio. HFSLIP_2000 with 7.6 AHCI driver also installs and runs well. I'll test more with that later, but in the meantime here's how 8.9g AHCI from Blackwingcat and UUR from tomasz86 perform with Physical Address Extension: This is the highest CrystalMark score I've reached--oddly enough with hyperthreading enabled--higher even than 64-bit XP on NVMe.

I ditched AVG shortly after that, when they started pushing their "Zen" program, and I've never missed it. I've been extremely pleased with BitDefender, but I can't find the old version download online, so if I hadn't kept mine I don't think I could install on new builds. It pays to hang on to some of that stuff.

For XP, there is still AVG Free, and also BitDefender (though requires old installer). (And Microsoft Update still works for Windows 2000 Professional.)

Really? That is great news--and it sounds pretty definite! I'll contact the relevant media outlets, etc., to make sure everybody knows. I can hardly wait for tomorrow.

per harkaz January 15, 2018: Of course we can hope for that final and definitive version of SP4, but as there has been no "reliable and smart KernelEx project" developed, the best we can reasonably expect is a post-SP4 update pack/post-SP4 live installer.

Yeah, I just meant it dry, for a laugh, sorry if it came across otherwise.

I tested a Western Digital WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD WDS100T3X0C. It would not boot reliably even with hyper-threading disabled, and not at all with HT enabled. You can tell there will be trouble with the boot speed when this screen, rather than passing within a few moments, just scans and scans: So I went back into the BIOS and disabled "Hardware Prefetcher" and there was a great increase in boot reliability (I also disabled "No-Execute Memory Protection" as that seemed to help, too): So right now, the machine is booting much better with hyper-threading enabled, though either mode remains hit-and-miss on the WD NVMe drive, performing normally here: The Samsung 970 NVMe drive is no longer available for testing, so I can't re-check that, but disabling Hardware Prefetcher has helped a lot. I plan to test a different NVMe drive in a week or two.

@Mathwiz don't be ridiculous. These are technical forums, people don't do that here. @glnz the simplest way to move those 61 years of accumulated emails is to just use pencil and paper and a little transcription time; then simply re-construct the data manually.

XP still seems fresh as a daisy compared to the wilting goutweed that is Windows 10.

Never heard of SugarSync, but judging from that link they don't know which way is up.