TravisO

Very unlikely, these projects are created by separate people/groups. If anything, a new project should get started that integrates all of these into 1 installer.

No it's not the RTM, I suspect we'll see at least 1 more build as this version added some things that weren't in there before and might need further testing & fixing. Considering this will be the last SP that XP ever gets, it's a good thing they're making sure it's perfect, but I'm just an anxious as you are (this SP is 1.5yrs late according to MS's original plans).

I'm not a fan of IE7 either, but if you like your PC secure, install IE7 and just use Firefox. The IE DLLs are buried pretty deep in the OS, and I'd rather have the newer DLLs (even non Web apps rely on them) than the older, less secure ones. There's actually legitimate reasons that IE7 is considered a "critical" update to XP, it's not just some lame marketing spin. Like I said, hate it if you want, but don't deny the security overhaul it adds under the hood to Windows.

IF you go to their official download page, you'll see it's still .12, but copy & paste the download url and change the .12 to .13 and you'll get the new version and still use their mirror system so you don't hammer a single FTP. For example, the US/English version is at: http://download.mozilla.org/?product=firef...〈=en-US No release notes yet, but in the developer notes it lists the usual "security & stability fixes" so obviously there are exploits & crashes fixed. Hopefully we'll see FF3 go final before we need another 2.x update (although 2.x will be probably be supported until the end of 2008 so there will be a couple more versions of it).

Power management is a very good thing, as long as it's not aggressive. I don't know why Intel's speedstep was throttling your Quake game. The whole point of power management is that when the system is in a lower clock mode, if it approach 100%, it kicks the speed up to the next notch, and if near 100% again, step up again, etc etc. The whole point is that speed stepping means you're not burning a bunch of watts while your PC is idle (which it is ~90% of the day).

Always upgrade first, ask questions later. If you care about security, extra protection from malware/viruses, just apply the patch then come ask "so what did I really gain". If you have to wonder if you should apply an update, then you're on the waiting list for problems.

Since there's very strong rumors that XP SP3 is going to be released on Monday, does anybody know if any of the XP slipstream programs out there support SP3 (obviously there might be some minor tweaks to be sure it works with RTM). I plan on installing SP3 the day it comes out, but I want to slipstream my XP CD too, especially since how old SP2 is.

#1 The entire 9xxx series is based upon the G92 chipset, which Nvidia released as the 8800GT and the updated 8800GTS, so you're not going to see massive improvements over these cards, but you will see higher prices. #2 More bits aren't always better, there is a point of diminishing returns and lets not forget if instructions don't use all the bits, then the rest go to waste. IOW if Nvidia implemented a 1024bit bus right now, it would be slower than your current 256bit bus, because so much is just going to waste. #3 I'm mildly disappointed that the new G9x chipset doesn't do DX10.1, not because I want DX10.1 games, but because Microsoft secretly updated everybody's Vista to DX10.1 when you install SP1. So now we have an OS which everybody has a certain version of DX (no more manually installing a new version) and now Nvidia doesn't even support it. Not a problem today, but I see this possibly becoming a headache a couple years from now.

Preferring the XP bar is a cop out, yes, Vista is new and different (people hate that) but that new search bar is the best thing added to Windows in a long time. Let's be honest here people, 99% of Windows users are everyday Joes, and I'll bet you when they clicked Search in the XP or 2000 bar, they didn't realize it was about filenames and the list of questions on the left side are kind of pointless. All these users wanted to know is "where is that calculator". No I don't think the Vista bar is perfect, actually I hate the new scrolling system of folders, but the Search Bar is the best thing since the Start bar. Everybody knows how web search engines work, and that's how an OS search should work. I want to be able to type in "video" and get all videos on my system, not all the files/folders with the name video. As this search matures, it will have help and such, it makes perfect sense for somebody to just type "error 1234" and expect internal help & MS knowledge base articles appear on that matter. The fact MS is going with a SQL based file system that won't be displayed in a folder hierarchy shows even MS realizes the concept of folders in folders is as outdated UI to browse a massive storage device. Yes, the actual stored may be composed of folders, but why does John Doe care, all he knows is he has a bunch of documents, MP3s, videos, etc, and with today's CPU power, amount of ram and massive HDs makes the whole folder thing show it's age.

Wow, this is an old topic, it's been 2 1/2 years. I had forgotten all about it and what I said, I had to read it all. I will say I'm not as verbally aggressive now-a-days, so anything I posted in this thread that's confrontmental, I apologize for, but I do still stand behind my points. Of course there's a reason I sub-titled myself "trouble maker" as I will give unfiltered replies to subjects. The amount of work required to "replace the guts" of Win9x is massive, and nearly impossible because you have to realize things like the 9x kernel has taken years to develop by entire teams. As a developer, I honestly don't know how projects like Wine ever get to a point of working without outright stealing a ton of DLLs from Windows. But the real reason I'm posting is to ask "patchworks" (original poster): Now that it's been 2.5yrs, a fair amount of time, how do you still feel about this idea of reworking 9x? Considering how much hardware has advanced and OSs like 2000 and XP don't really use much ran at all compared to how much and how cheaply you can buy it. Do you still hold 9x with so much regard. I will admit 98SE is a great OS, imho MS's 2nd best OS ever, but honestly, the advancements of the NT5 kernel are too great to ignore, and I would rather cough up the extra CPU & RAM to get a more stable OS.

Just a FYI: the whole "driver incompatibility" thing only affects people with old hardware or junkie no-name hardware that has refused to make their driver compatible officially with Windows, and instead choose to "keep hacking it until it worked". Assume anything made after 2000 will absolutely work for sure. I've been running SP1 on a brand new HP laptop for 4 weeks now, it's great.

The "official" explanation from a infamous MS employee on the matter, if you really want to know all the nerdy details of where that last 500mb goes: http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/.../14/699521.aspx

Do you always contradict yourself? Windows supports old hardware because they include a ton of drivers on the disc for old hardware. Considering how diverse the PC industry is, this is a great thing. And all these legacy drivers work great too.Perhaps what you really want is to break backwards compatibility with old Windows applications, ala Mac OS10. Then when you try to execute an old program, it makes use of VirtualPC to run a Win95/98/ME session in a Window (minus the bootup and such). This would be a great thing for people that only use new programs as they'd have a leaner and meaner Windows, but a curse to those who run old programs because it means you need to tack on an extra 32mb block of ram for each legacy program. MS just won't go this route, because the Win9x support is free, all the old DLLs are still here, Windows 2000, XP, Vista merely build on top of them. So it would take LOTS of work to remove something that isn't broken for a very small gain. Heck, even .NET builds upon old parts of Windows uses various abstraction layers, so even new apps are legacy apps. Removing the Win9x stuff would break EVERYTHING. Ok so then you only want to pay deluxe prices? Although what I don't like is the fact that Home Basic doesn't include the 3d UI which was suppose to be (and isn't) a big deal and it was the core part of their WOW advertising & tv commercial. WGA prevents mom & pop thieves that don't know any better, which probably account for 90% of piracy. At the very least, it stops corner store PC shops from installing the same copy of Windows on every PC they sell. So while it won't stop intelligent thieves, it still works great. DirectX10 and Vista already do this, I recall reading that Vista will suspend certain services when in full screen DX mode.Now for my list: More visually impressive and functional use of Aero (3d UI), heck, at least OS10 added a reflection to their icon bar Performance improvements... but that comes anyway for free via faster CPUs and cheaper ram, so MS doesn't need to do anything here SQL based file indexing (what Vista was suppose to have originally) /w metadata tagging, true soft links (Unix style) The delivery of half of the stuff that were in the Vista conceptual videos they posted back in 2003 (shared internet surfing, and shared Office so that students can work together from separate computers, and I'm not talking about remote desktop) The ability to un-install services, at least 3rd party ones, as imho services are the newest way for trojan-ware to infect your system, and soon spamware.

Sysinternal Autoruns and HijackThis should both allow you to pick and choose what shell extensions to disable/remove.

Get a copy of "contig" from SysInternals (now owned by Microsoft), boot into safe mode and run it.

Keep an eye on the version number too, now that TomTom has just started to allow community downloads in their lists, expect them to make more updates to TomTom Home to adjust to this new concept. It's going to be a learning experience for them. For example, they're going to quickly need a search feature as some sections feature 10+ pages of downloads.

There have been many articles written about it, hopefully one of them will help: http://www.aalaap.com/2007/09/manually-upd...32-offline.html or try this Simply follow these instructions to update your of NOD32 1. Download nodupdate.zip from http://www.nod32.jp/irda/ 2. Extract the contents to any folder on your computer. 3. Open up the NOD32 Control Center by clicking on the system tray icon. 4. Open the "Update" screen and click on "Setup". 5. Click on "Servers" and click "Add". 6. Type the path of the folder with update files. Click OK. A new server is added to the dropdown list. 7. Select the new server (folder path) as the update server. 8. Back at the update screen, click "Update now". 9. After a brief pause, your NOD32 should be updated.

Well the ram usage of XP has balooned a lot over the years, between service packs and IE7, etc. I'd say you need at least 256mb today, and 512 would be better. Plus as somebody pointed out, you need the recommended settings for a game, the required settings just means it works, but not well. NEVER play a game if you only have the required setup, it's never good enough.

AMD fanboys have been chanting "wait till next time" for almost 2 yrs now, and nothing AMD has brought to the table has ever compared. I wouldn't even say the stuff AMD has released recently even compares to the 1st generation Core 2 Duos. Don't hold you're breath, Intel is ahead of AMD by leaps and bounds. PS: I'm no Intel fanboy, just a "what's best" fanboy. I'm still rocking my old AMD XP1700+ as I type this. But an Intel e8500 + Nvidia 9600 GT upgrade is about to happen any day now.

I don't know about CDs, but I know DVDs don't use Fat32 (nor NTFS), they use something all their own which doesn't have a 4GB limit... obviously with a disc size of ~4.7GB (or ~9gb for dual layer), you can't impose a 4gb limit, how do you think a large movie fits.

Just buy one of the Intel e8??? chips, the e8300 (comes out any day now) is only $163 and runs faster, cooler and with less watts and can even offer 30% additional boost (real world) for apps that support the brand new SSE4 that's in the chip. If you read any article that talks about the new 45nm Core 2 Duos, they'll always say "if you're going to get a Dual Core cpu, only get a 45nm one". They're faster and cheaper, and the new 45nm quad cores are true quad cores now, not dual cores welded together. Actually the q6600 isn't as good as people think it is. For starters it's 1st generation Core Quad, you can buy a e8400 for $200 and it will be faster for desktop apps and video games. In video encoding the results will me mixed: the new e8xxx line supports SSE4, which if supported, give a free 30% encoding boost. Also DiVX only support 2 cores fully, so with the e8xxx having 2 faster cores, it will beat a q6600 in DiVX encoding. Overall, just get a e8xxx, they're cheap, fast, cool, quite and use even less watts than any other multi core on the market. It's basically the best thing to happen to CPUs since the first Core 2 Duo.

I grabbed SP1 when the original RTM leak happened, so I've had it installed for almost 14 days now. It's a dual core Athlon laptop /w 1gb of ram and iirc a 6xxx Nvidia. I have Aero and the Widget Sidebay disabled, which are the two biggest reasons for Vista "bloat". My wife uses the laptop and I noticed when she plays 2nd Life in a Window, after SP1, it nearly doubled her frame rate (but it worked fine in fullscreen). File copying across the network seemed faster (as it's suppose to). She uses the laptop easily 8hrs a day total, so I'd say SP1 is both stable and good. I didn't make it a point to do before/after benchmarks, I'm talking purely as a "how it feels" experience. I haven't been the biggest fan of Vista, but I'd say between disabling those two features and SP1, Vista is not that bad actually. I plan on running it on the new desktop I'm building.

Flip 3D only works with Aero (the 3d visual layer in Vista), which MS did not put in Vista Home Basic. I don't have Vista here, so I forget exactly where to check if it's set or available but an easy way to see is it's running is take your mouse and hover over the minimize/maximize/exit buttons on any window, do they glow (as in outside the box, not just light up like XP). If they do, Aero is running, otherwise no, it isn't. Honestly, I'm not a fan of Aero, it wastes a lot of power (because it means you're 3D card is running 24/7), ram and cpu. This is especially bad on laptops (maybe SP1 improves this) but I disable it on my laptop. It makes a boost in 3d gaming performance to disable this, especially in 3d games that run in a window instead of fullscreen. And the next thing I'd say to disable is that Widget Sidebar thingy, especially since it's just fancy wallpaper that you don't even see 99% of the time. It wastes easily 100mb,200mb or more depending on how many and what widgets you install. Between those two things I put 90% of the blame for why people dislike Vista as they are the majority of the bloat: ram and cpu waste. And removing them doesn't negatively affect Windows at all. I do think they are both useful things, but until everybody has dual cores, highly optimized video cards (which don't exactly exist yet) and 4gb of ram, they're just wasteful features for most users.

With LCD screens, if you don't run the monitors natural resolution, it will look blurry. You mentioned this is a monitor/tv, so realize a 720p is intended for 720 pixels high, but the natural resolution is often 768 pixels high.

The simplest answer is that it's an "intranet in a box". But it scales far our of some neat uses such as assigning a point person in each dept, and that person can WYSIWYG their way into limited editing their own sites, plus you can also use the server to double as an Extranet box that publishes different info to a public website, and even supports the ability for certain people to approve content before it goes public. It can also index your server shares and private user drives and act as a company search server that respects file permissions. So even though it indexed your private files, they will only appear in your search results. But if you mark a file as readable or editable to your coworkers or boss, then they will see it and be able to edit it too. It will integrate with MS Office so they just click a link and the document will appear in Word or Excel and it saves back to the server, very slick. That's the pros, the cons are that it's very technical to use both as an admin and as an end user, it's hard to simply it for the users. So don't expect any non technical 50yr old employee to be able to use it at all. It's very dense, there are links everywhere. I haven't used the newest version, which is suppose to improve the ability to custom theme the site, which may allow you to simply it more. Also MS pushes tons of free addons that do all kinds of web applications, graphing, etc.