suryad

Havent played with FreeBSD but I agree with maelstorm 100%.

I agree with the other posts on this thread. Stick with XP, learn the few things about the OS that will enable rapid performance increases from the OS. I doubt my XP setup is slower if not as fast as a regular Win 98 setup. I boot up in less than 15 sec...and applications turn on pretty **** fast on my setup as well...of course it is nLited....and it is a must have I think for any XP user. I shudder everytime at the poor saps who still dont nLite their machine and complain about their XP getting slower and slower and slower....over periods of time.

I have the same problem as well but I kind of learned to deal with it...not very hard to deal with anyway...all u have to do is click on the offending window...and you are done.

I just hope that the machine builders make it easier for the customers to validate their legit software so that they can keep getting the services that they are used to right now. Its a total lack of standards right now. I can see why MS is doign what they are doing for legal reasons however annoying it may be...but machine builders need to give the proper attention to their customers so that they dont go thru the hassle of not having valid keys and so on even though they paid money for it.

LOL thats a great description of nLite...the thing..

Interesting insight you provide Martin. Linux is a great OS there is no doubt about it and it is superior every way except user friendliness and the lack of software unlike Windows. Linux zealots claim that Linux is very userfriendly and so on but I think they are on crack. There is nothing easier than dbl clicking and hitting next to install or uninstall software...if Windows can match Linux in terms of performance I think that would be the final nail in the aspirations for Linux to become mainstream. It will be interesting to see what MS pulls out in Longhorn...right now all things point to the fact that it will be a slightly improved XP with 3d and more bloat...but we will see...as long as nLite is around I am not THAT worried hehehe

Hmm that is an interesting problem. IT could be that you removed a key component that was required for Office to install...and its prob somehow related to SP2...but not necessarily a key component of SP2 itself. Did you use nLite or anything like that to remove certain components? I am sure though someone from this forum will be able to help you out.

Use trillian 3.1 pro. Its kinda slow to startup but it is zippy when its running. Kind of bloaty though especially whren a lot of plugins are loaded up. But I can load into AIM, ICQ, MSN, YAHOO, RENDEZVOUS, JABBER and more all at once.

I use WMP 10 for HD content. Also to use for divx, xvid movies. Use Winamp lite only for listening to music.

Check out something called crapcleaner and go to tools and see if you can get norton to uninstall. i m appalled ppl still use norton!!!

OpenOffice beta user as well. It really rocks. Office 2003 is great there is no doubt and I like the way it looks and it is very fast and responsive...it is **** near instantaneous to start up when I had it installed on my laptop. But OpenOffice is a great piece of software and it has plenty of rough edges but it is getting better all the time. I hope they improve the startup time, remove their dependence on Java and get the capability of viewing multiple pages in one screen like in Adobe Reader and thats it. We are set...move over MS.

XP is definitely slower than 98 on same hardware...but XP is based on the NT kernel and i dont think 98 is. Hence better all around stability and so on.

nLite anyone? Who needs Eiger when they got nLite?

You do know that MS will make it mandatory to go thru the validation procedure instead of having it optional right now.

I think Linux has definitely gotten a lot better but the fact remains that people are more familiar with Windows and not Linux. People have this preconceived notion of Linux being hard and being a hobby OS for nerds and so on. While some of it is true...(try getting wireless or 3d hardware acceleration to work...last time I checked) and you will have to definitely resort to using the dreaded CLI. Linux will take at least the next 10-15 years to get mainstream like Windows...unless Longhorn bombs like nothing else...which I am quite sure MS wont let that happen...

Yes agreed...just one anti-spyware program does not get rid of all. Spybot is a tough bastard though...it gets rid of almost everything... I agree with almulder in that MS should in no way charge for its OneCare program...its antivirus software and it spyware software...the reason why users have to resort to such external software as this is because of their inability to produce secure software. Us customers should not suffer.

I think driver issues...what DVD software is she using..

Photoshop CS2 have it but dont use it...work with Picassa2 more cause it gets the job done quite easily and quite fast too! CS 2 is great as well (duh)

Agreed msfn11 about IE7...though I dont think it will be a HUGE improvement...just some added features...thats my guess. Like RSS and tabbed browsing. Big whup! I agree Spybot is a great program and so is Spyware Doctor and so it seems the MS spyware program. Its got a great interface as well. Typical MS design...great easy to use interface. I just hope we wont have to soon pay a subscription fee to be able to get updates and so on for it.

Err I dunno if this helps but I think the best way to get hotfixes is to use the RyanVM pack.

My problem is when I try to access the files from another comp...I see the files....but then explorer gives a fatal error and it crashes. I think the workaround i got it to disable autoend tasks in the registry and that way though there would be an error window still present, I can actually get back the normal functionality of what I wanted to do.

Nice I gotta go home and check out how long it takes for my XP based laptop to perform the same task. It would be cool to see numbers from members of the forum on certain things like...how long it takes to run program xxx version so and so based on hardware configs and xp tweaks. It would be kind of interesting I think.

Thanks for the tip

I would not recommend any FX series of cards. Not because of personal experience...but rather comparison of benchmark numbers.

I dont think it is possible...at least from what I have experienced.