XP is 2000 plus the fancy theme? You're wrong

[xpclient]

So every once in a while I still read somewhere that Windows XP was a warmed up Windows 2000, which is incorrect. In fact, XP deserves a major version number increment. I want to dispel the myth and change the perception of those who think XP was a "minor" release just because the kernel version number was incremented from 5.0 to 5.1. XP was a major release. I wrote this article on Wikipedia: Features new to Windows XP to prove it (and show off a bit as well) B)

[tomasz86]

But isn't XP just an updated Windows 2000?

Of course a lot of nice features were added but there are also many useless ones.

[UltimateSilence]

But isn't XP just an updated Windows 2000?

Of course a lot of nice features were added but there are also many useless ones.

But I love all of Windows XP's features!

And jalapeño, xpclient. That's a bigger list than Windows 7's!

Edited June 16, 2012 by UltimateSilence

[tomasz86]

But I love all of Windows XP's features!

Even

or

?

Edited June 16, 2012 by tomasz86

[Guest]

Those two annoyances can be easily disabled with registry tweaks.

HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant","SocialUI",0x10001,0
HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant","UseAdvancedSearchAlways",0x10001,1
HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Tour","RunCount",0x10001,0

[tomasz86]

I know but still

The dog is a little more difficult to eliminate though. FDV provides this tool: dogdestroyer.exe (source: http://www.vorck.com/windows/)

It will kill the dog once and for all. He also shows how many useless entries in registry were added just to provide this "feature".

[xpclient]

Yes I certainly don't use that search UI with Agent (Dog, Earl, Courtney etc) but the Windows 2000 UI you can easily get with a registry tweak or TweakUI. But they also improved that in XP: the path field accepts environment variables and there is an option to search system and/or hidden files.

I also love the background music of the "tour". It was composed by Bill Brown. Listen to just the music minus the voice in

Edited June 16, 2012 by xpclient

[Guest]

Do you have a link to the XP Windows Welcome music? Microsoft made the mistake of not including it in XPx64.

[xpclient]

You mean this one?:

[UltimateSilence]

But I love all of Windows XP's features!

Even

http://www.groovypost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/image89.png

or

http://www.hawaii.edu/itsdocs/win/gswinxp/tour.jpg

?

The search companion has a couple of fans (though I am not one of them)... It's not difficult to turn off. It's nice knowing that it's there in the unlikely event that one prefers it.

And the Tour is nice, IMHO.

Edited June 16, 2012 by UltimateSilence

[Guest]

You mean this one?:

That's the one.

In XPx86 it's located at "%SystemRoot%\system32\oobe\images\title.wma".

[allen2]

Also the search tool in XP is a lot more intuitive than the one in 7 : to search the content of file, you need to modify the search options needing a few more clicks as explained there.

[tomasz86]

By the way, isn't Agent Ransack better and more intuitive than all those Windows default search tools?

[Guest]

That is the main reason I haven't switched over to Win7, allen2 I know third-party tools exist; I just really like XP's built-in search assistant best.

Windows Search 4.0 is entirely too bulky. I kill the prompts to install it from Microsoft Update and IE8 with the following tweaks.

HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search","CurrentVersion",,"04.00.6001.503"
HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Search","SetupCompletedSuccessfully",0x10001,1
HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\WindowsSearch","ShowPrompt",0x10001,0

Edited June 16, 2012 by 5eraph

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Yes I certainly don't use that search UI with Agent (Dog, Earl, Courtney etc) but the Windows 2000 UI you can easily get with a registry tweak or TweakUI. But they also improved that in XP: the path field accepts environment variables and there is an option to search system and/or hidden files.

Never liked that lightweight Search in WinXP either. It is too amateurish HTML Active Desktop -like in appearance and the search results (with or without dog) are incomplete. I always preferred the Visual Basic designed form dialogs with 98se being the last good one. At least it is a brute force "find everything" kind of search.

Has anyone tried out Nir Sofer's nice little app? It works on everything in the NT Family ... SearchMyFiles

It is an EXE, just put a shortcut anywhere (Start Menu, Context Menu, etc) and it's definitely old school ...