Jump to content

Share your Microsoft Windows XP experience!!


Win10-Hater

Recommended Posts

Hello all, this is a thread created by me for you fellow MSFN users to share your experience of using Windows XP. I've created such a thread already on the Windows Vista forum, check it out if you have not already. I've shared my PC specs there.

BTW, I used XP Home x86 up until 2016 when I was younger and when I was a complete computer noob, and then moved on to Windows 7 on my desktop computer. Also, being a Vista user now, I don't use XP very much, except for testing legacy stuff and using Office 2003 on a XP Pro x86 VM. 

1855192661_xpvmdesktop.thumb.JPG.1b7d1029a90234ceb3dbc7076da3f26b.JPG

Edited by TECHGEEK
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Can you better explain what specifically we should share?

I have been using XP since it came out, before, I used the other older OSes.
Specifically, my pc is from 2005/2006 (I don't remember very well ).
I use XP to do any other tasks I do with the most modern OSes.
With my security configuration I can use (as in fact I use) my pc for online banking,certified e-mail, .electronic invoicing.... etc and other activities that ordinary people consider highly risky.

200.jpg

Edited by Sampei.Nihira
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Sampei.Nihira said:

Can you better explain what specifically we should share?

You can share from when you started using Windows XP, how and when you use it and other such details here (the more the better) and how you feel about it. Also, please do share your XP PC specs.

Edited by TECHGEEK
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't switch to XP until 2010, updated from Windows 2000, as 2000 was getting harder and harder to use as so many things had become incompatible with it.
I therefore went straight to Professional Service Pack 3.
The UIs were very similar of course between 2000 and XP, and could be made to look pretty much the same, and it's still my favourite UI to use, still set to this day to look like the Windows 98 UI, which I still use as well!
I have Windows 10 on the machine as well (the specs are in my signature) and I've got used to the Windows 10 UI, with the help of Classic Shell (now Open Shell), but it will never be as good IMO.
:)
 

Edited by Dave-H
Correction
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Dave-H said:

I have Windows 10 on the machine as well (the specs are in my signature) and I've got used to the Windows 10 UI, with the help of Classic Shell (now Original Shell), but it will never be as good IMO.
:)

I in fact just hate Windows 10, as customisation is literally screwed up by it. It always keeps breaking themes with every single update.

And btw, XP is very very fast on even a VM with a single CPU core, just like Windows 2000. The only thing that I hated about it was the big, chiclet-style window buttons and a boring default Luna theme. Aside from that, it is a wonderful OS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a user of WinXP since around 2006 after I failed to make Win98 work satisfactory on my new intel 915 series computer. I resisted switching to it for a long time, because I knew the the old platform intimately, but had to admit that NT was a better system for stability. By this time Windows 2000 was already on its way out and I didn't feel a need to investigate it. Intially I experienced discomfort and frustration with the bare installation. I still feel that way always when install a new OS. But I started with SP1, which didn't have that many restrictions in it as later releases, and soon I also discovered the nLite tool.

For I time I maintained a side-by-side installation of Win98 and Win2000 as an equivalent to booting in safe mode / command prompt only for recovery. But I rarely used them, and eventually uninstalled to recover space on the system volume.

Recently I switched one of my computers, an Intel B75M, to Server 2003 for the sake of the cooler name, to gain access to about half a gig additional RAM and supposedly better network driver. It's still basically XP in mosts aspects. The machine wasn't used much, but the time I had to spend reconfiguring it to the previous state and installing software was massive. For this reason I'll stay with the current installation of XP SP1 on my other older Intel 965 computer until it fails, because I've customized it extensively in the registry and added over a hundred 3rd party programs, conveniently integrated with associations. Even reinstalling the same OS version would be most disruptive.

As long as XP is fully functional and stable, with all working drivers, it remains the most efficient choice for utilizing the capabilities of the hardware. I would probably not accept poor stability or components not functional, as was the case when switching from win98, and only then consider NT6.

I use WinXP for word processing, web, banking, e-mail, the usual stuff, and the Server mainly for editing sound files. No antivirus, I abandoned it still in the Win98 days as unnecessary burden. Efficiently configured with small system partitions for all application software, mostly old versions with small footprint, and capable of months of uptime. I'm pleasantly surprised to find no issues with PAE at least up to 4 GB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

XP never failed but I never liked it as much as Millennium its a meld of Me and 2000.

Ever since 9x I am treated as if its not my computer in the sense I cannot be trusted not to do id*** things to it or not be responsible.

I can still run XP Pro on my 5yo pc I have created my own DVD-ROM of every driver pack xp driver from 2001 to 2014

Some legacy hardware that ran on 9x is not so good on XP for example Yamaha soundcards that loaded their drivers into memory on 9x to operate accelerate synthesizer support than relying on their software offering isn't present on xp except maybe one poor one and Microsoft generic drivers do not include marketed features beyond basic sound function.

There wasn't and still isn't any pc speaker driver since windows 3.x for audio codecs.

Guess overall I have my ranking of windows preference's:

1. Windows Millennium (because I hate DOS and I can now have loads of memory on it thanks to R, LOEW)

2. Windows 98SE on low spec hardware including 256mb ram or less (QEMM memory management- memory compression)

3. Windows XP X64 it had kernel protection that kept me safe online since 2005 and sometimes today where I use massive memory footprint machines. no swap file needed where i used 16gb+ram

4. Windows XP 32bit: What can i say it only allows 4096mb ram i hate swap files no real RAM disk offering that doesn't load without qualification issues to send swapping to above 4096mb barrier it is my preference on anything badged as windows 2000

5. Windows 2000 it was so boring! so slow on socket 5 & 7 Pentiums i feel sorry for anyone with that.

 

I still use windows millennium over windows 98SE it came out before its time I never ever have BSOD.

Best shot for Me is on any system Logo'd Windows XP not 95, 98 , OR 98Se

Tweaking it for modern machines really makes it awesome I have a P4 @ 3.4 ghz with 2gb RAM and an ATI 128mb AGP 8x GPU. SATA built in never better thanks to R.LOEW

 

So all up XP is number 2 on my multiboot list.

I skip vista, 7 and 8 but i have to have 10.

i have to have 10 for internet stuff others don't go online anymore for me unless its just IRC Chat. Even thats dangerous now but theres plenty of good stuff to do offline not just games.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was born some months before XP was released. My mother bought a computer with XP around 2003 (I don't know the spex). When I was 7, I started to go to a school with another blind people like me. I started to learn how to write on a computer and another things with their XP computer. My first computer had Windows 7, and I was surprised by the changes between both OSes. When I came back to my home, my mother bought me a computer with Windows 8. That's the computer which I'm using currently and it works fine. It's a Toshiba Satellite C855 with 4 cores and an I5. A year before that, the school gave me a computer with Windows XP. It had 1gb of ram and it became unstable some months before I installed the SP3 (it had SP2 apparently). In 2018, something happened with the computer and I couldn't start it up. Consequently, they upgraded it to Windows 7 and it started to be more unstable and buggy. That Windows 7 had some problem with Windows Update. I won't forget the day when the computer shutted down during an exam! Before that, I started to investigate and try old OSes. I tried all Windows 9x, Windows 2000, NT4 and Vista and this would be my rankin of my preferred Windows versions:

1. Windows XP/2000 because I love that interface and in my opinion is very easy to use.

2. Windows Vista. It could be customised to be like XP because it has the classic start menu and other things. It would run on all modern PCS and the performance would be good if you install all updates.

3. Windows 10. I really don't like it, but it has this place because I need to live with it because it support correctly todays programs.

4. Windows 8.x. I don't remember that Windows but it's like 10.

5. Windows 7. If you read all my post, you could understand why it has the last place.

I don't include Windows 9x because you would need a lot of tweaks to run it and can't offer the necessary accessibility features for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I am currently running xp on machine I dreamed to have back in day. AMD Phenom x4 945, 2x2gb kingston ddr2 800mhz ram, asus m2n sli deluxe, nvidia 8800gts 512mb (g29), cooler master ammo 533 case and 2x1tb wd blue hard disks. For monitor I got Dell Ultrasharp 240wfp, keyboard is Logitech g110, mouse is Logitec g203. For webcam I got old Quickcam communicate STX from 2006. For OS I am power user and got lot of things loaded. I use DVBViewer professional v7.0.1.0 with slightly modified driver to Happauge Wintv solohd TV tuner card (driver id was changed on newer revision to make it not work on xp oobe) to watch/record TV. Dvbviewer pro works on xp still but new version gives error from Bcrypt.dll missing but load anyway. I used one blank dll to satisfy it and make error go away. Even with error playback, record, Teletext and others worked just fine. Then got RTL-SDR dongle and SDRSharp v1.0.0.1331 to listen radio. Then got nokia pc suite to sync my Nokia 6600 Symbian S60 smartphone with pc. Then I browse web using MyPal+nss+ublock origin, watch/download youtube videos, watch DVD movies, MP4 files, edit mp4 files using pinnacle 12, import pics off my MTP/WIA compatible cameras and play lot games on XP. Also got spybot S&D, Adcleaner, Malwarebytes, norton system work+partition magic, bleachbit and Ccleaner to maintain/clean my system

xpdesk.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gosh, I used to use a Nokia 6600 phone too before I finally moved to a smartphone!
Have you got the fold or the slide version?
I have the fold version, which was so compact you hardly knew you were carrying it.
Really classy looking as well I always thought.
:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, Dave-H said:

Gosh, I used to use a Nokia 6600 phone too before I finally moved to a smartphone!
Have you got the fold or the slide version?
I have the fold version, which was so compact you hardly knew you were carrying it.
Really classy looking as well I always thought.
:)

I got original from 2003 that is smartphone too https://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_6600-454.php for newer smartphones need make custom driver due mtp on xp. Only some low end samsungs got offical drivers to xp. In comparisation that got official suite down to win98 just need bluetooth or ir.

Edited by Mr.Scienceman2000
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That link doesn't work I'm afraid, just goes to "page not found".
I didn't have any problem using my 6600 fold with Windows XP, have you got the "Nokia Phone Browser" option in your "My Computer" window?
:dubbio:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Dave-H said:

That link doesn't work I'm afraid, just goes to "page not found".
I didn't have any problem using my 6600 fold with Windows XP, have you got the "Nokia Phone Browser" option in your "My Computer" window?
:dubbio:

https://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_6600-454.php
I forgot dot to end of it. By new meant android based smartphones that crippled old mass storage device off in favour of mtp.

Edited by Dave-H
Correction of link text.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...