Why does Windows XP refuse to die? - Page 23

[Tcll]

I don't think any bang would be big enough XD

[AKsarben]

I have been told (MS VIP) that you should uninstall Internet Explorer before you do a XP repair/replace set up where you let windows re-install fresh drivers, etc in repairing windows. IE is part of "Explorer" and having it gone completely hampers XP.

[Tcll]

use SharpEnviro, and blow explorer.exe ;)

EDIT:
after having a virus that caused explorer.exe to majorly multiply in my RAM and eat 4GB in a matter of seconds, I'm not a big fan of explorer anymore. :P

[XEN0]

Balls of steel.

[Palebushman]

@XENO, "Balls of steel."

By George!! "Why does Windows XP refuse to die?" explained in just two words.

[Mel_4]

SharpEnviro was stopped developing in 2011. You mean it works well as it is now? How do you install it, over windows??

[Tcll]

SharpEnviro was stopped developing in 2011. You mean it works well as it is now?

it works relatively well, there's a few minor things that could use work, but it's not really much to complain about...

tbh, it's not really much different from using XFCE on linux ;)

How do you install it, over windows??

it's just a DE, like XFCE on linux, you install it ON windows, not over it.

just download and run the installer ;)

[Reverend Jim]

after having a virus that caused explorer.exe to majorly multiply in my RAM and eat 4GB in a matter of seconds, I'm not a big fan of explorer anymore

And you blame explorer.exe because something you downloaded, or some web page you visited resulted in your computer getting infected? If the virus had, instead, caused multiple instances of notepad.exe to run would you then complain about notepad?

[Tcll]

I blame explorer because a virus had targeted and compromized it (meaning explorer itself was infected).

it only duplicated itself if it was running.

if a similar thing were to occure to notepad, I'd simply download another notepad.exe, or if it's truely compromized to where windows replaces that with the infected version (like explorer), I'll remap the uninfected version to a new location.
(something that didn't work with explorer.exe)

truthfully though I only say to stay away from explorer as a prevention of this issue.
it's really your choice to continue using it and what not.

it's really wize to avoid using any microsoft product for WinXP.

Microsoft doesn't know the difference between good and bad...
they just try to make the bad look good.

[MidiMagic]

You mean "balls of steal".

[MidiMagic]

More fallout from Microsoft's trickery to make us change to 10.

I can't find any new printers that work with XP, and Lexmark just discontinued the ink for my printer. Cheat Cheat Cheat.

How do the Linux users find printers they can use?

[Reverend Jim]

I can't find any new printers that work with XP, and Lexmark just discontinued the ink for my printer.

That's not the fault of Microsoft. It's up to the manufacturer to write the driver software. Why should they bother to write a driver for an OS that is not only discontinued but 3 (soon to be 4) generations out of date?

[deceptikon]

That's not the fault of Microsoft.

But why think about it when you can just blame Microsoft for everything bad that happens in computing? ;)

[Mel_4]

Although it is not directly Microsoft's fault, it is driven by MS, as hardware vendors have to keep up with newer versions of windows and because of Microsoft's fast pace they also start to abandon the prior versions. Like it or not Microsoft is the leader, so they share most of blame!

[deceptikon]

Because Microsoft hasn't ever bent over backward to support ancient software/drivers, or shoddy coding practices for the sole purpose of avoiding breakage as Windows and hardware evolves. :rolleyes:

[Tcll]

Ultimately it is MS's fault.
As Mel_4 said, MS is the leader.
MS calls the shots that everyone else is forced to suck up to and eat, even if it's bad.

EDIT: for example, the reason I'll never touch 7 (or any OS with the new kernel)
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2521889/security0/microsoft-denies-it-built--backdoor--in-windows-7.html
microsoft may deny, but hackers and google have brought it forward. (google with Win8)

[MidiMagic]

But we didn't NEED the last three generations. Microsoft forced them on people to MAKE TONS OF MONEY at everyone else's expense.

Here is some more fallout from this mad upgrade rush:

Old files archieved from years ago can no longer be read.

I was recently asked to look up some old files for a former employer, saved in the 1980s and 1990s. neither I nor the employer had any computers that could read the files:

• The spreadsheets were in the Lotus 123 .wks format. The last time I looked, Microsoft Excel could read them, so nobody worried about them. But the last version of Office that could read them was Office 97. Trying to reconstruct them with the "foreign spreadsheet reconstructor" in Excel produces cells full of gibberish.

• The image files were in the .pcx format, which was deprecated by Microsoft after for a while requiring it to upload an image to an Internet server.

• The DBaseII database files were converted by Windows into huge nests of folders. Each folder had the content of one data item with a changed first character as its name. And the one-computer-only-product key would not work to start the program.

• Wordstar files were smashed into unreadable clutters of special characters.

• The lab data files were text files intended to be written and read by a GWBASIC program. The files could easily be read as text, but to understand what the data meant, we needed the program. We had the program file, but nothing we had could either run the program or read the program file to read the comments which described the data structure. It was in some kind of compressed format that required the GWBASIC interpreter.

• One program was a video game intended to teach the multiplication tables. It requires MS-DOS, GWBASIC, and an EGA display to run.

On mor emodern changes, Microsoft is deprecating fiels we use today:

• The 7 image viewer won't display .gif animations.

• You can't do pixel-by-pixel image creation in the 7 and later version of MSPaint. They turned itpo a stupid artist-oriented program.

• My music software will nor run on Vuista or later, and the files can't be read without the software.

• Some older music software requires Windows 3.1. I have lost some 50 songs. I can';t even look at the sheet music to print it.

Microsoft's goal is total incompatiblity with the past.

[Reverend Jim]

The spreadsheets were in the Lotus 123 .wks format.

It's not Microsoft's fault that Lotus 123 used a non-portable format. It's certainly not up to Microsoft to continue supporting an old format that wasn't even theirs to begin with.

The image files were in the .pcx format, which was deprecated by Microsoft

The idea of designating something as deprecated is specifically to give people time to do the conversion while the supported tools are still available. If people choose to ignore the warning then that is their own fault.

The 7 image viewer won't display .gif animations.

There are many programs that will display these files. AcdSee and FastStone Viewer for example. FastStone will also display pcx files. ACDSee will convert them.

You can't do pixel-by-pixel image creation in the 7 and later version of MSPaint. They turned itpo a stupid artist-oriented program.

Nobody would do serious work in MSPaint when there are excellent free apps like gimp available.

My music software will nor run on Vuista or later, and the files can't be read without the software.

What program are you using? Perhaps I can offer a suggestion for converting. In the mean time, you could always run the app in an XP virtual machine.

Some older music software requires Windows 3.1. I have lost some 50 songs. I can';t even look at the sheet music to print it.

Seriously? You expect to still be able to run Windows 3.1 apps?

[ggeoff]

I am inclined to agree with Reverend Jim. Microsft should/could have stopped this perpetual effort to ensure as best they can that there is backwards compatibilty. My MPhil thesis was produced on a Sinclair Spectrum not the 128 one and I had 10 chapters saved on microdrives. It is now on the Internet, probably because Middlesex University/Hornsey College of Art is scrapping paper filing. But I had scanned the paper copy to MS Word prior to finding out that it was available on the Internet.

Microsoft's software is more expensive than it might be as they do try to provide access to older data. I still feel that users of older PCs that are running XP should be able to upgrade, if their PCs are capable of being upgraded, at a reasonable price, say 20GBP.

I understand that the British NHS after undertaking an enquiry into the best way of preserving records were advised to opt for paper. Photographers are advised to make prints or/and reproduce their digital images on film -transparency type in addition to storing their digital files.

[Tcll]

Nobody would do serious work in MSPaint when there are excellent free apps like gimp available.

ever tried sprite editing in gimp??
or any major program for that matter??
it's a freakin nightmare.
XP MSPaint is the best thing to happen in the history of ever

also, Paint Shop Pro 7 is what I use to edit PCX image files.
that was back when I was building MUGEN fighter characters.

MS Paint FTW: (unfinished sprite sheet)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-P-jAy3lGD7s/TYI-FtaCmYI/AAAAAAAAHL0/FmblkuTQUN0/s3230/Riku3.sff.PNG

Also did this in MS Paint and put the frames together with Animation Shop 3: (you can even see the frames on the above sprite sheet)
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nxVa8wqeSYs/TD1KIwcwDoI/AAAAAAAAFfI/70rjGK7wOCc/s80/Ultra_Riku.gif

Seriously? You expect to still be able to run Windows 3.1 apps?

yes

who in their right mind wouldn't want to run older programs?
looks at Sonly and Microsoft
oh... right...

<<< games also count as software, even if it's on a console.
good luck plying one of my favorite PS2 games on a PS4 "Whiplash"

my point?
Backwards compatibility is important because it doesn't take away from what we already have.

[AKsarben]

One thing does help in security. We run our XP Pro machines on computers that use quad core 64 bit processors that are security enabled. 2 firewalls, XP and the DSL router and active "good" Anti Virus software. ALSO turn OFF remote registry as default is Automatic and it should always be DISABLE Windows 8.1 comes with it as DISABLED in it's install.

[Mel_4]

Yes, AK, I also disable remote registry, have 2 firewalls, Malwarebyte's Anti Malware, and Nortons running at once. I've been able to keep it going continously safe for about 3 1/2 straight years now

[Tcll]

@Mel_4: may I recommend Comodo AV on top of that :)
just make sure you disable active protection or loading various programs could lag a bit. ;)

Comodo gives you everything major for free, the only thing you pay for is automated setup features and extended conveniences. :)

[Mel_4]

Tcll, thank you!

[Kyle Wiering]

This thread, good definition of irony.

I prefer windows 8 to other version of windows. Custom KDE over Gnome. I do not like the fractured file system that Linux defaults to for program installations. Nor do I like most Linux fonts. XP was dead to me before this post even started, before that I had xp64.

[AKsarben]

I think it's all about what you are going to do with your computer. If you read email via Outlook Express once in a while, if you save pictures to your camera to a folder you created and once in a while manipulate them with either Windows Power Toy Resizer or something more powerful like Adobe Photoshop, if you just browse the web and rarely use a lot of Office documents, and so on, I believe that reasons for newer OS that did not just "upgrade" XP are few. IF.... they had allowed migration of files, settings, documents, etc from XP into something like 8.1 as a painless seamless "upgrade" I think the number of users moving from XP to something else would have been greatly increased.

Using Classic Shell 4.1 a FREE program, even commercially, gives one the ability to navigate into your computer almost as easily as you did with XP. Run is in the start menu. Programs are where they should be. It nearly makes 8.1 visually, and familiarly as it was in XP. Microsoft SHOULD have incorporated such a "shell" as an offer in the setup. It even can emulate a Windows 7 Shell if yo like that idea. I am even playing with Windows 10 Pro (preview) on an older laptop (about 4 years old) and running great. FIRST thing I did after getting it up and running on that Win 10 preview was install Classic Shell 4.2 (beta for Windows 10) Works wonderful!

[Mel_4]

Question: Could you have a dual boot system with Windows XP and Windows 10 on same computer??

[AKsarben]

Mel 4 said "Question: Could you have a dual boot system with Windows XP and Windows 10 on same computer??"

Yes, I have it set up on my computer at work like that. I've have it also set up on a laptop I have that has Windows 8.1 and I resized a partition and created some free space and installed Windows 10 into there. New build 10041 seems to work very well

You have to have a running XP program. You need to use something like EASEUS Partiton manager to create free space on your hard drive so that Windows 10 can boot into it, laving XP alone. It's just a matter of reszing the XP partiton as normally happens and then you have unpartitoned space. Make sure you have enought space. I have space allocated for about 50GB, more than enough but you might want to make it bigger.
Download the Windows 10 ISO You need 32 bit if your processor is 32 bit and 64 bit (optional) if it is a 64 bit processor. You need to burn that ISO file using something like Nero Burning onto a DVD so that it is bootable. The work computer is a 64 bit AMD processon on a Gigabyte mother board AM2 processor, single core I believe. The work computer also is JUST running XP 32bit OS and the Windows 10 is 64 bit, so you can mix them if you like.

When installing choose custom and make sure to use that new partitioned space. Good way to remember is to format it NTFS and then give it a volume name like "WINDOWS10" That way there is no mix up on what partition you really want the new OS intalled. It will reboot a few times and then go into Windows 10. One of the settings in Windows 10 is the default OS to boot into. Funny thing is that when you choose to boot into "Earlier OS" your computer will shut down (this is during the initial boot up) and then restart with the option of the Windows XP, and even under that is the new option of the newer Windows preview, so even at that point you could merely choose the Windows 10 partition and it goes back into the loop again. Choose XP and Windows loads normally.

This link is some help: https://techingiteasy.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/how-to-dual-boot-windows-xp-and-windows-8/
Works with Windows 10 the same.

[Mel_4]

Thanks, much!! I will be doing this soon!

[Tcll]

don't use compressed NTFS
the file system alone corrupts your HDD, making it compressed makes the chance even higher.