Hell froze over.

[John Corliss]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pray tell, what sucketh the most?

Bill T.

I'll make this quick, but I really don't want to discuss XP in this group.

What I dislike the most is the unnecessary, unwanted and unneeded
networking overhead. This is a single user computer. I don't like the
folder arrangement at all either.

--
Regards from John Corliss
I don't reply to trolls and other such idiots. No adware, cdware,
commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware, PROmotionware,
shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware, viruses or warez
please.

 

[Bill Turner]

I'll make this quick, but I really don't want to discuss XP in this group.

What I dislike the most is the unnecessary, unwanted and unneeded
networking overhead. This is a single user computer. I don't like the
folder arrangement at all either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, but I think making comparisons of XP to freeware OSes like Linux
should be acceptable here.

I have a single user computer too and have no problem with networking
issues, in fact I couldn't even tell you what they are. Perhaps there
are some but to me they are pretty minor.

The folder arrangement works fine for me, far preferabel to Linux's.

To each his own.

Bill T.

 

[Bill Day]

I have caved in after four years of holding out and have installed XP.
It really sucks, big time. However, I'm still going to stick it out and
beat it into submission.

well, John, I too held out a LONG time, but the machine with 98SE was
getting old and couldn't take a cable modem....so when we had a
few$$$$, got a new machine with XP ....it has 'differences' that must
be adjusted to, but you may find that the better memory handling will
make it all worth it!

I no longer use the little memory monitor that tell me when I need to
clear a bunch of stuff in order to keep running.

I still have the 98 machine setting beside me, ready to do certain
tasks, but I will confess I am spoiled by the bigger, faster XP with
LOTS fewer crashes and hangs....

 

[lisztfr]

Whaa... all wrong; Hell is still burning here, and never crashs.
I'm up since this morning, what you want more ?
The crash matter is mythologie, -when earlyer versions of IE or
Netscape could trash the whole system and so on. The truth is that
windoze systems get "dirty" with the years, contrary to linuxes.
And then they runs out of control. Another weak point is the
poor shutdown capability.
Anyway i could hold mines about 3 years before total corruption
due to ramdrives interference with Dell bay-device swapping tools.
An accident. Beside of that XP seems rock robust, but i have
just too many softwares for win 9X

laurent

 

[Gabriele Neukam]

On that special day, Duddits, ([email protected]) said...

You'll learn to like it ;-) I've yet to crash WinXP. (xing fingers)

Having a NVidia Detonator driver ver 81.95, and playing Sacred
Underworld online, accidentally hitting Alt-Tab and trying to get back,
results in a neat blue screen of death with automatic shutdown.

Waiting for a better driver...


Gabriele Neukam

(e-mail address removed)

 

[B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson]

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 15:52:46 -0800, John Corliss wrote:

[No Uninstall entry?]

Based on that experience, I can't really recommend the Taskswitch Powertoy.

Are you sure you had no 'CoolSwitch' entry under Add/Remove programs?
There should have been one. (This is the *name* MS gave the TaskSwitch
Powertoy.)

BeAr

 

[Bob S]

snipe

Ok, but I think making comparisons of XP to freeware OSes like Linux
should be acceptable here.
Bill T.

Bill,

Good observation and that point has been brought up several times in the
recent past. Nothing say's you can't except a few purists who have a very
narrow view of the world. Please feel free to do so. I use WinXP and just
started learning about Suse v10 myself - as many others have too. It's
freeware... and comparisons are allowed as per the FAQ.

Bob S.

 

[El Gee]

I'll make this quick, but I really don't want to discuss XP in this group.

What I dislike the most is the unnecessary, unwanted and unneeded
networking overhead. This is a single user computer. I don't like the
folder arrangement at all either.

Are you using XP home or Pro? Home has very little networking and Pro
is made for that. Nonetheless, I have 512 megs RAM on a 3 ghz machine
and the 'networking overhead' you mention cannot be seen on my machine,
but I am a tweaker. It pays to learn what the OS is doing and learn how
to stop it BV helped a lot.

--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
El Gee // www.mistergeek.com <><
Know Christ, Know Peace - No Christ, No Peace
Remove .yourhat to reply
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[John Corliss]

John Corliss wrote:

[No Uninstall entry?]

As it turns out, to uninstall the Powertoy, you try to reinsall it over the
existing version. When the installation starts, instead of asking if you
want to install it, it asks you if you want to *remove* it. I said yes,
took the thing off of my system and now alt-tabbing works perfectly again.

Based on that experience, I can't really recommend the Taskswitch Powertoy.

Are you sure you had no 'CoolSwitch' entry under Add/Remove programs?
There should have been one. (This is the *name* MS gave the TaskSwitch
Powertoy.)

Well, I don't remember and certainly, I'm not going to reinstall the
thing in order to find out. 80)>

I'm just glad it's gone because it often made me unable to switch tasks
for some reason.

--
Regards from John Corliss
I don't reply to trolls and other such idiots. No adware, cdware,
commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware, PROmotionware,
shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware, viruses or warez
please.

 

[Ron Lopshire]

Are you using XP home or Pro? Home has very little networking and Pro
is made for that. Nonetheless, I have 512 megs RAM on a 3 ghz machine
and the 'networking overhead' you mention cannot be seen on my machine,
but I am a tweaker. It pays to learn what the OS is doing and learn how
to stop it BV helped a lot.

FWIW, and at the risk of being yelled at for being OT, this, from Paul
Thurrott, is the best discussion of the differences between WinXP HE
and Pro that I have seen:

(http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp)

Ron

 

[John Corliss]

John, I'm sure you used ME much more extensively than I do, but I have
2XExplorer on it and use that computer for trying programs before I run
them on my older W98SE computer. I only notice no easy "go to DOS
prompt",

I always just used my emergency boot disk to go to a real DOS prompt in
ME. More of a pain, but there are tradeoffs to tweaking as described on
this page:

http://www.geocities.com/dos8me/

Something about losing PCHealth or whatever. I forget.

and a different SYSTEM RESTORE scheme instead of the easy W98
scandisk/restore. Someday, I'll reformat that computer and put W98SE on
it, too.

I have to admit that XP with NTFS is *very* stable. Unless your system
doesn't meet the hardware requirements, it's worth the upgrade. There
are some tradeoffs, but now I can install and try out more of the newer
freeware which is written to run only in XP and newer.

--
Regards from John Corliss
I don't reply to trolls and other such idiots. No adware, cdware,
commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware, PROmotionware,
shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware, viruses or warez
please.

 

[John Corliss]

=== I use xxclone (on XP) , but you might not want to have it write to
the MBR,

Can you explain why I shouldn't? Is there any risk involved in doing so?
I can certainly see why I wouldn't want to do it more than once and it
does look like writing to the MBR can be turned off in XXClone.

instead just ad a second line to your boot.ini ............
this is what mine looks like:

[Boot Loader]
timeout=5
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

(above already exists, what follows is what you added)

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="XXCLONE: Windows (Cloned
Volume) [d:0,p:2] \WINDOWS" /fastdetect

Wow. It's going to take me a while to figure that one out. What does
that line do?

--
Regards from John Corliss
I don't reply to trolls and other such idiots. No adware, cdware,
commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware, PROmotionware,
shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware, viruses or warez
please.

 

[John Corliss]

Are you using XP home or Pro? Home has very little networking and Pro
is made for that.

XP Home. And it has a lot of networking crap that most people don't want
or need. During the installation (custom variety) I told it not to
install file sharing or Client for MS Networking. I still had to get rid
of the "Shared Documents" folder by doing the following:

1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Locate the following key in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer\NameSpace\DelegateFolders

3. Locate the key {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. Right click on
it and select delete.
4. Close the registry editor.
5. Reboot to take effect.

Nonetheless, I have 512 megs RAM on a 3 ghz machine
and the 'networking overhead' you mention cannot be seen on my machine,
but I am a tweaker. It pays to learn what the OS is doing and learn how
to stop it BV helped a lot.

Yes, I just saved the copy of Black Viper's page that Majorgeeks has on
their site. It does look like a good reference all right.

Just to clarify, I wasn't refering to system resource overhead, rather
it was to unnecessary additional system complexity type of overhead.

What I'm saying is that if I'm not on a LAN, why should I be forced to
clutter up my hard drive with networking crap? All it does is to
increase my vulnerability to malware and hacking into my system.

--
Regards from John Corliss
I don't reply to trolls and other such idiots. No adware, cdware,
commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware, PROmotionware,
shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware, viruses or warez
please.

 

[John Corliss]

You can use the free version of XXCLONE. It creates a bootable cloned
backup drive.

My method of Restoring from backup is to reset the BIOS to try to boot
first from HDD1 which is the backup drive .... which the system then
does. My main drive, HDD0, then becomes drive E: instead of C:

So I can then Restore from C: (HDD1) to E: (HDD0)

Works very well for me. BTW, another indispensible util is ERUNT
for backing up and restoring the registry. It also includes a registy
optimizer.

Art,
I can't really tell from the site if the free version of XXClone does
incremental clones. Can you clarify this?

Also, why can't I simply continue to use XXCopy? Won't it work with XP?

--
Regards from John Corliss
I don't reply to trolls and other such idiots. No adware, cdware,
commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware, PROmotionware,
shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware, viruses or warez
please.

 

[Art]

Art,
I can't really tell from the site if the free version of XXClone does
incremental clones. Can you clarify this?

What's a incremental clone? Only copying files that need updating?
I don't think XXCLONE works that way. Looks to me like it does a
full clone every time. It takes some "getting used to" after the
luxury of XXCOPY on the Win 9X/ME series. But I've adjusted my
backup strategy accordingly.

Also, why can't I simply continue to use XXCopy? Won't it work with XP?

According to the XXCLONE web site info, XXCOPY can't copy (the
protected) registry files. Actually, I found 16 files on my Win 2K Pro
that won't copy.

I chose FAT32 rather than NTFS, BTW, so I'd have a bit more
compatibility with my DOS programs. But the NT based OS is
indeed a different world anyway. I don't really care for it. My
wife's Hp Pavilion with Win ME is solid and reliable as a rock.
I much prefer Win ME. The only reason I'm using Win 2K is that
the LinkSys wireless router I purchased so my wife and I could
share DSL service doesn't work on the PCI adapter end on
Win 9X/ME, in spite of the BS on the box

You can have your Win XP and freeware that only runs on it.
Hell hasn't frozen over here by a long shot

Art

http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[John Corliss]

What's a incremental clone? Only copying files that need updating?

1. Updates changed files.
2. Removes deleted files.
3. Adds new files.
4. Leaves unchanged files alone.

I don't think XXCLONE works that way. Looks to me like it does a
full clone every time. It takes some "getting used to" after the
luxury of XXCOPY on the Win 9X/ME series. But I've adjusted my
backup strategy accordingly.

I'm afraid that I'm not willing to thrash my hard drives with a total
clone every time.

According to the XXCLONE web site info, XXCOPY can't copy (the
protected) registry files. Actually, I found 16 files on my Win 2K Pro
that won't copy.
Crap.

I chose FAT32 rather than NTFS, BTW, so I'd have a bit more
compatibility with my DOS programs.

I went with NTFS, but I don't seem to be having any problems with any of
my old programs. In fact, even though they start a little slower the
first time after a reboot (I turn my computer off when I'm not on it)
they seem to run better once they're going.

But the NT based OS is
indeed a different world anyway. I don't really care for it. My
wife's Hp Pavilion with Win ME is solid and reliable as a rock.
I much prefer Win ME. The only reason I'm using Win 2K is that
the LinkSys wireless router I purchased so my wife and I could
share DSL service doesn't work on the PCI adapter end on
Win 9X/ME, in spite of the BS on the box

You can have your Win XP and freeware that only runs on it.
Hell hasn't frozen over here by a long shot

Art, it's the stability that I've been enjoying. Not one crash!
Rebooting to free up system resources after using a bad program is no
longer necessary! In fact, system resources are no longer a concern at all.

It definitely takes some getting used to though. For instance, the
"deltree" command doesn't work in XP. Although there are some
workarounds, they're not as convenient. Another thing I notice (and I
don't know if this is something I messed up) is that I can no longer add
things to the top of the context menu I see when I right click on a file
in Explorer. For me, that's a real hard thing to give up.

--
Regards from John Corliss
I don't reply to trolls and other such idiots. No adware, cdware,
commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware, PROmotionware,
shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware, viruses or warez
please.

 

[CharlieDontSurf]

I went with NTFS, but I don't seem to be having any problems with any of
my old programs. In fact, even though they start a little slower the
first time after a reboot (I turn my computer off when I'm not on it)
they seem to run better once they're going.

They'll start up faster shortly. NTFS rejiggers its file hierarchy so
that most-oft used files are stored to be more readily accessible.

NTFS is also much better at preserving file integrity after power
outages and the like, being a journaled file system. You won't be
wasting time waiting for Windows to crank through scandisk (chkdisk on
xp) after shutdown. I think you made the right choice.

Being a security maven, you might want to Google up "alternate data
streams" for ntfs, though.

 

[jmatt]

"XXCOPY can't copy (the protected) registry files."

Those files can be copied by the sys c command if you want to make the
drive master.

4. XXCOPY Freeware Download
http://www.xxcopy.com/index.htm
The latest release (this page revised on 2005-08-25)
Note: This version is compatible with WinXP SP2 and Win2K SP4.

Use the startup disk to boot the computer and when you are at the A:\
prompt type sys c: and press Enter. The required boot information will
be copied to the new disk and you have a working copy of the old hard
disk.
If the partition is not active & you want to make the drive master, use
fdisk, option 2.

 

[Art]

I'm afraid that I'm not willing to thrash my hard drives with a total
clone every time.

Again, it depends on your backup strategy. Even on my wife's Win ME
PC, the cloned (with XXCOPY) drive just sits on a shelf and is never
(extemely rarely) used or updated. It's a issue of getting everything
the way you want it, freezing that, and being done with it. It took me
a long time to get to that point, of course, since beating Win ME into
submission and being satisfied with what I had took awhile.

On her PC, I use a incomplete cloned drive just for her (genealogy)
data. She uses that daily.

I could do the same thing with Win 2K ... using XXCLONE for the drive
that sits on the shelf, and another drive for daily data backup using
XXCOPY.

On the subject of thrashing drives, it also took awhile before I quit
scanning entire drives for malicious code and spyware. I just scan
Windows every two to three weeks in addition to other checks. When you
never have problems you know you're doing things right and you can
quit wearing out hard drives

Remember also that even incremental backups cause a lot of thrashing
since every file on the drive(s) must be examined.

Art

http://home.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[John Corliss]

They'll start up faster shortly. NTFS rejiggers its file hierarchy so
that most-oft used files are stored to be more readily accessible.

NTFS is also much better at preserving file integrity after power
outages and the like, being a journaled file system. You won't be
wasting time waiting for Windows to crank through scandisk (chkdisk on
xp) after shutdown. I think you made the right choice.

Being a security maven, you might want to Google up "alternate data
streams" for ntfs, though.

Dear God. This is worse than rootkits. Totally undermines the idea of
any kind of file security.

http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Alternate_Data_Streams.html

As a guy at one site says, "it may open up possibilities in NT scripting
with regards to obfuscation and security. I am sure that not many people
will realize that a 0 byte file could contain information."

And I can't find a way to secure a system so that it's not a threat.
About the only thing Microsoft provides is a download named NTFSext.exe
at this page:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnfiles/html/ntfs5.asp

That site also describes alternate data streams and why they did it. Do
they have any plans to create a patch for this idiocy? None that I can
find so far. In fact, they apparently think it's a good idea.

Had I been aware of this vulnerability, I would never have formatted my
drive as NTFS.

--
Regards from John Corliss
I don't reply to trolls and other such idiots. No adware, cdware,
commercial software, crippleware, demoware, nagware, PROmotionware,
shareware, spyware, time-limited software, trialware, viruses or warez
please.