“I’ve been using Windows XP as my main desktop OS for about a year now. I’m really very happy with it, as are most XP users I know. It’s probably the best job Microsoft has ever done on a desktop operating system.
However, there are some things that could have been done better. One year later–especially now that Service Pack 1 has been released–it’s worth looking at what Microsoft could have done better, though I don’t think any of the flaws are crucial. “ Read the article at TechUpdate.
Windows XP–One Year Later
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I echo the sentiments-Xp is good stuff-not great, but very good. Stable, as fast as Be, easy to work with, but there are alot of things that could be better….
1) Spyware. We don’t want it ow, do we?
2) Tons of running services-this isn’t strictly necessary now is it? It could be made easier to guide someone through the Services hacking….
3) XP’s CD buring application is terrible.
4) Memory hog.
5) Hidden partitions for system restore. Okay, so I have to give up 2GB out of 30 for this feature? Too bad you can’t turn it off. Can you?
6) I’d like a real CLI-Linux does have that going for it.
7) The most securities vulnerabilities in any OS I’ve ever seen. What, these guys didn’t think of all these holes before shipping it?
Otherwise, it’s great for gaming, good all around, OS.
Wish there was a BeOS 6.0 Pro though.
“5) Hidden partitions for system restore. Okay, so I have to give up 2GB out of 30 for this feature? Too bad you can’t turn it off. Can you? ”
Yes, you can disable System Restore. Check the properties of My Computer.
8) New abusing license at each security update (root priveledges). You either update your system and don’t control it anymore, or you wait for the next virus to hit you. Cool, huh?
9) GUI rendering issues. With the Luna theme on, XP has the worst rendering/compositing of any window system I’ve ever seen.
Is it really that big a mystery why Microsoft is including only stripped-down applications with small feature sets? Do people really wonder why they have never fixed notepad so it can edit large files, or why WordPad doesn’t include many word-processing features, or why Paint only has a very basic set of tools? IMO, the reasons are obvious:
1. The DOJ. If Microsoft had made Windows XP fully capable of doing everything DirectCD or Nero can do, they would be in for more antitrust trouble. Same with WordPad, Paint, etc.
2. First and third-party apps. Microsoft doesn’t want you to just buy Windows, they want you to buy Office too. They want third-party app developers to be able to sell software as well. Bundling full-featured apps defeats both these purposes. Frankly, I’m surprised that they even bundle WordPad.
Microsoft has to add new features to windows, or no one will upgrade. But they can’t include too many features or there will be problems. So they end up with apps that meet nobody’s needs because they don’t have enough features, but look good on bullet-point feature lists.
I think Windows XP is the best Windows so far. I’m not a big fan of it, but I like it ok. What I don’t get is the trouble with so many programs requiring to be started from an admin account. The list of Microsoft programs alone is endless. Why can’t I start Windows Messenger as non-admin. This is ridiculous.
MacOS X does a better job in this area. You can type in your admin password when needed. And it’s only needed for administrative tasks, not for playing a game.
Ok, all of you people don’t recognize that MS XP is the 2nd Generation Windows and not 3rd generation.
What do I mean? I mean that Before W2k and WXP the OS was crashing easly without the need of third party software installed, now with W2k and WXP it is really fixed very well-unless of course a bad hardware driver crashed (W00 & WXP goes crazy when a hardware driver crashes)-. Now these two OSs are easly crashable by any 3rd software instlled. I wish that MS will jump to the 3rd generation OS wagon and introduce a tightly controlled kernel on the software (not allowing software to operate if crashable or not certified, .dll hell solved, no more system32 folder trace files when uninstalled application ensues, improved application multitasking tolerance, improved & comprehensive Task Manager, Redesigned kernel to stop viruses and Bacteria…..and others).
> 9) GUI rendering issues. With the Luna theme on, XP has the worst rendering/compositing of any window system I’ve ever seen.
Bascule, as I said before, in the Chimera news story, it seems that you are having a buggy driver, these issues you are having are NOT normal and they are not happening here.
I wanted to email you about this, but I do not have your emaily.
If you are talking about the 32K limit, they fixed that (a limitation of the text control in pre-NT quasi-16bit Windows). You can also set the font now (w2k), and they’ve added a search feature and a Ctrl+S shortcut for save.
And Paint can open and save gifs and jpegs now too.
All Wordpad needs is a spell checker.
My WinXP limited feature gripe? The CDRW UDF support is read only AFAIK. You still need 3rd party software for write support (and need to turn off WinXP’s support to do that).
6) I’d like a real CLI-Linux does have that going for it.
http://www.cygwin.com/ The best of both worlds.
1) Spyware, what spyware? Do you have any proof of this? I didn’t think so.
2)It’s not exactly difficult to turn off the services, it tells you what they do and what they are for (for the most part) and lets you click start stop, or disable… pretty simple
3) XP’s CD burning stuff is just licensed software from Roxio… I do agree that it could be a lot better though.
4) How is it a memory hog? All you need is 64mb to run the OS.
5) As said earlier, it is easily turned off.
6) What do you mean by a “real” CLI, you mean one where you don’t have to run it on top of a windowing environment?
7) This is just pure BS, how about you go actually have a look at the number of reported security issues of other OSes… you’ll find that Windows has one of the fewer amounts.
8) Please explain what you mean by this.
9) Sounds more like something wrong with your own computer…. video card, drivers…
altho i think XP is ok,
i like windows 2000 pro better, altho i think the ‘issues’ i have come accross, are mostly related to IE .
i have kids and they have not managed to crash or messup my win2k boxes but can mess up XP almost every time,
the only difference is that on win2k i use IE5.5 and not IE 6.X
but who knows, my win2k images that i use at home are rock solid and the XP ones are great but dont last very long,
and yes, know almost every trick and install procedure for windows there is.
i made sure all drivers where correct and upto date:
turned off all servrces not needed,
applyed NTFS permssions
etc…..pretty standard stuff..
now my dad has been using the same image almost and its been great and rock solid for him,
the same here at work….
go figure….
Nex6
if there aer hidden partitions for system restore why can’t I see them from linux? I have system restore enabled and dual booting linux and I dont have a seperate partition for system restore..
4) How is it a memory hog? All you need is 64mb to run the OS.
Good luck running with 64mb. you might get it to boot up. The minimum for actually using it is about 256MB based on my experience.
7) This is just pure BS, how about you go actually have a look at the number of reported security issues of other OSes… you’ll find that Windows has one of the fewer amounts.
Please stop making unfounded statements, both of you. If you cant quote any real numbers, just shut up.
8) Please explain what you mean by this.
He means that security updates and service packs also force you to accept the new license terms. This has happened numerous times recently and could be very bad. Search slashdot.org for the details.
9) Sounds more like something wrong with your own computer…. video card, drivers…
yup. works fine for me too.
(not me) – “Do people really wonder why they have never fixed notepad so it can edit large files”
BTW, it’s fixed for years now. At least since Win2K, and probably since NT4. Maybe never get fixed under 9X versions, but I don’t care, I don’t considere those OS seriously anyway.
(hraq) – “I mean that Before W2k and WXP the OS was crashing easly without the need of third party software installed, now with W2k and WXP it is really fixed very well”
Everything is related to the kernel. There’s basically two kernel. The DOS based (win 3.1, 9X) that completely suck (mostly because if it’s 16-bits legacy support), and the NT kernel (NT4, 2K, XP) that is pretty good. All in all, XP is nothing more than a pumped up, shining, updated version of NT4.
(CPUGuy) – “1) Spyware, what spyware? Do you have any proof of this? I didn’t think so.”
I agree. There’s no proof at all that Microsoft spy on your data. The only spying is made on your hardware itself, which in my case is not something I absolutely wish to hide. Why I should care if Microsoft know I’m using a GeForce2 ? I just don’t want them to spy on my source codes and Word documents.
(Nex6) – “altho i think XP is ok, i like windows 2000 pro better”
My only reason why I prefere XP over 2K, it’s his better handling of games and DirectX. I decided to switch from 2K when Dark Age of Camelot badly crashed on my system, and became extremelly stable under XP.
But yes, all in all, I don’T see a *lot* of difference between the two.
I have used XP in 64Mb RAM
I even started Adobe Photoshop 7.0 and ran a few filters on a bitmap image while running under XP in 64Mb ( Pentium 2 400Mhz )
Yes, it runs better in larger amounts of RAM.. as does almost any OS.. but as long as you disable all the visual effects, XP has system requirements no greater than Win2K except in terms of HDD space.
oops
i’m very surprised at all the gushing. frankly, i found the hype and the “revolutionary features” to be as cheap as xp’s horrible gui.
like apple’s new ads, i’m proud to have switched. that is, switched from xp pro back to win2k pro.
Explorer.exe is still crashing badly on a lot of PCs running CP I’ve seen (many).
Performance is not something you can relay on, with some things is really faster then 2k others no and the performance is not constant
Did you find explorer killing your box whe you ave a directory full of divx movies? it tries to read the media info and it will full handreds MB of memory
Like every windows it tends to self destroy
Reality is that windowsxp was a good opportunity but microsoft did not get the most from it.
Actually after one year it is reliable.
I never touched …mmm… a Windows machine in about five years..so i really do not know what
i am speaking about….
‘ Design a systems that even fouls can use and
only fouls will use it ‘
“i’m very surprised at all the gushing. frankly, i found the hype and the “revolutionary features” to be as cheap as xp’s horrible gui. ”
I don’t “hype” over XP. I’ve turned off the XP theme (so it look exactly like 2K), so I get a 2K but with a better support for games. I don’t see where’s the problem…
“Like every windows it tends to self destroy ”
Nope. Windows from the 9X series tends to self destroy. In my case, both my XP at home and my 2K at my job run for months without needing a reboot, even tho I play many games, and do a lot of development/debugging. That’s not what I call a tendancy for self-destruction.
“Reality is that windowsxp was a good opportunity but microsoft did not get the most from it.”
Don’t know what you expect from an OS (every single people has it’s own specific needs), but in my case and mostly everybody I know, XP is still the best OS option available. So MS didn’t missed that much I think …
“Design a systems that even fouls can use and only fouls will use it”
So, based on this logic, anyone using a TV, or a radio, is a fool ?
Well, humanity is in big trouble …
I still prefere something like :
Design a systems that only script masturbator kiddies will want to use, and only script masturbator kiddies will use it.
😉
1. by all means, if you like it so much then use it.
2. no one said that you, steve, were hyping. why so personal?
3. xp in fact tends to self-destruct especially when running multi-media apps, and fyi, i am not talking games here.
4. smile. and btw, i’m not doubting your sincerity, but most people that i work with have had too many bad experiences to think that xp is “the best os option available,” and frankly, do not plan on handing any more money to microsoft until a real upgrade shows up.
>>4) How is it a memory hog? All you need is 64mb to run the OS.
Good luck running with 64mb. you might get it to boot up. The minimum for actually using it is about 256MB based on my experience.<<
XP will run ok with 64megs, It’s a good idea to revert to classic GUI. But never the less it will run. 128meg is just fine for XP that’s what I used on a slow computer for nearly a year. I now have 384megs of ram on at pII 400 and it runs just as fast as before. but handles having lots of apps running much better.
I don’t think you could pay me to turn of the new GUI, the old is so ugly i can’t stand it. Aqua is very nice. Also it doesn’t seam to take much ram, i’ve checked it on a few computers and seams to save 15meg, not huge for most computers. But as has been said by others before, if you don’t like aqua set it to the silver Shceme (sp) and you will notice how nice looking it is. MS really should make this the default.
Guess who owns the future you or the kid?
Guess who makes the future you or the kid?
🙂
I’ve been using XP since the public beta. I use XP Pro. I come from a background of using Windows along with other OSes, but suffering the blue screens of death and all the typical Windows problems. I have been amazed by the stability, speed and even look of XP. I use my Mac for digital type tasks, so I don’t know so much about that, but doing office type work, it has just been sensational.
I like the XP silver look personally 🙂
<rant>
Having supported most windwos operating environments over the years, i do think that xp is possibly the worst.
what i dislike the most is the fact that they change the gui so that the old tricks to get things done are now 5 levels deep, and not 2. The fact that “compadible with open standards” is also skin deep. Hidden services, yes. “Can we have media player 8” – “No you have to buy winxp” and now they are giving us Media Player 9 for no reason at all. Win2k works quicker with less ram and is more stable. It also doesnt try to make hard decisions for you and leave you guesing “why did you do this the wrong way?”. I would like someone to name 3 “new” features of XP that will make me say “thanks microsoft!” and not remind me of clients who ring up 2 days after a complete rebuild, saying that their computer doesnt boot… and to let you know, it was because the os (xp pro) killed itself.
Also, has anyone noticed the general price rise of microsoft software over the last couple of weeks? In australia, to buy MS OFficeXP Standard we have to pay $930 for it. For MS Project2002, its now $1200AU, Project 2002 Pro its $2100. Win2k $737, WinME $450, WinXP home $405 and WinXP Pro $600.
What is so good about these products that they are now costing 2/3 of the price of a cloned computer’s hardware price? Yes, XP Products somehow are cheaper than their previous offerings (are the more vintage products better?) My only conclusion is that you have to pay a premium to use software without Digital Rights Management (WPA) protecting you from yourself.
Did someone just cough “Licence 6.0”? Are we all suppost to move to a subscription based pricing policy just to use software that hasnt really changed since Office95?
Do we have a choice? Or is it true that the o/s and applications you use at work (via licence 6.0), are also the ones you use at home (coz you dont know any better)?
</rant>
I personally like WinXP. I don’t love it, but I like it. Between it and Linux, XP (Windows in general) does have the superior applications for what I use a computer for. Plus, it’s just a smoother ride all the way around and much more polished. Of course, I’ve been using Windows for about 8 years, so I am probably just biased to it since I’ve been using it for so long. Being comfortable with tweaking Windows, my Win32 boxes are fast and rock solid, and all the applications I need are right here. I don’t anticipate switching anytime in the near future, especially when when MS products can be had at great discount prices off Usenet 😉
1) Spyware, what spyware? Do you have any proof of this? I didn’t think so.
What information *doesnt* get sent everytime the automated update feature is run? Starting october this year, they will start collecting product ids for both winxp and wk on their update site.
2)It’s not exactly difficult to turn off the services, it tells you what they do and what they are for (for the most part) and lets you click start stop, or disable… pretty simple
WinXP SP1 EULA says that Billg can turn on disabled services and do anything to your box, because you dont own the software you have a licence to use it.
3) XP’s CD burning stuff is just licensed software from Roxio… I do agree that it could be a lot better though.
That is because they only wanted enough burning software features to put a tick in this marketing check box “Can it burn a cd”, “Yes”. Simple as.
4) How is it a memory hog? All you need is 64mb to run the OS.
Every m$ operating environment has a sweet spot. With 20+ services, poor coding, theming, super-sized cache, poor swapping, poor memory allocation, the sweet spot of xp is 384 megs. Win 98 was 128, WinNT was 128/192, Win2k was 256.
5) As said earlier, it is easily turned off.
Read above.
6) What do you mean by a “real” CLI, you mean one where you don’t have to run it on top of a windowing environment?
If you use linux, you will understand what a real CLI means.
7) This is just pure BS, how about you go actually have a look at the number of reported security issues of other OSes… you’ll find that Windows has one of the fewer amounts.
If windows was open source, we’d find all the ones that have not been found yet, and that scares even me. All the holes that M$ have been informed about have been from white-hats or general good guys, what about all the others that everyone else is using? Did you know that even with IE6SP1 there are 19 outstanding *reported* vulnerabilities not fixed? And a very nice SMB Nuke too, which i like using to reboot stuburn win2k ad servers that lock up.
8) Please explain what you mean by this.
You probably wouldnt understand anyways.
9) Sounds more like something wrong with your own computer…. video card, drivers…
Maybe you can offer more help than “did you giggle the plugs?”. Maybe “Buy the next version of windows, it fixes that particular problem” … btw, in my experience, it doesnt happen…
[i]”Explorer.exe is still crashing badly on a lot of PCs running CP I’ve seen (many).”
<.i>
Just remember: Microsoft has been in this game for 21 years now, and their most flagged and hearlded product is still unstable
XP can be good-looking but it is a true Trojan horse to make their users dependants of M$ software. First they come with software activation, then will use hardware protection on processors. When you are totally addicted there are no way to get out.
I prefer to use linux from now and be independent, even if XP has more features. M$ is a monopoly and USA has no intention to change this.
I was pretty happy with 2K (upgraded from 98), although gaming performance was mediocre. So I upgrade to XP and find out how freakin’ slow it is on my “old” K6-2/350 machine. Back to 2K on that box.
My new machine (Athlon XP 1800+/256 MB DDR RAM) I just installed XP on (95 upgrade path, though it never asked for the 95 disk — see, I’m perfectly legal!). XP failed to auto-detect my scanner, but after I manually installed the drivers it worked well. The major problem is that Explorer.exe will sometimes just jump to 80% CPU usage for no perceptable reason. Furthermore, none of my autoplay (I *hate* autoplay) settings are ever saved between sessions, even with service pack 1, so whenever I put in a CD, bada bing, bada bang, a stupid new explorer window pops up (at best). Major pain. XP is still missing the most vital interface basics — things like multiple virtual desktops and window shading. Keyboard shortcuts are lackluster at best. I’m just so frustrated using the machine… Service pack 1 also removed the ability for the machine to go to standby (“standby” will spin down the hard drive and put the monitor on standby, but leaves everything else running at full power) or shutdown (“shutdown” will reboot).
Fortunately I do have my OpenBSD/X11/IceWM machine (a SPARCstation 5/85) which suits me *so* much better. Those that knock UNIX machines’ interfaces must be smoking crack, because XP’s comes nowhere close. I don’t want funny colored icons (XP is set to the 2K classic mode with minimal effects anyway) or weird zooming animations. I want a system that is predictable, reliable, and allows me to get my work done. XP fails miserably.
9) Sounds more like something wrong with your own computer…. video card, drivers…
No, it is an flaw of Windows NT’s framebuffer. It doesn’t matter what video driver you use. Sure, if you use a Radeon 9700 or a GeForce Ti 4600, you can’t notice it unless you try real hard, but the problem is there.
This is why me and Bascule support Quartz and similar. 🙂
“[XP] use hardware protection on processors”
Sorry for my ignorance, but what is that ?
Thanks !
Anon:
If you are having issues with it crashing two days after an install, then either 1) You need to find a new job, particularly one that doesn’t involve computers, or 2) Your hardware pure crap.
What exactly are these “old tricks” that you speak of?
Three great new features:
System Restore
Help & Support
RDP
Anon #2:
1. Wow product IDs, I wonder why they didn’t do this in the first place. You have to send them your product ID just to use the damn OS, get over it.
2. It only says that if you are a paranoid physcotic, a sane person that has common sense interprets the EULA n a much more reasonable fashion.
3. No, it’s limited because of MS had put in full CD burning support, you would see yet another anti-trust suite.
4. “Poor coding” have you seen the code? I didn’t think so… so basically, you cannot pass judgement on it.
6. I’ve used Linux quite a bit actually, there’s nothing particularly special, to me, about having to type out 4 miles of commands to do a simple task.
7. Again, just rumors. You have no substantiated facts to proove that open sourcing it would reveal more bugs.
8. I probably wouldn’t understand? Sounds more like you have no clue.
9. I gave what the most likely causes of the errors, which is not a normal problem among people, so basically, you are showing off how much of a mindless drone you truely are.
My Sony Vaio came with 4 partions (2 were unformatted) on a 60 GB drive. I used partion magic to combine all of them into one partition. No problems yet. I haven’t tried to restore with this configuration. No hidden partitions were created after SP1 was installed either.
Do you know how many times I have to switch off shadows under menu.
It must be a simple bug.
Everytime I change a Theme I pretty much have this problem.
Also someone mentioned about how terrible the Luna UI is “9)”. Resizing the title bar will cause a problem with the menu. Eg getting little white square type backgrounds behind things like File Edit View. All of them. Was this fixed in SP1. I doubt it.
Also things like Messenger, why is it installed by default, I don’t want it. I shouldn’t have to edit sysoc.inf to try and get rid of it. Of course put a few patches to XP, and then this method no longer works to uninstall Messenger.
Rant…Rant
2. It only says that if you are a paranoid physcotic, a sane person that has common sense interprets the EULA n a much more reasonable fashion.
The problem with that train of thought is: in which of those two categories does a lawyer for the licensor fit?
It has been widely known for years in Silicon Valley that Microsoft has put a variety of secret infiltration and information gathering capabilities into Windows.
You might want to read Declan McCullagh’s fine article, “Microsoft’s new deal with Uncle Sam”.
http://news.com.com/2010-1074-957970.html?tag=fd_lede
Declan says in between the lines what would cause a major lawsuit if said otherwise:
Microsoft has been in alliance with the Federal government for a long time and helps them spy on everyone who uses Windows.
Be 100% honest with yourself. Do you actually think that the functionality in Microsoft Word that sends the document (and other files) to Microsoft if there is a “secret code” put into the document is a bug? This code has been in Word since Word 97 – meaning the last six to seven years. Do you think this “bug” of this amazing level of functionality has not been found in all the testing and code reviews that have occurred in the past 6+ years?
http://in.tech.yahoo.com/020914/137/1v7kk.html
Do you think the NSA backdoor to NT’s crypto code just appeared by magic? Another bug?
How about the GUID that was inserted into every Microsoft Word document? Another strange bug?
Wait. How about the Intel processor ID that Microsoft was going to use to correlate document GUIDs to physical computers. Another bug?
Somehow Intel added this feature to their chip… for what again? Because Microsoft wanted it, of course!
How about Microsoft’s so-called “crash reports”? When you click on that little “send” button, it uploads your document (which is still in memory) along with the rest of what you had in memory to Microsoft. Can you use Windows without worry to edit sensitive corporate information with this sort of “feature” built into the OS? Of course not. How many corporate strategy documents have crashed mysteriously and then the user – trying their best to get a more reliable OS – has clicked on the “send” button? Microsoft’s whole XML-centric strategy is rumored to have been ripped off from documents they read that came into Microsoft through this information gathering system.
Not just Word documents are infected with Microsoft spyware. All Windows Media Audio files are the same way. From the net:
Download a .wma (Windows Media Audio) file containing DRM from any site that promotes RIAA music.
It will come with a “key”. Now, lose your key, or let its time limit expire.
Now, open the file with any media player (Winamp, Real, WiMP, etc).
Try not to be shocked when your default browser opens and connects to the internet!
Windows Media Audio files are “active data,” just like a Microsoft Word document; ie, not really data but a program with data embedded. Any “data” that is “active data” can carry worms, viruses, trojans, and other nasty things.
Windows Media Audio files are NOT safe. Don’t use them. MP3 and Ogg Vorvis files are pure data and cannot carry any virus that could actually execute.
Now rename the .wma file to have an MP3 extension, and try to open it with Winamp or about any other media player. It won’t open.
Except in WiMP, where it will happily open your browser and connect to the internet!
Don’t use WiMP, and don’t use WMA. And don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.
The nice name for spyware in the future is “DRM”. It turns the everyday person into a suspect. Into someone who is assumed to be a thief.
Do you think there is actually any consumer benefit to Palladium/LaGrande? Has Microsoft or Intel said one word about how they listened to their customers and their customers demanded draconian digital rights management to be part of their processors and operating systems?
A recent article on DRM as AMD’s new chip, Opteron, has DRM on the chip. And my excerpt with emphasis added.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/09/14/1031608343597.html
“It is envisaged that once the TCPA system is fully functioning, our PCs would quietly report to authorities any unauthorised content on our machines. PCs and other devices would also refuse to play content, such as a music CD, tied to another device, and may be instructed by a remote server to delete information from the owner’s hard drive.”
Do you think that with China’s history of espionage that they don’t already have a copy of the Windows source code and have looked at the code and determined that Windows is unsafe to use? They are not stupid.
If I were the leader of a nation, I would never build any of my nation’s infrastructure on Microsoft products. Open source is the only code you can trust. It is no accident that all of Asia – not just China — is going towards Linux. Okay, Japan is an exception for now. But over time, they will go to Linux as well. Your whole nation is at risk if you base it Microsoft’s spyware.
Who do you think writes some of the code that wanders around on the net and steals passwords and uploads them to seemingly benign servers – like random DNS servers? The US government of course. How does this code get onto your computer when you are running anti-virus software all the time? Through backdoors into the OS that Microsoft has shared with the government of course. This is not idle speculation, but the opinions of IT professionals who have used Windows for years and are responsible for trying to create safe computing environments.
What about Magic Lantern? The government has a deal with the anti-virus makers so Magic Lantern does not show up in a virus scan. How many other government viruses do not show up in a virus scan? But here is the important question. How does Magic Lantern get on your system? Via a Microsoft service pack or patch, of course.
And let us not even mention the way the US government and Department of Justice have handled Microsoft’s antitrust case. Can you say “no consequences” ? Once upon a time there used to be a remedy for Microsoft’s monopoly. Today, there is nothing. Just a bunch of talk and government stalling. Is Microsoft is going to walk away with their monopoly intact? Of course they are! The Ashcroft police state depends on it!
These are just the few things on the top of my head. I could list thousands of cases where there are massive security holes and other backdoors into Windows, many used by the government to spy on Windows users.
There was a comment on O’Reilly’s macdevcenter that sums up Microsoft and Windows quite nicely. I added the italics.
Todd Hoff writes:
I’m a Windows-only user and I plan to switch to the Mac on my next purchase because of XP’s DRM approach.
Using XP would be like voluntarily entering a jail cell and closing the door.
We know DRM is the polite acronym for what is really DIM – digital information management. We know that our computers will not be able to legally read documents in the future that aren’t stamped with some sort of legitimacy certificates. And that these certificates will only be available in documents from the corporate press and other “approved” sources. DRM is the saleable precursor to full blown 1984-style total information management by the corporate state.
The people that think Microsoft is a good company are just drones of a corporate world gone made. These people have no spirit.
They are dead people serving the needs of a vast machine.
Are you part of the machine? Did you choose comfort over conscience? Do you promulgate Microsoft lies?
Or maybe there is a human being inside of you that has the courage to live?
If you have a spark of humanity left, choose something other than Microsoft’s dystopia for the future of personal computers.
#m
The majority say that Windows XP is a fast and a stable OS. I beg to differ. IE 6.0 crashes several times a day, inviting me to send a bug report to Microsoft. Outlook Express freezes repeatedly. Strange focus behaviour with windows, i.e., often a window loses focus and there is no way making the window gain focus (and control) again. I have to use the TaskManager to kill the app.
I can’t get my joystick and my 3D graphic card to work. Even with XP-drivers…. incredible!!!
Finally, the OS is slow, very slow: switching between tasks can take several seconds. My computer is a ‘mere’ Pentium III, however, with Redhat 7.2, performance, although not at light speed, is just fine.
Brett:
If you use Nvidia drivers, the latest drivers cause many problems similar to what you are describing.
I have many of the same symptoms on my system. Crashes. Slowness. Windowing problems. It is incredibly frustrating. Even when you turn off “nview”, the problems still exist. This is on a dual 1Ghz Pentium III with 1GB RAM. Is 2Ghz of power not enough to run XP?
All I can suggest is to go back about six months to the last stable Nvidia drivers. But not the ones that cause XP to crash on a VIA chipset 😉
And unless you want to upload a snapshot of your system to Microsoft, including any documents you might have in memory, including any password strings that are plaintext in memory, etc., I’d suggest not sending them a bug report.
One last thing. From my experience with Nvidia drivers, WHQL (?) or whatever it is doesn’t mean a damn thing. All the drivers suck about the same, but some work better than others depending on your machine configuration.
#p
Its been several months but I remember playing around with XP services in an attempt to shut off every service that I thought was not necessary. DO NOT TRY this on a production system. Maybe the MSDN versions are different but I ended up with an almost useless system that had to be reinstalled. OUCH. I turned off something that should not have been turned off. I turned off something that so crippled the OS that I could find no way of turning the services back on. I could’t get to the properties of the services to reactivate them.
This was before service pack 1 so maybe the was fixed OR maybe it was user error I will never know. I do know that there was no warning that I was about to shut off a service that was so vital to the system that there was no way to recover. Other than that just turn off ALL the gui enhancements and the XP login and you have w2k redux.
I wish Microsoft all the best.
Thanks for the humor!
XP certainly is a mess. A gigantic and gross mess.
And it is so undocumented and impenetrable to the user.
I’ve tried turning stuff off to cut down on the number of mysterious UDP and TCP connections my machine has.
Stuff like:
UDP janus:microsoft-ds
UDP janus:isakmp
UDP janus:1031
UDP janus:1032
UDP janus:ntp
UDP janus:netbios-ns
UDP janus:netbios-dgm
UDP janus:1900
UDP janus:ntp
UDP janus:1044
UDP janus:1207
UDP janus:1900
UDP janus:1996
TCP janus:epmap janus:0 LISTENING 728
TCP janus:microsoft-ds janus:0 LISTENING 4
TCP janus:1025 janus:0 LISTENING 776
TCP janus:1026 janus:0 LISTENING 4
TCP janus:3282 janus:0 LISTENING 448
TCP janus:3285 janus:0 LISTENING 448
TCP janus:3287 janus:0 LISTENING 448
TCP janus:3322 janus:0 LISTENING 620
TCP janus:3493 janus:0 LISTENING 3268
TCP janus:3615 janus:0 LISTENING 3268
TCP janus:5000 janus:0 LISTENING 912
TCP janus:netbios-ssn janus:0 LISTENING 4
TCP janus:3282 i01alt05-vir-35.ids1.intelonline.com:http CLOSE_WAIT 448
TCP janus:3285 i01alt05-vir-31.ids1.intelonline.com:http CLOSE_WAIT 448
TCP janus:3287 http://www.google.com:http CLOSE_WAIT 448
TCP janus:3499 208.186.252.62:http TIME_WAIT 0
TCP janus:3615 unknown.Level3.net:http ESTABLISHED 3268
TCP janus:1030 janus:0 LISTENING 1852
TCP janus:3492 janus:0 LISTENING 3268
TCP janus:3492 localhost:3493 ESTABLISHED 3268
TCP janus:3493 localhost:3492 ESTABLISHED 3268
Aside from the obvious, what the fuck is all this stuff? I ran into some of the same situations you did. Shut down the wrong thing and Windows XP goes into never-never land. And some things you can’t shutdown, so you don’t even know what UDP (or TCP) ports they are using — or what they are using them for.
I can’t even imagine the user will be able to see this information after Palladium/LaGrande is implemented.
Next machine is Linux or OS X. I’m done spending anymore of my life dealing with this labyrinth of spyware.
#p
the only ‘feature’ I like from xp is the faster bootup. Everything else is a step backwards, including the slower performance, shitty demographics-collecting media player & not being able to do as you wish with your machine without contacting Hell Central for ‘permission’.
Consequently, I think Windows 2000 actually has more things right than Windows XP, and I prefer it.
“XP can be good-looking but it is a true Trojan horse to make their users dependants of M$ software.”
Eaxctly. Ever since the Apple switch ads started coming out, I’ve wanted to see someone(probably not Apple) do a similar ad explaining in terms of a very common problem how Microsoft operates.
College student relates the story of how she or he was asked to turn in papers via e-mail to the professor, sent a perfectly formatted RTF file to the prof from their Mac or other computer – created using free software that came with the machine, then got back a Word document that said student couldn’t open without buying extra software – even though said file was just (visibly)unformatted text.
Or a story about how someone got a free copy of Word from their school through a ‘generous Microsoft program, then was forced to pay for the upgrade the next year when the professors upgraded their copies and sent incompatible files out.
Aside from the obvious, what the fuck is all this stuff?
You get a more accurate result of what ports you have open if you load up nmap (i believe there is a windoze version too) and portscanning your local interface.
But besides that, i dont know either. maybe theres a tech net article out there that lists them? I’m sure theres also a hidden article there that lists how to “turn them off” as well… good luck!
Uhmmmm, unless you do some pretty major upgrade with your computer, or you want to install XP on more than one computer, I don’t see what’s the problem with WPA. Plus, I doubt you do really intense upgrades very often to be annoyed with WPA.
ClearType
//Are you part of the machine? Did you choose comfort over conscience? Do you promulgate Microsoft lies?//
Do you visit your shrink each week?
If not, you should.
Greet your high commander in Roswell.
“You’re a firestarter … twisted firestarter …psycho-sematic, attic, insane!!!”
Simply put for me, XP’s been a huge joke.
I pretty much bought it for the Windows Media Player,
which at the time was simply so much better than anything
else I’d seen…Then like that other guy said, they release
MP9 for free!!!! I don’t have a connection to the internet
at home and have to head out to download movies and music,
so why is it that Windows XP insists that I must have over
thirty different ‘services’ running in the background? And
there’s no intelligent way to explain to the stupid Os that
I DON’T have an internet connection, I DON’T have a printer
so could it please not steal my memory that way….
I have a fairly modern machine, sure it’s only 800mhz to be
certain, but it has a nice chunck of memory –300+ mbs! and
even with that I can’t manage all these damn orwellian
‘services’ running in the background! For what use is UPNP
to me when I don’t have any such device nor do I plan on
getting one in the near future? Or to what use is all those
Remote desktop ‘services’ to me when I’ve no ability to use
them? “Turn them off!” you say. Easier said then done!
However, when I *do* manage to turn off most of these
useless prgrams; then I notice the speed in the OS–with
them running without my consent?? I can barely move a window
without being warned that I’m using too much resources!
The whole OS is like that though…and there’s no real
way to take control of the best either! As for the nice
troll who mentioned WPA, allow me to remind you that this
is an OS enthusiast site, where many of us would like to
be able to install and tweak and generally fool around with
our system’s settings as we see fit! If it happens that
something we did caused a problem in the OS’s stability
most of us are the type to have already backed everything
up and are more than prepared to do a fresh install leading
right back up to where the mistake was made; only this time
allowing us to go right instead of left.
WPA takes that freedom away from us! I’ve reinstalled WinXP
at least 4-5 times since I bought it, usually due to its
refusal to play nice with other partitions on my hard disk,
or when I used a piece of betaware that misbehaved, ect. The
last time I played with Linux I had to reinstall XP and when I tried to do the ‘painless’ WPA I ended up talking
with a customer support person who simply couldn’t accept
that I was reinstalling the os several times that day to
see which partitioning scheme worked best for me. Papa
Bill wanted me to just install his sytem and leave it alone.
If I didn’t then Papa seemed to think that I must be a warez
kiddie or something…
It’s *my* computer and _I_ paid for the OS, so why do I
need to ask for permission to use *MY* property??? And
don’t give me any BS about Liscensed vs ownership. It’s
NOT an easy procedure for a Hard Of Hearing person like
me to A) find a ####ing phone, B) read off the numbers
of the ####ing code, C) Listen to some corporate drone
give me the business as if *I* were a crook!!! D) copy
down the activation code from said drone (who doesn’t want
repeat _anything_) E) do it all over again the next time!!!
Don’t eve n get me started on the #### I go through trying
to download updates to my OS at a cafe running Win98!
**iWindoze realizes that he’s beeen screaming and quickly
walks off to calm down a bit**
First of all ms, doesn’t need to know what I have brought or for that matter what I have installed in my computer.I have nothing to hide from anyone.Would you let the police into your home without a search warrant.Just because someone said this or that.With MS you really have no choices with their software,if you say no you do not get the update.If you say yes you get it with what ever they say in their legal document. To me that is legal hacking without my consent.I just wish I learned this computer thing earlier in my life, I would be on linux now.Which I did buy to dual boot with xp.Once learned second computer ms os offline only.
I was one of those people to go out and buy Windows XP on the same week that it was released. I liked the OS mostly because it was biult on the NT kernal, and it had the “Luna” theme. I quickly got tired of the blue luma, so I switched it over to the silver scheme. Everything was good for about 2 more months until I explored every nook and cranny of the OS and testing it out. Once I had done that, I quickly got bored, and decided to move over to Linux. After working with linux for about 3 weeks trying to get my modem to work, I just gave up and decided to “aquire” windows 2000. I am now running Windows 2000 as my primary OS, and dual boot with Linux Mandrake 8.1. I am happy. If MS keeps this up, Windows XP Pro will be the last OS I use that comes rolling off of thier floors. When RedHat 8.0 comes out, I will actually buy that. I feel that the Linux community needs our support if it is to become a more popular OS. When WINE hits RTM, I will say goodbye to windows.
Hardware firewall. Check.
Software firewall. Check.
Norton Anti-Virus 2003 w/latest defs. Check.
Pest Patrol w/latest defs. Check.
Remember all those ports? Well, even with all my protection, what do I find I have on my system?
137 UDP netbios-ns NETBIOS Name Service Msinit, Qaz
139 TCP netbios-ssn NETBIOS Session Service Chode, God Message worm, Msinit, Netlog, Network, Qaz, Sadmind, SMB Relay
1025 TCP blackjack network blackjack Fraggle Rock, md5 Backdoor, NetSpy, Remote Storm
1026 TCP cap Calender Access Protocol
1347 UDP bbn-mmc multi media conferencing
1900 UDP ssdp SSDP
5000 TCP commplex-main Back Door Setup, BioNet Lite, Blazer5, Bubbel, ICKiller, Ra1d, Sockets des Troie
I have potentially a ton of spyware sitting on my XP box. And nothing detects it.
Ports 1900 and 5000 are supposed to be for universal plug and play service discovery. Modern spyware probably uses a backdoor in UPnP created and endorsed by Microsoft to load new spyware on the system. No wonder my ports are dogged with spyware.
Do I explicitly have calendar access protocol turned on? Not that I know of. Hell no in other words. How about multi media conferencing? Hell no. So what gives? I’ve gone through and turned off every damn thing I can find.
This is why XP is not to be trusted. Any of these could be ‘Magic Lantern’ or something worse.
No more eXtra Pain operating system for me. Life is too short to spend any of it lost in the depths of Microsoft’s spyware jungle.
#p