Have you installed Win XP SP2 yet? Opinions?

S

Sirlard

#31
Joe,

What your friend told you was true on my machine so yesterday I bit the bullet and reformatted my hard drive and all of its partitions. I now use Firefox and Thunderbird almost exclusively. I also dropped MS Office and have gone to OpenOffice. The only problem I am having is finding a means to read my saved emails with the msg prefix. I am looking for a means to convert them to the eml prefix.
 
Elsmar Forum Sponsor
#32
Sirlard said:
What your friend told you was true on my machine so yesterday I bit the bullet and reformatted my hard drive and all of its partitions.
...or you could use Norton Utility's defrag. It works much better than XP's own variant.

/Claes
 

Wes Bucey

Quite Involved in Discussions
#34
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Jen Kirley

Quality and Auditing Expert
Staff member
Admin
#35
wallyqc said:
Every PC we buy we whack XP and install 2000. I is just a problem.
:agree1: I bought a new machine a few years ago and asked my husband to wipe off XP and install my 2000 OS first thing. It's not free of errors, but I'm not dealing with this ugliness regarding SP2 ad nauseum.

But I really did this because I disagree on principle with the .Net platform, as Microsoft wants to eventually have everyone pay a subscription and log on to use their computer, store everyone's data for them, etc. Not me, no way Jose!!

I have Open Office and like it well enough but don't use it because certain functions (specifically, being able to select more than one spreadsheet cell with Ctrl and color the whole lot at once) don't work and that really slows me down.

My husband set me up with Firefox, set up a fortress-like firewall and screens my Outlook e-mail with some wizardry he has learned while becoming the minor computer god he is. (bow, scrape)

Nonetheless after a few years of hard riding, he did have to format my machine reinstall the whole bundle.

:topic: How about this gag, where Microsoft buys software security companies, then talks about (no, they haven't done more yet than offer it for free to licensed users) selling software to fix security problems due to Microsoft's own weakness? Talk about chutzpah! :mad:
 

Jim Wynne

Staff member
Admin
#36
Jennifer Kirley said:
:agree1: I bought a new machine a few years ago and asked my husband to wipe off XP and install my 2000 OS first thing. It's not free of errors, but I'm not dealing with this ugliness regarding SP2 ad nauseum.
Windows 2k is currently on SP4. You should be aware that when you wipe out an OEM opertating system and replace it with anything other than the same OS, as shipped, you're probably voiding the warranty.

Jennifer Kirley said:
But I really did this because I disagree on principle with the .Net platform, as Microsoft wants to eventually have everyone pay a subscription and log on to use their computer, store everyone's data for them, etc. Not me, no way Jose!!
There may be plenty to dislike about Microsoft, but your fears about MS taking control of your data via the .Net Framework are unfounded. You don't have to install .Net if you're using XP, but there are currently some applications that won't work without it, and sooner or later you'll have to abandon 2K and get with the program.

Jennifer Kirley said:
I have Open Office and like it well enough but don't use it because certain functions (specifically, being able to select more than one spreadsheet cell with Ctrl and color the whole lot at once) don't work and that really slows me down.
You might want to have a look at Easy Office, another free open source suite that includes a lot more than OO and in my own limited recent use seems to be more compatible with MS Office files. It's available at www.e-press.com.

Jennifer Kirley said:
My husband set me up with Firefox, set up a fortress-like firewall and screens my Outlook e-mail with some wizardry he has learned while becoming the minor computer god he is. (bow, scrape)

Nonetheless after a few years of hard riding, he did have to format my machine reinstall the whole bundle.
Using either 2k or XP, there should never be a need to reformat and reinstall the OS to deal with problems. Regular maintenance, including staying free from malware, should be all that's needed. If a computer gets so far gone that the only solution is reinstallation of the OS it's because of user issues. I'm currently using XP on a desktop and a laptop (both of which have SP2 applied, btw) and going on three years for both on the original installations and a lot of "hard riding."

Jennifer Kirley said:
How about this gag, where Microsoft buys software security companies, then talks about (no, they haven't done more yet than offer it for free to licensed users) selling software to fix security problems due to Microsoft's own weakness? Talk about chutzpah! :mad:
MS has announced that the Anti-Spyware package now in beta release will be free when released in its final form. Keep in mind that no operating systems are immune to attack; MS is the easiest target in terms of sheer numbers. This is not to say that MS isn't culpable to some extent; theuy've been sloppy and slow to react in some instances. Most spyware infestations though, and indeed, virus and trojan infections are due to poorly protected computers. If any iteration of Linux or the Mac OS were as popular as XP, you can be assured that there would be similar levels of malware problems.
 
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Jen Kirley

Quality and Auditing Expert
Staff member
Admin
#37
Yes, I'm aware that the anti-spyware program Microsoft has just put out is free to licensed users. They have also aired the concept of charging for their security software. Let us observe how long it takes then to charge for this. Am I cynical? You bet.

Now, let me be clear that I very much appreciate Bill Gates's attentive and generous attention to issues like AIDS and health in poor nations. This seems to me like a Robin Hood endeavor because the business communities do not contribute much to the initiatives on such a scale (and the issue demands the scale) but have bought all this expensive software that now pays for the effort--so be it.

Yes, it is a user issue--me--regarding getting to the point of needing a reformat instead of just updatings being sufficient. As I said, I ride this machine hard and my geek-husband is also busy.

And yes, I am aware I am voiding the warranty. Indeed, the fact that MS2000 did not come on this machine is problem enough. Do I care? Not a bit. I bought the software on the open market. Microsoft's license policies were written in house and do not serve my needs, the customer. They serve Microsoft's needs.

The .Net initiative didn't stand scrutiny with the public, especially after Microsoft's computer systems were spectacularly broken into. It hasn't been talked about lately, but make no mistake: that's where they imagine us going, and I resist based on the naive notion that the data can be held securely enough by anyone. Note the latest ChoicePoint debacle; that particular issue is not technical security, but what (infamous and now a consultant) Michael Mitnick warns about: "soft" security: protecting passwords, guarding against imposters, etc.

Microsoft is culpable to more than some extent. For a very long time the company has been focusing on whiz-bang software and largely ignored security needs. (Has no one asked for security in the past 10 years?)

Linux has fewer vulnerabilities (it does have some) because of less complexity and constant attention paid to it by the programmers at large.

Yes, eventually I'll have to "get with the program." I'll put it off as long as I reasonably can. Thank you for the reference to Easy Office. I'll look into it.
 

Jim Wynne

Staff member
Admin
#38
Jennifer Kirley said:
Linux has fewer vulnerabilities (it does have some) because of less complexity and constant attention paid to it by the programmers at large.
Not true. The only reason that Linux is not a target is because there aren't 350 million people using it. You underestimate the resourcefulness of the cretinous crackers who delight in proving people wrong about their security measures. All the king's horses and all the king's men can't stop one smart sociopath who has a computer, an internet connection and a lot of time on his hands, and a lot of security issues become moot when people learn how to protect their own computers.

Jennifer Kirley said:
Yes, eventually I'll have to "get with the program." I'll put it off as long as I reasonably can. Thank you for the reference to Easy Office. I'll look into it.
There's no reason to move away from 2K if you're comfortable with it and it suits your needs. I think XP is better in a lot of ways, but you pay your money and take your choice. I've spent a lot of time with Easy Office over the past few days and I'm very impressed with it. It's much more like MS Office than OO is, and as I said, seems to be more compatible in some ways. If you want to avoid a big download, there's a magazine called Windows XP EZ Tech Guide which has a CD containing EO and a lot of other stuff attached to the March/April issue, which is where I got it.
 
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