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Hmm, it *is* possible to lock a WinXP Pro machine to the point that malware won't install itself, but it is damn difficult to do so. Here is a link:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/prodtech /windowsserver2003/ccc/default.mspx

I enjoy the fact that you didn't quote from the XP Pro license, which doesn't say the same thing:

1.3 Device Connections. You may permit a maximum of ten (10) computers or other electronic devices (each a "Device") to connect to the Workstation Computer to utilize one or more of the following services of the Software: File Services, Print Services, Internet Information Services, Internet Connection Sharing and telephony services. The ten connection maximum includes any indirect connections made through "multiplexing" or other software or hardware which pools or aggregates connections. This ten connection maximum does not apply to other uses of the Software, such as synchronizing data between a Device and the Workstation Computer, provided only one user uses, accesses, displays or runs the Software at any one time. This Section 1.3 does not grant you rights to access a Workstation Computer Session from any Device. A "Session" means any use of the Software that enables functionality similar to that available to an end user who is interacting with the Workstation Computer through any combination of input, output and display peripherals.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/proeula.msp x

Link

Actually, serving any clients from a Windows workstation OS is a violation of their EULA if Microsoft didn't write it and bundle it with the OS. So you can serve 10 clients on XP Pro with IIS but zero with Apache. Yes, running a Quake server for your mates at at a LAN is a violation. BitTorrent is a violation. VNC is a violation.

I thought this sounded bogus, so I actually went and looked up the XP Home EULA. Unsurprisingly, your claim is rubbish.

1.3 Device Connections. You may permit a maximum of five (5) computers or other electronic devices (each a "Device") to connect to the Workstation Computer to utilize one or more of the following services of the Software: File Services, Print Services, Internet Information Services, and remote access (including connection sharing and telephony services). The five connection maximum includes any indirect connections made through "multiplexing" or other software or hardware which pools or aggregates connections. This five connection maximum does not apply to any other uses of the Software.

I've added ram, changed hard drives, video cards, sound cards, pretty much anything short of the MB (which usually hoses your installation anyway unless you're very carefull), and not had to do any reactivating. Not just my system either, but several others.

So, the folks here that have not used Windows XP, probabbly fell for your bit of FUD and modded you +4 informative. Congrats.

I keep VM versions of earlier MS operating systems and OSs at different patch levels (eg XP/XP S1/XP SP2) for testing purposes when I release software. I'm glad to see the Microsoft does not want small developers to test for compatibility on home versions of Vista.

First, they gutted out the Monad shell and WinFS, two features that would have possibly made me wait for Vista and get a PC instead of switching to a Mac.

Except MSFT will have to refuse to sell to people building AMD based systems because they will be based on processors that have virtualisation technology

Why? What the license says is

You may not use the software installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system.

not

You may not use the software installed on the licensed device if the licensed device includes hardware that is intended to speed up virtualization.

"Many of you are geeks .. For all of you folk, browsers like FF are great"

Fud injection: only dyed in the wool geeks can use Firefox.

- What exactly can the non-geek not do using Firefox to browse the Web. Give us some specifics.

"Now consider everyone else in the world .. You have IE7 .. offers tabs and good security, and works without a hitch."

"six of today's updates apply to fully patched Windows XP systems, and two of the flaws are actually present in Windows Vista."

"It is integrated into the OS so it opens faster and does not introduce any problems"

It is precicely because it is integrated into the OS that it is so insecure. It start faster because all its bits are loaded at boot time. The same effect can be achieved by using the Firefox Preloader.

"I have used IE6 for years and never once got a virus or spyware because of it"

"Secunia is reporting on three vulnerabilities in IE6 running on XP SP2.", Nov 2005

"remote code execution vulnerability exists in Windows Shell .. This vulnerability could potentially allow remote code execution if a user visited a specially crafted Web site", Oct 10 2006

was Still using IE and don't intend to change

Almost all 3rd party vista drivers can and should exist in user mode. Microsoft has to allow 3rd parties to write kernel mode drivers because all legacy drivers would need to be rewritten if they didn't. Now, they just need to be signed.

If you want to write a new driver, write it for user mode. Unfortunately, this means the open source driver writers need to rewrite their drivers for user mode -- but shouldn't they want to anyway (safer, more stable, recommended way of doing things)? And isn't a major point of OSS the agility to adjust to these sorts of things?

See http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/wdf/UMDF_FAQ. mspx for details.

just doing a console controller conversion (like making an old NES controller hook up to a computer) requires a driver.

I don't think you would need a kernel level driver for that

Yes you would. A console controller conversion requires a way to talk directly to a parallel port to send first-button and next-button request signals and receive button state signals. Input device drivers have additional restrictions; Microsoft's user-mode driver framework FAQ states the following:

Q: What are the constraints on user-mode drivers?
A user-mode driver cannot directly access hardware or use kernel-mode resources.
[...]
A user-mode driver cannot have kernel-mode clients because Windows does not allow calls from kernel mode to user mode. The majority of drivers for input, display, and most network and storage devices cannot be migrated to user mode because they have kernel-mode clients.

This will have negative ramifications for the disability community, as it will become harder for hobbyists to develop novel assistive devices

If the OpenVPN drivers aren't signed, they may not install whatsoever on Windows Vista 64-bit. Vista 64 will simply not accept unsigned kernel-mode drivers at all anymore. I believe XP did, just after having displayed a dialog box with a lot of bolded text in it. I'm not sure what will happen as for Vista 32-bit.

The information here also tell that drivers that load at boot time must contain a digital signature (I'm talking regardless of 32/64-bit platform now). There's also other cases where a signature is required, and in all these cases it has to be from an authority "Windows trusts" (read: Microsoft).

While this "combats open source", it's really just the certification authority where "money = trustworthiness" stupidity applied all over. They made VeriSign et al. grow big, and now Microsoft will try to grow big(ger) using the same idea. Microsoft will defend themselves with that they can't let just about any authority without insight in how Windows works and lacking Microsoft's guidance to sign because then they could sign code that did harm to Windows. I guess both are kind of right.

Apache isn't an OS, and last I checked all servers don't run Apache in the marketplace. Not to mention Apache also runs on Win32 as well.

Are you SERIOUSLY basing your Server numbers on Apache usage?

As for your thinking that XP was a slow seller:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2002/jan0 2/01-07xpmomentumcespr.mspx

Enough said on that topic.

Honestly, so far you have posted pure FUD, without any real access to the facts. Microsoft Windows XP Sales Exceed 17 Million Copies Just Over Two Months After Worldwide Debut

Competitors that don't fear Microsoft eventually don't exist. It's been proven time and time again since Microsoft entered the market.

"Guess you have 1GB or less of RAM, otherwise Win XP has problems hibernating reliably."

This is true but its also an easy fix.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909095

Though frankly I'm surprised they havent rolled this hotfix into the regular patch routine yet.

"Until Microsoft provides a way to update from a fresh install to the latest patched version offline, I consider my Windows box to be already compromised."

Like this?

Better yet, you can download these patches and slipstream them into the installation folder, then all you need is a way to make a CD bootable or to make some boot floppies and your fresh install will already be the latest patched version. Sort by release date, go back to the latest service pack, and download it and newer patches.

This has only been the way things have worked since Windows 2000, i. e. for the last six years. Might want to upgrade from NT 4 if you want to stay on top of your Windows bashing.

First off, Original XP Requirements Guess what? They aren't any different.

Slipstreaming being illegal is utterly absurd, there is nothing in the EULA that says you can't copy the install media since the install media isn't copyrighted. The software on the install media is copyrighted. This is why I have remote installation services with all my software to push new machines on the network faster. Microsoft even provides instructions for this and says no where that it is not legal so regardless of copyright MS has relinquished the right to stop the copying of the cd. This also ignores the fact that there is no copy protection on the Windows install media. Furthermore, I don't buy Windows CDs I buy Windows licenses that don't come with media and I don't sell modified installation discs so the whole thing is moot.

More fud debunked The system, requirements aren't any different. The 1.5gig space requirement only applies if system restore is enabled which would be the same thing for SP1.

As for the web spider bullshit the few people that do it have the option of modifying their systems. It is not typical usage of Windows so faulting Microsoft for locking down their OS is just utterly stupid. Security is traditionally the art of breaking services. The OS is far less exposed to worms and other malicious software and as a result you have to do some more work. I'd agree with you that if XP Home SP1 had IIS and SP2 deleted it then you would have a valid claim to be pissed. That is not the case and you have failed to state how SP2 removes functionality. In reality it is quite the opposite.

They forget of course that not everyone in the world has broadband access. Those on dial-up cannot update to SP2 easily. Here, regional WA, has patchy broadband at the best of times, let alone those who use the internet "just for emails" and don't want to spend a lot to do it.

Hard disk space that is required if you install Windows XP SP2 from the Windows XP SP2 CD
[...]
1560 MB peak usage during installation
[...]
You must also have 30 MB of free hard disk space on the first primary system partition.

So installing SP2 requires over 1.5GB of free disk space, according to MS's own information. Maybe they're wrong, but I've found it impossible to install it on my 1.9GB drive.

BTW, you say: "I slipstream SP2 into the XP install media". As far as I can tell, this process is illegal. There's nothing in the XP EULA that grants permission to make copies of the installation CD. The fact that various sources both inside & outside MS recommend it as a useful technique is besides the point: it is (at least technically) a copyright violation, and you could be sued for doing it.

As for 30 half-open TCP connections, what is the problem with that? P2P services don't rely solely on half-open connections and perform quite well under SP2 so what's the effective limit? You can't run a server on a desktop OS?

Servers don't typically need all that many half-open connections. Clients that connect to multiple servers for short-lived queries are the main problem. I run a variety of web spiders here, and find that they are substantially slower when run under SP2. As for P2P apps not having trouble with it, why do I see so many of their forums discussing patches that change the limit?

Perhaps why HP home doesn't come with IIS. Are you going to fault MS with that decision as well?

No. But if XP RTM came with IIS but SP2 deleted it, I think I'd have a right to be pissed off. And certainly I think I would have a right to not "upgrade" if I didn't think it was worth it.

Besides that it's incredibly difficult to find a machine which doesn't have enough free space for SP2 since 40gig drives were already well into the norm when XP was released.

Well, yeah... actually I'd slightly disagree, I reckon most entry level machines were being sold with either 10GB or 20GB drives at that time, but it doesn't matter: the minimum specs for XP were basically a 4 year old machine when XP was released: 64MB RAM, Pentium 233 or better, and 1.5GB hard disk. Plenty of people, I'm sure, run XP on machines that aren't a lot better than that. I can't be the only one. That's the reason those are the minimum specs, right, to tell you that if you have a machine that meets them, Windows XP is an operating system you can use on it. Except now it turns out it isn't.

How bout you try again and mention a networking application which isn't feasible which is an end-user application and not a server.

Some P2P apps (try running a gnutella client that was released before SP2 on a SP2 machine; the results will be painful). Anything that downloads web content from multiple servers in parallel and which you expect to finish quickly (e.g., applications that summarize search results). Apparently it can cause issue

Hard disk space that is required if you install Windows XP SP2 from the Windows XP SP2 CD
[...]
1560 MB peak usage during installation
[...]
You must also have 30 MB of free hard disk space on the first primary system partition.

So installing SP2 requires over 1.5GB of free disk space, according to MS's own information. Maybe they're wrong, but I've found it impossible to install it on my 1.9GB drive.

BTW, you say: "I slipstream SP2 into the XP install media". As far as I can tell, this process is illegal. There's nothing in the XP EULA that grants permission to make copies of the installation CD. The fact that various sources both inside & outside MS recommend it as a useful technique is besides the point: it is (at least technically) a copyright violation, and you could be sued for doing it.

As for 30 half-open TCP connections, what is the problem with that? P2P services don't rely solely on half-open connections and perform quite well under SP2 so what's the effective limit? You can't run a server on a desktop OS?

Servers don't typically need all that many half-open connections. Clients that connect to multiple servers for short-lived queries are the main problem. I run a variety of web spiders here, and find that they are substantially slower when run under SP2. As for P2P apps not having trouble with it, why do I see so many of their forums discussing patches that change the limit?

Perhaps why HP home doesn't come with IIS. Are you going to fault MS with that decision as well?

No. But if XP RTM came with IIS but SP2 deleted it, I think I'd have a right to be pissed off. And certainly I think I would have a right to not "upgrade" if I didn't think it was worth it.

Besides that it's incredibly difficult to find a machine which doesn't have enough free space for SP2 since 40gig drives were already well into the norm when XP was released.

Well, yeah... actually I'd slightly disagree, I reckon most entry level machines were being sold with either 10GB or 20GB drives at that time, but it doesn't matter: the minimum specs for XP were basically a 4 year old machine when XP was released: 64MB RAM, Pentium 233 or better, and 1.5GB hard disk. Plenty of people, I'm sure, run XP on machines that aren't a lot better than that. I can't be the only one. That's the reason those are the minimum specs, right, to tell you that if you have a machine that meets them, Windows XP is an operating system you can use on it. Except now it turns out it isn't.

How bout you try again and mention a networking application which isn't feasible which is an end-user application and not a server.

Some P2P apps (try running a gnutella client that was released before SP2 on a SP2 machine; the results will be painful). Anything that downloads web content from multiple servers in parallel and which you expect to finish quickly (e.g., applications that summarize search results). Apparently it can cause issue

I wonder if they fixed the http://support.microsoft.com/ bug? The one that makes the pages work anyway if you press the scrollwheel..

Just One Version, Could you tell Microsoft that please? http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/default.mspx XP Home/Pro (Thay acculy list Home and Pro as diff versions) XP Media (Home) XP Tablet XP Pro (x64) And Windows Vista Rumor has it that Vista is gonna have 6 flavors. I would assume the current 5 versions and a Mobil Version to Replace Windows CE All listed as Seprate versions of Windows on the Microsoft Website...

Since when has internet access even been part of the equation?

• One.
• Two.
• Three.
• Four.
• Five.
• Six.
• Seven.

I'm sure many people can think of many other reasons why some OSes are more equal than others wrt internet and common usages of them now and particularly in the future

Since when has internet access even been part of the equation?

• One.
• Two.
• Three.
• Four.
• Five.
• Six.
• Seven.

I'm sure many people can think of many other reasons why some OSes are more equal than others wrt internet and common usages of them now and particularly in the future

The automatic delivery process will notify users an update is available and allow users to choose whether to install Internet Explorer 7.

From a microsoft web page: ... Support for Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Service Pack 1a (SP1a) ends on October 10, 2006. ... This also includes security updates ...

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean19

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updat es/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.mspx

Here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/839280. It took me about 15 seconds to find this.

Office for Mac: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/office2004/o ffice2004.aspx?pid=office2004

For my friends and family Windows are relevant, because Office is relevant. It's sad, because otherwise many of them would strongly consider buying a Mac. (Which would be a huge win both for them and for me, for I would no longer have to fix the broken Windows XP boxes...)

From: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupp ort.mspx

"Enterprise customers Microsoft will, under qualified conditions, make Custom Support Agreements (CSA) available for eligible enterprise customers. CSA customers are also encouraged to consider migrating to Windows Vista as part of their migration plan. Customers may qualify for a CSA if they have a current Premier support agreement, and a detailed migration plan moving them from Windows XP SP1 to the latest operating system. To learn more about Custom Support Agreements, contact your Premier support Technical Account Manager (TAM)."

That's still a hell of a large download for a dial-up user. It's about time Microsoft released a fresh update package i.e. Windows XP SP3 (or is that Vista?)

SP3 will be released sometime in the second half of 2007.

You do not need broadband to keep XP patched.

Windows Update downloads in the background and downloads only the patches you need. Not the all-inclusive 300 MB ISO with the hotfixies needed by the service tech or system administrator.

Order Windows XP Service Pack 2 on CD Share the CD with anyone who needs it.

One reason the holdouts have avoided SP2 is that Microsoft intentionally degraded the networking with SP2.>

Wow, that's some tech note. Just imagine having your grandmother read it so she can better understand how to cope with SP2. But call her doctor and an undertaker first.

I'm an a large site that's running XP SP1 on all of quite a few thousand machines and I'd just like to say that one week notice of termination of support is ridiculous.

You're right, one week is totally ridiculous and unnacceptable.

Of course, ehm... they announced this a long time ago -- January, to be precise.

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean19
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupp ort.mspx

I'm an a large site that's running XP SP1 on all of quite a few thousand machines and I'd just like to say that one week notice of termination of support is ridiculous.

You're right, one week is totally ridiculous and unnacceptable.

Of course, ehm... they announced this a long time ago -- January, to be precise.

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean19
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupp ort.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updat es/sp2/sp2cdorder.mspx

If you want an ISO, they provide these too but unfortunately not for everyone, but to members of some of their partner programs.

I was under the impression they would send you a free SP2 cd if you requested it

That order page was very easy to find from the MS's Windows XP page. Yes, a shipping and handling charge is added. They also encourage users to share the SP2 CD with friends and family.

You could just order a cd to be shipped to you. They'll only charge a small shipping fee they say.

"Are you saying a bug can't be a feature?!"

With Microsoft it can!

And a "feature" can be a bug. One reason the holdouts have avoided SP2 is that Microsoft intentionally degraded the networking with SP2. Yes it's fixable, but not perfectly, and I'm not sure I care to bother with it.

This is one of the long-planned milestones on my migration to another OS (references to which have become a cliché in this connection).

Many of the fixes aren't even needed for a lean-and-mean XP configuration, so the time to an "upgrade or exposure" choice may be longer than this month.

Ok, I'm assuming you're joking, but for those who do _not_ know that you can bypass the Windows update site and simply download and burn to CD so your friends don't have to suffer, go HERE:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?Fa milyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displa ylang=en

Actually, if your friends are running Windows, they _are_ suffering.

--
BMO

Download it from here.

If someone has that slow of an internet connection, they can always order it on CD. Microsoft does charge the cost of shipping, but if someone is so insistant on getting SP2 but cannot download it, I'm sure the cost of shipping ($3-5?) makes it worthwhile. They even suggest that you share the CD with a friend or family member:

"After you have installed Service Pack 2, Microsoft encourages you to give this CD to a friend or family member using Windows XP."

No IP over Firewire support either

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/bus/1394/IP_1 394.mspx

>> That said, I do believe that some crazy person made a FireFox extension to embed IE or something and run the wretched things.

I believe you're talking about IEView, which is useful for those of us who run Firefox on XP and want to visit sites that just don't work (or don't work as well) in Firefox..

The CSS/rendering engine they've been using since IE4 is still around. They keep patching it with every release to try and bring it up to spec. However the underlying reason for all the layout bugs still remain.

It's called hasLayout and it's created many problems over the years. It's still there in IE7 and there are new bugs relating to hasLayout in IE7 as demonstrated here.

A better solution is to install WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) to manage Windows Updates. You get complete control over what updates get installed. And the machines will download the updates from your local server, instead of the internet.

It can be downloaded for free from here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/updat eservices/default.mspx

To block auto-upgrade, check out http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?Fa milyId=4516A6F7-5D44-482B-9DBD-869B4A90159C&displa ylang=en (IE7BlockerToolkit). For more details, you can read TechWeb: Microsoft Issues Tool To Block IE 7 Auto Updates

Windows Shortcut Keys

I knew a bunch of these, but there are a ton of good ones out there. Don't know how much I'll use them, but I'll take it into consideration. My favorite, by far:

Windows Logo+S: Toggles CAPS LOCK on and off

Thanks, I don't have a key that already does that.... wait a second! The real problem is, my laptop cut the Windows key out and put the function key there instead.

Microsoft provides a toolkit with which you can roll out the registry changes via Group Policy:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?Fa milyID=4516A6F7-5D44-482B-9DBD-869B4A90159C&displa ylang=en&Hash=GJ3Y7L7

Can anyone present reasonable alternatives to this? I am in the market for my home media center, but the model M and non-roller mouse is working okay as long as I don't mind getting down on the floor.

I'm looking for all in one wireless keyboard and mouse that is light and not fragile. Microsoft's idea won't work for me, as it has things I don't care for. Logitech doesn't seem to have anything close to what I want as they want you to have a seperate keyboard and mouse. And while the VersaPoint RF is great at work, I don't need RF, nor do I need a 140 buck keyboard.

So we know the Phantom is crap, and possibly outright fiction, what is a good, buyable alternative? (links to company websites, not to vendors please.)