Slashdot Mirror


XP Service Pack Slows Programs

AEton writes "Vnunet and others are reporting that Windows XP's Service Pack 1 has introduced a flaw into the operating system. Changes to memory handling code result in programs which often allocate memory (which is many of them) can take up to ten times longer than normal to start. Microsoft has acknowledged the problem in Q815411, and while a patch is available by request from Microsoft Product Services, it will not be widely released until Service Pack 2."

43 of 457 comments (clear)

  1. In the meantime by worst_name_ever · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...In the meantime, Microsoft suggests you refrain from running programs which use memory. Thank you for your patience.

    --

    In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
    1. Re:In the meantime by dserpell · · Score: 2, Funny

      Go developers! Boycot M$... Just made your programs allocate large ammounts of memory!

      On a second tought, perhaps that's what M$ programs are already doing...

  2. HAHA by teamhasnoi · · Score: 5, Funny

    It looks like the pirates who weren't allowed to upgrade to SP1 have gotten the last laugh. Piracy does pay! Thanks MS, for pointing this out.

    1. Re:HAHA by bonch · · Score: 5, Funny

      Pirates everywhere are outraged that the hard work they put into downloading, spreading, and cracking Windows XP in order to install SP1 has resulted in another bizarre Microsoft bug.

      "I sat and ran my key generator for up to 20 minutes before I was able to get a valid key! Then I had to reactive Windows and change the key to install SP1," said one anonymous source. "But if errors like this are the results of all the effort I put into providing slipstreamed SP1 installs on eMule and USENET, Microsoft has definitely lost another customer."

      Efforts are underway to convert pirated Windows installations to free alternatives in order to reduce costs and save time. "I don't have to download BlueKey to upgrade a few RPMS. Once XP's SP2 beta leaks onto the net, you can bet I won't be so forgiving next time when I crack it."

  3. Typical Slashdot FUD by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is really just more anti-Microsoft Slashdot FUD. After all, this only affects programs that allocate memory.

    Programmers can easily work around this bug by returning right after printf("Hello World") finishes.

    1. Re:Typical Slashdot FUD by addaon · · Score: 4, Funny

      printf allocates money. Use fprintf directed to stderr, which doesn't buffer output. :-)

      --

      I've had this sig for three days.
    2. Re:Typical Slashdot FUD by cscx · · Score: 5, Funny

      On Windows I think stderr and stdout are one and the same.

    3. Re:Typical Slashdot FUD by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

      printf allocates money. Use fprintf directed to stderr, which doesn't buffer output. :-)

      That's interesting. Who gets the money?

      Of course fprintf() will be illegal soon since nobody can make any money off of it.

  4. "Service" Pack by TheBigOh(n) · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I know why they call them service packs rather than upgrades. Apparently Microsoft doesn't even trust themselves.

    1. Re:"Service" Pack by use_compress · · Score: 3, Funny

      You get serviced (like a horse)

  5. quality by tabby · · Score: 5, Funny

    More good work from MS's 'does it compile?' quality assurance program

    --
    I've experiments to run, there is research to be done on the people who are still alive.
  6. Re:w2k is effected as well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    It definitely is a conspiracy theory.

  7. Re:never installed sp1! by Unregistered · · Score: 3, Funny

    you use XP. Serves you right for piracy.

  8. "a" flaw? by RawDigits · · Score: 5, Funny

    Windows XP's Service Pack 1 has introduced a flaw into the operating system.

    Drat, just when we all thought windows had achieved perfection. Back to the Visio board...

  9. Re:never installed sp1! by Quasar1999 · · Score: 1, Funny

    (actually, it's because I'm using XP with that pirated serial number that SP1 kindly "de-activates" for you)

    Now honestly... do you not think that admitting to piracy (even on Slashdot) is not a rather stupid thing to do?

    No wait... actually what I meant to say was, don't you think admitting to using Windows on Slashdot is a stupid thing to do? :P

    --

    ---
    Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
  10. Bloated by DJ+Rubbie · · Score: 5, Funny

    Each component in Windows is so intertwined together that when one thing needs to be fixed, the a few other pieces breaks, which must be fixed, therefore more pieces break and it will get to a point when all pieces break and it is better off to run NT4, as Microsoft stopped breaking it.

    --
    Please direct all bug reports to /dev/null
  11. Reminds Me of Python-Esque Humor by mistermund · · Score: 5, Funny

    This patch, along with the fact that MS won't be releasing a patch for that recent gaping hole in NT4, reminds me of a scene...

    (Read along in a mock British-imitating-French accent, ala the castle scene in Monty Python's Holy Grail)

    Microsoft Engineer: We've got a problem here, chaps!
    MS Users (All, Amongst Selves): Well, how about a patch then?
    Microsoft Engineer: Uh, we've already got one, you see.
    MS User 1: Are you sure he's got one?
    MS User 2: He says they've already got one!
    Microsoft Engineer: Oh, yes. It's very nice-a.
    MS Engineers: [chuckling]
    MS Users: Well, u-- um, can we come up and have a look?
    MS Engineer: Of course not! You are clueless types-a!
    MS Users: If you will not show us the patch, we shall switch all our systems to Linux!
    MS Engineer: You don't frighten us, clueless pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottom, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Linux King, you and all your silly open source k-nnnnniggets. Thpppppt! Thppt! Thppt!
    MS User 1: What a strange person.
    MS User 2: Now look here, my good man--
    MS Engineer: I don't wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!
    MS Users: Is there someone else up there we could talk to?
    MS Engineer: No. Now, go away, or I shall taunt you a second time-a! [sniff]

    (With aplogies to Monty Python)
    Script here.

    1. Re:Reminds Me of Python-Esque Humor by MisterFancypants · · Score: 3, Funny

      Monty Python just isn't funny. Never was, never will be.

  12. Memory Management??? by wideBlueSkies · · Score: 5, Funny

    What the hell did they have to go and touch that for? Was is broken?

    Yeah, so the new Microsoft standard malloc() and takes 10 times as long to load as the old version. But with this increase in time, the customer can be sure that the memory allocations are being done more securly, and in a way that's good for them.

    Also as a bonus, no more pesky free()'s. When that memory gets allocated, it STAYS allocated untill you (have to) reboot your system.

    --
    Huh?
  13. Re:w2k is effected as well by archen · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is it possible to tell if Mozilla runs slower? That's like determining the exact second the paint started to peel ;)

  14. I knew it. by Hershmire · · Score: 5, Funny

    SecureCRT takes forever to start up.

    So I suppose SP1 is to XP as beer is to me: a tool to slow your reaction time. Too bad it doesn't make XP more attractive...

    --
    if(!toilet_paper) roll.replace(new roll); //Stupid roommates.
  15. what so unusiual by Brigadier · · Score: 2, Funny


    Historically speaking this makes it an upgrade ...

  16. Re:w2k is effected as well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You know it's serious when it causes w2k

  17. Ah, Finally!!! by jlrowe · · Score: 5, Funny
    Finally Microsoft has a fix to slow down the spread of Code Red and other MS related worms and virii.

    Sure, it has some side effects, but don't all fixes?

  18. Re:wasn't xp by itself already bad enough. by Blaine+Hilton · · Score: 2, Funny

    Probably job security. They have to have people that patch the patches to the those other patches that were ment to fix the O/S.

  19. Re:Downloads/Patches Right Here -- i386/Alpha by Soko · · Score: 3, Funny

    Whoa, whoa whoa. Hold it right there. Alpha patches? For WinXP?

    You , sir, are one of two things:

    1.- You are an evil cracker who is tempting people into downloading your latest Trojan Badger^WHorse code so you can r007 them and be a 1337 h4x0r. Except they'd actually have to be for NT4 to run at all, you fucking lamer.

    2. - You are a Microsoft engineer who has XP running on the Alpha processor. Which means Microsoft still supports the Alpha internaly, and Compaq needn't of killed it. I could have had an EV8!!!

    In either case, you can expect your next of kin to recieve a very large bill for beer, .44 magnum shells and dry cleaning. I refuse to pay one red cent towards dragging you into the street by the hair, shooting you and then pissing in the 6 craters I will have just created in your body.

    HAND.

    Soko

    (Still mourning the Alpha)

    --
    "Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
  20. This would have been the first post ... by Mikey-San · · Score: 5, Funny

    But due to the Service Pack update, IE took ten times longer to launch! ;-D

    -/-
    Mikey-San

    --
    Mikey-San
    Karma: +Eleventy billion (mostly affected by watching Celebrity Jeopardy)
  21. Re:So that's why Mozilla's been slow... by digitalhermit · · Score: 3, Funny

    Memory leaks are often caused when using streaming applications because they tend to use a lot of bandwidth, causing your internet "pipe" to have what's known to us programmers as an "overflow condition". This problem is often exacerbated by having too many open ports. On Linux and BSD you can generally fix memory leaks by applying a tarball with the "patch" utility to the affected server.

    Memory leaks were very common in older systems that used 'bubble memory' and lots of pointers.

    Other things you can try are entering the BIOS and turning off the "memory hole". This is unnecessary for everything but OS/2 anyway. If you do need to keep the memory hole, you can try using the "finger" utility to plug the hole. This method is popular with Netherlands programmers.

    HTH.

  22. So - Using printf() supports terrorism by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Funny

    I knew it!! Where else is that money going? I never see any...

    I never did quite trust printf(), a little on the seedy side it always seemed to me. How can it just keep taking arguments? That's just not natural.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  23. At last! The re-birth of tail-recursion!! by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Funny

    For too long have tail-recursive supporters been laughed at and ignored while people used fancy stacks that grew without bounds!

    No longer! Now, arise my tail-recursive brethren and let a new day of shallow-stack programming commence!!

    Wait - stack growth is not the same as memory allocation? My bad. Back, I say, supporters of the One Recursion! The time is not yet right.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  24. 640K is enough by RalphBNumbers · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, Bill said 640K of memory is enough for most people, so I guess M$ it taking that as a design goal and ooptimizing their OS for things that don't need more RAM than that

    --
    "The worst tyrannies were the ones where a governance required its own logic on every embedded node." - Vernor Vinge
  25. Re:Jeez, learn to read by jhylkema · · Score: 5, Funny

    (This is rhetorical and not meant as a troll.)

    Mein Gott!

    The poster criticized a Microsoft competitor and didn't get modded into oblivion? The poster deigned to utter a discouraging word on /. about an open-source product and got away with it? What is this world COMING TO?!? C'mon, libc is perfect in every way and when a fully-functioning HURD kernel is released in 2060 or so, it's gunna be awesome!

  26. Re:really nice fast mirror by bezza · · Score: 2, Funny
    That domain name gives me a whole heap of confidence when choosing a download site. Thanks!

    --
    WARNING: This sig does not contain a joke
  27. Wait by sw155kn1f3 · · Score: 3, Funny

    That means apps will be loading 10ms instead
    of 1ms on my brand new p4 with stripe raid ?

    *going to shoot myself in the head*

    --
    - Arwen, I'm your father, Agent Smith.
    - Well, you're just Smith, but my father is Aerosmith!
  28. Re:never installed sp1! by hdparm · · Score: 4, Funny
    Not gonna work either. Try

    IN5T4-LLM3T-0CR4P-UPURW-1ND0Z

    Works as per SP1 specifications.

  29. Re:Release candidates by Fweeky · · Score: 2, Funny
    IMO, Microsoft would benefit by issuing public release candidates for new OS versions

    Huh? I thought that's what alt.binaries.warez.ibm-pc.ms-beta was for. Isn't it official?!?

    <looks shocked>
  30. Huzzah for retro-gamers! by Hadlock · · Score: 2, Funny

    This means me and my friend will be able to play Descent 1 without the originally gentle bobbing of the ship sped up to a nauseating earthquake speed! Dust off that copy of Descent and try it for yourself. I dare you to try and play for 15 minutes without getting a nauseating headache!

    :-D

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  31. In the meantime .... by Atomic+Anvil · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... folks with Macs are yawning and getting on with their lives. Macintosh: more than a computer, it's a way of life.

    --
    be an ultimate recycler - buy an old used car every year
  32. Re:Release candidates by nbvb · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hrm, worked fine here with Safari on OSX and Mozilla on Solaris.... dunno what your problem is...

    Oh wait, yes I do. The OS.

  33. Re:Downloads/Patches Right Here -- i386/Alpha by nbvb · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah yeah, I gots me one of them thar Itanic workstations at work .... I bought it to run HP-UX, and well, it bites.

    Ready for prime-time my ass.

    I'll stick with my SunBlade & PA-RISC workstation, thanks ...

    Now off to get a nice shiny AlphaStation :)

  34. Re:The fix will cost you by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah... I often find myself typing "porn" instead of "port"... Gets annoying ;).

  35. Trying to read the article: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    And I get this:
    Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers
    error '80040e31'
    [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver]Timeout expired
    /cw/readstory.asp, line 303
  36. M$ New Slogan by Geeyzus · · Score: 2, Funny

    Where do you want to go eventually?