Re: [Dev-C++] off topic - windows XP

[Matthew H. <mhi...@sy...>]

Hello,

Ready for another long post? 8-)

Ioannis Vranos wrote:

>WinXP is better than Win2k. The only dark cloud is that product
>activation which tires you if you format the HDD all the time.
>  
>
Not really.

Not that I format the way I used to, but... I just connect to the 
internet... activate (don't bother to register... though some do) and 
voila!  Activation acknowledges that you'll change hardware over time. 
 As long as it's incremetal, there's no need for concern.  Just don't 
gut your machine (i.e. change vidoe, audio, NIC, hdd, and RAM 
configuration in an evening. 8-).

I agree with Ioannis, it is a nice little OS.  Sure, I'd really advise 
running with 128+ MB of RAM, and more than 10 GB of HDD space, but the 
abiliity to use the recovery console (already mentioned), or system 
restore, or even driver rollback.  Hardware support is good, and 
anything that doesn't run right out of the box, you can patch. 
 (Besides, if you're getting a new machine... where are you going to 
find one with less hardware than that???)

Better still, if you're looking for new hardware, go with some of the 
big guys (Dell, HP/Compaq, IBM, etc.).  They usually offer 
"system-locked" versions of XP.  If you run it on the hardware it's 
keyed on (usually the BIOS), you don't have to activate!  (Registration 
still optional.)

I don't like the eyecandy, so I shut most of it off.  I enabled the 
built-in firewall (little counter-intuitive to find the log after the 
fact), and I just choose "Don't Send" when an error occurs.  I also 
didn't like the insistance that Messenger be enabled all the time. 
 Tried shutting it off, but it's persistant... so, I renamed it, and 
everything's good.  I choose my patches carefully (remember system 
restore!), and it goes from there.  As to DOS... yeah, DOS is gone (get 
VMWare, etc. and install FreeDOS... ), but I don't miss it.  (DOS games 
seem slow... maybe it's just that I don't care to take the time to fix 
it.  Windows stuff runs fine.).  And... hey... it is good and stable 
(far more so that Win98.  Besides XP comes with built-in PPPOE.... no 
need for connection software from my ISP for DSL!)

Now, if I could only figure out how to remove MovieMaker... <sigh!> 
 (It's probably out there somewhere... a task for another day).

If you have questions about the OS... do some reading.  There's lots of 
opinions out there... (some even grounded on fact... stay away from 
Microsoft... and the "I hate MS" websites and you should get something 
balanced).

Good Luck!

---
Matthew Hickson