Hello all! I just thought I'd share my knowledge on Windows and my story on why I am moving back to XP. I have used Windows 8/8.1 in the past for a mid-range laptop. Only one word can explain my experience with it... Horrendous. It was the most ugliest operating system I've ever used (Linux included) and while it didn't preform bad, XP preformed better. Next, on my current system, which is a MSI gaming laptop that was over one thousand dollars, it had Windows 8.1 preloaded. Once again, horrendous. I ended up wiping the drive and installing Windows 7 onto it and immediately had a much better experience not limited to hardware performance but also the peace of mind knowing that Microsoft isn't logging my keystrokes, reading my emails, etc. However, not long after the release of Windows 10, Microsoft decided to push out updates (that can easily be considered spyware) to Windows 7 and immediately I was seeing an "Update to Windows 10!" notification frequently. After uninstalling the updates that caused that to happen, I still desire Windows XP. You may be wondering why, but I promise I have a good reason. For one, Windows XP is the style that we all remember for being simplistic and lightweight. Aside from the fact that Microsoft has ended support for it around two years ago, it is STILL a great operating system for day-to-day use. Sadly, Microsoft wants you to update to Windows 10 so it can spy on you and make money from it's userbase. If anything, I think it's a GOOD thing that Microsoft has ended support for Windows XP because recently, they have been making bad operating systems (in the case of W8 and W10) and have been pushing out spyware updates. Because Windows XP is not receiving updates they cannot mess with our systems. What do you guys think on this?
Moving back to XP...
- Thread starter Kyle
- Start date
Windows XP probably isn't the best operating system to use as your main machine because as you know xp is eol as of April 2014 also chrome has stopped updating under xp and vista so browsing the webs is getting a sticky wicket your best bet will probably be firefox but if you have to do online banking defiantly do not use XP!!
XP was the last great OS Microsoft made, I think W7 is pretty good but never had the same impact as XP did.
From the developers point of view supporting an older OS can be a pain, so it's actually easier to just move with the times and of course Microsoft will welcome this because they're constantly pushing W8 and 10 down our throats.
Personally I do use W10 on my laptop with Anti-Spy software (Luckily there's always people fighting for our privacy) but I have a VMWare loaded with old operating systems that I can use any time I want (Although I'm having issues with 3.11 using the net, lol). I wouldn't say Microsoft are making bad operating systems, W10 looks decent and works well, but they're going the wrong way by being too controlling and including controversial functionality. Driver signing, forced updates, data collection, internet dependence and cloud integration, most people don't want all this and it's BECAUSE of all this people like to stick with what they know and trust.
In more recent times I think Microsoft (And other companies too) simply create gimmicks to attract nerds and naive people, it's like they're running out of ideas and instead of implementing an actual useful feature or function they have things like Cortana. I have no interest in this at all; I think it's making people lazy and a bit stupid. It's like why learn math when I you can just use a calculator? In the same way why learn how to USE an OS if I can simply ask Cortana for everything... oh and of course it collects huge amounts of personal data to "learn" from, sure it looks good to use but that's about it.
So in conclusion with technology moving as fast as it does to use XP as a primary OS wouldn't be practical, as time goes on it'll just become less and less able. It's nice to take a trip into the past but I wouldn't like to live there.
From the developers point of view supporting an older OS can be a pain, so it's actually easier to just move with the times and of course Microsoft will welcome this because they're constantly pushing W8 and 10 down our throats.
Personally I do use W10 on my laptop with Anti-Spy software (Luckily there's always people fighting for our privacy) but I have a VMWare loaded with old operating systems that I can use any time I want (Although I'm having issues with 3.11 using the net, lol). I wouldn't say Microsoft are making bad operating systems, W10 looks decent and works well, but they're going the wrong way by being too controlling and including controversial functionality. Driver signing, forced updates, data collection, internet dependence and cloud integration, most people don't want all this and it's BECAUSE of all this people like to stick with what they know and trust.
In more recent times I think Microsoft (And other companies too) simply create gimmicks to attract nerds and naive people, it's like they're running out of ideas and instead of implementing an actual useful feature or function they have things like Cortana. I have no interest in this at all; I think it's making people lazy and a bit stupid. It's like why learn math when I you can just use a calculator? In the same way why learn how to USE an OS if I can simply ask Cortana for everything... oh and of course it collects huge amounts of personal data to "learn" from, sure it looks good to use but that's about it.
So in conclusion with technology moving as fast as it does to use XP as a primary OS wouldn't be practical, as time goes on it'll just become less and less able. It's nice to take a trip into the past but I wouldn't like to live there.
Moreover, more application have cut support for the OS, so this will hasten it's lack of adoption.
I know eatup makes a BIG case for gaming on XP, and even though I'm not a gamer, this what I don't understand: if XP is superior for games, then why do all of the big gamers I know DEMAND Windows 7? And remember, these guys buy top flight hardware, but XP is off their radar. Besides, aren't most gamers wanting the benefits of newer DirectX revisions and display driver improvements.
Already with respect to browsing, you can no longer watch .x264 encoded video (as in Twitter) on XP, even on a supported browser. Little changes like this will mount, and soon the concept of using XP will be more out of fashion than riding on Noah's Ark
.(Hey even Moses has been seen touting a couple tablets - har har)
Moreover, more application have cut support for the OS, so this will hasten it's lack of adoption.
I know eatup makes a BIG case for gaming on XP, and even though I'm not a gamer, this what I don't understand: if XP is superior for games, then why do all of the big gamers I know DEMAND Windows 7? And remember, these guys buy top flight hardware, but XP is off their radar. Besides, aren't most gamers wanting the benefits of newer DirectX revisions and display driver improvements.
Already with respect to browsing, you can no longer watch .x264 encoded video (as in Twitter) on XP, even on a supported browser. Little changes like this will mount, and soon the concept of using XP will be more out of fashion than riding on Noah's Ark
(Hey even Moses has been seen touting a couple tablets - har har)
Lol. x264... Who needs x264. XP handles x265 just fine. Just need the right codec... (Btw, I don't watch streaming videos. So, I know not much about the x264 scene there, but XP can definitely handle x265 video files saved onto your hard drive).
Aside from 3D gaming graphics card, could you give some examples where "applications have cut support for XP"? Browsers don't count. You can run the latest FireFox on XP, which contains all modern web features...
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Nope. I run XP as my daily driver b/c .NET applications run on it like on steroids compared to on Win7+.
I currently only use Win7+ for these things:
1. OneDrive (I prefer to do it thru IE11 rather than FireFox, which still supports XP).
2. Mount virtual hard drives to extract files from virtual machines onto actual physical drive
3. Download files at > 1MB/s (only Mega.co.nz can deliver this speed in XP. Somehow all other websites cripple the dl bandwith when they detect you running XP).
4. Listen to music with Windows generated virtual surround and bass boost options. But only when I'm connected to really hi-quality speakers, otherwise I can't really tell the difference!
If Win7+ didn't exist, I can probably find workarounds for all of the above, but I simply can't live w/o XP. Win7+ just pisses me off at how slow it does things compared to the OS that made Mr. Gates famous!
And btw, I do online banking primarily in XP. I don't trust the "hidden telemetry" I may have accidentally installed in Win7+ for MSFT to snoop in on my finances... Oh, but not to worry, I reserve a special partition just for it, so as to avoid keyloggers that may have installed themselves on the other partitions!
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Not really. That used to be the case prior to XP prior to multi-core cpus. MSFT made a big mistake and that was XP. It's pretty much good enough for the next few decades at least. And Intel also made a mistake by releasing multi-core CPUs. Those duo cores released back in 2007 can handle most modern tasks as good as back then! I can't ever imagine myself ever using a single core PC or any OS before XP. Processes that I need to run would slow to a crawl, and features of the OS that I really need were missing in previous Windows incarnations...
Also, I'm so confident that XP will be good enough for at least the next 10 years in terms of online connectivity that I've even begun to assemble parts for a new Ivy Bridge XP machine, the last gen to fully support it!
Lastly, if I ever buy a new PC in the future, it will be one of those $100 disposable Windows tablet, so post XP, the (laptop/desktop) computer industry is doomed, as far as I can tell...
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Good choice. XP is the King of modern OSes. Real life bench mark for a certain 3D game: XP (95fps), Win7 (60fps), Win8.1 (40fps) same graphics setting. So yes, I can understand your frustration with Win8.1. It's the slowest one w/o mandatory updates, but Win10 takes the cake for being even slower AND without ability to opt-out of system-breaking updates!
Another writer agrees: http://hackadelic.com/is-windows-xp-better-than-windows-7-a-user’s-perspective
(Btw, Windows 8.1/10 are the same old Win7 with minor cosmetic changes. Same old bloated code underneath).
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Lots of people want x264 to play in a supported browser. Have you heard of Twitter? Trust me, XP fans who tweet are annoyed. Firefox is a supported browser, and it suffers the same issue, so it's outside of browser support. This is an OS limitation that will not be rectified.
First off, saying browsers don't count is complete silliness on your part. Browsers are likely THE MOST IMPORTANT APPLICATION that a computer can utilize, so you can't discount them. But OK, place browsers aside, and what of 3D gaming? If that's where the masses are going, then XP can't play along, so yes it's time for XP to get up and leave the table.
You seem to look at things from the view of "If eatup don't need it, no one don't need it" (OK I did dumb down the grammar a bit, but still ...lol) you try to exclude apps from the argument that you don't care about. If eatup doesn't need videos to play inside of Twitter, then who cares? Well, lots of people. That's the real yard stick. Can everyday Sally and Bob use XP without issues, not just geeks?
x264 is passe. Newer videos are encoded in h265. I tend to avoid streaming x264 b/c I'm sort of a movie/quality bluff. I prefer the best quality available, and that can only be had by pre-downloading the file... to play it on XP. I usually frown upon any video sized <1GB/2hr, and that's about the size you get when you watch streaming ones. All the vids I download are at least 1GB/1hr.
Well, if browsers DO count, can you think of a browser that performs better on any given system/OS than FireFox, which still runs on XP? Probably the most second-rate browser of the modern group is any Chromium based one. Chrome only became the dominant browser b/c Google is the dominant web company. That don't mean it's better than say IE. And once again, I'm OK with IE/Chrome/etc not supporting XP, b/c the best of the bunch (FF) still runs on it...
And while were on it, let's talk about browser obsolescence. Supposing Mozilla were to suddenly stop supporting FF on XP this very day. Know how many years b4 the very last one they created about a week or two ago will actually stop working on the web? (Answer: At least 10 more years from today b/c it takes that long for the technology to phase out of the web servers)
Btw, did you know a certain airport in Europe malfunctioned, they had to stop all flights, b/c their Windows 3.1 weather warning system stopped working? If high-profile companies such as said airport still run 3.1 and the US military/navy is still on XP for the foreseeable future, what it is about XP that makes it so frowned upon when it's clearly rocks the performance of everything else that came after it? I mean this is national defense we're talking about...
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Btw, I was quite surprised to hear ppl brag about x264 in this day and age when the technology had been available for aeons. It's almost like hearing ppl clamoring on about DVD right b4 Bluray (x265) makes its appearance (, only x265 is already going mainstream for offline video files...)
The only reason why streaming sites are latching onto x264 now whereas b4 it was xvid (or some other variant) is b/c the technology is about to go obsolete, hence lower licensing cost to use it.
Lastly, can Windows XP play x/h265 video files? You betcha! XP is the most future proof modern OS Bill Gates had ever directly participated (in a major way) in its development and release!
In other words, XP rules!
The only reason why streaming sites are latching onto x264 now whereas b4 it was xvid (or some other variant) is b/c the technology is about to go obsolete, hence lower licensing cost to use it.
Lastly, can Windows XP play x/h265 video files? You betcha! XP is the most future proof modern OS Bill Gates had ever directly participated (in a major way) in its development and release!
In other words, XP rules!
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Some people stop thinking when they see shiny new things! Also, no money to be made anymore from XP, 98, etc. (Built-in obsolescence, must upgrade, Its new!! not necessarily better, tho)
-c-
Who cares if it is? The point is, people use Twitter by the gazillions. For them to use Twitter on Windows XP, it needs to function fully, or else they will not heed what you're saying about life being better with XP, and will move along to Windows 7 or 10.
Again, this isn't a quality argument. I also like playing virgin pressed vinyl LPs on a Linn turntable, but most people prefer to just play music on their phone, and it better just plain work. So again, Twitter vids had better just play in the browser. Firefox is still fully supported by XP (Pale Moon Atom Edition also works well), yet this is just the first thing that doesn't work. You know eatup, that more features will slowly cease functioning properly. Give it time.
Now I think you and I have a VERY DIFFERENT notion of what working on the web means. I DO NOT consider Internet Explorer v8 to be "working" on the Internet. My bank site no longer works on it. Moreover, Internet Explorer 9 is starting to cause rendering issues on many sites. And these incompatibilities are gaining quickly now. Both browsers I just mentioned are not seven years old yet. So no, I think your 10 year forecast is a tad optimistic.
I'll bet any money that the 16-bit Windows weather application and the Windows XP military applications connect to closed networks, and NOT the Internet, so perhaps that's why they can still work secure enough as needed.
I don't become swayed by "shiny". I initially hated both Vista and Windows 8. It took me nearly three years to warm up to Windows 8. Once I got past all of the Start Screen crap (and soon realized that I could conceal it with Classic Shell and bring back the Start Menu), I gave it a solid try, and you know what? Windows 8 is as stable as a rock. WAY MORE STABLE than even 64-bit XP (which I loved). I've NEVER EVER EVER had a BSOD on Windows 8. And I even have updates from Server 2012 (same OS codebase) installed on it, since it has now been retired from support last January.
Take a look. You cannot tell me that's not attractive, and it runs way better than Windows 7.
Wasnt refering to you (the shiney bit), but, a lot of people jump on "new" because its new, not necessarily better. I get the rare blue screen with xp32, never (yet) with xp64. Still warming to 7. Tried 8 on others computers, did NOT like, tried 10, <- that lasted about half an hour, I ran away. Theres just some XP things you cannot do with later versions, various shells/tweaks/fixes do not give me what I want. bILL gATES has 7-8-10 fine tuned things for us, & thats what we are gonna get. "Trust us, its better this way" "Dont like it? Too bad!"
-c-
(end of rant)
-c-
(end of rant)
Hard to make a reasonably short post in this thread.
First, if anyone still thinks MS does not spy on everything you do (including keystrokes) on 7, you need to get your head out of the sand.
MS has been carefully, secretly adding "updates" over the last probably two years to 7 to make it work like what is now 10.
Add to that the latest mandatory upgrade to 10 and you have a serious problem.
I just finished the second revert from 10 to 7 for customers, not as easy as you would think. The actual reversion went fine, it's the rest that takes HOURS to do.
The "upgrade" launches all the 10 BS, and reversion leaves it all on, like Bing, Journal, Live, Defender, not even sure I remember all of it.
The old MS, while not really trustworthy (remember the XP-WGA debacle?) is now something you want to avoid at all costs.
The telemetry is loaded already on 7...they made sure of that. "Brave New World".
If anyone cares I can give you the KB's to un-install.
After the WGA debacle, I turned XP updates OFF. I know where to go...even MS folks don't know how to do it.
I have been a long, long time with them off, and (knock wood) still running XP.
One of the things I have read is how fast 10 is..and the response on-line from a former MS employee is..it's exactly the same as 7, 8, and 8.1.....it's just that any new load MS OS is in fact, fast. Once it's been in service for a while and you get a lot of updates, it starts slowing down.
I remember that back on 95.
On XP I can get anywhere, find anything, no messing around with file explorer like on 7 and later that can't seem to find anything.
My desire is to have a windbreaker made up...on the back.."Windows XP" on top line...."Last Known Good" on bottom line.
I use only FireFox, and earlier versions as I hate bells and whistles. I have AdBlockPlus, Ghostery..and User Agent Switcher with the hack to make it remember my settings. 7 Pro, 64 bit, and FF 29...and no pop-ups telling me I must update my OS or browser.
I will NOT use Chrome, as it's google, and MS has taken the google model with their stealing your data (and keystrokes).
There are ways to do this, you just need to think....understand..and stay ahead of the BS. Or should I say, MSBS.
I do have a later OS on my backup laptop. I call it XP-8.
It had (long before 8.1), tiles REMOVED, charms and hot spots REMOVED, normal desktop, separate run function, normal (XP-style) taskbar, WITH a desktop icon in the left side of the taskbar...and a green XP start button....and IE removed..all the Windows Store, Bing, Live, OneDrive..all GONE, I even have Outlook Express, and it fools MS folks...even those who worked on 8 development. Seriously.
Remember, this latest forced upgrade from 7, 8 and 8.1 to 10 is really just a push to impress the world, investors and stockholders with the vast number of new users of 10 before the one year mark in July. And it is at least the third, maybe fourth attempt to "force" the upgrade since 10 was released. Twice when confronted MS said "we're sorry. We checked the wrong box on the update page". And folks believed it because it's "free".
First, if anyone still thinks MS does not spy on everything you do (including keystrokes) on 7, you need to get your head out of the sand.
MS has been carefully, secretly adding "updates" over the last probably two years to 7 to make it work like what is now 10.
Add to that the latest mandatory upgrade to 10 and you have a serious problem.
I just finished the second revert from 10 to 7 for customers, not as easy as you would think. The actual reversion went fine, it's the rest that takes HOURS to do.
The "upgrade" launches all the 10 BS, and reversion leaves it all on, like Bing, Journal, Live, Defender, not even sure I remember all of it.
The old MS, while not really trustworthy (remember the XP-WGA debacle?) is now something you want to avoid at all costs.
The telemetry is loaded already on 7...they made sure of that. "Brave New World".
If anyone cares I can give you the KB's to un-install.
After the WGA debacle, I turned XP updates OFF. I know where to go...even MS folks don't know how to do it.
I have been a long, long time with them off, and (knock wood) still running XP.
One of the things I have read is how fast 10 is..and the response on-line from a former MS employee is..it's exactly the same as 7, 8, and 8.1.....it's just that any new load MS OS is in fact, fast. Once it's been in service for a while and you get a lot of updates, it starts slowing down.
I remember that back on 95.
On XP I can get anywhere, find anything, no messing around with file explorer like on 7 and later that can't seem to find anything.
My desire is to have a windbreaker made up...on the back.."Windows XP" on top line...."Last Known Good" on bottom line.
I use only FireFox, and earlier versions as I hate bells and whistles. I have AdBlockPlus, Ghostery..and User Agent Switcher with the hack to make it remember my settings. 7 Pro, 64 bit, and FF 29...and no pop-ups telling me I must update my OS or browser.
I will NOT use Chrome, as it's google, and MS has taken the google model with their stealing your data (and keystrokes).
There are ways to do this, you just need to think....understand..and stay ahead of the BS. Or should I say, MSBS.
I do have a later OS on my backup laptop. I call it XP-8.
It had (long before 8.1), tiles REMOVED, charms and hot spots REMOVED, normal desktop, separate run function, normal (XP-style) taskbar, WITH a desktop icon in the left side of the taskbar...and a green XP start button....and IE removed..all the Windows Store, Bing, Live, OneDrive..all GONE, I even have Outlook Express, and it fools MS folks...even those who worked on 8 development. Seriously.
Remember, this latest forced upgrade from 7, 8 and 8.1 to 10 is really just a push to impress the world, investors and stockholders with the vast number of new users of 10 before the one year mark in July. And it is at least the third, maybe fourth attempt to "force" the upgrade since 10 was released. Twice when confronted MS said "we're sorry. We checked the wrong box on the update page". And folks believed it because it's "free".
what ???
knock on wood but I have had no problems with WGA.
WGA debacle..what, 7 or 8 years ago? Windows Genuine Advantage. Sounded good...an attempt to stop pirated copies of XP....one of the early MS tracking programs..."phoned home" to Redmond. None of us wanted it, so we had updates set to "notify but do not download".
Walked into my office as the computer was rebooting...everything on-screen gone.
They re-wrote the update as "critical" (maybe for them, not us) and wrote it to override your personal settings.
I read someplace where a suit was filed, some judge decided MS had every right to load garbage onto your computer (GUESS how much stock he had in MS...and how much he had after the ruling in their favor?), and THAT gave them the green light to do what they are doing now with telemetry updates, forced 10 downloads..all of that.
You missed out on the WGA debacle? Probably the only XP user in the world who missed it!
I just finished two hours of removing all the telemetry updates from the customer's 7 machine after reverting from 10 to 7.
Walked into my office as the computer was rebooting...everything on-screen gone.
They re-wrote the update as "critical" (maybe for them, not us) and wrote it to override your personal settings.
I read someplace where a suit was filed, some judge decided MS had every right to load garbage onto your computer (GUESS how much stock he had in MS...and how much he had after the ruling in their favor?), and THAT gave them the green light to do what they are doing now with telemetry updates, forced 10 downloads..all of that.
You missed out on the WGA debacle? Probably the only XP user in the world who missed it!
I just finished two hours of removing all the telemetry updates from the customer's 7 machine after reverting from 10 to 7.
Just a bit more..this from nine years ago on WGA:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/wg...fications-and-download-and-install-telemetry/
Read the comments, and realize they (MS) claim the EULA you accepted by installing WGA gives them the RIGHT to do as they please...except...nobody accepted anything, it was forced.
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/wg...fications-and-download-and-install-telemetry/
Read the comments, and realize they (MS) claim the EULA you accepted by installing WGA gives them the RIGHT to do as they please...except...nobody accepted anything, it was forced.
my xp is legal, 13 years so far, so that is probably why I have not had any problems with WGA, I am off to read the blog you linked to.