NEVER EVER ignore the little popup that says "Windows updates are ready to download" I did and my entire computer crashed and burned. Total re-install of everything.

Don't let me start on a rant about Windows XP!! The sodding thing has an annoying habit of not letting you install huge amounts of software that you previously had no problems with on Windows Millenium....Therefore making sure you have to buy heaps of new software that's not compatable with your 2 year old digital camera!!! I hate them with a vengeance!! Had to download new software from the Kodak site to try and get it working, but it's still meing a git about it! :mad:

Anyway, not to worry, it's a work PC anyway!! :D

I have ignored that popup since it first appeared ages ago, no probs here =)

personally I think XP was the best OS microsith have released since 3.1

- J

Coming from a Computer Engineer Background i think XP is the best product that home user could ask for.
Built on the Excellent NT base code that is reliable and Stable it's fantastic.

I plugged my camera in and bang it was all installed (No added software i might add)

And besides it always helps to have the latest drivers on your system from the manufacturers.

So Thats my two cents lol




:D

Agreed. XP rocks!

There must be an explanations for jonesey though???

Dave

probably but there must be another factor.
XP would not crash and burn by not clicking the windows update option.

gm

Jonesey, what exactly happened mate?

Dave

Yep, you're right GM, it cannot be an update problem - I downloaded 22MB's worth of updates last nigth with no problems - so far!

Little popup? Call me parnoid by thats one of the first things that gets disabled when I install XP, I just periodically check for updates manually.

I doubt not installing the updates would have killed your machine, unless it was hacked via one of the holes that you hadn't patched - it all seems a bit of a coincidence though.

Personally speaking I think XP is a pretty good (M$) os, don't usually have many problems - of course Unix is still better :D

I have seen this happen a few times. It is usually when a 3rd party piece of software has teaked the registry in order to work.

XP then runs its updates, sets the registry back to how it thinks it should be (if it can, which can itself cause this if it can't). The next time you re-boot, the 3rd party software falls over, taking the machine with it.

From experience, you were just unlucky. XP is the most stable Microsoft OS yet. Admitedly its not as stable as Linux/Unix, but then it is easier to fix and you can at least get the software you want.

HTH

Stu

XP is an improvement on 98 and ME but its by no means great. I would say XP has just about reached the standard of Workbench on my Amiga back in 1986.

I have a version of Linux that installs in 8 minutes flat including plug and play hardware detection and installation.

How long did you last wait for Windows to install?

Its a joke, and one day soon the world will be a brighter happier place.

I installed Linux once, and never again. I had the full version of RedHat and started to install it. It never let me set up a seperate partition (like Win XP did) and just installed itself over my entire c drive, wiping out all my work and windows and making a portion of the drive unreadable until I did a low level format.

On top of that it didn't recognise any of my components and I had to select "best fit" options for them to get it working.

Once installed eventually, (certainly a lot longer than 8 minutes) I could see no obvious way of getting access to the floppy drive (not like the simple My Computer|Floppy Drive in XP), and from experience of Linux at uni I knew it had to be mounted.

Upon starting to try and do some c++ programming (the whole reaosn I even bothered using Linux at home) it didn't understand the references to # files I have at uni (no surprise of course, they weren't on the computer), but when I copied them over, I had no idea where to copy them to (no help at all, not like it would be in XP - windows|program files|file source folder) or indeed how to make the program look for them.

I gave the whole thing up as a bad waste of my time, wiped the whole HD and reinstalled Windows 2000.

Since upgrading to XP everything has been even that little bit better.

I recognise that Unix is the choice of OS for most servers around the world (70%+ accourding to industry figures), and I've only used that briefly, but please don't automatically assume that Linux is far better than Windows. I consider myself very good with computers (been using them (and the net) since I was 14 (21 now), doing a degree in Computing, and currently on a work placement year in a software design team) and the time I have used Linux I have grown to really dislike it, and consider it inferior in every way for what I use computers for.

I also hate the massive nerds who go on and on bashing Windows, Bill Gates and MS and almost sexually worshipping Linux like it's the holy grail, and assuming that everyone will love it, it's they just haven't used it. They need to get out of their parents basements and into the real world.

P.s. I don't aim that at you for praising linux.

XP is Ok it works, looks pretty and I can imagine every home user loving it. But please leave it @ home.

At work let all the major servers be a nix incarnation and the workstations be Win2000, it'll make my life much easier.

:)

Hiya, well I'm in no way against Bill and his band of merry men, its just in my opinion an operating system should be very clean, functional and secure. I agree that the GUI does a good job of protecting the user from the complexities of the machine, but underneath the bonnet its a Morris 1000 in ZR's clothing.

On the flip side, a computer is there to do a job for you, and if it does that job, and your happy, then you've got the right setup for you, thats what it comes down to.

Interesting debate guys

It's nice to have the choice. I'm using a work laptop running Windows 2000 Pro. Wouldn't be allowed to change the OS even if I wanted to.

Now most people know i don't like Microsoft, in fact i hate XP, win2k is the best os they've released imho.
linux and indeed most of the other *ix's has a sharp learning curve, and i know what i say as i've got experience of,

Linux, (many distros, all slightly different),
BSD, (free and open),
Solaris, (7 and 8)
and IRIX, and they all stick different things in different places..

anyhow, if you have any questions, i'll try and help :)

C

Originally posted by koala
It's nice to have the choice. I'm using a work laptop running Windows 2000 Pro. Wouldn't be allowed to change the OS even if I wanted to.

Ha! LOL! I tried doing that on my HP Laptop! It fell over big style and I lost everything - good job I'd backed everything up to my Home PC through my network!

Then...I read the instructions that came with the laptop - something about installing a retail OS and re-partitioning the drive....ah - there's my problem!