Amiga.org
The "Not Quite Amiga but still computer related category" => Alternative Operating Systems => Topic started by: amigadave on October 19, 2007, 06:04:51 AM
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I am about to give up on fixing my Windows XP Pro computer that should be a screaming demon with its Core2Duo CPU, 2GB RAM, 512mb GPU memory and fast 7200rpm HD, but instead, it is the slowest Windows PC I think I have ever owned or used.
I guess it is time to wipe the HD and do a complete re-install, which I hate to do, as I am not the best person at keeping track of all the programs I have installed, with their registration numbers and the exact configurations I have setup that I will want to duplicate again on the clean install of XP Pro.
I so wish I could get by without any Microsoft OS and programs that only run on it and are not available for any other OS.
I don't want to pull out my hair that is already starting to thin out these days.
Any suggestions from all you smart people out there, that I might try before starting over? I have tried two different, well known virus programs, I use a firewall and up to date virus protection, and I have even tried to fix the problem with a registry cleaner.
It takes several minutes after a cold boot for the computer to respond to any mouse clicks. I guess I am spoiled by being used to the 11 second boot of my Amiga.
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Have you tried XP x64? I have both on my CoreDuo machine, and I believe the x64 is blazingly faster than XP x86. Just my two cents!
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not that I care but what does this have to do with the amiga? It's my experience that by the time you install all the virus protections and such your computer will be boged down. Anything with "norton" in the name is worse than a virus anyway.
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Have you tried XP x64? I have both on my CoreDuo machine, and I believe the x64 is blazingly faster than XP x86.
Thats like saying a canoe is faster than a raft.
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Your PC can be very slow when the DMA is disabled. Look here for solution:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx
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guru-666 wrote:
not that I care but what does this have to do with the amiga?
What do you expect to find in the Alternative OS forum?
@amigadave
Unfortunately slowdowns are inevitable over time with XP, unless you don't install anything! There's not a huge amount you can do, but here are some steps you can take:
1. Uninstall any unneeded apps, especially eye candy like Windowblinds et al.
2. Choose an efficient anti-virus solution - i.e. NOT Norton
3. Use several different Spyware removal packages, as individually they won't detect everything
4. Use MSConfig to turn off anything which is starting at boot which you don't need (be careful though)
5. Check Services in Control Panel and turn off anything you don't need (again, be careful)
6. Defrag - some say it won't make any difference, and maybe they are correct for minimally fragmented drives, but in my experience the difference between a defragmented drive and a heavily fragmented one is significant
Short of this, it's a reinstall. I would urge you however to consider the Mac. OS X doesn't, in my experience, suffer any of the gradual reduction in speed. It always seems snappy no matter what you install. I have had 6 Macs in the past 3 years and have never reinstalled OS X.
On modern Intel Macs you can run Windows, be it through Parallels or Boot Camp, and it runs very well. So if you have a few apps for which you cannot find Mac equivalents, you can still run the Windows versions.
--
moto
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@guru-666
Nonsense. No one needs anti-virus/spyware software running all of the time checking every single file what gets accessed, this singly is the cause of many peoples "my machine takes a while starting up" and lets not even mention the amount of un-needed program running at start up.
As saying that i am glad people use so much crap that their machine runs slow, i make more money unticking a few "dont start with windows boxes" than anything else computer related and people are well happy thinking i have made their machine faster :o).
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amigadave wrote:
I use a firewall and up to date virus protection
That might be the problem. I have always found antivirus programs (especially McAfee and Norton) to be enormous lagging b*tches. The only protection I have on my current pc is the standard XP firewall, and no antivirus, and it has a quite reasonable speed (XP 2000+ with 256MB and WinXP/SP2).
My opinion is that when you only open trusted (and then I mean REALLY) trusted files, there's not much to be scared of. The only extra protection that I have is a monthly run of my spyware-eraser.
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Install the correct drivers for the motherboard and graphics card. Dont necessarily use the Windblows ones.
Switch off AVI parsing and thumbnail generation (registry hack) if you have a lot of those files on your drive.
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Some Intel processors have support for Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology (EIST) (http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/203838.htm).
Ón my brother in law's PC , when this feature is disabled
in the BIOS settings, it makes the system REALLY CRAWL.
When enabled all is well. You might want to check your BIOS
to see if EIST is disabled, and if so set it to enabled.
Regards,
Lloyd
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Nonsense. No one needs anti-virus/spyware software running all of the time checking every single file what gets accessed, this singly is the cause of many peoples "my machine takes a while starting up" and lets not even mention the amount of un-needed program running at start up.
I agree. I don't use anti-virus and don't have any problems. I don't know why so many people insist on running security software which slows down the computer.
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1. Run defragmenter
2. Install CCleaner and use it to delete all temp files, remove automated startups of useless programs and fix your registry
3. Install JV16 powertools and fix your registry again
4. get f-Secure antivirus for workstations
5. get adsl modem that can do NAT and after that you dont need firewall in you computer IF you are used to use your brains when you surf in internet ;) I don't know are you left or right handed
6. DO NOT install useless software just to see what it is
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motorollin wrote:
2. Choose an efficient anti-virus solution - i.e. NOT Norton
Agreed. I was having performance problems with my laptop until I removed McAfee Security Suite and replaced it with the free Virus Checker "AVG". The speed increase was amazing. I don't know what McAfee was doing in the background, but it was cripling my machine.
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amigadave wrote:
I am about to give up on fixing my Windows XP Pro computer that should be a screaming demon with its Core2Duo CPU, 2GB RAM, 512mb GPU memory and fast 7200rpm HD, but instead, it is the slowest Windows PC I think I have ever owned or used.
I guess it is time to wipe the HD and do a complete re-install, which I hate to do, as I am not the best person at keeping track of all the programs I have installed, with their registration numbers and the exact configurations I have setup that I will want to duplicate again on the clean install of XP Pro.
I so wish I could get by without any Microsoft OS and programs that only run on it and are not available for any other OS.
I don't want to pull out my hair that is already starting to thin out these days.
Any suggestions from all you smart people out there, that I might try before starting over? I have tried two different, well known virus programs, I use a firewall and up to date virus protection, and I have even tried to fix the problem with a registry cleaner.
It takes several minutes after a cold boot for the computer to respond to any mouse clicks. I guess I am spoiled by being used to the 11 second boot of my Amiga.
Use RegCleaner (http://regcleaner.softonic.de/) to remove Programs from the Startup List. I am sure you have a lot of useless crap in there.
Use AntiVir (http://www.avira.com/)
It has kept my PC clean for years now and the Personal Edition is free.
Look in your systems setting for virtual Memory. Increase the Filesize. That may make your PC faster.
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I use Sysinternals PageDefrag (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/pagedefrag.mspx) to ensure that my system files and page file are all in one contiguous lump. These files never usually get defragmented as they are always in use by the OS.
JKDefrag (http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/) is a great free defragger that works better than the standard defrag utility.
Kev
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I have to recommend against using MSConfig to disable parts of the Windows OS. Professionally, MSConfig is a cancer that should have been removed long ago. Using it covers up the symptoms but does not eliminate the problems.
You should use a good AntiMalware solution (like AVG -- disclaimer, I am a reseller, but for good reason,) and Windows Defender. Between the two, I have kept many a system clean, and cleaned up many a system.
Defrag your system, that will make a marked increase in performance, especially if critical system files are spread out across the drive. And I don't mean just core Windows stuff, I mean anything that loads at start up.
Remember that Windows XP loads just enough to get the Desktop up and loads other items in the background. This can cause a perceived loss in performance upon first boot, and also when first running programs. Once programs get loaded, XP caches important parts and subsequent runs are MUCH faster.
Check your Virtual Memory size. For whatever reason, I've seen a lot of XP loads that have static paging files set. They should be set for "System Managed," and if you have multiple drives, I recommend spreading it out across drives. You should have a paging file on your C: so XP can perform memory dumps when necessary, but you can also set one up on other partitions (non removable) to increase performance. To the end, you should also make sure you have plenty of extra space available on the drives used for paging file.
And newer hard drives will far outperform older drives. It's amazing what replacing an old Maxtor 20GB ATA133 drive with a newer 80GB ATA133 does for data transfer.
If you're using IDE, don't put your fast C: on a the same cable as a second slower drive, or non-DMA CD-ROM.
Clean up your Internet Explorer cache. This is one part of the system that is actively indexed, so the bigger it is the worse off you are.
HP printer drivers are the devil. They will often eat your performance. Try to use only the corporate editions of the drivers without all the extra fluff.
Use Windows Defender to find startup items and REMOVE them as necessary. QuickTime, RealPlayer, DivX Player, Word Perfect, et al have pre-loaders that are unnecessary if you use them infrequently. Other programs like Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, Windows Messenger also have options to load when Windows starts... start them manually when needed, and don't let them sit in the clock tray when you're done with them.
Also watch for special drivers and programs that communicate with other hardware. For instance, I have a Sony Ericsson phone that I synchronize with my laptop using the SE Phone Suite. After I sync, I have to kill "epmworker.exe" or else my system freezes every 10 seconds or so as the SE Phone Monitor checks Bluetooth for phones. I've {bleep}ed about this numerous times but it's never been fixed. Essentially, I have to reboot my laptop any time I want to sync my phone.
Use the latest drivers available for your hardware. A buggy video driver can cause all sorts of problems.
Also, run a diagnostic on your hard drive. A slow system has often proved to be the result of a hard drive having to do extensive error recovery (some drives can take up to a minute to correct a bad sector.) Windows will sometimes log this problem in the Event Log. Which, BTW, can also be a great resource in finding problems... but not always, unfortunately.
Gotta run.
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disable all unneeded services. There are many that most users do not use and they eat up CPU cycles.
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install TinyXP instead of whatever XP you use.
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I use Sysinternals PageDefrag to ensure that my system files and page file are all in one contiguous lump. These files never usually get defragmented as they are always in use by the OS.
I second that. Defragging the paging file and system registry using the Sysinternals tools is one of the easiest speedups for an aging Windows system.
I never use the built-in defrag tool in Windows. Ironically, it skips the page file and registry (they are in use), so it doesn't give much of a speedup, and can even cause a net slowdown in certain conditions. After usage, you'll have less fragments per file, but files that go together may be further scattered from each other. Giving an overall wash and still poor overall performance where you notice it [startup, shutdown, app loading, etc].
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Have you tried XP x64?
I was under the impression that a large amount of Windows software wasn't compatible with the 64bit version... is that not true? I'm shopping for a laptop and have been trying to get XP Pro instead of Vista, which is difficult enough to start with... I'd never looked at 64bit Windows seriously as it sounded like very little stuff ran on it.
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I'd never looked at 64bit Windows seriously as it sounded like very little stuff ran on it.
Most stuff I've tried RUNS on it. Just very little is OPTIMIZED for it. 32-bit apps behave about the same as they do on regular 32-bit XP. The benchmarks say it's slightly slower than 32-bit XP for 32-bit apps, but, honestly, I don't think it's enough to be visible to humans. If you have the 64-bit proc, you might as well run the 64-bit OS for it.
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Have a look at blackviper.com (http://www.blackviper.com/). The site can help you to disable unnecessary xp processes.
For anti-virus, eset NOD32 (http://www.eset.com/) seems pretty quick for me, but it's a commercial product.
For mal-ware, you could also do some reading about HijackThis (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php). There are some good forums which give help/discussion about using this tool. It's not an easy one to master, though it is very handy if you have plenty of time to put into using it.
If you are getting some mal-ware, as you've suggested, then ceasing to use your security programs is probably not the best next move. Do your security apps find any issues?
Windows still benefits from a re-install every so (too) often.
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Or he could just install X86-64 Linux :-D
/me ducks
Anyway, XP allways ran fine for me on my quite modest (for todays standards) system - Athlon 64 3000,1.25gb,7600gs 256mb.
I now run Vista Home Premium on it though, and Im actually pretty happy with it despite the horror stories that i've heard.
One thing that I find indespensible on vista is the new search feature, I can type an application name and hit enter and it starts instantly, plus I find the search considerably faster than Spotlight is on OSX. That of course could be down to hard drive speeds in my mac mini and the fact that the mini has a 1.5ghz PPC...
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I wouldn't recommend X64. Mainly because there aren't drivers avaliable for all hardware and there won't be any either. X64 is a dead OS because M$ have concentrated on Vista 64 instead.
I used to recommend AVG Free as a good virus software but I honestly can't do that anymore. I've had two infections these last few months that AVG didn't see. Both were found by Trendmicro and Kaspersky online scanners. One of those viruses messed my registry up and made it impossible to uninstall any software via Add/Remove program.
Don't use AVG, it's just not good enough.
One important part in having a good and responsive system is to have up to date drivers for all hardware. The default windows ones aren't always that good.
Using MSconfig to turn things off isn't a good idea either. Then it's better to go into Control Panel/Administration tools/Services and turn unnecessary things off. This should be done with caution though, turn the wrong service off and you have a system you can't use. There are some services that you can easily switch off though, they run and never do anything.
Defrag often. And don't use the default defragging software that comes with XP. It's worthless, it doesn't help at all. I use O&O Defrag and it makes wonders. System boots up a lot faster after a full defrag.
Don't install to many fonts. Windows scans through the fonts all the time. The worst software to use with many installed fonts is IE, it scans through for just about every webpage you visit..
Don't use IE, use Firefox.
Someone already said, don't install a lot of software just to check them out. Read up on them first and see if it's something you'll ever use. If not then don't. Even if you optimise the registry to many installed and uninstalled programs makes a mess of everything.
Well, that's a few tips from me.
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This thread is hilarious because it demonstrates just how bad windoze really is.
"Install this, install that. Disable this, enable that. Fix this, fix that. Run this, run that..."
All to make a PC do what every Amiga does right out of the box; run well.
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Don't use AVG Free Edition. Use the retail version, and don't buy it from me.
Seriously, I've run AVG in over dozen installations over the past four years and it's caught every single threat which has come in to our networks, and there have been items that Norton and McAfee either would not detect or would not remove.
I used to evangelize Norton until it started sucking several years back.
The Free Edition also does not have integration between the AntiVirus and AntiMalware engines, requiring separate installations. Trust me or not, AVG AntiMalware is a solid product and I'll put it head-to-head against others any day.
As a practice, I can't agree with any intentional crippling, which there doesn't seem to be with the Free Edition (other than limited scheduling and update ability due to limitation of resources to the free update system.) But there is DEFINITELY a distinct definition difference between what is a virus and what is other malware.
Again, seriously, don't use the Free Edition. If you want to evaluate it, download the Trial Version, which is a 30 day limited FULL version. Additionally, Free Edition is no licensed for use in environments other than home, and there is not technical support for FE. I believe, and so do over 500 of my users, that AVG is well worth the money.
Again, I do resell AVG, but don't buy it from me. Buy it directly from Grisoft or another authorized reseller. I get nothing from anything other than direct sales, and I don't want the appearance of trying to convince you to buy a product so I can make gain.
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All to make a PC do what every Amiga does right out of the box; run well.
That's simply not true. Maybe WB1.3 on an A500, but anyone who has built a classic "power" system can attest that getting an operative amiga OS can be a royal PITA.
Them fact is, computers in general are a PITA sometimes... and sometimes not. Doesn't matter what OS.
To the OP:
Someone mentioned getting the correct chipset drivers for your mobo, and that does sound like your problem. Make sure all your drivers are correct first, then move on to some of the other suggestions.
If you want to use a virus scanner, I recommend AntiVir. It's free, and not a resource hog like Norton. (There are other good scanners out there, as well.)
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@ -D-
What you say about building a "Power Amiga" is true. It can be a real pain, and is at times very frustrating. The difference is that once you have the "Power Amiga" built it tends to stay that way. Mine has been stable and relatively trouble-free for years, requiring very little in the way of maintenance. Windoze is the very definition of high-maintenance, as this thread indicates.
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Wow! I expected a few responses to this thread from my Amiga brethren, but I am blown away by the number of replies it generated. Problem now is which replies to try and which to disregard.
I want all of you to know that I posted this thread here because I respect your opinions far more than I would from others I don't know in a typical PC forum, so a very large THANK YOU to all that posted a reply with recommendations.
To further clarify the purpose of my Windows XP Media Edition computer, I run TurboCAD for drafting architectural plans as a business (no need to run TurboCAD down in comparison to AutoCAD, or Revit, which cost thousands of dollars per seat, it works very well for me), Outlook Express to manage several email accounts, Firefox to browse the Internet, Quickbooks to do all the financial work on all of my business ventures and the built-in Media software to watch and record TV through the Dell TV card. I of course also run Amiga Forever/WinUAE/AmiKit as well, but have installed very few programs on this computer as it has always been intended to be for business use primarily.
I will be away from home for the next few days, but will try some of these recommendations when I return next week.
Thanks again.
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I personally recommend the free home version with free automatic updates of avast anti-virus. Besides being free it doesn't install services or processes that slow down the machine.. download it at http://www.avast.com
I also recommend with XP that you continue to defrag your drive WEEKLY. You can set this to happen automatically.
Personally I have ran both XP 64-bit and Vista 32-bit and 64 bit and I never have problems. As I watch people here complain etc, I wonder why I never have any of these kinds pf problems on my machines. I simply know the hardware and software well and I guess I am doing all the right things. I must be so lucky ;-)
I would suggest if you are setting up the machine to automatically do the right maintenance (defrag, etc.) that you probably will never notice any issues at all..
I don't trust norton or mcaffee, they want to control your machine more than the Virus folks do anymore and they do things that violate architectural standards without checking with Microsoft first.
Also, on XP if you notice a slow down it is very likely that you have been infected with some Malware that's running in the background. Have you checked out your machine with windows defender or Lavasoft's Ad-aware.. I'd almost make a bet with you that if you ran ad-aware your PC would be running faster the moment after you ran it.
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Darrin wrote:
motorollin wrote:
2. Choose an efficient anti-virus solution - i.e. NOT Norton
Agreed. I was having performance problems with my laptop until I removed McAfee Security Suite and replaced it with the free Virus Checker "AVG". The speed increase was amazing. I don't know what McAfee was doing in the background, but it was cripling my machine.
Same experience here. I tried Norton, McAfee, and PC-Tools products. The one that I like best is AVG. Run Panda's TotalScan once in a while...
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Any suggestions from all you smart people out there, that I might try before starting over?
Try Ubuntu. It works and doesn't bog your computer down.
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Run msconfig and stop any uneccesary programs from runing on startup. Empty out your prefetch folder, defrag your system, scan for adware and spyware and then see if that helps. If not I have more you can try. As far as trying Mac OS or Linux as some suggest if your not used to them I would pass. Mac OSX is ok, but I find it lacking in areas and Linux is great but you run into compatability problems if you ause your comp for more than just the normal browsing and stuff. Cheers
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Munchkin wrote:
Don't install to many fonts. Windows scans through the fonts all the time. The worst software to use with many installed fonts is IE, it scans through for just about every webpage you visit..
Don't use IE, use Firefox.
Agreed, and set a default font for web pages in the Options, this will make things a lot quicker.
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Somebody queue up Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie's "Every OS Sucks"
:)
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Nearly all of the recommendations here are just way over the top and are for the paranoid, the only thing the OP needs is to use common sense while using his computer. Instead of installing tons of system hogging software that will come back and haunt him.
Sorry op but if you listen to these guys your machine will end up screwed and need fresh installing again. Reminds me of the {bleep}s who recommend codec packs.
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Use nLite.
Cheers,
James
x
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Hmmm why do you all make excuses for Windows? The only way to get these guys to improve the product is to force them. How do you force them? You stop using it until it has improved.
All this stuff about using this browser or changing that font is nonsense. I don't have to do that in Linux or OS X. They work well almost all the time. There's no reason for Windows to be the mess it is.
Stop complaining about it or stop using it.
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Not true I used XP x64 and Vista x64 over a year now.. The point of an x64 processor is that it's also a 32 bit processor. There are no compatiblity issues in the apps. Some people have had missing driver issues, but all Win32 apps seem to work..
Quoting the WWW.PCSTATS.COM article:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1665
"These three sets of benchmarks conform to the AMD Athlon 64 processor's three modes of operation: 'Legacy mode' (for 32 bit operating systems and apps), 'Compatibility mode' (for 64 bit OS with 32-bit apps) and '64-bit mode' (true 64-bit OS/applications)."
(http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200410/AMD64_3.GIF)
Please note that even though this is AMD64 info, Core 2 Duo's 64-bit processor works similarly..
By the way, I can't wait for someone to start slamming compatibility, because I use no less than five 64-bit windows machines daily. I am ready for it, with the response article because I have no problems with anything. I even run win 16-bit apps via the Free Virtual PC..
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Speedup 1 is use a 'hardware' firewall on a ethernet/adsl router,speedup 2 is if you use McAffey set it up that it only scans incoming files from the network/internet
I've installed McAffey on my own pc (Athlon XP2600+ @ 2Ghz with 1,5 GB RAM) running on server 2003, i have no problems whatsoever, my windows machine is pretty responsive for such an old machine, i even run a wamp and FTP server on it no problems at all.
Ok, comapared to a fast A4000 with CSPPC&SCSI 3 UW etc, it's always slow :-P
just like other people said in the msconfig there is speed to gain, disable all services you do not need (i do not have a printer so i killed the printer spooler for example also the help function, it's worthless anyway)
You can also disable: error reporting service,event log,if you have an nvidia card also disable nvidia display driver service,remote registry (nice&safe also) and some other functions.
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From my own personal experiences I've found Norton and Mc Affee to severely slow down my PC's and cause all sorts of other issues too.
TrendMicro PCillin is probably the best of the commercial products. Of the freebies, I think AVG does a great job. Couple this with Comodo (firewall) and Lavasoft's Adaware - you've got yourself a pretty good line of defence without having your resources bogged down.
I've never done a defrag - but I'm sure to do one soon as it'll improve preformance.
Regarding Firefox - I've never suffered so much in the way of slowdowns, connection problems and viral infection as when I used this software. Once I'd gotten rid of this bit of junk and re-installed IE 7, my system was up and running again as normal.
Considering I've installed over a hundred programs/applications, have 80Gb boot HD crammed to 75Gb, plus around 400Gb of data storage on tap - it boots up pretty swiftly (30-40 seconds).
Compared to my accelerated A1200 with 814mB HD 'crammed' with a dozen apps/programs/games (ooh - about 20Mb's worth) - my PC's boot time is cr4p. Oh how I hate Microsoft products and PC's in general! :crazy:
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DISCLAIMER: The process described in the second paragraph is not a panacea!!!
Following the some of the other suggestions here, clean out your system of unwanted/unneeded software. Find yourself a good registry cleaner and scrub your registry well. You can oogle one. For the most part any one is as good as another... So long as it isn't laden with malware. Anyway, the page defrag tool from Sysinternals is a good idea, just make sure your swap file isn't variable in size (i.e. managed by windows). Setting a fixed size insures you swap file won't (well, shouldn't) fragment.
After that's done, if you're still not satisfied with your system's performance, you can try a repair install. It blows out (for the most part) the System hive of the registry while retaining the user hive(s), while retaining the registry info for your installed apps. However, you'll have to apply all the service packs/hotfixes not included on your Windows CD... That is unless you slipstream them , nLite (http://www.nliteos.com/) will help with that (also make sure you do this (http://www.nliteos.com/faq.html#Q19)).
Please keep in mind that this process can also introduce a few idiosyncrasies and may require some tweaking afterward. I've done this a couple times with both 2k and XP and it has improved performance somewhat. But as I said in the disclaimer, it's not a panacea. If your performance problems stem from 'third party' software (i.e. not Microsoft's core OS files), this process will probably not improve things much.
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Just for yet another two cent worth - If you are using Norton, that will slow you more than any other single program. Use AVG, it's better, and does NOT bog down the machine.
Spyware is another problem. Use Spyware Blaster, and Spybot Search & destroy. These two programs can help keep you running up to speed. TweakNow RegCleaner is about the best Registry cleaner I have found - & it's free.
Other than that, just watch what you install.
I'm running XP home/ SP2 on a Biostar mobo, with an old AMD 3200 64 CPU, with 2Gb RAM, 256Mb ATI 850 graphics card - and it is faster than you would believe.
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Yes, nLite and the RyanVM update packs can transform XP into a very stable, efficient OS.
Cheers,
James
x
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XP "Stable and Efficient"??
Stable is a relative term. The Queen Mary is also stable. But to suggest that XP (or the Queen Mary) is 'efficient' is a perversion of the language. I'm trying to think of something (anything) more inefficient than XP.. The only thing that comes to mind is... Vista.
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Why are you guys spamming out sollutions, when the guy hasn't even described the problem properly? ;-)
Seriously, though, Windows XP x64 is rock solid (it should be, it's based on Windows 2003 server), and most, if not all 32-bit applications run fine. It can be hard to find drivers sometimes, but it's generally not a problem for anyone with a strong Google-fu.
When it comes to performance, I find a well-tweaked Windows XP install to be somewhat faster than the common Linux distributions' (Ubuntu, Mandriva, etc.) standard installations. I wouldn't compare a fully tweaked Linux system to a fully tweaked XP system, as those distros usually are designed for a specific purpose.
Nothing beats puppy on a stick, though! ^^
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Short of this, it's a reinstall.
Actually, add 7) Use registry cleaning utilities and generally familiarise yourself with the registry. My sister had a Win 2k system running pretty well for 4 years before switching to XP and it was loaded with apps to hell and back.
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Agreed. I was having performance problems with my laptop until I removed McAfee Security Suite and replaced it with the free Virus Checker "AVG". The speed increase was amazing. I don't know what McAfee was doing in the background, but it was cripling my machine.
And BitDefender is even faster, it's the fastest I've ever used.
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Most stuff I've tried RUNS on it. Just very little is OPTIMIZED for it. 32-bit apps behave about the same as they do on regular 32-bit XP. The benchmarks say it's slightly slower than 32-bit XP for 32-bit apps, but, honestly, I don't think it's enough to be visible to humans. If you have the 64-bit proc, you might as well run the 64-bit OS for it.
The only problems arise when there's no x64 driver for some hardware you may have (haven't had this problem, personally, it usually arises when you use legacy hardware) and when you want to use things like Directory Opus in explorer replacement mode, it has quite a few issues, since it's 32 bit.
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My two cents : Norton = Yuk.
Seriously, my Dads brand new work laptop with Norton on takes ~ 25 mins to fully boot.
Hodgkinson.
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whabang wrote:
Why are you guys spamming out sollutions, when the guy hasn't even described the problem properly? ;-)
After this many years in the business, I speak fluent User.
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Well, perhaps 'efficient' is stretching things a little...
However the point remains that the XP kernel is actually very stable, yet it requires a third party tool such as nLite (to strip away all the excess bloat) for this to becomes truly apparent.
Cheers,
James
x
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Look I am just going to say it to you folks, keeping windows up and running nicely isn't that hard, whether it's XP or Vista.. Many people do it, that's why it's in so much use (not because the company has a monopoly). People don't use bad products. period. They disappear fast from the market.
I own many PCs, a few Macs, a few Amigas and a few Linux boxes. I don't have viruses or malware slowing down my machines period.. This isn't rocket science or hard labor..
There are Mac people here and a few Linux enthusiasts that would have you think there machines are without their own challeneges and hurdles and that's simply not true.
A lot of Amiga users in the classic days HATED CLI/SHELL and couldn't even learn to use it.. I heard many users come into the dealership (if you can remember those days) and say it was much harder than DOS (which always left me speechless)..
Your computer will work fine if you avoid sites that have malware (that's most porn sites by the way) and p2p sharing and illegal download sites..
If your computer is running slow check out Windows Defender, Ad-Aware, and others. For all the complaints about Vista I don't hear anyone complaining about viruses or malware on it, most of that is thanks to IE protected mode which runs the web browser in a sandbox and keeps the rest of the machine separated from things running in it. Other operating systems and browsers that I know of don't even come near that level of protection..
Simple maintainance is all required to keep XP happy and running fast.. Vista takes even less time.. I have been using it for over a year..
For the person earlier on the thread, X64 drivers aren't really a problem anymore, most everyone has them.. If you need help locating any of them just PM me..
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motrucker wrote:
Just for yet another two cent worth - If you are using Norton, that will slow you more than any other single program. Use AVG, it's better, and does NOT bog down the machine.
Spyware is another problem. Use Spyware Blaster, and Spybot Search & destroy. These two programs can help keep you running up to speed. TweakNow RegCleaner is about the best Registry cleaner I have found - & it's free.
Other than that, just watch what you install.
I'm running XP home/ SP2 on a Biostar mobo, with an old AMD 3200 64 CPU, with 2Gb RAM, 256Mb ATI 850 graphics card - and it is faster than you would believe.
Yes! Even before I read this reply, I figured out that it is Norton that is the culprit in slowing down my Dell XPS 700. I have used AVG in the past and I'm not sure why I chose to spend the money on the Norton Suite. Do I really need all the other TweakNow, RegCleaner, Spyware Blaster and Spybot? If I use AVG and either ZoneAlarm free or Sunbelt Full on sale now for $9.95.
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Look I am just going to say it to you folks, keeping windows up and running nicely isn't that hard, whether it's XP or Vista.. Many people do it, that's why it's in so much use (not because the company has a monopoly). People don't use bad products. period. They disappear fast from the market.
:roflmao: :roflmao: Here I thought Reaganomics was dead. :roflmao:
If Windows isn't a Monopoly, what is?
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stopthegop wrote:
This thread is hilarious because it demonstrates just how bad windoze really is.
"Install this, install that. Disable this, enable that. Fix this, fix that. Run this, run that..."
All to make a PC do what every Amiga does right out of the box; run well.
How come Amikit exist to enhance existing AOS3.x installations?
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LoadWB wrote:
whabang wrote:
Why are you guys spamming out sollutions, when the guy hasn't even described the problem properly? ;-)
After this many years in the business, I speak fluent User.
I'll never learn that language to perfection. I keep harrasing our customers until they speak properly. ;-)
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amigadave wrote:
motrucker wrote:
Just for yet another two cent worth - If you are using Norton, that will slow you more than any other single program. Use AVG, it's better, and does NOT bog down the machine.
Spyware is another problem. Use Spyware Blaster, and Spybot Search & destroy. These two programs can help keep you running up to speed. TweakNow RegCleaner is about the best Registry cleaner I have found - & it's free.
Other than that, just watch what you install.
I'm running XP home/ SP2 on a Biostar mobo, with an old AMD 3200 64 CPU, with 2Gb RAM, 256Mb ATI 850 graphics card - and it is faster than you would believe.
Yes! Even before I read this reply, I figured out that it is Norton that is the culprit in slowing down my Dell XPS 700. I have used AVG in the past and I'm not sure why I chose to spend the money on the Norton Suite. Do I really need all the other TweakNow, RegCleaner, Spyware Blaster and Spybot? If I use AVG and either ZoneAlarm free or Sunbelt Full on sale now for $9.95.
Seriously, Dude, why even bother to use an AV-application.
The XPS is made as a lean, mean gaming monster, not a computer for day-to-day use.
Get a proper router, and hide behind NAT instead. :-)
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Format and reinstall to solve the problem.
Then:
After installing core softwares that you always use. Take a full backup. I mean ghost image of the hardware. You may use Norton Ghost.
As a protection:
- Do not use Norton Anivirus or Systemworks
- Do not use Internet Explorer
- Do not use Kazaa or Emula or smiliar P2P sowftware
- Use thrustworthy antivirus and spy detector softwares.
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I think I have the solution for all of your XP problems:
http://www.linux.org
:-D :-D :-D :-D
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The first thing I would do is go here and run a free safety scan. Let it run through (yes I know depending on your connectivity and hard drive size it could take a long time)..
Windows Live Safety Scan (http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm)
Follow the suggestions it gives you..
If you are having problems with keeping your hard disk defragmented, I recommend diskeeper (http://www.diskeeper.com/defrag.asp)
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Confirmed by personal experience: nothing else would beat PUPPY LINUX (as an example) installed on a bare USB pen drive.
It would boot in a matter of seconds!
Another really nice (as far as GUI look is concerned) LINUX distro one could try is ELIVE.
Try it out!
http://www.elivecd.org
:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
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Confirmed by personal experience: nothing else would beat PUPPY LINUX (as an example) installed on a bare USB pen drive.
It would boot in a matter of seconds!
Another really nice (as far as GUI look is concerned) LINUX distro one could try is ELIVE.
Try it out!
http://www.elivecd.org
:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
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look for TinyXP
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To bo honest I dumped XP for this reason, and I went over to Linux/Ubuntu 7.10
I have got more memory back, its just as fast, all programs are free unlike XP buy every thing under the sun.
Its free and legal. It takes far less space on your HD.
It gives full updates.
The support community are very friendly.
Am I glad I dumped XP for this? yes I am and I don`t regret it.
So now I have a dual boot system Ubuntu 7.10 on one HD and WIn2000 on another.
Why Win2000 and not XP? because I see Win2000 as a lot less troublesome.
Some people may or not say that Linux is a pile of crap, but believe me its come a long way and its very good.
So IF you go the Linux way then go Ubuntu 7.10.
Oh yes and as far as Virus is concerned then Ubuntu don`t need to worry.
You can download it and put it on ISO file on a CD or order it FREE and they will send you a copy FREE you DON`T pay a thing.
Mike.
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Yeah! I can't even remember how many times I've had to clean up things on my PC: countless hours spent to identify problems and such: I still use Windows but just for those apps (such as Video Editing and games) for which there are no suitable counterparts on other platforms. For the rest, Emails, INTERNET, Office work and productivity I just keep using my (several) LINUX distros. One of those is ELIVE (it uses Enlightement as Window Manager) and it is sooooo STABLE that on their site there's a report of one user not having rebooted its system for over a year. Can you imagine any XP system running for such a long time without slow-downs in performance?
P.S. I haven't re-installed any of my Linux system for over two years. They just keep going fine.
Windows IS a monopoly!
:madashell: :madashell: :madashell: :madashell:
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whabang wrote:
I'll never learn that language to perfection. I keep harrasing our customers until they speak properly. ;-)
For business customers, yes, I have them mostly trained. By fly-by-night home users, nearly impossible.
My favorite calls when I worked at an ISP: "What email program are you using?" "You guys!"
We talked about making a new MAPI front-end and calling it "You Guys." We'd have been rich!
I stay mainly with businesses, but I will make the exception of doing home work for employees of the business. The reason is general education. Most of my business customers are technologically savvy; often more so than they admit. Home users, OTOH, often need repeated assurance and training and do not or cannot pay well (and those that don't generally don't call professionals, anyway.) There are much better qualified people than me to work with them.
Anyway, I generally don't like to generalize, and the conclusions herein are based solely on my experience.
(Although, and after-thought while previewing is that when I worked at the ISP, I had somewhat unlimited resources and had a good number of our customers educated and trained. People really are smart, whether they like to admit it or not, but technology can often be daunting at first glance.)
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@LoadWB.
What was that all about???????
Mike.
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@Loadwb
You kind of lost me there too. You said a lot but didn't really say anything? :/
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swift240 wrote:
Why Win2000 and not XP? because I see Win2000 as a lot less troublesome.
Some people may or not say that Linux is a pile of crap, but believe me its come a long way and its very good.
Mike.
I agree with you re: Win2k. I still use it on most of my machines for its simplicity, stability and usability. It's a great OS. I use XP on a couple out of necessity and it ain't great. Still, it's better than Vista which lasted about an hour on a cheap laptop I bought a few weeks ago. It's truly horrible.
Re: Linux - I've played with heaps of distros over the years just for the hell of it. Killed most of them doing things I still don't understand. Great fun. :-) I'd love to find one that's simple enough to use as a cheap fileserver I'm going to build. Do you think Unbuntu could be easily set up with JBOD/RAID compatibilty for use with SMB (PeeCees/XBox)for a linux newbie? Opinions? Anyone?
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Out of a lot of them, I would go Ubuntu 7.10.
For what you want to do.
Mike.
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DonnyEMU wrote:
Look I am just going to say it to you folks, keeping windows up and running nicely isn't that hard, whether it's XP or Vista.. Many people do it, that's why it's in so much use (not because the company has a monopoly). People don't use bad products. period. They disappear fast from the market.
I own many PCs, a few Macs, a few Amigas and a few Linux boxes. I don't have viruses or malware slowing down my machines period.. This isn't rocket science or hard labor..
There are Mac people here and a few Linux enthusiasts that would have you think there machines are without their own challeneges and hurdles and that's simply not true.
A lot of Amiga users in the classic days HATED CLI/SHELL and couldn't even learn to use it.. I heard many users come into the dealership (if you can remember those days) and say it was much harder than DOS (which always left me speechless)..
Your computer will work fine if you avoid sites that have malware (that's most porn sites by the way) and p2p sharing and illegal download sites..
If your computer is running slow check out Windows Defender, Ad-Aware, and others. For all the complaints about Vista I don't hear anyone complaining about viruses or malware on it, most of that is thanks to IE protected mode which runs the web browser in a sandbox and keeps the rest of the machine separated from things running in it. Other operating systems and browsers that I know of don't even come near that level of protection..
Simple maintainance is all required to keep XP happy and running fast.. Vista takes even less time.. I have been using it for over a year..
For the person earlier on the thread, X64 drivers aren't really a problem anymore, most everyone has them.. If you need help locating any of them just PM me..
All excellent points and worth noting :pint:
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Sorry DonnyEMU, but I totally disagree. Windows is crap compared to what it should be and I only use it because of the MS monopoly controls what most programmers will write to due to the monetary return on their investment of time. If the few programs I have and must use were available for MacOS, Linux, or my preferred OS, on the Amiga, I would not own any Windows, or MS software.
I have uninstalled everything with the name Norton and Symantec from my PC now and installed AVG and Sunbelt Personal Firewall (full version for only $9.95). I am still not happy with my performance and must sift through all the suggestions here to further fix my PC. I don't surf to dangerous websites with this PC, it is for work and I have uninstalled my Son's games, I do not install other programs just to see what they do, I have defraged and run a registry cleaner several times already. All this hassle is unacceptable, I wish I had never bought this Dell PC and saved my money until Apple came out with Intel Macs so I could run the Windows only apps through Parallels or VM and not deal with Windows the rest of the time.
Actually, I wish we all could go back in time and somehow change history of Amiga marketing and management from day one, so the world would all be using Amigas for business, creativity, and fun too. :-(
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@amigadave
Amen!
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Ok, in no particular order:
WindowsXP is pretty much Windows200 v 1.1. Those saying W2k is simpler... I'd say it's some nice tweaks, but you can set it all back to "classic" should you wish. I wouldn't install W2k over WXP given the choice, but the differences are fairly minimal.
I find Mac OS 10 more sluggish than Windows XP. I have used 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and now have 10.4 on a MacBook.
If you have more than 26 running processes on a desktop with no programs open (ie after boot), you can lose some stuff. Pointless tray icons, services, whatever. If you have a laptop, it's probably 30, with the power management stuff the manufacturers provide.
"Nobody buys rubbish products" good god did you ever use windows 98?!? Now THAT was awful.
Linux is complicated, flaky and so disjointed in some things - truly not ready for normal users. Hello, changing screen resolutions when you plug in a new monitor? Awful! Sure, if you know what you're looking for. Dependency hell, one-thing-breaks=another. OS X is unix done right (except compiled for size, not speed, and too much UI over responsiveness - but then I want a computer to respond as I click, not after a small delay).
Windows XP on, oh let's say a 1.5GHz desktop with 512Mb or more and a half decent 7200 rpm hard drive shouldn't be sluggish. It isn't sluggish. If it is, then something else is the cause. Clean out, defrag, uninstall, disable.
Oh don't get me wrong, I go through anti MS phases, but the fact is they are so big it's like being anti-government - you can dislike some bits, but most people are probably at least trying to do a decent job. A micro-civilisation. Not "evil" just "human"... demonising them doesn't help.
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daverobev wrote:
Ok, in no particular order:
WindowsXP is pretty much Windows200 v 1.1. Those saying W2k is simpler... I'd say it's some nice tweaks, but you can set it all back to "classic" should you wish.
W2k is simpler. It's also faster and easier (IMO) to maintain. The classic view thingy doesn't even enter into it. Sure, there's some bells and whistles missing like XP themes and DHT for torrents if you're into that type of thing but I prefer my machines to run lean rather than adorned with pretty pictures anyway. W2k has a smaller footprint and therefore leaner on system resources than XP ever was. W2k flies on a gig of RAM. Each to their own....
I find Mac OS 10 more sluggish than Windows XP. I have used 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and now have 10.4 on a MacBook.
Never used a Mac. Ever. :-)
"Nobody buys rubbish products" good god did you ever use windows 98?!? Now THAT was awful.
WinME was worse. I re-installed it so often I could remember the key for it. A truly horrible OS.
Linux is complicated, flaky and so disjointed in some things - truly not ready for normal users. Hello, changing screen resolutions when you plug in a new monitor? Awful! Sure, if you know what you're looking for. Dependency hell, one-thing-breaks=another. OS X is unix done right (except compiled for size, not speed, and too much UI over responsiveness - but then I want a computer to respond as I click, not after a small delay).
Agreed. Linux is better than it used to be but the dependencies gave me a bad case of the craps. Particularly when the one dependency an app needed would be either corrupt or unavailable and the whole thing would die a slow, lingering death. I really liked Lindows (Linspire?) alot. Very easy to set up SMB shares with it and installed in under 10 minutes. A great OS.
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I would say XP Pro is the best OS Microsoft have relleased to date. Not to say that it does not have some issues, but there can never be such a thing as a perfect product to everybody.
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Shamus & stopthegop:
Random thoughts on dealing with different levels of Windows users. If you provide service to Windows environments, you'll get it. (I think.) If you don't get what I said, then it's safe to ignore me; in-depth explanation won't help.
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Latest update:
Returned from working on the house I am trying to sell (bad time for selling) and after following Don's advice and installing several programs to search for viruses and other problems and to defragment the HD, I ran a "Thorough Scan" from the recently installed Avast anti-virus program (dumped AVG) and the bad news is I have three system files that are infected:
kernel32.dll
winsock.dll
wsock.dll
I don't know exactly what this means, but I assume it means my computer is wide open to an attacking hacker. I have the files quarantined and have tried to contact Don to ask how to re-install the infected files clean, but he is apparently not online at the moment. I guess I will have to go to the MS support site for help, unless one of you can walk me through it.
I HATE WINDOWS! :madashell:
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Infected with what?
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Avast doesn't say, or I am not seeing it, but my guess is a Trojan.
What an idiot I am! Avast only copied those files to a safe place IN CASE they are infected at a later date. No files show as infected at this time from the four different virus scans I have used. I guess I will try TinyXP next to see if I can get the original performance back.
GOD I HATE WINDOWS!!!
:madashell: :madashell: :madashell:
And I have to get up at 3:30am tomorrow!
I won't be back on the Internet for a couple of days I think.
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>Avast doesn't say, or I am not seeing it, but my guess is a >Trojan.
Trojans and spyware will slow down the machine. I had one spyware that was trying to dial out of my internal modem and was causing delays because it was timing out (there was no dial tone). Anti-spyware software is not based on any science of 100% removing your spyware but they are guaranteed to hog up your resources and slow down your system as much as some of the spyware itself. I just keep deleting the cookies and that helps a bit. You may want to manually go through command prompt and delete all the files in the Cookies subdirectory (if you have such a subdirectory). Use DEL *.*.
You could set up a network where you have a fresh install of WinXP on one machine networked to another machine that you use for internet.
I noticed my spyware/trojan crap in my machine while running the floppy simulator. If you click on "Check Cable" in the MPDOS PRO software and your LPT rate keeps giving you inconsistent answers, you know something in the background is screwing around with your system.
I am referring to MPDOS Pro described here (in case you did not know):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320185491302
I would not say that Windows XP is bad since you can write software that is immune to spyware/trojan crap like MPDOS Pro is and still use the various advantages of Windows XP.
(Stop background tasks while your task runs is one example.)
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kernel32.dll
winsock.dll
wsock.dll
You are screwed. Your kernel is infected.
I HATE WINDOWS! :madashell:
Stop using it then.
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gdanko wrote:
kernel32.dll
winsock.dll
wsock.dll
You are screwed. Your kernel is infected.
Not necessarily, usually these things just "pose" as system files in different drawers. I've seen some pretty messed up XP installs, there's yet to be one that couldn't be 100% fixed with about an hours worth of work. There's really no such thing as being "screwed" IMO (unless your hardware is broke). Once you get a method down, XP is pretty easy to keep running well.
Hang in there amigadave... you'll get it sorted eventually, and the experience will only make you a better user.
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Win98SE was probably the best iteration of the Win9x series. Win98, WinME, not so good. But Win98SE? Gold.
Win2K I also prefer over XP. Win2K = NT5, WinXP = NT5.1, Vista = NT6. Yeah, that's the actual version numbers, open a command prompt and type "ver" to see for yourself.
The problem with Win2K, and the reason I recently rebuilt my system from Win2K Server to WinXP Pro, is that Win2K is end of life from Microsoft. Sure, you still get some critical updates from time to time, but GAMES and DRIVERS do not support Win2K anymore.
I ran into this when I discovered that the new ATI video cards did not have drivers that would work on Win2K. I contacted ATI about this and was told that since Win2K was EOL, no drivers would ever be made for that platform for their new 2x00 series cards. A quick check:
http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html
Look at the models available when you select Win2K and then Radeon. Then look how many are available when you select WinXP and then Radeon.
Newer games also don't work, as mentioned. I believe Enemy Territory: QuakeWars would not install for me. And Unreal Tournament 3. And I think Stranglehold and a few others, maybe World in Conflict
Win2K is great if you want to browse the web, play older games, and use productivity software--except for Adobe CS2 Suite or later, as that requires WinXP. And I guess the latest Office 2007 doesn't work with 2K, either:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA101668651033.aspx
Yeah, you will get significant slowdowns from installing anti-virus programs. I used to not care, either. But then again, I found that I wanted to browse to more sites than www.aol.com and run more programs than what I'd find on download.com.
On my old Win98SE system, when I thought I didn't need anti-virus, I had 80k+ copies of Nimda and Sircam. I only decided to look when I noticed all these random .eml files littering my drive and my system starting to have problems.
Ok, but that was a while ago. I just reinstalled a fresh WinXP machine, behind NAT, and installed all XP patches. Then I started browsing the web without anti-virus. Took about a day until I was hosed. I used Kaspersky online scanner and it told me to just reformat and reinstall. I was infected so bad that whatever I had would BLOCK any attempt to install Spybot, an anti-malware program. Literally it would force a shutdown of the installer. Hardcore.
--------------------
So what's my point here? I love Win2K, but if someone is going to recommend it at this point, realize that it is end of life, no new drivers will likely be made for it for newer hardware, no new office productivity apps from larger companies will support it, and no new top-shelf games will support it. If I weren't a gamer, I'd still be on Win2K. But... I can't be, anymore.
If you're going to pretend that you don't need an anti-virus scanner and that hiding behind NAT will keep you safe, you need to realize that not everyone will have your same luck. You CAN get away with this, but you probably aren't visiting "interesting" parts of the web nor are you running "interesting" programs as well. If you don't, then yes, you'll probably be relatively safe. If you want to get your hands into everything you can, like me, then you'll want an anti-virus scanner going. Sure, it will slow you down. But far better than having to reformat and reinstall everything.
Everyone has an opinion about what you do and do not need to do with Windows. You will have less pain if you over-protect than if you under-protect and get jacked up. I used to believe that I didn't need anti-virus. But I'm no longer that ignorant. ;)
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@gdanko,
Read my post more closely and you will see that I was mistaken and that Avast only copied and put those critical files in a safe "System Files" folder inside what they call the "Virus Chest" along with other folders called "Infected Files", "User Files" and "All Chest Files".
I initially thought that since the files were inside the "Virus Chest" that they were infected. I was looking through the "All Chest Files" option into the "Virus Chest" before I read the documentation to find out that Avast copies the files for protection in case they need to be re-installed to replace infected files.
I am finally starting to relax and think that my computer is no longer infected after running half a dozen programs to clean and protect it. Now I have Sunbelt Personal Firewall (full paid version) and Avast Anti-Virus installed and running and they are reported to not slow down XP too much, if at all.
My XP performance is better than it was but I am still not satisfied that it is as good as it was on the day I first received it, or as fast as a 2.4gHz Core2Duo w/7200rpm cached HDs and 2GB RAM computer should perform, so I am still looking to improve it and find an easy way to maintain that increased performance without a ton of user intervention. Also I refuse to fix it by purchasing any more Microsoft crappy programs. If MS has a way to fix it, it should have been provided free inside the XP OS!
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@amigadave
You keep fussing how much you hate Windows. Stop using it!
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@gdanko,
You write me the few applications I need to use that are currently (and probably forever) Windows ONLY programs and I will gladly stop using Windows of any kind or flavor FOREVER.
Having used the Amiga first I know what should have been our computing past, present and future. Having used my PowerBook and now MacBook and MacOS, I know that present day computing does not have to be as bad as WindowsXP or Vista currently are.
I say again, if I could figure out how some people are able to run MacOS on their non-Mac PCs, I would install Tiger, or Leopard on my Dell XPS 700 and run the couple of programs that I can't do without (and are Windows only) through Parallels, or VMware and never regret or miss using anything else on WindowsOS. I am actually hoping that MacOS continues to increase is pitifully small market share so that more developers will write programs for it, or at least the ones I need.
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You write me the few applications I need to use that are currently (and probably forever) Windows ONLY programs and I will gladly stop using Windows of any kind or flavor FOREVER.
Nope. I have found non-Windows equivalents for everything I need. Well, I think I did the smart thing by not getting sucked in to the Windows black hole in the first place. Your mistake was allowing yourself to become dependent on MS.
Having used the Amiga first I know what should have been our computing past, present and future. Having used my PowerBook and now MacBook and MacOS, I know that present day computing does not have to be as bad as WindowsXP or Vista currently are.
This is true. I more or less went from Commodore to MacOS way back in 92 or so. I reviled Windows because MS has been upto the same shady nonsense since the beginning. Everyone laughed at me now but now those same people are kicking themselves and cursing Windows 15 years later. If only people had listened to me in 1992.
I say again, if I could figure out how some people are able to run MacOS on their non-Mac PCs, I would install Tiger, or Leopard on my Dell XPS 700 and run the couple of programs that I can't do without (and are Windows only) through Parallels, or VMware and never regret or miss using anything else on WindowsOS.
Again, your first mistake is to have gotten caught up in the black hole. By the way, OS X on a Dell is flaky as crap. Your best bet is so wipe Windows for good and use Ubuntu or Fedora Core 8.
I am actually hoping that MacOS continues to increase is pitifully small market share so that more developers will write programs for it, or at least the ones I need.
What programs are you referring to? There is no application worth suffering through Windows for!
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I didn't take the time to read the entire thread of what exactly is making the system slow, but here are my two cents.
My friend has a intel pentium 4 3.2ghz cpu that I believe was either socket LGA774 or 775, i forget since im not a big intel fan. ;-)
But put it this way.... It crawled like crazy, loading applications took forever, and even at times, it just froze out of nowhere. Now, my other Shuttle PC which has an older socket pentium 4 @ 2.4ghz, and that Shuttle is many times faster in 3d games, running applications, etc...
Turned out that the Motherboard is flaky..... The SATA controller is what made the entire system crawl. Even if you attempt to install a fresh copy of XP, no go.
I would have to go with getting a different board :-D
just get a cheap one from newegg.com or even ebay. Heck, I run a Biostar Socket AM2 cpu motherboard and this thing is hauling @$$. :-D
And yes, i do run Windows XP PRO. :-)
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@kd7ota,
replacing the mobo is not an option as this is my business system and just had the mobo replaced under warranty about two months ago. The warranty is for another 3 years and I don't think another brand mobo would fit as cleanly inside this XPS tower case, the design is actually very well thought out IMHO. I hesitated buying my Dell but it was too tempting with the employee discount offered plus another percentage off due to it being on sale to the public at the time I bought. Also Apple had not switch to Intel inside yet, or I would have probably waited until I could afford a Mac desktop or tower.
@gdanko,
You are right, I never should have let myself get sucked into becoming dependent on any Windows only programs. But you must admit that it is an easy thing to do when almost all the best programmers, and applications are written for Windows first and so many are never ported to other OSes. I did begin using an Amiga CAD program called Cycas, before the bankruptcy I think. But then later switched to a Windows program and once you spend years learning and becoming good at using one CAD program, you don't want to spend the months of time learning another. I have looked for CAD programs for the Mac and did not like them, or their price either. I don't know, but I don't think there is a Linux CAD program that is as good as the one I use and for the price my program (TurboCAD) can't be beat, unless there is something that is free.
After being forced into early retirement due to health problems, and until I can get my own business to become profitable, I don't have the money right now to replace the other programs that have cost me hundreds of dollars, if not thousands and I have not taken the time to become comfortable with Linux to explore all that it has to offer in the way of free, or low cost programs, but doubt it has the equivalent financial programs that I would feel secure with and that would have the same feature set.
So, yes, I am stuck for now and will continue to use Windows for certain business critical tasks while I wait for an opportunity to switch to a Mac, Linux, or Amiga :lol: solution.
For now I will just have to minimize the pain and trouble of using windows like most of the rest of the population in the world. :boohoo:
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amigadave wrote:
@kd7ota,
replacing the mobo is not an option as this is my business system and just had the mobo replaced under warranty about two months ago. The warranty is for another 3 years and I don't think another brand mobo would fit as cleanly inside this XPS tower case, the design is actually very well thought out IMHO.
I believe the XPS desktops, at least the 400/410 and 700/710/720, use a customized version of the Intel BTX motherboard standard. There are few, if any, BTX motherboards for sale. There are probably none that work in a Dell case. I actually tried looking this up for a pal a few months ago. Most of the "ATX" power supplies also list BTX compatibility as well, so that part isn't too bad.
So for those suggesting you replace the motherboard, as you know, that's not really an option.
My wife has a XPS410. It's nicely laid out, runs cool, and is QUIET. Nice and quiet. I really like it. It runs Vista and decently well enough, I guess. I know I don't have to use it. ;)
If you want to run OS X on your PC, I believe there are a few resources who have had success doing just that:
http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
http://www.osx86.theplaceforitall.com/howto/
etc.
You can probably google for more info. I've not bothered dorkin' around with that stuff as I have a spare Mac to play with.
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@BlackMonk,
My Dell is an XPS 700 tower (the biggest monster of a tower I have seen since purchasing a ToasterOven that sits 5 feet to the left) not a desktop and I would not think of replacing the MoBo with anything except the original, until perhaps a few years past its warranty and as a fun project, not to run my businesses. It has a multiple speed fan that can be very loud at full speed, but normally is almost unheard by me.
I have looked at OSX86 project, but it is not refined enough for me to make that leap of faith yet on a business critical computer.
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BlackMonk wrote:
I believe the XPS desktops, at least the 400/410 and 700/710/720, use a customized version of the Intel BTX motherboard standard.
amigadave wrote:
@BlackMonk,
My Dell is an XPS 700 tower ... not a desktop...
Yeah, my bad. I used the wrong term. I think the 700 series is only available as a tower and the 400 series might be as well. It's been so long since I've seen a "desktop" form factor for sale that I keep forgetting that it exists.
I meant desktop versus laptop and just used the complete wrong term. Doh!
As for OS X on x86, yeah, I wouldn't do that on a business-use machine, either, heheh.
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stopthegop wrote:
@Loadwb
You kind of lost me there too. You said a lot but didn't really say anything? :/
I'm quite sure he is working at a call centre, or on a helpdesk. I do. :-)
I'm an L2 for a support handling home-users only. Sometimes the customers are actually so incompetent it hurts.