Windows XP Professional

[indolikaa]

Well, I finally did it. One of my computers is now running XP Pro.


And my first impression was, "LordSmurf is right! This is more like Windows Hasbro Edition!" What a goofy looking GUI. Thankfully, I've already found the 'Classic' style interface. :whew:

I've updated right to the point that I'm ready for SP2. I'm not going to install it yet. While the hard drive is being backed up, I need to find a good online resource for the first-time XP user. I suspect there isn't a huge difference between 2K and XP, but I'd like to read a little. And since nobody in this part of the world carries computer-related books (not even Windows XP for Dummies) I'm open to suggestions for Internet sites.

Any sites you can suggest are greatly appreciated.

[gitreel]

I use the classic interface and twaek it. My computers run really well and I free the ram for other things.

I can't stand the xp eye candy stuff.

[budz]

Well, I finally did it. One of my computers is now running XP Pro.

I'll be joining you in a week when I receive my oem of windows xp pro. I'm in the process of building a new pc for myself and decided to try xp pro. I have it at work & actually hate it because it's so slow. Working for the government they are tight with their money so it only has 256 mb of ram which is probably why it's so slow.

[adam]

If you know your way around 2k I don't think there's much of anything to learn for XP. It basically functions identically. One thing you might want to do if you need to restrict file access, is to disable simple file sharing. Then it will be just like win2k.

[redwudz]

I suppose my only major complaint about XP is that it uses so much system resources. But if you have a big HD and lots of memory, it's not so bad.

I was first impressed when I plugged in my printer, (Still turned off). and XP found the printer, loaded the needed software and said it was ready to print. I was impressed. To me, anything that makes my life easier is good.

I hated configuring w95 and W98 for routers and Ethernet. XP makes it painless. Even SP2 has not been that bad. Especially for novice users that don't understand the big bad world of the INTERNET.

XP itself has tutorials built in, explains most of the OS.

Bottom line; Yes, it's bloatware, but if you have the resources available, as most newer systems do, you will learn to appreciate the niceties.

[indolikaa]

I just found blackviper's site.


@adam,
Yes, it does seem to be a near-clone of Win2000 on the surface. All of the 'administrative' settings I normally tinker with are there and function in much the same way.

Bye bye Themes, System Restore and MSN Messenger!


@gitreel,

Blackviper has a tweak section that let's you get rid of all unnecessary 'services' from the system controllers. If you've never seen this long list of 'Do I Need It?' it makes for interesting reading...

There's shit in there I didn't know was running.


@Redwudz,

I'm running an Athlon 2.0GHz with 512MB on an SiS chipset. I figured I'd better start lean and work my way up from there. But the default GUI had to go. I felt like I was in a 70's porn disco parlor.

[Roundabout]

IMO, one of the best things you can do to speed up your XP Pro PC is to go into Control Panel, click on System and then in the System Properties dialog box, click on the "advanced" tab. Then in the Performance box, click on the "settings" button. In the box that opens, in the "Visual Effects" tab, select the radio button for "Adjust for best Performance" instead of the default "Let windows choose what's best for my computer".

That alone speeded up my PC dramatically. Give it a try, you'll turn off all the fancy graphics, but IMO the interface looks better like this. Seems like everyone else here agrees.

[indolikaa]

IMO, one of the best things you can do to speed up your XP Pro PC is to go into Control Panel, click on System and then in the System Properties dialog box, click on the "advanced" tab. Then in the Performance box, click on the "settings" button. In the box that opens, in the "Visual Effects" tab, select the radio button for "Adjust for best Performance" instead of the default "Let windows choose what's best for my computer".

That alone speeded up my PC dramatically. Give it a try, you'll turn off all the fancy graphics, but IMO the interface looks better like this. Seems like everyone else here agrees.

Done. BIG speed difference. Getting rid of the default background and going with a black screen made a difference, too.

This OS loads a lot faster than Win2000. I'm impressed.

[thecoalman]

I just found blackviper's site.

I can't access that page now and haven't been able too for months.....WTF.

[devinemi83]

I finally got it running about an hour ago on mine. I actually am running it pretty quick considering I only have 64MB ram and a 500MHz celeron.

[indolikaa]

I just found blackviper's site.

I can't access that page now and haven't been able too for months.....WTF.

That's odd. I'm reading from it right now. In fact...

Introduction
For several months, I have been attacking my bandwidth problem from a totally different angle than I recently have. I was optimizing images, cutting down on all "extra" content, and compressing content for faster download time. However, after looking through my log files, that was not enough.

The issue
Many legitimate people use different tools to make their personal internet experience a positive one, namely:

The use of "download managers"
"Offline browsers" or synchronizing a page (or complete domain) on a schedule
However, these type of tools put stress on a server for really no purpose.

I have witnessed in my log files, particular readers downloading my complete domain (all 700+ pages) and all images every 24 hours. Unfortunately, this is also the exact "signature" that "content thieves" have. These particular instances have also downloaded all content, regardless if it has changed from the previous access.

Another point to make is that these particular readers could be coming from the United States, or from a variety of other countries.

The solution
I have made a conscious decision to ban all download managers and offline browsers, due to abuse of my network.

I have also banned access to my network from various foreign countries at a very low level.

Furthermore, I have banned access by IP addresses that use automated spidering software that choose to ignore robots.txt file. In only one hour, I captured an IP address from the Netherlands spidering all of my content while masquerading as a "valid user."

Those three items have resulted in a large decrease in bandwidth usage. This also has the positive result of allowing my "legitimate" readers greater bandwidth and faster access while they surf around my content.

The backlash
I understand the implications of my decision. I know that I could possibly ban legitimate users of my content. However, the extreme measures I took was based on an overwhelming amount of abuse. No actions that any web master can take to solve the many issues that plague a public network, such as the internet, comes without risk.

I, however, am willing to take that chance.

On the positive side
Initially, I was wanting to block access to my web server as, under normal conditions, this is the server that uses the most bandwidth. However, I also was wanting to ban particular countries access to my E-Mail servers. This would require a large amount of time to create access "rules" and requirements for too many different situations.

Why, you may ask? The main reason is several countries tend to "generate" much more spam than others (Note: Even though the United States is a very large generator of spam E-Mails, many of them are "bounced" off of servers located in a different country). Sifting through my previous E-Mail archive, I have never received a "legitimate" E-Mail from any person located in several of them. However, a large amount of spam is relayed through these particular foreign countries.

I have also witnessed many attempts at sucking my complete domain, including images, from particular countries. The only thing that I can conclude is these are actions related to attempts at Copyright violations and bandwidth theft.

I have since blocked several countries access to my DNS servers. This has several "good" effects:

Sending an E-Mail to any address requires a DNS lookup to "discover" the mail exchangers address for the target domain.
Blocking DNS queries from an IP address range stops the query and the E-Mail cannot be delivered.
That will effectively ban all spam being relayed from unsecured servers located in a country because of the lookup failure.
I have recently modified my web server to "change" the address by which my domain is accessible from.
If a particular user accesses my domain directly by IP address, it will redirect to the default domain, which will require a DNS lookup.
That redirection, if stemming from a banned country, will result in no further access to my content because of the lookup failure.
Conclusion
Extreme measures are not even a solution for everyone. Some people and companies require relationships with countries around the world.

I am not one of them.

I have some rather dedicated readers in several locations that contact me often, to include:

Australia
Canada
Europe
Germany
Mexico
United States
Those locations listed above, will never be banned completely.

Black Viper
December 7, 2003

Revision History
December 7 , 2003: Initial release

You weren't browsing offline, were you?

[vitualis]

System Restore isn't that bad... It does slow you PC down a bit, but if you have a fast computer, you won't notice. It comes in really handy when you install something that kills Windows... be it makes it unstable, screws up your settings, etc. It can quickly and easily save you from a reinstallation... Unless you have a good backup plan (i.e., with Ghost or something like that), I would suggest that you keep System Restore turned on.

Regards.

[indolikaa]

System Restore isn't that bad... It does slow you PC down a bit, but if you have a fast computer, you won't notice. It comes in really handy when you install something that kills Windows... be it makes it unstable, screws up your settings, etc. It can quickly and easily save you from a reinstallation... Unless you have a good backup plan (i.e., with Ghost or something like that), I would suggest that you keep System Restore turned on.

Regards.

Indolikaa's Guide to Backing Up

Backup #1
Load OS and download all OS updates
Load B's Recorder Gold5
Perform HD Backup in El-Torito mode to DVD-RW

Backup #2
Restore Backup #1 to HDD
Install hardware-specific drivers from vendors
Download all OS updates, if any
Install AVG, Spybot, Ad-aware and SPF, and scan accordingly
Perform HD Backup in El-Torito mode to DVD-RW

Backup #3
Restore Backup #2 to HDD
Install hardware-specific software from vendors
Download all OS updates, if any
Scan for any 'bad' things
Perform HD Backup in El-Torito mode to DVD-RW

Backup #4
Restore Backup #3 to HDD
Install all other desired software
Download all OS updates, if any
Scan for any 'bad' things
Tweak settings as needed
Perform HD Backup in El-Torito mode to DVD-RW

Restore Backup #4 to HDD

Compute as normal.


It's a pretty ugly routine, but once it's done, it's done, and you can work from Backup #4 if you have any hardware changes.

I suppose using Ghost would be more efficient, and it's not like I don't have a bunch of spare hard drives lying around. But I rather enjoy the administrative part of keeping all these computers networked and running.

[gitreel]

I ran across black vipers site about a two years ago. Thanks anyway indo.

[thecoalman]

You weren't browsing offline, were you?

I'm connected 24/7 with cable. I'm using IE, what's considered offline? What a bummer I've used that site endless times in the past for reference. I just assumed that it was no longer available, I'm getting the "you are not authorized to view this page"

Maybe a different browser......

Edit: OK firefox works....wtf is that all about?

[Jayhawk]

indolikaa here are some XP sites that aren't too bad:

http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/

http://labmice.techtarget.com/windowsxp/

http://www.annoyances.org/

http://www.theeldergeek.com

http://www.winxpfix.com/

[indolikaa]

indolikaa here are some XP sites that aren't too bad:

http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/

http://labmice.techtarget.com/windowsxp/

http://www.annoyances.org/

http://www.theeldergeek.com

http://www.winxpfix.com/

Thank you! I'll check them out!

[Roundabout]

IMO, one of the best things you can do to speed up your XP Pro PC is to go into Control Panel, click on System and then in the System Properties dialog box, click on the "advanced" tab. Then in the Performance box, click on the "settings" button. In the box that opens, in the "Visual Effects" tab, select the radio button for "Adjust for best Performance" instead of the default "Let windows choose what's best for my computer".

That alone speeded up my PC dramatically. Give it a try, you'll turn off all the fancy graphics, but IMO the interface looks better like this. Seems like everyone else here agrees.

Done. BIG speed difference. Getting rid of the default background and going with a black screen made a difference, too.

This OS loads a lot faster than Win2000. I'm impressed.

Cool.

I just put XP Pro SP1a onto a friend's old HP w/Cel766 and only 64MB of RAM, and I am amazed how speedy this machine is now. I didn't think it would work at all, or just barely, with that little bit of memory. Turning off the "fancy" graphics made such a huge difference that it's hard to believe!

Personally, I think MS and Bill just do this in cahoots with the PC industry, so that you'll have to go out and buy a faster PC, more RAM, etc. They have to have some justification for upgrading, and making the O/S the resource hog that it is (as default install) causes people to have to spend more $$, therefore supporting the entire industry.

At least we know better...

[Jayhawk]

Personally, I think MS and Bill just do this in cahoots with the PC industry, so that you'll have to go out and buy a faster PC, more RAM, etc. They have to have some justification for upgrading, and making the O/S the resource hog that it is (as default install) causes people to have to spend more $$, therefore supporting the entire industry.

It goes way back before Bill and Intel. I started programming in 1971 (yes, I'm that old) in IBM Assembler Language. My first job was working on an IBM 360 Model 25 which lierally filled a room. It was the upgraded model so it had 28K (not megs) of memory. My first programming task was to write a calculation module for a payroll program and I was told my code could not exceed 2K. I got paid pretty well.

When memory got cheaper in the late 70's some eventually figured out that if you used COBOL, you could use cheaper programmers. Chips are always cheaper that people. Programmers were basically told that if it worked, it didn't matter how big the program was (paging would take care of it anyway). PC's followed the same path. First assembler, basic, then Visual Basic, C then C+ then C++, Object Oriented Gui builders.

It's not so much a "conspiracy" as it is human nature. You know the old saying is that there are three components to a good product. High Quality, Low Price, and Fast Delivery. Pick any TWO.

[LSchafroth]

good online resource for the first-time XP user. I suspect there isn't a huge difference between 2K and XP, but I'd like to read a little. And since nobody in this part of the world carries computer-related books (not even Windows XP for Dummies) I'm open to suggestions for Internet sites.

Any sites you can suggest are greatly appreciated.

I go to http://www.tweakxp.com or better yet, visit the http://www.blackviper.com/ site and tweak the services running on XP.

I install SP2 then disable the Security center service and disable the firewall. Been flawless so far. I agree, teh classic interface is MUCH better then teh MAC one.

LS

[bazooka]

I uninstalled sp2 from one of my computers. It kept locking up.

[indolikaa]

Well, we're at the third backup so far. ATI's latest drivers and MMC 9.02 are testing just fine. A few more programs to install and Backup #4 will be ready.

Still loads lightning fast, even with all those programs in the System Tray. Most impressive.

[Roundabout]

I am going to try out XPlite on my next install, to rid myself of even more crap that's installed automatically. XPlite will allow you to add/remove Windows components easily, so if you remove something that causes a problem, you can just as easily reinstall it.

From the website info:
>>>The latest developments in XPLite now see clean installations of Windows XP in under 350MB and Windows 2000 approaching less than 200 MB (excluding paging file) with much smaller memory requirements! These sizes are obtained simply by running XPLite/2000Lite on a fresh install of windows. Enterprising developers should easily be able to strip out additional log files, INF files and unused drivers to reduce the footprint by another 50MB or so. If your goal is to run a dedicated task in as little storage as possible - then look no further than XPlite.<<<

Has anyone else here tried this yet? Seems to be pretty simple to use.
Take a look here: LINK

If it works well, do you think there is a way to install XP on a CF card with a USB reader and run it from there? Since there are flash memory up to 2GB these days, would this be feasable or practical? It would be interesting to be able to run it from there, it would boot and be ready to run in seconds. Tempting, if it can be made to work? Any ideas, anyone?

[Roundabout]

It goes way back before Bill and Intel. I started programming in 1971 (yes, I'm that old) in IBM Assembler Language. My first job was working on an IBM 360 Model 25 which lierally filled a room. It was the upgraded model so it had 28K (not megs) of memory. My first programming task was to write a calculation module for a payroll program and I was told my code could not exceed 2K. I got paid pretty well.

When memory got cheaper in the late 70's some eventually figured out that if you used COBOL, you could use cheaper programmers. Chips are always cheaper that people. Programmers were basically told that if it worked, it didn't matter how big the program was (paging would take care of it anyway). PC's followed the same path. First assembler, basic, then Visual Basic, C then C+ then C++, Object Oriented Gui builders.

It's not so much a "conspiracy" as it is human nature. You know the old saying is that there are three components to a good product. High Quality, Low Price, and Fast Delivery. Pick any TWO.

Well, not a conspiracy per se, but the O/S is getting so bloated that by the time Longhorn comes out, we will getting into the realm of ridiculous. The 3D interface seems unneeded, although, like XP, you will be able to turn it off (and may have to, to get the PC to run at a decent speed with the resources you have).

I remember back in 1969, my dad was in Junior College taking computer courses, and I walked into the room full of computer equipment, and I remember seeing the stacks of punchcards. They printed out a picture of either Washington or Lincoln (can't remember which) using thousands of letters or numbers (maybe 1's and 0's? - not sure of that either) which I kept for many years. Impressive. You can make pictures with a computer. :P

I also remember he got lots of computer magazines with articles about FORTRAN and COBOL, and was able to land a job with NCR and worked for them for several years in Sarasota.

I still have my student information punchcard from Jr. Hi School in 1970. I guess there couldn't be too much information encoded on it...You probably know how much exactly can be stored on one punchcard. A few bits of information?

[mujahid7ia]

You weren't browsing offline, were you?

I'm connected 24/7 with cable. I'm using IE, what's considered offline? What a bummer I've used that site endless times in the past for reference. I just assumed that it was no longer available, I'm getting the "you are not authorized to view this page"

Maybe a different browser......

Edit: OK firefox works....wtf is that all about?

Try resetting your MSIE internet options

[Jayhawk]

I still have my student information punchcard from Jr. Hi School in 1970. I guess there couldn't be too much information encoded on it...You probably know how much exactly can be stored on one punchcard. A few bits of information?

There were a few oddball exception but basically it had 80 vertical columns across the card and each column held one byte (character) of data. Your high school card maybe had name, SS, address possiblly in a short form, or maybe birth date and grade level instead. Not much to work with in 80 characters.

[vitualis]

Well, not a conspiracy per se, but the O/S is getting so bloated that by the time Longhorn comes out, we will getting into the realm of ridiculous. The 3D interface seems unneeded, although, like XP, you will be able to turn it off (and may have to, to get the PC to run at a decent speed with the resources you have).

I find it fascinating the differences between Windows users and Mac users... Windows users will bash Windows but continue to use it. Mac users will praise MacOS in spite of bugs.

The 3D interface is really a long time coming. MacOS X has had it for yonks. Just about everyone has a powerful 3D video processor in their computer now which is usually just sitting there idle doing nothing unless you are playing games. Off loading a lot of this video work to the GPU should hopefully mean a better looking GUI as well as a more responsive desktop.

Regards.

[rallynavvie]

XP slows your system down? Good excuse to add more system resources like I did

[bazooka]

I reinstalled sp2 on my main system after I flashed the bios. It works well now.

Of course, I still tun off the security center and weak xp firewall.