Re: A Few Good Words About Windows XP

From: Steve Nielsen (steve_nielsen_at__blahX3_lincoln.k12.or.us)
Date: 02/13/04 

Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 15:15:40 -0800

A little friendly advice Mark7,

Try to use paragraphs - it's really tedious to read what you have to say
this way.

BTW, I agree - the more parts in a system the more there is to get broken.

Thanks
Steve

mark7 wrote:

> The so called bashing, as you put it, doesn't seem strange to me in light of the
> complexity of the operating system and the humongous number of fixes, options,
> patches, quick fixes, critical updates, or whatever they want to call them, to fix,
> patch, and update the system because of flaws, security loopholes, problems,
> conflicts between patches, etc. I believe that there were about 300 fixes necessary
> in Service Pack 1, and another big service pack is in the works. The reality of the
> situation is that if one is proficient in computers, as you are, they can maintain
> and operate XP with only minor problems. Those who are not proficient have
> all kinds of problems. I'm trying to maintain several PCs for friends who are not
> very knowledgeable on the required maintenance of XP, and it keeps me jumping.
> The up side is that I learned what I know from lurking in this newsgroup since
> it's inception, and Win98 groups before that, and fortunately, most of the problems
> one faces in XP are well covered here by the gurus and mvps, so it's a simple
> matter, if one has the time, to learn how to maintain and repair XP. I'm retired
> and have the time, my friends who work do not. Those who charge to repair
> XP, and I understand they charge in the vicinity of $100 and hour, are
> understandably quite pleased that it's complexity and problems provide them
> with a nice source of income. I suspect that there are about a million people
> like me, who know a little bit, and are willing to help friends for no charge. If I
> had about 50 billion dollars to my name, I'd cough up a little bit for all of those
> who offer support in this newsgroup, for they take a huge load off of MS.
>
> "JD" <jd@example.com> wrote in message news:%231AeIRc8DHA.2316@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>
>>I see a surprising amount of "Windows bashing" in these groups, so I'd like
>>to offer my own perspective:
>>I've used Windows XP since August, 2003.
>>I had some "Windows Has Recovered From a Serious Error" messages.
>>The problem was traced to a bad video driver update--the "rollback" feature
>>worked flawlessly.
>>On another occasion I caused some problems by messing around with Services.
>>This time System Restore came to my rescue without a hitch.
>>I run Norton Internet Security and Norton Anti-virus and receive regular
>>virus definition updates without any hitches.
>>I run the Windows Firewall on top of Norton's firewall, with no problems.
>>I check the Event Logs regularly and never see anything amiss.
>>I've installed ALL of the critical updates as soon as they were
>>released--without any problems.
>>After I hit the power on button, Desktop and all icons are in place in 25
>>seconds. All applications leap to the screen.
>>When I hit the Turn Off Computer button, the system shuts off in 12 seconds.
>>I use Outlook Express as my mail and news reader. I keep the folders
>>compacted on a regular basis, and never have any problems with it.
>>I do only the routine maintenance procedures: clear the browser cache and
>>Temp folders and run Defrag once a week.
>>I might add that I used Windows 98SE (after a clean install) for five years
>>and NEVER had a freeze, crash, or any other OS problems.
>>I had very rare gpfs, but each time it was WAOL that had caused the problem.
>>If Windows XP is more stable than 98, I expect troublefree computing for
>>years to come.
>>
>>
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