Happy 10th Birthday, XP!

[123456]

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/25/w...ow-transition/

Only recently have I realized what a great OS it was. Pre-SP2, there were lots of annoying bugs like the "Switch To" dialogues and the lack of native USB 2.0 support, but it was the most flexible and stable version of Windows to that point.

[Paul Komski]

Best MS OS (for my needs anyways) - ever - and have no single reason to downgrade to a newer version and be out of pocket in the process

[FTT]

I was very reluctant to change over from 98SE but once I did and tweaked it for performance and my likings, I really liked it. I have 2 active versions of it. One Pro and one Home which I am on ATT with my laptop because I am on the road working out of town.

I also still have 2 unused COA's. One Home, one Pro. So yeah, I think I learned to like it..

Paul,
I agree with your sentiment. I have a Vista machine in need of a PSU but I'm not in any particular hurry to fix it. It was a dumpster diving find. They took the HDD but left the recovery DVD in the optical drive..

[Cuc Tu]

I've liked XP.

Lately though, my PC has been lagging like my Win98 machine. I'm starting to wonder if there is just too much overhead going on for XP nowadays...I mean with the newer apps and Web.

[Paul Komski]

Lately though, my PC has been lagging like my Win98 machine. I'm starting to wonder if there is just too much overhead going on for XP nowadays...I mean with the newer apps and Web.

I don't think so. I have a Socket 939 ASUS A8N-E board with 1GB RAM and a Velocirapor RAID Mirror that has been running just about completely 24/7 for the past 6 years or so (the last time I upgraded my motherboard) without any reimaging or reinstalling - and XP Pro simply flies - really really flies - on it.

An overfull hard drive or one beyond it's "best buy date" are common causes of lag in othewise good installations on good hardware. Just occasionally, even on NTFS partitions, a defrag can work wonders especially when a drive has become overfull or one critical program very fragmented.

In my experience, except on the oldest or faulty hardware or infected machines, good web access is just about only a function of how good ones internet connection is. I have XP Home on a P2 Dell Laptop with 512 RAM and a solid state drive that has flawless web access via ethernet on a PCMCIA card even though the sticker on its front says designed for Windows 98!

If you think it is just Windows suffering from whatever and have adequate space then do a parallel installation and see if that corrects things as a troubleshooting diagnostic.

[Cuc Tu]

you are probably right there. it just seems the net is getting slower on several xp machines. i'm thinking it has something to do with the quantity of data flying around - sites have so much flash and marketing. my primary pc has really slowed the most, so something is wrong there.

[jlreich]

XP rocks. I agree it is their best OS yet.

However, for modern gaming it is lacking these days. Because of both ram constraints and DX10/11. Not to mention no native GPT disk support which is becoming more and more important.

But if you are not a gamer or have certain other requirements you are golden with XP.

[AlienBZ]

I still have XP on 3 of my computers, a Dell Dimension desktop, a Asus Eee PC netbook (I actually bought it just for the OS since all the other store models had (back in late Jan. 2010) Windows 7 on them), and I've installed XP on a originally-Vista-OS laptop (a Dell XPS M1530) that I bought on ebay this past April of 2011. I love XP, I use it for my gaming needs, especially for these 2010 releases and 2011 2 Q - 3Q recent releases such as Alter Ego (Viva Media), Slip Space Burma Shave Analogy, The Count of Monte Cristo, and DarkStar (not Darkstsar One) that have problems in my Acer Win 7 laptop, and I'm intending to keep my XP computers for as long as I can.

[clarajames]

I want to congrats XP on this occasion and it works very well in 10 years.

[crestwood]

I liked Windows XP so much more than Windows 7 which is now on new computers.

[123456]

I love both 7 and XP, but I prefer installing XP on 32-bit systems and 7-64 if the system has 2GB RAM or more. I know my IBM laptop can handle 7, but I prefer XP for it.

[AlienBZ]

This semester at school, I'm taking the first of my network admin classes and both (I'm enrolled in 2 classes this semester) of my schoolbooks and school assignments deal with exclusively XP. So since I'm learning so much about XP from this semester alone, do you guys think I'll still be able to put this learning to good use after I graduate (in roughly about 3 - 4 yrs or so), get a job maybe at Best Buy's Geek Squad and start helping people by fixing their computers/networks or in case I cannot get a job with Geek Squad at least I could maybe be able to go around my local area fixing peoples' computers/networks on a part time basis to gain the necesary experience so what I'm learning about XP this semester will not have to go to waste?

[LochLomonder]

AlienBZ,

If you think Geek Squad is filled with qualified people who know how to help people, I think someone has been misleading you

[jlreich]

XP is still around and will be for some time yet. Especially in businesses. Heck, some businesses have just recently gotten around to upgrading to XP. Besides, most of what you learn on XP will still applicable in win 7 and even 8.

Even though vista and later look much different there really isn't too much that really is different in terms of working on them. Mostly things are just in different places, like device manager. Once you find where certain things are now you are good to go. Most of the real differences are in the kernel and have to do with things you will not mess with or need to be concerned about unless your a software developer. Everything else is mostly superficial.

There are exceptions to this such as native support for larger than 2TB drives and GPT disks and certain rules that apply to these things like only 64bit can boot from a GPT disk on an EFI motherboard. These things you will need to know and understand eventually.

[AlienBZ]

AlienBZ,

If you think Geek Squad is filled with qualified people who know how to help people, I think someone has been misleading you

What do you mean, Loch?

XP is still around and will be for some time yet. Especially in businesses. Heck, some businesses have just recently gotten around to upgrading to XP

@JL, did you see this (link)?

Pushing Win 7 PC's at Loch's workplace

How long do you think businesses will hang on to XP? I'm graduating probably in 2014 (Dec. grad), so what OS do you think I'll be working with at Geek Squad? Or at a local tech shop (such as Computer GooRoos? **here**

Do you think I might be exposed to a variety of OS's? Such as XP, Vista, 7 and 8 when I get a PT job just to gain the experience before starting a home business?

[jlreich]

Do you think I might be exposed to a variety of OS's? Such as XP, Vista, 7 and 8 when I get a PT job just to gain the experience before starting a home business?

Yes, you will likely see them all come through the door. Everything from the latest system with win8 to some really old system with XP on it. In the consumer realm you will probably see more vista and later, but some XP will still be around.

If you happen to get a job with a company that services medium to large businesses then you will likely see 90% XP with the rest being a mix of win9x and unix/linux. Small business will likely be a varying mix of XP and vista/7 and eventually win8.

[AlienBZ]

And will I get to work with Win 3.xx, DOS, Win 95/98. Win ME, Win 2000, Win NT? I like 'em all (just as I like all the adventure games)?

[jlreich]

I never run into 3.xx, but all the others yes, including DOS on occasion.

[saphalline]

There was a time when WinXP was the bloated new stepchild of MS. Wow, those pre-SP1 days were awful! WinXP SP2 is where the magic happened, though. SP3 was fluff unless you were a business running a newer domain system. I doubt anyone really remembers that WinXP did not support more than one CPU thread/core before SP1, or that LBA 48-bit had to be added.

As fast and lean as WinXP is, though, I have to agree that the latest hardware needs a more modern OS. Win7 64-bit (with SP1 now) is magical on a quad with 8GB of RAM. Takes longer to boot that WinXP, of course, but far more efficient while running.

For everything else, there is virt'ing and Wine.

[saphalline]

And will I get to work with Win 3.xx, DOS, Win 95/98. Win ME, Win 2000, Win NT?

If you work on consumer PCs, you will probably only ever see WinXP, Vista, 7, and 8 and beyond when they are released.

If you end up working for a company or work onsite at a company, you may see those other OSes. DOS (or DOS-like systems) is still huge in the area of manufacturing. WinNT, 2000, and 2003 servers are still kicking it big time. The rest entirely depend on the type of company. You may see 8-core workstations running Win7 64-bit, or you may see the CEO of the company still using Win2K Pro.

[jlreich]

If you end up working for a company or work onsite at a company, you may see those other OSes. DOS (or DOS-like systems) is still huge in the area of manufacturing. WinNT, 2000, and 2003 servers are still kicking it big time. The rest entirely depend on the type of company. You may see 8-core workstations running Win7 64-bit, or you may see the CEO of the company still using Win2K Pro.

Yep. Throw in some **ix and even some proprietary stuff and you have it.

I doubt anyone really remembers that WinXP did not support more than one CPU thread/core before SP1, or that LBA 48-bit had to be added.

I remember. And no USB 2.0 until SP1 either.

[AlienBZ]

If you work on consumer PCs, you will probably only ever see WinXP, Vista, 7, and 8 and beyond when they are released.

If you end up working for a company or work onsite at a company, you may see those other OSes. DOS (or DOS-like systems) is still huge in the area of manufacturing. WinNT, 2000, and 2003 servers are still kicking it big time. The rest entirely depend on the type of company. You may see 8-core workstations running Win7 64-bit, or you may see the CEO of the company still using Win2K Pro.

My goal is as a tech with networking skills, to be available for anyone, consumers or companies, in order to get as much exposure as I can. This adds to the fun of being a tech. I also might go into the computer tech Christian missionary field on short-term trips to work on computers/networks, this way I'll get to travel and share my Christian comics with the missionary people in that country, just controlling the advancement of the pdf pages off the side while my netbook is hooked up to a projector to display the comic pdf's onscreen in front of the missionary audience as the interpreter does all the talking (I'd rather not have to do all the talking, I'm more comfortable sitting off to the side with the netook, merely controlling the pages/displaying another comic if that day/eve's time allows).

[Jim_geek]

I agree that XP is the best MS operating system.

[crestwood]

I thought it was good.

[pollard1988]

I think XP Broughts the revolution of operating system for Microsoft corporation. I have used XP operating system into my PC for a long time as you know that man are hanker after newer thing that's why i changed my OS and started to use other version of operating system.