Problems with windows (help me list them!)

[gwoodard]

Good for U...I just restored my XP OS and guess what the OS is still not GENUINE! on a lighter note...most of my installed games are now screwed up (surprisingly Halo isn't messed up, of course Microsoft Products don't screw up other Microsoft products...even though I LOVE Halo)

Ex: Command and Conquer the First Decade
1. Generals and Generals Zero Hour have no sound, no intro movie, and no sound, but everything else works
2. I can't uninstall the program (setup.exe is screwed up can anyone help?!) so I can't reinstall it...
3. RA 2 and YR run off of HD instead of DVD...
4. rest of games will not start....

[ryanVickers]

what the "restore system": does is just removes the executables but not the data, so they may seem to still be installed, but it's removed the exes. perhaps halo was installed before the point you restored it to?

[gwoodard]

actually CNC TFD was Installed even before I put Service Pack 2 on
(Windows saved that as the first "Restore Point":mad:

[ryanVickers]

have you heard they're making a SP3? :p
Shows that they even recognize Vista as a failure... :lolflag:

[Frak]

have you heard they're making a SP3? :p
Shows that they even recognize Vista as a failure... :lolflag:
Well my new Vista PC came with a "Revert to XP" option. From HP.

[ryanVickers]

your serious!!!!!!??????? OMG!! :lolflag::lolflag::lolflag:

[gwoodard]

SP3 for Windows...do u think that it may include DirectX 9l (form of DX 10 but for XP, "put on burner")

[ryanVickers]

I would doubt it - they're trying to force people into getting Vista anyway they can, like restricting DX10 to Vista and making all new games require DX10 (which can't be far off now ...) :p

[thebestofall007]

with ubuntu, ALL the software there is THE REAL DEAL, no bundled trial versions that expire after 30 days that you CANT get rid of, like instant messenger services!!!!

need a dvd burning app, ITS THERE WAITING FOR YOU free of charge. winblows MILKS YOU FOR EVERY PENNY.

Just the freedom of not having to defrag the harddrive every 2 weeks is awesome in ubuntu. WITH WINDOWS, PEOPLE WONDER WHY THEIR HARDDRIVES GET PREMATURE CLICKS OF DEATH. ITS SIMPLE: WINDOWS WAS DESIGNED TO MESS UP YOUR HARDWARE. whats that noise: ITS YOUR SPINDLE DAMMIT!!!!!

need an upgrade? same as above. you dont have to drop 100-400 dollars for an install disc that makes your system slower (im talking to you, winblows vista). BLAME THE SLOW WINDOZE OS ON A POORLY WRITTEN KERNEL. Microsoft makes their operating system fatter and heavier so that you HAVE to "upgrade" your system hardware every 2-3 years. ONCE AGAIN, ARENT CORPORATE MONOPOLIES FUN? Just like the petroleum duds.

[gwoodard]

with ubuntu, ALL the software there is THE REAL DEAL, no bundled trial versions that expire after 30 days that you CANT get rid of, like instant messenger services!!!!

need a dvd burning app, ITS THERE WAITING FOR YOU free of charge. winblows MILKS YOU FOR EVERY PENNY.

Just the freedom of not having to defrag the harddrive every 2 weeks is awesome in ubuntu. WITH WINDOWS, PEOPLE WONDER WHY THEIR HARDDRIVES GET PREMATURE CLICKS OF DEATH. ITS SIMPLE: WINDOWS WAS DESIGNED TO MESS UP YOUR HARDWARE. whats that noise: ITS YOUR SPINDLE DAMMIT!!!!!

need an upgrade? same as above. you dont have to drop 100-400 dollars for an install disc that makes your system slower (im talking to you, winblows vista). BLAME THE SLOW WINDOZE OS ON A POORLY WRITTEN KERNEL. Microsoft makes their operating system fatter and heavier so that you HAVE to "upgrade" your system hardware every 2-3 years. ONCE AGAIN, ARENT CORPORATE MONOPOLIES FUN? Just like the petroleum duds.

Unfortunetly, that sounds like propoganda (and even though people dislike windows) I believe u are doing a very similar thing to microsoft...Linux and Apple users don't want to look bad and have things that microsoft can use against them...

[gwoodard]

Oh and by the way this may be off the subject, but did u hear the news about Hugo Chavez? the "President" of Venezula? his rule will only last 4 more years starting 2008 and guess what We (the USA) didn't lift a finger in this deal (opposition's vote to ally's vote 51% to 49%, yeah that is close)

[KIAaze]

Oh and by the way this may be off the subject, but did u hear the news about Hugo Chavez? the "President" of Venezula? his rule will only last 4 more years starting 2008 and guess what We (the USA) didn't lift a finger in this deal (opposition's vote to ally's vote 51% to 49%, yeah that is close)

Hum, yes, this is really completely off-topic here...
If you just wanted to hear people's opinions about this, the backyard (http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=121) would be much more appropriate.

The main problem with Windows for me is that once you tasted GNU/Linux, it doesn't taste good anymore, especially Vista. :p

[Frak]

your serious!!!!!!??????? OMG!! :lolflag::lolflag::lolflag:
sry for the late comment, but...

Yep.

[ryanVickers]

oh, you all know how Vista was just a bad rip off of so many other good things? :p Well, you do now, but here's proof:
the 3D effects, especially ring switcher, doesn't it seem just a little too similr to beryl...
the desklet, things, whatever they're called. Anyone heard of something called "dashboard" (on a Mac)? lol
IE7 - firefox with a new look and "micro$oftized" lol

[Frak]

oh, you all know how Vista was just a bad rip off of so many other good things? :p Well, you do now, but here's proof:
the 3D effects, especially ring switcher, doesn't it seem just a little too similr to beryl...
the desklet, things, whatever they're called. Anyone heard of something called "dashboard" (on a Mac)? lol
IE7 - firefox with a new look and "micro$oftized" lol
You forgot about how they moved Spotlight, err... sorry, "Windows Search" from the top right to the bottom left.

[sstusick]

Oh and by the way this may be off the subject, but did u hear the news about Hugo Chavez? the "President" of Venezula? his rule will only last 4 more years starting 2008 and guess what We (the USA) didn't lift a finger in this deal (opposition's vote to ally's vote 51% to 49%, yeah that is close)
Wayyyyyyy off topic lol

[sstusick]

with ubuntu, ALL the software there is THE REAL DEAL, no bundled trial versions that expire after 30 days that you CANT get rid of, like instant messenger services!!!!

need a dvd burning app, ITS THERE WAITING FOR YOU free of charge. winblows MILKS YOU FOR EVERY PENNY.

Just the freedom of not having to defrag the harddrive every 2 weeks is awesome in ubuntu. WITH WINDOWS, PEOPLE WONDER WHY THEIR HARDDRIVES GET PREMATURE CLICKS OF DEATH. ITS SIMPLE: WINDOWS WAS DESIGNED TO MESS UP YOUR HARDWARE. whats that noise: ITS YOUR SPINDLE DAMMIT!!!!!

need an upgrade? same as above. you dont have to drop 100-400 dollars for an install disc that makes your system slower (im talking to you, winblows vista). BLAME THE SLOW WINDOZE OS ON A POORLY WRITTEN KERNEL. Microsoft makes their operating system fatter and heavier so that you HAVE to "upgrade" your system hardware every 2-3 years. ONCE AGAIN, ARENT CORPORATE MONOPOLIES FUN? Just like the petroleum duds.
:lolflag::lolflag:

Amen.

[sstusick]

Recently, while using wifi in a public place, this couple sitting beside me with their laptop caught my attention. They came in, sat down, and turned on their laptop...it literally took like 15 minutes for Windows to boot up and another 5 minutes before they could actually use the system. I couldn't take it any longer, so I offered some assistance to them. I told them to disable the default blue Fisher Price themes, which would help relieve the strain of resources on their system. They didn't know how to do that, so I went ahead and showed them. Checked their Task Manager and there were 64 processes running, eating up all of their memory - 256 MB - not much to live on, but this system was ridiculous slow considering the specs - 1.2 Ghz Celeron 256 MB of RAM. I have a 256 MB 266 MHz P2 system that runs significantly faster than that system (using Windows XP).

Their Anti-virus software (Norton Internet Security 2005 :evil:) was out of date, not to mention their subscription had expired. I was going to un-install it but it required an admin acct or something...they had no clue what the password was for it, only solution I guess is to format Windows.

As far as I could tell, this system hasn't been maintained since they first bought it 3 years ago. The system was loaded with infections, 500+ ad-ware and spy-ware infections, surprisingly no virus infections. I had disabled all of their processes in msconfig, rebooted the PC and installed some free utilities including ccleaner, (which deleted 2.0 GB's of junk from their system) ad-aware SE (found about 500 infections), and RegScrubXP which helped clean up some registry junk. And Norton Anti-Virus is STILL installed on their system...I gave up on trying to remove it. Symantec shouldn't even write software :mad:

The system, by the time I was finished with it...after about 2 hours of work, worked about 40 percent better. I think it was just about the worst system I have ever encountered, and was hesitant on suggesting they install Ubuntu...they can just about use Windows. But seeing as they are on AOL dial-up, that is not a viable option.

Looking back, I wish I had suggested installing Ubuntu on their system. Linux is actually perfect for newbies doing average use (email, web browsing, IM'ing) regardless of what others may tell you.

This experience reminded me of why I HATE Windows and why I love Linux more and more every day.

[DragonKore]

I used Windows for about 12 years, and dabbled in Linux a few times, but never quite felt like fully learning a new OS, so I stuck with Windows. I finally decided to make the final transition last week and I've been loving it ever since. Ubuntu works great for me, and so far it meets all of my needs, so I'm happy. [Vista is downright hideous compared to Compiz-Fuzion by the way.]

But, I will admit that Windows never let me down as an OS. I was running Vista Ultimate on a P4 2.4Ghz with 1GB of RAM and a Radeon 9800XT, and it ran near perfectly for me. Almost everything ran well, it was fast enough, and it hardly ever crashed.

So, yes, Windows has its problems, but if the user is smart then Windows works satisfactorily. Unfortunately, most of the people that use Windows are not smart (in a computer-sense anyway). They don't know how to protect themselves from spyware and viruses, nor do they know how to keep their system uncluttered. This is why Windows often fails as an OS: it's not user friendly. Sure, you can install and uninstall easily, and things open with a click, but when it comes to maintenance it's very difficult.

To sum up my opinion, Windows takes a lot of knowledge to keep it running well, while (as far as I can tell) Linux can maintain itself.

So why did I switch to Linux after 12 years of Windows use? I got bored of Windows, and thought I'd try something new. I like that you have to go into the command line to install things, I like that it has a different feel to it, I like that it's very different. It's a new experience. Besides, being a pro at Linux sounds pretty good on a resume when you're in the computer field (and my girlfriend digs it).

Cheers.

[prodigalson666]

Windows is slow, bloated and lacks flexibility.

[gwoodard]

Drivers are an issue for Windows PCs (either you have drivers that are not on the raw XP install, where you have to search for those cd driver so your broadband card may work (note: may, not will lol) or you have the drivers that would work on XP but not on Vista...so I switched (with the exception for playing Halo) to Ubuntu for basics (includes anime downloads!)

[ryanVickers]

Yeah, I love how in Linux, you can just plug in any printer, on a network, USB, serial/parallel/comm (I don't know the old ones as well ;)) and it will find it and come with a driver!! I have an HP Photosmart C5100 series colour inkjet printer and it's on the network(router) and this is my installation "challenges":
step 1: Install HP Toolbox or whatever it's called)
step 2: make sure printer is on. Go "add printer"
step 3: say it's on the network, select it when found, and your done :p

[afljafa]

Windows is slow, bloated and lacks flexibility.

Lol - rubbish.

Sheesh, if you lot are going to bag windows at least bring something valid to the table.

[Frak]

Lol - rubbish.

Sheesh, if you lot are going to bag windows at least bring something valid to the table.
It's made by Microsoft.

[thebestofall007]

Unfortunetly, that sounds like propoganda (and even though people dislike windows) I believe u are doing a very similar thing to microsoft...Linux and Apple users don't want to look bad and have things that microsoft can use against them...
fortunately, through my 14+ years of windows experience, this statement is all the more true. i noticed right off the get-go when using Ubuntu with my computer in addition to my original statement that 1. my machine runs A HELL of a lot cooler and doesn't sound like a blow dryer with the fan constantly revving to the max (cooler computers last longer) 2. nearly no lag compared to vista (I CAN DO MORE WITHOUT A GLUTTONOUS AMOUNT OF HARDWARE) 3. once the machine is finished booting, the hard drive doesn't endlessly chatter and tie up the responsiveness like vista does even with all graphics/eyecandy/etc removed and no startup programs (that explains the clicks of death with vista) 4. the 25,000+ free packages at your fingertips should ring a bell nicely (let me see microsoft do that on a desktop ;) ). you see, when it all boils down, this really isnt propaganda after all when the truth is upon ya. ITS ALL GOOD!!

my machine:
acer 5610z aspire laptop, 1 gig ram, 1.66 ghz intel centrino duo dual core, 120gb hard drive. came with windows vista premium (which i plan to delete asap)

[gwoodard]

Why thank you for agreeing with me...Alas, now I own Battlefield 2142 and I use XP for that too

Oh and guess what my little brother has switched to Ubuntu (seemed like the free dvd codecs work well...lol)

[ryanVickers]

even my 10 year old brother can appreciate how Firefox can load in 2 seconds on my Ubuntu and 10 seconds on my XP :p

on the computer he uses, its about 30 to 40 seconds on XP and maybe 7 in Kubuntu :p

[ryanVickers]

I've been working on a little script to make all us Linux users feel more at home because as we all must know we all miss windows and it's mannerisms so much! ;) Try it out! :p Be sure to run it twice to try out the 2 things it can do (it branches into 2 "stories" a little ways in ;))

Note: this is harmless and will not even touch the hard drive, it's just a sequence of pop ups and such ;)

[Mad_Dawg]

It Is Too D@mned Expensive!!!!

[gwoodard]

Hmm Interesting

[ryanVickers]

expense is relative

you must consider not the cost as a static value, but relative to the product's value in your eyes! ~$150 (can) may be too expensive considiering that your getting crap, but ~$200 (can) is more than reasonable for Mac OS X :D

[gwoodard]

Ah Macintosh and the people who develop the different branches of Linux would make a great duo in business...

[Ocxic]

i biggest pet peeve. would be re-installing windows for a friend who only has the Windows OS install disk, and then needing driver to get on the net so I can download all the other drivers windows doesn't have. this happend to my brother 2 days ago, since he lost his Mobo driver disk.

not to mention the fact that if you ever loose the gui for some reason, theres nothing you can do but re-install because you need to gui to change anything in the system, and there "recover console" does nothing but offer copy/paste of files. I've tried to use it, but theres just no functionality, and unless you know specifically what files to replace. and where to put them.

[inversekinetix]

[QUOTE=Ocxic;4113654]i biggest pet peeve. would be re-installing windows for a friend who only has the Windows OS install disk, and then needing driver to get on the net so I can download all the other drivers windows doesn't have. this happend to my brother 2 days ago, since he lost his Mobo driver disk.

QUOTE]

how do you blame windows for someone losing a driver disk.

[joe.turion64x2]

[QUOTE=Ocxic;4113654]i biggest pet peeve. would be re-installing windows for a friend who only has the Windows OS install disk, and then needing driver to get on the net so I can download all the other drivers windows doesn't have. this happend to my brother 2 days ago, since he lost his Mobo driver disk.

QUOTE]

how do you blame windows for someone losing a driver disk.
Who needs those drivers?

A really user friendly-"just works" OS shouldn't need them to be supplied.

[Ocxic]

basic networking should work out of the box regardless of OS, fact of the matter is widows has very little driver support for anything out of the box

[ryanVickers]

[quote=Ocxic;4113654]i biggest pet peeve. would be re-installing windows for a friend who only has the Windows OS install disk, and then needing driver to get on the net so I can download all the other drivers windows doesn't have. this happend to my brother 2 days ago, since he lost his Mobo driver disk.

QUOTE]

how do you blame windows for someone losing a driver disk.

not for losing the disk, that fact that you need the disk in the first place! ;)

[kamaboko]

i biggest pet peeve. would be re-installing windows for a friend who only has the Windows OS install disk, and then needing driver to get on the net so I can download all the other drivers windows doesn't have. this happend to my brother 2 days ago, since he lost his Mobo driver disk.
.

So? I need to download the restricted drivers for my video card and wifi before using them in Gutsy, Feisty, etc. I also need to down load device drivers for the printer. Such a thing is not unique to the Windows OS.

[ryanVickers]

So? I need to download the restricted drivers for my video card and wifi before using them in Gutsy, Feisty, etc. I also need to down load device drivers for the printer. Such a thing is not unique to the Windows OS.

yes but you just pick them from a list and go in most cases - in windows you ned to go find a webpage (if your lucky) but in most cases there is a driver CD...

I know because in windows I need sound drivers from one site, video from another, printer drivers from a disc, network drivers from another disc, and all my programs from more disks still. In Ubuntu, I download video drivers, and printer drivers/control app, and all my other stuff from just picking them from a list and hitting OK - which is easier? ;)

[sstusick]

Fact remains: you will need to install more drivers to run your Windows OS than you will on your Linux OS.

[joe.turion64x2]

So? I need to download the restricted drivers for my video card and wifi before using them in Gutsy, Feisty, etc. I also need to down load device drivers for the printer. Such a thing is not unique to the Windows OS.
Yes, but you can actually plug in a RJ45 cable in the Ethernet port and connect to a network, while Windows needs the driver to recognize the network card in the first place.

[gwoodard]

no free dvd codecs that are *ahem* "legal"

[YellowHammer]

4. Worse Programming Practices: Programmers usually have to develop code using local admin privileges, and tend to not actually test their code with an account with any privileges other than admin. So what you get is code that won't work unless it can put files and registry keys where best practices and common sense say it shouldn't. Faulty code like this will only run if the user is a local admin. The programmers say just make the people local admins. I say, it's buggy code; Fix it.

This is a big one for me. I want to restrict my children in WinXP, but all their educational programs must be run as admin. This is bad bad bad.

[Frak]

no free dvd codecs that are *ahem* "legal"
Legal DVD codecs exist for Linux. Look at Freespire and Linspire.

[gwoodard]

Legal DVD codecs exist for Linux. Look at Freespire and Linspire.

"This I Know, but I was talking about Windows...You either have to buy third party software, or you have to buy something from another source, either way you have to buy the dvd codecs...

[sstusick]

Who buys software??

[gwoodard]

People who don't know they can switch to linux (stuck with MICROSOFT)

[chips24]

ive been using windows since i was five, like win 95!!

[chips24]

This is a big one for me. I want to restrict my children in WinXP, but all their educational programs must be run as admin. This is bad bad bad.

the only reason why i use windows is for games and school.

[inversekinetix]

my network worked on a vanilla install of 2k xp and vista, my dvds played fine in VLC.

[tbroderick]

"This I Know, but I was talking about Windows...You either have to buy third party software, or you have to buy something from another source, either way you have to buy the dvd codecs...

Vista Home Premium and Ultimate include the decoder.

[gwoodard]

Decoders in Vista?! Why couldn't they do that in XP (It's Rhetorical) But, wait how much do the "included decoders" cost?

[tbroderick]

But, wait how much do the "included decoders" cost?

$0.00 usd

[gwoodard]

Too Bad Vista is a Piece of Junk...Alas, the DVD Decoders may not work after SP1 for Vista comes out...